approved by monotype forum mods
inspired by this and this
First of all thanks for taking the time to do this, I'm sure the community will be interested in hearing from a regular manager in our tournaments, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?
It’s my pleasure, thanks for having me! Outside of Pokémon, I live in Canada and I’m an elementary math and physical education teacher. I play on a basketball team and I love to cook. Otherwise, I honestly just enjoy relaxing, watching Friends, drawing, or hanging out with friends
Yeah, currently I’m a college senior studying politics and spanish. I’m probably going to law school next year, although still need to hear back from places. As far as hobbies I’m pretty basic, I like watching TV / playing video games / hanging out with my friends.
How did you get introduced / involved with the Monotype community?
I got into Showdown about 13 years ago when I came across a video, pretty sure it was by Pokeaim, on YouTube. From there, I played randbats here and there and eventually started building my own teams (Thunder Gyarados type shit). I came across a side server called Aero League, where I mained Psychic and just rolled with it. From there, we transferred over to Frost and other side servers, where I discovered more leagues and even made my own called Ace League. After that died down, we all raided the main server like that one hyena scene in The Lion King, and here I am.
I don’t remember exactly how I first started, but I was on the site pretty young and was just playing random tiers before I settled on Monotype. I was drafted for Monotype BLT by Attribute. Our team was pretty active and…the rest was history. I did take like a year break (those who know who know) because I was a mentally ill teenager LOL but when I came back everyone was super nice and I stuck with Monotype ever since.
Do you have a favorite moment or memory that sticks out from your time on Smogon / PS?
Honestly, leagues in their prime were definitely a highlight. The idea of having a group of mates, battling other leagues, playing games, and the drama, that was always entertaining. I was young and way more motivated to play back in the day, and even though I still enjoy building and playing now, back then it was my bread and butter. My first time managing Miltanks in MWP, even though we were cursed, was a very entertaining server that I’ll always remember. Both MFPL teams were definitely highlights too, where I got to meet new friends, and winning back to back was awesome.
I don’t think I have one favorite memory, but there are a few that stick out
1) MPL VIII Nidoqueens: team was a hot mess, but was a very fun & active cord
2) Prime playing Smite with other Smogon friends (RIP btw)
3) Winning MPL this year
If you were the tier leader for a day, what would you ban? Unban? What about an old generation?
I think i'd take a look at Fire this gen, I don't think it's too bad and personally idk if heat rock was the problem I would have looked at a set up sweeper? maybe Ogerpon? For the most part I think everything is fine, i'm not too intune with SV as I am with old gens and I think those are good as is for now.
From SV I would ban Ogerpon-Hearthflame and unban Zama / Gambit / Blood Moon / Chien Pao / Lunala. For oldgens, I would unban Keldeo from ORAS…real ones know Water / Fighting has never had >50% winrate in that tier.
Do you have any advice for some players who are newer and trying to get more involved with the community / better at the game? What about someone who wants to get drafted for MPL / MWP / MFPL?
It takes time and you need to be patient, start off with room tours and individual tours, make your way up to MFPL and keep the grind up to MWP/MPL. Time and time again people followed that and kept growing as a user and player. I love seeing new talent thrive which is why MFPL is something I enjoy managing.
As far as improving, ladder is the best place to do it, and we are lucky that Monotype has a really active ladder. If you’re good at ladder, success in individuals will probably follow (also one of them is a ladder tour). Also don’t be afraid to copy players you think are good, especially their teams. It’s a lot harder to succeed with one bad type than it is to succeed with several good types.
You are, of course, the back to back MFPL manager winner. How did you two decide to team up?
Twinkay is one of my closest friends on the site, we clicked right away when we met. We started off with BLT, where we managed together, but it didn’t work out due to people throwing, quitting the team, and having no replacements. After that, Twinkay and I decided to redeem ourselves and manage MFPL, which we won, leaving us no choice but to run it back for the next one, and we won again.We both love helping players grow, and with our good cop (me) and bad cop (Twink) dynamic, the server is always full of good vibes and fun. We work really well together, and looking forward to 3peat.
