approved by monotype forum mods
inspired by this and this
First of all thanks for taking the time to do this, I'm sure the community will be interested in hearing from an MWP winning manager, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?
I appreciate the opportunity, I've read some of your previous interviews and I'm grateful to participate. I'm a resident from NYC who's enjoyed competitive pokemon for about 8 years. I used to play a rpg called pokemon indigo and a friend introduced me to PS and I've been hooked for awhile. As far as other hobbies go I enjoy reading, writing poetry, and recently modeling. I also really enjoy traveling, although i haven't been out the country yet so that's a goal of mine this year. For more pokemon related stuff my favorite pokemon is definitely aegislash. The typing and design are both dope to me, and it's one of the best pokemon that came from ORAS, my favorite gen
How did you get the name Isza?
If you're familiar with Kingdom hearts, there's a character named Isa who is my favorite. Unfortunately that name is taken on PS by a popular old gens player so I couldn't have it. The simple solution was just to add a Z in the middle and here we are. My original name was Kaiser, you will see older players refer to me as that or shali (my irl nickname)
How did you get introduced / involved with Pokemon Showdown and the Monotype community?
With showdown pokeaim youtube videos brought me to the site. I liked watching his stuff, but when I first came on PS they had someone advertising for a monotype clan In lobby and I joined one to see what's up. Ended up making a mono fighting team and laddering, after playing for awhile I met alot of cool people and here we are today in 2025 with alot of those same friends today. Although I admit I don't play the tier as much as I used to I definitely enjoy playing and interacting with community members when I can
Big congratulations on your MWP win, do you mind telling us about that? How did you and fade decide to team up? How did you approach the draft?
The funny thing is I wasn't supposed to manage with fade, I was actually supposed to manage with sabella. Unfortunately I got snipped and ended up forcing him (yes I didn't ask him, I just put his name in the post prior including his self buy) to manage with me. While he's not much of a mono builder, fade has a very unique and objective approach to not only drafting, but the game that I respect alot so I knew having him would be valuable even if it was just to play. As for the draft, we p much drafted alot of our friends with the idea that me and some others could support them. Neko was a nice fit, only person we couldn't get was gondra(he tier locked to ss) and style.css(too expensive)
How did you prepare during the regular season? Was it any different during the playoffs? What about tiebreaker?
Regular season was kinda chill, we didn't do too much and I admit I didn't pay that much attention LOL I just passed teams when needed. Playoffs is where we really went tryhard, even staying up late for hours at a time making sure everyone had a solid team. My favorite moment was when we were down 2-4 and I made a little speech. We ended up winning the thr next 4 games after that to make finals . Tiebreaker was extremely stressful because I felt the opposing SV was better. To make matters worse we had 3d who didn't really play sv mono prior but he was out best option. Fade put in alot of work picking his team, and our sv got alot of games in. Just happy we won in the end but was definitely challenging, respect to our opponents.
Was there a generation that was hardest for you guys to prepare for?
Id say BW had some issues. I'm great at alot of old gens but I'm unfamiliar with BW and we had no support. I got more into it near the end though, and I was even comfortable picking it in tiebreak if nessesary and putting fade there. I'd much rather have a builder for it though, would have taken the stress off me
If you could manage a tournament with anyone, past or present, who would it be and why?
Thats a good question, id say chaitanya. This would be more so a social experiment cause we butt heads alot in terms of prep lol so that would be interesting to see. I don't think it would be too bad though, he's a good player but I dont think that would happen unfortunately.
If you could ban / unban anything in any monotype generation, what would it be and why?
Id ban Kommo in SM I don't even have to think about that one. It's a stupid mon and just flips some match ups that aren't really able to be salvaged. As an easter egg free mega Lucario in oras so I can relive my childhood.
Do you have any advice for newer players who want to get more involved in the community?
Absolutely, I'd say reach out to more established players especially in team tours. For MWP/MPL I always pick up at least 1 new person, and it's simply because they reach out and I give them a shot. Never hurts to ask questions, you never know where it might get you. I'd also say talk in the monotype discord, it's p active and you can meet lots of community members there
Thank you so much for your time and your diligent answers, I’m sure everybody will appreciate reading and learning a bit more about you. Is there anybody you would like to give a shoutout to?
Shout outs to Attribute, Cell, Trichotomy, DugZa, and Chaitanya. All easily my favorite monotype competitors, best of luck in everything
inspired by this and this
First of all thanks for taking the time to do this, I'm sure the community will be interested in hearing from an MWP winning manager, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?
