OM Interviews (#13: Jett)

[OM]

Hello and welcome back to OM (me) Interviews! Today's lovely guest is none other than a random assortment of letters! S, B, P and C please come to the stage!

art by missanthropic
​

Hello SBPC, and welcome to OM interviews! How are you doing today!

I'm doing just fine man, finished up some weekend work for classes and played some splatoon with friends. How about you?

I'm doing well, thanks. Starting off, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?

Sure. I'm an 18 year old finishing out my senior year in high school. I've been studying music theory and production since i plan to pursue music industry work. I enjoy looking into technical things, which has lead me to become a bit of a geek for stuff like fighting game frame data and deep stat pools for rpgs. I tend to get into a lot of competitive scenes just because of it, which has lead me to play a decent amount of other games such as Splatoon and Street Fighter. I was a pitcher for my high school team for awhile too, but i stopped playing around 2 years ago. I try and get into watching anime and tv shows but it usually never clicks for me, although I really enjoy talking with others about their favorite series. I also have a habit for trying to make friends with everyone that walks so there's a few people that can call me out for random conversation attempts at ungodly hours.

So, how did you first get into pokemon, pokemon showdown and OMs?

My first ever Pokemon game was Pokemon Black, it was a birthday gift from my aunt. I got into Pokemon Showdown originally because there was this guy in my friend's group chat who'd use his skill in pokemon as a bragging right all the time, so after enough of it i decided I'd learn the game just to shut him up. My first dip into OMs was in generation 7, where I played balanced hackmons with a sample team for a few hours, and then revisited many months later when I picked up ZeroUsed and mained the tier for awhile. After that i got into NFE through NFEPL3.

Speaking of which, you've recently been promoted to NFE co-leader! How has that experience been?

Nothing new really. NFE council has always worked well together, so I'm simply just taking my leadership position as a means to further help the tier.

Is there any NFE projects that you're excited for?

Oh absolutely. I got a lot planned for the upcoming months. First once PL finishes, we're going to do a reboot of ORAS NFE. Then after that's finished, I'm gonna resume my work on NFE OMs for an upcoming event featuring those. Can't reveal the details just yet, since we'd like our announcements to be as formal as possible. But it's something to be excited about.

And how do you feel about state of NFE itself? Is their anything in the metagame you're worried about, or any pokemon you feel are underutilized?

Ah. It's no secret im not really happy with the current state of the NFE Metagame. I've made a few posts about it in our Metagame Discussion Thread, (link here) but to summarize, I fear the upper portion of our metagame is far too centralizing to a point of absurdity, and can boil down to a big 4 (Raboot, Thwackey, Corsola-G, and Vullaby as removal) with an additional 2 pokemon from the top half of the metagame, or a more niche threat that helps with counterteams/endgame sweeping. I feel that Fletchinder and Grassy Terrain based teams are underutilized right now, the former for its ability to counterteam Thwackboot cores, and the latter for their exceptional ability to pummel through the standardized defensive cores used to help combat thwackboot.

Do you have any examples of those two archetypes you feel comfortable sharing?

Oh absolutely. Big 4 teams, or as i call them, the Hat Builder, are pretty everywhere in my teambuilder just because they can be very easy to make and are incredibly efficient. I just have slips of paper i put into my old baseball hat (or my OU hat, depending on what i feel like) with names of other threats that aren't the big 4, and pull 2 out at random. If you wanna try it yourself, just take some names off the VR and throw them in a randomizer. Here's some of mine though, for examples. https://pokepast.es/ecbcb113681f4bc1 https://pokepast.es/2cca4fa7006baef9 And for grassy terrain, you can use the big 4 + a grassy abuser.. https://pokepast.es/e14c1767d57cf4fa Or bring a full blown dedicated Hyper Offense. https://pokepast.es/59628f4dec391a60

Progressing onwards, what in the NFE community or general state have you guys been worrying about?

With focus towards NFEPL 4 being such a massive taking to our attention right now, there hasn't been much discussion of other things to be worried about. However, I've seen some people curious of the effect of DLC 2 coming soon, as well as some talk of worries of the current metagame state.

Staff has been focused on trying to improve ladder activity however, as it's a large focus to what draws people to the metagame, as well as trying to boost our forum activity.

Onto the positive, What about the NFE community do you enjoy? Is there any funny moments or screenshots you'd like to share?

Man, aside from some of the more hidden petty drama you can find on occasion, I've always just loved the tight knit nature of the community. It's a generally welcoming place to be with a great pool of motivated, kind people that just makes you wanna stick around for the long haul, even if the current metagame is kinda ass. Unfortunately I don't have any screenshots saved, but I do find this particular log to be a funny poorly aged quote. [18:17:06] %Anime≧◡≦Sans: I will never like raboot [18:17:09] %Anime≧◡≦Sans: quote me on this [18:17:55] %Anime≧◡≦Sans: if i ever decide raboot is good [18:17:57] %Anime≧◡≦Sans: im quitting Thank goodness, she hasn't quit yet.

And how do you feel you've contributed to the NFE metagame? Any sets or pokemon you've pioneered?

My contributions mostly lie in old gens, as I created Gen 5 and helped with the formation of everything older than that. As of the current generation though, I've mostly focused on developing and making stronger use of the more standard stuff, innovating in team composition and techs to help in the long game. I also pioneered Trapinch + PsyTerrain Kadabra, but trapinch is banned now, making the Kadabra set less than optimal. I also started pushing Drifloon as an innovation to take abuse of Grassy Terrain, since its everywhere in this meta.

Now, to the cooler stuff, how was your time as a Splatoon / Street Fighter main? What other hobbies do you enjoy? Any memories you'd like to share?

My god I loved those games to death. I still play splatoon pretty frequently and sometimes enter tournaments when I have a pickup team and some spare time. As for street fighter, I still actively spectate it, but haven't played since my ps4 got stolen. I think one of the coolest memories with the former of those games was the time I played in Inkstorm 2018, under the name Galaxy Splat. And while our record wasn't shining, (pls dont look us up we did SO BAD LOL) it was a ton of fun. And for hobbies, I still enjoy baseball, and like to teach younger people how to get into pitching since its a huge learning curve and proper tutoring is very expensive. I also like to play a little chess from time to time, but im not anything crazy at it. And on a quick note, shoutouts to my splat teammates from both Galaxy and 711, y'all are flames. Also sub to 5hak's twitch he has premier content.

Tackling other stuff, you were a manager in OMPL! How'd you enjoy that experience, and are you planning on managing for WCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM as well?
*WCoOM

I absolutely loved OMPL. Favorite team tour of all time and I'm still incredibly astounded with how we did. And for World Cup? I'd love to manage sign me up.

Keeping on, how do you think of the Snake Metagames? Are you interested in playing any of them?

I wasn't really a huge fan of any of the snake metas that I played/helped for during the tour itself, however I'm really interested in Inverse, and will probably continue looking into it inbetween NFE events.

Anyone you'd like to shoutout that you've befriended?

Huge shoutouts to Tack and Sans for drafting me in PL3 and introducing me to this community, to Jett for being an incredible TL, and to Andyboy, my OMPL Co-manager that helped me with the tour a massive amount. Also shoutouts corvis and nfe council, 2 groups that I've grown incredibly fond of over the past year.

Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the readers?

Practice good self care, wash your ass, and have a great day
(Yes im telling your readers to take a fucking shower)

we're not yugioh players smh

no but it should be expected from someone who attends fighting game tournaments to tell people to shower

Feel free to ask more questions below!

 

[missangelic]

1. What do you consider to be your own sort of view on tiering philosophy?
2. Since you like both music and games, what are some of your favorite video game OSTs?
3. What's your favorite Pokemon and why?

 

[Tack]

There are rumours that you may in fact, be a cute user? can you confirm or deny these allegations?
anything that u remember from pl3 in particular that was funny?
haven't u been dabbling in zu as well? how's that been going?
who's the Best FE3H girl (and why is it marianne)?
outside of the stuff mentioned in the interview what other games do u play?
Aren't you hosting a tournament in a private server with some interesting metas at the moment?
Who is bottom truck?
What happened that caused you to do fist fight predicts in at least one week of every tour you enter?
What's your favorite metagame?
What's your favorite color?
how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
how the fuck did we get here from me being worried u were evading a ban LOL ur legit one of the only people i talk to consistently like holy shit dude fuckin' love workin with ur ass in like everything

 

[Chloe]

1. fmk raboot thwackey piloswine
2. if one nfe pokemon was your fursona, what would it be?
3. do you remember what i sent you the first time we properly talked? reaction for reference
4. least favourite type of bird?
5. you can only invite one of elmo or tack to a party, which do you invite?
6. do you think i'm weird or do we not talk enough?
7. favourite om that's not nfe (or zu)?
8. what pokemon are you looking forward to from the crown tundra?
9. least favourite pokemon and why?
10. favourite nicki minaj song?

 

[Euphonos]

Oh! Music Theory! Huge fan!

- Have you ever had to compose music in music theory, or say, have you ever composed music? If yes, please share it to us!
- What sound do you perceive as the most satisfying?
- Are you a fan of 8-Bit Music Theory? :o

 

[Monsareeasy]

Thoughts on Marill in NFE?

 

[GL Volkner]

Is there anything you'd like to see from OMs and/or NFE in the future?

 

[SBPC]

1. What do you consider to be your own sort of view on tiering philosophy?
2. Since you like both music and games, what are some of your favorite video game OSTs?
3. What's your favorite Pokemon and why?

1: A huge part of my tiering philosophy is that unhealthy metagames are usually made to exist by not the powerful pokemon in a tier, but enablers that hold equal presence in a tier
2: Jet Set Radio OST is a classic, any OST with orchestra makes me happy, and for my personal fav as of recent, the Red Dead Redemption 2 OST has been catching my ears pleasantly
3: Excadrill. Was my first shiny back in gen 5, and its just been one of my favorites design wise for a long time

There are rumours that you may in fact, be a cute user? can you confirm or deny these allegations?
anything that u remember from pl3 in particular that was funny?
haven't u been dabbling in zu as well? how's that been going?
who's the Best FE3H girl (and why is it marianne)?
outside of the stuff mentioned in the interview what other games do u play?
Aren't you hosting a tournament in a private server with some interesting metas at the moment?
Who is bottom truck?
What happened that caused you to do fist fight predicts in at least one week of every tour you enter?
What's your favorite metagame?
What's your favorite color?
how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
how the fuck did we get here from me being worried u were evading a ban LOL ur legit one of the only people i talk to consistently like holy shit dude fuckin' love workin with ur ass in like everything

1: I am in fact, not a cute user
2: Me impressing sans within the first 5 minutes of me being in the server, also THE SB CURSE.
3: ZU is mad fun, too bad we got knocked out of ZUPL
4: see originally i had a multi page essay planned to show you why bernadetta was the best but i got lazy, Bernadetta simply put gives me relation to a fictional character in a way thats kinda fucked up when you read into her story
5: rhythm games like GH/CH, OSU!, and Deemo, along with the aforementioned three houses being a fixation of mine recently. I also dabbled in other shooters for awhile, and they make fun side games
6: oh yeah meme pl, yall should hmu on discord for that epic tournament ( :>)
7: Waves
8: it was funny, also it proceeded to spawn some hilarious conversations in discord
9: Flipped
10: Cyan
11: 2 Wood
12: Dude idk but im glad i stuck around to find out

1. fmk raboot thwackey piloswine
2. if one nfe pokemon was your fursona, what would it be?
3. do you remember what i sent you the first time we properly talked? reaction for reference
4. least favourite type of bird?
5. you can only invite one of elmo or tack to a party, which do you invite?
6. do you think i'm weird or do we not talk enough?
7. favourite om that's not nfe (or zu)?
8. what pokemon are you looking forward to from the crown tundra?
9. least favourite pokemon and why?
10. favourite nicki minaj song?

1: cry
2: Galar-Cors because im dying and my metagame groans when they see me
3: i actually do remember this. It was some weird dominitrix program on ACNH
4: all birds r good birds
5: tack because i can bring her to a party, i cant highlight her in a fistfight though
6: you're cool dont be that way to urself
7: Flipped, such a fire tier
8: the Calyrex guy or whatever hes called, looks funny and i hope its broken
9: Grimmsnarl it looks like an angry ball of pubes
10: Va va voom because its funny

Oh! Music Theory! Huge fan!

- Have you ever had to compose music in music theory, or say, have you ever composed music? If yes, please share it to us!
- What sound do you perceive as the most satisfying?
- Are you a fan of 8-Bit Music Theory? :o

1: I have had to make minor compositions but i dont like them enough to share
2:

(Special runner up: the kill noise in among us)
3: yea his videos are flames

Thoughts on Marill in NFE?

252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Marill Aqua Jet vs. 120 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Klang: 46-55 (15.8 - 18.9%) -- possible 6HKO
This cant break sub

Is there anything you'd like to see from OMs and/or NFE in the future?

I like seeing the growth of the communication base between leadership and community, and hope that transparency line continues to strengthen going forward. Additionally, I'd like to see some more involvement on forums, as everything kinda died bar discord once dlc1 hit. As for NFE specifically, i wanna find games on ladder faster otherwise its gold LOL

 

[Betathunder]

Still waiting.....

 

[OM]

Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews! Today I bring the Music Man himself...

Euphonos!​

Hello Euphonos, and welcome to OM Interviews! How are you doing today?

I actually am so thrilled with this endeavor, especially it's my first time being interviewed by someone else. Like, I never had the opportunity to be featured in this stage.


That's great to hear! Starting off, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?

Oh, sure! I'm 26 years old, born, raised, and resided in the Philippines. I'm an insurance agent / financial advisor by profession, a choral musician by passion, and of course, a Pokemon Showdown player in between.

I forgot to mention, I noticed that this name is properly pronounced as "EF-fo-nos", but I don't really mind if people pronounced it as "YU-fo-nos" or "yu-FO-nos", and it's totally fine as well if you call me by my real first name: Clarion.


Man's cashed out and is living the good life as a PS player ofc... Speaking of which, you've been a huge part of OMs (specifically Camomons) lately! How's your experience in OMs been?

Haha! I'm getting there.

