Project OM Interviews (#22: Ren)

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?
 
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.


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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
 
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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
 
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)
Screen Shot 2021-01-04 at 6.29.43 PM.png


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 :blobthinking:

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???

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.


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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
 
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
Screen Shot 2021-01-04 at 10.55.00 PM.png


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
 

OM

It's a starstruck world
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
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!
 
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 :)
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 :blobnom:
 

Jett

gm gobodachis
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
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 :)
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 :blobnom:
Thanks :)

What does being TheCoastsOfToast's "little pogchamp" entail?
wouldn't you like to know :smirk:
 
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 :afrostar:
 

Jett

gm gobodachis
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
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.

infernape.png
heracross suck.png

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

OM

It's a starstruck world
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Hello and welcome back to OM interviews! This round we've gotten the ever elusive...


Alphalightning!

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

I’m doing alright OM! How are you?

I'm good thanks :) Starting off, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sure! My name's josh, I'm a 20 year old chemistry major from Philadelphia. I'm aspiring to be a medicinal chemist at a pharmaceutical company to help make new drugs. In my freetime, aside from PS! ive been playing a lot of ace attorney and geoguessr recently. Outside of the internet I usually like to go hiking and exploring areas around Boston

So, how did you get into PS and OMs?

I think I was 13 at the time, I remember an old friend of mine booted up PS on his computer and showed me the site. It was neat to be able to play mons outside of a game cartridge setting, since at the time I didn't have a 3DS and was unable to play XY. In the beginning I really only lurked in The Happy Place and played CC1v1 ladder, but eventually I switched over to monotype since like most other people the idea of being a gym leader was interesting to me. After about two years-ish I switched into OMs and mained 1v1 since monotype grew stale, but after exploring some of the other 6v6 formats I kinda fell in love with STABmons haven't looked back since

How are you feeling about STABmons in Gen 8? Anything you like / dislike?

Gen8Stabmons has definitely been interesting. I feel as Gamefreak makes more games, the tier just gets more and more offensive. In my opinion gen8 hasn't been too bad since the loss of megas has eliminated a lot of offensive threats that used to rampage the meta. Naturally there are still some major offensive threats, namely the tapu's and blacephalon/spectrier, but I think it is definitely manageable. That being said, those mons can be overcentralizing at times, so I'd say my biggest dislike right now is how similar most builds look to each other at a competitive level. On the flipside, I think as GF keeps adding better moves, I like how some overlooked mons in standard tiers get more spotlight in STABmons

And you've recently returned to the STABmons council! Is there any pokemon you guys are on the lookout for?

Unfortunately since OMWC has just wrapped up there will likely be a decrease in high level STABmons play, but I think the council has our eyes on some of the tapus, namely koko and lele, as there are not many reliable counters/checks in the meta. The same applies to spectrier and blacephalon, which unforunately are still just as good despite banning astral barrage. In my opinion, these are probably the most centralizing mons, but there are some other lurking offensive threats such as thundy-t that can definitely be a potential issue in the future

And you were in WCoOM as well! How did you enjoy the tournament?

I thought it was quite enjoyable! Unfortunately things didn't go our way in the playoffs, especially after doing quite well in the regular season, but I think NE proved we are still a dominant force even though some of our players from previous years have moved on from the OM scene. I'm also happy with my personal performance as well, especially since I felt my previous gen8 stabmons tournament showings were subpar. Congrats again to UK!

And how did you look @ building this time around? Anything specific you think changed between this tournament and the last?

The addition of DLC 2 definitely allowed me and other players to experiment more in our builds, as well as use more threatening mons. The addition of all the new pokemon allowed for more flexibility and cores when I was building. I think my general approach this tournament was to pick 1 breaker, 1 sweeper, and then fill the rest of the team with a solid defensive core to meet any and all offensive threats my opponents would be bring. More often than not the gameplan was to whittle the opponent down with hazard stacking before going for a win. I tried to go for a mix between what I wanted to bring and what would work well against my opponent, but I tried to not use the same mons each week if it could be helped. Also, the added support from Andy was greatly appreciated!

