UU Player of the Week #10: Hogg

Manipulative

Camila <3
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Approved by King UU, Hogg and Ark



Credits to rozes for the art

Hello, and welcome to UU's Player of the Week, where I interview
some of Smogon's most accomplished and well known players in the tier to give
some insight on who they are and their views on certain aspects of the metagame.
If there's someone you want to see interviewed, shoot me a PM!


Current Interview:

Hogg
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I'm a 33 year old Jersey native currently living in Baltimore. I'm also married with a three year old son. Currently working for the Maryland state government, though I still have dreams of writing the great American novel. I played and coached roller derby for years and still like to skate/bike/run, though I don't do any of it as much as I should these days. Love good books (favorites include Samuel Delany, Junot Diaz and Kazuo Ishiguro), good food, good music (particularly love Nina Simone, David Bowie and 90s hip hop and R&B).


Most known for?
Being old =\


Favorite Pokemon?
Reuniclus. Great design, and I absolutely love building and playing with it - it's so good at just completely turning games around. It isn't great in SM UU right now, but I actually like it a lot in SM OU, and it was one of my favorite things to build around in ORAS.


Most used Pokemon?
In SM UU, probably Latias. Since alpha days it has ended up on like a solid 70% of my SM UU teams. In old gens.... probably MAero or Coba in ORAS. Definitely Mew in BW UU and Clefable in DPP UU, both mons are just so fat and so good at threatening almost every possible team archetype in their respective gens. In ADV UU the only answer is Kanga/Oma, which are on 95% of every team, but I also use Tentacruel a lot.


What brought you to Smogon and competitive Pokemon in general?
I'd been playing a lot of Ruby/Sapphire right after it came out and hanging out a lot on the GameFAQs boards. One day a bunch of people from some other board came on to troll Gfaqs, as happened a fair bit back then, and I got flamed by a user named Celia/TheGreatNeoKefka. Decided to follow them back to see what they were talking about, ended up discovering the IRC bots and Azure Heights and a bunch of other Pokemon communities, and became pretty active on the IRC bots in the early ADV days. I took a break for a bit and came back around 2006, to find that most of my old friends had ended up on a new site called Smogon. Hung out there for a while before disappearing again. Came back a few years ago to see what was what, after missing out on pretty much all of DPP/BW, and somehow ended up getting pretty active in UU.


What made you choose your name?
I wanted something short and easy. Grabbed the name from a very bad book by a very good writer (don't Google it).


What is your favorite Generation of Pokemon and why?
Generation 3, by far. Part of this is definitely nostalgia—while I started playing in gen 2, the gen 3 games are definitely the ones I've played more than any other. I've spent more time playing Emerald than I ever have with any video game, period, and it's still my all time favorite Pokemon game. Competitively, I just really like how well balanced the metagame is without feeling stale. Adv Ubers/OU/UU are all super fun, and I still build for all three metas when I'm feeling bored with ORAS/SM.


Thoughts on the SM UU metagame so far? How much have you been playing it?
It's a bit hard to say, because this tier is still really in its early stages of development despite having been around for a few months now, but I think SM UU is a lot of fun, with a ton of options still left to explore. I'm pretty excited to see how it evolves.


What's it like being the new, esteemed UUTL?
I've been council for a while so nothing too crazy so far, although I have big shoes to fill—UU was really lucky to have dod at the helm for late ORAS/early SM. Anyhow I'm lucky enough to be TL of a tier full of a lot of really active people in the community that keep things moving, so thus far things have been pretty straightforward.


What is your favorite playstyle?
It differs a lot from gen to gen and even from metagame to metagame. In SM UU, I definitely prefer bulky offense. Teams where pretty much every member can put in work both offensively and defensively are just really flexible in a way that I think is important for a tier where it's almost impossible to reliably counter all the top threats of the metagame.


What is your favorite UU Old Gen?
ADV UU, with BW UU a close second. I think ADV UU is an incredibly well-balanced metagame with only one exception (no, not Kanga... I'm talking about Baton Pass). While there's a relatively small pool of Pokemon as compared with later metas, there's actually a lot of flexibility within those Pokemon. People harp on Kanga being a requirement on every team, but I actually don't think Kanga is broken at all, just really flexible. If it's akin to anything, it would be Mienfoo in LC or Clefable in SM UU: it provides a ton of defensive or offensive utility, so that it fits on most every team, but it's not actually independently overwhelming.

