Project National Dex POTW #9 - salmonelephant

[Dead by Daylight]

hello LF, shame we couldn’t play for ND Seasonals but it is what it is, good luck in rest. how was getting through law school?

 

[Animemer]

What exactly makes you such a lame flame?

 

[sealoo]

How would you rank all the ND tournaments in order of preference (seasonals, last chance, lt, wc, pl off the top of my head, can throw in bd rigged trios slam too)

e: top 3 teammates youve had?

favorite teams across ss/sv?

 

[Adriyun]

how are your wife and kids?

 

[Lameflame]

Is there a Pokemon in a tier which you think absolutely sucks but everyone else says is good?

In ND OU I'd say any Steel that doesn't properly check Lele really impairs building. If I had to pick a mon I'd probably say Mega Scizor, which is a shame because I love using it, but in practice it always feels like a huge let-down defensively and is a bit easy to take advantage of. Its viabilty does tend to come in waves so maybe better days are ahead, but right now I just don't see it.

hello LF, shame we couldn’t play for ND Seasonals but it is what it is, good luck in rest. how was getting through law school?

No worries and thanks, happy to play anytime! Schedule IRL has been very unkind to me lately.

I thought the first year of law school was actually the most enjoyable of the three, even though you typically hear the opposite. I didn't mind the pressure and the cold-calls, and a lot of the 1L classes are more about theorizing and applying legal principles more than getting into details about actually practicing. I tend to enjoy such things and probably found more success for that reason. By the third year it felt like a bit of a grind and I was working two part-time positions outside of school and focusing mostly on trial competition teams/moot court, the classroom stuff got a bit stale. Thought the bar exam was candidly a joke and waste of time, and I feel like the LSAT does a better job at weeding out who should and shouldn't be in this field, but that's another topic. Not sure if it's something in your future but if so I'm happy to be a resource.

What exactly makes you such a lame flame?

Perhaps my tendency to win games in the fashion above

How would you rank all the ND tournaments in order of preference (seasonals, last chance, lt, wc, pl off the top of my head, can throw in bd rigged trios slam too)

e: top 3 teammates youve had?

favorite teams across ss/sv?

How would you rank all the ND tournaments in order of preference (seasonals, last chance, lt, wc, pl off the top of my head, can throw in bd rigged trios slam too)

Given these options I'd probably rank them in the following order:

1. National Dex World Cup
2. NDPL
3. Circuit Playoffs
4. Slam
5. ND Rigged Tour
6. Seasonal
7. ND Trios
8. Blind Draft
9. Last Chance
10. NDLT

Can go into more detail but generally, I think NDWC is consistently the best turnout among top players, veteran players and new talent each year. Maybe it's a combination of the format being ideal for showcasing this, it's earlier in the year so less potential burnout, and I think our community naturally segregates by geography pretty well. Almost all the teams felt like contenders and I think there's hype for the tour every week.

NDPL is probably the on-paper most prestigious tour on par with Circuit, and someone else could probably rank it #1. To me it's somewhat like the difference between watching college basketball vs NBA, yeah the NBA has better shooters across the board but I think college has comparatively more passion, if you get what I mean.
Slam/Rigged/Seasonal all showcase pretty high level play, but I think between the time investment and the level of play spread over the entire tour, I'd probably rank them in this order. Good luck in Rigged finals by the way. In future iterations I might have put Blind Draft a bit higher up on the list, just think the format is relatively new and needs time to develop.

NDLT is to me the worst each year, and I say that as someone who has played every iteration of it. Think it needs to be fundamentally reworked in some way, but I'm not sure how to do that in a way that's realistic with people's time. Apart from the ladder being utterly atrocious and unrepresentative of the metagame barring games against other qualifiers, the fact that every year there's blatant cheating ruins it a bit for me. There's also a significant dropoff in quality by Cycle 3 and I honestly think it's due to how poor the ladder experience is.

Top 3 teammates youve had?

Tough to choose since I honestly haven't had a bad experience with anyone I've teamed with. If I had to pick a top 3 I'd say:

1. crying - Putting them at #1 purely due to the respect I have for their play and how they approach prep. Super talented and confident player, probably my most enjoyable opponent to play as well.
2. Ryuji - Checks all the boxes you'd want in a teammate. Fun guy to play and discuss mons with, very competitive and cares about winning, builds teams, gives brutally honest feedback, strong player for test games and has a ton of tour experience. One of the goats for sure.
3. MMxLegend - One of the most dedicated guys I've teamed with last year for ndwc and I think a huge reason why I had a successful run. Always available to help test, build and bounce ideas off of. I'm someone that really needs to test things before big games and when I have people like him available to do that, it makes my whole experience better.

Favorite teams across ss/sv?

SV -

Brought this g2 against Ineros. Just a lot of fun to use and probably looks like something I'd build/use in an individual tour.


This TR which was subsequently used by some other top players in later tours/ssnl last year, one of the more fun cooks I had with Isza.


Also felt this one from last year's NDWC represented my building style pretty well and covered most of the meta, I used it a bit to ladder up during NDLT and I saw a few others did as well.

SS -


The god squad.


For whatever reason I really took a liking to this team when I peaked Cycle 2 NDLT III with it, was never a doubt in my mind I would run it back with this in NDPL.