Do you have any teams you'd like to share post-WCoOM?

sure! https://pokepast.es/5b3a37cc3c9aaf99 this is a team I brought in the semifinals against Splash to force the tiebreaks against canada. Going in, I noticed right away that for the previous three weeks canada brought a bulu+pex, so I wanted something that hardwalled bulu. Looking through the builder, I noticed that amoongus hardwalled both tapu koko and bulu, two of the biggest threats in the current meta, so I wanted to bring it to deal with those as well as just be a fat nuisance that can set hazards and beat the most common spinners (sylv/chans). After that I like azu as a potential counter to urshifu, spinner, and something that could also softcheck bulu if needed. TTar was there as obligatory ghost/lati check, as well as my rocker. Steela was added to deal with lele and ferro, as well as spread Doom Desires to punish switching even harder. For offense I settled on dd chomp and urshifu, since with doom desire support to remove fairies, each could sweep/break harder. The only other real defensive threat to each was lando, which chomp can set up on if defensive or is walled by celesteela if offensive. Chople tar is to not lose to thundy-t, helm chomp is to punish flipturn pex, and black glasses is b/c I dont like getting choice locked in STAB. General gameplan of this team is to get up tspikes/rocks to whittle down the opponent and then get in chomp/urshifu at the right time to claim kills.

And how has been your experiences with OMs?

It's been great! I mean i've been here for almost 5+ years now, so I'd say its been going pretty well. Lots of great users in the community (and staff ;)), I've had a lot of fun over the years and would definitely recommend the community to those interested in it

Any specific moments you remember fondly?

many moons ago in february 2015? I remember getting roomvoiced by my good friend Chloe. Unfortunately I couldn't keep it due to activity issues since my life had been getting busier and busier and I didn't have the time to contribute as much, but I'd say thats a pretty special memory. It was great to feel that the work I was doing was getting recognized, and it was nice to be a part of something bigger than myself. Other than that, I'd say just chatting with all the friends I've made and doing tournaments together

What's your overall favourite STABmons core at the moment? How does it work?

I'd say probably magearna/celesteela + urshifu. Essentially the whole core focused around getting off a doom desire and then pivoting to urshifu. Another option can be slowbro/king with flip turn + future sight. Since these mons are generally your walls/checks to most threats in the meta, you can get them in safely, fire off a future sight/doom, and then pivot to your breaker (urshifu). Since the only solid urshifu checks are fairies, namely sylv, they can't freely bring it in since it will die or be severely crippled due to doom desire. IMO hazards + doom/fsight severely cripple the opponents ability to safely deal with your offensive threats, and when this is combined with hazard stacking you can provide a significant amount of offensive pressure. I like to play aggressively and this core forces the opponent to play riskier since if they play too passively they'll just get worn down

As well, are there any other metagames you like?

In terms of OMs, I've been trying to get into AAA and camomons more this year. Both have seemed like a lot of fun to play and build, especially at a high level, so I'd like to become more active and better in those two. Outside of OMs, I play random battles pretty actively and enjoy playing most random tiers.

(u in RBTT?)

yes i am!

How have you enjoyed RBTT so far?

Its been good! I've been playing gen7 this tour, which im happy with since I enjoy the mons/megas, and theres no dynamax which makes gameplay so much easier imo. Thankfully ive been blessed with some good mu this tour, but i got unlucky last week with some stone edge misses. We're 2-1 rn, so I think the season is looking promising rn. HOOP HOOP

Any shoutouts you'd wanna make?

uhhhh regirock, sedertz, pinkdragontamer, aesf, jrdn, andyboy, in the hills, catalystic, clouds, not a racist, stresh, gman, drampa's grandpa, london13, TI, uselesscrab, piccolo, vivalospride, thecoastsoftoast, lasen and everyone else who I'm definitely forgetting im sorry :( but if i talk to you do know that you mean a lot to me and my time on ps :)

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

dont be a stranger! I love making friends on this site so feel free to reach out to chat at any time and I'd love to. Also play stabmons more!

Feel Free to ask more questions below!
 

berry

what kind
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
Is josh REALLY a beta?

