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1. the only time i ever use serious teams is if i think they're gonna CT me
2. Are you sure you want to know? Not like it really matters anyways... Don't you have more important things to ask? Hell, I'm not even that good at memes! I'm a pretty average memer if you ask me. Seriously, I'm not that good! Not trying to be rude or anything... Anyways it's just a question after all... My god, why am I taking so long to answer this question? Essay for such a simple question? I'm really wasting my time. Seriously. Just stop typing already... Oh my god, why am I still typing this? Holy shit. Never gonna finish this answer... Crap, I really can't remember where I learned to meme. Exactly why I sucked in school. Never knowing the answer to anything. Anyways, honestly I don't know where or when, but I know who taught me, the answer is located somewhere in this paragraph.
2. Are you sure you want to know? Not like it really matters anyways... Don't you have more important things to ask? Hell, I'm not even that good at memes! I'm a pretty average memer if you ask me. Seriously, I'm not that good! Not trying to be rude or anything... Anyways it's just a question after all... My god, why am I taking so long to answer this question? Essay for such a simple question? I'm really wasting my time. Seriously. Just stop typing already... Oh my god, why am I still typing this? Holy shit. Never gonna finish this answer... Crap, I really can't remember where I learned to meme. Exactly why I sucked in school. Never knowing the answer to anything. Anyways, honestly I don't know where or when, but I know who taught me, the answer is located somewhere in this paragraph.
1. Hi! Who are you and could you give a little introduction of yourself?
Hi! I'm currently a high school junior in Ohio. I really like to play piano, think about math, read, and play video games, so practically the typical asian nerd. On the other hand, I enjoy writing and taking walks, and also hanging out with friends.
2. Where did your username come from and why did you stick with it?
When I was around 8 or so, I signed up for a online chess playing system called "Internet Chess Club", or "ICC" for short. I tried to go with "checkmater" but that was taken, so I added a 75 because it was my favourite number at the time. From there, I used it for email, league of legends, and basically everything that required a username, so I kind of stuck with it.
Most people abbreviate it as "check", which can sometimes get annoying because I have it on highlight and will randomly get highlighted during metagame discussions, or if I'm in a room like Ubers where every 5th line is someone asking for a check to Pdon. It's what I've used all my life for online usernames though, so it's what I'll continue to use. I shortened it to "Checkmater" a few months back when SpaceBass noted that he used to be SpaceBass + some lame number and I've found the color of "Checkmater" to be much nicer, so I usually use that now.
3. When did you start playing competitive Pokémon, when did you start playing competitive Doubles, and why did you stick around?
I think I first started around 2 years ago, when a friend of mine said to fight him on this battle simulator called Pokemon Showdown. I built some janky shit singles team using sets I either used in the Diamond endgame points tower thing or had seen some Youtuber use ages ago, and then from there I messed around with it a bit on the Singles OU ladder. What really got me to stick around was probably this replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-41749581 of me playing someone who had a shitload of spectators on the singles ladder. I really enjoyed the exciting feeling of it and the peanut/meme gallery was hilarious. I stopped playing a short while after that but came back around a year later, in 2014, when I was bored and League wasn't working. I rebuilt the team and entered some OU room tour with it where I had the same fun experience of fucking around and making it to the finals and everyone being like "Who the fuck is this kid and what the fuck are these sets?"
I started playing doubles when I wanted to use Ludicolo rain because I remembered it looked super cool in Ruby, and then learned swift swim sweepers were a thing, but also learned it was best in Doubles. From there I built my first Doubles OU team, with something like 5x water type with a Cradily thrown in. I stuck around in Doubles because I really liked the 2v2 aspect, which was way more fun and exciting than half my singles matches which were "Who is willing to stay up the longest on this page without falling asleep of utter boredom". From there I discovered the community, which is full of great people that sucked me into the inescapable void of procrastination and memes.
