OM Interviews (#13: Jett)

[GL Volkner]

If you had to move to one place, where would it be and why?

If you had to visit one place, where would it be and why?

Would you rather be allergic to pizza or ice cream?

Why do cows have hooves?

Favorite season?

Favorite month?

What's your ideal day?

Did you know there's already BotW2? Just google Genshin Impact :) thank me later

Favorite song rn?

Favorite song of all time?

If you had to spend a day with one Pokemon, which one would it be?

If you had to spend the rest of your life with one Pokemon, which one would it be?

When are you gonna start playing Pokemon GO and ruin PvP for everyone else?

What's your opinion on me calling you sass because of one night of being too tired?

Catalystic?

I'm torn between learning about AI and diving deeper into security. If you had to pick one, which would you personally pick and why?

What bender would you be and why? You get access to no specializations (so no bloodbending cheapo).

 

[The Number Man]

Well i guess since you rightfully called me out for sucking at BH i gotta ask you at least one question now lmao.

As an aaa main turned bh main, do you have any tips on how someone can stop being so insanely terrible at the meta? Asking for a friend btw.

Do you still think magic bounce and PH are broken in aaa?

Why does your profile link to the asian electronic sports federation website?

 

[aesf]

Favorite gen for AAA?

GEN 6 AAA GOAT META

Any tips to new AAA players who are looking to get more involved/better at the meta?

Aside from just playing a lot and watching good players play and noticing their builds Ill try to give some specific tips that may or may not actually be true:
- Think before clicking hazards!!!!! This is the number one thing i see and it happens soooooo much in games that involve anyone whos played this meta for less than a year. Sometimes, getting your hazard bounced will instantly lose you the game (either hazards are up on your side or you waste 2 turns going to fogger and fogging) and sometimes you dont gain a ton if you get them up. If thats the case, then dont click them!! This doesnt mean to never click hazards obviously but at least be aware of potential bouncers and think about risk reward before you do it. Fsr its hardwired in so many peoples brains to just not think about risk reward when rocking lol.
- When building you should make sure your team can beat basic defensive cores. This sounds like a "duh why do you have to say that" kinda thing but aaa defensive cores are pretty cracked at the end of the day. They can run regen they can run dauntless shield poison heal magic bounce all of that. If you scroll down whatever the current aaa vr is chances are almost all good teams are gonna have hard answers to the common stuff. So you gotta get a little creative and think about that more. Doesnt mean to not bring stuff like noivern but it does mean not to like rely on noivern as ur only breaker.
- I think aaa players are pretty down to play aaa whenever cause building this is fun and everyone has too many teams so dont be afraid to challenge lol.


---------

General Questions
Favorite food(s)?

Dont have the list in my head right now but ill think of a few (actually wait i saw the meat tier list down below so ill exclude meats from this)
Lol ima do it by the food pyramid
Grain: Biryani
Fruit: Mango
Vegetable: Bamboo
Dairy (??): Idk cheezits
The top triangle: Had a boston creampie and it was amazing but i was also like 11 so idk

Favorite drink(s)?

WATER

Meat tier list?

to preface every time i see a meat ive never tried at a restaurant i can reasonably get i get it
S rank - lemon pepper wings, raw fish
A - steak (medium rare), salmon, roast duck, porkbelly, mackarel, chashao pork or whatever the kinda sweet red pork is called in english, buffalo
B - chicken (general), octopus, rabbit, frog, turkey, pork intestine, deer, lamb
C - beef (general), fish (general), jellyfish, pork (general), cicadas

k im bored now theres probably more and no i havent tried dog altho i did get a few chances in china

Favorite animal?

eidt: fuck i forgot to answer 1 sec
growing up I really was a fan of the chicken. Now i guess i kinda just like dogs and probably wanna get one sometime in the future. Also giraffes are funny why are their necks so long LMAO

Favorite sport?

1 basketball 2 ultimate frisbee 3 pingpong then idk

How can you enjoy the activity of suffering that is running?

it feels good after! also the place i grew up in was like the perfect place for running theres random trails everywhere n its super pretty

On a scale of 1-10 how artistic are you?

havent we played skribbl you can be the judge of that
if you dont remember heres some art i did for an old rmt granted i was like a toddler https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/1v1-50-50s-are-too-mainstream-4-alts-in-the-top-10.3535438/ i think its at least a 3 if im being generous idk theres prboably worse?

Have you ever pogged irl?

come to think of it i actually have pogged quite a bit lol

Have you ever said pog irl?

i dont think i have even ironically, maybe like once when quoting someone

Are there as many peaches in Georgia as advertised?

theres not peaches growing on the sidewalk or anything but other than that yeah lol. Half the streets in the entire state have the word "street" in them, if thats not what ur referencing then thats a tidbit to know.

Edit:I MEANT PEACH u get the point whatever

How and why does my Ganon inspire you? (Multiple reasons would be appreciated)

It inspires me because even in a game like Smash where luck is supposed to be nothing like pokemon one can still side b 7 times in a row (which is luck btw. you are not reading me. you are guessing.) and take a stock funny how that works. Makes me realize the lucky (and bad) can really do anything in probably life too.

What is your fave divine beast from botw?

Honestly waterblight ganon cause that was the only one i didnt beat in like a minute lmao. Thunderblight ganon was cake everyone else sucks at the game.

Are you excited for botw 2 and if so, what are a few things they should improve from the first?

fuck yeah im excited botw was my favorite game ever as im sure you know. My main thing about breath of the wild was like the first 30 hours was probably the best gaming experience ive ever had but the game itself outside of that is a little minimal, which ik is intentional but still. It would be cool if they made the world a bit more alive, add in some optional parts or so or some more refreshing things to the game instead of putting 900 korok seeds that are rewards when u climb moutnains and such. Mighta said this before but it feels like 60% of a perfect game to me.

Mons Questions

Do you feel building or playing ability is more important in mons?