As for BW UU, it might just be the pool of players we have that still build and play the tier, but I really like how competitive it is despite being several years old at this point. Also for as much as people complain about hazards in BW UU, I kind of like how they balance the tier and both keep key offensive threats like Tini in check and also pressure fat.


You are known to be among the most solid players in the UU community! Is there any advice you would give to newer players in terms of playing and building, competing in tournaments, etc?
Ugh this ended up being longer than I meant it to be so have some hide tags:

Re: how to play in tour games, my biggest piece of advice is to take your time and think about what you're doing. A lot of the best ladder players rely on an instinctual understanding of the game, and that's pretty awesome if you have that ability, but chances are in a tour game you'll be up against players with just as much skill as you. That's why I think it's worth taking a step back and thinking about the game at a really fundamental level.

What do I mean by that? Well, at any given turn, there are a maximum of nine moves I can make, and probably five or six of those are garbage options that I can discard immediately as bad ideas. That means that I've probably got three moves I can realistically make, and my opponent has the same. Rather than trying to think of what my opponent is most likely to do, I like to think of what the best case and worst case scenario for each of my available moves is. If I've got a Specs Raikou in Draco range against a Latias with an unrevealed item, and my opponent has a Nidoking in the back, what do I click here? What's the absolute best case scenario for this turn for me? What's the worst? Do I go for a neutral "reset" play like hard switching to Gliscor and getting some more information about my opponent's team, or is it worth risking Raikou early to potentially turn the game in my favor by taking out Latias here and now?

When you start thinking about games in these terms, you can play anybody. Remember that the best Pokemon player in the world is faced with the same set of decisions as you. Just take it slow, consider your options, and make the plays that move you closer to winning.


So I definitely build to suit in important games. That being said, I really don't think that full cteaming is ever that useful, because it relies too much on getting the matchup just right. Some people like talking about counterteaming versus counterstyling, and I'm not entirely convinced that you can actually draw a hard line between the two, but I guess that's closer to what I do. I like to scout my opponents and pull up their teams to get a feel for what they like and don't like, and just build with that in mind. But in the end, I'm building a team that I want to play, not a team designed to perfectly counter my opponent.

Anyhow my advice when building is to not go too crazy trying to build a perfect check to everything in the game. A lot of people get really paranoid when they're building tour teams, and they end up losing the thread and building these boring do-nothing teams as they try to check every possible threat in the game, or they get frustrated, say fuck it and build super matchup based HO and cry foul when they don't nail the matchup. Instead I'd recommend building the team you feel comfortable with, and then just making sure you have some counterplay against the things it is weak to.


Also, final advice: don't take this stuff too seriously. It's OK to just dick around sometimes. As a community we sometimes shit on anything but super high level tour play, but that's such a tiny part of the game really. You'll burn yourself out if you don't let yourself just have some fun.


Who are some of your favorite people in the Smogon Community?
Oh man I hate trying to play the shout-outs game. Christo, teal6 and IronBullet are probably my longest running friends on this site atm, just really good bros all around and still some of my favorite people to chat or build with. As far as players I really look up to, my two favorite players to watch right now are ABR and SoulWind. ABR is one of my favorite builders in general for pretty much any tier, and I really like the way he thinks about the game and the way he puts teams together (plus he's a stupid good player too). SW is just a fucking delight to watch play because he's so solid and methodical with everything he does. When he's in his element, I can't think of a scarier player, and it's a crime to see him without an individual trophy next to his name.

Other than that there are a lot of people that really make Smogon worth coming back to every day: people like Omfuga, Hikari, dodmen, r0ady, Tony, Kink, atomicllamas, Pearl, Star, blunder, obii, ZoroDark, meeps, ict, Sam, pif, Pak, YABO and a bunch of others I'm sure I'm forgetting. (Oh and that Manipulative guy's pretty cool too.)

Also shout out to everyone on US Metro, wish I could be playing alongside y'all but I'm super pumped about our team this year. 10 to 1, baby, this is our year.