Anyway, I enjoy Camomons the most among all of the OMs I've been into: even the simplest of change in mechanics really changed the complexity of the metagame itself such that even when I "try hard" building a team around Pokemon that may be deemed trash in the official metagames, it can remain solid (although my greatest pet peeve in the metagame is players putting a Normal type on everything just because they're putting up a set-up move on Slot 1). As under-developed the metagame is because of its current, undeserving treatment, there will be lots of hidden gems lurking in that metagame - even in this generation where people deem it unenjoyable due to Dexit!

I've gotten enthused to NFE thanks to the Malevolent Misdreavuses not getting a win in that category, so I tried to get my hands dirty during OMPL. Eventually, I joined NFEPL that I've gotten a 6-3 record for a modest amount of 3k, though the enthusiasm I have in that metagame somehow lost its luster because of how extremely centralized the metagame is with a certain set of Pokemon (not to mention anime sans is extremely adamant against me in building a team featuring Sliggoo in NFEPL, but I guess that's understandable).

As for the rest of the Other Metagames, I have yet to learn some of those metagames: Almost Any Ability and STABmons being some of them. But if there's one thing that I dislike the most, it's Balanced Hackmons. Because there are so many overbearing features going on that it could get too overwhelming (not to mention room for creativity there is kind of low because of how centralized that metagame is).

If you're talking about the OM Community, on the other hand, it's actually enjoyable! Although, some of my active appearances in the room is the Other Metagames Daily Tour, that, earlier, I have to wake up every Saturday (because of Camomons) before 6:00 AM GMT +8 in order to participate there, and now I have to wake up earlier than 5:00 AM, and it's crazy. Especially with a hint of a break after crafting my latest YouTube video about my DPP 1v1 Journey that took me four days to edit, I ended up skipping that recent OM Room tour (last September 18 - or 19, depending on how you guys perceive timezones).


Continuing on, you talked about your Youtube videos, how has that been going! What are you looking to do with your channel, and what have you enjoyed doing so far?

More collaborative Camomons team building sessions, putting up a Camomons Iron Chef project live on YouTube (though I'm sort of lacking manpower), and #EuphonosTries other metas (apart from OM's, of course). I wanted to penetrate my YouTube channel to the general Pokemon Showdown audience about these metagames I've gotten into, because I know they have no clue what they are, and maybe, with those videos I've done, I envision them to get their hands dirty on those metagames, in particular the Camomons metagame - something that I wanted to keep alive and to give the treatment it deserves.


And the Camomons metagame! How have you felt about that, and how's your experience with that been?

I felt super disappointed when Camomons isn't part of the official Other Metagames representation when Gen 8 arrived, so I was meant to take an exit in the community after the Gen 8 Camomons tournament hosted by In The Hills. However, circumstances including forum leaders not giving me a green light to post my farewell address to the Underused Community that I have been part of since 2014, Other Metagames Premier League pushing it earlier than expected, and the insertion of Camomons in that said team tournament made me return last March not just to make a name for myself, but also eventually to make this metagame more alive than ever. Thanks to this newly-minted purpose, I don't think I won't be leaving any time soon.


How do you feel you've helped grown Camomons since then? Any projects you've been involved with that you'd like to talk about?

I felt that the Council members were lacking some form of drive to go into the direction leading to the development of the metagame - probably due to temporal constraints and other priorities. However, I'm ultimately grateful to In The Hills for inviting me to be part of the Camomons Council. With that, I had that desire already to keep Camomons alive, and the very first project as a Council member is Camomons Iron Chef Live, which was rooted from one of the projects Hogg spearheaded in the ORAS UU metagame and then eventually passed it on to me. Of course, with the community being smaller than the UU Community, I can't afford to make a large production, so I'm going for the Live format which is almost faithful to the Iron Chef TV series.


Furthermore, what do you think you've brought to the Camomons metagame? Any sets or teams you'd like to share?

Come March, I've gotten into the Camomons metagame with one thing in mind: Weather Ball. Apparently, Weather Ball's distribution has gotten a little wider, and I have lots of ideas already on who to take advantage of such move (formerly Kyurem, currently Espeon). This is why I gained the moniker of "Camomons Meteorologist".

People from across UnderUsed and Other Metagames communities (heck, even the 1v1 Community for that matter!) recognize me as one of the team building visionaries; I manage to build teams based on something that catches my attention, and then work around it with the fundamentals of team building in mind (therefore being more inclined towards Balance). Sometimes, I actually do try hard building teams using Pokemon from the lowest of official tiers; sometimes they work, sometimes they don't; at least there may be hidden gems along the way and might give it more chances than it should be.

​

While I do have successfully made Weather teams and other things, this Semi-Stall team deems to be my most favorite among them all. This is a culmination of all the team building foundations I wanted to have in a Semi-Stall team, such as clearing hazards, disrupting other support Pokemon through Rotom-Frost's Trick, removing valuable items through Galarian Weezing's Corrosive Gas (Corrode-a-Virus, anyone?), and a set-up attacker through Calm Mind Keldeo. Not to mention, I generally have a knack for defensive backbones - but I may be way unpredictable and run Offensive teams and call it a day. It's just that there is a lot to offer in the Camomons metagame given the permutation of numerous moves Pokemon can learn and place in their first two slots. It all depends on the team's team building vision: from planning your win condition to getting some of those team fundamentals, and to surprise lots of opponents (myself included) with some underutilized choices.


Fantastic. Now, you're part of the Camomons Council as well. How has your experience been there? Are there any things you'd like to see for Camomons in terms of its place in OMs moving forward?

The Council just needs some form of a catalyst that would drive the rest of the Council into activity, and I believe, with my positive (and probably assertive?) presence to them, I believe we could make it more active than ever. In The Hills is now living the life of a student yet again; Chazm is the closest I could think of that will work hand-in-hand together, but has other priorities in other OMs such as Balanced Hackmons; I've recently gotten in touch with Andyboy being the champion in the Camomons Isle of Armor Launch Tournament and one of my play-testers in the pilot run of Camomons Iron Chef Live on YouTube, but can't seem to find the right schedule to talk about metagame developments (or I don't know); a loser has work that barely made himself active these days. These things are actually valid from my point of view, but worse than those things is that I'm the only person coming from the opposite side of the world (er, majority of the council), so looks like I have to wake up as early as 4:00 AM (which I have been accustomed to more frequently at the moment) to accommodate to those people.

Ramblings aside, I'd like to see more Camomons projects hosted by people other than me moving forward (please, give me a chance to participate in those projects / play in those tournaments lol). If Camomons becomes a permanent fixture in the Other Metagames, I'm looking forward to seeing a Camomons Ladder Tournament, I'm looking forward to myself streaming on the Camomons ladder which adds another dimension to the video coverage, among other things.


Moving a little away, you've also talked about NFE, NFEPL and 1v1! How have you enjoyed playing and building those metagames? Are they something you'd like to continue playing, as well are there any other OMs that you're interested in?

As OMPL drew to a close (well, we sadly didn't reach playoffs), I've gotten enthused to NFE especially with the advent of DLC1. Initially, I built some NFE teams all by myself (of course, with some help from Tack :]), and then the NFE community wanted me to sign up for NFEPL out of exposure. I was like, I'm not expecting anything from any of these managers whether to draft me or not, and fortunately I got drafted to the Monferno Mafia for a modest amount of 3k. I'm so fortunate as well to have people like anime sans and Hys literally completing NFE teams coming from some of our concepts, like them bringing up Nasty Plot Togekiss, me bringing up Heavy Slam Machoke + Fraxure rooted from my Sliggoo team, Hex Lampent + Neutralizing Gas Koffing, among others. And yes, I've gotten myself to a respectable 6-3 record -- probably the most positive record I've gotten among all of my records in my entire Pokemon competitive career.