Favorite PS admin of all time?

Least favorite PS admin of all time?

what is my contact pic in your phone?

finish the phrase: yep yep ___

Favorite user to team tour with?

you put N ants randomly on a circular track with a 1 meter circumference, each facing a random direction, and they walk at 1 meter per minute, and when two ants meet each other they turn around and walk in the opposite direction at the same speed. whats the probability that after one minute, all ants are back at their original location?

favorite mon to get in SP rands?

favorite chess opening?
 

Betathunder

alphalightning
dude we should totally geoguessr battle royale together wtf i didn't know you played
Yes please!

Is josh REALLY a beta?
no :blobtriumph:

Favorite PS admin of all time?
The Immortal

Least favorite PS admin of all time?
Also The Immortal

what is my contact pic in your phone?
1612107770711.png


finish the phrase: yep yep ___
Yeppers! I'm yepping so hard right now XD

Favorite user to team tour with?
drampa's grandpa

you put N ants randomly on a circular track with a 1 meter circumference, each facing a random direction, and they walk at 1 meter per minute, and when two ants meet each other they turn around and walk in the opposite direction at the same speed. whats the probability that after one minute, all ants are back at their original location?
math professor power says "for odd N, (1/2)^(N-1) and for even N ((N choose N/2)+2)/(2^N)

favorite mon to get in SP rands?
darmanitan, either form

favorite chess opening?
rn i like playing the london for white and the caro kann for 1. e4, although i usually play the King's Indian to meet 1. d4
 
OML the moment we've all been waiting for

  • Seeing as you announced you would retire from this community forever as soon as you got an interview, what is it like to be a former competitive pokemon player? Rolling in the dough (a figure of speech)?
  • Whats ur favorite tour game youve played
  • Best youtuber? streamer?
  • Whats something mildly cool thats happened in the past 30 days
  • 3 artists whose music you think you can listen to for the rest of your life?
  • What goes through your mind when you slurp
  • Fill in the blank (answer in complete sentences if possible!)
    • 3 + 4 = ___?
    • A bicycle has two wheels but a ____ only has 1.
    • ____ is my favorite color.
    • FUCK _____
 
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Betathunder

alphalightning
Seeing as you announced you would retire from this community forever as soon as you got an interview, what is it like to be a former competitive pokemon player? Rolling in the dough (a figure of speech)?
It's great! I now can move on and do more productive things with my life. in all seriousness though, I probably will be on sporadically even if I am not as active as I once was. It's hard to say goodbye to the friends I've made over the past 5+ years so abruptly

Whats ur favorite tour game youve played?
Hard to say since I've played a lot over my tenure on PS, but from recent memory I'd say my semis game vs. splash in the past wcoom. It was must win for me and despite having three bulu counters I still almost lost to bulu. Ig it proved at least to me I still have what it takes to play in a high pressure scenario. I'm sure there are other games I've played much much better but I can't remember them oops

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8stabmons-1254841911-rck6q7c8y7o6g6v0p05igora2bih8anpw



Best youtuber? streamer?
been watching a lot of northernlion recently, also critikal

Whats something mildly cool thats happened in the past 30 days
not much. just been grinding through school. ig its pretty cool you're asking me some questions right now uwu

3 artists whose music you think you can listen to for the rest of your life?
gonna sound like a boomer but prob the beatles, grateful dead, and frank ocean

What goes through your mind when you slurp
head empty mouth go brrrrrr

Fill in the blank (answer in complete sentences if possible!)
  • 3 + 4 = ___?
  • A bicycle has two wheels but a ____ only has 1.
  • ____ is my favorite color.
  • FUCK _____
seven, i think

monocycle. It's definitely monocycle.

The color of Jrdn's eyes

berry all my homies hate berry all they do is dodge me
 

Lasen

smiling through it all
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
wtf I follow thread but didn't see SHIT about this interview shaking my smh we need better coding

1)What's your favourite part of FINALLY being part of council, something that you've tots never done before?
2)Ugliest badge on Smogon?
3)You get to unban 1 thing from USM/ORAS STAB for you to abuse in ONE tournament game before it's re-banned, what do you pick?
4)When are you visiting?
5)Are you, y'know?
6)Bottom 3 albums Regi rr ock has made you listen to?
7)Would you reveal your team in a ghosting tour for a second time?
8)Who's cuter between me and TheCoastsOfToast
9)Why are all Balanced Hackmons players constructed alternatively?