In terms of winning games i think playing ability is more important definitely. Theres obviously a baseline for building a team that can win but like past that mons is pretty volatile. Even the best builders get bad matchups and if that happens its done. Meanwhile from what ive seen when theres a decent skill gap the better player almost always wins.

Can someone succeed at a "high level" without a solid understanding of playing through a game plan?

Its possible just really really unlikely. Smth i noticed is when people dont have concrete thought processes or cant fully explain their plays its (counterintuitively) really easy to figure out what theyre going to do next or at least like really easy to get them to choke. So versus a player who knows how to exploit that well its usually not happening unless the matchup or hax is that insane which doesnt happen too much from what ive seen since alot of good players are constantly minimizing those things.

How much truth is there in aaa players having an unhealthy obsession with pivot moves? (You knew this was coming)

TRUE however this is also a tier with regen and insane breakers so go figure. However that being said as an aaa player every time i have a mon with a pivot move in (100% of the time btw) and i dont click it i physically convulse.

How much truth is there in om players having an unhealthy obsession with pivot moves?

TRUE pivot moves are for the weak

How much truth is there in multiple prominent aaa players having an unhealthy obsession with stall?

ngl i think this used to be the case but i havent seen stall in tournament for a while besides like that one stall thinkerino passed in ompl? been a while since stall was a cult in oms, anyway mimez wave keep the stall going lets go mimez etc

I think you're the om player who is the most eager to play the best competition possible (like when you were killing it in stab in ompl and asked to be slotted into aaa to face geerat for the rematch) do you think there's truth in this and if so, why are you so eager to play the best player available?

Dunno how all other om players feel about it but i do know a certain some people (and ill try to make this subtle)
cough

Racool

cough

xavgb

cough
(shit my bad i hope its not covid)
do seem to quite enjoy not playing the game.
Idk its just fun to play good players lol. I like being challenged ofc and i also tend to play my best and build my best vs good players.

What helps prevent burnout for you in long tours like ompl?

Remind urself every now and then to have fun w it and if youre not having fun then go do somethign else for a bit. Also helps to have a few ideas / builds stocked for future weeks so that if you dont feel like building or you dont have ideas then theres still stuff to fall back on, i tend to do that alot when im more inspired to build in earlier weeks.

Do you enjoy branching out and trying new metas or innovating the metas you already know more?

Depends on the meta! Im a very slow learner just in general lol so I have to say i generally do like innovating the metas im playing more. When i get bored of that i just pick up something else. AAAs the only meta ive played where i genuinely dont ever think im done finding new stuff even tho its been years.

Most important questions

Would you rather watch a bunch of cringey waifu bait harem anime with Catalystic or play among us with GL Volkner where he asks you what everything you were doing every time a body is found?

as much of a weeb as i am (having watched multiple (and i am not kidding, multiple) animes) playing among us and killing volk first regardless of whos around is an offer i cannot pass up (except for usually and until the new map comes out).

Is GL Volkner mald?

is water blue

ill do the rest tonight or smth also woo 800 posts

 

[TheCoastsOfToast]

What aspects of playing competitive Pokémon (especially at such a "high level") do you find infiltrating your every day life? Do you feel like it's made you think about real world problems or situations differently than you might have if you didn't play?

Cyberbullying is a serious global problem, especially among teens. As an enormous cyberbully yourself, what would you say about that to an auditorium of 10,000 teenagers?

Say tomorrow you wake and find yourself with two newborn children, and you are their father. What would you name them?

Milk. Thoughts? Do you drink it? Do you think it's nasty? Is it just cow juice?

What's your favorite film adaptation of a musical, and why?

Usually in friend groups there's one person who will eat all their friend's leftover food if given the opportunity. Are you this person? Or are you someone who rarely finishes their meal, leaving the scraps to their vulture friend?

If you had to choose one former U.S. President to teach competitive Pokémon, who would it be?

There's been much speculation about whether AESF is an acronym (which has been debunked). What's your favorite acronym? What's your favorite mnemonic device for remembering long acronyms (e.g. Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally for PEMDAS)?

Which Greek mythological story or figure is your favorite? Which do you most resonate with? Which is the silliest, in your opinion?

If you could speak any language fluently without any effort, which would you choose and why?

Raw fish is a delicious food. Of all raw fish, which is tastiest? Do you eat your raw fish with soy sauce and wasabi, or plain?

What advice would you give to aesf just starting his Pokémon Showdown career? What do you think young aesf would say to you now?

Imagine a Subway but with every possible ingredient you can think of behind a glass case. Describe your ideal sandwich in detail.

Tell us a moment in your life where you cried from laughter or couldn't stop laughing no matter how hard you tried. Have you had any such moments playing Pokémon?

Come up with an ability or two you'd love to see in Generation 9. What Pokémon would you put it on?

What do you miss most about pre-pandemic life?

Astrology: complete inanity, the absolute truth, or somewhere in between?

What's your favorite use or form of the peanut? What about the potato?

Thanks for your time and I hope we remain friends and bitter, bitter, enemies forever <3

 

[aesf]

If you had to move to one place, where would it be and why?

I dont know, maybe vancouver cause I looked at it when looking at ubc when applying to colleges (rip international tuition). Id want to try living in an actual city and Vancouvers a v pretty place with a nice mix of outdoors stuff and city stuff so thats cool. Canada would be a very nice change of scenery from 15ish years of georgia although wait i heard you cant get a 20pc chicken nuggets there for like 4 bucks there so maybe not

If you had to visit one place, where would it be and why?

I guess switzerland? Ive gone to japan before very briefly and I really liked that you could just hop on a train and go wherever you want so continental europe is kind of the same thing but with more mountains which im a fan of and more countries. U tryna take me on a tinder date whats happening here

Would you rather be allergic to pizza or ice cream?

Ice cream easily, I dont eat that much ice cream but ive eaten a shitload of pizza in my life. Also ive had a lot of instances where if i was allergic to pizza id just starve lol.