As for 1v1, this video pretty much sums up my story there. I've gotten more obsessed to DPP 1v1 with the World Cup of 1v1 being underway that time, and it's all thanks to DEG for baptizing me with fire by letting me learn that all alone, and to Dj Breloominati♬ for devoting even the smallest of his spare time to build teams with me, and I actually loved to see channeling our wavelengths with each other and made some masterful creations that we haven't done before.

As for now, however, NFE is having a Raboot suspect; I hope that change would give me a breath of fresh air because of how overcentralizing that Pokemon is at the moment. Also, DPP 1v1 is pretty fun to play too and it's something I'd like to continue doing so (though I don't participate in DPP 1v1 Cup in the 1v1 Classic because I've been participating in tournaments since April and I deserve a much-needed break).


In an even bigger left turn, let's go back to you! What and how are your hobbies outside of Pokemon?

Primarily, choral music has been my hobby since 2007, and consequently, I started taking it more seriously as the years progress, and it became my passion in the process. This is why I actually aspire to become a music student (mostly choral conducting) thanks to my curiosity in any musical phenomenon (though not those overwhelming jazz stuff - I need to take them one by one before I could appreciate any of those lol). Plus, I have a knack for composing mostly choral music and making arrangements of songs into choral settings, and I believe I've made a handful of them over the past years. Last year marks one of my most major accomplishments in that realm, as one of my choral compositions has been rendered for the first time by the choir I'm currently part of, and I'm extremely proud of that one.


omg that's sick dude how much work do you really put into choral music? What's your process for making these compositions?

A lot of work. A lot of music theory coming into play after years of learning Music even during Grade School years.

As for my compositions, I usually start composing music by looking at texts -- as for the piece I composed entitled "A Parting Gift", it was loosely based on Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity's post-credit text but is then edited due to its saccharine and melodramatic nature -- and then craft melodies out of the text, then harmony comes after. I never had the opportunity to compose through music first, then add text out of it, which I believe is harder, but still possible.


That sounds amazing. Before we wrap up, would you like to tell about your experience in UU?

It's a rollercoaster ride, I would say. ORAS UU, as I transitioned from Pokemon Online to Pokemon Showdown, got me into my prime thanks to the projects hosted by Kink and Hogg. USUM UU is also a fine metagame until Kommo-o rose to OU that made my longest-standing team lose its luster; ironically, that was the time I got into Round 5 of UU Open that time, the farthest that I've gotten into so far, but with the loss of Kommo-o, I seem to have lost interest and find other things from there -- that's where I stumbled into Juno and Estarossa's tournament that got me into the USUM Camomons metagame and eventually got me into the Camomons player that I am today.

Going back to UU, I played UU Classic this year; lost in SM UU Cup in Round 1 after I got caught off guard by Groundium Z Necrozma in the last game, reached to Round 3 of ORAS UU Cup with that Game 2 that I nearly won that would've extended the series, and reached to Round 2 of BW UU Cup thanks to a Game 1 hax that cost me the game so badly. I also represented Asia (+ Rest of the World) in UU World Cup, where I played ORAS UU and got to 2-1 in the pools -- only two of us in that team have that record while the rest are 1-2's. If people want me to play Underused metagames from Generations 5 to 6, I'd be happy to do so in the far future.


Adding onto that, any shoutouts you'd like to give to friends you've made throughout the years?

Oh my gosh. So many of them. I'm not sure if you can tag them all to a point they get notified for it.

In the UnderUsed Community, there's Christo, r0ady, teal6, Kink, Hogg, Ark, Cynde, Kreme, Killintime, sparrow, Accelgor, CBU, DraconicLepus, TMM, itsjustdrew, PinkDragonTamer, Smallsmallrose, vivalospride, Clefable, Mygrein, and a whole bunch of people whom I have enjoyed with; not to mention I actually met esche in Germany while I had a tour with my choir last year.

In the Other Metagames Community, there's the Malevolent Misdreavuses, in which I notably tag Chazm, Tack :], abriel gabram, DurzaOffTopic, Lasen, rozes, SuperSkylake, and w0rd, and then I get to meet people who were putting their efforts as well in the Camomons metagame such as Sylveon., Siamato, Jrdn, Maple, MetaRiolu7, Karl Dude Guy, and Test Techles, plus my fellow Camomons Council In The Hills, Andyboy, and a loser (Chazm's already tagged, lol). After that, I managed to befriend some people from the NFE sub-community with the likes of SBPC, Fille, Shing'n Streets, and the rest of the Monferno Mafia: anime sans, Hys, neomon, Hamhamhamhamham, PH, mael, Thiago Nunes, Meri Berry, and my fellow PO boomer bugzinator.

In the 1v1 Community, I had lots of crazy moments with those people in my stint there for four months and counting -- crazier than the Underused Community for the last half decade, lol! There's my fellow Asian representatives starting off with Captains DEG and Baleblaze, and then with fellow nyaaasian players such as philisteen, Kentari, Kaif, King Leo V, frostyicelad, PartMan, RaJ.Shoot, Dj Breloominati♬, Mr. Mime fan, and my fellow kabayan lmni 1v1, among others. Plus, I have met other people as well such as Akumajou, zioziotrip, Stable, Joker 1v1, ThatCabbageGuy, Yami, Inkreativ, smely socks, Le Creme Brule, Jamez155, superstrike66, Downcoming3, Chickenpie2, pqs, and Murman0064. And to top it all up, there's this one guy who has been one of the greatest supporters from as early as 2015 - since the ORAS UU days. How I wish you could still keep in touch, LittleRunnerXC.

With that, I'd like to apologize in advance to a lot of people whom I didn't give a shoutout, it's just that it's too many of them to be worth mentioning. I'm so grateful to have overwhelmed with those people who have been part of my decade-long journey in my competitive Pokemon career.


Anything you'd like to say to our readers?

What I said in that DPP 1v1 Journey video will be the one I'll be imparting to everyone: and it is to have an open mind. That lets you explore to the possibilities of every unexplored nuance in every metagame you get your hands dirty into. If you think the new metagame that you're into looks interesting to you and you have the time to invest for such, commit to it.

Oh, before I forget, please do subscribe to my YouTube channel for Pokemon Showdown-related content. Haha!

Feel free to ask him questions below!

 

[Mr. Mime fan]

First
1. Most annoying camomons mon
2. Will you play ss 1v1 when dlc 2 comes out?
3. Top 10 favourite mons
4. If you had to only play one tier, what would it be, (this includes any gen any format)
5. Why do you like Moltres so much, is there a specific reason?
Lastly, Free camomons permaladder y/y

 

[413X]

1. hi
2. What’s ur fav dpp 1v1 team
3. Do you have any opinions on adv 1v1
4. Ur cool bro keep doing what u do
E:
5. What editing software do u use for ur videos

 

[Fille]

FREE JAMSCH

 

[413X]

2. What’s ur fav dpp 1v1 team

2. what are your top 5 fav dpp teams(im playing breloominati in r3 of dpp cup)
e: lost but im still accepting teams cuz dpp is fun

 

[Euphonos]

Mr. Mime fan

1. Most annoying camomons mon

The most annoying Pokemon to face against in Camomons? The most notable one is actually Rock/Ground Hippowdon, when that Pokemon happened to be one of the best counters to my Electric/Fairy Jirachi in my OMPL match against Havens.

