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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Posho
favourite pokemon: Empoleon
most used pokemon: Landorus-T
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself outside of Smogon?
I'm a 16 year-old guy who has just finished highschool, and is about to start his first year of bachellor. I'm currently living in Barcelona, Spain, after having lived 5 years in Uruguay, a small country from South America(Hence why I'm elegible to play for LA if anyone wondered). My area of expertise is basically languages, I only know three currently: Spanish, which is my mother tongue, English, which I've been learning ever since my first days of school and Catalan, one of the mandatory languages here in Barcelona and I still have potential to learn more. I want my future carreer to be related with probably translation or teaching, but here in Spain you have plenty of jobs to pick from if you know English, so I don't really know, I could change my mind in the upcoming years. As for my routine, it consists on basically going to school, doing some daily exercise (God damn I don't wanna become some fat-ass bitch like Finchinator), hanging out with friends and sometimes when I feel like it, I do some long-ass walkings beacuse I enjoy them so much :O.
Where did you get your name from?
My nick basically comes from the word "Pollo" , which has a peculiar phonetic in some South American countries like Argentina or Uruguay. The word is pronounced as "Po-io" but Argentinian people for example they change the sounds of "y" and "ll" to "sh", therefore I decided that my nick would be Posho.
How and when did you get into competitive Pokemon?
This was back in like 2011, before leaving Spain I had a small group of friends who I played mons with, we all had a copy of the 4th generations game, and man, we'd spend hours battling each other to determine who's the best of us. When I left I was very sad, I couldn't comunicate with them anymore and the only remaining memory I could have from them was probably my Pokemon cartidges, so I decided to keep on playing the game and try to somehow improve. In early 2013, while surfing through the net, I discovered this game called PokeMMO, which was basically FRLG online, hell, you could even personalize your own character. Point is that I met lots of cool people there and decided to join a clan, they taught me about evs, like certain mons need to have evs on certain stat so it could be used at its full potential, my thought process about this was something like: If a mon has high speed and atk, other mons won't have the chance to attack it, therefore having defense on it is useless, that kind of stuff. Later, I decided to join some FB groups to play with other people using the BW games, the current generation at that point was BW2 but I didn't have a copy of those games. I was always beaten down so badly beacuse my opponents knew about the game, evs, movesets and stuff while I was just using random pokemons that I leveled up to level 100. So it wasn't until I discovered this web called PokeGTS, which allowed me to edit mons and trasferring them to my game, having this in mind and the previous knowledge I had about Evs and stuff, I decided to make my own mons, while I searched on the net suitable Ev spreads and movesets for them, I visited webs like Pokexperto to do so. However, I felt there was something I was missing, I knew I wasn't gonna win battles off picking my favourite mons and using them smartly, so I decided to watch some Youtube channels in spanish, I've learned a lot from people like GearsWill, DrakeCPKMN or TyranitaRed. After watching them for a certain period of time, I discovered this thing called "OverUsed", "UnderUsed", "RarelyUsed" and so on, basically a way to categorize mons based on their effectiveness or usefulness, it was when I found Smogon dot com and therefore, pokemon showdown dot com along with it. From there on I've been actively playing mons, having been part of clans and stuff, playing clanwars, which was the funniest shit ever, God. Then in 2015 I randomly got my 1st chance to play in the prestigious World Cup of Pokémon, but only as a sub until user: Vileman decided to leave and go watch Copa América and they subbed me in to play against Aurious, that was my first game in a official tournament, needless to say I was nervous as fuck lol. Ever since that, I've been aiming to improve and played lots of tournaments :)
What’s your favourite generation of OU and why?
Black and White two Overused definitely, while some people might not like it due to the sleep mechanics, permanent weather, spikes + Alakazam, and so forward, I think it's a very nice generation, mostly beacuse of how difficult it is to play, there are a lot of obstacles you have to go through, some are: as I said before dealing with the mechanics but also you have to make sure your team isn't bullshit and is able to properly fight back some of the most used styles like weather or dragmag, then even if you have bad match-up, if you're packing a good team and you play it at your best, you definitely have chances to win. I also believe that there's still room for innovation in this gen, I loved watching McMeghan's smogtour 20 run, he really brought some creative and effective at the same time sets, my favourite one will always be the Cm Spamming core of Reuniclus + Duosion, it looked amusing at first sight but it really can be frightening having to face a Reuniclus plus something that does the same as Reuniclus and is bulkier :O.
What’s your favourite playstyle to use and why?
It's probably bulky offense, beacuse it reflects the way I play. I tend to be aggresive sometimes during a battle but it's also to try and be safe when needed, so having lots of powerful attackers with a good defensive backbone is what I mostly feel comfortable playing with
What are your thoughts on the current metagame? How do you feel about SM in comparison to ORAS?
