Project OM Interviews (#22: Ren)

[OM]

Good Morning and welcome back to OM Interviews! Today we'd like to welcome the every so fiery...

Morytha!​

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

i'm fine, i'm going to eat dinner in a little bit

Kk, just let me know when ur goin and we can resume when ur free

i eat fast, like, itll probably be 10 minutes like always

Good to hear you're doing okay. Starting off, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?

Well I want to be an astronomer but the more interesting part to other people is probably games and i like xenoblade and smash a lot, thats basically it

In that case, would you like to talk a bit about those games? Why do you enjoy them?

so for smash, it started mostly because my brother wanted to try it in probably 2012 and we played a lot and i ended up being the one to keep playing it to this day, its just fun to do to take my mind off things and when i'm bored i started with xenoblade through smash 4 and chuggaa's playthrough of it, so i decided to get it for myself and loved everything about it: story, characters, music, places to see, all of it. then the 2nd one came out so i got that at some point and its the same kind of thing with it, and torna too

Who do you main in smash.

in melee, marth/falco, at the end of smash 4 it was marth/cloud, but for a while was shulk, and in ultimate it's shulk

How does it feel playing these characters? How'd you get into playing them?

oh theyre all really fun to play, like melee marth for example is just once you get into it you can do anything with him, everything of his flows so nicely into other moves, and i got into playing them mostly because theyre fun, and shulk is fun plus hes xenoblade so thats a bonus

As for that, who's your fav xenoblade character? Why?

jin from xenoblade 2 easily. why is kind of difficult to explain entirely, especially with spoilers for the game, so i'll just say that hes a cool character

Moving on to the mons side, how did you discover Pokemon & Pokemon Showdown?

oh back in 2014 i decided to try a pokemon game to see what it was like, it was pokemon x. i ended up watching stuff on youtube about it and at some point found some youtuber who built teams on showdown and at some point decided to get on for myself to try it. i went without a name for several months while just making teams on there that i wanted to use ingame

What metagames do you find yourself enjoying? Anything special you feel you've added to them?

i enjoy oms mostly, like mix and mega is the one i've definitely played most, and the rest are fun too. i'm not sure about adding anything special to them besides whatever funny/interesting things i can come up with just to mess with on ladder, like i used occa berry dusk mane a bit for arcanine, which i think a couple other people ended up trying

Innovation? In this Metagame? Damn impressive. Would you like to share any of your sets?

Clefable @ Cameruptite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled

Well here's one i made, i've used cameruptite clefable off and on since the beginning of this gen since it seemed like it could be decently strong and there wasnt stuff like magearna around yet. sheer force tbolt hits pex really hard, catches it off guard too since standard clef is ampharosite.

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Occa Berry
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Morning Sun

And of course, the occa berry dusk mane. eats up a flare blitz pretty easily and eq smacks arcanine nicely, also something that wouldnt be expected. since arcanine is altarianite, both of its stabs wont do too much the first time around

Those are pretty cool, ngl. You seem to spend a bunch of time on PS as well, are there any memorable experiences you've had?

i'm sure i could come up with so many, and ignoring promotions since obviously theyre memorable, like one example is vi0, a smash mod, managing to have almost 30,000 lines in a single month, it was funny and we still joke about it

Expanding on that, is there anyone you'd like to shoutout in this interview?

Vi0, Kie, Ransei, SectoniaServant, Necrofantasian, drampa's grandpa, quadrophenic, HiGHTiDEくコ彡iNKLiNG, Rach, a random duck, Chaospirex, Jolt of Justice, legalize weedle, XpRienzo, Hydro, raymond quaza, Paul Atishon, hsykid, Chazm, that OM guy, Kris, and so many others i forget that just are good friends

Good to see you have so many people to talk to :) Speaking of which... Why'd you namechange?

i just loved xc2 so much that i wanted to use the name of a place in it, which is what Morytha is, Flaming Deoxys was obviously my first name and I grew attached to it, and the color was nice, but im also a xenoblade fan. and Flaming Deoxys seems to have turned into a legend or something with how many people want him to come back

Anything you'd like to say to end it off?

everyone should play the xenoblade games when you can, theyre good!!!

Feel free to ask questions below!

 

[V-Creates]

1. Whats your least favorite Mon/Stone Combination to face (ex. I hate venusaurite Corv)
2. Are pizza rolls italian gushers?
3. Favorite breakfast
4. What was the worst idea for a Mon/Stone combination (i am guilty for thinking that Abomasite Drampa with Blizzard would be amazing, it was not)
5. What was the last series you finished
6. How's your day been :)

 

[Eli]

1. this gen it's probably anything excadrill runs honestly, I'm just kind of bad against it for some reason
2. yes.
3. any kind of cereal
4. oh boy I've had countless horrible ideas so I'll pick one extremely cursed set: diancite arctozolt.
5. assuming series is any series I'm proud to announce I've become a weeb and watched love live!
6. it was good but the weather was nasty

 

[drampa's grandpa]

Good Morning and welcome back to OM Interviews! Today we'd like to welcome the every so fiery...

Morytha!​

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

i'm fine, i'm going to eat dinner in a little bit

Kk, just let me know when ur goin and we can resume when ur free

i eat fast, like, itll probably be 10 minutes like always

Good to hear you're doing okay. Starting off, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?

Well I want to be an astronomer but the more interesting part to other people is probably games and i like xenoblade and smash a lot, thats basically it

In that case, would you like to talk a bit about those games? Why do you enjoy them?

so for smash, it started mostly because my brother wanted to try it in probably 2012 and we played a lot and i ended up being the one to keep playing it to this day, its just fun to do to take my mind off things and when i'm bored i started with xenoblade through smash 4 and chuggaa's playthrough of it, so i decided to get it for myself and loved everything about it: story, characters, music, places to see, all of it. then the 2nd one came out so i got that at some point and its the same kind of thing with it, and torna too

Who do you main in smash.

in melee, marth/falco, at the end of smash 4 it was marth/cloud, but for a while was shulk, and in ultimate it's shulk

How does it feel playing these characters? How'd you get into playing them?

oh theyre all really fun to play, like melee marth for example is just once you get into it you can do anything with him, everything of his flows so nicely into other moves, and i got into playing them mostly because theyre fun, and shulk is fun plus hes xenoblade so thats a bonus

As for that, who's your fav xenoblade character? Why?

jin from xenoblade 2 easily. why is kind of difficult to explain entirely, especially with spoilers for the game, so i'll just say that hes a cool character

Moving on to the mons side, how did you discover Pokemon & Pokemon Showdown?

oh back in 2014 i decided to try a pokemon game to see what it was like, it was pokemon x. i ended up watching stuff on youtube about it and at some point found some youtuber who built teams on showdown and at some point decided to get on for myself to try it. i went without a name for several months while just making teams on there that i wanted to use ingame

What metagames do you find yourself enjoying? Anything special you feel you've added to them?

i enjoy oms mostly, like mix and mega is the one i've definitely played most, and the rest are fun too. i'm not sure about adding anything special to them besides whatever funny/interesting things i can come up with just to mess with on ladder, like i used occa berry dusk mane a bit for arcanine, which i think a couple other people ended up trying

Innovation? In this Metagame? Damn impressive. Would you like to share any of your sets?

