3000 posts? ...oh dear.
THE WRITE-UP
At the start of each of my RMTs generally comes an (annoyingly) self-aware sentence mentioning how I've been playing DOU for some significant length of time and yet have only made a few RMTs. Since my last RMT, I've added about one and a half years of playtime, 508 posts, an actual Team Rater badge, and even more annoying self-awareness. yikes
In the last 3000 posts of my time on Smogon, I've perhaps built up a reputation for unorthodox teambuilding, and this team feels like an accurate representation of my time here on Smogon. Taking Pokemon seriously never worked out for me; I always preferred the kind of teams that made me laugh when I used them, and that were genuinely fun to play. This is one of those teams.
This team originated where most of my other RMT'd teams originated: interacting with the one and only @Kaori—back at the start of the year, I built with him during SPL, and discovered his disproportionately huge penchant for Fake Tears in DOU; across all the teams we built, Fake Tears showed up in various incarnations, from crying Whimsicott to crying Gothitelle to crying Lopunny to crying Breloom (the last of which was, fortunately, scrapped in time). Fast forward to around February, when I'm on holiday but building for my upcoming Seasonals match with miltankmilk at the back of my mind. I knew I wanted to show off some wacky stuff this match, and of course Fake Tears popped into my head... and soon, I found myself idly scrolling through the Bulbapedia page for Fake Tears while sitting on a bench in a hotel lobby. Right at the bottom of the list of Pokemon which can learn it via level was Slurpuff... which, as I recalled, had gained Sticky Web from USUM just four months prior. The germ of an idea began to form in my head.
Some general thoughts about the team: this team, like most HO teams, isn't really a laddering-style team. Its matchup against hard TR is almost irremediable, with only Aegislash holding it back from catastrophic failure, and it runs on a general gameplan of "remove things before TR can be set up". Instead, it operates optimally in tournament play, where it's more likely to be set against bulky offense teams. Such teams rely on strong defensive and offensive synergy, which is pretty meaningless when everything is at -1 Speed and being hit continuously by Choice Specs Koko and Sun-boosted Charizard Y.
This thread is still as much an RMT as a team showcase. I've recently edited / refreshed the EVs and some of the sets on this team, but for posterity's sake, I've appended the original EV spreads and movesets from when I first built and used the team, which may not be the best options. I'd love to hear some opinions on the team, like what could be done better, though I've reviewed it a few times and haven't been able to make significant changes to it.
THE LINE-UP
Slurpuff @ Electric Seed***Pastel Subliminal
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 64 SpD / 188 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Fake Tears
- After You
- Flamethrower
- Outruns Choice Scarf Thundurus-T (101+) and anything slower than it (notably including Choice Scarf Genesect)
- 252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 68 SpD Slurpuff in Electric Terrain: 310-366 (84.2 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Tough Claws Metagross-Mega Iron Head vs. +1 252 HP / 0 Def Slurpuff: 278-330 (75.5 - 89.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 4 SpA Slurpuff Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Genesect: 240-284 (84.8 - 100.3%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO (81.3% after SR)
Slurpuff's work on the field generally takes place near the start of a match: Sticky Web, when applied from the early-game, does a good job at amplifying Kyurem-B's, Landorus-T's, and Charizard-Y's generally middling speed tiers into surprisingly good numbers. Actually, that's somewhat similar to my life philosophy: there's no need to be particularly good, as long as everyone else is bad—but anyway, it's somewhat ironic that Slurpuff's main job on the team is now in the form of Sticky Web support, even though it was originally selected for having access to extremely fast Fake Tears support. I suppose there's another life lesson hidden somewhere in there; who knew Slurpuff also compressed moral teachings into its plethora of roles?
In the end, Slurpuff's three other moves faded into relatively auxiliary roles. Fake Tears can help Slurpuff's partners pick up unexpected KOs on a huge range of semi-bulky Pokemon, and is generally Slurpuff's go-to move on turns where it doesn't have much else to do. After You is a great move for the team's Rain matchup: since most Rain sweepers are only EV'd to barely outrun Choice Scarf Landorus-T or Genesect, Slurpuff easily outpaces opposing Rain sweepers, potentially allowing its partner to deliver a crucial Earthquake, Ice Beam, or even a Never-Ending Nightmare. Finally, Flamethrower is Slurpuff's offensive move of choice on this team, helping to patch a general fear of opposing Mega Metagross and Scarf Genesect this team has; the former can ignore Sticky Web on its first switch-in, and the latter can outrun and threaten several of my Pokemon even after Sticky Web.
Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs***Rainy Waltz
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Electro Ball
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dazzling Gleam
- 252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Electro Ball (150 BP) vs. -2 252 HP / 100+ SpD Amoonguss in Electric Terrain: 432-508 (100 - 117.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Electro Ball (150 BP) vs. -2 252 HP / 116 SpD Ferrothorn in Electric Terrain: 353-416 (100.2 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Electro Ball (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Shield in Electric Terrain: 310-366 (95.6 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO (requires Sticky Web)
Instead, what might warrant more discussion is Tapu Koko's item. On paper, Tapu Koko only had two main modes of offense in this team: Volt Switching out of unfavorable situations, and Electro Balling its way through slowed-down Pokemon. Importantly, neither of these modes necessarily requires the flexibility of switching moves, and indeed, Choice Specs allows Tapu Koko to plow through even opposing resists, especially with help from Slurpuff's Fake Tears. If there's a change to be made to this set, I'd imagine it would be changing Electro Ball to Thunderbolt, rather than doing anything to Koko's item.
Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb***Synesthesia
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 24 HP / 184 Atk / 148 SpA / 152 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Outruns -1 Tapu Koko
and Mega Gengar(130+) and anything slower than them - 184+ Atk Life Orb Teravolt Kyurem-Black Fusion Bolt vs. 252 HP / 72 Def Tapu Fini: 307-361 (89.2 - 104.9%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
- 148 SpA Life Orb Teravolt Kyurem-Black Ice Beam vs. 244 HP / 80 SpD Zapdos: 335-398 (87.6 - 104.1%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
- 148 SpA Life Orb Teravolt Kyurem-Black Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Koko: 283-335 (100.3 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ SpA Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. 24 HP / 0- SpD Kyurem-Black: 336-396 (84.6 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Honestly, I rarely have any idea about what's going on with Kyurem-B. On this particular team, I simply picked it for its sheer strong offensive prowess combined with great coverage, and in that particular sense I don't think there's a much better choice out there. The fact that it just has a lot of stats and amazing coverage in general makes it fairly splashable on most offense-geared teams, and that's basically what it does on this team. The original draft of the team also had Electrium Z to give it a nuke option as well, but when push came to shove I determined that Mega Metagross was a larger problem worthy of more consideration, so I was forced to shift the Z-move slot to Aegislash. I think LO Kyurem-B is solid enough to function well even without the Z-move, and in fact the extra general damage makes it even easier to run away with games after a Sticky Web.
Landorus-Therian @ Soft Sand***Physical Emotion
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 144 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
You might notice that there's been a few calculations on this team so far which are 6-12% off KOing an opposing Pokemon. This, combined with the fact that Ground is just such a good offensive type in general, meant that I absolutely sprung to put everyone's favorite Pokemon into the next slot. Everyone's familiar with Landorus-T's ability to compress every role imaginable into a single slot, but this team appreciated a few of its traits in particular. Intimidate was great for turning Slurpuff's seed-pseudo-bulk into actual, sizeable bulk, as well as kicking Kyurem-B's bulkiness up a notch; Stealth Rock, in addition to pushing some of the above calculations over the edge, takes out 25% HP from most Flying-types, which are immune to Sticky Web and often set Tailwind to ruin my speed control; and of course, a strong STAB Earthquake, delivered from a middling speed tier, is great for a hyper-offensive Sticky Web team.
The only thing noteworthy about this set is the choice of Soft Sand as its item. There's no particular reason for this; as far as I know, no OHKOs are won or lost by using any other item, I just thought that an extra 20% damage for free every time I used Earthquake was a pretty cool deal, and I really had no other ideas on what item to use. Other considerations included Bright Powder, since turning Muddy Water into a 76.5% accurate move on Landorus-T is a pretty good deal too!
(Oh, and also, I used Soft Sand instead of Earth Plate because the image of this powerful ancient genie holding a little sack of sand is hilarious.)