Certified Oculars cook that I've spammed a few times during NDLT/in SS Money tour against Kate.

how are your wife and kids?

Been busy but not that busy.

 

[Lightniong]

How does it feel being an unc

 

[Ineros]

Hi LF, huge shoutouts to you as always. Hope we get to face off in a tour again someday (winter seasonal rematch incoming???). Here are some questions for you:

1. How much do you think behaviors / even beliefs effect someone playing competitive mons?

2. For all the Pokémon currently in C rank, which one has the most potential to you?

3. If you have ever read any analyses / articles on the site, which one was your favorite to read / was most informative?

4.

SS -


The god squad.

When we getting “The god squad: The Sequel”

 

[Lameflame]

How does it feel being an unc

I'm one of those people that doesn't really pay attention to age, it's really just a number and oftentimes an excuse people make to justify burnout, lack of commitment or changing priorities in their life. It probably helps that in all the other activities I do (sports, teaching, law), I've always been in communities with people who are at times 10-15+ years younger, and/or significantly older, so at the end of the day I've learned people are who they are. I will say that in a competitive mons sense, it sucks to "outlive" some of your contemporaries or entire communities altogether, but that's part of life and also why appreciating what exists today is a good mindset to have.

Hi LF, huge shoutouts to you as always. Hope we get to face off in a tour again someday (winter seasonal rematch incoming???). Here are some questions for you:

1. How much do you think behaviors / even beliefs effect someone playing competitive mons?

2. For all the Pokémon currently in C rank, which one has the most potential to you?

3. If you have ever read any analyses / articles on the site, which one was your favorite to read / was most informative?

4.

When we getting “The god squad: The Sequel”

Perhaps the random bracket generator will randomly pair us up in Round 4, randomly! (Would love the rematch)

1. How much do you think behaviors / even beliefs effect someone playing competitive mons?
This is an interesting question and hard to quantify, but I think you can generally trace some personal traits and characteristics of a person to how they approach building and gameplay as a player, especially if they've got more of a track record to work from. Not going to name any names but there have been a couple players I've played where I can tell they're incredibly risk-averse people, and it reflects in the teams they bring, some of their tiering votes/perspectives and their "respect" level for me/some of the teams I've brought against them. On the flip side, there have been moments where it's almost palpable how much of a read the other person has on what I'm thinking or planning on bringing and that's probably something you can trace back to overall confidence, metagame knowledge, player intuition, etc. (would maybe cite Sealoo v. myself in invitational where I was pretty overwhelmingly out-prepped in both games). I think playing the man can be just as valuable as playing mons and it's especially true in tiers like this where the margin between winning and losing feels thinner than in prior gens.

2. For all the Pokémon currently in C rank, which one has the most potential to you?
I think Tapu Fini and Hippowdon are misplaced in C rank for different reasons, but should definitely rise to some degree in the next slate. Hippo has a lot of the traits that grounds need at the moment as a soft-check to Yard, reliable recovery, utility, has the coverage to cripple what might otherwise come in on it, and isn't too tough to build around. It's obviously a bit passive and the damage output is middling, which have always been limiting factors for it, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some experimentation with it in the next month or so. Tapu Fini I think has already been gaining some steam as people catch onto how well CM + Taunt sets stuff common defensive cores and pivots on balance teams. It has some common roadblocks in Ferro/Ghold but that's why it's in C, with the right team support it's got a high enough ceiling to warrant a slight raise imo.

3. If you have ever read any analyses / articles on the site, which one was your favorite to read / was most informative?
A bit of recency bias perhaps, but I thought everyone who contributed to the NDPL V Power Rankings article did a great job at capturing what the landscape of the competitive ND playerbase looked like at the time. For better or worse I think a lot of intrigue on Smogon is generated by who is perceived to win a lot vs who loses a lot, and setting preliminary expectations going into tours with PRs/predicts adds a lot to the experience for everyone. Keeps pressure on the favorites to continue to perform well and it keeps the people at the perceived-bottom hungry to outperform the criticism.

For analyses, may come off as a bit of a cop-out answer but I think the most helpful ones to read for most players that are either new to the format or strong players that don't otherwise follow ND are the analyses for the common "glue" mons like Lando-T, Ghold, Pex etc. They're inherently very customizable mons in terms of sets, EV spreads, speed tiers, what they can and can't realistically check (or should try to check) at any given time in the meta relative to what's common, etc., so from that perspective I think the focus should always be on beefing those up so people have a baseline sense of what defensive cores/common pivots are running and why're they're running that, and then fleshing out the more niche options later.

4. When we getting “The god squad: The Sequel”
Waiting for the right opponent/moment but it's in the works lol, there's something about raw HO that I've always gravitated towards in the builder. Would've been nice to keep DeoS but we move on.

 

[Adriyun]

do you like me(platonically)
yes or no
circle^

 

[Lameflame]

do you like me(platonically)
(yes) or no
circle^

Chaotic Good​

The chaotic good alignment represents a character who is unpredictable and independent, with a strong desire to do what is right. These characters are often motivated by a desire for personal freedom and a belief in the inherent goodness of individuals. They may act impulsively and do not necessarily follow rules or authority, but their actions are ultimately guided by their sense of morality.