2. Will you play ss 1v1 when dlc 2 comes out?

I have no idea about that because I'm going to go all out in Other Metagames World Cup, and once Crown Tundra DLC is released after that team tournament, I may be focused more on the development of the Camomons metagame, and I do hope that developments are coming to make Camomons a permanent fixture in the Other Metagames scene.

3. Top 10 favourite mons

10. Amoonguss

What brought me to put Amoonguss in this list is how bulky this Pokemon is in the BW UU metagame. Surprisingly, Amoonguss can survive a lot of hits -- even super-effective ones, and then disable opposing Pokemon through (Stun) Spore, and let Regenerator do its thing afterward. You may have noticed Fille bringing up Jamsch is because I named Amoonguss after the Mashu Megapon Jamsch in Patapon 3, and Fille found it my most defining persona in my BW UU career in Pokemon Online, and this is my team way back from Pokemon Online that brought me to this kind of popularity (although no pastes because it's old lol).

9. Rotom-Heat

What brought me to liking this Pokemon is its Fire/Electric typing come BW, and I super loved SubSplit + Discharge sets most especially when it comes to the BW UU metagame. On another note, in ORAS UU, where my longest-standing semi-stall team has been ingrained in my memory for so long, this Rotom-Heat happened to be the engine of the team by providing the maximum damage output it gets through Choice Specs, bolstered with a Modest nature.

8. Marill

Among all of the "memes" that I've used in ORAS UU that time such as Linoone and Regigigas, Marill is the most memorable as it has featured in an RMT article which is surprisingly good enough to be part of the Team Showcase (however, the Linoone variation of this team is more successful as it gets tournament exposure and is somehow responsible for Meru's exit in Round 1 of the (ORAS) UU Open nearly half a decade ago, lol).

7. Ampharos-Mega / Sceptile-Mega

I actually loved Mega Ampharos because of how cool its appearance is (fight me for those who say otherwise), and I loved using Mega Sceptile in the UU scene; I do remember one time where this Sceptile, among all other possible Pokemon, single-handedly finished off my opponent's entire team with some help from its teammates in USUM UU.

6. Kingdra / Venomoth

The reason why I grouped both Kingdra and Venomoth in this affair is because they're capable set-up attackers. Not just set-up attackers, but Disable users as well, which is best suited as late-game attackers in some of my BW/ORAS UU teams. A lot of my opponents have fallen victim to these Pokemon's SubDisable antics, and that proves how potent such a set would be.

5. Togekiss

In Generation 4 games, I love flinching opponents with Serene Grace-boosted Air Slashes, and I do love using Togekiss in those Shoddy Battle DPP OU years. Other than that, I didn't manage to fit in a team around Togekiss because counterplay against that Pokemon has run rampant over time.

4. Empoleon

Empoleon definitely is my most favorite starter Pokemon to have ever graced in the Pokemon world. It definitely serves as a glue to most teams thanks to its Water/Steel typing that is unique to that Pokemon (and if my memory serves me correctly - still the only Pokemon with that typing up until today), and it happened to be one of my favorite Pokemon to use in HGSS 1v1 thanks to its Torrent-boosted Hydro Cannons with a held Custap Berry almost guaranteeing to move first before the opposing Pokemon do unless they bear priority attacks or Empoleon got paralyzed in the process.

3. Salamence

I actually loved using Salamence especially in ORAS UU, but it's not because of its offensive capabilities. Salamence happened to be the heart and soul of my longest-standing semi-stall team in that metagame where he serves as a Wish Passer; no other Wish Passer is capable of taking lots of Physical attacks like Salamence does, and the eventual ban on Salamence thanks to its overbearing offensive capabilities made the team lose its luster; unfortunate as it is, I fortunately managed to build lots of equally successful teams in that metagame.

2. Gyarados

Gyarados has been my favorite Pokemon since Generation 1 games mostly because of the lore, but starting Generation 4, I started to appreciate this Pokemon more and more thanks to the Physical/Special split. Gyarados became the sole reason for me to build lots of teams around it, whether that's in DPP OU, BW OU, ORAS UU, USUM UU, SwSh UU, or even SwSh Camomons! It truly is one of the most reliable Pokemon for how consistently amazing this Pokemon is; there may be Dragonite and Salamence contending as Dragon Dancers in their own right, but Gyarados has its own merits that brought me to using Gyarados as a Bulky Dragon Dancer more than anyone else.

1. Moltres

While I'm not exactly a fan of Moltres early on, I've been liking Moltres starting in mid-ORAS (after the Salamence ban) because of the propensity of people running Steel-types. More of this will be answered below.

4. If you had to only play one tier, what would it be, (this includes any gen any format)

SwSh Camomons, most definitely. Despite the official metagames for this generation deeming repulsive for majority of the players out there due to Dexit and other factors, at least this metagame will keep their sanity intact (thus I do encourage everyone to get their hands dirty in this metagame).

5. Why do you like Moltres so much, is there a specific reason?

Since ORAS UU, I got hooked with Moltres when Lord Thorx showed me a team for him to use and eventually made magic out of it -- that was the time when Baton Pass was not yet banned, so this offensive Agility Moltres I have was paired with Nasty Plot + Baton Pass Celebi for more damage output. For some reason, from watching MasterChef, I nicknamed that team after the participants in one of those seasons of MasterChef, and Accelgor called me a savage for nicknaming my Moltres after the blind MasterChef winner, Christine Ha (the reason for that is Moltres's high-octane moves are bound to miss, and most players called Moltres out as blind whenever those moves did not hit). Then, my propensity to use Moltres has become more prominent when "Dakilang Hiwaga", my longest-standing USUM UU team, came into fruition. Moltres's typing, despite its massive Stealth Rock weakness, is definitely a valuable addition to a team that despises Steel-types so much - with the likes of Cobalion and Scizor.

Lastly, Free camomons permaladder y/y

It's not in my power to do so, but I really do hope the OM Leaders find a way such that Camomons becomes a permanent fixture in the Other Metagames scene.

413XPlayz

1. hi

Hello there, 413XPlayz! I'm so grateful that you're here to know more about me, haha!

2. What’s ur fav dpp 1v1 team

2. what are your top 5 fav dpp teams(im playing breloominati in r3 of dpp cup)

I have a personal favorite team to use against Dj Breloominati♬, but I don't want to reveal it until I myself am using that team against him (although it's actually an open secret because some people have somehow seen me testing that team in room tours) - unless I change my mind due to his circumstances in the long term.


That aside, "Unustatud Rahvad" (Estonian for "Forgotten Peoples") deems to be my most favorite DPP 1v1 team I used in 1v1 World Cup. This is pretty much the same build ThatCabbageGuy used in his DPP 1v1 journey with Rhyperior over Kingdra, and this team can change its sets depending on the situation because it features the top-tier threats of this generation and can be splashable to cater to numerous threats and all that jazz.