Finally can you provide for us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle with a brief explanation of how it works?
I haven't built a ton in this metagame but here's a team I've been messing around with lately that I enjoy:


Beedrill-Mega @ Beedrillite
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Poison Jab
- Drill Run
- Pursuit

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Substitute
- Protect

Xurkitree @ Zap Plate
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Latias @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Defog
- Trick

Cobalion @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 232 HP / 24 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Fire Blast
- Roost


Offensive VoltTurn built around using Bee + Zap Plate Xurk to wear down opposing teams. Zap Plate Xurk has actually been my favorite set for it lately, hitting almost 10% harder than Specs Raikou with its STABs while still retaining the ability to break down fat Grounds like Hippo/Gliscor. Running Suit on Bee is a really nice way to punish some problematic threats like Lati (Z-Thunder in particular is a dick for this team otherwise) and Chandelure. Toge and Fightinium-Z Coba are my main mid-game threats and both are really good both at providing some defensive utility and in breaking down fatter teams. Scarf Lati is just fantastic versus offense in general and is probably my favorite Lati set at the moment, and acts as the primary revenge killer and also hazard removal for the team. Finally, Vincune is a huge threat in this meta and acts as the late-game wincon, going in over other defensive sweepers like Slowbro thanks to its ability to outspeed some key threats like Xurk, Toge and Buzzwole.

BONUS: have some old gen UU teams!

Slurpuff @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Drain Punch
- Return

Krookodile @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Taunt

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Signal Beam
- Recover

Cobalion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Volt Switch

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Roar
- Rapid Spin

Crobat
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Acrobatics
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Roost

One of my fav teams lately, built around a surprisingly fun offensive core of Puff + Reuni. Puff puts a ton of pressure on opposing teams from preview and makes people play really cautiously with typical Reuni checks like Hydra. Cobalion lures and weakens Doublade with VS for Krook to fuck with. RoarToise is a neat bit of tech to help vs Vincune and break down the omnipresent Sylveons in the tier. Stallbreaker Crobat is also super underrated.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Def / 192 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Substitute
- Baton Pass

Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Roar

Togekiss @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tri Attack
- Air Slash
- Trick
- Fire Blast

Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 240 HP / 216 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Spikes

Cobalion @ Chople Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge

BP is broken af in every gen.

Drapion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Hippopotas @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Atk / 92 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Yawn
- Earthquake
- Protect

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
- Knock Off
- Seismic Toss
- Encore
- Soft-Boiled

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Suction Cups
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rock Slide
- Curse
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Gligar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 200 HP / 84 Def / 224 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- Roost

Cloyster @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Toxic Spikes

Cradily is actually a nonsense Pokemon. Also if you want to fuck with people who like to lead Scarf Molt, run Scarf Crunch/Pursuit/Rock Slide/Taunt Drapion instead. (I'm a bad person.)

Lanturn (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 100 HP / 208 SpA / 128 SpD / 72 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Omastar @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Def / 32 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Surf
- Toxic
- Protect

Misdreavus @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 16 SpD / 68 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Rest

Electrode @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Static
EVs: 12 HP / 140 Atk / 252 SpA / 104 Spe
Mild Nature
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion

Kangaskhan @ Leftovers
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 212 HP / 216 Atk / 56 SpD / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Toxic
- Return
- Substitute
- Roar

Hypno @ Leftovers
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 228 HP / 160 Def / 120 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Taunt
- Wish

I think Lanturn's super underrated and I like how well it matches up against common leads like Scyth/Oma/Walrein/electrics. Get spikes down, keep them up, win with Kanga/Trode.



----------

Thank you for your time and the great interview, Hogg! If you have any questions that you would like to ask him, feel free to leave them below. I'll be back next week with another interview!



Past Interviews:

Level 56 - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-1-level-56.3600909/#post-7312154
Kushalos - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-2-kushalos.3600909/#post-7322306
Pearl - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-3-pearl.3600909/page-2#post-7330480
dodmen - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-4-dodmen.3600909/page-2#post-7337620
Sacri - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-5-sacri.3600909/page-3#post-7347490
Christo - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-6-christo.3600909/page-3#post-7357205
Shiba - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-7-shiba.3600909/page-4#post-7366860
Kink - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-8-kink.3600909/page-4#post-7375380
IronBullet - http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/uu-player-of-the-week-9-ironbullet.3600909/page-5#post-7393878
 
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Manipulative

Camila <3
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Hey, guys. I'm opening this thread up again and have got someone who's been having a lot of success recently as our first interview n_n!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I'm currently 20 years old studying at uni doing civil engineering. My hobbies are playing cricket and soccer (am a hardcore fan of Real Madrid). In free time, I like watching anime and playing mons. Also I'm lazy at times and like to relax.