Chaotic Good characters often value individual liberty and the greater good, and they may be willing to take risks or make sacrifices in order to achieve their goals. They may also be seen as rebels or outsiders by those who adhere to more traditional forms of authority or organization.

Chaotic Good Behavior:

• Playing harmless pranks on party members.
• Begrudgingly doing something because it is morally right.
• Willing to help, but expecting to be paid.
• Gloating about a victory.
• Paying for the funeral of an enemy.

^ That's you imo

 

[Dead by Daylight]

doubling up on questions but with the Tera ban, are there any underexplored options that you think deserve a shot? also, are there any players you think are flying under the radar as of now?

 

[TBE]

Hello, it’s been a while. I appreciate the nice words you said about me, you were an awesome teammate and I hope we get to play together again.

Before I ask my question let me say I think National Dex has made great strides during the period of time I’ve been a part of this community in all aspects. Always new interesting projects and tournaments led by people who care. I know I am very critical sometimes of ND related things and most of it is just talking shit for fun but I know many others can relate that this tier has opened up many doors for players on Smogon and we’ll always be grateful for it. So thank you for all the hard work you’ve done.

Who are your top 5 players in National Dex SV and who is your favorite player to watch in National Dex (SV/SS)?

 

[Lameflame]

doubling up on questions but with the Tera ban, are there any underexplored options that you think deserve a shot? also, are there any players you think are flying under the radar as of now?

In terms of underexplored options, I think Cinderace and Manaphy are both two picks that could see greater usage and simply haven't caught on yet. I would assume this is because are a ton of other options for both strong Fires/Water breakers at the moment and that's why they never really come to mind as the first or second option, but both have the tools to succeed in this meta for a few different reasons. Yes, Ace is stymied a bit by Slowbro, Pex and Moltres but I think it can be built around to pivot out of those options and keep momentum more often than not, maybe with Future Sight support or something of that nature, and the speed tier isn't bad either. Manaphy demolishes a lot of the common fat/balance structures at the moment and I recall seeing it pop up at least once or twice in blind draft, should definitely see some experimentation on Webs structures where it's a bit easier to slot, if nothing else.

For players flying under the radar, I probably can't speak for other tiers but for ND OU, I would say Wellhell, HoodedZack and Aso are three players that immediately come to mind. If you're an ND regular you're probably familiar with them winning room tours, peaking ladder or sharing some teams here and there but I think their gameplay has always been solid and they've been impressive in their own ways in blind draft. Should be considered for meaningful roles on teams going forward.

Hello, it’s been a while. I appreciate the nice words you said about me, you were an awesome teammate and I hope we get to play together again.

Before I ask my question let me say I think National Dex has made great strides during the period of time I’ve been a part of this community in all aspects. Always new interesting projects and tournaments led by people who care. I know I am very critical sometimes of ND related things and most of it is just talking shit for fun but I know many others can relate that this tier has opened up many doors for players on Smogon and we’ll always be grateful for it. So thank you for all the hard work you’ve done.

Who are your top 5 players in National Dex SV and who is your favorite player to watch in National Dex (SV/SS)?

Of course, always appreciate the chance to pay it forward when people contribute to my/my team's success, let's run it back in NDWC.

Who are your top 5 players in National Dex SV and who is your favorite player to watch in National Dex (SV/SS)?
Not sure based on the wording whether it's Top 5 players at this moment, or Top 5 of all time, but I'll try and tackle both. Really subjective question so obviously no offense intended to anyone.

In terms of Top 5 players at this moment, based on a combination of teambuilding, playing ability, active/retirement status and tour results, I'd probably say off-the-cuff:

1. sealoo
2. Suzuya
3. Seth
4. Kayzn
5. Weaselfie

In terms of Top 5 of all time, I'd personally go with:

1. crying
2. Ezra
3. ChrisPBacon
4. Astralydia
5. Isza/Ryuji

Favorite player to watch for me is crying when they choose to play, but in terms of someone more routinely involved in bracket/tours, I'd say Mollymiltoast. If you had asked SS instead of SV I'd put Molly very high on the list.

 

[Kayzn]

In terms of underexplored options, I think Cinderace and Manaphy are both two picks that could see greater usage and simply haven't caught on yet. I would assume this is because are a ton of other options for both strong Fires/Water breakers at the moment and that's why they never really come to mind as the first or second option, but both have the tools to succeed in this meta for a few different reasons. Yes, Ace is stymied a bit by Slowbro, Pex and Moltres but I think it can be built around to pivot out of those options and keep momentum more often than not, maybe with Future Sight support or something of that nature, and the speed tier isn't bad either. Manaphy demolishes a lot of the common fat/balance structures at the moment and I recall seeing it pop up at least once or twice in blind draft, should definitely see some experimentation on Webs structures where it's a bit easier to slot, if nothing else.

For players flying under the radar, I probably can't speak for other tiers but for ND OU, I would say Wellhell, HoodedZack and Aso are three players that immediately come to mind. If you're an ND regular you're probably familiar with them winning room tours, peaking ladder or sharing some teams here and there but I think their gameplay has always been solid and they've been impressive in their own ways in blind draft. Should be considered for meaningful roles on teams going forward.


