Welcome to OU Player of the Week! This project will feature interviews from some of the most accomplished and influential users in the tier so that we can learn more about them.
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xray
most known for: Playing actively in the tournament community for around 4 years now. Having the most ORAS OU wins in SPL (22-13) and being pretty good at it.
favorite pokemon: Infernape, I think?
most used pokemon: In Gen 6 + 7 that would probably be Tornadus-T at the moment. Just a very good pivot (and defogger in Gen 7) and you have a large flexibility by adapting its moveset to what your team needs it to be.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself outside of Smogon?
I am 20 years old and from Germany. I am currently studying Physical Education and English in order to become a teacher one day. I just started with college like half a year ago, but I have had a lots of fun till now already and I am very certain that I am going to stick with it. Overall I would say that I am a pretty communicative person and like to do lots of stuff with friends (sports and going out in the evenings especially), however I also enjoy having some time for myself and chilling @ home watching Netflix, playing Mons or bullying osgoode the whole day. I don't really play any other kinds of online games nowadays, but I used to play FIFA with friends till like 3-4 years ago. :D
Where did you get your name from?
Ahah, I'd lie if I say that I knew what an xray was back when I was like 12 and first chose the name. I really don't know to be quite honest. I think it was because the Administrator of the big german forums (was big back then) used to be called "ray" and I thought that sounded cool so I just put an "x" in front of it. Another thing I recognized is that my favorite pokemon back then was Luxray so this could have also been a reason. I can just tell you for sure that the name doesn't come from what you call an x-ray as it is called Rönthenstrahlen in Germany. Lmao.
How and when did you get into competitive Pokemon?
I think it probably was around 2013 or 2014 when I started to play Wifi on the german forums. Hassi and CBprincess really helped me at getting involved with the community back then and I had a fun time but decided to quit after a bit more than a year because I did not like the idea of Gen 6 and Mega Pokemon. Then a friend of mine called iZocker always hit me up for test games and tried to convince me to come back so I came back but wanted to try out something new. My next step was joining Smogon where I made it to the playoffs of Smogon Tour and became known after only playing Mons for slightly more than half a year again. And here I am now...
What’s your favorite generation of OU and why?
My favorite generation of OU is obviously ORAS OU. Not because I think that it is the best gen, but because I feel the most comfortable playing it. I know the gen from the in and out and I am very satisfied with my building- and my playing skills there. Truth is that I am pretty lazy at trying to learn new gens and especially building in them. I also hate losing so I rather stick to where I win usually lmao. However I feel like my BW OU and especially my SM OU skills have increased since last WCOP/Snake, so you might see me starting in one of those tiers in the near future!
What’s your favorite playstyle to use and why?
The playstyle that I usually feel the most comfortable with when starting to play a new tier is usually Bulky Offense. Simply cause of the fact that I think Bulky Offense can have a large variety of Pokemon and strategies. Nevertheless my goal is to be comfortable with any pokemon or playstyle. I would use anything that allows me or my team a good chance to win and I always try to come up with cool and unusual sets.
What are your thoughts on the current metagame?
SM OU is pretty cool at the moment. I'd say that the Zygarde Ban has been healthy for the Metagame. There are many strong playstyles like Rain or Stall and Bulky Offense is as good as always. There is much space to be creative too. It is just very hard and nearly impossible to cover all the different play styles and variations all at once.
Right now I feel like ORAS OU is in a weird state. Many people used to run Bulky Offenses that were really weak to the standard HO stuff like Azu, Bish, Volc etc. According to this some Pokemon like Quagsire became a lot more viable again because they cover most of the HO stuff. I think people need to start using better HO counters on Bulky Offense and from then everything will go back to normal.
Are there any Pokemon that you believe are overrated/underrated in the current metagame. Why?
In SM I think that Azumarill is like really underrated. It can be insane on stuff like Rain or HO. In ORAS I would consider both Zards pretty underrated rn. Especially ZardX can be very threatening vs many HOs or BOs. I feel like Mega Medicham and Mega Lopunny are also underrated as the Landorus-T usage dropped a lot and having a good revenger (Fake Out) is useful and Slowbro is not too hard to deal with. I think many players that are less experienced with ORAS have struggles with some common bulky setup stuff as Clefable, Gliscor or Mega Slowbro. Therefore I'd call them slightly overrated, although they are obviously fantastic. It is just that a really experienced player usually knows how to handle them right.
Your main tier (ORAS OU) seems to get a bad rap in many tournament circles; why do you think that is?
I think that is because many people bring outdated teams and therefore turn it into a rock-paper-scissors game from preview on. You can't use Bulky Offenses that lose to HO right now. If you get a HO vs HO matchup the game turns into a guessing game and HO will struggle with some more defensive teams or other stuff. If people start to use good Bulky Offenses again everything will go back to normal kinda. During last summer everyone loved ORAS OU, the meta will improve again it is just a lot of cheese rn.
What were some of your favorite moments from SPL this season? Who has surprised you most with their performance?
My favorite moment probably was the game Ezrael vs SMB as I really felt we would make Play Offs being up 7-3 with 2 games in our favor left. Unfortunately we didn't end up making it, but I am proud of our insane second half of the season. :)
Ultraballz has picked up a new tier and performed insanely well in it and even built his own teams. I was very surprised of that and of his huge general understanding of the game despite being a new player.
Which of the official tournament formats do you enjoy the most? Why do you enjoy that format?
I really enjoy playing Smogon Tour a lot, as I still feel very excited to watch so many high level games at the same time. You also often see a good amount of newcomers performing well and I just think the overall format is pretty cool and the Play Offs are usually very stacked. SPL is a great tour too. Although I have never made it to Play Offs I am also always enthusiastic about SPL. It is an interesting tournament and you get to know many new people and share great experiences.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone trying to break into the tournament setting?
Watch as many battles of proven tournament players as you can. Always think about what you could have done better in any game, no matter if you win or lose. And don't mind annoying proven players for advice or anything like that. We all started out as randoms at some point :P
Who are some of your favourite people in the Smogon community?
I am scared of forgetting people here but in general I'd prob say that the whole qf gang has been pretty important to me. Especially Triangles, crayon pop and Bedschibaer <3 Honorable mention also to the people who probably helped me the most at evolving into a tournament player and often stayed by my side: cosine180, Sweepage, Bloo and BKC. Besides that I got to meet many great people. Shoutouts to the MAGMA BIGs, the taipans, the den crew, all the germans and many other great people like BLUNDER SANTANA, jonfilch, Empo and other guys. Sorry I can't mention everyone rn but you know who you are ;p
Finally, can you provide us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
The team is a bulky ORAS team with a few mons that are considered rather bad right now. What I like best about it is that it has great ways to deal with the popular HO teams rn while still being pretty bulky and having ways to safely play around stuff. Mega Scizor isn't very popular right now because of many things like Magnezone and TankChomp walking around, but with this team you have many possibilities to play around it. The spread on Scizor ensures that you outspeed knocked Magnezone and can kill it with Superpower (the combination of Knock Off + Superpower kills). The team in general has great ways to deal with many popular threats right now. It has 3 priority moves and thus can manage HO with mons like Azumarill, Serperior or Volcarona very well. It has a very useful offensive breaker in Weavile and can beat most of the bulky stuff with the 3 setup mons. The Talon spread assures a great chance at 2hkoing Gliscor while still providing a good overall bulk.