Most known for?
For being a solid tournament player who specializes in ubers and for being a cute user.


Favorite Pokemon?
Jirachi because it's the most cutest thing ever. Not only it is cute but it also owns in multiple generations of OU.


Most Used Pokemon?
Probably Xerneas because it's one of the top threats in XY/ORAS/SM Ubers respectively.


What brought you to Smogon and competitive Pokemon in general?
I wanted to play online against my friends, so I was looking for a way to do that and found pokemon showdown one day. I always wanted to play with Rayquaza + Jirachi + Mewtwo and this combo was only possible in Ubers, so this was how I got into Ubers and started playing competitively. After that I just laddered a lot and eventually became a ladder hero. Then got fed up with the ladder and wanted to try playing in tournaments. That's when I joined smogon and it was the start of my journey to become a solid tournament player.


What is your favorite Generation of Pokemon and why?
XY because it is the generation where I growed up as a player. Every tier was balanced and was fun to play.


Have you tried out SM UU yet? If so, what are your thoughts on it so far?
Haven't played it regularly but I did play it once in a tour. It looks pretty good as there's some fun stuff like Keldeo, Clefable, Bisharp etc to use.


What is your favorite playstyle?
Tough choice between offense and balance but I'll go with balance because its pretty reliable and least match-up-reliant style. It's nice to have things to take hits, along with some firepower in order to keep up the pressure and momentum.


Congrats on winning UU Classic! Can you tell us about your experience while picking up tiers and playing them throughout the tournament?
Thanks n_n Before UU classic, I had played both BW UU and DPP UU a bit in tournaments but had no idea about ADV UU. My start to UU classic couldn't be worse as I lost in round 1 of BW cup and in round 3 of DPP cup due to activity. After that, I didn't care much as my chances of making playoffs were low but still continued to play till the end and actually managed to win the ADV cup getting the 2nd seed. Next up were playoffs where I fought Kushalos, Chill Shadow and ABR respectively. I was worried about BW since that was my weak point out of the three. But thanks to UU fiend Omfuga's hot squads, I managed to pull wins in both quarter and semi. Had some solid teams loaded in DPP and ADV so didn't face any problems with them. In the end, I won the entire thing and I have to say I really enjoyed playing these 3 old gens especially ADV UU. Thanks again to Hogg and to the other hosts for hosting such an enjoyable tour.


What is your favorite UU Old Gen?
ADV UU n_n Really enjoyed playing it in UU classic and I'm also in love with ADV pokemon sprites so that helps too.


Who are some of your favorite people in the Smogon Community?
There are many people I like on smogon but mentioning them all would take some time, so only gonna mention some of them.

McMeghan, Pearl, rozes, Omfuga, Tony, Poek, FLCL, soulgazer, ADVANTAGE, Teddeh, Ice Tea, blunder, Sacri', Pak, Hogg, Manipulative, Christo, TSR, Ark, Accelgor, col49, Vileman, Kingler12345, p2, Sweep, Astounded, Pohjis, Hack, Mr.378, Krauersaut, Leru, Dominatio, Gunner Rohan, zf, SparksBlade, Shadestep, Arii Stella, WhiteLion, Camilas, SamVGC, Elise, Erz, Mounts, Chill Shadow, Steve Angello.

BIGS: Funkasaurus, boudouche, Finchinator, Alexander, ZoroDark, Ciele, Coconut, dekzeh, d0nut, Porengan, Genesis7, Mael, Posho, Laga, BLINGAS, Destiny Device. Love you guys n_n


Finally can you provide for us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle with a brief explanation of how it works?
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Tomb
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 72 SpD / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge / Fire Punch
- Swords Dance
- Precipice Blades

Rayquaza @ Focus Sash
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- V-Create / Earthquake
- Extreme Speed

Lunala @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Moongeist Beam
- Focus Blast

Lucario-Mega @ Lucarionite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Tail
- Bullet Punch