3. Do you have any opinions on adv 1v1

Because I watched LittleRunnerXC's ADV 1v1 videos on YouTube before, I'd say it's lit. If I have the willpower to learn it, maybe I'll do it in a few months time before the next 1v1 Classic.

5. What editing software do u use for ur videos

OpenShot Video Editor! It's free and open-source. How I wish I could retrieve Sony Vegas because of some of its enticing features, though...

4. Ur cool bro keep doing what u do

Thank you for your overwhelming support, Alex!

Fille

FREE JAMSCH

Press E♯ to pay respects to this team.

 

[cityscapes]

yo whats up euphonos, i really admire your enthusiasm about the game. got a few questions

1. favorite movie(s)?

2. how high do you think the skill ceiling is for pokemon? do you think humans can ever reach it?

3. how based are you, on a scale of 1-10? (it's ok if you don't know what "based" means, just use context to discern it)

4. favorite mythical pokemon? (if you say mew youre carried)

5. do you use social media outside of smogon/discord/youtube?

6. what are you looking forward to and dreading with crown tundra?

7. is there any mon that you just never use? if so, why?

8. would you say your tastes in various types of art have changed over the years?

9. how do you consistently make both youtube videos and smogon posts well?

10. favorite mons game that you participated in? favorite one that you didn't participate in?

11. howd you get into mons? do you still actively play the cartridge games?

12. when composing music, is it best to just jump right in or come up with a plan first?

13. is composing music like teambuilding? hope this doesnt sound excessively silly/vague

i wanted to talk more about finding aesthetic value in competitive pokemon which i know you're a fan of, but i couldn't think of the right question to ask, feel free to reach out to me on discord if you wanna talk about it!

 

[Euphonos]

cityscapes

yo whats up euphonos, i really admire your enthusiasm about the game. got a few questions

I'm doing just fine, cityscapes; thank you for recognizing my enthusiasm! Looks like you've fired them already, so I'll see...

1. favorite movie(s)?

To be honest, I'm not exactly an avid movie watcher; I just watch movies whenever my family's having the urge to watch in theaters. However, during my childhood years, it would be Pokemon the Movie 2000: The Power of One; that's the one I've watched the most times among all other movies I've watched.

2. how high do you think the skill ceiling is for pokemon? do you think humans can ever reach it?

Infinitesimally high, I would say. Humans may think that they're already at their pinnacle, but we humans will ultimately never know where that pinnacle will be.

3. how based are you, on a scale of 1-10? (it's ok if you don't know what "based" means, just use context to discern it)

Based on how my circle of friends perceive me as such and then translating it in real time, I'd rate it a 7.

4. favorite mythical pokemon? (if you say mew youre carried)

(Un)fortunately, it's not Mew. I'd say Victini because it brought me a lot of flashbacks in BW UU where I actually get to wreck a lot of teams there by virtue of Choice Band-boosted V-Creates.

5. do you use social media outside of smogon/discord/youtube?

Apart from Facebook which is for my personal consumption and business matters, I do have a Twitter!

6. what are you looking forward to and dreading with crown tundra?

I'm definitely looking forward to a wider distribution of both Weather Ball and Terrain Pulse users (especially the latter with the Alolan Guardians coming along), and wackier strategies in the Camomons metagame in particular. What I'm dreading about? More metagame-related work to do to keep the metagame up-to-date, if not alive.

7. is there any mon that you just never use? if so, why?

Toxtricity, because I just find it way too overrated with Boomburst + Overdrive.

8. would you say your tastes in various types of art have changed over the years?

Definitely, especially I get exposed to earlier forms of art - well, music in particular. Though, I just still can't appreciate advanced jazz - not with that super-ultra-hyper-mega-meta-lydian chord shit - yet.

9. how do you consistently make both youtube videos and smogon posts well?

First, it takes willpower. Second, it takes commitment. Finally, it takes effort. But yeah, that took a toll on my mental well-being, so I take a bit of time off before I'd go upload videos / post things again.

10. favorite mons game that you participated in? favorite one that you didn't participate in?
11. howd you get into mons? do you still actively play the cartridge games?

Let's say I'd incorporate two questions with my one answer here, because they're kind of inter-related.

My favorite Pokemon game I have played is HeartGold. Most especially because it brought some form of nostalgia whenever I played Pokemon Gold through my cousin's GameBoy cartridge. After Black, I didn't exactly catch up with the rest of the Pokemon console games, though, apparently, superstrike66 wanted me to play Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky because it had the best music and gameplay; when I have the willpower and resources to play that, I'm looking forward to doing so in the far future.

Speaking of GameBoy cartridge, yeah, I actually played Pokemon Gold first then Pokemon Red, and both of them came from my cousin's cartridge. And then, our grade school years are buzzing around the Gen 3 games, which I managed to buy Ruby, Emerald, and FireRed on three separate occasions, then years passed come the Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and Black games.

If you were to ask me how I transitioned from playing console games to playing competitive Pokemon through simulators like this, it started when a handful of my high school choirmates were so obsessed to Pokemon that I somehow chimed in. One of my choirmates, in particular, introduced me to Shoddy Battle and just played around with my favorites while being oblivious to the competitive scene, but it was in Generation 5 where Pokemon Online was established and tried to get my hands dirty on the standard OU metagame there and it brought modest success which caught the attention of one of the people from Pokemon Online Champions League, and that's where I started to play more competitively than ever, delving into the UnderUsed metagame for three generations (BW UU, ORAS UU, and USUM UU), and then resorted to Camomons come USUM and SwSh generations.

12. when composing music, is it best to just jump right in or come up with a plan first?

A bit of both, in a way that you're jumping right in by virtue of coming across a musical motif or certain text, and then planning in such a way that motif will be expanded.

13. is composing music like teambuilding? hope this doesnt sound excessively silly/vague

Believe it or not, it doesn't sound silly/vague here because composing music is actually like building a team. I guess it's because both of them have something in common, which is a form of a vision. This is actually why the most successful teams I've built was rooted from a vision on how to win games through that certain Pokemon / set / strategy / whatever that is, and that is the same as composing music that there's a vision as to how you make music from certain motifs.

i wanted to talk more about finding aesthetic value in competitive pokemon which i know you're a fan of, but i couldn't think of the right question to ask, feel free to reach out to me on discord if you wanna talk about it!

Reach me out through Euphonos#9726! I'm more than happy to chat with you there! Super grateful for leaving those questions around.

Keep them coming, guys!

 

[K3ppr]

1. Favorite genre of music to listen to and why?

2. How did you first get involved in choral music?

3. Which mon from Crown Tundra DLC gets (probably) banned first in camomons and why?

 

[GL Volkner]

what's your favorite expensive recipe? budget recipe? recipe you make most frequently?

pls i need to stop living off the same few recipes

 

[Euphonos]

K3ppr

1. Favorite genre of music to listen to and why?

Contemporary choral music, number one. Quoting myself from the Band/Choir/Orchestra Thread from the Congregation of the Masses forum:

<snip>

... I LOVE CONTEMPORARY CHORAL COMPOSERS SO MUCH. It doesn't mean that I don't like other choral works from the past time periods, but it is in the Contemporary period where the imaginations of the composers are so surreal; they even incorporated these ideas and capitalized on the diverse capabilities of the human voice to make such interesting, well thought-out masterpieces.