Clefable @ Cameruptite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled

Well here's one i made, i've used cameruptite clefable off and on since the beginning of this gen since it seemed like it could be decently strong and there wasnt stuff like magearna around yet. sheer force tbolt hits pex really hard, catches it off guard too since standard clef is ampharosite.

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Occa Berry
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Morning Sun

And of course, the occa berry dusk mane. eats up a flare blitz pretty easily and eq smacks arcanine nicely, also something that wouldnt be expected. since arcanine is altarianite, both of its stabs wont do too much the first time around

Those are pretty cool, ngl. You seem to spend a bunch of time on PS as well, are there any memorable experiences you've had?

i'm sure i could come up with so many, and ignoring promotions since obviously theyre memorable, like one example is vi0, a smash mod, managing to have almost 30,000 lines in a single month, it was funny and we still joke about it

Expanding on that, is there anyone you'd like to shoutout in this interview?

Vi0, Kie, Ransei, SectoniaServant, Necrofantasian, drampa's grandpa, quadrophenic, HiGHTiDEくコ彡iNKLiNG, Rach, a random duck, Chaospirex, Jolt of Justice, legalize weedle, XpRienzo, Hydro, raymond quaza, Paul Atishon, hsykid, Chazm, that OM guy, Kris, and so many others i forget that just are good friends

Good to see you have so many people to talk to :) Speaking of which... Why'd you namechange?

i just loved xc2 so much that i wanted to use the name of a place in it, which is what Morytha is, Flaming Deoxys was obviously my first name and I grew attached to it, and the color was nice, but im also a xenoblade fan. and Flaming Deoxys seems to have turned into a legend or something with how many people want him to come back

Anything you'd like to say to end it off?

everyone should play the xenoblade games when you can, theyre good!!!

Feel free to ask questions below!

Which Deoxys forme is best Deoxys forme?

Best soup?

Favorite ATLA character?

Have you supported The Immortal for his technical contributions?

How do I fix my wifi router?

not nuq DaSov'a'?

If you had to subsist entirely on crab rangoon, multivitamins, and Dihydrogen Monoxide for a year but you got $706478854578475447.62 and a piece of unbreakable string at the end would you do it?

 

[Eli]

deoxys speed @ red orb.

cereal is quite a tasty soup!

I've never watched it!

my support comes in playing the metagames on the server

(Edit!) oops I forgot how to answer this one, to fix it you buy google so you are the internet

yes.

if that piece of unbreakable string is named watson yes

 

[PA]

Aqours or U’s
pyra or mythra
fav drink
best ost in xenoblade?
have a good day

 

[drampa's grandpa]

I've never watched it!

Watch it

 

[Ren]

Subscribe?

 

[Eli]

can't say which yet because I've barely started sunshine so far
mythra
coke is tasty but sonic has a good cherry limeade
i like a lot of them but im gonna go ahead and pick tantal (night) here

soon, probably.

subscribe to me, yes

 

[tegrof19]

big fan

 

[dhelmise]

Flaming Deoxys

why do they call it oven when you of in the cold food of out hot eat the food

?

 

[Eli]

Flaming Deoxys

why do they call it oven when you of in the cold food of out hot eat the food

?

because never assume in life... dont think that carrot big because carrot big leaf because small leaf carrot big not leaf big size

 

[Chloe]

you're trapped in an elevator with Jayi and Kie who do you eat first and why?

 

[Eli]

I don't eat bri ish "food" chloe .

 

[OM]

Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews!!! Today, we bring in the mashed up mashed potato himself...

The Number Man!​

Hello The Number Man, and welcome to OM interviews! How are you doing today?

Hi, OM and thanks, im happy to be here! Im good, just got home from a friends birthday party. You?

I'm good, thanks. Hope you enjoyed the party. Starting off, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?

Well, Im a college student (in the field of cognitive science), currently in the middle of finishing my masters thesis. My hobbies include working out, reading, watching the occasional reality show with my gf and of course playing mons.


That's cool! Speaking of mons, what are some of your favourite formats to play?

My favorite format would have to be STABmons + Almost any ability or STAAABmons in shorthand. But i also enjoy alot of OMs - AAA, STABmons and Camomons in particular, and I've been really really enjoying Inheritance as well lately. Other than that, I have a soft spot for gen7 OU (as it was the first format I tried to seriously learn).And i also have to mention CAAAmomons, another OM mashup.(edited)

Well, going into that, is there anything you feel like you've contributed to these metagames?

I feel like I've contributed a decent amount to the development of mashups this gen, both in curating resources and popularizing certain sets. The 1 STAAABmons set that stands out would be No Retreat Magic Guard Life Orb Cobalion which terrorized the metagame due to access to Volt Switch which let it pivot out of bad MUs to bypass the NR trapping effect while being really hard to beat 1v1 after an omniboost and frequently swept unprepped teams. This eventually led us to restrict No Retreat in STAAABmons lol. As for OMs i guess i could maybe say that I was one of the first ppl to notice how broken Magearna was in the gen8 version of Inheritance, a mon that put in a lot of work in my w1 game of OM snake with a set inheriting from Butterfree.

Building off of those resources and sets, you've recently been crowned OMM RO! How has your time in the subroom been?

Yeah I cant say I was expecting that honestly but I'm really glad (and honored) it happened. It's been great, I feel like I've grown so much as a player from when I first found the room in February of 2019. I was getting bored of OU and discovered OMs but quickly realised that most of the ladders were dead and somehow found Mashups. I've had fun building and playing mashups ever since, but even more importantly I've met some great people throughout my time here.

Going off of that, how has your time curating these mashups been? Is there anything you'd like to do moving forward?

Its fun, but its also a lot of work. I've mostly been focusing on STAAABmons (with the help of a great council) after getting tier leader sometime in Feb/March of this year and I think we've been decently successful in keeping it as balanced and fun as possible. My to-do list for the future (which will probably have to wait a bit, at least until both team tours im participating end) would be the following: - develop CAAAMOmons a bit more and get some tiering decisions done - find a way to bump up the popularity of Doubles and LC mashups - host a forum tour of some sort to attract some more attention to the room - a far fetched dream, but make OM Mashups PL a thing

Adding on to that, with so many combinations of mashups, do you think it's truly feasible for all of them to shine? Is there a way set up for them all to get a spotlight?