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y***Sunflower
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect
- Outruns -1 Scarf Genesect (99+)
- Recently charged with multiple counts of arson
Aegislash @ Ghostium Z***Anhedonia
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 192 HP / 232 SpA / 4 SpD / 80 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield
- Under Tailwind, outruns Mega Metagross (110+) and everything slower than it
- 232+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Metagross-Mega: 290-344 (96.3 - 114.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO (maximizes chances of OHKOing Mega Metagross; the chance is the same at 252+)
- 252+ Atk Landorus-Therian [single-target] Earthquake vs. 192 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 272-324 (88 - 104.8%) -- 25% chance to OHKO (minimizes chances of being OHKOed by a single-target Earthquake from Landorus-T)
- 252+ Atk Excadrill [single-target] Earthquake vs. 192 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 260-308 (84.1 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (look, I really couldn't think of any other benchmarks!)
Aegislash, conveniently, takes most attacks from Mega Metagross pretty well, and it does major damage back to it with even an unboosted Shadow Ball; the same goes for Trick Room setters, of which Bronzong, Cresselia and Diancie especially dislike facing off against Aegislash. Outside of these specific matchups, Ghostium Z allows Aegislash to function in a nuke-like manner, too, combining well with Slurpuff's After You to potentially take significant OHKOs in the early game. The set originally ran Steelium Z, but I found that Tyranitar and Kyurem-B were easy enough to deal with without having to resort to a Z-move, so I changed the item to a Ghostium Z for significantly wider neutral coverage, especially against bulky threats like Zapdos, Ferrothorn, or occasionally Mega Swampert.
Over on the support side of the set, Wide Guard vs Substitute was hardly a tough decision; every team with Charizard Y appreciates some insurance against the ever-present Rock Slide, but this team additionally carries Tapu Koko and Landorus-T, making Earthquake and Muddy Water important moves to protect the team from. I have toyed with the idea of running King's Shield-less Aegislash before, but this team was not one of those times.
Finally, the EV spread: while Aegislash is the team's primary insurance against Trick Room, the circumstances in which I was to use this team meant that Trick Room wasn't an archetype I felt I was likely to face. Thus, I ultimately decided that running some speed to take advantage of Tailwind and Sticky Web was a decent idea. This set, though EV'd to outrun Mega Metagross under Tailwind, also outpaces positive-natured Breloom, Politoed (70+) and anything slower than them, notably including almost all non-Scarf Tapu Bulu and Tyranitar sets, as well as most bulky Kyurem-B and Tapu Fini sets. While this isn't great for Aegislash's survival, since it gets hit in Blade Forme more often, going with a slow Aegislash would have thrown off the general tempo the team plays at, so it's a necessary and worthwhile sacrifice to make.
THE BEATEN-UP
Here's a collection of the Seasonal opponents who have lost to Slurpuff. Prior to the recent Fall Seasonal, this team was 6-0 in Seasonal matches; these are those six matches.
- vs miltankmilk, Winter R5 G1
- vs miltankmilk, Winter R5 G3
- vs TSR, Winter R6
- vs Deku Prince, Summer R1 - (Did you know that Knock Off activates Unburden?)
- vs Mr Miner, Summer R6
- vs Yoda2798, Summer R7
Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 152 HP / 72 Atk / 8 SpA / 124 SpD / 152 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Icy Wind
- Protect
- Still outruns -1 Tapu Koko
and Mega Gengar(130+) and anything slower than them - +1 148 SpA Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. 152 HP / 124- SpD Kyurem-Black: 362-428 (84.3 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
...also, for the record, the idea of Icy Wind is to ease prediction when the opponent might be bringing in Zapdos / Salamence / Landorus-T; you can click it into both slots, and set up for a follow-up KO with Ice Beam since you now outrun them. The trouble with this is not many people switch these three Pokemon into Kyurem-B, but it's a nice idea on paper.
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 40 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 212 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect
- 252 SpA Deoxys-Attack Psycho Boost vs. 40 HP / 0 SpD Charizard-Mega-Y: 259-306 (84.3 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Aegislash @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 188 HP / 12 Def / 228 SpA / 80 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield
(It's just a slightly less efficient version of the above benchmarks.)
(In the quest for excellence, all who are not perfectly efficient must be left behind.)
(Weep and despair, mortals.)