Why do cows have hooves?

Little known fact, but before the 1900s hooves were simply called feet. During the Great Depression the fall of the economy meant beef became less affordable so while people took a hit, cows celebrated and they did so by naming their feet after the 24th president of the united states.

Favorite season?
Favorite month?

Actually made a tier list w someone else for this here it is (i didnt name the tiers)

What's your ideal day?

wake up
do productive thing
do fun thing
eat good food
sleep

Did you know there's already BotW2? Just google Genshin Impact :) thank me later

Im googling it right now and it appears to be targeted toward anime enthusiasts...weebs if you will. Are you a closet weeb GL Volkner? Is there something youre not telling us? This is a serious matter GL Volkner.

Favorite song rn?

Im cheating but I was recommended Weston Estate a little more than a month back i think and ive had them on repeat since, they only have 5 songs but I listen to them all together so im counting it as one song

Favorite song of all time?

Hard to pick but I think find my way by khai dreams was my favorite song for the longest time so prob that.

If you had to spend a day with one Pokemon, which one would it be?

weepinbell? jk haha unless

If you had to spend the rest of your life with one Pokemon, which one would it be?

Probably a mew lol it can fly and transform into things and also is kinda cute

When are you gonna start playing Pokemon GO and ruin PvP for everyone else?

when you pokemon go get a job jk i cant say that

What's your opinion on me calling you sass because of one night of being too tired?

is that really the reason???

Catalystic?

A handsome individual

I'm torn between learning about AI and diving deeper into security. If you had to pick one, which would you personally pick and why?

Ive probably taken fewer courses than you in both categories and know very little about this lol (considering im actually 17). Either way it kinda depends on what ur going for no? If youre just going for a job (which would be me) then gauge what openings are available and then make a move and if ur just going for education/research then id imagine AI to be a deeper field altho i have no clue what im talking about again.

What bender would you be and why? You get access to no specializations (so no bloodbending cheapo).

Havent watched avatar since i was 5 so forgive me if this doesnt work like i imagine it to but I feel like earthbending would be the most useful since its everywhere and theres a lot of practical applications besides killing people which is what im kinda getting from the other 3.


------------------

As an aaa main turned bh main, do you have any tips on how someone can stop being so insanely terrible at the meta? Asking for a friend btw.

To whomever this friend is, my first piece of advice would be to bring a check to belly drum zamac as it is a big threat in the bh metagame.

Do you still think magic bounce and PH are broken in aaa?

I dont really like them in the tier but i wouldnt really call them broken right now either. Alot of how a feel about bounce similarly applies to boots spam so im not even so sure that banning it would cause big changes like in gen 7 especially with MG LO mons being the new hot stuff. Used to be a little more salty abt not being able to click rocks early and still think its kind of a dumb mechanic but im a little bit more accepting of it as a part of aaa now. I do think ph is a potentially broken ability but im not too sure if I see it now. In a meta like gen 6 where a vast majority of the super strong stuff has already been banned it absolutely feels like the most oppressive thing and also in early meta gen 8 before all the broken shit was discovered it was pretty noticeable how big of an impact it had on teambuilding. Right now ive also noticed that when im building, while I usually dont tend to go too out of my way to check things I do have to consciously dedicate slots to checking the various ph mons that often just autowin otherwise so thats pretty annoying. But its more of just an annoyance and can be helpful in more threat-saturated metas. I think it could be worth looking at in a stable meta but right now as things go theres of course more pressing thing(s) in aaa.

Why does your profile link to the asian electronic sports federation website?

Why would it not? What is the acronym for asian electronic sports federation


Toasts questions are hard thats my excuse to finish this later and make a new post to farm reactions

 

[aesf]

What aspects of playing competitive Pokémon (especially at such a "high level") do you find infiltrating your every day life? Do you feel like it's made you think about real world problems or situations differently than you might have if you didn't play?

Ok first of all keep in mind I was like 14 when I started competitive mons and 14 year olds are dumb. So this "lesson" is gonna sound dumb too but I used to watch blunder on youtube and every time he made a play that didnt work out hed just get flamed and repeat "I stand by my play" over and over. Granted its kinda funny but theres some truth behind it too in mons. Youre not gonna get far in mons if you overthink every time you made a mistake because theres a lot of variability so its important to focus instead on just making the right decision, and even if that decision doesnt produce the desirable outcome, being comfortable w the decision you made before you see the outcome is what matters. Not too hard to see the parallels between that and making important decisions in real life. Yea its common sense but its easy to get hung over past consequences even if u do know it.

Cyberbullying is a serious global problem, especially among teens. As an enormous cyberbully yourself, what would you say about that to an auditorium of 10,000 teenagers?

Theres only 1 answer here

Say tomorrow you wake and find yourself with two newborn children, and you are their father. What would you name them?

Cornelius and Karen because thats what they get for randomly entering my life without any notice

Milk. Thoughts? Do you drink it? Do you think it's nasty? Is it just cow juice?

Lol the cow juice part reminding me of a story. Im not sure if this is an appropriate story for forums (ill delete if not) but basically my parents never gave me the talk and when i was in like 6th grade i was talking to this kid and for some reason i said, "hey isnt milk weird like we're just drinking cow piss haha"
he goes, "you're joking right"
and then proceeded to explain to me how titties worked
On the topic of drinking milk its kinda weird yeah and i dont love milk but 13 years of drinking it in school has made me pretty indifferent to it

What's your favorite film adaptation of a musical, and why?

Probably inception, the music was nice idk

Usually in friend groups there's one person who will eat all their friend's leftover food if given the opportunity. Are you this person? Or are you someone who rarely finishes their meal, leaving the scraps to their vulture friend?

I def am this person although in the past alot of my friends had ungodly caloric intake so id usually never get the chance bc everyone was like this, if we were still hungry after eating it just means its time to get more food.