I sadly don't think it's feasible. Some will always be more popular than others, whether it be because they are easier to pick up or because they just appeal more strongly to the core userbase of the room. There's also the issue with the fact that something becoming spotlight doesn't necessarily mean it will be played - the mashup usually has to be reasonably popular already for the spotlight to have a positive impact on its popularity and playerbase (otherwise we get "dead" spotlights, where people stop playing after a week). As for getting every mashup a spotlight, I've been considering the idea of having two spotlights at the same time - one for the "regular" mashups (OM + OM or OM + ubers) and one for the LC/Doubles mashups as I've noticed that the playerbases for these two categories don't really overlap that much. That way both groups of players could get a spotlight that appeals to them.

I see. Shame considering there are so many good ones. Moving to different topics, you've been drafted in the OM Snake Draft! How has your experience been so far?

It's been great! I honestly wasn't sure whether I'd be drafted or not and even hesitated signing up since I'm working on my master's thesis right now, but I'm very glad I did. I've been a big fan of inheritance (it's my favorite out of the OMOTM candidates) ever since I first discovered it in gen7 so I'm really glad I got the chance to play it in a tournament setting. Building for it has been fun, especially now that the ever looming threat of 20 possible Magearna sets is gone and I've enjoyed my matches too, even though I'm a bit unhappy that my w1 and w2 wins weren't the cleanest.

Is there anything that stands out to you currently as a massive threat that people should be talking about?

Hmm thats a good question. Well first of all, I think Comfey as a donor (for Kiss, Primarina but also in general) is underrated. It gets everything it needs to bypass most defensive checks (Leech Seed/Taunt for pesky Unawares, Stored Power for Magic Bouncers that resist fairy but cant do much back) so the only real counterplay is clefable/xatu inherits that can set up alongside it and beat it 1v1 or just applying enough pressure that it cant boost up to ohko range. Other than that id say both Dragapult and Zeraora are kinda borderline due to their versatility and speed tier. Dragapult is kinda kept in check by Zera outspeeding but Zera can only really be checked offensively with priority (and lol scarfers), most of which doesnt even OHKO from full and it can beat most defensive checks that arent running a type immunity ability anyway.

So, you've recently earned both OMs and Global Voice! How'd that make you feel?

It was great! But mostly it was a shocker lol. I guess OM voice kinda made sense but I honestly didn't expect to become global voice at all. Still, I'm glad it happened as it makes me feel like my contributions are appreciated.

Congratulations on it, anyways! Now, let's get back to you for a bit. What are some of your favourite books you've read? Do you have anything you'd like to say about them?

Thanks Well if we're talking actual books I really liked Brent Week's Lightbringer series, which follows the adventures of Gavin Guile, Prism of Chromeria (Prism = Warrior King basically, but he's also the greatest magician in the world) and of Kip, a bastard boy from a village far away from Chromeria who recently found out that he is actually Gavin's son. I liked the characters and I also liked the magic system, it was very well designed. Basically they cast magic by absorbing the component wavelengths (infrared to ultraviolet) of sunlight (which is white light), and the result depends on the color of light absorbed. I definitely recommend it if you like fantasy stories. As for my favorite story of all time, it has to be Worm, a web serial novel by Wildbow. It's basically a deconstruction of superhero fiction and follows Taylor, a bullied girl who awakens superpowers during a particularly bad incident in school. I read Worm like 5 or 6 years ago, and to this day no other story has pulled me in like it did. It's an amazing story and i really recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy/scifi/superhero fiction. It's very long though so dont do it if you dont have time to kill.

Those sound really cool and I'll have to check them out! Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the readers?

I guess it's time for shoutouts. First of all, I'd like to shoutout Drampa and Ransei for making OM Mashups a thing in the first place. Then I'd like to shoutout all the Mashups staff regs and the mashup veterans who sadly arent with us anymore for keeping it alive all this time. I'd also like to give out a shoutout to RajShoot and MGenius for making TPP a thing (for the second time now!) and letting us mashups peeps play mashups in a team tour environment - last year's TPP is what actually got me into STAAABmons. Speaking of TPP, all the OG absolposters deserve a shoutout as well Best Gal Ainzcrad Aloopuriza Axgwd Icemaster Kythr Nakeeb Floogal Npopat. And of course all the new Absolposters such as K3ppr, Joey, Karl, Omega; Binpin, Noc, Shion... sorry guys i cant list all of you but I love yall and also the plaza community in general. I gotta give a special shoutout to Manu 11, RICEMAN and PokaPK for always being up to play and just in general being good friends. Last, I'd like to give a shout out to some users from the OM community, OM for taking a chance with me in OMPL, Atha (get this man in OMPL next year!) for being my AAA test buddy, Mark K for being a great test and building partner in OMPL, Lasen for being a godtier memer, Chazm for being a great test partner in Snake as well as getting me nommed for OM voice and last ITH for picking me in OM snake and letting me have lots of fun in the tournament! Im really sorry if I forgot anyone but I've really met a lot of wonderful people here on pokemon showdown.

Feel Free to ask questions below!

 

[kythr]

Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews!!! Today, we bring in the mashed up mashed potato himself...

The Number Man!​

Hello The Number Man, and welcome to OM interviews! How are you doing today?

Hi, OM and thanks, im happy to be here! Im good, just got home from a friends birthday party. You?

I'm good, thanks. Hope you enjoyed the party. Starting off, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?

Well, Im a college student (in the field of cognitive science), currently in the middle of finishing my masters thesis. My hobbies include working out, reading, watching the occasional reality show with my gf and of course playing mons.


That's cool! Speaking of mons, what are some of your favourite formats to play?

My favorite format would have to be STABmons + Almost any ability or STAAABmons in shorthand. But i also enjoy alot of OMs - AAA, STABmons and Camomons in particular, and I've been really really enjoying Inheritance as well lately. Other than that, I have a soft spot for gen7 OU (as it was the first format I tried to seriously learn).And i also have to mention CAAAmomons, another OM mashup.(edited)

Well, going into that, is there anything you feel like you've contributed to these metagames?

I feel like I've contributed a decent amount to the development of mashups this gen, both in curating resources and popularizing certain sets. The 1 STAAABmons set that stands out would be No Retreat Magic Guard Life Orb Cobalion which terrorized the metagame due to access to Volt Switch which let it pivot out of bad MUs to bypass the NR trapping effect while being really hard to beat 1v1 after an omniboost and frequently swept unprepped teams. This eventually led us to restrict No Retreat in STAAABmons lol. As for OMs i guess i could maybe say that I was one of the first ppl to notice how broken Magearna was in the gen8 version of Inheritance, a mon that put in a lot of work in my w1 game of OM snake with a set inheriting from Butterfree.