Of course, always appreciate the chance to pay it forward when people contribute to my/my team's success, let's run it back in NDWC.

Who are your top 5 players in National Dex SV and who is your favorite player to watch in National Dex (SV/SS)?
Not sure based on the wording whether it's Top 5 players at this moment, or Top 5 of all time, but I'll try and tackle both. Really subjective question so obviously no offense intended to anyone.

In terms of Top 5 players at this moment, based on a combination of teambuilding, playing ability, active/retirement status and tour results, I'd probably say off-the-cuff:

1. sealoo
2. Suzuya
3. Seth
4. Kayzn
5. Weaselfie

In terms of Top 5 of all time, I'd personally go with:

1. crying
2. Ezra
3. ChrisPBacon
4. Astralydia
5. Isza/Ryuji

Favorite player to watch for me is crying when they choose to play, but in terms of someone more routinely involved in bracket/tours, I'd say Mollymiltoast. If you had asked SS instead of SV I'd put Molly very high on the list.

I'm on your list? I'm truly honored to hear this from someone I look up to ever since I saw your name on forums back in late 2022

 

[Interlinked]

Hello Lame, got a few questions for you:

1) What is your favourite food?
2) Got a pet? If no, which pet would you want to have?
3) What are your favourite team structures to build?
4) If you were at some point trying to get into ND lower tiers, which tier would you choose?
5) Who do you think are the Top 5 Rising Stars for NDOU at the moment?

 

[Lameflame]

Hello Lame, got a few questions for you:

1) What is your favourite food?
2) Got a pet? If no, which pet would you want to have?
3) What are your favourite team structures to build?
4) If you were at some point trying to get into ND lower tiers, which tier would you choose?
5) Who do you think are the Top 5 Rising Stars for NDOU at the moment?

Hey Flames - thanks for the questions

1) What is your favourite food?
I'd say Salmon. There's a few places where I live that do huge Salmon, rice, vegetable bowls and that's usually my go-to order. Healthy but boring.

2) Got a pet? If no, which pet would you want to have?

She passed away very recently but I had a 12.5 year old Newfoundland, very loving/gentle dog breed and I'd definitely get another one in the future.

3) What are your favourite team structures to build?
I tend to gravitate towards the extremes when I build, so if it's offense then I normally like HO builds that are designed to win or lose in 10-15 turns max and make the battle into a game of aggressive positioning. But when I'm not building offense I actually enjoy building fatter teams as well. Not necessarily full-on stall since I think it doesn't have the tools it needs to reliably cover most of the meta the way it could strive to in prior gens, but something like this team (very outdated Ezra build but just for purposes of an example):
tends to look like what I'd build for myself.


4) If you were at some point trying to get into ND lower tiers, which tier would you choose?
During NDPL I think it was awyp that was looking for some test games before one of the week's games and I was trying to make myself useful, so I grabbed some UU teams and looked through some higher level replays to try and quickly learn the tier. Actually feel like it's pretty accessible to pick up if you aren't too familiar with it and a lot of the mons I like building with in OU anyway are still available there, so I feel like it'd be an easy transition.

5) Who do you think are the Top 5 Rising Stars for NDOU at the moment?
Depends on what metrics you want to use but for "rising stars" I'd say it would be some combination of notable tour success over a sustained period of time. Off the cuff I would probably say (unordered):

• Boomenheimer - was always a generally solid player but he's had really strong recent tour results within the last year, especially in SS
• thebestever543 - similar to the above in terms of a lot of tour participation and some upset wins, mostly in DPP and other old-gen metas
• Tempo di Anguria - not really a "rising" player since he's been a strong established player for a long time now, but his tour performances last year were pretty impressive across both SS and SV and probably worthy of more recognition than they got
• Ineros - Pretty notable improvement across the board and he's spent a lot of time refining his building appraoch, playing a ton and picking up great individual and overall tour wins, also including a recent CAP tour finals win
• Aso - Mentioned him in a prior post but I think they're a complete package as a player in terms of building and playing ability, really just needs more high level tour exposure which they're getting in blind draft to showcase what they can do.

 

[Adriyun]

do u play marvel rivals? how tall r u

 

[Lameflame]

do u play marvel rivals? how tall r u

Unfortunately not, about 5'6"

 

[Illouri]

thank god I'm the same height as lf

 

[Illouri]

 

[Illouri]

Sorry for taking so long on these, I had a lot going on last month and i’m quite lazy. That being said, here we are with POTW #8! This week I was recommended I branch out to NatDex’s other tiers, so i bring you all Velcroc !

- me
- velcroc

—
What do you do outside of Smogon?

Outside of Smogon, I mainly play single player games. I’ve finished Sleeping Dogs earlier in 2024, and I’m now trying to 100% Shadow of Mordor and finish my first Disco Elysium playthrough. I used to play CS a lot, but now I lack the patience (and the hardware) to keep up with most current multiplayer games.

