To start this fun project once again, we first have the most recent rising star in the DOU scene. She played both DOU big tournaments (Derby & Doubles Premier League) having two positive records, and is currently playing DOU in the most important low tier tournament, Smogon Champions League. She is:
Hi SEA! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
No problem! I’m SEA, 24 year old from Texas but currently living in St. Louis. I’ve done a fair bit of stuff for work (mostly in IT), but right now I currently work at a hotel.
I’ve seen some people who do not know what SEA means. Could you tell us what your name means and where it came from?
SEA stands for SuperEpicAmpharos, a name I made when I was about 11? As I met friends it naturally got shortened to SEA, and I decided I liked that way more.
Congratulations on your Top 8 Milwaukee Regionals result! How was the experience overall? How was it preparing for a VGC Regional?
Thank you! It was honestly some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing Pokemon. The experience as a whole was fantastic, playing people in-person feels so different. Something I really liked about it is that all of your games are done in a couple days, it’s not like Smogon tours where they last 2-3 months, you show up and you burn through your games. I got to meet up with a few DOU people as well,
bagel,
srvoltmike, and of course
DaWoblefet who I played in Top 8.
I wouldn’t say I actually did that much dedicated preparation for the regional. I talked with a couple friends (
zee and
Hasayo to be specific!) about my team and played a decent chunk of ladder games. Otherwise, it was a lot of staring at the top cut explorer and trying to figure out something that both worked and would be fun for me to use. I ended up settling on this 6 for a few reasons, mostly because it was an edit of the team I loaded at Pittsburgh with some different pieces with similar functions. A big thing for me coming into the tournament was I felt I had a huge mental roadblock going in, something I talked to Xrn and Hasayo about extensively heading into this tournament. I think I overcame it pretty well, given my result, but keeping myself in that headspace definitely wasn’t easy. I am very thankful for their constant help and encouragement :D
SEA had an incredible Top 8 Performance at Milwaukee Regionals, where other really good and known players such as Wolfe Glick, Riley Factura and Leonard Craft III appear as well!
How did you get into competitive Pokémon? How did you get into Smogon?
I’m not sure how exactly I got into competitive Pokemon, I was literally 10-11 years old when I first toying around with the idea. Of course, I was really really awful for a long time, but I’ve been playing on and off since around 2012. Smogon specifically, I found through PS I think? I didn’t actually sign up for my first tournament until either 2019 or 2020, when I came back from taking a break during SM. Had some really good fortune to meet some specific people to propel me forward, and here I am now!
Did/Do you look up to anyone as a player when you started playing tournaments?
The people who inspired me when I started are largely the same people who still inspire me today, but in specific I think my biggest inspirations are
Xrn,
McMeghan and
umbry . Xrn and I have known each other for a decade: he’s literally just my best friend, and he’s basically always been better than me at everything LOL. I was the one who convinced him to start playing on smogon and I’ve always been really impressed whenever I watch him play. Umbry and McMeghan I’ve admired for similar, yet different reasons. They’re both extremely good at basically whatever format that touch, with umbry seeming to do it with a more standard touch and Roro doing it with very much his own flair.
4-3 in Derby, 6-3 in DPL, currently 2-2 in SCL, these are all insanely good records for someone new to the DOU scene! How did you end up playing DOU? Do you have any tips for people who want to start trying DOU?
I’ve always had an affinity with doubles, I played it a lot during current gen XY/ORAS and SM on ladder. When I started joining tournaments for the first time 5-6 years ago, it felt like the natural next step to start playing doubles again. Of course I ended up quitting for a bit, both to focus on ADV OU and because I was really self-conscious of being terrible LOL.
Honestly, just make sure you’re having fun with it. I sincerely love 2v2 formats and always have a ton of fun playing, so it makes the process of going and learning a lot easier for me. Don’t be afraid to go out there and try formats and see what you like or attempt different playstyles. Not everything works for everybody.
Fun fact: Some people take years to get drafted and started in DPL. Some people have been around for over a decade and have never been drafted in SCL (before SCL, we had Snake, and before Snake, SPL had DOU). SEA? Drafted and started in both in her first year of trying DOU for real.
Speaking of SCL, you were drafted again after your last time in SCL III. Does it feel any different now that you’re starting? How different would you say SCL is to SPL?
It feels really different, yeah! I wasn’t really expecting to start this time, while last time I was sorta being told during the draft “Hey, we want to buy you and start you for the whole season” which obviously didn’t end up happening. I’m having a lot more fun for sure, and I think
eragon has been a really big part of that. Super fun guy to work with and easy to get along with.
In terms of difference between SCL and SPL, I feel like there really isn’t
that much difference outside of tour player perception? They’re both tours that last for a couple months that you dump a lot of time into, so you either really care a lot or you don’t do all that much. Of course I fall under the former camp, so maybe that’s why I don’t feel that much of a difference. SCL feels a lot more fun to me if anything, my season on the Platoon and this one on the Shoguns have been much more enjoyable than my 3 years of SPL. It feels like people get really uptight over that tour.
You’ve just recently picked up DOU and we’ve seen you play ADV DOU as well. Do you have any plans on trying the rest of DOU oldgens? What about other doubles tiers like UU, National Dex, Little Cup, etc.?