4. What is your favourite playstyle to use in Doubles, and why?
My favorite playstyle is probably Hyper Offense. I just really like having the predictive initiate and fast paced games. Also I really think whatever janky defensive bullshit people use isn't viable, outside of maybe Amoonguss, and I still don't really like Amoonguss either. In general, everytime I use something like suicune, I ask myself why I'm doing 20% everytime to a Kangaskhan, instead of killing things with Keldeo or Greninja? It's just my playstyle to play hyper offense and go for the fastpaced games, I guess.
5. What is your favourite Pokémon to use competitively and why? What is your favourite Pokémon overall and why?
I really like to use Jirachi just because I think it's sooo good and Jirachi + Diancie just sweeps teams half the time. Also because it's the only steel I think isn't shit and fits on hyper offense well. My favourite pokemon in general is probably Mudkip because I used it a lot in Ruby and it was my first pokemon, and it's fucking adorable.
6. You are well known for your love of High Jump Kick, what is the story behind how that came to be?
Well, when I built my first non-shitsselia FullRoom team, I ended up with something like my current FullRoom build except with Abomasnow>Sylveon. I was talking about how I didn't like how drain punch didn't do enough to be significant damage, and someone (I think jokingly) suggested High Jump Kick. I tested it out, and after it ohko'd Kang vs Haruno in a ladder match and, in general, did really well in Summer Seasonals, I ended up always putting it on Scrafty from there on.
It's also in line with my high risk high reward play style and it gets a lot of flack it doesn't deserve, which means every time someone says "lolol ct checkmater by bringing protect" I feel like I have to defend the move choice, even though I know they're probably joking and messing around.
7. Do you believe there is anything broken or suspect worthy in the current metagame?
I'd probably have to say I really think Skymin needs to be brought down, and same with the Salamence-Mega. In particular, I'm a little upset that a last second announcement of a change in the system of voting combined with an extremely close vote ended up changing the entire meta to an extreme degree. While I can see why people wanted Skymin banned, I feel it was definitely balanced and I was always extremely well-prepared for it, making it, in my eyes, a mon that was extremely easy to shift and adapt for.
For Mence, I just never saw it as broken and never felt it needed to be banned in the first place, though I'm probably not the best speaker on this because I only came in for the second suspect and wasn't competitively active during the first. Also the type of arguments used to ban it were kind of shit, but I suspect it was also banned large part due to many voters feeling like nothing had changed since the first vote, which could be valid, and I have no idea because I wasn't here.
I also think that Talonflame could do with a suspect. In my eyes, it's definitely tier 1 and extremely powerful, and extremely hard to prepare for. Something that doesn't come up in meta discussions as often but is extremely important in Doubles is speed tier, and Talon literally has the best "speed tier" of them all. Part of what made Skymin very powerful was that it would impact the field before anything else, and talon is the same way. In addition, with the exception of Diancie-Mega, many of its counters and checks are very weak and not very strong, or very niche, and there's no mon that can stop it before it does something on the field.
8. With both Seasonals and Open both underway, who do you think are the favourites to win?
I don't follow Seasonals and Open matches very much to be honest, just my own matches. I'd like to win, but besides myself I'd like Stratos to win, Kamikaze (though I can't remember if he's still in seasonals), and there are loads of cool players like Hashtag, qsns, and deo speed lol who I think have very good shots at winning and I love to watch. Unfortunately, a lot of not-as-reputable players I was rooting for such as Yoda got eliminated already, but I think it'd be cool if Haruno won seasonals. I'm also looking forward to Haruno vs Stratos which should be coming soon.
9. Could you give us a team that resembles your playstyle and could you give us a brief explanation of it?
This is a team I messed around for a while, and still am. It's a classic signature of 1 mega stone combined with 5 life orbs that I've kind of fallen into recently, for no good reason. Also, on first glance, the first question anyone asks is "what the fuck is this team and what are these shit sets" aka how you know it's good. I think this team represents my playstyle much better than my fullroom team just because it really captures that idea of how I build hyper offense, just go go go go kill things and sac everything and then win off of positioning, and while we're at it who cares about defensive synergy or switchins. Also it's got sets I really like, the highlights of which are life orb hp steel Togekiss, life orb deo, and Greninja.