Outside of the net, I play soccer, basketball, cricket with the uncles, and chess (although I’m pretty bad!). I occasionally do bouldering, but the place I go is a bit far off. If you've seen my avatar, you'd probably figure me for a jazz/fusion fan and you're right, but I do listen to hip-hop and electronic now and then. Not a huge film buff, but I do like watching a wide variety films, and I've been getting into manga and anime recently. I like reading about science and history, and I’ve recently gotten back into reading fiction. Right now, I’m trying to finish the Odyssey in prep for the Nolan film. If any of y’all can recommend some gems I’d appreciate it.

What got you into mons as a whole?

The first Pokemon movie is what got me into mons. It was one of the few movies my family had taped on VCR so I constantly re-watched it. I knew that Pokemon had videogames fairly early on, but I didn’t play them until 2013. I also knew about the TV show, but I only got to watch a few episodes since it aired at like 6-7 am on weekends.

Can you give a little briefing on your role in NatDex Other Tiers?

I have 2 main roles in NDOT: that’s moderating the National Dex Other Tiers subforum and leading National Dex Alternative Metagames.

Moderators, obviously, monitor threads to make sure they don’t go out of hand. Since National Dex operates with its own unique mechanics inferred from the game’s code, I occasionally take part in policy issues arising from unusual circumstances. While Ubers, UU, Doubles, and RU are under the National Dex Other Tiers umbrella, I don’t really have a say on tiering actions and the respective councils act fairly autonomously.

Hidin, Runo and I are responsible for curating the NDAM section, commonly known as NDOMs. I think what the NDOT leadership is most known for is planning and operating forum-specific programmes like the annual NDAM tour schedules and the monthly Spotlight ladders. We are looking to expand by including projects like CCAT, but at the moment, I would like for more consistent tour and ladder activity before going ahead with this.

Finally, I should add that I am also a member of the NDRU council. The NDRU council is responsible for organising resources (VR, Sample teams, etc.) and tours for Nat Dex RU.

What is your favorite NDOT?

National Dex STABmons. Lots of variety to the metagame, but there are clear metagame staples that hold the frabric of the tier together defensively. Stuff like Lando, Ting-Lu, Pex, Celesteela, and Scarf Roaring Moon cover a large chunk of the metagame defensively and mean that you aren’t bowled over by random Psychic, Fighting, Water, or Fire type. With pretty sturdy defensive backbones, Bulky Offense and Balance have quite a bit of breathing room. Move restrictions and unique ability interactions open quite a few niches, one of my favourites being Shell Smash Barbaracle. Honorable mentions include ND NFE, Gen 8 ND RU, ND Godly Gift and ND Convergence.

How is your experience in NatDex Blind Drafts looking like at the moment?

I'm enjoying working with my team for ND BD. Even though I had my doubts in Week 1, I really love how the team is performing plus the level of mutual support and cameraderie between players is heartening to see. Kinzo is also a wonderful co-manager when it comes to prepping and support. Having him around lifts so much weight off my shoulders when it comes to building and scouting since I haven't dabbled in OU for so long. Our team has come a long way and I look forward to the last weeks of this tour.

Favorite moment from NDBD?

Our team had so many awesome moments over the course of this tournament, it’s hard to choose one. LBN bringing Mega Pidgeot and single-handedly making it an A- Pokemon was a pretty impressive feat, as were ojr’s back-to-back wins with Porygon-Z. Tempo’s game vs hidin gave us a fighting chance in the tour and is an incredibly well-played game. Rafa upsetting Iride with an unorthodox team amazed me as well. However, the Hands crew clutching our first week (for a win) and the semis (for a tie) was definitely the highlight of this season.

I’ll give a shoutout to Seth vs Danbear in Semis (RU) and Xurkiyee vs Omar (OU) for being fairly intense sets to watch.

Do you like Gen 8 or Gen 9 more? How come?

I'm starting to warm up to Gen 9 a little more compared to Gen 8. I do have some nostalgia for Gen 8 OU and RU, but I haven't touched either meta in a very long time. Gen 9 is much more complex than Gen 8 and is in some sense still work in progress. But I really like the shake-up of the competitive scene. I admit that a lot of Gen 9’s additions can be infuriating or boring, but I love how the dex is full of mons that have excellent utility in lower tiers - with some of these being viable in OU. Pokemon like Tinkaton, Slither Wing, Okidogi, Archaludon, Cyclizar, Sinistcha, Hydrapple, Fezendipiti, and even NFEs like Dipplin and Naclstack have are all fun to play with. I genuinely think Tinkaton is probably one of the best designed competitive mons in the entire franchise without being an overblown stat monster.

Favorite Junk Food Mon?

The entire Pawniard line. Whether it is Pawniard in LC/NFE, Bisharp in early RU/UU, or Kingambit in OU/draft, they’re all good no-nonsense Pokemon that make laddering a lot less stressful. I like that it, usually, takes skill to abuse these Pokemon to the fullest because there are quite a few Pokemon that can take them on in their respective tiers - be it bulky walls or fast Sucker Punch-resists. All 3 mons are also crazy flexible in terms of their movesets and EVs despite not having a massive movepool.

Favorite Mon overall? Do you have a team to show for it?

Probably Infernape or Hydreigon.

For hydreigon, I like these two teams. First one is a pretty neat ND STAB team, while the second one is an old NDUU team I brought to MSPL.
https://pokepast.es/29fa121e8716a406
https://pokepast.es/ab9ed560f6399e24

Can’t find a lot of my old Infernape teams since I didn’t back them up, but I do like this BDSP team: https://pokepast.es/d991b907673d34b7

Thoughts on the NatDex community as a whole?