:swole::blobpex:
 

Betathunder

alphalightning
1)What's your favourite part of FINALLY being part of council, something that you've tots never done before?
being in kahoots with cool users such as drampa's grandpa, xavgb, In The Hills, and vivalospride.


2)Ugliest badge on Smogon?
uhhhhh i dont really know. I like all of them


3)You get to unban 1 thing from USM/ORAS STAB for you to abuse in ONE tournament game before it's re-banned, what do you pick?
Shell Smash. smash Malt was so much fun ;-;


4)When are you visiting?
as soon as covid ends. Was actually planning a group trip to greece so it works out c:



5)Are you, y'know?
dont know what this is asking but yeah probably


6)Bottom 3 albums Regi rr ock has made you listen to?
surprisingly all the albums berry has made me listen to were pretty good, they have an exceptional taste in music


7)Would you reveal your team in a ghosting tour for a second time?
I would, but only if berry was on my team and I got to pick the team.


8)Who's cuter between me and TheCoastsOfToast
I have seen TheCoastsOfToast but not you sooooooo tcot gets my vote rn


9)Why are all Balanced Hackmons players constructed alternatively?
probably long term effects of playing the tier



hello betathunder. i have one question

how
now
 

OM

It's a starstruck world
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Hello and welcome back to OM interviews! Today, we've got a special valentine's edition with OMs favourite sweetheart...

1613343313190.png

Gmansour20!
Hello Gman and welcome to OM interviews! How are you doing today!

Hi OM ^^ I'm honored to have this opportunity, and that I can interact with you for some time!! It's been a good day at the end of a relatively challenging week, for sure :))

Good to see you're getting some relaxation time! First off, do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?

I'd be glad to :)) I'm a boy who was born in Lebanon 23 years ago. My mother was Lebanese, she passed before I ever got to know her. I'm a Swiss and Italian citizen, and I spend my time across the 2 states: I study in Lausanne and I spend my free time in Rome! I've got a Bachelor's degree in Forensic Science, but as of 2019 I've embarked on law studies which will still take me quite some time ^^ In my free time, I love to socialize and meet up with friends (Rip corona...), to read, to travel, and to play bridge :)) And of course, spend time with friends online, which has truly been a blessed opportunity this past year :3

rip corona u_u. What's are some of the OMs you enjoy playing / building for?

I will have to answer the "playing" part of question retrospectively, because I don't play much at all, anymore. I am a Mix and Mega main who has adored the metagame and still loves its concept to the core, for sure! Other OMs who've always fascinated me are Linked, Inverse, Godly Gift, Sketchmons, Hidden Type, and Inheritance :)) AAA and Camo are metas that I really enjoy spectating, the concept of both really interests me, but I've never been any good at either ^^' As for building, I've loved building for both Gen 7 and Gen 8 Mix and Mega. My approach to it is peculiar, in that I go on building streaks and I mass-produce teams in short lapses of time ^^ Most of them turn out just ok, but very rarely there's a diamond in the rough :3

There any specific approaches to teambuilding you like? Cores, mons, etc

If I want to build a decent team, I generally start out with a defensive core, and then I build on that (so sometimes, my balances/BOs have a clear 3-3 split, and the offensive and defensive core might not always be in perfect synergy..). Oftentimes, however, I try to build around a peculiar, barely viable mon. This is how I started, building around Red Orb Tornadus T; over the years I've built around Aegislash, Tornadus-T, Snorlax, Toucannon, Shiinotic, and many other unranked mons. It's a challenge, because it forces me to try and compensate for their obvious shortcomings, and that's hard. Lastly, I try to build some Psyspams in every metagame iteration, and then post it in xavgb 's DMs ^^

Talking about that playing thing, you've taken a bit of a break from OMs! Do you see yourself returning anytime soon?