Honestly, I think I randomly DMed him the signup thread and said let’s sign up. Sometimes that works guys LOL… 1/50 times. We weren’t really close at the time but I thought he was a cool guy and to my surprise he said yes, and was also a lot more active than me. We won the first tour we managed and haven’t looked back since.
Any advice for players who have never managed but want to give it a try? How do you build a winning draft and team environment?
This is definitely out of the ordinary as a manager but we don't really go ham on a draft plan, prices (as we saw this MWP) are sometimes scuffed, so we like to capitalize on steals while getting some good players along the way. We like to focus a lot on chat presence and vibes but also have a healthy balance with people who can help support and just load whatever is given properly. For anyone that wants to ba a manager, if you get results on your first time, great! But it will take time to get the hang of it and not let yourself burnout, at the end of the day scouts and stuff is cool, but it's not as important if it's taking days to figure out one slot.
I do feel qualified to answer this because I was a bad manager for a long time. Here’s my tips:
1) Make sure you provide something concrete to the team, whether it be teams, scouts, testing, etc.
2) Don’t take it personally when people don’t listen to you. Ultimately, everyone wants to do their own thing. Just keep showing up to help
3) Don’t be a doomer openly because that just makes everyone feel bad. Calling out people is okay sparingly, but you should be mindful of when you do it
4) Drafting takes a lot of community knowledge and is hard at first if you don’t have that built up. Make the best of what you have, and it’s always fine to draft your friends
Is there a team you wouldn't mind sharing with us that you really enjoy using and showcases your style of play?
I mostly enjoy old gens, the older the gen the more I enjoy it. Lately I have been enjoying SS building a lot, being drafted to SSPL and supporting Tenebricite was a blast and it made me go from hating the tier to genuinely enjoying it. Something that I also like is unexpected sets, teams that are fun but also good and going out of the ordinary.
Time to feature our MWP mascot: https://pokepast.es/9ed635bbc7957d3e I built this in MFPL, Alolan Ninetales is a top 10 mon of mine and wanted to see how it would roll in the tier. Although its memey, and not that good in a few matches, I like how it blasts through a lot of the heavy hitters in the tier.
https://pokepast.es/3f17855b57286794
One of my favorite ORAS teams. I’ve always liked balanced / bulkier teams and being able to use my favorite mons.
If you were stuck on an island and there was 1 monotype community member stuck with you, who would you want it to be and why? what about who would you not want it to be?
This one is tough, but if I was stuck and can only choose one person it would have to be Isza. He has been a homie for as long as I can remember, and its always good vibes with him. We can talk for hours and not get bored and we like the same things for the most part. Someone I would not want it to be is fade cause he's always mad bout SOMETHING, like sitting on an island and dealing with his negative vibes is not it, and idk if theres many areas on the island where he can get an aura cleanse and renew his chakras.
Seo because I could delegate getting rescued to him. Wouldn’t want it to be hex because we would be dying for sure.
Thank you so much for your time and your diligent answers, I’m sure everybody will appreciate reading and learning a bit more about you. Is there anybody you would like to give a shoutout to?
hellll ya it's a pleasure, shoutout to you first and foremost for taking the time to do this. shoutout to the irl homies feen jackuzzler can't wait to mess yall up in squash again, Tenebricite twinkay and the Veils looking forward to a super fun season, Isza fade for being 2 of my closest homies on the site, everyone on the Chimchars and Aipoms, monkeys unite!! yall killed it and deserve the wins. And everyone from Team Canada RBWC, to anyone that was around during the league times and in general all my friends. Truly appreciate everyone, and thanks for the good vibes always.
s/o to all my friends. I love y’all :)
inspired by this and this
First of all thanks for taking the time to do this, I'm sure the community will be interested in hearing from a regular manager in our tournaments, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?