I really like the Nat Dex community. Pretty laid back community in general when you get to know the people involved with it. Obviously I’m going to be biased, but it’s been nice hanging out in Nat Dex and I’ll treasure the moments that I’ve had here. Not much else I have to say.

Any closing statements?

Feel free to visit National Dex Other Tiers and National Dex Alternate Metas while you're scrolling through forums. Right now, National Dex GG is our current spotlight ladder so feel free to take a look. Also, 35pokes PL should start in a couple of hours - if you enjoy micrometas, I'd check it out.
—

Thank you Velcroc for yet another enjoyable interview and taking time to answer my questions during my sloppy schedule. As always, feel free to ask Velcroc any questions below!
Additionally, I’d like to thank you all for your patience. I’m going to try really hard to be better with uploading these more often. Stay on the look out for next week! I have a lot of people I’d like to interview.

 

[TBE]

Sorry for taking so long on these, I had a lot going on last month and i’m quite lazy. That being said, here we are with POTW #8! This week I was recommended I branch out to NatDex’s other tiers, so i bring you all Velcroc !
View attachment 720498

- me
- velcroc

—
What do you do outside of Smogon?

Outside of Smogon, I mainly play single player games. I’ve finished Sleeping Dogs earlier in 2024, and I’m now trying to 100% Shadow of Mordor and finish my first Disco Elysium playthrough. I used to play CS a lot, but now I lack the patience (and the hardware) to keep up with most current multiplayer games.

Outside of the net, I play soccer, basketball, cricket with the uncles, and chess (although I’m pretty bad!). I occasionally do bouldering, but the place I go is a bit far off. If you've seen my avatar, you'd probably figure me for a jazz/fusion fan and you're right, but I do listen to hip-hop and electronic now and then. Not a huge film buff, but I do like watching a wide variety films, and I've been getting into manga and anime recently. I like reading about science and history, and I’ve recently gotten back into reading fiction. Right now, I’m trying to finish the Odyssey in prep for the Nolan film. If any of y’all can recommend some gems I’d appreciate it.

What got you into mons as a whole?

The first Pokemon movie is what got me into mons. It was one of the few movies my family had taped on VCR so I constantly re-watched it. I knew that Pokemon had videogames fairly early on, but I didn’t play them until 2013. I also knew about the TV show, but I only got to watch a few episodes since it aired at like 6-7 am on weekends.

Can you give a little briefing on your role in NatDex Other Tiers?

I have 2 main roles in NDOT: that’s moderating the National Dex Other Tiers subforum and leading National Dex Alternative Metagames.

Moderators, obviously, monitor threads to make sure they don’t go out of hand. Since National Dex operates with its own unique mechanics inferred from the game’s code, I occasionally take part in policy issues arising from unusual circumstances. While Ubers, UU, Doubles, and RU are under the National Dex Other Tiers umbrella, I don’t really have a say on tiering actions and the respective councils act fairly autonomously.

Hidin, Runo and I are responsible for curating the NDAM section, commonly known as NDOMs. I think what the NDOT leadership is most known for is planning and operating forum-specific programmes like the annual NDAM tour schedules and the monthly Spotlight ladders. We are looking to expand by including projects like CCAT, but at the moment, I would like for more consistent tour and ladder activity before going ahead with this.

Finally, I should add that I am also a member of the NDRU council. The NDRU council is responsible for organising resources (VR, Sample teams, etc.) and tours for Nat Dex RU.

What is your favorite NDOT?

National Dex STABmons. Lots of variety to the metagame, but there are clear metagame staples that hold the frabric of the tier together defensively. Stuff like Lando, Ting-Lu, Pex, Celesteela, and Scarf Roaring Moon cover a large chunk of the metagame defensively and mean that you aren’t bowled over by random Psychic, Fighting, Water, or Fire type. With pretty sturdy defensive backbones, Bulky Offense and Balance have quite a bit of breathing room. Move restrictions and unique ability interactions open quite a few niches, one of my favourites being Shell Smash Barbaracle. Honorable mentions include ND NFE, Gen 8 ND RU, ND Godly Gift and ND Convergence.

How is your experience in NatDex Blind Drafts looking like at the moment?

I'm enjoying working with my team for ND BD. Even though I had my doubts in Week 1, I really love how the team is performing plus the level of mutual support and cameraderie between players is heartening to see. Kinzo is also a wonderful co-manager when it comes to prepping and support. Having him around lifts so much weight off my shoulders when it comes to building and scouting since I haven't dabbled in OU for so long. Our team has come a long way and I look forward to the last weeks of this tour.

Favorite moment from NDBD?

Our team had so many awesome moments over the course of this tournament, it’s hard to choose one. LBN bringing Mega Pidgeot and single-handedly making it an A- Pokemon was a pretty impressive feat, as were ojr’s back-to-back wins with Porygon-Z. Tempo’s game vs hidin gave us a fighting chance in the tour and is an incredibly well-played game. Rafa upsetting Iride with an unorthodox team amazed me as well. However, the Hands crew clutching our first week (for a win) and the semis (for a tie) was definitely the highlight of this season.