Arceus-Ground @ Groundium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed / Recover
- Stone Edge

This is the team I used in week 1 of spl. It's a pretty straightforward offensive team. Excadrill is a solid lead as it's good at keeping the momentum going vs most teams. Sash Rayquaza helps in revenge killing set up sweepers and is good at making holes in opposing teams in general. Primal-Groudon helps in checking steel types, soft checking Xerneas and is a solid sweeper thanks to its high power and bulk. Lucario-Mega hits like a truck thanks to Adaptability and is a serious threat to every playstyle. Scarf Lunala is great to have on an offensive team as it is solid at revenge killing threats like Lucario, Gengar, Arceus-ghost etc. Lastly, Groundceus makes sure threats like Primal-Groudon, Lucario-Mega etc don't sweep and mostly acts as a late game sweeper.


----------

Thank you for your time and the great interview, Level 56! If you have any questions that you would like to ask him, feel free to leave them below. I'll be back next week with another interview!
 
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omg knowing that ur a soccer fan just makes you 282282 times more interesting and makes me like you even more!!!
especially a fellow rm supporter!!

do u think we'll win vs bayern tmrw?

fav player? (there's only one answer hah)

how come ur so good at everything??
 

Pak

fly higher
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
How is it that you can pick up new tiers and almost instantly play them at a high level (old gens uu, ou, oras lower tiers, even monotype, etc)? Do you do some lurking ahead of time or look through high level replays or something of that nature or just jump right in and learn on the fly?
 
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Pearl

Romance は風のまま
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis the 7th Grand Slam Winneris a Past SPL Champion
you're probably one of the people that intrigues me the most on this website, so here are some questions:

favorite anime? (and why?)

favorite anime opening/ending?

do you have a waifu? if yes, who is it and what do you like the most about her?

as someone with a respectable amount of accomplishments (still waiting for the day you conquer an individual trophy, btw!) in a relatively short time span, what would your recommendations to newer/less successful players be?

are you actually a human being or just an AI created to play this game or a goat?

thoughts on ubers throughout spl8? particularly interested in hearing your opinion regarding mazar + faji going 10-0 combined and hack underperforming (;_;)

thoughts on the ubers's community current state?

what sort of decision making led you to post an ubers team in uu potw?

this should be enough for now. thanks for the personal shout out btw :)
 

Finchinator

-OUTL
is a Tournament Directoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past WCoP Championis the defending OU Circuit Championis a Two-Time Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
OU Leader
how annoying was the constant tagging and "how's prep going" "what's up" etc. all SPL? xd

how does it feel that you're so good that this tier you hardly play is basically your kingdom now?

thoughts on the current state of BW OU and ORAS OU?

you'll play wcop yn

dogs or cats?

what's with your consistent use of :rabbit2: on discord?

if you could take one thing back from SPL, what would it be and why?

i hope you had a good meowning
 

Level 56

Faded memories
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis the 6th Grand Slam Winner
I love this guy omg. n_n

Tfw he really dropped an Ubers squad for UU player of the week

Tony n_n

omg knowing that ur a soccer fan just makes you 282282 times more interesting and makes me like you even more!!!
especially a fellow rm supporter!!

do u think we'll win vs bayern tmrw?

fav player? (there's only one answer hah)

how come ur so good at everything??
1: That's very nice to know n_n Real Madrid owns.

2: Bayern munich has been a top 3 team in the champions league for like 3-4 years now in terms of success and performing great under pressure. So this is gonna be an interesting one but i fully believe in my boys to win this one.

3: Cristiano Ronaldo of course haha

4: I think as long as you have high tour experience, solid teams and the ability to take risks, you can play any tier at a high level.

How is it that you can pick up new tiers and almost instantly play them at a high level (old gens uu, ou, oras lower tiers, even monotype, etc)? Do you do some lurking ahead of time or look through high level replays or something of that nature or just jump right in and learn on the fly?
It's the experience I have obtained by playing tournaments regularly for a while now. So even If I have to start playing a new tier, all I do is first look at the viability rankings and then look at some high level replays. That's all I need to get into a tier.

