WHAT'S UP NICHE COMMUNITY! This week i have someone very, very important that i've been wanting to have on for a while, but due to unfortunate circumstances( being busy and lazy), i wasn't able to! But now that doesn't matter anymore. For the 15th edition of POTW, we have one of the fouding uncs of ND Boomer !!
:nidoking: Me
:ursaluna-bloodmoon: Boomer
:nidoking:
How did you discover Pokemon and Smogon?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
I got a gameboy color at a garage sale when I was 4 with pokemon yellow in it and I had no fuckin idea how to get out of the starting house I was in because like other 4 year olds I usually exited buildings thru a door and not a floor mat but what did I know. Anyways eventually I took my gameboy to school and lost my cartridge so I never managed to make it out of pallet town or whatever. I don’t even really remember how I first came across smogon. There was probably some unofficial time in high school where one of my bros got me back onto pokemon cuz he showed me showdown and we played it during computer science and he would just load some bitch made scarf togekiss team and haxx down all my guys. It was prob ORAS at the time so that tracks. Couple years later during COVID I discovered blunder and made it into idm room on PS and eventually made some friends that got me onto discord/smogon, etc. and the rest is history.
:nidoking:
What is the origin of your name?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Origin of my name is from blunders alt “2013 idm room” but it was 2020 so I went with “2020 idm” and kind of treated it like a clan tag but instead of “room” I went with “boomer” cuz I was really into Rillaboom at the time. This was prob like SS first DLC time (Isle of Armor I think?) when they dropped grassy glide and rilla was beating everyone’s ass so that’s where the name came from.
:nidoking:
What do u do irl outside of gaming?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
I’m a sales engineer for a hyperscaler so I’m in tech sales. Lead technical resource on all things on data and AI for the platform. Job keeps me on the road about 25% of the time. Background in data engineering. Family man now that I’m married and have a kid. Barely have time for hobbies but I will occasionally build or ladder when I’m up at random hours or on the toilet.
:nidoking:
What tiers do u play the most?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Prob SV NDOU > SM OU > SS Natdex > SV ND DOU. I’m getting into SV ND Mono now too. I just love formats with Z Moves. But ones that closest resemble the current gen games. So none of that Z-Move nonsense in like Camomons or whatever. That’s just way too much to keep track of.
:nidoking:
What are some of the best tournament matches of your career?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Clinching the W for USA vs ROW in the Natdex edition a few years ago: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/usa-vs-the-world-main-event-won-by-team-usa.3734421/post-9946520. I didn’t realize I was the last one scheduled to play and I was driving home from 3 hrs away on the verge of shitting myself by the time I got home. Then I had to log on and play a 238 turn semi stall mirror which was tortuous at like 11 pm on a Sunday night. But I got the job done and that was iconic. I think it was either the first or only time USA won in a format vs ROW. I got a few others in mind but this is definitely the most memorable.
:nidoking:
What is a tournament team that you have been part of that you still remember fondly?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
The journey with US South into finally winning NDWC after 4 years has to be it. I also love everything I’ve done with the Main Event Mafia, especially starting that off with Danbear, getting LogIce aboard, and eventually handing off to him, Omar and Seth. My management journey started with the Mafia but the love of team tours really started with US South for NDWC.
:nidoking:
If you were to return back to the begging of your competitive journey, what things would you change?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Prob spend less time playing randbats in college and get into comp more. I didn’t realize SM OU was the main format back then so I probably missed out on the golden era… I know there’s still lots of SM OU tours to play but I really enjoy playing current gen formats once things start to settle after DLCs drop.
:nidoking:
What's ur opinion on the current competitive state of the tiers you play?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Not bad to be honest. I always find ways to innovate across the formats I play. I’ll be vocal about mons that I think should be banned or unbanned but that typically applies to shit that are so beyond unbalanced that it would just be ridiculous to keep them legal. I also just enjoy more offensive metas so if a tier is pushing for more pussy balance type shit then it’s prob not one I’ll enjoy playing. But I like the state SV ND OU is in rn. I think the pace of innovation is behind but generally speaking there is a lot to enjoy. I’m really into SV ND Mono rn though. I know I’m pretty much retired playing wise from mons but if I can get picked up in MWP I will boss up fs.
:nidoking:
Do you know any up and coming players that you think have the potential to become very good?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Honestly I don’t keep up with the tour scene much anymore but my boy ong just got unbanned and idk if he’ll make a natdex return but I always thought he was gonna go on to win a bunch of shit. I’d keep my eye on him in whatever tours he ends up playing.