If you had to choose one former U.S. President to teach competitive Pokémon, who would it be?

Not a president but Woody harrelson seems like a good candidate to teach competitive pokemon since hes apparently pretty good at chess too dont ask why i know this

There's been much speculation about whether AESF is an acronym (which has been debunked). What's your favorite acronym? What's your favorite mnemonic device for remembering long acronyms (e.g. Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally for PEMDAS)?

Come on toast id expect you to have known the answer to this one... it's SID P SPACE THE ABLATIVE ASTRONAUT

As for mnemonics, youre (probably?) familiar with the way sharps and flats go on a clef (no able) too. I made up a couple dumb mnemonics when i was ~7 and have used them for pretty much my entire life whenever i read sheet music so i might as well share

Funny Clowns Get Dramatic And Eat Bomb (sharps)
Because Everyone Ate Dogfood Gordon Caught Fire (flats)

XD so random (but random mnemonics are also the most effective so go 7 year old me!)

Which Greek mythological story or figure is your favorite? Which do you most resonate with? Which is the silliest, in your opinion?

I dont know why you assume im this cultured like I didnt get 90% of my greek mythology knowledge from percy jackson this is why we always lose in codenames, Ill try to answer this i suppose

The minotaur was cool, i kinda like labyrinths in stories/movies/even games and its probably because of that story. Its a cool one to visualize all the way up to the part where icarus flies away and dies (i think thats how the story ends?)

The trojan horse thing (i think that counts) might be one of the dumbest things ive heard no offense to the greeks so its gotta be up there for me. They were losing so they just put their guys in a giant pinata and then the other side just basically said "ohoho what an unsuspicious pinata lets take it inside our city AND also somehow lose to as many people as can fit in a pinata" yeah no way youre telling children that was real.

If you could speak any language fluently without any effort, which would you choose and why?

I feel like pretty much everywhere around the world just about speaks english now so the only common reason youd really learn another language is if you wanna live somewhere. That being said probably just chinese cause im chinese and abc as fuck (I can kind of speak/read/write just not well at all).

Raw fish is a delicious food. Of all raw fish, which is tastiest? Do you eat your raw fish with soy sauce and wasabi, or plain?

I cant really taste a big difference usually but Salmon and tuna are the main ones I think of so probably those. Generally eat it plain when i can, sometimes w wasabi.

What advice would you give to aesf just starting his Pokémon Showdown career? What do you think young aesf would say to you now?

Id probably tell me to learn standards alongside OMs just cause ive kinda thought about going to standards but realized itd be a lot of work i dont wanna do. Young aesf would say something probably not too relevant while trying his best to act 20 even though he didnt actually know the difference between what 20 year olds act like and 13 year olds act like.

Imagine a Subway but with every possible ingredient you can think of behind a glass case. Describe your ideal sandwich in detail.

italian footlong on italian herbs and cheese with lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, salt pepper oregano, toasted after you add the veggies, and honey mustard you can get this at any subway but idc its the best sandwich (also if theres a line i just get it toasted normally - yep, unproblematic customer over here)

Tell us a moment in your life where you cried from laughter or couldn't stop laughing no matter how hard you tried. Have you had any such moments playing Pokémon?

Its hard to think of those moments cause theres not really telltale benchmarks to go by. I think once I was in call laddering? with a bunch of people. We ran into Nakeeb and someone was focusing on playing while the rest of us were kind of just saying dumb stuff in the chat. At one point I did the age bit to him and told him i was 25 with 2 kids then just said "Yeah I had a lot of sex in high school." Next morning i wake up to this

and for whatever reason i just lost it

Come up with an ability or two you'd love to see in Generation 9. What Pokémon would you put it on?

Maybe something like timer ball in ability form? I dont know what numbers you would need to both make it balanced and viable, but basically having an ability that makes your mon stronger the longer you stay in (it could also work like metronome, thats another option) would be pretty cool i think, basically rewarding you for staying in. Probably smth like bulk up corvi would really appreciate it or if its strong enough a sub/setup/protect mon with good mono coverage and a little bit of power would like it too.

What do you miss most about pre-pandemic life?

Easily seeing people. Alot of my immediately family is high risk so im kinda biting the bullet when it comes to anything social. I do miss being able to just walk or drive around places or generally fuck around w friends and killing time like that alot.

Astrology: complete inanity, the absolute truth, or somewhere in between?

its real

What's your favorite use or form of the peanut? What about the potato?

To be eaten. toast i tried but what the fuck is this supposed to mean

Thanks for your time and I hope we remain friends and bitter, bitter, enemies forever <3

Enemies are equals we are not https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8almostanyability-1127068277-pw746i4x30mkcbdzad8dhe0c8jt2evbpw

 

[magicarpe_lvl100]

Hi, I happened to hop on your 2015 1v1 RMT out of the blue while looking for some old-ass 1v1 stuff on smogon. Seeing you've played 1v1 a looong time ago, I'm curious, is there a small chance we'll see you play a bit of 1v1 again for fun in the future ?

 

[OM]

Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews! This round we are interviewing..

A literal fighter jet from WWIII!​

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

Hey OM!! I'm doing great.

Starting off, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sure. My name is Jett and I'm a 19 year old university student studying Economics. I'm just about to finish my first semester and it's definitely been an interesting experience considering the current state of the world, but still fairly enjoyable. Apart from spending too much time on PS, Smogon, and Discord, I like to play a bunch of other video games as well, such as LoL, CSGO, and Valorant. If I'm not playing video games, I'll most likely be playing Chess instead. When I'm not at my PC, I like to either watch or play sports, especially football and going for runs, although its been far more difficult to go to the park and meetup with my friends.

How'd you first get into PS! and OMs?