Goat

you're probably one of the people that intrigues me the most on this website, so here are some questions:

favorite anime? (and why?)

favorite anime opening/ending?

do you have a waifu? if yes, who is it and what do you like the most about her?

as someone with a respectable amount of accomplishments (still waiting for the day you conquer an individual trophy, btw!) in a relatively short time span, what would your recommendations to newer/less successful players be?

are you actually a human being or just an AI created to play this game or a goat?

thoughts on ubers throughout spl8? particularly interested in hearing your opinion regarding mazar + faji going 10-0 combined and hack underperforming (;_;)

thoughts on the ubers's community current state?

what sort of decision making led you to post an ubers team in uu potw?

this should be enough for now. thanks for the personal shout out btw :)
1: Shinsekai Yori. I'm a hardcore fan of mystery animes and this anime fits the bill. At first, I wasn't sure whether to watch this anime till the end because episode 3-6 were pretty complicated that I had to watch it 2 times to understand what was going on. But after episode 7, that's when this anime gets into its game and from there on i literally finished watching the whole anime in 2 days because i just wasn't able to wait how this beautiful anime was going to end. Solid characters, beautiful soundtracks, mind blowing story and plot twists and a dark atmosphere from start to the end. I really recommend this anime if you're Into anime and haven't watched it yet. It's a rare gem. Also I got to hear Hanazawa kana's voice, so that's a plus too.

2: Opening:

Ending:

3: Senjougahara Hitagi. Sharp tounge, beautiful hair and eyes, acts really cute when caught off guard, top 5 voice and a tsundere at that is all I need.

4: In my eyes, the best way to get success is to play tournaments regularly to get experience, try to make some solid squads and get advice from solid players.

5: I'm a normal human being n_n

6: I enjoyed playing ubers in spl. It's nice to see every playstyle being viable in SM Ubers which makes team building more fun. Both Faji and Mazar really impressed me with their runs and it wasn't that much of a surprise to me considering they had a lot of tour experience in the back. What really impressed me is that they both were pretty unpredictable through out their run which is the best strategy to net wins in SM Ubers imo. I also followed the same formula through out my run and managed to go 5-0 in first half of spl. But while being unpredictable helps a lot, it won't always work since you can't get the match up everytime. Along with being unpredictable, you also need some luck to get the perfect record.

Hack is one of the best players that has played ubers and a very strong team builder, so seeing him underperforming was pretty surprising. Can't really think of much to add here because even good players can sometimes end up with a negative record :(

7: Ubers community is fine I think. While there are lot of shittalking players in it, I think 70% people in the community are fine that actually try to improve at this game and their behaviour unlike those shit talkers who only know how to complain. So a bit sad, the ubers community isn't like what it was in the past but I still have fun talking with most of the dudes and hopefully, the community will improve as time passes.

8: Manipulative told me it's fine to post a team from any tier, so I just went ahead and posted an ubers team haha

Finch, I'll post answers to your questions tomorrow and I hope you had a good meowning too

Good meowning Level, I hope you have a good day today (Inshallah).
Same to you bro n_n
 

Level 56

Faded memories
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis the 6th Grand Slam Winner
how annoying was the constant tagging and "how's prep going" "what's up" etc. all SPL? xd

how does it feel that you're so good that this tier you hardly play is basically your kingdom now?

thoughts on the current state of BW OU and ORAS OU?

you'll play wcop yn

dogs or cats?

what's with your consistent use of :rabbit2: on discord?

if you could take one thing back from SPL, what would it be and why?

i hope you had a good meowning
1: Didn't really mind all those taggings since I usually didn't talk much, so it was a good thing that you guys tagged me every now and then to make sure I was doing my thing.

2: It definitely feels nice to win the first ever UU classic and most importantly a cute banner (always wanted to see how a banner would look like with my username). Really put some effort in this tour and I'm glad it paid off.

3: Really like the current state of both ORAS OU and BW OU. ORAS OU is pretty balanced atm. Always has been my favourite OU gen because there's a lot of room for creativity and lot of cool stuff to use. Every playstyle Is viable which is always a good thing. Fuck Clefable tho, really hard to deal with it sometimes.

BW OU is also enjoyable, prolly my second favourite after ORAS OU. There's lot of interesting stuff you can use here too but I think that the match up factor is stronger here than ORAS OU. It's pretty balanced but some teams are very consistent and dominant such as dragmag. Also fuck rain + ferro.