On another hand, I appreciate pop music from the 1990's-2000's decade because some of the iconic songs from there have meaningful texts (or, should I say, lyrics?), juicy chord progressions that don't resort to those typical four chords in a cycle (lol), and melodies that could make your heart pull to the song. Initially, this came from the influence of my three elder sisters having such tastes to pop music and I would just ride with them, but with the music lessons I've learned over the years, I started to appreciate those things more. Heck, I would even say I could go further back because the characteristics I've mentioned are more prominent and my dad sometimes tuned in the radio with the songs of his times (call me an old soul for this, lol). And, there may be times that I would appreciate music from the more present era because there are still traces of those songs with the desired characteristics I described.

2. How did you first get involved in choral music?

That was in 2004 after I myself discovered a singing voice early on, and then I just got engrossed with singing in groups, so I got into our school's Grade School Glee Club by then. Then, when I was about to reach High School (2006-2007), that Grade School Glee Club conductor of mine would recommend me to singing with the high school choir, and thanks to the circumstances that happened that time (new high school teacher and choral conductor), I've gotten more serious in committing to this high school choir, and that's where my choral journey began.

3. Which mon from Crown Tundra DLC gets (probably) banned first in camomons and why?

Dragonite, and probably Tapu Lele. Dragonite bears the same characteristics of a Dragon Dancer like Kyurem this generation - not to mention it got banned last generation. Tapu Lele with Psychic Surge + Expanding Force / Psyshock is actually a force to be reckoned with and might deem too much for the tier to handle.

GL Volkner

what's your favorite expensive recipe?

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, definitely.

budget recipe?

Scrambled Eggs by Heston Blumenthal.

recipe you make most frequently?

Usually Bacon, Pepper, and Cheese Omelette for breakfast. If it weren't for the lack of curry leaves, I'd go for Chicken Tikka Masala almost every day.

pls i need to stop living off the same few recipes

You can always explore. YouTube University is your best friend.

Thanks for asking these questions! Keep them coming, guys!

 

[faded love]

1. What is a recent pop song that you found harmonically interesting in its progression?

2. Who is your favorite Jazz musician, if any?

3. What is your favorite scale? I like 12TET or lydian myself.

4. Do you only do Choral work? Are there other types of music work that you do?

5. Have you ever started a band?

6. Do you play any instruments?

7. Who was most influential in your Choral career?

8. What’s your favorite piano song to listen to or play?

9. Do you have any tips on learning Music Theory?

10. Can you play the lick?

 

[Euphonos]

faded love

1. What is a recent pop song that you found harmonically interesting in its progression?

My apologies if this pop song that I'll be revealing will be in Filipino, but I feel through Ben&Ben's "Bibingka", it best describes how harmonically interesting it is by virtue of cycling two key signatures in its entirety: F and A♭. The verses may have an A♭ - Fm - D♭ - E♭ (I - vi - IV - V) cyclic harmonic progression, which then proceeds with a D♭ - A♭/C - B♭m - C (which is a dominant function leading to the tonic chord of the modulated key of F Major), which then has a rather interesting substitution on the second chord: F - Am - B♭ - C (which is I - iii - IV - V, as compared to the I - vi - IV - V of the verses), which then expanded to [ B♭ - C#° - Dm - (F/C) - B° - B♭ - C ] (if I were to lead from the bass line itself). Yep, that's kind of an advanced music theory where I stopped from leading diminished chords, hehe. I actually got interested with that song, and, along with my high school conductor's request, I actually made an arrangement with it and the choir actually rendered it! (not to mention, the twins in that band happened to be in the same batch as I am during our Grade School years.)

2. Who is your favorite Jazz musician, if any?

Jacob Collier, hands down. His rendition of Moon River is blowing my mind away.

3. What is your favorite scale? I like 12TET or lydian myself.

I take no favoritism toward any scale, although I actually got intrigued with the Japanese pentatonic scale / Urmas Sisask's planetary scale when "Oremus" from Urmas Sisask's Gloria Patri was brought up to my choir as part of our repertoire for a project.

4. Do you only do Choral work? Are there other types of music work that you do?

I primarily focus on choral works because that's my forte. I actually made an orchestral work that actually is pop in nature (out of a collaboration with someone), though that wasn't released because of some issues with that person whom I am collaborating with. The reason why I loved choral works so much is because it actually gives meaning to the text - something that adds another dimension to the meaningfulness of music.

5. Have you ever started a band?

Sadly, no.

6. Do you play any instruments?

Piano, since I had lessons when I was 12. Though I feel like I'm not as proficient in playing piano as my voice, lol!

7. Who was most influential in your Choral career?

Three people happened to be the most influential in my choral career: my high school choral conductor for his experiential manner of teaching, and through his grit he managed to put that choir into one of the renowned all-male high school choirs in the country; my vocal coach - now conductor of another all-male choir I'm currently part of - for revolutionizing how a vocal sound should produce with minimal effort; and my college choral conductor for rekindling my aspirations as a future full-fledged choral musician - heck, she actually had her Doctorate of Music degree in Michigan (six years ago) at the age of 30!

8. What’s your favorite piano song to listen to or play?

I was actually torn as to which piano pieces were my favorite to listen to - and they're mostly rendered by the Croatian crossover pianist Maksim Mrvica: I'd say I'd go for Nostradamus by Tonci Huljic and Exodus by Ernest Gold.

9. Do you have any tips on learning Music Theory?

If you have the opportunity to compose music based on what you learn, do it. You actually compose not because you were asked to compose music, but it's a way of synthesizing whatever lessons you've learned from Music Theory.

10. Can you play the lick?

I admit, I don't know what a lick is until I googled it. That may or may not apply to the vocal sound, so I'd say no.

Thank you, faded love, for these questions. Keep them coming, guys!

 

[OM]

Bonjour Others and Metagamers, and welcome back to OM interviews! For this session, I'd like to bring out the Balanced Hacker himself...

Cityscapes!!​

Hello Cityscapes and welcome to OM interviews! How are you doing today?

I'm doing pretty well today, got some snacks with me and am pretty excited for this interview! Thanks for having me on!

It's not a problem! Starting off, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

I'm a 19-year-old student living in the US (West Coast gang), currently taking some time off from school for mental health-related stuff but hoping to be back in a few months. I like spending time on various parts of Smogon like Orange Islands, the new Smogoff forum, and of course OMs.

I hope that goes well for you. Going off that, how has your experience in OMs been?

I've had a lot of great experiences through my time here, from spamming 1 team back in Classic Hackmons in 2014 to using slow, passive teams with heat mons tacked on in 2017-2018 BH to finding my own style and constantly pushing it forward in present-day BH, and competing in many tournaments through the years. Of course, I also feel obligated to mention all the awesome people I've met here, including the SM BH playerbase, SinnohRemakes, lots of people in the OM main chats, and of course the Hehe Boi Alliance. This game wouldn't be nearly as fun without all of them.

Further on, how do you think about SS BH, and the new possible additions coming with DLC2?

