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Interview FINCHINATOR

Once more: Which badge is the best/worst looking out of them all? Similarly, is there any badge you would want but wouldn't realistically obtain? — Kalalokki

I'm not one to comment on aesthetics all too much, but I love the Community Contributor Tree. The Artist Diamond and Tournament Director Flame both look cool and encompass some of the hardest workers on the website, and I currently do not have them. In middle school, I was a pretty good student, but I managed to get a C in art class despite them giving you most of your points for just showing up to class, so I suppose that speaks volumes about my artistic abilities. If not, just ask my friends I have played Gartic with—it's not pretty and oftentimes unrecognizable.

How is the quarantine going for you? Any hobby or activity you started to do because of it? — Estronic

Quarantine is going alright. I have had a lot of time to keep up with Smogon, and I also have been playing a baseball simulation because I miss the IRL game I am most passionate about. I also write a lot (especially creative things), keep up with my IRL friends, and watch television shows. I tend to follow sports very closely, so the cancellation of them all is rough, but I am making it work!

Do you love me? — Estronic

Nope.

Will you undo some bans when the DLCs will come out, or will you just remove all of them? — RoiDadadou

We are not currently sure on how we will proceed at this point in time. There is a chance some or all bans will be undone, there is a chance that none will be undone and we could retest them in the future, and there is a chance that some things could remain Ubers for the remainder of the generation. It depends on internal conversations that are either yet to occur or are currently occurring but unfinished. Once we have a consensus and the time comes to enact it, we will be sure to alert the public in the appropriate fashion!

What's the best read an opponent has ever made on you? — Empress Mobile

There are honestly countless examples, but one recent one that sticks with me is a turn in my recent RoAPL match against Insult in BW OU that you can find here. Basically, I had the Heatran weakened and wanted to try to catch it on a Protect to stall out my poisoned Rotom-W, and I knew that it being alive for him would be huge, as Heatran can easily Leftovers + Protect its way up to a healthy range considering I had an Amoonguss. I decided that I would go to Mamoswine on the likely Protect or switch, but he clicked Flamethrower into my relatively healthy Rotom-W with his weakened Heatran and got the KO thanks to the Flash Fire boost. Overall, he really outplayed me on this turn, as I took a huge risk in trying to pivot in Mamoswine to take advantage of an expected Protect or pivot, whereas he simply risked a low-health Pokémon that he already got a lot of mileage out of, making the risk-vs-reward very favorable for him and poor for me. I think this was a very heads-up read, and Insult won the game convincingly as a direct result of this turn.

Name your favorite Pokémon from each generation (or single favorite one from all generations) and explain why. — ThatRandomPerson42

• RBY: Zapdos, it is my favorite of the legendary bird trio, and I believe it is a very strong Pokémon both in the games and competitively. For whatever reason, I have always felt drawn to using Zapdos whenever possible.
• GSC: Tyranitar, it is one of the most badass designs, and it only gets better throughout the generations directly following GSC. I obviously love using it competitively, and while it is a pain to get in-game, it is easily worth the wait and pending grind!
• ADV: Breloom, everyone's favorite shroomer is one of the most obnoxious Pokémon in every setting you encounter it in. I love how timeless it can be, especially in my favorite format of BW OU.
• DPP: Empoleon (or that whole evolution line), Pearl was my first game and Piplup was my first starter. My bond with this evolution line goes back almost fifteen years now and it will hopefully go for another fifteen to come in some capacity. Honorable mention to the Garchomp line.
• BW: Keldeo, while it is not something I have ever used in the games themselves, I always find this Pokémon aesthetically pleasing and very fun to use. It is such a threat over many generations competitively, and it is just something I can appreciate the most out of a generation with countless exciting designs and powerful Pokémon. BW is my favorite generation, and I could have honestly answered a dozen different things and been justified in doing so given the depth of my experiences both in-game and competitively.
• XY: Never played in-game beyond BW unfortunately, but Zygarde's among my favorite Pokémon, so why not!
• SM: Toxapex and Guzzlord both get mentions here, but I cannot say I have an outright favorite or have put too much thought into it for this generation, especially since I did not touch it in-game at all.
• SS: Eldegoss is amazing and easily my favorite Pokémon of the bunch thus far!

Best Pokémon game in your opinion? And why? — LaBalladeDesCieux

Platinum followed by HGSS, because they are the ones I have played the most and the stories/regions are my favorites by a long shot.