I’ll give a shoutout to Seth vs Danbear in Semis (RU) and Xurkiyee vs Omar (OU) for being fairly intense sets to watch.

Do you like Gen 8 or Gen 9 more? How come?

I'm starting to warm up to Gen 9 a little more compared to Gen 8. I do have some nostalgia for Gen 8 OU and RU, but I haven't touched either meta in a very long time. Gen 9 is much more complex than Gen 8 and is in some sense still work in progress. But I really like the shake-up of the competitive scene. I admit that a lot of Gen 9’s additions can be infuriating or boring, but I love how the dex is full of mons that have excellent utility in lower tiers - with some of these being viable in OU. Pokemon like Tinkaton, Slither Wing, Okidogi, Archaludon, Cyclizar, Sinistcha, Hydrapple, Fezendipiti, and even NFEs like Dipplin and Naclstack have are all fun to play with. I genuinely think Tinkaton is probably one of the best designed competitive mons in the entire franchise without being an overblown stat monster.

Favorite Junk Food Mon?

The entire Pawniard line. Whether it is Pawniard in LC/NFE, Bisharp in early RU/UU, or Kingambit in OU/draft, they’re all good no-nonsense Pokemon that make laddering a lot less stressful. I like that it, usually, takes skill to abuse these Pokemon to the fullest because there are quite a few Pokemon that can take them on in their respective tiers - be it bulky walls or fast Sucker Punch-resists. All 3 mons are also crazy flexible in terms of their movesets and EVs despite not having a massive movepool.

Favorite Mon overall? Do you have a team to show for it?

Probably Infernape or Hydreigon.

For hydreigon, I like these two teams. First one is a pretty neat ND STAB team, while the second one is an old NDUU team I brought to MSPL.
https://pokepast.es/29fa121e8716a406
https://pokepast.es/ab9ed560f6399e24

Can’t find a lot of my old Infernape teams since I didn’t back them up, but I do like this BDSP team: https://pokepast.es/d991b907673d34b7

Thoughts on the NatDex community as a whole?

I really like the Nat Dex community. Pretty laid back community in general when you get to know the people involved with it. Obviously I’m going to be biased, but it’s been nice hanging out in Nat Dex and I’ll treasure the moments that I’ve had here. Not much else I have to say.

Any closing statements?

Feel free to visit National Dex Other Tiers and National Dex Alternate Metas while you're scrolling through forums. Right now, National Dex GG is our current spotlight ladder so feel free to take a look. Also, 35pokes PL should start in a couple of hours - if you enjoy micrometas, I'd check it out.
—

Thank you Velcroc for yet another enjoyable interview and taking time to answer my questions during my sloppy schedule. As always, feel free to ask Velcroc any questions below!
Additionally, I’d like to thank you all for your patience. I’m going to try really hard to be better with uploading these more often. Stay on the look out for next week! I have a lot of people I’d like to interview.

LGI. You’ve always been very pleasant to talk to, happy you’re managing Asia this year with Oculars.
I have never read the full version of the odyssey but I’m familiar with the story from school. Christopher Nolan is the best director for this movie, very excited. This leads me to my question, besides the odyssey (and the Iliad), what other story/myth or book would you like to see on film? I’d like to see the Divine Comedy!

 

[Illouri]

i think we ain’t done yet.

 

[Illouri]

Hey y'all, I apologize for going MIA with this project for so long. I had some pretty big life events happen this spring and summer that forced me into a hiatus. I also ended up just being in a slump for a while after that. Despite that, I'm feeling better and much more productive. So, I welcome you all salmonelephant for this week's POTW!

- me
- salmonelephant

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What do you do outside of smogon?

I graduated from college this year and I've flip-flopped over the years on what I want to do in my career, but I've been trying to find a position in Data Analytics as of recently and have been tinkering with SQL/playing with databases because I love discovering what works and what needs attention, so if anyone knows a guy I can talk to, hmu. Outside of Smogon, I enjoy running 5ks and half marathons and casual cycling. I'm also a big fan of Smash Ultimate and Rivals of Aether 2

What got you into mons as a whole?

I never played or watched pokemon when I was younger, even though I very much was a Nintendo kid; My parents must've thought it was evil or something. I played RSE for the first time during Covid and loved it, eventually finding PS and NatDex after realizing it was much more appealing than SS OU

What is the origin of your username?

I made this username when I was 13 and wanted something that was original. At the time, I memorized hex codes that I liked and my favorite was the color salmon (pinkish-orange), and I knew that elephants, a favorite of mine, can be pigmented red/orange because of soil they cover themselves in. I've gotten a bunch of people who figure the name refers to two animals, shortening it to salmon thinking of the fish, even if it refers to the color (named after the fish ...)

What was your favorite tier to play in the Grand Slam Circuit?

My favorite tier to play was definitely RU. I got knocked out of UU and Mono early, but those were the tiers I chose first in playoffs and ended up enjoying as well. I didn't wanna touch Ubers with a ten-foot pole, and after watching ZygardePL, I will continue to avoid it like the plague. RU felt very freeing during, and I got to experiment a lot with different concepts and playstyles, including Manual Rain with Archaludon, which definitely sped up its ban process

What was it like playing for the final Grand Slam Tour?