I see myself contributing in a hopefully significant manner, when my help is needed :)) Writing analyses for MnM, maybe QCing again, is something I can still try and fit in my free time. Hosting OM livetours was also fun, something I would try again :)) Co-Managing WCoOMWC was a great experience, so I might pursue managing positions in the future! And ofc, I'll always be there for moral support when needed !! This also reminds me I have to text Ransei about that MnM tutorship thing ^^ As for really going back to play, to pursue starting positions in OMPL, I would have to say no :/ I've been able to establish that playing is really not my forte, and I find it stressful more than enjoyable... Aiming for MnM council again is something a part of me would want, but a more reasonable part advises against it, as I unfortunately can't offer that kind of long-term commitment :0 But overall, yeah, I'm not abandoning the community anytime soon, and I'll always contribute whenever there's a niche for me to fill :))

Speaking of the OMs community, there's recently been a leadership change! How've you taken it, and is there anything you hope to see from them in the future?

Well, our readers might be aware that I was not TI's buddy, to the point where our conflict of last spring had led me to leave the OM discord. But with time, I feel like my resentment diminished, and in the end we were able to put our differences behind us, which is something I'm glad we did before he left so surprisingly. On a personal level, I really dislike conflict of any kind, so holding a grudge really isn't something I could do long-term ^^ I have noticed that TI worked on his leadership style after the last outcry, which is something I appreciated, and it made the whole community more unite. We definitely lost an essential figure, and not just because now we won't have someone to blame at any questionable decision.. But I trust you guys, there are some excellent people and friends right there at the top, who can collectively fill TI's shoes if they work together and with the community, which they've shown to be willing to do! So overall, I'm optimistic, I am convinced that we can thrive under any circumstance :))

Speaking of you on a personal level... Gman, you are quite honestly known as the nicest person in OMs. How do you feel about this title, and is there any advice you'd give to those who want to emulate you?

I love it, I'm not going to lie ^^ In my life, I've always craved friendship and affection, and being showered with love and appreciation at every turn is something that makes my stay in the community so enjoyable, and that made it impossible to leave it ^^' Now, people might think that it's an act, but tbh being told that I'm nice/too nice is something that happens regularily irl as well, so I've never considered it a facade, I try to act the same way I would irl :) As for advice, I don't think that anyone here has to change and to be more like me, any community is enjoyable because of its differences! But putting a positive spin on things, trying to focus on the brightside, on the silver lining of things, is something that can help anyone find their path to harmony. Personally I've tried to do this and to see the good in people after coming out as gay, because I noticed how the people around me that scared me were way more tolerant and appreciative than I thought, so it made me want to appreciate them all back :)) Overall, I try to avoid saying anything negative unless absolutely necessary, but that conflict-aversion is not something that I recommend to imitate. Another thing that I try to do with my friends (both irl and ivl) is not being afraid to pay an honest compliment :)) A few nice words have impacted me in ways I did not think were possible. They say they can make your day a bit better, but sometimes, you smile at them thinking back years later.. So I've always tried to be as transparent as possible with my positive opinion of others !

We stan, gman!! Coming with that, are they any big memories in OMs you like to look back on?

Wheeew this is gonna take a while, as I'm thinking of them on the spot :0 Ok: First talking to Chazm and receiving precious advice on my first MnM team ever, exchanging just a bit of personal information back in 2016; then seeing his surprise when I remembered his hometown when I approached him in 2018; Andy first messaging me and telling me that my presence was being appreciated; Teaming up with the Money Magearnas twice, as both of the times it was a blast, I met amazing people whose friendship I really cherish to this day!; playing in the French OMPLs and going 4-0 in 2019, with Stresh helping me a huge amount there; GL Volkner's first messages to me on the OM Discord; Lasen's calls and playing Skribble; getting to know the fascinating Tcot; the memes after the Maroon and TI incidents; publishing my Mandibuzz analyses; Stresh proposing the council position and working alongside my good friends; really any time someone has paid me a compliment (like the countless times Secty, Jasp, and ITH have); Mark taking a stand for me last spring; getting to manage alongside Jordy, and interacting with TNM up close :3; meeting some Parisian OM players in real life; being nominated for Smogon awards in early 2020 when I only knew the OM community was so huge as well; the Smogon Puzzle hunt was an opportunity to interact with some very nice people I did not know too well priorly ^^ ; seeing OM players succeed and do well elsewhere always moves me, like a few of them winning a CPL, or the AGTT!; Andy shouting me out after winning ribbon... I'm forgetting a lot of these, luckily I have a screenshot folder where I can always hunt down moments that I cherished :))