I found PS through a friend back in 2013 and spent a lot of time initially lurking and being really bad at OU. The first room I settled in was the Tournaments, which used to be vastly different since regular users used to host small tours using challonge. I got auth there but shortly after left to focus on playing LC and making themes in Survivor Room, before getting bored of mons at the start of Gen 7, when I took a roughly 2 year hiatus. When I returned to PS, one of my good LC friends, vooper was still around and he basically told me he was leading a UM called NFE and invited me to the discord and the private room. A few days later, Simbo asked if anyone in the room wanted to help write mini versions of mini-analyses for NFE mons, and I just so happened to be there at the right time, and that's how I got known within the NFE community. Then the merge happened at the start of Gen 8 which allowed me to become good friends with some of the people of the OM community. Fast forward to now and I've been NFE TL for the past year and a half.

And how do you feel about NFE post DLC2? Any big metagame shifts?

I've been absolutely loving NFE post DLC2 as its the most healthy the metagame's ever been. Several Pokemon have remained unbanned since the start of Crown Tundra, such as Pikachu, Galarian Mime-Galar, and Gurdurr which has definitely shifted the metagame to be a little more fast pace and definitely provides the metagame with more variance. There are a lot of notable additions from DLC2 itself such as Electabuzz, Magmar, and Golbat which have significantly increase the overall speed tier, and means that teams can no longer get away with stacking a whole team of slow bulky Pokemon. Tangela has become a top 2 Pokemon along side Golbat as its able to perform stallbreaking, and defensive purposes at the same time. Hazard control is the best its ever been in NFE with Golbat and Gurdurr, along with already present Hattrem in the metagame, which used to be a complaint about the NFE metagame, so teambuilding has felt far less restricting than before. Team archetypes are far more varied as well; examples include Ivysaur being freed giving Sun teams a much needed wallbreaker, Toxic Spikes teams with Koffing being better than ever, HO teams being successful with stronger wallbreakers, and the common Bulky Offense and Balance teams which rely on pivoting and momentum. Overall DLC2 has been treating NFE very nicely.

With how balanced you think NFE is at the moment, are there any underrated cores or teams you'd like to see more?

Definitely, I think that certain type spam cores are super underrated at the moment, especially Fire-type (Raboot, Magmar, Lampent) and Psychic-type (Kadabra, Mr. Mime-Galar) since many of the teams I've seen tend to run checks or counters to the aforementioned types which can be worn down extremely easily, or just use generally good defensive Pokemon for them which isn't sufficient at all. I would also like to see some love given to Rufflet which is normally used as a setup sweeper. Aside from the one game in WCOOM III between Zap and Ho3n which just so happened to feature a Rufflet on both teams, I really haven't seen this little bird much and I think many teams aren't particularly prepared to deal with it after it manages to pull off a couple Bulk Ups. Its choiced sets are also rather unexplored in my opinion with people preferring to base their teams around safer setup options like Thwackey or more reliable wallbreakers such as Choice Band Raboot.

Speaking of which, how did you enjoy WCOOM? Anything you wish you had / hadn't done?

I'm really happy that Team UK managed to win the tournament since it's my first ever official tournament win after several years trying to do so. I've really enjoyed WCOOM despite this being my weakest performance in a team tour yet, but I was super glad I was able to win in the finals. I already knew a few people on the team beforehand but it definitely helped me to get to know all of them a lot better and my team were extremely supportive of me throughout despite my performance. I had a lot of fun building teams and trying to innovate and experiment with different cores, which the tour forced me to do. WCOOM has definitely given me more of an insight on the other other metagames and I've learnt to enjoy spectating them a lot more, although don't expect me to being great at playing them any time soon. I don't really have any regrets or anything I'd change but I feel a little bit bad for playing all the NFE games when we have several NFE stars on the team.

How have you built for WCOOM? Do you wanna bring us through the thought process with one of your old wcoom teams?

Normally I do a quick scout of what my opponent likes to bring (or in the earlier weeks use my knowledge of the types of teams that my opponents normally bring). Then I find a core or certain Pokemon which has a favourable matchup into my opponent and build around that. I plan to release a RMT in the near future of my finals team (I'll probably link it in this thread once I'm done with it) so for the time being, I'll give a brief rundown of the team I brought against Dragonillis and Team France.

So I knew Dragon built slightly bulkier builds so i brought a very standard pivot core of Pikachu and Thwackey which exploits fatter builds. Fatter builds also crumble to Taunt Bat so I also added that to the team. I added Slowpoke as a solid Fire-type resist and slow pivot to more easily bring in my faster pivots. Lastly I added both a Stealth Rock user and hazard control. The best two options were pretty obvious since I needed something for Golbat, and a Electric-immunity so I picked Piloswine and Gurdurr was a resist to Stealth Rock and helped to cover some of the weaknesses of the team such as Ferroseed and also gave me another defensive tank.

Awesome, and is there anything you're looking forward to for the future of NFE?

Yea, whilst the metagame is very balance for the most part, there have been few discussions on potential suspects such as Pikachu, Mr. Mime-Galar, Golbat and Tangela, and even a potential resuspsect of the currently banned Pawniard, which could change the metagame quite drastically with how influential these Pokemon are or were in NFE. Im hoping that NFE community can grow after a tough end to last year but I've been pleasantly surprised with there being more discussions in both the room and discord thanks in part to Open and WCOOM going on, and more people just debating about things such as the VR. The ongoing rumours and leaks of possible DPP remakes have also got me pretty excited, since NFE's long time mascot and the Pokemon I've used the most during SM NFE, Monferno could be making a return and since NFE isn't usage based, the addition of new mons has at least kept the metagame somewhat fresh, and I expect that the remakes will continue that trend.

On that point, what are some of your favourite memories in NFE?