4: Probably not

5: Cats because I had one in the past. Too bad she died in an accident :'(

6: No special reason. Rabbit is my favourite animal because they're cute as hell. So always felt nice whenever I used :rabbit2: in chat.

7: Can't really think of anything that I can take back because I had fun playing in spl and did what I could do for the team. Tho i wish we won the whole thing after making it to playoffs.

will we ever get our grand slam 3 rematch
Gonna be a miracle if we get matched again in slam playoffs.

Thoughts on Juventus FC?
Juventus has always been a pretty good team looking at their performance in league and champions league. But since I don't follow their matches (unless it's vs real madrid or cpl final), I can't really go into detail.
 

Manipulative

Camila <3
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Got another interview for you guys from our ULT winner! I'll leave it down below, but you can find it in the OP as well.



Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I'm a 20 year old Dutch lad in culinary school. I spent most of my days rn slaving away in a fairly prestigious hotel kitchen for my internship. I like watching and reading weeb material, listening to music and walking my dog/running to clear my head. Also i play mons on the dl too i guess.


Most known for?
Being an all gen low tier jesus/always performing well in lower tier tours, inventing Eject Button+Recycle strats, my name is chef, being one of the most hated dudes to play against because shit gets too wild according to pearl, choolio and gary2346 at least. Recently being the WOAT when it comes to managing since i've been the POWC captain for Team Europe


Favorite Pokemon?
RBY: Exeggutor, that dudes cool.
GSC: Slowking
ADV: Flygon, has been getting less and less since i started hanging out with the user though.
DPP: Torterra, that was my starter mon when I first got Pearl.
BW: Alomomola Whirlipede, you'll know why when you've seen me playing FU.
ORAS: Klefki
SM: Bewear


Most Used Pokemon?
In SM UU that would be Latias, fits on any team tbh.


What brought you to Smogon and competitive Pokemon in general?
I had quit playing pokemon for years and was mostly playing the monster hunter games. When my little brother started playing pokemon suddenly, I got back into it. However, I didn't feel challenged enough so I discovered PS! and later Smogon. Somehow got global voice which I still have to this day through this dumb thing called the random battle challenge(swear they gave these +'s out for free back in the day). Then it really took off in 2013 when my very nice and patient senpai Calloflochie taught me the ropes when it came to teambuilding. After that i just started getting better and better and now I'm here. :)


What is your favorite Generation of Pokemon and why?
DPP, that gen has it all sorted out competitively and in the games(spent most of the time in pearl and platinum than any other game). Shame its gone from stour:(


Thoughts on the SM UU metagame so far?
I love it, nothing really stands out as broken and there are a lot of viable playstyles. Theres also still plenty of room for innovation.


What is your favorite playstyle?
Prob balanced and bulky offense teams. I like having strong mons like Bewear and Latias backed up by a solid defensive backbone with like Amoonguss Slowking Klefki.


Congrats on winning ULT! Can you tell us about your experience preparing and playing for the tournament?
Yeah it was a blast haha, i def could've prepared a lot better for certain games. But if you stress about something like that too much you're just gonna use something bad and choke in the end. Thats why i generally stuck with shit I liked and reused a couple teams a lot like the subroost Kyurem+Tspikes Tentacruel squad. I made every single team myself so im especially proud of the accomplishment even though i choked and haxed against Welli0u in R1.


What is your favorite UU Old Gen?
DPP, I like BW a lot too, but it was so much fun getting into this tier last UUPL since i came out with one of the best records in it. I kinda stick to the same mons in it like Moltres and Venusaur but I think thats fine when you switch up the sets a lot.


Do you think you're going to prefer playing SM or DPP in UUPL? Any people in particular you're looking forward to play?
I prefer SM to DPP as of the moment, but when guys like Heysup arise I gotta get out there to counter the twave strats ofcourse.


Who are some of your favorite people in the Smogon Community?
Everyones favorite INDIAN Arifeen , master of johning wannabehipster col49 , cute fakegirl Ice Tea , tsundere relationship Pearl , gg bitch Poek and the rest of the weebs r p cool too, IC- TDK Tokyo Tom henry sugarhigh , everyone on my UUPL team except choolio when hes dissing my decisions for Cobalions final moveslot, everyone on team europe except Tony when hes bashing me for subbing in players without telling them again. -WOAT


Finally can you provide for us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle with a brief explanation of how it works?