Building off of those resources and sets, you've recently been crowned OMM RO! How has your time in the subroom been?

Yeah I cant say I was expecting that honestly but I'm really glad (and honored) it happened. It's been great, I feel like I've grown so much as a player from when I first found the room in February of 2019. I was getting bored of OU and discovered OMs but quickly realised that most of the ladders were dead and somehow found Mashups. I've had fun building and playing mashups ever since, but even more importantly I've met some great people throughout my time here.

Going off of that, how has your time curating these mashups been? Is there anything you'd like to do moving forward?

Its fun, but its also a lot of work. I've mostly been focusing on STAAABmons (with the help of a great council) after getting tier leader sometime in Feb/March of this year and I think we've been decently successful in keeping it as balanced and fun as possible. My to-do list for the future (which will probably have to wait a bit, at least until both team tours im participating end) would be the following: - develop CAAAMOmons a bit more and get some tiering decisions done - find a way to bump up the popularity of Doubles and LC mashups - host a forum tour of some sort to attract some more attention to the room - a far fetched dream, but make OM Mashups PL a thing

Adding on to that, with so many combinations of mashups, do you think it's truly feasible for all of them to shine? Is there a way set up for them all to get a spotlight?

I sadly don't think it's feasible. Some will always be more popular than others, whether it be because they are easier to pick up or because they just appeal more strongly to the core userbase of the room. There's also the issue with the fact that something becoming spotlight doesn't necessarily mean it will be played - the mashup usually has to be reasonably popular already for the spotlight to have a positive impact on its popularity and playerbase (otherwise we get "dead" spotlights, where people stop playing after a week). As for getting every mashup a spotlight, I've been considering the idea of having two spotlights at the same time - one for the "regular" mashups (OM + OM or OM + ubers) and one for the LC/Doubles mashups as I've noticed that the playerbases for these two categories don't really overlap that much. That way both groups of players could get a spotlight that appeals to them.

I see. Shame considering there are so many good ones. Moving to different topics, you've been drafted in the OM Snake Draft! How has your experience been so far?

It's been great! I honestly wasn't sure whether I'd be drafted or not and even hesitated signing up since I'm working on my master's thesis right now, but I'm very glad I did. I've been a big fan of inheritance (it's my favorite out of the OMOTM candidates) ever since I first discovered it in gen7 so I'm really glad I got the chance to play it in a tournament setting. Building for it has been fun, especially now that the ever looming threat of 20 possible Magearna sets is gone and I've enjoyed my matches too, even though I'm a bit unhappy that my w1 and w2 wins weren't the cleanest.

Is there anything that stands out to you currently as a massive threat that people should be talking about?

Hmm thats a good question. Well first of all, I think Comfey as a donor (for Kiss, Primarina but also in general) is underrated. It gets everything it needs to bypass most defensive checks (Leech Seed/Taunt for pesky Unawares, Stored Power for Magic Bouncers that resist fairy but cant do much back) so the only real counterplay is clefable/xatu inherits that can set up alongside it and beat it 1v1 or just applying enough pressure that it cant boost up to ohko range. Other than that id say both Dragapult and Zeraora are kinda borderline due to their versatility and speed tier. Dragapult is kinda kept in check by Zera outspeeding but Zera can only really be checked offensively with priority (and lol scarfers), most of which doesnt even OHKO from full and it can beat most defensive checks that arent running a type immunity ability anyway.

So, you've recently earned both OMs and Global Voice! How'd that make you feel?

It was great! But mostly it was a shocker lol. I guess OM voice kinda made sense but I honestly didn't expect to become global voice at all. Still, I'm glad it happened as it makes me feel like my contributions are appreciated.

Congratulations on it, anyways! Now, let's get back to you for a bit. What are some of your favourite books you've read? Do you have anything you'd like to say about them?

Thanks Well if we're talking actual books I really liked Brent Week's Lightbringer series, which follows the adventures of Gavin Guile, Prism of Chromeria (Prism = Warrior King basically, but he's also the greatest magician in the world) and of Kip, a bastard boy from a village far away from Chromeria who recently found out that he is actually Gavin's son. I liked the characters and I also liked the magic system, it was very well designed. Basically they cast magic by absorbing the component wavelengths (infrared to ultraviolet) of sunlight (which is white light), and the result depends on the color of light absorbed. I definitely recommend it if you like fantasy stories. As for my favorite story of all time, it has to be Worm, a web serial novel by Wildbow. It's basically a deconstruction of superhero fiction and follows Taylor, a bullied girl who awakens superpowers during a particularly bad incident in school. I read Worm like 5 or 6 years ago, and to this day no other story has pulled me in like it did. It's an amazing story and i really recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy/scifi/superhero fiction. It's very long though so dont do it if you dont have time to kill.

Those sound really cool and I'll have to check them out! Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the readers?

I guess it's time for shoutouts. First of all, I'd like to shoutout Drampa and Ransei for making OM Mashups a thing in the first place. Then I'd like to shoutout all the Mashups staff regs and the mashup veterans who sadly arent with us anymore for keeping it alive all this time. I'd also like to give out a shoutout to RajShoot and MGenius for making TPP a thing (for the second time now!) and letting us mashups peeps play mashups in a team tour environment - last year's TPP is what actually got me into STAAABmons. Speaking of TPP, all the OG absolposters deserve a shoutout as well Best Gal Ainzcrad Aloopuriza Axgwd Icemaster Kythr Nakeeb Floogal Npopat. And of course all the new Absolposters such as K3ppr, Joey, Karl, Omega; Binpin, Noc, Shion... sorry guys i cant list all of you but I love yall and also the plaza community in general. I gotta give a special shoutout to Manu 11, RICEMAN and PokaPK for always being up to play and just in general being good friends. Last, I'd like to give a shout out to some users from the OM community, OM for taking a chance with me in OMPL, Atha (get this man in OMPL next year!) for being my AAA test buddy, Mark K for being a great test and building partner in OMPL, Lasen for being a godtier memer, Chazm for being a great test partner in Snake as well as getting me nommed for OM voice and last ITH for picking me in OM snake and letting me have lots of fun in the tournament! Im really sorry if I forgot anyone but I've really met a lot of wonderful people here on pokemon showdown.

Feel Free to ask questions below!

Hi Mr. Based Number Man. I have 10 questions of utmost importance that I absolutely must know the answer to. Please get back to me ASAP so I can resume my daily activities without itching to know your thougts on these very serious matters.