It’s my pleasure, thanks for having me! Outside of Pokémon, I live in Canada and I’m an elementary math and physical education teacher. I play on a basketball team and I love to cook. Otherwise, I honestly just enjoy relaxing, watching Friends, drawing, or hanging out with friends
Yeah, currently I’m a college senior studying politics and spanish. I’m probably going to law school next year, although still need to hear back from places. As far as hobbies I’m pretty basic, I like watching TV / playing video games / hanging out with my friends.
How did you get introduced / involved with the Monotype community?
I got into Showdown about 13 years ago when I came across a video, pretty sure it was by Pokeaim, on YouTube. From there, I played randbats here and there and eventually started building my own teams (Thunder Gyarados type shit). I came across a side server called Aero League, where I mained Psychic and just rolled with it. From there, we transferred over to Frost and other side servers, where I discovered more leagues and even made my own called Ace League. After that died down, we all raided the main server like that one hyena scene in The Lion King, and here I am.
I don’t remember exactly how I first started, but I was on the site pretty young and was just playing random tiers before I settled on Monotype. I was drafted for Monotype BLT by Attribute. Our team was pretty active and…the rest was history. I did take like a year break (those who know who know) because I was a mentally ill teenager LOL but when I came back everyone was super nice and I stuck with Monotype ever since.
Do you have a favorite moment or memory that sticks out from your time on Smogon / PS?
Honestly, leagues in their prime were definitely a highlight. The idea of having a group of mates, battling other leagues, playing games, and the drama, that was always entertaining. I was young and way more motivated to play back in the day, and even though I still enjoy building and playing now, back then it was my bread and butter. My first time managing Miltanks in MWP, even though we were cursed, was a very entertaining server that I’ll always remember. Both MFPL teams were definitely highlights too, where I got to meet new friends, and winning back to back was awesome.
I don’t think I have one favorite memory, but there are a few that stick out
1) MPL VIII Nidoqueens: team was a hot mess, but was a very fun & active cord
2) Prime playing Smite with other Smogon friends (RIP btw)
3) Winning MPL this year
If you were the tier leader for a day, what would you ban? Unban? What about an old generation?
I think i'd take a look at Fire this gen, I don't think it's too bad and personally idk if heat rock was the problem I would have looked at a set up sweeper? maybe Ogerpon? For the most part I think everything is fine, i'm not too intune with SV as I am with old gens and I think those are good as is for now.
From SV I would ban Ogerpon-Hearthflame and unban Zama / Gambit / Blood Moon / Chien Pao / Lunala. For oldgens, I would unban Keldeo from ORAS…real ones know Water / Fighting has never had >50% winrate in that tier.
Do you have any advice for some players who are newer and trying to get more involved with the community / better at the game? What about someone who wants to get drafted for MPL / MWP / MFPL?
It takes time and you need to be patient, start off with room tours and individual tours, make your way up to MFPL and keep the grind up to MWP/MPL. Time and time again people followed that and kept growing as a user and player. I love seeing new talent thrive which is why MFPL is something I enjoy managing.
As far as improving, ladder is the best place to do it, and we are lucky that Monotype has a really active ladder. If you’re good at ladder, success in individuals will probably follow (also one of them is a ladder tour). Also don’t be afraid to copy players you think are good, especially their teams. It’s a lot harder to succeed with one bad type than it is to succeed with several good types.
You are, of course, the back to back MFPL manager winner. How did you two decide to team up?
Twinkay is one of my closest friends on the site, we clicked right away when we met. We started off with BLT, where we managed together, but it didn’t work out due to people throwing, quitting the team, and having no replacements. After that, Twinkay and I decided to redeem ourselves and manage MFPL, which we won, leaving us no choice but to run it back for the next one, and we won again.We both love helping players grow, and with our good cop (me) and bad cop (Twink) dynamic, the server is always full of good vibes and fun. We work really well together, and looking forward to 3peat.