The memory that stands out most to me was the end of SM, when we managed to push the NFE room to public status since all the staff and the community had worked super hard on trying to grow the metagame. That was really the high point when NFE was managing 50 or so users and it was great interacting with all of them, and something I sometimes find more difficult now that I'm RO. One which is more Pokemon related would be winning the NFE Ghosting Tour at the beginning of SS. I didn't actually intend to sign up for it since all my friends had already been taken by other people but I'm glad I did sign up with 85percent, who I didn't know very well at the time. Despite it being bad Dynamax meta for most of the tournament, I thoroughly enjoyed this more casual tournament, probably because we ended up winning it and I also made a good friend. Lastly, I think OMPL VIII has been my favourite tournament to play NFE in, because I had the luxury of using Thimo-esque teams which completed revolutionised a lot of the metagame. My favourite one had to be Wartortle on a Sun team winning in 13 turns.

How are your experiences with Chess? Any strategies you lean towards?

Well I haven't played in over the board tournaments for about 10 or so years now and I only got back into Chess last year. I mainly play online at the moment due to the current circumstances but I'd like to see how well I'd do in a real setting (roughly 1700 ELO online at the moment). As for how I play, I like to play fairly aggressive in Chess rather than solidly cause I'm pretty impatient and find it more fun that way (I guess this is somewhat reflected in how I play mons when I'm at my best). I like to push a lot with pawns to create space to exploit King's Indian and Sicilian setups and put my opponent immediately under pressure. For White, I'll normally play either the Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit (not a real gambit), or maybe the Levenfish, whilst for black I play Siclian Najdorf and Queen's Gambit Declined against the two most common openings. I'm not a big fan of playing gambits myself since I find them too gimmicky as if your opponent knows what the main line of a gambit is, they are often favoured.

Other than NFE, are there other OMs you've played? Any you have a strong opinion on and would like to talk about?

I haven't actually played other OMs much, but I think the idea of some of them are really cool. I did try once for Camomons suspect reqs because I thought Camo was the coolest OM (outside of NFE ofc) since it different typing as such a cool concept yet extremely simplistic and I love how it is based on moves that Pokemon had. Unfortunately I'm bad at Camomons, and didn't get reqs. Honestly, I'd happily play any of the OMs (aside from BH cause it's too confusing for me) if I had the time and if someone taught me the basic of what to do. I have played NFE OM hybrids casually a handful of times and that was super fun, so maybe in the future you'll see STAB or AAA main Jett.

To move forward, what are your thoughts on the NFE ladder? How have you guys as NFE leaders tackled it as an issue, if it even is one?

It's really unfortunate that the NFE ladder has pretty bad activity, which is due to varuous factors with many not super being in our control. Gen 8 killed ladder activity as a whole and our community took some heavy hits meaning even fewer people would be playing on the ladder. It's something I've tried to put effort into improving in the past and I have some ideas to try to incentivise people to play on it through a tour for example. I think a fair amount of the community just doesn't seem to enjoy laddering in the first place (I'm not a massive ladder player either) but love playing in tours. I think it'll take some time and things should generally improve once we grow bigger as a community but I understand the difficulties with getting into the metagame without a particularly active ladder. Most of the room/discord is friendly enough to accept challenges if people want to play.

Alright! Anyone you'd like to shoutout?

Yep, Firstly I'd like to shoutout marjane cause she's been my closest friend in NFE for a while now, greybaum for finally changing his awful name but also cool to chill with, stresh and ho3n for being goated NFE council members, the WCOOM UK team for being super supportive of me, the whole of the Morgrems team for spamming gm in that discord every morning without fail and thecoastoftoast for letting me be his little pogchamp.

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

Hope you enjoy reading this interview, have a wonderful day/evening or whenver your reading this and im ready for your questions n_n.

Thank you for reading, and feel free to ask more questions below!

 

[Shing'n Streets]

It’s lovely to see one of the NFE Leaders getting an interview because I’ve some questions I always wanted to ask each of them. With that, prepare yourself Jett.

What’s your favourite type of food?

What music do you usually listen to?

What NFE Mons would you want to have in Gen 8?

Who’s the better and more creative teambuilder, Thimo or Stresh/Xavgb?
Note it’s not limited that one person has to be both creative and better. I’m just curious about your answer either short or long :)

Context behind this question

While you haven’t always shown to care of early Gen 8 NFE after the Dynamax ban that much, you were still a solid player, and you took it seriously when you joined in tournaments. At some point, you met some strong players, and to my knowledge that they discussed with you over most people in NFE Community. All from team building, to showcasing new sets and testing with you. So I’m just testing yourself if you can answer it. If you can't answer this, skip it kthx. I’m curious since I consider these two that impacted the Gen 8 NFE meta the most in my eyes and I think you know both of them more than anyone else.

If it was one thing you wanted more from the NFE Community, what would it be?

Who is the luckiest player you’ve played against in NFE?

Otherwise, I'm happy to have someone like you being in the NFE Community, both leader and a person. I cannot imagine some of my longer posts without you helping me fixing my grammar errors. Bless you, Jett

 

[The Immortal]

What does being TheCoastsOfToast's "little pogchamp" entail?

 

[Jett]

It’s lovely to see one of the NFE Leaders getting an interview because I’ve some questions I always wanted to ask each of them. With that, prepare yourself Jett.

What’s your favourite type of food?

Chinese dumplings have to be my favourite.

What music do you usually listen to?

Lots of genres tbh, pop, rock, rnb, hip hop, electro, music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s etc. literally anything but classical. It really depends on the kind of mood im in. I guess recently I listen to a lot of lofi/slowed/chill stuff especially when im playing my tournament games cause i get nervous super easily >.<.

What NFE Mons would you want to have in Gen 8?

Monferno for sure, since it's one of my favourite Pokemon and the one I use the most by far in previous generations where its legal. I'd like to see the return of Alolan Grimer and give it pursuit as we're at it since broken Psychic types/and then we can potentially free Haunter. The last Pokemon that I'd like to see back is Frogadier since then we have two annoying Pokemon which can change type and are fast and pivot woo!! Slightly off topic but I hope that I never need to play against a Servine ever again.