SS BH is definitely an interesting metagame, and playing/exploring it more has given me a lot more insight as to how metagames function in general. I think it has some flaws to be ironed out, detailed more in the post I made here (https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/balanced-hackmons.3656408/post-8600231), but it's also tested skills by creating environments that were never present in Gen 7 BH. One of such environments I've noticed is how bulky teams reliant on choiced attackers to break have been severely limited, so rather than being the "default" style that you can fall back on, these teams are much more risky and require more thought before being brought in a serious setting. I'm very interested to see where this metagame goes in the future, and in a way I almost don't want Crown Tundra to come just so I can see how the current meta turns out. That said, the increased pool of mons that will come with this will definitely make up for this metagame's lack of diversity. BH with great and flexible pokemon such as Xerneas and Yveltal is always a lot of fun.

Adding onto that, do you have any tips for BH teambuilding? Are there any archetypes that dominate the metagame?

I think that BH is all about finding where your unique style intersects with the metagame. The best way to do this is to just throw yourself into it with a surface-level knowledge, looking at what situations you get into that feel really solid and comfortable, and exploring how to best get yourself into those situations. For instance, you might like how PH Zekrom in Gen 8 can threaten its counters with moves like status, spikes, and just damage from its STAB moves while not ceding much momentum in return, so in that situation you'd look for Pokemon that can both contribute to and benefit from this net positive that Zekrom gives you every time it gets in. From my experience playing BH, better archetypes typically have more "lines"-- that is, they have several potential ways to make progress, and their gameplan doesn't hinge on a specific situation happening in games. One example of this is a Gen 7 BH game I played yesterday where in the early- to mid-game stage, my Alakazam missed Will-O-Wisp and I could do basically nothing after that. Completely one-dimensional teams like sun/rain and the previously mentioned double choice breaker + fat core simply cannot function if their line is unfeasible, so they can run into consistency issues. That said, even using less flexible teams will still make you better at the game. You not only get more practice being forced to play a specific way, which you might not have done before, but you also learn the limits of these teams yourself and get to expand on them in neat ways.

Do you have any teams you'd like to share in that scope? Whether they be for SM BH or SS BH.

Sure, I have a few neat teams to share.
https://pokepast.es/5ab1501640b9b110 (SS BH) - While being quite reliant on a specific mon (Zeraora) to clean up and win games, this team is quite flexible and has a lot of ways to make progress. Marshadow is used to force progress against more defensive teams, and Teleport from Seismitoad and Eternatus is a great way of getting it in. Meanwhile, Eternatus is used vs. less passive teams that can't deny its Stealth Rock, and Snorlax can put in work with Knock Off. Don't think this team is super good but I'd say it's a pretty decent example.

https://pokepast.es/5185d9b8894d1177 (SS BH) - Incredibly stupid team, but hyper offense is always really flexible and can be pretty solid if you don't auto-lose to anything. Won't talk about this team because potential employers might check this site and hopefully Pokepaste will be dead by then.

https://pokepast.es/97b314bc605cd81a (SM BH) - Kind of a go-to example for flexible teams, this is a Shedinja team that's hardly reliant on Shedinja to break, or take hits, or do anything really. Every game you have a lot of options on which Pokemon to let get chipped and which ones to keep healthy, which is why I really like this team.

I'm told this is a testy topic, but what's your current take on Dynamax in BH? How do you think it affects gameplay and overall games?

At the time of the Dynamax vote, I liked the element it had of giving teams a way around threats like Darmanitan-GZ, Zacian-C, and Kyurem-W without having to run one of the scarce hard counters to them. I still think this is true to some extent, but the increased viability of some Poison Heal users, which can threaten to Dynamax and simply bruteforce their way through lategame positions, is also a problem in my eyes. I would probably vote ban at this point if asked, but my mind isn't 100% made up and at any rate I would prefer to look at other elements first.

What elements are those in the current metagame? Do you think they'll persist into the DLC additions?

For the most part, my issues lie with not only the breakers in question, including Darm and Intrepid Sword, but also with Court Change + Heavy-Duty Boots removing hazards' ability to consistently counteract Fur Coat/Ice Scales/immunity ability defensive cores. I think these issues will probably persist into DLC in some form, but I think it would be overly pessimistic to say that nothing will change fundamentally about the metagame. At any rate, I look forward to starting more active tiering after all the mid-generation changes are done with.

Final tiering question here, but what are your opinion on the DLCs and their effects on tiering? Have you enjoyed all the metagames? Do you think they took away more than they added?

I know several prominent players have agreed with the sentiment that Chansey is a very negative presence in post-DLC1 BH. This isn't something I can refute on a conceptual level, but I can't say I've had too many issues with Imposter being bulkier, while I think Single Strike Urshifu is a very positive addition to the metagame. That said, tiering action has slowed as a result of the DLCs, and I think this has hit BH hard with the metagame developing slowly and innovation getting pushed away by the dominant strategies as a result.

Cool. Furthering on, what are some of your hobbies outside of Pokemon?

I've had a fun time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee as a way to get an alternate perspective on competitive games and communities (plus finding a group of IRL friends who play the same game, although that's been a bit harder with the pandemic), and Minecraft as a way to make cool stuff and show it to other people. Outside of video games, I like going on walks around my city, which has a lot of cool places to visit, and watching well-renowned anime like Evangelion and Ping Pong.

...Ping Pong?

Ping Pong The Animation! It's a show about competitive games and how several distinct characters interact with them. Not all of the show is about that, though; there are some characters who can find satisfaction outside of competitiveness, and the show definitely takes some time to focus on the limits and weaknesses of a competitive mindset. I watched it cause Lasen recommended it to me, lol.

Dope. Who do you main in Melee?

Mewtwo. He's a really unique character and most people don't rate him highly, but I've never felt truly unable to respond to situations with him and really good Mewtwo mains like Taj and Zoma are really inspirational for me.

Adding on, what do you like to do in Minecraft? Excited for the new update?

I have this server where I play with Zovrah, Pazza, and Anaconja. I'm definitely more of a big projects-type player and am currently planning out a casino with various games as well as a boat racing course (might make a couple YouTube videos showcasing what we've done so far). The new update looks pretty great, the cave update is finally here and the new decorations like amethyst crystals look great. 1.16 was awesome so I have high hopes for this one too.

Fantastic. Are there any projects you've worked on you'd like to share?

Sure! Some of the cooler ones I've worked on are a quartz ship in the sky surrounded by a colored glass sphere (it's about half done, need a ton of glass) and a contraption that automatically brews potions until it runs out of materials or is shut off (designed that one myself). In general I tend to gravitate towards functional farms like an iron farm and a gunpowder farm, both of which are both cool and convenient for materials. I hope to work on more aesthetic-focused things later on, though.

Wrapping up, any shoutouts you'd like to give?

I'd like to shout out xavgb, TheCoastsOfToast, Chazm, Lasen, and MAMP. All of these people are very cool and I don't give them enough credit. Oh yeah also shoutouts to my man DrumstickGaming


Anything you'd like to say to the readers?

I was going to say something motivational here, but I wasn't smart enough to think of anything cool. That said, I encourage everyone to change up their routine a bit and do something completely new in their life. Quarantine kinda sucks. You deserve better than this.

Feel free to ask cityscapes more questions below!!

 

[Zovrah]

hi hi hiii can you tell the ice cube man story on forums

 

[Kaif]

free mray in sm?