:nidoking:
What was the most dissapointing tournament match that you've played or were witness to?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Ngl… there are still a lot of unhealed wounds from NDPL finals that I already commented on… so I’m gonna pass on adding any more to it. For me I think it was NDWC a few years ago when I played Finchinator.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ndwc-iii-week-four.3721792/post-9632256I asked for the matchup cuz I wanted the glory that came with winning… and I had a winpath but I fucked it up because I was a filthy timer abuser. I just wanted to capitalize on the mu with Deoxys considering Finch isn’t a Mainer and probably might not come prepared to deal with it. But turn 19 -> turn 20 the double should’ve been into Mega Latias to set up the sweep but idk why I was tryna swag with Deoxys like that. Anyways, the stakes weren’t crazy it was just a regular season NDWC game but sucks I let that one slip away.
:nidoking:
What's a very underated strat that you have used in a tournament before?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Taunt boots nature’s madness lele… what a beast. I passed it to Huargensy on Mafia in SSNDPL II finals after having to endure managing the Eiscue’s with 1yr: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ssndpl-ii-finals-won-by-the-main-event-mafia.3786227/post-11091185
I realized we don’t use enough taunt and care about coverage too much but mons like lele and koko could literally just bulldoze thru pretty much anything with taunt madness + a strong stab. And they can put in work vs other BOs or just completely shut down fatter builds. SSNDPL was a good time to experiment considering no prize at stake and I took that opportunity. I passed an AV tentacruel in NDFL once as well as a Zard Y pivot and hazard remover which was pretty shiest. But I prefer to use common mons for some of my innovative strategies.
:nidoking:
Any closing statements?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Be a student of the game. Your growth and ceiling as a player is limited by the archetypes that you’re willing to pilot. If you just turn a blind eye to the parts that you don’t enjoy then you’ll never get a feel of how to play around them. At the end of the day I play to win. I couldn’t care less about whether I had a good time playing. If I want to have a good time I’ll get in vc and load a banded slowbro team on ladder for my homie and laugh at him like a hyena. But taking my fate into my own hands I’m having the best time when I’m winning.
:nidoking: Thanks for taking part in this, Boomer. You have been one of the all time greats of ND and it was great having you here. And THANK YOU for reading this post, i hope you enjoyed. Cya next week!
:nidoking: Me
:ursaluna-bloodmoon: Boomer
:nidoking:
How did you discover Pokemon and Smogon?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
I got a gameboy color at a garage sale when I was 4 with pokemon yellow in it and I had no fuckin idea how to get out of the starting house I was in because like other 4 year olds I usually exited buildings thru a door and not a floor mat but what did I know. Anyways eventually I took my gameboy to school and lost my cartridge so I never managed to make it out of pallet town or whatever. I don’t even really remember how I first came across smogon. There was probably some unofficial time in high school where one of my bros got me back onto pokemon cuz he showed me showdown and we played it during computer science and he would just load some bitch made scarf togekiss team and haxx down all my guys. It was prob ORAS at the time so that tracks. Couple years later during COVID I discovered blunder and made it into idm room on PS and eventually made some friends that got me onto discord/smogon, etc. and the rest is history.
:nidoking:
What is the origin of your name?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Origin of my name is from blunders alt “2013 idm room” but it was 2020 so I went with “2020 idm” and kind of treated it like a clan tag but instead of “room” I went with “boomer” cuz I was really into Rillaboom at the time. This was prob like SS first DLC time (Isle of Armor I think?) when they dropped grassy glide and rilla was beating everyone’s ass so that’s where the name came from.
:nidoking:
What do u do irl outside of gaming?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
I’m a sales engineer for a hyperscaler so I’m in tech sales. Lead technical resource on all things on data and AI for the platform. Job keeps me on the road about 25% of the time. Background in data engineering. Family man now that I’m married and have a kid. Barely have time for hobbies but I will occasionally build or ladder when I’m up at random hours or on the toilet.
:nidoking:
What tiers do u play the most?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Prob SV NDOU > SM OU > SS Natdex > SV ND DOU. I’m getting into SV ND Mono now too. I just love formats with Z Moves. But ones that closest resemble the current gen games. So none of that Z-Move nonsense in like Camomons or whatever. That’s just way too much to keep track of.