I’m definitely interested in trying some of the lower tiers! Even back when I was playing SS during current gen, I was kinda sick of the format being stick 5 legendaries on a team and a Rillaboom. Even in singles I’ve always been a much bigger fan of the lower tiers that aren’t full of giant stat sticks. However, I haven’t gotten to try any of the lower power formats like DUU or even DNU. I’d really love to give those a try at some point. As for old gens, I’d definitely say the ones with plentiful amounts of Twave are a huge turn-off for me, but I’d be willing to give some of them a try. I’ve had a blast playing XY whenever I’ve had the chance to, so it’d be nice to sit around for a season of that if I could.
Since 2023, we've had a surge of tournaments with CA as a prize that include DOU or a variant of it. Don't be shy to perfect some of these "weird" DOU tiers! Some examples are Español Premier League, Best Leaderboarders Tournament, Hindi Premier League (including SV DOU), and National Dex Premier League, Little Cup Big Cup, Almost Any Ability Premier League (including National Dex Doubles, Little Cup Doubles, and AAA Doubles, respectively).
What other tiers besides DOU do you main / enjoy playing?
I basically play anything on the site as long as it’s fun, there’s a decent chance you’ve seen me in a random team tour playing something. My favorites are BW ZU, DPP LC, and ADV RU. My actual favorite format is multi battles (any gen!) but nobody seems to play those anywhere! If there were tournaments for it, I would be dedicating my time towards that and basically nothing else.
Do you have a favorite match/set in any tournament? Which one, and why?
I’ll give a singles and a doubles example (though most of my favorite DOU games are victims of the replay wipe ):
Callous Invitational 6 vs Astamatitos Game 1
This was probably my biggest tournament game at the time. For those unaware, Astamatitos is considered if not the greatest ADV OU player of all time, easily top 5. I did a lot of preparation for this game for all of it to basically get blown to shreds in the first 30 turns. I then spend the next 100 turns trying to claw back, leveraging any chance for RNG I can get. Sure enough, 100 turns later, I get a really pivotal pursuit read that puts me in the position to maybe have a shot at winning. Having exhausted almost every single one of my PP on my Blissey, with no paras or freezes yet, I finally get my para on Turn 138, and my crit on Turn 144. I get my Blissey back in and win from there thanks to a stay-in on Snorlax not exploding. The game lasted around 40-50 minutes, and the only thing I felt afterwards was complete and total exhaustion. But, it was only Game 1. I would go on to win the set with help from a freeze in Game 2, but this 1st game will always have a special place in my heart.
DPL Week 4 vs bagel
Nothing super complicated with this one. I was really excited to play a good opponent and was really proud of my play after the game.
Callous Invitational is a prestigious invitation-only tournament that invites the best ADV OU players only. You have to be very good to make it here!
Could you give us a team that resembles your building and/or playstyle (In DOU)? It can be any DOU tier!
I think this is a pretty good representation of how I like to play, I think I really like switching way too much, and teams with pieces like double fake out or Sinistcha really lend themselves well to letting me play like that. When I was getting back into DOU, this was the first team that really spoke to me. I love the tools available to me to navigate through a game here: Ghold is a pretty clear wincon for you to set up for and you’ve got a lot of ways to support it actively throughout the game.
What has been your favorite part about Doubles and its community so far? And is there anything you would change about Doubles or its community?
The people! They’re all very welcoming and since my return I haven’t had any bad experiences yet. I can’t think of any one thing I would change, no.
What is your favorite Pokémon? And why?
Lurantis is my favorite Pokémon! I’m not really sure why, to be honest. Something about it just makes me go :D, I’ve heard it’s actually usable in old gens which makes me very eager to give them a shot.
Indeed, Lurantis is a pretty strong Pokemon in Gen 8 & Gen 7 metas! Here we have renowned player umbry bringing it in Sword & Shield Premier League Finals!
What are your hobbies and interests outside of Pokémon?
In terms of going outside, I love to hike, play disc golf and tennis, and to travel. VGC tournaments have been a great excuse to go see new places! As for everything else, I play the euphonium and trombone. I really love music as a whole, I’ve always got something playing. I also love playing strategy games, whenever I’ve got the time I try to sink some hours into tactical RPGs.
Recommend a song to listen to!
Olsen olsen by Sigur Ros. The most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.
Do you have any goals with regards to Smogon Tournaments for the future?
It’s funny you ask that, I’ve basically ran out of goals for me to accomplish on this site. Joining DPL and subsequently SCL were part of my goals, but now that I’ve done those, I’m not really sure where to go from here. I’ve played in basically everything I want to, I’ve tried almost every format on the site, and I’m sorta at a loss for what’s next. I’m still very much having fun, especially with doubles, so I don’t imagine I’ll be stepping away in the near future. However, I’m kinda out of concrete goals or motivators.
Who would you like to see being interviewed next, if anyone?
Hasayo for sure. Super smart guy with a TON of history.
Thank you so much again for your time! Is there anything you would like to add to the interview?
Not really! Big thank you to my friends who have been around DOU for a while, specifically
zoe,
zee,
Xrn,
qsns, and
Hasayo. Love y’all bunches :3