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic

Latias @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Roost

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 188 Def / 72 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Spore
- Seed Bomb
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Bewear @ Choice Band
Ability: Fluffy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Superpower
- Ice Punch
- Facade

Had a lot of succes in ULT and UUPL(used by soulgazer ) with this cool semi-stall build. Everyones underprepared for Jelli rn, and since no one runs Toxic on Tentacruel it just dominates in combination with spikes.


----------

Thank you for your time and the great interview, Kushalos! If you have any questions that you would like to ask him, feel free to leave them below. I'll be back next week with another interview!
 

esche

Frust kommt auf, denn der Bus kommt nicht
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
omg kush big fan :o

first off grats on your ult win! love watching your games & i really like a lot of your builds too.

do you still play mh and have you kept up with the new games (gen, xx)? if so what do you think of the new hunter styles? got any fav weapon+style combination?

most underrated & most overrated mon in sm uu rn?

favourite dish to eat & fav one to prepare?

what is your opinion on z-moves now that we're in a couple of months of sm? do you think ppl were overreacting or do you think they're still borked?

most anticipated mega to drop to uu in the following course of sm?

fav music style? do you have a favourite artist whose work you follow?

if you weren't in culinary school where else could you see yourself in? any other fields you'd like to explore?

fmk latias/gliscor/klefki (i think you like all of these rite)

thx man & keep it up (:
 

Kushalos

ÜN ÜN ÜN
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
OUPL Champion
omg kush big fan :o

first off grats on your ult win! love watching your games & i really like a lot of your builds too.

do you still play mh and have you kept up with the new games (gen, xx)? if so what do you think of the new hunter styles? got any fav weapon+style combination?
Ive only played Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Monster Hunter Tri, completed both games with all the best armor sets. Can't say much about the new games haven't been keeping up. I'm #1 at hammering away, but when I need to cut tails during solo i usually go with a lance. Fav combinations are full Golden Shin with Magnitude and Diablos Z with Chaotic Order.
most underrated & most overrated mon in sm uu rn?
Jellicent is fucking amazing and unprepared for, I can never find spots on my teams for Starmie and Togekiss so i guess I'll pick those.
favourite dish to eat & fav one to prepare?
Pizza lol, fav to prepare prob sabayon.
what is your opinion on z-moves now that we're in a couple of months of sm? do you think ppl were overreacting or do you think they're still borked?
They alright
most anticipated mega to drop to uu in the following course of sm?
STEELIX
fav music style? do you have a favourite artist whose work you follow?
Hiphop/Rock/Alternative, I'm liking Gorillaz, NIKK BLVCK and Caravan Palace rn I guess.
if you weren't in culinary school where else could you see yourself in? any other fields you'd like to explore?
I'd go to a hotelschool then, as for the other one i wanna explore Hyrule Field in Breath of the Wild unfortunately i dont have the time and money for a Switch :(, please donate
fmk latias/gliscor/klefki (i think you like all of these rite)
Fuck Klefki cause it has a hole.
Marry Latias cause its at least a female.
Kill Gliscor because who doesnt want to kill Gliscor when up against it tbh.

thx man & keep it up (:
 
favorite jojo?

favorite jojo part?

do u think theres anything relatively unexplored in dpp, or is it relatively a solved metagame?

wanna play like 4 weeks after deadline

e: why did i say relatively twice wtf
 

Kushalos

ÜN ÜN ÜN
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
OUPL Champion
favorite jojo?

favorite jojo part?

do u think theres anything relatively unexplored in dpp, or is it relatively a solved metagame?

wanna play like 4 weeks after deadline

e: why did i say relatively twice wtf
joseph

diamondo is unbureakuburu

i think we took it too far with jacoba berry hippopotas so i think it is solved for the most part yes.

u just fucking hax emd u lil shit kys

top 3 anime?

favorite late night snack?

person who you like playing the most?
jojo, hunter x hunter, shokugeki no soma

pussy

pearl though he is the above when it comes to it
 

feen

control
is a Top Tiering Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
how could u not choose sbr over diu fuckin shit taste

when are u comin to bangladesh

when are u inventing dpp ru

fav ru mons? bw oras sm
 
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