Code:
Pastel Subliminal (Slurpuff) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 64 SpD / 188 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Fake Tears
- After You
- Flamethrower
Rainy Waltz (Tapu Koko) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Electro Ball
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dazzling Gleam
Synesthesia (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 24 HP / 188 Atk / 144 SpA / 152 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Earth Power
- Protect
Physical Emotion (Landorus-Therian) @ Soft Sand
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 144 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
Anhedonia (Aegislash) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 192 HP / 232 SpA / 4 SpD / 80 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield
Sunflower (Charizard-Mega-Y) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect
* * * * *
THE ROUND-UP
I've been on Smogon for almost 7 years now, and in my time here I've been fortunate to meet a lot of great people, make a lot of wonderful friends, and create a lot of amazing memories. To everyone on this list, thank you for making the last 7 years of my life that much more magical.
(If you find anything I've written about you in this section a little too personal, feel free to let me know and I'll remove it as required. Hopefully that won't happen!)
The DOU people past and present, especially:
Kaori: Perhaps the single user who has made the greatest impact on me in my time on Smogon / in competitive Pokemon? We kind of don't talk as much nowadays as we both drift away from Pokemon, but whenever we do it's always a pleasure. Was great seeing you in San Fran, hopefully you can get to Singapore sometime!
talkingtree: Honestly one of the most quality human beings I've ever had the pleasure to meet, online and offline. It's heartening to see how you always does your best, even with all the stuff you have to deal with in DOU and in real life too.
MajorBowman: While kamikaze is irreplacable in all our hearts, you've been doing a great job as Tier Leader, so if no one's told you that recently, just know you have! Apart from that, thanks for always lending a listening ear when I need to vent, and thanks for appreciating my garbage humor whenever I send you random dumb messages. You've been a great friend to have and I wish you all the best in life :D
Arcticblast: Another super ancient user who still exists somehow?? Somehow despite not really being all that familiar with you, we've talked about all kinds of stuff from writing to PTCG to UNDERTALE and DELTARUNE, and writing this makes me realise how much we have in common holy heck wtf is going on.
Braverius: The user who got me into VGC and who got me into spreadsheets. Glad to hear / read that things have been looking up lately as compared to a few years ago, hope everything keeps on the up and up for you!
Dawg: An absolutely wonderful friend to have had, even though we don't talk anymore because we're both busy with our lives it's great to hear from you now and then. I haven't opened Skype in forever but I'm pretty sure most of the conversations I have on it were with you, including a certain conversation where you suggested bringing Ditto to Nats 2016 ;) Congrats on finishing this round of exams and hope law school (I think?) is going great!
Elise: We don't really interact that often, and I kind of take your presence for granted a lot, but I'm really lucky to have had someone like you support me along the way. You're always so willing to send good feelings to others, and I sincerely hope you can find some lasting good feelings for yourself. If you ever need to talk I'll do my best to listen!
n10sit: DUUTL! I've told you this before but it's really inspiring to see how much you seem to genuinely love playing DUU and advocating it; it reminds me of how much I used to sincerely enjoy Pokemon, and makes me feel as if there's a chance that I'll someday be able to get that passionate about something. Hope that fire serves you well in your other endeavors too!
marilli: Honestly we don't really talk with each other that much, mostly talk past each other, but I consistently enjoy reading what you say in chat, and you've been a constantly fun and friendly presence to chat with during the DOU server's active times. I appreciate you!!!
miltankmilk: We've had our differences multiple times in the past, but I believe there's a good person there who just gets a bit worked up sometimes. Hope stuff's going great for you!
Memoric: Literally the only person who I had an easy time scheduling with for any recent tournament ever. Hope the crop is good this year!
Nido-Rus: Fellow shitmon enthusiast. Building with you was consistently a hilarious and mysteriously wonderful experience, we should do that again sometime ;/
qsns: Cute user, who apparently got into Smogon via my parody article?? I really find that amazing somehow,,
Lyd: Honestly, you kind of remind me of myself; your genuine interest in learning new things and trying out stuff is admirable, and I hope it stays with you through your life!
Haruno: Not so much for Doubles stuff but thanks a ton for taking me around San Fran, made the trip that much better :) also I found the plushie shop in the end, in case I didn't tell you, so everything worked out fine!