10. If you could change anything about Doubles, what would it be and why?
If I could change anything it'd probably be people's attitude about hax. Last seasonal when I played Level 56 in winner's bracket on round 3 or 4 I got haxed really hard g2, and proceeded to lose the series. I was really upset at the time about missing something like 3 or 4 hydros in a row, but when I looked over the replays again and kamikaze talked to be about the games I realized that I let my own frustration at hax tilt me into making really bad plays and not seeing all the possibilities. Since, I've tried to detach myself from getting too emotional about hax and trying to just focus better.
Another thing I actively try to change is people's unwillingness to see or make ballsy plays. Something in particular I'm known for is not protecting Diancie first turn it's out, or predicting certain switches, or in general, forseeing what your opponent might do. Maybe it's just me but I feel there are a lot of players who are unwilling to make hardreads, or ""know"" someone is going to switch in X but would rather play safe than go with the prediction. Obviously, if there's a 100% way to win there's no need to predict, but there are loads of situations where one should look back and say "Oh this was a possibility" or "I could have done this there". Predictions are one thing but recognizing all the possible plays is another, which I think is an important skill. I learned this through watching good players play in friendlies or seasonal matches, which helped me improve a lot.
11. What is your favourite part about the Doubles community, and why?
My favorite thing about the Doubles community has to be how close-knit it is, despite being an online community. Also, everyone's really nice and funny people that I enjoy being around. It's also great at helping new players or in general offering help with anything, from teams to personal issues to just talking about anything, really.
12. Are there any other hobbies you have outside of playing Pokémon?
I like to play League of Legends, an online MOBA game, and I also like to read a lot. My favorite series is Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, which I really like for the style of writing and the great prose, but the next book is still 2 years away :(
13. Is there anything else you would like to say or speak about?
Arcticblast quit johning and give me my 10$ already so I can call myself a professional pokemon trainer
Also Cresselia is shit, Bisharp is shit, Aegislash is shit, Heatran is shit, Amoonguss is shit, dragons are shit, Thundurus is shit, and Megagross is shit.
Unban Skymin
--- Thanks to check for the interview! Sorry for the delay everyone, got bogged down with homework and tests the last few days D: (If the volume of questions is quite high, I might delay next weeks interview a bit as well to make sure they can all get done).
you have interesting opinions, considering you think even Aegislash and Thundurus are shit now..
anyway great read Yoda and check! I have prepared a few questions for you, please try to answer them as seriously as possible
1. how old are you really
2. you've been to china this summer, are you partially chinese or something
3. what is your best childhood memory
4. if you had a chance to do something over in your life, what would it be?
5. what do you feel the most proud of, apart from getting to top 3 in seasonals?
6. what do you spend your free time on apart from gaming
7. if you die, what would you want your tombstone to say (wow deep questions)?
8. what do you want to do later when you're done studying etc?
9. what is your favourite music. can you link 5 songs of your favourite music band/artist? (bonus points if it is taylor swift)
10. if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
11. if you'd win the lottery, what would you do with that mad cash
12. what are you spending your crazy prize moneys on
13. have you used your tournament success to pick up girls
14. when are you planning to take over the tier
15. move to the netherlands so we can play on the same server and create a pro league team in a few years. this is a command, not a question.
17. what is love
18. when you were little what did you want to be when you'd grow up
19. what is your most embarassing moment ever in your life
20. kittens or puppies AND WHY
21. what is your favourite food
22. what is your favourite colour
23. what is your favourite movie and why
24. what is your favourite book (do kids even read nowadays)
25. what is your least favourite food
26. what is your least favourite colour
27. what would you choose as your last meal ever and hwy
28. are you religious
29. jeans or leggings (to look at)
30. what do you hope to achieve by the end of 2016
31. what sports do you follow?