1) I have heard rumors that you have recently been perm-banned from all showdown related platforms, including smogon. Are these allegations true? If so, how are you answering this question?
2) How many pieces of Agency merchandise do you own? How many pieces are you currently wearing?
3) Please describe, in 3 sentences or less, your masters thesis.
4) Who would win in an irl fight between users Ainzcrad and Aloopuriza ?
5) Do you have any tips on becoming a superior baste chad like you?
6) Will Axgwd ever finish the chronology?
7) I have also heard recent rumors of an up and commer in the TPP community - a user by the name of EMPRESS ASHLEY. Why do you think they were able to break onto the TP scene so quickly and do you have any advice for other users who want to get their names out there, either in the TP/OM communities or smogon as a whole?
8) What was the reason for choosing absol as a mascot?
9) Who, in the absols discord, do you think would be most likely to drop out of the agency?
10) Who can stop the absols in tpp 2?

 

[Ainzcrad]

Hi Mr. Based Number Man. I have a 10 questions of utmost importance that I absolutely must know the answer to. Please get back to me ASAP so I can resume my daily activities without itching to know your thougts on these very serious matters.

1) I have heard rumors that you have recently been perm-banned from all showdown related platforms, including smogon. Are these allegations true? If so, how are you answering this question?
2) How many piece of Agency merchandise do you own? How many pieces are you currently wearing?
3) Please describe, in 3 sentences or less, your masters thesis.
4) Who would win in an irl fight between users Ainzcrad and Aloopuriza ?
5) Do you have any tips on trying to become a superior baste chad like you?
6) Will Axgwd ever finish the chronology?
7) I have also heard recent rumors of an up and commer in the TPP community - a user by the name of EMPRESS ASHLEY. Why do you think they were able to break onto the TP scene so quickly and do you have any advice for other users who want to get their names out there, either in the TP/OM communities or smogon as a whole?
8) What was the reason for choosing absol as a mascot?
9) Who, in the absols discord, do you think would be most likely to drop out of the agency?
10) Who can stop the absols in tpp 2?

Aloo is one of my best frens so i wouldn't hurt him

 

[Stareal]

10) Who can stop the absols in tpp 2?

Frosmoths.

 

[fabwooloo]

hey the number man, first of all congrats on gvoice, i have some questions i would like to ask:
1) How long did it take for you to come up with the omms?
2) Why isnt volcarona banned from staaab yet?
3) Where there any difficulties in making the omm room?
4) What is "based"?
5) What is the agency and why does everyone keep talking about it
6) Who is your favorite jojo character besides jotaro
7) https://pokepast.es/0bd544b907969566

 

[Best Gal]

Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews!!! Today, we bring in the mashed up mashed potato himself...

The Number Man!​

Hello The Number Man, and welcome to OM interviews! How are you doing today?

Hi, OM and thanks, im happy to be here! Im good, just got home from a friends birthday party. You?

I'm good, thanks. Hope you enjoyed the party. Starting off, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?

Well, Im a college student (in the field of cognitive science), currently in the middle of finishing my masters thesis. My hobbies include working out, reading, watching the occasional reality show with my gf and of course playing mons.


That's cool! Speaking of mons, what are some of your favourite formats to play?

My favorite format would have to be STABmons + Almost any ability or STAAABmons in shorthand. But i also enjoy alot of OMs - AAA, STABmons and Camomons in particular, and I've been really really enjoying Inheritance as well lately. Other than that, I have a soft spot for gen7 OU (as it was the first format I tried to seriously learn).And i also have to mention CAAAmomons, another OM mashup.(edited)

Well, going into that, is there anything you feel like you've contributed to these metagames?

I feel like I've contributed a decent amount to the development of mashups this gen, both in curating resources and popularizing certain sets. The 1 STAAABmons set that stands out would be No Retreat Magic Guard Life Orb Cobalion which terrorized the metagame due to access to Volt Switch which let it pivot out of bad MUs to bypass the NR trapping effect while being really hard to beat 1v1 after an omniboost and frequently swept unprepped teams. This eventually led us to restrict No Retreat in STAAABmons lol. As for OMs i guess i could maybe say that I was one of the first ppl to notice how broken Magearna was in the gen8 version of Inheritance, a mon that put in a lot of work in my w1 game of OM snake with a set inheriting from Butterfree.

Building off of those resources and sets, you've recently been crowned OMM RO! How has your time in the subroom been?

Yeah I cant say I was expecting that honestly but I'm really glad (and honored) it happened. It's been great, I feel like I've grown so much as a player from when I first found the room in February of 2019. I was getting bored of OU and discovered OMs but quickly realised that most of the ladders were dead and somehow found Mashups. I've had fun building and playing mashups ever since, but even more importantly I've met some great people throughout my time here.

Going off of that, how has your time curating these mashups been? Is there anything you'd like to do moving forward?

Its fun, but its also a lot of work. I've mostly been focusing on STAAABmons (with the help of a great council) after getting tier leader sometime in Feb/March of this year and I think we've been decently successful in keeping it as balanced and fun as possible. My to-do list for the future (which will probably have to wait a bit, at least until both team tours im participating end) would be the following: - develop CAAAMOmons a bit more and get some tiering decisions done - find a way to bump up the popularity of Doubles and LC mashups - host a forum tour of some sort to attract some more attention to the room - a far fetched dream, but make OM Mashups PL a thing

Adding on to that, with so many combinations of mashups, do you think it's truly feasible for all of them to shine? Is there a way set up for them all to get a spotlight?

I sadly don't think it's feasible. Some will always be more popular than others, whether it be because they are easier to pick up or because they just appeal more strongly to the core userbase of the room. There's also the issue with the fact that something becoming spotlight doesn't necessarily mean it will be played - the mashup usually has to be reasonably popular already for the spotlight to have a positive impact on its popularity and playerbase (otherwise we get "dead" spotlights, where people stop playing after a week). As for getting every mashup a spotlight, I've been considering the idea of having two spotlights at the same time - one for the "regular" mashups (OM + OM or OM + ubers) and one for the LC/Doubles mashups as I've noticed that the playerbases for these two categories don't really overlap that much. That way both groups of players could get a spotlight that appeals to them.

I see. Shame considering there are so many good ones. Moving to different topics, you've been drafted in the OM Snake Draft! How has your experience been so far?

It's been great! I honestly wasn't sure whether I'd be drafted or not and even hesitated signing up since I'm working on my master's thesis right now, but I'm very glad I did. I've been a big fan of inheritance (it's my favorite out of the OMOTM candidates) ever since I first discovered it in gen7 so I'm really glad I got the chance to play it in a tournament setting. Building for it has been fun, especially now that the ever looming threat of 20 possible Magearna sets is gone and I've enjoyed my matches too, even though I'm a bit unhappy that my w1 and w2 wins weren't the cleanest.