Furthermore, you've talked about your interest in analyses! Do you think more people should write them, and what part do you think they play in the overall competitiveness of OMs and getting people in on them?

I'm personally sold on writing analyses and checking them, it's something that I really enjoyed doing. However, as far as OMs are concerned, I'm not sure of their impact. I've read several of them, and they're always top-notch and very informative, but I feel that for players that are not at the very beginning, other analyses that are more straightforward are more useful (like Samples, and especially set compendiums), so I think those should be prioritized. Analyses are the pinnacle of content but are unlikely to be cost-effective, unfortunately (where the cost is measured in time spent). Indeed, I don't know how many new players get to know the meta via analyses, it certainly was not my case, as I started directly on ladder (and it definitely showed, lol). Of course, the fact that new analyses can be linked on social media might add to their importance in finding new players! However, analyses can't substitute the importance of discussing with players in threads and on discord, as it's impossible for every analysis to be fully up to date! TLDR: analyses are cool and important, although maybe not the priority over other resources. They demand work, but having a corpus of analyses can help in documenting the state of a metagame for future generations :) (Also, gen8 has been the bane of analysis writing, sorry to say...)

Neat! Now... tell us about this secret MnM tutorship project...*

I actually don't know anything about it yet LOL

This however shows that I've been interested for quite some time x)


So, gman, my man, with all that clout you got, How you spending your valentine's?

I've been stuck at home for the past 7 days as my father has covid so I'm tending to him, cooking for the household, washing dishes and the like ^^ What would I have done if I had not been in this situation? I had no plans :0 Would have been nice to see some friends that are also single and catch up, for sure ^^

Mood. On a sidenote, In The Hills asks: What's your cheesiest pick-up line?

Ok now I'm trying to think of lines that involve swiss cheese and its holes and this is not going to go anywhere sfw x) so I'll answer seriously and say that my game, when I'm not full out declaring my unrequited love for someone, is a genuine compliment, a smile, and asking for someone's number :)) It has worked in the past, but has never lead to anything long-term :0

Anyone you'd like to shoutout in the OM community?

oh my oh my

Shout/outs to you, drampa's grandpa, SectoniaServant, In The Hills, berry, xavgb and Chazm for being friends that spend a huge amount of their time to ensure that the community enjoys itself! To my MnM pals Andyboy, Catalystic, Chloe, Redflix, MultiAmmiratore, Jordy, Mark K , Fardin! To my OMFR friends and great players, like Siamato, Dragonillis, LBDC, Alternatif, Palapapop, damflame 3, Emeri, Apagogie, and many, many others! To my whole WCoOMWC squad :) To every single one of my OMPL teammates, and to our captain, whom I still miss very much. To willdbeast, Lasen, jasprose, GL Volkner, pileosand, Zovrah and many others for making OM related spaces enjoyable through time :)) To Marjane and Skysolo and all the other Morgrems :3 To TheCoastsOfToast because he's very witty!! Only tangentially to OMs, a s/o to the Arcanistes (it's a discord server, no need to tag it); to Lambovino and his gang; to PTF; to Milak, ErPeris and the other Italians who do a huge amount of work translating content; to the lovely people meeting in a lovely cafe; and to Staxi <3

Finally, anything you'd like to say to our viewers?

Thank you all for your company over the past 2 years, it has been and continues to be a blast to interact with each and every one of you! Your friendship and your presence means more to me than I ever thought possible :)) OMs are fun and original, but their strongest point is that they are played by a community of diverse, loving, adorable individuals!

Feel free to ask him more questions below!
 
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