:nidoking:
What are some of the best tournament matches of your career?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Clinching the W for USA vs ROW in the Natdex edition a few years ago: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/usa-vs-the-world-main-event-won-by-team-usa.3734421/post-9946520. I didn’t realize I was the last one scheduled to play and I was driving home from 3 hrs away on the verge of shitting myself by the time I got home. Then I had to log on and play a 238 turn semi stall mirror which was tortuous at like 11 pm on a Sunday night. But I got the job done and that was iconic. I think it was either the first or only time USA won in a format vs ROW. I got a few others in mind but this is definitely the most memorable.
:nidoking:
What is a tournament team that you have been part of that you still remember fondly?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
The journey with US South into finally winning NDWC after 4 years has to be it. I also love everything I’ve done with the Main Event Mafia, especially starting that off with Danbear, getting LogIce aboard, and eventually handing off to him, Omar and Seth. My management journey started with the Mafia but the love of team tours really started with US South for NDWC.
:nidoking:
If you were to return back to the begging of your competitive journey, what things would you change?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Prob spend less time playing randbats in college and get into comp more. I didn’t realize SM OU was the main format back then so I probably missed out on the golden era… I know there’s still lots of SM OU tours to play but I really enjoy playing current gen formats once things start to settle after DLCs drop.
:nidoking:
What's ur opinion on the current competitive state of the tiers you play?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Not bad to be honest. I always find ways to innovate across the formats I play. I’ll be vocal about mons that I think should be banned or unbanned but that typically applies to shit that are so beyond unbalanced that it would just be ridiculous to keep them legal. I also just enjoy more offensive metas so if a tier is pushing for more pussy balance type shit then it’s prob not one I’ll enjoy playing. But I like the state SV ND OU is in rn. I think the pace of innovation is behind but generally speaking there is a lot to enjoy. I’m really into SV ND Mono rn though. I know I’m pretty much retired playing wise from mons but if I can get picked up in MWP I will boss up fs.
:nidoking:
Do you know any up and coming players that you think have the potential to become very good?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Honestly I don’t keep up with the tour scene much anymore but my boy ong just got unbanned and idk if he’ll make a natdex return but I always thought he was gonna go on to win a bunch of shit. I’d keep my eye on him in whatever tours he ends up playing.
:nidoking:
What was the most dissapointing tournament match that you've played or were witness to?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Ngl… there are still a lot of unhealed wounds from NDPL finals that I already commented on… so I’m gonna pass on adding any more to it. For me I think it was NDWC a few years ago when I played Finchinator.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ndwc-iii-week-four.3721792/post-9632256I asked for the matchup cuz I wanted the glory that came with winning… and I had a winpath but I fucked it up because I was a filthy timer abuser. I just wanted to capitalize on the mu with Deoxys considering Finch isn’t a Mainer and probably might not come prepared to deal with it. But turn 19 -> turn 20 the double should’ve been into Mega Latias to set up the sweep but idk why I was tryna swag with Deoxys like that. Anyways, the stakes weren’t crazy it was just a regular season NDWC game but sucks I let that one slip away.
:nidoking:
What's a very underated strat that you have used in a tournament before?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Taunt boots nature’s madness lele… what a beast. I passed it to Huargensy on Mafia in SSNDPL II finals after having to endure managing the Eiscue’s with 1yr: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ssndpl-ii-finals-won-by-the-main-event-mafia.3786227/post-11091185
I realized we don’t use enough taunt and care about coverage too much but mons like lele and koko could literally just bulldoze thru pretty much anything with taunt madness + a strong stab. And they can put in work vs other BOs or just completely shut down fatter builds. SSNDPL was a good time to experiment considering no prize at stake and I took that opportunity. I passed an AV tentacruel in NDFL once as well as a Zard Y pivot and hazard remover which was pretty shiest. But I prefer to use common mons for some of my innovative strategies.
:nidoking:
Any closing statements?
:ursaluna-bloodmoon:
Be a student of the game. Your growth and ceiling as a player is limited by the archetypes that you’re willing to pilot. If you just turn a blind eye to the parts that you don’t enjoy then you’ll never get a feel of how to play around them. At the end of the day I play to win. I couldn’t care less about whether I had a good time playing. If I want to have a good time I’ll get in vc and load a banded slowbro team on ladder for my homie and laugh at him like a hyena. But taking my fate into my own hands I’m having the best time when I’m winning.
:nidoking: Thanks for taking part in this, Boomer. You have been one of the all time greats of ND and it was great having you here. And THANK YOU for reading this post, i hope you enjoyed. Cya next week!