13ulbasaur: Are you still coming to Singapore for Chinese New Year?? hmu if you do!!
Pocket: Holy shit this guy is an amazing human being. Somehow perpetually kind and patient, despite certainly having your own stuff to deal with, especially during the early days of Smogon Doubles. Every post from you, even the VMs reminding me to get to work on analyses or update tournaments, was filled with positivity. In a culture which is often called out for being toxic and overly-competitive, it was great to be on the receiving end of your nurturing touch.
Former tier leaders Joim, Stratos, Mizuhime, and kamikaze: Thank you for the countless hours you've invested in this tier—for working through the unhappiness and stress that leadership often brings with it in order to make a better tier for all of us players.
A bunch of the Smogon Doubles OGs AuraRayquaza, NixHex, Darkmalice, Audiosurfer, breh, StarmanXL, nyttyn, and even BlankZero: it was really great exploring the meta with all of you. Thanks for putting up with 14-year-old me being a constant proponent for absolute shitmons—I'm looking here at my early posts advocating After You Cinccino and Skill Swap Technician Mr Mime—and for also being a right brat at times. It's been a blast the entire way, and I'm glad to have had your shoulders to stand on to see further.
The rest of the modern DOU regulars: I won't even try to mass tag you guys, because I know I'll miss someone out, but thank you all for playing with me, testing with me, putting up with me when I call you out for being a "bad opponent", etc. It's been a great community to grow in and through and I don't think I'd trade the experience for anything. (Though maybe I'd cut out a few segments if I could, ha.)
The Eggplant Parms, especially:
lovemathboy: My right-hand puzzling man! Thanks for putting up with me when I go berserk about random cryptics, and when I get pissy about being bad at logic puzzles. I've learnt a lot from you, and not just about logic puzzles. Hope your transition into the army goes well next year, my Discord PMs are always open if you need to vent about anything, and I promise not to make fun of you :)
talkingtree again: This time for putting in so, so much effort into preparing the site for SPH1, and then for pulling the literal all-nighter even when it didn't go through, and for voluntarily paying for everything out of your own pocket—such a ridiculous amount of kindness for an internet stranger. While I can't honestly say it was a really good experience for either of us, I think we both learnt a lot through it, and hopefully if you're around for SPH2, we can manage it in a somewhat better way :P
Imanalt and Mistrals: Two really solid solvers and also just fun people to be around, it's a joy solving alongside you guys... which I haven't actually done in a while, hope we can rectify that soon! ;3
Scarf Nihilego: For agreeing to drop Avenoir.
teal6: For somehow accidentally catalyzing the creation of the Eggplant Parms via cypher6; also, for contributing the name to Eggplant Parms with your love for eggplant parmesan!
The Battle Tree Discord server, especially:
NoCheese: From my own experiences with the (now-dead) Mantine Surf leaderboards, updating a huge board regularly is no joke. Kudos to you for managing it so well, and for even taking the time to reach out to me regarding the PheroLele streak, and taking more time to consider what I'd said when you could have as easily just dropped the streak entirely. Real class act.
Eisenherz: Probably the person in the Battle Tree server who I've interacted with most recently. Quality streams, quality JEJUNUM saving the day, quality Torkoal sweeps, really quality human being. Thanks again for the JEJUNUM, and I'm sorry if I made you feel obligated in some way to get it for me :S
Smuckem: Somehow always brings energy to the server with your endless series of ideas and new teams to explore, even if most of them seem pretty bad at first glance ;P. It's rare to find someone with as much passion for something as you seem to have, and I hope some of that positive energy rubs off on the rest of your life too!
turskain: I really thought you were some no-nonsense, super serious kinda guy, until I saw you issuing death threats to SPH Bot during the event. I really appreciate the work you do in the Tree server, and for being a consistently great source of knowledge and discussion. Hope to see you back at SPH Bot's throat next year, if it happens!
Coeur7: My light and inspiration for the 4-K team, and a consistently solid head on that pair of shoulders. Nothing but respect for you, and I hope you manage to take a good break from the Tree to re-ignite the fire you once had for it!
paperquagsire and Worldie: Still remember ragging on you two for using garbage mons near the start of the Battle Tree instead of using "properly good" Pokemon like PheroLele or KokoKang. Congrats to paperquag for showing me good, with that amazing Primarina run, and I hope and expect to see great things from Worldie in the near future!