Who’s the better and more creative teambuilder, Thimo or Stresh/Xavgb?
Note it’s not limited that one person has to be both creative and better. I’m just curious about your answer either short or long :)

Context behind this question

While you haven’t always shown to care of early Gen 8 NFE after the Dynamax ban that much, you were still a solid player, and you took it seriously when you joined in tournaments. At some point, you met some strong players, and to my knowledge that they discussed with you over most people in NFE Community. All from team building, to showcasing new sets and testing with you. So I’m just testing yourself if you can answer it. If you can't answer this, skip it kthx. I’m curious since I consider these two that impacted the Gen 8 NFE meta the most in my eyes and I think you know both of them more than anyone else.

Thimo was definitely the more creative builder, which probably stems from his background of AG of literally trying to find ways of constantly breaking the metagame. A lot of his sets have definitely shaken the metagame up in multiple ways defining the way sun should be built, and standardising trapping moves. That being said though, I think Stresh is still a very creative builder and that's only outshined by Thimo's gimmicks (and maybe a few others which im not remembering). Stresh builds are overall better and generally more consistent and are always built around super cool concepts.

If it was one thing you wanted more from the NFE Community, what would it be?

The most obvious one would be more ladder activity but I guess some more engagement from newer/different faces would also be nice.

Who is the luckiest player you’ve played against in NFE?

You.

Otherwise, I'm happy to have someone like you being in the NFE Community, both leader and a person. I cannot imagine some of my longer posts without you helping me fixing my grammar errors. Bless you, Jett

Thanks :)

What does being TheCoastsOfToast's "little pogchamp" entail?

wouldn't you like to know :smirk:

 

[Marjane]

HELLO JETT IM VERY HAPPY YOU FINALLY GOT AN INTERVIEW ITS NOT LIKE WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOUR PRESENCE TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY OM FOR MONTHS NOW.

the what is;
1. What is your favourite NFE Pokemon from each generation?
2. What is your favourite flavour of gum?
3. What is your favourite nacho dip?
4. What is your favourite way to ask someone how they're doing?
5. What is your favourite letter in the alphabet?
6. What is your favourite site on the internet?
7. What is your astrological sign?
8. What is your biggest pet peeve?
9. In the Pokemon anime who is your favourite character?
10. In the Pokemon anime who is your favourite Pokemon?
(across all gen and main characters)

the how do yous;
11.How do you like your eggs in the morning?
12. How do you like your water, room temperature, cold, or boiling?
13. How do you feel about the act of running?
14. How do you take care of your skin?
15. How do you eat mango?
16. How do you feel about Addidas superstars?
17. How do you feel about ears?
18. How do you feel about pescatarians?
19. How do you feel about pizza for breakfast?
20. How do you feel?

the would you rathers;
21. Would you rather eat a pig foot or a pig nose?
22. Would you rather have a really big nipple or eat 9 dogs that you personally know?
23. Would you rather have a crocodile or a really cool pool filled with mushrooms?
24. Would you rather have 3 or 12 toes?
25. Would you rather be flooring or walls?
26. Would you rather wear wigs or decorate your house each year on Christmas with my little pony decorations?
27. Would you rather have rats living between your walls or become a professional tap dancer?
28. Would you rather be a feminist or a shoelace collector?
29. Would you rather have your voice be the next Siri or turn into a smurf?
30. Would you rather live in a zoo or be a child star for Disney Channel?

the if you weres;
31. If you were white what would be your first words?
32. If you were an astronaut why would you have a meal at Burger Kings?
33. If you were a graphic designer how much would you have paid for tuition?
34. If you were not a nerd what would you be?
35. If you were Beyonce why would you have a baby with Jay-Z?
36. If you were a genius what would make you feel not very genius like?
37. If you were drunk in love who would you be in love with?
38. If you were an emote in which situations would be used the most?
39. If you were a chair who would you like to have sit on you?
40. If you were an OM Leader would you bring back UMs?

the thoughts;
41. Thoughts on being an author?
42. Thoughts on body hair?
43. Thoughts on having 6 kids?
44. Thoughts on being very tall?
45. Thoughts on showering twice a day?
46. Thoughts on belly dancing?
47. Thoughts on the sound fishes make?
48. Thoughts on cowboy boots?
49. Thoughts on fake nails?
and the most important question;
50. Thoughts on Impidimp?


i will be back

 

[Jett]

HELLO JETT IM VERY HAPPY YOU FINALLY GOT AN INTERVIEW ITS NOT LIKE WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOUR PRESENCE TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY OM FOR MONTHS NOW.

HELLO MARJ IM ALSO VERY HAPPY I FINALLY GOT AN INTERVIEW ITS NOT LIKE MY FANS HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MY PRESENCE TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY OM FOR MONTHS NOW.

the what is;
1. What is your favourite NFE Pokemon from each generation?

Gen 1 - Haunter
Gen 2 - Piloswine
Gen 3 - Marshtomp
Gen 4 - Sneasel
Gen 5 - "Pawniard" (which is technically an LC mon) or Gurdurr
Gen 6 - Frogadier
Gen 7 - Charjabug
Gen 8 - Hattrem

2. What is your favourite flavour of gum?

Strawberry.

3. What is your favourite nacho dip?

Spicy Salsa

4. What is your favourite way to ask someone how they're doing?

How's it going?

5. What is your favourite letter in the alphabet?

The letter S is cool because it's squiggly and a lot of words I use begin with S.

6. What is your favourite site on the internet?

PS obviously... (probably YouTube since I spend way a lot of time watching random videos)

7. What is your astrological sign?

Saggitarius.

8. What is your biggest pet peeve?

People walking slowly, especially on a narrow path.

9. In the Pokemon anime who is your favourite character?

Lana. No surprises there if you've seen my discord avi.