Is there anything that stands out to you currently as a massive threat that people should be talking about?

Hmm thats a good question. Well first of all, I think Comfey as a donor (for Kiss, Primarina but also in general) is underrated. It gets everything it needs to bypass most defensive checks (Leech Seed/Taunt for pesky Unawares, Stored Power for Magic Bouncers that resist fairy but cant do much back) so the only real counterplay is clefable/xatu inherits that can set up alongside it and beat it 1v1 or just applying enough pressure that it cant boost up to ohko range. Other than that id say both Dragapult and Zeraora are kinda borderline due to their versatility and speed tier. Dragapult is kinda kept in check by Zera outspeeding but Zera can only really be checked offensively with priority (and lol scarfers), most of which doesnt even OHKO from full and it can beat most defensive checks that arent running a type immunity ability anyway.

So, you've recently earned both OMs and Global Voice! How'd that make you feel?

It was great! But mostly it was a shocker lol. I guess OM voice kinda made sense but I honestly didn't expect to become global voice at all. Still, I'm glad it happened as it makes me feel like my contributions are appreciated.

Congratulations on it, anyways! Now, let's get back to you for a bit. What are some of your favourite books you've read? Do you have anything you'd like to say about them?

Thanks Well if we're talking actual books I really liked Brent Week's Lightbringer series, which follows the adventures of Gavin Guile, Prism of Chromeria (Prism = Warrior King basically, but he's also the greatest magician in the world) and of Kip, a bastard boy from a village far away from Chromeria who recently found out that he is actually Gavin's son. I liked the characters and I also liked the magic system, it was very well designed. Basically they cast magic by absorbing the component wavelengths (infrared to ultraviolet) of sunlight (which is white light), and the result depends on the color of light absorbed. I definitely recommend it if you like fantasy stories. As for my favorite story of all time, it has to be Worm, a web serial novel by Wildbow. It's basically a deconstruction of superhero fiction and follows Taylor, a bullied girl who awakens superpowers during a particularly bad incident in school. I read Worm like 5 or 6 years ago, and to this day no other story has pulled me in like it did. It's an amazing story and i really recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy/scifi/superhero fiction. It's very long though so dont do it if you dont have time to kill.

Those sound really cool and I'll have to check them out! Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the readers?

I guess it's time for shoutouts. First of all, I'd like to shoutout Drampa and Ransei for making OM Mashups a thing in the first place. Then I'd like to shoutout all the Mashups staff regs and the mashup veterans who sadly arent with us anymore for keeping it alive all this time. I'd also like to give out a shoutout to RajShoot and MGenius for making TPP a thing (for the second time now!) and letting us mashups peeps play mashups in a team tour environment - last year's TPP is what actually got me into STAAABmons. Speaking of TPP, all the OG absolposters deserve a shoutout as well Best Gal Ainzcrad Aloopuriza Axgwd Icemaster Kythr Nakeeb Floogal Npopat. And of course all the new Absolposters such as K3ppr, Joey, Karl, Omega; Binpin, Noc, Shion... sorry guys i cant list all of you but I love yall and also the plaza community in general. I gotta give a special shoutout to Manu 11, RICEMAN and PokaPK for always being up to play and just in general being good friends. Last, I'd like to give a shout out to some users from the OM community, OM for taking a chance with me in OMPL, Atha (get this man in OMPL next year!) for being my AAA test buddy, Mark K for being a great test and building partner in OMPL, Lasen for being a godtier memer, Chazm for being a great test partner in Snake as well as getting me nommed for OM voice and last ITH for picking me in OM snake and letting me have lots of fun in the tournament! Im really sorry if I forgot anyone but I've really met a lot of wonderful people here on pokemon showdown.

Feel Free to ask questions below!

hey buddy got some questions

1. can you explain draptrap to me in 10 words or less
2. based on what?
3. how many rons do you think there are, really?
4. best ranshop title?
5. who would win in an irl fight between raj and mg?
6. scizor or scyther?
7. favorite pizza topping combination?
8. the year is 2120. who is staaab TL?
9. who is the real queen of tours plaza?
10. best tpp team of all time?

 

[Ainzcrad]

Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews!!! Today, we bring in the mashed up mashed potato himself...

The Number Man!​

Hello The Number Man, and welcome to OM interviews! How are you doing today?

Hi, OM and thanks, im happy to be here! Im good, just got home from a friends birthday party. You?

I'm good, thanks. Hope you enjoyed the party. Starting off, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?

Well, Im a college student (in the field of cognitive science), currently in the middle of finishing my masters thesis. My hobbies include working out, reading, watching the occasional reality show with my gf and of course playing mons.


That's cool! Speaking of mons, what are some of your favourite formats to play?

My favorite format would have to be STABmons + Almost any ability or STAAABmons in shorthand. But i also enjoy alot of OMs - AAA, STABmons and Camomons in particular, and I've been really really enjoying Inheritance as well lately. Other than that, I have a soft spot for gen7 OU (as it was the first format I tried to seriously learn).And i also have to mention CAAAmomons, another OM mashup.(edited)

Well, going into that, is there anything you feel like you've contributed to these metagames?

I feel like I've contributed a decent amount to the development of mashups this gen, both in curating resources and popularizing certain sets. The 1 STAAABmons set that stands out would be No Retreat Magic Guard Life Orb Cobalion which terrorized the metagame due to access to Volt Switch which let it pivot out of bad MUs to bypass the NR trapping effect while being really hard to beat 1v1 after an omniboost and frequently swept unprepped teams. This eventually led us to restrict No Retreat in STAAABmons lol. As for OMs i guess i could maybe say that I was one of the first ppl to notice how broken Magearna was in the gen8 version of Inheritance, a mon that put in a lot of work in my w1 game of OM snake with a set inheriting from Butterfree.

Building off of those resources and sets, you've recently been crowned OMM RO! How has your time in the subroom been?

Yeah I cant say I was expecting that honestly but I'm really glad (and honored) it happened. It's been great, I feel like I've grown so much as a player from when I first found the room in February of 2019. I was getting bored of OU and discovered OMs but quickly realised that most of the ladders were dead and somehow found Mashups. I've had fun building and playing mashups ever since, but even more importantly I've met some great people throughout my time here.

Going off of that, how has your time curating these mashups been? Is there anything you'd like to do moving forward?

Its fun, but its also a lot of work. I've mostly been focusing on STAAABmons (with the help of a great council) after getting tier leader sometime in Feb/March of this year and I think we've been decently successful in keeping it as balanced and fun as possible. My to-do list for the future (which will probably have to wait a bit, at least until both team tours im participating end) would be the following: - develop CAAAMOmons a bit more and get some tiering decisions done - find a way to bump up the popularity of Doubles and LC mashups - host a forum tour of some sort to attract some more attention to the room - a far fetched dream, but make OM Mashups PL a thing

Adding on to that, with so many combinations of mashups, do you think it's truly feasible for all of them to shine? Is there a way set up for them all to get a spotlight?