The folks from the Orange Islands, especially:
Its_A_Random: One of the first people I conversed with on #orangeislands, which was in turn my first experience with IRC—thank you for making me feel welcome and helping me get used to online chatting, since that's been an integral part of my last few years! The specific memories of what we discussed are now a bit fuzzy, I mostly just remember your penchant for using ampersands lol.
DHR-107: Another member of the old guard of #orangeislands—I distinctly remember having some really interesting conversations with you, but now I'm not so sure what they were about! Also I'm sorry for continually bugging you about the Orange League but not actually ever doing any work on it LOL, maybe that'll get off the ground some day...
Jellicent: I think I kind of saw you as my mentor back in the day, which is kind of adorable now that I think about it. Thanks for taking me under your wing, pushing me to send my ideas in to The Smog, and for celebrating with me along the way—I hope Jellitales continue to have happy endings for many chapters to come!
Wobbanaut: Actually my very first Smogon friend!! I know you probably won't see this now, but those were good times... still hoping everything's good with you!
Many other groups, in no particular order: the Scramble Challange community, the staff of The Smog, the BW RU community (including Molk and Molk's dad), the Singaporeans (especially cute user sandshrewz!!), the ~2013 PS Staff (I still remember you michael!), SSD1 Pitvipers, SPL9 Raiders, everyone who took part in SPH1, the Scavengers auth, everyone who has mistaken me for Level 56, and Level 56 himself for literally naming his account after mine.
A bunch of names, in no particular order, who I remember especially fondly but couldn't quite fit into the above lists: RitterCat, Redew, Shame That, Toast++, Hulavuta, TheMantyke, TalkTakesTime, shrop05, Lady Salamence, fellow Trivia setter Cereza, V4Victini, Cherub Agent, Zystral, art gods Bummer and Yilx, Aurora, yay The Immortal, Electrolyte, and EV. I know many of you guys unfortunately won't see this post, but to everyone, especially if we haven't talked recently, I sincerely hope you're all doing amazingly :)!
Everyone who I've talked to on Smogon: it's impossible to mass tag everyone whose kind words have spurred me on and have done so much for me both on Smogon and in real life. Thank you all for being part of my exceptional journey.
Kaori: Perhaps the single user who has made the greatest impact on me in my time on Smogon / in competitive Pokemon? We kind of don't talk as much nowadays as we both drift away from Pokemon, but whenever we do it's always a pleasure. Was great seeing you in San Fran, hopefully you can get to Singapore sometime!
talkingtree: Honestly one of the most quality human beings I've ever had the pleasure to meet, online and offline. It's heartening to see how you always does your best, even with all the stuff you have to deal with in DOU and in real life too.
MajorBowman: While kamikaze is irreplacable in all our hearts, you've been doing a great job as Tier Leader, so if no one's told you that recently, just know you have! Apart from that, thanks for always lending a listening ear when I need to vent, and thanks for appreciating my garbage humor whenever I send you random dumb messages. You've been a great friend to have and I wish you all the best in life :D
Arcticblast: Another super ancient user who still exists somehow?? Somehow despite not really being all that familiar with you, we've talked about all kinds of stuff from writing to PTCG to UNDERTALE and DELTARUNE, and writing this makes me realise how much we have in common holy heck wtf is going on.
Braverius: The user who got me into VGC and who got me into spreadsheets. Glad to hear / read that things have been looking up lately as compared to a few years ago, hope everything keeps on the up and up for you!
Dawg: An absolutely wonderful friend to have had, even though we don't talk anymore because we're both busy with our lives it's great to hear from you now and then. I haven't opened Skype in forever but I'm pretty sure most of the conversations I have on it were with you, including a certain conversation where you suggested bringing Ditto to Nats 2016 ;) Congrats on finishing this round of exams and hope law school (I think?) is going great!