10. In the Pokemon anime who is your favourite Pokemon?
(across all gen and main characters)

Damn that's a tough one. Probably Infernape because of its character progression, with Heracross being a close second due to its quirky nature. They're also two Pokemon I really like as well outside of the anime (Heracross being my favourite Bug, Monferno being my favourite Fire) so maybe I'm a bit biased here.

the how do yous;
11.How do you like your eggs in the morning?

Both scrambled or boiled are good.

12. How do you like your water, room temperature, cold, or boiling?

Cold is best but nearly all water is great regardless of the temperature (fuck distilled water, so bland).

13. How do you feel about the act of running?

Depends on the distance but its generally enjoyable as long as it isn't more than 10K. (If you mean running for Prime Minister to save the UK, then I'm the wrong person to ask)

14. How do you take care of your skin?

Taking showers over baths most of the time and using soaps specifically for sensitive skin, pat drying, and then using moisturisers. Other than that I don't do too much, aside from using diluted tea tree oil to cleanse my face from time to time.

15. How do you eat mango?

With my mouth... how do you eat your mangoes? (Cutting it in half and scoring the flesh into small sections which I can eat from when i bend the skin back)

16. How do you feel about Addidas superstars?

I like them cause of their sleek minimalistic style. They're pretty comfortable as well.

17. How do you feel about ears?

Ears are okay. Free earlobes be pretty cute tho.

18. How do you feel about pescatarians?

Don't really care, good on them for not eating red meat ig but I won't be joining them any time soon.

19. How do you feel about pizza for breakfast?

Pizza's fucking delicious and it's one of my favourite foods so I'll happily eat it whenever so having it for breakfast is acceptable, especially if it's leftovers.

20. How do you feel?

I feel great, thanks for asking.

the would you rathers;
21. Would you rather eat a pig foot or a pig nose?

Pig trotters (foot), because I've had them before.

22. Would you rather have a really big nipple or eat 9 dogs that you personally know?

A really big nipple cause I don't want to eat those poor dogs.

23. Would you rather have a crocodile or a really cool pool filled with mushrooms?

I don't know what I'd do with crocodiles or mushrooms but a really cool pool seems nice, so I'd rather have the latter.

24. Would you rather have 3 or 12 toes?

12 because I'd probably have more balance than with 3.

25. Would you rather be flooring or walls?

Flooring so people can step on me.

aaaaaaaa

I'm joking

26. Would you rather wear wigs or decorate your house each year on Christmas with my little pony decorations?

Wearing wigs isn't too bad so I'd choose that. The other option is cringe.

27. Would you rather have rats living between your walls or become a professional tap dancer?

Professional tap dancer so I can perfect my Mr. Rime cosplay.

28. Would you rather be a feminist or a shoelace collector?

Without being too technical, the term feminist has a very negative connotations nowadays so probably a shoelace collector.

29. Would you rather have your voice be the next Siri or turn into a smurf?

I dislike my voice and I'd rather the whole world didn't have to bear with hearing it everyday, and smurfs are pretty cool so I'd choose to turn into a smurf.

30. Would you rather live in a zoo or be a child star for Disney Channel?

As a farm animal (I play mons like a stinky pig sometimes), I'm not sure how well I'd fit in a zoo but then again I don't really want to be a child star for the Disney Channel either. I think zoos are pretty cool tho so I'll go with that option.

the if you weres;
31. If you were white what would be your first words?

Bloody 'ell.

32. If you were an astronaut why would you have a meal at Burger Kings?

Broke after all the astronaut training costs.

33. If you were a graphic designer how much would you have paid for tuition?

£3000 or whatever it was previously.

34. If you were not a nerd what would you be?

Probably a bitch.

35. If you were Beyonce why would you have a baby with Jay-Z?

Because then my baby would be both pretty and charismatic.

36. If you were a genius what would make you feel not very genius like?

Bold of you to assume I'm not already a genius, but probably seeing someone who is able to speak languages which I can't

37. If you were drunk in love who would you be in love with?

dn

38. If you were an emote in which situations would be used the most?

When there is something adorable or a heart-warming moment. :jettcute:

39. If you were a chair who would you like to have sit on you?

You :flushed:

40. If you were an OM Leader would you bring back UMs?

You already know the answer to that one :P.

the thoughts;
41. Thoughts on being an author?

I think I'm really bad at writing stuff since I get lost in my own thoughts a lot but I think authors are pretty cool and to have your own book would also be pretty cool.

42. Thoughts on body hair?

Annoying to deal with since it means I actually have to shave and whatnot but a little hair is okay, I don't wanna end up looking like a molerat.

43. Thoughts on having 6 kids?

Too many for me. Ideally somewhere between 1-3 would be perfect for me.

44. Thoughts on being very tall?

No thanks, either of the extremes for height is a no from me.

45. Thoughts on showering twice a day?

Sure, I don't care how many times people shower per day, as long as they aren't stinky, and it's at least once.

46. Thoughts on belly dancing?

I don't really have an opinion on it, its fine.

47. Thoughts on the sound fishes make?

I just looked it up and they sound pretty funny.

48. Thoughts on cowboy boots?

Cowboy boots are really stylish since they're so unique but cool-looking. I don't think I'd be able to pull them off tho.

49. Thoughts on fake nails?

They're good. Some people can't grow theirs out naturally and they look really nice so ye. Real nails are still better but I don't really see any negatives if people want to wear fake nails.

and the most important question;
50. Thoughts on Impidimp?

Aside from Hattrem, Impidimp is the cutest Pokemon that gamefreak has ever designed. Anybody who says Impidimp is ugly is wrong and probably ugly in real life, and therefore jealous at the fact that a small little LC Pokemon is much better looking than they are. Impidimp is so broken in NFE, which is why all games have a gentlemen's agreement whereby neither party bring this Pokemon as it always results in a guaranteed win for the Impidimp player. Impidimp has a very nice design, combining simplistic colours with more abstract shapes, and its influence has gone so far that it's a commonly used emote.

i will be back

I'll be patiently waiting :).
That concludes the Marjane Special Part 1.