I like the fact that this metagame is more offensive oriented, leading to more fast-paced battles(unless it's a toxapex war, then expect it to last like 300 turns at least) than there would be in a passive-like metagame such as ORAS. I'm also in the opinion that ORAS is just a worse SM, but it lacks Mega Sableye, which allows me to use broken sets such as Custap Skarmory and the so legendary Poshothorn (Stealth rock + spikes)
Are you happy with Baton Pass ban? Do you believe it should also be banned in ORAS?
Yes, I clearly am, I don't think that move had any contribution with the metagame's improvement besides allowing Celebi to escape from Tyranitar's pursuit? lol , and therefore I completely agree with its ban, and so I feel it should be banned in ORAS as well
Do you believe that anything else deserves a suspect test in the near future?
I believe there are lots of broken threats in the metagame, but I think Protean Greninja is one of the most suspect-worthy mons, I'm not saying that is ban-worthy, however I believe it should receive a suspect at least.
You’ve now made back to back Smogon Tour finals. Which journey to the finals was tougher? Who was the most difficult opponent to face and why?
This is probably my biggest feat when it comes to Pokemon, and I'm really proud about myself, since I believe noone besides Giga Punch if I'm not incorrect has been able to achieve this. Regarding the toughness of each run, I'd say that qualifying-wise the latest one was the most difficult, I really lacked the motivation to play this one and I wasn't doing well in SM OU, so I was feeling quite discouraged until last day, when I miraculously got all the points I needed to qualify as the 13th seed. Then playoffs-wise I'm not gonna discredit anyone there, I feel if you've been able to make it that far is beacuse you're competent enough, I've had tough opponents in both runs, but I feel that in this one I've had to step up my game since some of my battles were incredibly difficult, games like the one I had Vs Steve Angello and Vs Kickasser had me sweating bullets like crazy. Even now, my finals opponent, ben gay is one of the craziest builders ever, and preparing for this will be one of my biggest challenges ever :O
Which team do you think is the most underrated coming into WCoP? Which team is the most overrated?
Probably ours, Latinamerica, we just came from winning in the qualifying phase and so we still have a lot to prove, I know the guys and they have lots of potential, so watch out! As for the most overrated, I'd say that it is East, but I think this is a well-earned title, as they've won/made it to the play-offs lots of times, which shows that they're a really good team, but that has led people to think that they're most likely going to be the winners, while I believe every team is as capable of it.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone trying to break into the tournament setting?
One of the most difficult things to overcome while playing tournaments is probably the nerves, and I think this is beacuse of: how meaningful is the battle or beacuse people care too much about what others think about their plays. Just try to play as well as you can, you're the one who's commanding your own battle, not other people (
Who are some of your favourite people in the Smogon community?
I got lots of friends but If I had to address my favourite ones, those would be people like: Poek , We Three Kings , Shogarth , Maestro Arena , Robert. , Finchinator , Vileman , .CarloO~ , Znain , Alastor Law , Gene Sp , Malekith , DennisEG , Guilas D , Luispeikou , Sken , Ciele , Funkasaurus ,PDC , ABR , Pearl , Get this Money , BKC, blunder , daftmau5, Tom Bus , Trosko , Sabella , LuckOverSkill , dice , WhiteQueen , Alkov , Obliviate ,Disenchanted , Dokkerich and I could go on but also I don't want to forget two of my best friends in this game Ryu VM and Articulo , I owe a lot to you two and I would be a dick if I didn't mention you guys, thanks a lot :) Sorry if I have forgotten about someone, it's not that easy to remember everyone, but if you've been nice to me I'm most likely gonna like you
Finally, can you provide us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
Barney (Tyranitar) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 120 HP / 184 Atk / 64 SpD / 140 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Punch
Hongo (Amoonguss) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 104 SpD / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Spore
- Foul Play
Periquito (Tornadus-Therian) @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 36 Atk / 220 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Superpower
- U-turn
Transformer (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Hammer Arm
- Thunder Punch
- Bullet Punch
Hope (Keldeo-Resolute) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpA
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Fauces (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 28 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 28 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- U-turn
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 120 HP / 184 Atk / 64 SpD / 140 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Punch
Hongo (Amoonguss) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 104 SpD / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Spore
- Foul Play
Periquito (Tornadus-Therian) @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 36 Atk / 220 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Superpower
- U-turn
Transformer (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Hammer Arm
- Thunder Punch
- Bullet Punch
Hope (Keldeo-Resolute) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpA
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Fauces (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 28 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 28 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- U-turn
Feel free to fire away your questions and I'll do my best to answer!
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