Elise: We don't really interact that often, and I kind of take your presence for granted a lot, but I'm really lucky to have had someone like you support me along the way. You're always so willing to send good feelings to others, and I sincerely hope you can find some lasting good feelings for yourself. If you ever need to talk I'll do my best to listen!
n10sit: DUUTL! I've told you this before but it's really inspiring to see how much you seem to genuinely love playing DUU and advocating it; it reminds me of how much I used to sincerely enjoy Pokemon, and makes me feel as if there's a chance that I'll someday be able to get that passionate about something. Hope that fire serves you well in your other endeavors too!
marilli: Honestly we don't really talk with each other that much, mostly talk past each other, but I consistently enjoy reading what you say in chat, and you've been a constantly fun and friendly presence to chat with during the DOU server's active times. I appreciate you!!!
miltankmilk: We've had our differences multiple times in the past, but I believe there's a good person there who just gets a bit worked up sometimes. Hope stuff's going great for you!
Memoric: Literally the only person who I had an easy time scheduling with for any recent tournament ever. Hope the crop is good this year!
Nido-Rus: Fellow shitmon enthusiast. Building with you was consistently a hilarious and mysteriously wonderful experience, we should do that again sometime ;/
qsns: Cute user, who apparently got into Smogon via my parody article?? I really find that amazing somehow,,
Lyd: Honestly, you kind of remind me of myself; your genuine interest in learning new things and trying out stuff is admirable, and I hope it stays with you through your life!
Haruno: Not so much for Doubles stuff but thanks a ton for taking me around San Fran, made the trip that much better :) also I found the plushie shop in the end, in case I didn't tell you, so everything worked out fine!
13ulbasaur: Are you still coming to Singapore for Chinese New Year?? hmu if you do!!
Pocket: Holy shit this guy is an amazing human being. Somehow perpetually kind and patient, despite certainly having your own stuff to deal with, especially during the early days of Smogon Doubles. Every post from you, even the VMs reminding me to get to work on analyses or update tournaments, was filled with positivity. In a culture which is often called out for being toxic and overly-competitive, it was great to be on the receiving end of your nurturing touch.
Former tier leaders Joim, Stratos, Mizuhime, and kamikaze: Thank you for the countless hours you've invested in this tier—for working through the unhappiness and stress that leadership often brings with it in order to make a better tier for all of us players.
A bunch of the Smogon Doubles OGs AuraRayquaza, NixHex, Darkmalice, Audiosurfer, breh, StarmanXL, nyttyn, and even BlankZero: it was really great exploring the meta with all of you. Thanks for putting up with 14-year-old me being a constant proponent for absolute shitmons—I'm looking here at my early posts advocating After You Cinccino and Skill Swap Technician Mr Mime—and for also being a right brat at times. It's been a blast the entire way, and I'm glad to have had your shoulders to stand on to see further.
The rest of the modern DOU regulars: I won't even try to mass tag you guys, because I know I'll miss someone out, but thank you all for playing with me, testing with me, putting up with me when I call you out for being a "bad opponent", etc. It's been a great community to grow in and through and I don't think I'd trade the experience for anything. (Though maybe I'd cut out a few segments if I could, ha.)
The Eggplant Parms, especially:
lovemathboy: My right-hand puzzling man! Thanks for putting up with me when I go berserk about random cryptics, and when I get pissy about being bad at logic puzzles. I've learnt a lot from you, and not just about logic puzzles. Hope your transition into the army goes well next year, my Discord PMs are always open if you need to vent about anything, and I promise not to make fun of you :)
talkingtree again: This time for putting in so, so much effort into preparing the site for SPH1, and then for pulling the literal all-nighter even when it didn't go through, and for voluntarily paying for everything out of your own pocket—such a ridiculous amount of kindness for an internet stranger. While I can't honestly say it was a really good experience for either of us, I think we both learnt a lot through it, and hopefully if you're around for SPH2, we can manage it in a somewhat better way :P
Imanalt and Mistrals: Two really solid solvers and also just fun people to be around, it's a joy solving alongside you guys... which I haven't actually done in a while, hope we can rectify that soon! ;3
Scarf Nihilego: For agreeing to drop Avenoir.
teal6: For somehow accidentally catalyzing the creation of the Eggplant Parms via cypher6; also, for contributing the name to Eggplant Parms with your love for eggplant parmesan!
The Battle Tree Discord server, especially:
NoCheese: From my own experiences with the (now-dead) Mantine Surf leaderboards, updating a huge board regularly is no joke. Kudos to you for managing it so well, and for even taking the time to reach out to me regarding the PheroLele streak, and taking more time to consider what I'd said when you could have as easily just dropped the streak entirely. Real class act.
