Welcome to the SM version of OU Player of the Week! This project will feature interviews from some of the most accomplished and influential users in the tier so that we can learn more about them.
If there is a user that you would like to see interviewed be sure to let me know.
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Eternal Spirit
most known for: 13-1 in SPL + SSD, OLT III finalist and former SPL winner. Also known for being a pretty aggressive player.
favorite pokemon: Kyurem-B/Latias/Latios/Latias-Mega/Dragonite, I love them all.
most used pokemon: Landorus-T/Greninja
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself outside of Smogon?
Im a 20 yo guy working in an engineering office (im not engineer tho) after a one year break of having a work, and I wanna get into an university to study marketing in a near future but I dont bother thinking about It too much because I have some other priorities right now. Im uncle of a pretty cute baby and took care of him during this last year and uhh, used to be a soldier in the army for some time in the past (yeah thats cool). I dont have too many friends irl because I dont really like being popular or going parties too much but I like to meet the fewers I have to talk or eat some good food (I love food btw). Outside of pokémon I dont really play anything else, im trying to actually get into Clash Royale as a competitive player but its kinda recent and im not really good yet, but its metagame is easy to learn. Did I already say I love food? :pizza:
Where did you get your name from?
Man, my first name was Gama in the brazilian community and I tried to have It here as well back in 2013 when I started playing, but It was already taken and I had a way more broken english so I just picked a word that seemed cool to me and fusioned It with my favorite pokémon and got SoulDragonite. After It i started to learn english and also started to get uncomfortable with that name so I decided to change it to both Eternal and Spirit but ofc i couldnt so i said fuck it im not only a spirit nor just eternal, im an eternal spirit. :aids:
People try to convince me to change it to Gama now since its owner is inactive nowdays but im already known as ES and people even call me Gama anyway (its my second name) so w/e tbh.
How and when did you get into competitive Pokemon?
I started playing in 2012 in a brazilian community just to have some fun and challenge people with my BW1 in-game teams with Emboar on my DS Emulator, but then I noticed that I was terrible and simply couldnt break chansey teams and was like "wtf this is so broken" rofl. Then a player that was known in the brazilian DS community back then (abdTon :bos:) noticed that I had ~at least~ some prediction ability (hehehe) and told me that I could join his clan (CDW) to learn more about the game and find some new friends and then I started to actually have some basic sense like evs, type chart, standard sets and smogon tiering system. Right after I made like 6-2 in EPL (brazilian pl) playing RU, made my smogon account and kept here until now.
What’s your favourite generation of OU and why?
I really like ORAS and I kinda enjoy playing everything, but SM is the gen Ive been playing the most lately and I actually enjoy team building and playing It, i dont know exactly why but well SM is my favourite one.
What’s your favourite playstyle to use and why?
I enjoy a lot playing offense, specially in ORAS because I always have room to play as I enjoy the most (aggressive), I learned to balance my risks throughout the time and based on what the metagame is rn I think its as good as bulky offense there (or even better). In SM I enjoy playing offense too but its too hard to make a team thats 100% effective w/o at least one fat general resist (clef as hawlucha check or tang/av mag/ferro as ashgren check) which means you are always finishing with a bulky offensive team anyway so yeah, Id like to play more HO in SM but BO is just good enough and better.
What are your thoughts on the current metagame?
Its ok right now, we have some unhealthy presence around Greninja-Ash and Tapu-Lele and imo both should be tested, but I enjoy playing, building and watching SM OU games overall.
Are there any Pokemon that you believe are overrated/underrated in the current metagame. Why?
Weavile is pretty underrated, It has a big shot in a metagame that some people just forget that other dark types than Ash-Greninja exist and the Ice coverage is always dangerous. Blacephalon is also underrated, It has 0 standard counterplay If you arent using Tyranitar and it just hits everything for free, basically low risk and high reward. I dont see anything thats actually overrated tho, maybe Toxapex/AV Bulu since its always easy to abuse their anemic presence and they keep being used often (thanks to Ashgren).
Also, Greninja-Ash is underrated by the side that people think its just ok to be there, whichs wrong: It has way more influence in the way that the metagame is right now, in both team building and playing wise. We cant simply have an ok water resist or dark resist in any team, we need an ASHGREN resist (which isnt the same) and just accept that you will: 1) give it free spikes whichs always big; 2) will have your answer heavily pressured by it if Spikes are up; 3) will need to make some aggressive plays often to not give free turns and 4) will need to make sure you will have enough turns to check it and still be able to win the game since its always the biggest win con after getting ashgren properly. Basically, its too much.
What were some of your favourite moments from SPL9?
Uh, I dont think I really enjoyed playing SPL this year, for sure I enjoyed more the last season or even snake so i dont really have too good memories overall but hm? Maybe the first days when the tour started and we got hyped together with Power Rankings etc, or Nintendi and I being toxic at each other every single day as much as possible like this and team mates not getting anything that was happening like this. If i had to say my least favorite moments id pick every single time i watched my team mate playing RBY, such a torture.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone trying to break into the tournament setting?
Dont be an abortion and ull be fine.
But seriously, keep practicing team building as much as possible because it always gives you advantage in any tournament, make your own decisions when It comes to picking teams or figuring whats good vs someone (If you like scouting) and play in the ladder. Some times people will be mean to you about you as player, either because they are retarded, or because they just talk way too much or simply because they are friends trying to help you, but in any of these situations: be confident at yourself. If you are doing wrong decisions you will end up noticing it and will be humble enough to admit It and improve, and will also know when you are going in the right way and should keep with your shit as it is. Try to be out of beefs/flames because people will see you as a possible unhealty chat/team presence and dont try to suck dicks too much liking every single post you see and stuff. Tbh "dont be an abortion" works here.
Who are some of your favourite people in the Smogon community?
Baril is my only circlejerk and I love the way that we are toxic at each other and make bad memes/emojis every time we talk, I have too much fun and we still talk about real life and/or irl problems (brazilian players are pretty problematic btw). I also have nice friendship with a lot of former SPL/Snake/random PLs team mates and didnt beef with anyone yet so i dont really dislike anyone either.
Finally, can you provide us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
This team is kinda anti cheese and still works fine vs everything else. I usually play Landorus really much but heres a case that I didnt and still found a good team (I have some personal formulas about when I need or not Landorus) while even having good results to prove it (2-0 SPL). My idea here was around overwehelm possible mutual Latias and Clefable checks as every other CM Spam team would be, while I have Greninja as universal win condtion because its always a threat. Scarf Garchomp is here because I like the role It has of an actual fast speed control, while being electric-type immune and still having decent fire power. Toxapex is here with Toxic Spikes since Latias is around while Ferrothorn is to hold Stealth Rock and is also good having him alongside to Toxapex to not get overwehelmed by Greninja.
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