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Welcome to OU's Player of the week, a project where I interview well known players to gain insight on how they battle, as well as get to know some things about them. The goal of this thread is to have these high level players give insight to other players in this community in hopes of creating a better overall experience in the OU environment. As always, if there's someone you'd like to see interviewed, feel free to shoot me a PM. So without further ado, lets get to it!
Rumor
Most Known For: being a random
Favorite Pokemon: Furret :3
Most used Pokemon: Either Bisharp, Garchomp or Azumarill.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
hello i'm rumor n_n i'm a 19 year old college sophomore from Utah majoring in broadcast journalism in hopes to be a news anchor.
Where did you get your name from?
Well, originally, my name was Qubae, which derived from Qube + Bae. However, when I wanted to become more involved in the tour scene I decided that a new name was in order. So Valentine directed me to the EU League of Legends player list, and I stumbled upon two names: Swift and Rumor. Both of them I thought were top tier, but Rumor stood out to me the most.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
Technically I started late Black/White, December 2012, but I came back into the competitive scene October 2014. My dad actually introduced me to pokemon when I was 5, starting in GSC, and ever since then I had all the console games. I started watching Marriland’s competitive DPP videos and since then I was hooked.
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
I miss XY soo much. Aegislash, Greninja, Mawile.. those were my favorite mons to use. ORAS is way too fat for me.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
I don’t believe in matchup. I think that any player can win any matchup as long as they play to the best of their ability.
Do you feel that there is anything that is suspect worthy at the moment?
All my friends are talking about a Gothitelle suspect, but I personally don’t see the problem. Probably because I don’t ladder at all, but I’ve never had a problem with Goth; other than that, no.
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
Hyper Offense. I legitimately hate fat Pokemon with a passion. Pokemon is supposed to be a fun, fast paced game, which stall/balance makes impossible to have.
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
To watch, It'd have to BW. To play, I’d say either ADV or DPP, both fun, unpredictable tiers.
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
I try not to think about the match until it’s happening, considering I am a very stressful person irl. When it’s happening, I usually listen to A Hero Appears from the Ping Pong Anime or Strobe by DeadMau5 both are very hype songs that get me pumped for games. Yes, it does differ between tournaments, because sometimes I want to have absolute silence when playing, others I need something to keep me on earth, so I can potentially focus harder.
Favorite to win STour?
THUNDER CEBRA is looking fantastic rn, hopefully he won’t burn out in these next few weeks. Other people are looking like VOD COSINE, BKC and North.
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
Honestly, nothing. I love OU and almost everything about it. If I could get rid of all the fat Pokemon I would, but alas.
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
Participate in anything and everything, from tournaments to workshops. The more you get involved, the better player you’ll become.
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
The toxic community. Everyone is so harsh to one another and it makes me sick. We’re all the same kind of people playing on a video game together, no need to bring other people down.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
Omg the list is so long ;_;
First off, the person I owe pretty much my entire Smogon profile to: Valentine. This guy is my Day 1 and has brought me to where I am now. I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done. Hopefully one day he finds his imouto.
OU Room Homies: Julian, Clone, Reverb, Blackbloodz, Draeden, bludz, tiffle (he’s dead ;_;), m00ns, nixhex, scott-E, teremiare, pokepals, terrakion, WIZ, 75, Klefkiholder, Gizmo, jpw, Dread, Logic, Nelson
VOD: WEPWNPOKEMON, kratosanti :3, flcl, PDC, OmfuGOD, Afro Smash, Cosine, Bouff, SoulGazer, Tokyo Tom, CASEDVICTORY, blunder, Shake, CTC, TDK, New Breed, Reese Wood
West Homies - I love everyone on west, but of course I was closer to some people rather than others. Get Backer and Jimmy Turtwig, both amazing people and incredible battlers. Undisputed – what a guy oml. One of the easiest people to talk to and one of the greatest old gen players I’ve ever come across. Definitely someone I don’t regret meeting. Finally, dice and rey for giving me the opportunity to show what i can do.
BOF – Max, chimpact, Crestfall, CrushinDefeat, daftmau5, 99, SOMALIA, VOID, Zamrock, ceraa, tom bus rhombus, Alkov, Ary, Nog, Escavailer
POCL – Raymond, Teddeh, Meh, Cicada, H-c, Metalgro$$ =D, The Dude, Vink, xdevo
Misc – Bloo, Oglemi, Mizuhime, IAmGingy, pokeaim, Fireburn!, Mambo, dodmen, Feliburn, trinitrotoluene, Freeroamer, QuoteCS, Omega-Xis14, Antemortem, innovamania, Finchinator, Kingler numbers, North, BKC and finally, THUNDER CEBRA.
For the people i look up to, i'll just go by gens.
ORAS - Cosine, PDC, TDK, Tesung
BW - McMeghan, Ojama, Bloo, M Dragon, Soulwind, Heist
DPP - undisputed, Philip7086, panamaxis, also Heist
ADV - McMeghan, BKC, undisputed
GSC - Lavos, OmfuGOD, Earthworm
RBY - Kratosanti
Finally, can you provide us a team that's a good fit for this metagame and reflects your playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
This is my favorite team I’ve ever built. You’ve probably seen it on blunder’s youtube channel, so here it is now. I build this team with trinitrotoluene because we both agreed that froslass was a disgusting mon and we wanted to bring something neat to the competitive scene. It’s an incredibly fun team, with lure abomasnow (that loses to water types lol), specs snow cloak froslass, Endure Garchomp, Lefties Raikou and my personal favorite set: Eball + Hp Fire Latios (or as Valentine calls it, DPS Latios.) It’s an incredibly big bait on Lati’s part, because it lures out Azu, Hippo, Manaphy and Suicune, so you click E-Ball. However, they’ll usually go into a steel type after this, considering most Latios’ have Dual Stab + Filler coverage move. But then they get surprised when they go into their Skarmory/Ferrothorn/Scizor w/ an HP Fire, leaving them dumbfounded.
Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 224 HP / 4 Atk / 176 Def / 104 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Endure
Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 8 HP / 68 Atk / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Mild Nature
- Blizzard
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
Froslass @ Choice Specs
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Trick
Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 108 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Extrasensory
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Defog
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 224 HP / 4 Atk / 176 Def / 104 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Endure
Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 8 HP / 68 Atk / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Mild Nature
- Blizzard
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
Froslass @ Choice Specs
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Trick
Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 108 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Extrasensory
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Defog
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rumor sux. leave any questions you have for him below
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