Eisenherz: Probably the person in the Battle Tree server who I've interacted with most recently. Quality streams, quality JEJUNUM saving the day, quality Torkoal sweeps, really quality human being. Thanks again for the JEJUNUM, and I'm sorry if I made you feel obligated in some way to get it for me :S
Smuckem: Somehow always brings energy to the server with your endless series of ideas and new teams to explore, even if most of them seem pretty bad at first glance ;P. It's rare to find someone with as much passion for something as you seem to have, and I hope some of that positive energy rubs off on the rest of your life too!
turskain: I really thought you were some no-nonsense, super serious kinda guy, until I saw you issuing death threats to SPH Bot during the event. I really appreciate the work you do in the Tree server, and for being a consistently great source of knowledge and discussion. Hope to see you back at SPH Bot's throat next year, if it happens!
Coeur7: My light and inspiration for the 4-K team, and a consistently solid head on that pair of shoulders. Nothing but respect for you, and I hope you manage to take a good break from the Tree to re-ignite the fire you once had for it!
paperquagsire and Worldie: Still remember ragging on you two for using garbage mons near the start of the Battle Tree instead of using "properly good" Pokemon like PheroLele or KokoKang. Congrats to paperquag for showing me good, with that amazing Primarina run, and I hope and expect to see great things from Worldie in the near future!
The folks from the Orange Islands, especially:
Its_A_Random: One of the first people I conversed with on #orangeislands, which was in turn my first experience with IRC—thank you for making me feel welcome and helping me get used to online chatting, since that's been an integral part of my last few years! The specific memories of what we discussed are now a bit fuzzy, I mostly just remember your penchant for using ampersands lol.
DHR-107: Another member of the old guard of #orangeislands—I distinctly remember having some really interesting conversations with you, but now I'm not so sure what they were about! Also I'm sorry for continually bugging you about the Orange League but not actually ever doing any work on it LOL, maybe that'll get off the ground some day...
Jellicent: I think I kind of saw you as my mentor back in the day, which is kind of adorable now that I think about it. Thanks for taking me under your wing, pushing me to send my ideas in to The Smog, and for celebrating with me along the way—I hope Jellitales continue to have happy endings for many chapters to come!
Wobbanaut: Actually my very first Smogon friend!! I know you probably won't see this now, but those were good times... still hoping everything's good with you!
Many other groups, in no particular order: the Scramble Challange community, the staff of The Smog, the BW RU community (including Molk and Molk's dad), the Singaporeans (especially cute user sandshrewz!!), the ~2013 PS Staff (I still remember you michael!), SSD1 Pitvipers, SPL9 Raiders, everyone who took part in SPH1, the Scavengers auth, everyone who has mistaken me for Level 56, and Level 56 himself for literally naming his account after mine.
A bunch of names, in no particular order, who I remember especially fondly but couldn't quite fit into the above lists: RitterCat, Redew, Shame That, Toast++, Hulavuta, TheMantyke, TalkTakesTime, shrop05, Lady Salamence, fellow Trivia setter Cereza, V4Victini, Cherub Agent, Zystral, art gods Bummer and Yilx, Aurora, yay The Immortal, Electrolyte, and EV. I know many of you guys unfortunately won't see this post, but to everyone, especially if we haven't talked recently, I sincerely hope you're all doing amazingly :)!
Everyone who I've talked to on Smogon: it's impossible to mass tag everyone whose kind words have spurred me on and have done so much for me both on Smogon and in real life. Thank you all for being part of my exceptional journey.
THE WASHED-UP
Seven years is no short time.
I think that everyone's place in life can be defined by a position and a direction, sometimes moving in a few simultaneous directions. Lately, I've been drifting further and further away from Pokemon, which hasn't quite inspired as much of a passion as it used to. Whether it's a temporary case of burn-out, or my mind pulling me towards other hobbies, I've grown roots too deep here on Smogon to conceivably leave. I'm forever grateful that I have made genuine friends here who I can talk to and that I've found a place where I feel, at least to some extent, I belong in.
If you've read this entire post, thank you so much for hearing what I've had to say.
Until next time, it's been a blast.