32. what is your favourite team in said sports and why
33. what is your favourite EU league team and why
34. what is your favourite NA league team and why
35. if you had to bet on a team to win this league worlds, which team would it be
36. will fnc, ig or ahq make it out of groups
37. who is your favourite league champion and why
38. who is your favourite league champion based on design and why
39. how often do you tilt playing league
40. how do you untilt
41. what is your worst pickup line
42. what is the worst compliment you have ever received
2. you've been to china this summer, are you partially chinese or something yeah im full chinese but I'm shit at Chinese culture and I'm like halfway ok at speaking it
3. what is your best childhood memory playing in some patches of bushes / trees with a friend everyday afterschool in like elementary or something
4. if you had a chance to do something over in your life, what would it be? probably the part where I said no to some girl in 4th grade asking me if I liked her afterschool... idk I'd probably have just avoided her entirely if I knew that was going to happen
5. what do you feel the most proud of, apart from getting to top 3 in seasonals? Uhh probably metacalling cress being shit like 2 weeks before it happened
6. what do you spend your free time on apart from gaming reading and doing work for school I guess
7. if you die, what would you want your tombstone to say (wow deep questions)? arrogant little fuck
8. what do you want to do later when you're done studying etc? probably be a mathematician, teach a class, meme the fuck out of my students while having tenure
9. what is your favourite music. can you link 5 songs of your favourite music band/artist? (bonus points if it is taylor swift) Uhh I like all kinds of music, usually what matters for me is the tone of the voice or it's has to be classical music
For some examples I'll link some later maybe
10. if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? Europa cuz it's awesome
11. if you'd win the lottery, what would you do with that mad cash Pay off Oglemi to be nice to Stratos and then force Stratos to be my bitch probably
12. what are you spending your crazy prize moneys on league rp
13. have you used your tournament success to pick up girls no unfortunately. I talked to a girl a month ago and then I tripped on the stairs at the same time. Have not repeated experience since
14. when are you planning to take over the tier When cresselia gets banned
15. move to the netherlands so we can play on the same server and create a pro league team in a few years. this is a command, not a question.
18. when you were little what did you want to be when you'd grow up be a pianist
19. what is your most embarassing moment ever in your life I asked a girl out on a game of truth/dare and she said no and then the whole school knew about it in 30 s sooooo
20. kittens or puppies AND WHY kitties, it's a name that sounds better
21. what is your favourite food fish and/or all kinds of really good chinese food like noodles and shit idk how to say their names in English
22. what is your favourite colour green or blue
23. what is your favourite movie and why Inside out, it gave me the feels and made me cry a lot
24. what is your favourite book (do kids even read nowadays) Name of the Wind or The Wise Man's Fear
25. what is your least favourite food really bitter chinese dried fruit things they eat during parties
26. what is your least favourite colour that bleh orange color that your name sometimes can get on ps
27. what would you choose as your last meal ever and hwy literally nothing cuz someday imma become an ascetic and try to be hipster
28. are you religious uhh not really
29. jeans or leggings (to look at) leggings
30. what do you hope to achieve by the end of 2016 demote spacebass
31. what sports do you follow? none except olympics pingpong a little
32. what is your favourite team in said sports and why idk any teams
33. what is your favourite EU league team and why FNC
34. what is your favourite NA league team and why C9
35. if you had to bet on a team to win this league worlds, which team would it be SKTT1 cuz fuck the westeners
36. will fnc, ig or ahq make it out of groups no
37. who is your favourite league champion and why fiddlesticks, im a 1trick pony
38. who is your favourite league champion based on design and why fiddlesticks, do I really have to answer this
39. how often do you tilt playing league im really good about not tilting so never
40. how do you untilt keep calm and ignore allies, then procede to get 3 triples steal a baron, and win the game
41. what is your worst pickup line from a friend: "millions of neutrinos are piercing your body every second may I join in?"