Honestly, I think I randomly DMed him the signup thread and said let’s sign up. Sometimes that works guys LOL… 1/50 times. We weren’t really close at the time but I thought he was a cool guy and to my surprise he said yes, and was also a lot more active than me. We won the first tour we managed and haven’t looked back since.
Any advice for players who have never managed but want to give it a try? How do you build a winning draft and team environment?
This is definitely out of the ordinary as a manager but we don't really go ham on a draft plan, prices (as we saw this MWP) are sometimes scuffed, so we like to capitalize on steals while getting some good players along the way. We like to focus a lot on chat presence and vibes but also have a healthy balance with people who can help support and just load whatever is given properly. For anyone that wants to ba a manager, if you get results on your first time, great! But it will take time to get the hang of it and not let yourself burnout, at the end of the day scouts and stuff is cool, but it's not as important if it's taking days to figure out one slot.
I do feel qualified to answer this because I was a bad manager for a long time. Here’s my tips:
1) Make sure you provide something concrete to the team, whether it be teams, scouts, testing, etc.
2) Don’t take it personally when people don’t listen to you. Ultimately, everyone wants to do their own thing. Just keep showing up to help
3) Don’t be a doomer openly because that just makes everyone feel bad. Calling out people is okay sparingly, but you should be mindful of when you do it
4) Drafting takes a lot of community knowledge and is hard at first if you don’t have that built up. Make the best of what you have, and it’s always fine to draft your friends
Is there a team you wouldn't mind sharing with us that you really enjoy using and showcases your style of play?
I mostly enjoy old gens, the older the gen the more I enjoy it. Lately I have been enjoying SS building a lot, being drafted to SSPL and supporting Tenebricite was a blast and it made me go from hating the tier to genuinely enjoying it. Something that I also like is unexpected sets, teams that are fun but also good and going out of the ordinary.
Time to feature our MWP mascot: https://pokepast.es/9ed635bbc7957d3e I built this in MFPL, Alolan Ninetales is a top 10 mon of mine and wanted to see how it would roll in the tier. Although its memey, and not that good in a few matches, I like how it blasts through a lot of the heavy hitters in the tier.
https://pokepast.es/3f17855b57286794
One of my favorite ORAS teams. I’ve always liked balanced / bulkier teams and being able to use my favorite mons.
If you were stuck on an island and there was 1 monotype community member stuck with you, who would you want it to be and why? what about who would you not want it to be?
This one is tough, but if I was stuck and can only choose one person it would have to be Isza. He has been a homie for as long as I can remember, and its always good vibes with him. We can talk for hours and not get bored and we like the same things for the most part. Someone I would not want it to be is fade cause he's always mad bout SOMETHING, like sitting on an island and dealing with his negative vibes is not it, and idk if theres many areas on the island where he can get an aura cleanse and renew his chakras.
Seo because I could delegate getting rescued to him. Wouldn’t want it to be hex because we would be dying for sure.
Thank you so much for your time and your diligent answers, I’m sure everybody will appreciate reading and learning a bit more about you. Is there anybody you would like to give a shoutout to?
hellll ya it's a pleasure, shoutout to you first and foremost for taking the time to do this. shoutout to the irl homies feen jackuzzler can't wait to mess yall up in squash again, Tenebricite twinkay and the Veils looking forward to a super fun season, Isza fade for being 2 of my closest homies on the site, everyone on the Chimchars and Aipoms, monkeys unite!! yall killed it and deserve the wins. And everyone from Team Canada RBWC, to anyone that was around during the league times and in general all my friends. Truly appreciate everyone, and thanks for the good vibes always.
s/o to all my friends. I love y’all :)
~~~
This thread will remain open in case anyone would like to ask Seo & Twinkay any further questions. If you have an idea for who you would like to be interviewed next, please don't hesitate to let me know!
This thread will remain open in case anyone would like to ask Seo & Twinkay any further questions. If you have an idea for who you would like to be interviewed next, please don't hesitate to let me know!