I sadly don't think it's feasible. Some will always be more popular than others, whether it be because they are easier to pick up or because they just appeal more strongly to the core userbase of the room. There's also the issue with the fact that something becoming spotlight doesn't necessarily mean it will be played - the mashup usually has to be reasonably popular already for the spotlight to have a positive impact on its popularity and playerbase (otherwise we get "dead" spotlights, where people stop playing after a week). As for getting every mashup a spotlight, I've been considering the idea of having two spotlights at the same time - one for the "regular" mashups (OM + OM or OM + ubers) and one for the LC/Doubles mashups as I've noticed that the playerbases for these two categories don't really overlap that much. That way both groups of players could get a spotlight that appeals to them.

I see. Shame considering there are so many good ones. Moving to different topics, you've been drafted in the OM Snake Draft! How has your experience been so far?

It's been great! I honestly wasn't sure whether I'd be drafted or not and even hesitated signing up since I'm working on my master's thesis right now, but I'm very glad I did. I've been a big fan of inheritance (it's my favorite out of the OMOTM candidates) ever since I first discovered it in gen7 so I'm really glad I got the chance to play it in a tournament setting. Building for it has been fun, especially now that the ever looming threat of 20 possible Magearna sets is gone and I've enjoyed my matches too, even though I'm a bit unhappy that my w1 and w2 wins weren't the cleanest.

Is there anything that stands out to you currently as a massive threat that people should be talking about?

Hmm thats a good question. Well first of all, I think Comfey as a donor (for Kiss, Primarina but also in general) is underrated. It gets everything it needs to bypass most defensive checks (Leech Seed/Taunt for pesky Unawares, Stored Power for Magic Bouncers that resist fairy but cant do much back) so the only real counterplay is clefable/xatu inherits that can set up alongside it and beat it 1v1 or just applying enough pressure that it cant boost up to ohko range. Other than that id say both Dragapult and Zeraora are kinda borderline due to their versatility and speed tier. Dragapult is kinda kept in check by Zera outspeeding but Zera can only really be checked offensively with priority (and lol scarfers), most of which doesnt even OHKO from full and it can beat most defensive checks that arent running a type immunity ability anyway.

So, you've recently earned both OMs and Global Voice! How'd that make you feel?

It was great! But mostly it was a shocker lol. I guess OM voice kinda made sense but I honestly didn't expect to become global voice at all. Still, I'm glad it happened as it makes me feel like my contributions are appreciated.

Congratulations on it, anyways! Now, let's get back to you for a bit. What are some of your favourite books you've read? Do you have anything you'd like to say about them?

Thanks Well if we're talking actual books I really liked Brent Week's Lightbringer series, which follows the adventures of Gavin Guile, Prism of Chromeria (Prism = Warrior King basically, but he's also the greatest magician in the world) and of Kip, a bastard boy from a village far away from Chromeria who recently found out that he is actually Gavin's son. I liked the characters and I also liked the magic system, it was very well designed. Basically they cast magic by absorbing the component wavelengths (infrared to ultraviolet) of sunlight (which is white light), and the result depends on the color of light absorbed. I definitely recommend it if you like fantasy stories. As for my favorite story of all time, it has to be Worm, a web serial novel by Wildbow. It's basically a deconstruction of superhero fiction and follows Taylor, a bullied girl who awakens superpowers during a particularly bad incident in school. I read Worm like 5 or 6 years ago, and to this day no other story has pulled me in like it did. It's an amazing story and i really recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy/scifi/superhero fiction. It's very long though so dont do it if you dont have time to kill.

Those sound really cool and I'll have to check them out! Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the readers?

I guess it's time for shoutouts. First of all, I'd like to shoutout Drampa and Ransei for making OM Mashups a thing in the first place. Then I'd like to shoutout all the Mashups staff regs and the mashup veterans who sadly arent with us anymore for keeping it alive all this time. I'd also like to give out a shoutout to RajShoot and MGenius for making TPP a thing (for the second time now!) and letting us mashups peeps play mashups in a team tour environment - last year's TPP is what actually got me into STAAABmons. Speaking of TPP, all the OG absolposters deserve a shoutout as well Best Gal Ainzcrad Aloopuriza Axgwd Icemaster Kythr Nakeeb Floogal Npopat. And of course all the new Absolposters such as K3ppr, Joey, Karl, Omega; Binpin, Noc, Shion... sorry guys i cant list all of you but I love yall and also the plaza community in general. I gotta give a special shoutout to Manu 11, RICEMAN and PokaPK for always being up to play and just in general being good friends. Last, I'd like to give a shout out to some users from the OM community, OM for taking a chance with me in OMPL, Atha (get this man in OMPL next year!) for being my AAA test buddy, Mark K for being a great test and building partner in OMPL, Lasen for being a godtier memer, Chazm for being a great test partner in Snake as well as getting me nommed for OM voice and last ITH for picking me in OM snake and letting me have lots of fun in the tournament! Im really sorry if I forgot anyone but I've really met a lot of wonderful people here on pokemon showdown.

Feel Free to ask questions below!

after all the joke questions i wanted to for real ask u some things i havent found the oppurtinity to ask
1. How are u able to keep up with all the college work+mons+spending time with ur gf, isnt it kinda stressful?
2. What made u manage in tpp 1 and grabbing so many no names at that moment of time?
3. i cant think of smh not memey so i will take the time to say tnx for everything u have done and grats to how far u have achieved!

 

[The Number Man]

Hi Mr. Based Number Man. I have 10 questions of utmost importance that I absolutely must know the answer to. Please get back to me ASAP so I can resume my daily activities without itching to know your thougts on these very serious matters.

1) I have heard rumors that you have recently been perm-banned from all showdown related platforms, including smogon. Are these allegations true? If so, how are you answering this question?
2) How many pieces of Agency merchandise do you own? How many pieces are you currently wearing?
3) Please describe, in 3 sentences or less, your masters thesis.
4) Who would win in an irl fight between users Ainzcrad and Aloopuriza ?
5) Do you have any tips on becoming a superior baste chad like you?
6) Will Axgwd ever finish the chronology?
7) I have also heard recent rumors of an up and commer in the TPP community - a user by the name of EMPRESS ASHLEY. Why do you think they were able to break onto the TP scene so quickly and do you have any advice for other users who want to get their names out there, either in the TP/OM communities or smogon as a whole?
8) What was the reason for choosing absol as a mascot?
9) Who, in the absols discord, do you think would be most likely to drop out of the agency?
10) Who can stop the absols in tpp 2?