42. what is the worst compliment you have ever received Dude you're so bad you're somehow winning idk how
43. are you single yes
44. why are you still playing pokemon cuz im single
45. mfk audio stratos arctic m arctic, f audio, k stratos
Aegis and heatran and bisharp and metagross: weak and slow af
Thundurus: literal shit cuz its coverage is shit and priority twave isn't good unless you're a fucker
Amoonguss: goggles is the ct and it's garbage bcuz it's slow af and not a real tr check
bisharp: does no damage + is shit defensively + does literally no damage
megagross: the other megas are better and do more damage and don't have shit coverage
Talon is extremely inhibitive on multiple teams + kills shit fast and it always moves first so even if you counter it it's still raping your partner. It also 2hkos the only viable intimidate and has a great movepool
Mence wasn't op in my eyes same with skymin, were easy mons to adapt to in the meta + really not that powerful considering mence had only one coverage move and skymin was pissweak and only good at ho vs ho matchup imo
People I look up to: literally everyone tbh. I see players use cool things in new ways or innovate all the time in room tours, ssnl matches, etc etc and it helps me break out of the frameworks I en up making in my own mind
The way I play was probably more selfound, back when I was starting I played a shitload of ladder and generally learned predictions/etc from playing the occasional good player such as yp or stratos and learning from those matches
watching stratos play in summer ssnl also helped me understand the full extent to which predictions can happen and how ballsy you can be sometimes. He talks like he always goes super safe play 100% but he really doesn't
Also that skype group that social made helped me improve a lot as a player during the first week or two it existed largely due to kamikaze cuz he helped me a lot
Idk I just want to get better really, never really thought about becoming a tutor or any positions though
Uhh I haven't really used any "unviable" mons to success really, besides greninja or serperior I guess, but what I tend to do is use different sets ie tr garde, colbur jelly, fullroom various mons, and messing with different cores and trying to make them work
Also since our glorious leader is busy on hiatus:
[2:56:56 PM] Keith: jesus christ
[2:57:00 PM] Keith: your opinions are terrible
[2:57:12 PM] Keith: im glad nobody takes you seriously because i’m not able to post a refutation
[2:57:44 PM] Keith: I really like to use Jirachi just because I think it's sooo good and Jirachi + Diancie just sweeps teams half the time.
[2:57:50 PM] Keith: LITERALLY HALF OF TEAMS HAVE SCARF LANDO-T
[2:57:59 PM] Keith: i guess you’re saying it sweeps every team without scarf lando-t?
[3:02:05 PM] Keith: Stratos: im so glad nobody takes check seriously because basically everything he said was wrong Stratos: Yoda2798 in the future dont interview somebody whos been playing mons for four months Stratos: im not being facetious either he gives tons of bad advice and i cant even post a refutation because i am BANNED
I mean like personal meta opinions don't ---> this is true 100%. Make your own meta opinions. Also half all the chalk teams in the world have only landot as a jirachi+diancie check, and landot is incredibly easy to prepare for and also awkward to use because icy winds/eq immunities required. And when scarf landot is your only diancie jirachi check on a myriad of teams... p much a free win (aka that thalk+latios team). Considering that everytime you lock into a move you're losing momentum... Anyways this interview isn't meant for new players to read and base their meta opinions, it's to give you a sense of how I play and what I play. Sorry my meta-opinion differs from yours
2) not really. Serious teams I make are usually well prepared for talon by virtue of having diancie or 2/more soft talon checks (ie eruptran or fullroom kang). I'm getting a lot of shit for this metaopinion but if you think talon isn't strong you've never played doubles ou and if you think moving first isn't one of the most important parts of doubles you've also never played doubles. I mean even Stratos is giving me all the shit under the bridge for saying talon is suspect worthy when he said it definitely deserves tier 1 100%. Clearly it's a strong mon. Also see my paragraph explaining if you really want to understand how I feel about talon.
3) I'm waiting for an excuse to post a sshot of all the janky proof of concept fullroom teams I've made but never completely finished out