I appreciate the opportunity, I've read some of your previous interviews and I'm grateful to participate. I'm a resident from NYC who's enjoyed competitive pokemon for about 8 years. I used to play a rpg called pokemon indigo and a friend introduced me to PS and I've been hooked for awhile. As far as other hobbies go I enjoy reading, writing poetry, and recently modeling. I also really enjoy traveling, although i haven't been out the country yet so that's a goal of mine this year. For more pokemon related stuff my favorite pokemon is definitely aegislash. The typing and design are both dope to me, and it's one of the best pokemon that came from ORAS, my favorite gen
How did you get the name Isza?
If you're familiar with Kingdom hearts, there's a character named Isa who is my favorite. Unfortunately that name is taken on PS by a popular old gens player so I couldn't have it. The simple solution was just to add a Z in the middle and here we are. My original name was Kaiser, you will see older players refer to me as that or shali (my irl nickname)
How did you get introduced / involved with Pokemon Showdown and the Monotype community?
With showdown pokeaim youtube videos brought me to the site. I liked watching his stuff, but when I first came on PS they had someone advertising for a monotype clan In lobby and I joined one to see what's up. Ended up making a mono fighting team and laddering, after playing for awhile I met alot of cool people and here we are today in 2025 with alot of those same friends today. Although I admit I don't play the tier as much as I used to I definitely enjoy playing and interacting with community members when I can
Big congratulations on your MWP win, do you mind telling us about that? How did you and fade decide to team up? How did you approach the draft?
The funny thing is I wasn't supposed to manage with fade, I was actually supposed to manage with sabella. Unfortunately I got snipped and ended up forcing him (yes I didn't ask him, I just put his name in the post prior including his self buy) to manage with me. While he's not much of a mono builder, fade has a very unique and objective approach to not only drafting, but the game that I respect alot so I knew having him would be valuable even if it was just to play. As for the draft, we p much drafted alot of our friends with the idea that me and some others could support them. Neko was a nice fit, only person we couldn't get was gondra(he tier locked to ss) and style.css(too expensive)
How did you prepare during the regular season? Was it any different during the playoffs? What about tiebreaker?
Regular season was kinda chill, we didn't do too much and I admit I didn't pay that much attention LOL I just passed teams when needed. Playoffs is where we really went tryhard, even staying up late for hours at a time making sure everyone had a solid team. My favorite moment was when we were down 2-4 and I made a little speech. We ended up winning the thr next 4 games after that to make finals . Tiebreaker was extremely stressful because I felt the opposing SV was better. To make matters worse we had 3d who didn't really play sv mono prior but he was out best option. Fade put in alot of work picking his team, and our sv got alot of games in. Just happy we won in the end but was definitely challenging, respect to our opponents.
Was there a generation that was hardest for you guys to prepare for?
Id say BW had some issues. I'm great at alot of old gens but I'm unfamiliar with BW and we had no support. I got more into it near the end though, and I was even comfortable picking it in tiebreak if nessesary and putting fade there. I'd much rather have a builder for it though, would have taken the stress off me
If you could manage a tournament with anyone, past or present, who would it be and why?
Thats a good question, id say chaitanya. This would be more so a social experiment cause we butt heads alot in terms of prep lol so that would be interesting to see. I don't think it would be too bad though, he's a good player but I dont think that would happen unfortunately.
If you could ban / unban anything in any monotype generation, what would it be and why?
Id ban Kommo in SM I don't even have to think about that one. It's a stupid mon and just flips some match ups that aren't really able to be salvaged. As an easter egg free mega Lucario in oras so I can relive my childhood.
Do you have any advice for newer players who want to get more involved in the community?
Absolutely, I'd say reach out to more established players especially in team tours. For MWP/MPL I always pick up at least 1 new person, and it's simply because they reach out and I give them a shot. Never hurts to ask questions, you never know where it might get you. I'd also say talk in the monotype discord, it's p active and you can meet lots of community members there
Thank you so much for your time and your diligent answers, I’m sure everybody will appreciate reading and learning a bit more about you. Is there anybody you would like to give a shoutout to?
Shout outs to Attribute, Cell, Trichotomy, DugZa, and Chaitanya. All easily my favorite monotype competitors, best of luck in everything
~~~
This thread will remain open in case anyone would like to ask Isza any further questions. If you have an idea for who you would like to be interviewed next, please don't hesitate to let me know!
This thread will remain open in case anyone would like to ask Isza any further questions. If you have an idea for who you would like to be interviewed next, please don't hesitate to let me know!