How did you get into the Smogon community? — LaBalladeDesCieux

As for the latter question, I was watching Let's Players on YouTube when I stumbled upon a YouTuber called Slowflake, who does very in-depth Let's Plays where he comments about other video games and their communities during filler time against average Trainers or while on the grind through the game. He spoke a lot about competitive Pokémon and Smogon, which led to me looking into it at the age of 11 and starting informal competitive play on Pokémon Online at the age of 12. By the time I was a few months past my 13th birthday, I had made accounts on both Smogon and PO.

Who is the person you respect the most on Smogon? — LaBalladeDesCieux

Eo Ut Mortus and ABR probably, but there are a handful of others who are in the discussion.

What's your favorite Pokémon of each typing? — Zneon

Do you agree on gen 8 being the worst generation of Pokémon? — Jerry the great

Absolutely not!

If you were to unban Dynamax from any tier, which would it be? — Jerry the great

The metagame the fewest people play possible to not subject a large number of people to that nonsense anymore, so probably some random OM.

If you became the richest man/woman alive, what'd be the first thing you'd buy? — Jerry the great

https://smogon.com/forums

Everyone in leadership positions has to deal with blowback at times; have you had any particularly bad experiences with this, and how do you handle them in general? — Lumari

I feel like I have felt bad for people close to me who may have been impacted negatively by decisions I have had to make. I handle these situations by knowing that if I was trusted to be in the positions of power I am to begin with, then it was specifically to make these decisions to begin with and to stick with my guns and be confident in myself, because I am capable and I am helping improve Smogon in so many ways!

I think (or at least hope haha,,) that no one would ever expect themselves to end up in a high-ranked staff position when first starting out on the site. How did you experience your rise to prominence / have you ever felt the need to pinch yourselves? — Lumari

I experienced it with a certain degree of expectation if only because back during SPL 6, McMeghan told me he thought I would make a good contributor, and for the 2-3 years following that I contributed and then saw direct results from my contributions in all but one of the facets of the website I intended to gain high leadership positions in. It took a lot of maturing (which I am still doing in all honesty) and experience, but I knew that I was capable, as I believe nobody has a greater work ethic than I do and nobody is more motivated to improve and give back than I am. I will continue to have this confident and determined approach moving forward, as I think there is so much more good I can do in the future on Smogon.

Interview TONYFLYGON

What is your favorite thing about the section(s) you lead? Is there anything you wish was different about the section(s)? — Ryota Mitarai

My favorite thing about Tournaments is the passion that goes into it. There's always stuff going on. and despite us not being 'official' in the sense that there's no major prize money to be won, our playerbase always puts in real effort to make for high-quality competition. The occasional headaches have been worth it throughout the years I've been a Tournament Director, especially since I believe we've made changes to our circuit for the better. Especially now during the corona crisis, I've loved seeing everyone come together to play some Pokémon with each other.

Similarly, how are you able to juggle your responsibilities on Smogon as well as everyday life? — BP

I actually haven't been able to juggle them, which is why I recently stepped down as a Tournament Director. We have an excellent team in place, so I did so without any concerns. This way I can also focus on the side of Smogon I really enjoy without stressing over and neglecting responsibilities people count on me for right now.

When you go to a restaurant and ask for Coca Cola, is Pepsi really okay? — Estronic

If I ever ask for either Coca Cola or Pepsi at a restaurant, then you can assume I've been assassinated and replaced by an identical clone.

As people who are most associated with big official tours but also play in BSPL and PUPL and OMPL and a bunch of other random tours, which low/non-tier tournaments have you had the most fun dipping into and why? — Megazard

Learning new formats is the most fun part of playing Pokémon for me. It keeps things fresh and interesting, not to mention the new people you learn that main such formats. As someone that predominantly calls the "Tournaments community" their home, I love ending up on BSPL or PUPL teams with "mainers," since I'd probably never get the chance to interact with them otherwise. I also find that learning new metagames inspires me in the teambuilder for my main tiers (OU) in official tournaments, so I also consider it an investment to my overall building and playing ability. As said before, though, the social aspect is what makes this hobby worth it to me, and signing up for seemingly random team tournaments is the best way to feed that mentality for me.

What keeps you going even when the going gets tough (this can be in general or with respect to Smogon)? — Rabia

My therapist and my support system close to me. Unironically just messing around on Discord with my closest friends here goes a long way, too. Respect mental health everyone! If you're hesitating to give therapy a try for whatever reasons you might be convincing yourself of, just try it. It'll change your life for the better.