The majority of my points came from RU, so I was definitely nervous at first. Most everyone in the playoffs had good experience in all of the tiers I wanted to prioritize, and I was decently worried about running into either Sealoo or Big Chungus IRL (1st vs 8th seed, they played in quarters), the latter of which I faced in the finals. I enjoyed playing slam in MSPL II, which was decent prep and enlightened me to an amazing bo3 format. I ended up really enjoying the tour and would do it again in a heartbeat

Who was the hardest to prep for?

The hardest person to prep for was my finals match against Big Chungus, of whom I'd dodged in MSPL but knew he tended to use some unconventional strategies. I wanted to make sure I had UU and RU down just right, because I figured he'd use anything from hard stall to hyper offense. I consulted fellow Low Tier God MrFraud while building for UU/RU and rounded up Sealoo for UU and Runo for RU last minute and felt confident going into my battles, though we didn't end up playing RU

Favorite match?

My favorite match was against Ineros. He's the only person I've played against 3+ different times in tours, and I really enjoyed our battles. We played RU and Mono, and in RU my whole team lost to his swampert on preview. I managed to chip it down early enough with Tinkaton to eke out the endgame with my Nidoking. For Mono, I prepped Ground and he brought Steel, which sounds like a one-sided battle, and it should be, but it was a lot closer than it should've been after my Mega-Garchomp who practically soloes Steel did 99% to his Ghold and was out of commission after that. I was in a 3v1 in the endgame against his scarf Excadrill, which flinched down both my Lando-I and scarf Tusk to make me beg for mercy as I waited for final pokemon Clodsire to receive the same treatment. As Clodsire are naturally unaware of the world around them, the flinches never happened, and my heart could finally rest easy

How was your PL experience?

I really enjoyed my PL experience! I'm grateful to big man 1yr for copping me, for which the Victinis have had a 2 NDPL streak of picking up the Grand Slam winner. This tour was very fun to play in and watch, though it wasn't my best performance, ending the season with a 2-4 record in NDRU. I had a lot of scouting material from the recent Open and Grand Slam, and with very little support the first 4 weeks, didn't take enough account of my self-scouts, leading to avoidable losses in weeks 3 and 4 imho. Even still, I've definitely learned a lot of valuable information from this experience to take me into my future tours and am still feeling the high; NDCL can't come any sooner

Any rising stars to look out for next year?

Toxic Ariados That dude went on a tear in Summer Seasonal, only falling in R14 (Top 4) to Ineros (who's also had a good year and I expect even more so in the future). He's also in Top 4 in Last Chance, and I expect a lot of good to come out of him and other Ladder/Room demons that just wanna play some mons

What are your thoughts on NDOU currently?

Lower Tiers are my home at this point. I started on NDOU, and I still like it, but the meta feels very restricting, and it would be more balanced with a couple bans; Waterpon and Volcarona come to mind. There's more to explore, but it's for other people to find out and me to steal and use drain punch Mega Gallade on ladder

Favorite Junk Food Mon?

My Favorite Junk Food Mon is Kyurem. Ebelt in SS, Ebelt or Ground Z in this gen. That and Mega-Camerupt. Love that guy clicking buttons

Favorite on as a whole? Do you have a team to show for it?

My favorite mon is Blissey, but strangely I don't enjoy using it competitively. Second favorite is Tinkaton, which feels a lot more palatable to actually use. This team was for NDPL against Jawabarat, and it's got one of my other favorite mons in P2, which was thrown on there in fear of oricorio-pom-pom, who was the talk of the town for about 2 weeks until Blissey dropped from UU again. Very fun team with Icium Tinka to snipe gligars


Thoughts on the NatDex community as a whole?

The NatDex community knows what it wants, and they're a fun crowd. I wish we could prop this tier to official status, but even if Finch were the best ND player of all time, nothing would change. Jokes aside, it's a very tight knit community and I'd like to get to know some of y'all more in the coming months

What's next for you? What are you focusing on?

Recently I won the NDUU Summer Seasonal, and I'd like to continue having UU and RU as my main tiers while branching out into other gens on the individual level. I'm touring SM UU, RU, and NU for its Grand Slam and I really like the building for those tiers because it's chill and I'm not much of a boots-spam warrior anyways. I'm not banking too hard on Monotype Winter Premier, but I signed up for it and wouldn't mind playing ND Mono again. The ultimate goal one day is to join NDWC or other Cups for my region- go South!

Any closing statements?

No really, someone find me a job. I love mons, but I wanna get that bag too.

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Thank you all for being VERY patient for this interview. I recognized Grand Slam was some time ago, but I still think I'd give some recognition for such an accomplishment. Thank you once again salmonelephant for agreeing to this interview! They were very patient with me and their answers were very engaging. I'd also like to thank bumboclaat and sealoo for helping with some questions so I could get back on my feet with this project. As always, If you have any additional questions for elephant, mons related or not, feel free to ask below. POTW is, officially, back. <3

also, whoever posts next officially claims message #100!

 

[sealoo]

whats your fav team in the lower tiers you play?

are you the best georgia-located natdex lower tier players (Runo)?

whos your favorite teammate / person to prep with?