1) I have not, in fact, been permabanned from all showdown related platforms. This is a vile rumour instigated by the CEO of the unbased department Icemaster, because he wanted to take my position as manager in TPP 2
2) I am ashamed to say none. Yep, that's right. It's back to Jamvad Academy for me
3) I am proposing the concept of a spectrum of "experiential attitudes" (ways of viewing and experiencing the world) and trying to justify it using parallels in existing literature as well as my own research which included a questionnaire and phenomenological interviews where I would interview people on their experience in a given moment and try to find traces of these experiential attitudes.
4) I think Boyn would win, but Aloo has a history of making those who predict vs him look stupid so idk.
5) Based is a state of mind. To achieve it, you must truly understand what it means to be based.
6) Not even at gunpoint
7) EMPRESS ASHLEY is a great player. I've seen her topple the best of the best of tours plaza on their home turf. Rumour has it part of her historic run can be attributed to "agency hax". If you wanna get your name out in plaza you better win a cycle and solidify your place in the plaza hall of fame.
8) You already know this, bur for anyone who doesn't. Absol became a meme in OM Mashups a bit more than a year ago during Tier Shift AAA spotlight after Marowak got banned. Absol quickly became the n1 threat and one of our users who isnt with us anymore started to meme Absol and posted a video in the chatroom. Everyone saw the meme potential so we welcomed our new overlord with open arms. Obviously as the resident mashup goons Gal and I had to pick Absol as our mascot once tpp 1 came around.

Absol meme video

9) Definitely Snafutari, as he makes it a mission to be as unbased as possible
10) Anyone can try. But can they succeed? Or will the absols stay undefeated? Tune in for the rest of the regular season to see!

hey buddy got some questions
1. can you explain draptrap to me in 10 words or less
2. based on what?
3. how many rons do you think there are, really?
4. best ranshop title?
5. who would win in an irl fight between raj and mg?
6. scizor or scyther?
7. favorite pizza topping combination?
8. the year is 2120. who is staaab TL?
9. who is the real queen of tours plaza?
10. best tpp team of all time?

1. Im assuming you want my answer to include the meme value as well. PTrip Drapion magpulls opponents Ferro. Ends the game T1. Opponent:
2. The eternal conundrum
3. At least 50, but we know there's only one true ron
4. Hairy balance squad hands down
5. Raj is 6'5 so obviously raj
6. Scizor
7.Tuna + Basil + Onion (assuming cheese + tomato sauce is a given)
8. Axgwd discovers immortality and proceeds to rule the STAAABmons council with an iron fist for the rest of smogon's existence
9. Obviously Mellow1004
10. Absolute Absolposters

after all the joke questions i wanted to for real ask u some things i havent found the oppurtinity to ask
1. How are u able to keep up with all the college work+mons+spending time with ur gf, isnt it kinda stressful?
2. What made u manage in tpp 1 and grabbing so many no names at that moment of time?
3. i cant think of smh not memey so i will take the time to say tnx for everything u have done and grats to how far u have achieved!

1. Well last year i had a very unfortunate irl situation that basically meant i had much more free time than I had expected, so I was able to spend a lot of time on PS. This year as I was finally getting back on track, coronavirus lockdown hit so I again had much more free time than expected. I've been alot busier lately and unfortunately idt I will ever have as much time as I did again lol.
2. While Gal and I were fresh off a promo to % in mashups, we still weren't fully established in plaza, so I saw it as a situation to make a name for ourselves (and our players) by drafting players that we thought were good but weren't considered big names in the community yet. As for managing, Raj and MG actually offered the position to us in the planning stage and I was happy to take it.
3. No problem bro and thanks :D

hey the number man, first of all congrats on gvoice, i have some questions i would like to ask:
1) How long did it take for you to come up with the omms?
2) Why isnt volcarona banned from staaab yet?
3) Where there any difficulties in making the omm room?
4) What is "based"?
5) What is the agency and why does everyone keep talking about it
6) Who is your favorite jojo character besides jotaro
7) https://pokepast.es/0bd544b907969566

Thanks joey!
1) I cant answer this question as I wasn't there when mashups was first created. When I joined mashups the "official" mashups were already chosen and similarly I can't answer question number 3 either.
2) Volcarona is absolutely banworthy in my eyes and most of the council agrees with me, however TPP is going on currently and the TPP meta hasn't reflected our view of Volc. It hasn't been used that much at all. So banning it outright with no justification to the players, especially when our view of Volc isnt completely reflected by their experience seems wrong. We are working on a solution to this problem however.
4) Based on what?
5) Dont be a kid, be an agent
6) Probably Jonathan - he was someone we should all seek to emulate
7) Pain

 

[manu 11]

yo,

1) Opinions on the following pokemon :
2) Why is your sample team with magearna in staaabmons still there when it's banned :(
3) Explain your magearna addiction.
4) What kind of music do you listen to?
5) Will the absolute absolposters be a team in the next OMPL?
6) If you could make 1 mashup have a permaladder which one would you choose and why?
7) Will you unban Melmetal in staaab when DLC 2 drops?
8) Is hax luck or skill?
9) Do you actually play "regular" tiers?

 

[The Number Man]

yo,

1) Opinions on the following pokemon :
2) Why is your sample team with magearna in staaabmons still there when it's banned :(
3) Explain your magearna addiction.
4) What kind of music do you listen to?
5) Will the absolute absolposters be a team in the next OMPL?
6) If you could make 1 mashup have a permaladder which one would you choose and why?
7) Will you unban Melmetal in staaab when DLC 2 drops?
8) Is hax luck or skill?
9) Do you actually play "regular" tiers?

1) Lurantis is Absol's wannabe rival, Lanturn is the GOAT, Surskit is a french noob and Pinsir still gives me nightmares
2) Because my fellow council members haven't submitted any teams to replace it
3) Magearna is broken and the only way a scrub like me can win, so I abuse it
4) I like most genres of rock. Started off Linkin Park, moved to pop punk in my HS years (All time low, The story so far, four year strong, tigers jaw). I've been listening to Pendulum and Arctic Monkeys alot recently
5) I doubt it
6) Obviously STAAABmons since its my favorite and I think it has a decent enough playerbase as is and would probably appeal to people who play OMOTM ladders as well
7) Good question, Im not sure
8) Manu hax is skill, regular hax is luck
9) The closest to a regular tier I play is National Dex which I play occasionally (free Tornadus T), but I did play OU alot in gen7. I do like OU in general, this gen just hasnt been that fun for me

 

[OM]

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

art by missanthropic
​

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

we're not yugioh players smh

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

Feel free to ask more questions below!