How do you feel about Generation 8's metagames overall? — ThatRandomPerson42

I love them. Every single one I've played I've enjoyed. It should be said I am a notorious metagame lover, so there is some bias there. I've been playing OU all generation, and I'm super hyped for the upcoming WCoP, but I've also been focusing on the lower tiers a lot, especially UU where I'm now a council member (again). Removing Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves has been great, in my opinion. I'm excited to see how lower tiers are going to transform now that the DLC has finally been released.

How did you get into Pokémon? — LaBalladeDesCieux

The anime was being broadcast on the Dutch cartoon channel. A Dutch dub at that. I was hooked immediately and have been a fan ever since. I saved up money by doing chores at home and helping my neighbor, who was a painter, to buy a Game Boy and Pokémon Red, and it all escalated to where I am today.

Thought on the fact that National Dex allows thing like Z-Moves? — LaBalladeDesCieux

I have no real thoughts on the matter, because I've never played this format. I might at some point, as I usually end up playing pretty much every tier eventually, but right now I have no idea at all.

whos the shittiest player uve played — Ruft

rozes for sure. I still regularly have nightmares from our test games together throughout the years.

Which gen do you think brought the worst Pokémon to use competitively? (Not including jokes like Delibird, Magikarp, etc) — Jerry the great

Gen 2 I think? Tyranitar stands out, though glancing over the VR threads of both SM and SS makes me think Gen 2 ended up the weakest. Gen 3 would be a lot worse without Mega Evolutions, but no generation has better ones.

Most broken Uber Pokémon? — Jerry the great

Mega Rayquaza, though I still don't think it should've been banned!

Best evil Pokémon team? — Jerry the great

Please...

On the average week, about how many hours do you spend in competitive Pokémon battles? — sumwun

Finch is going to have a lot more interesting answer to this than me, because I only play a handful of games a week. I don't play friendlies, I don't ladder, and I try to not do too many tournaments at the same time. I can't grind games. It's just not in me. I've never tried making OLT playoffs for that reason, too. I do, however, spend a lot of my free time on Discord in relation to competitive Pokémon.

Favourite song that you would never recommend to anyone else & why? (note: this doesn't mean guilty pleasure per se, rather "idk how my brain works for making me like this") — Lumari

I'm really into piano music. I have a close friend who is also into instrumental and classical music, so I thankfully do have someone to talk to and share music with at all times. It's something people my age (and younger) mostly consider boring, but it really calms me down and helps me to relax. Connected Colors by Piano Novel is a recent favorite, for example.

Interview AUTUMN

What advice would you give to someone that wants to improve their English grammar? — Ryota Mitarai

When I was first learning a lot of grammar rules to join the GP team, I just read a lot of checks from other members to try to understand their changes and thought process, as well as reading over a lot of articles and resources. Reading in general helps a lot; I always used to read and enjoy a lot of books, which probably got me more interested in rules and grammar in the first place.

What's it like being an above average player? — BP

I wouldn't really consider myself above average, but I'm always looking to learn more and improve at the game because my focus was solely on resources and C&C for a long time.

What keeps you going even when the going gets tough (this can be in general or with respect to Smogon)? — Rabia

What keeps me going is knowing that there are people around me that care and are here for me, and I always feel inspired by listening to the words of those who have struggled but it has got better for them, giving me hope for the future too.

Best Pokémon game in your opinion? And why? — LaBalladeDesCieux

BW2. I haven't played quite a few of the games because I got into Pokémon pretty late, but that one always sticks out to me because I love the Pokémon in Gen 5 a lot; a lot of my favorites come from that generation, and there are some really cool designs from the game that are often overlooked or even hated on. I also like the characters and story a lot because it makes you think about morality. BW metagames on Smogon are also among my favorite tiers even though I might not be amazing at playing them.

Which gen do you think brought the worst Pokémon to use competitively? (Not including jokes like Delibird, Magikarp, etc) — Jerry the great

Gen 1 and 2. Those were the first generations of the game where things were a lot more simple in terms of power and mechanics, and a lot of the older Pokémon struggled to adapt to newer metas. Gen 8 changed this somewhat, so I'm interested to see what some of the Gen 1 DLC Pokémon like Chansey and Slowbro bring.

Everyone in leadership positions has to deal with blowback at times; have you had any particularly bad experiences with this, and how do you handle them in general? — Lumari

I haven't really in C&C because there's a lot less disagreement and room for blowback as in some other areas; there have been a few good discussions raised this generation about analyses, but none of them were really personal at a leadership level, so it hasn't been too bad. If it were to happen to me directly, I would try to understand the complaints and address them in the most neutral and fair way possible and avoid taking anything personal because Smogon for all of us is fun and a hobby.