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1v1 Player Interviews
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#12 Squirtell 1v1
Favorite Pokemon:
Most used Pokemon:
Most known for: Being the only player in 1v1 history to win two Ladder Tournaments, as well as being an incredible competitor throughout the tier's history.
Welcome back to 1v1 Player Interviews!! This time we're featuring a player with multiple impressive performances this year, Squirtell! To start off how are you doing? Whether it's related to mons or irl, whatever you're comfortable sharing.
I'm doing great! Thank you for asking. I started my first year in college, and that's been fun. It's kept me busy though, so I haven't had too much time for mons as of late. The new DLC seems fun though!
Yeah college takes some getting used to but glad to hear you're enjoying it so far. Before we get into the nitty-gritty i've always wondered how you got the name Squirtell. It plays on the pokemon but I was wondering if there was any sort of backstory behind it since you spell it differently?
There's not a crazy backstory behind it, but my favorite pokemon has always been squirtle, and my younger self wanted a username on PS that resembles it. Squirtle and Squirtel were taken, so I just added another letter to get Squirtell.
Yeah that makes sense. I've been pretty spoiled by having a unique username so i luckily don't get that issue. So how did you start playing pokemon and when did you start to get involved in the competitive aspect?
I started playing pokemon around 9 years ago when my friends at school were talking about it, and I wanted to try some new games. My first game was Pokemon X, and I have so many hours on that game. I was introduced to Pokemon Showdown by pokeaimMD back in 2018. Soon after, I saw an Elo Bandit video on the 1v1 metagame and thought I'd give it a try.
Yeah i still remember how excited i was for X&Y to release after first seeing mega evolutions come out and i was counting down the days until i could use a dragon type charizard lmao. I think a lot of the playerbase has been led to the community through Bandit's content so it's cool to see the streak continuing through a lot of these interviews. What made you wanna stick with the tier and community throughout the years?
The metagame is super fast-paced, so early on I was able to grind a lot of games on the gen 7 ladder (bring it back) and get really good at the tier. I stuck with this tier because I started out really well in tours, so that kept me motivated to keep playing. It's been fun seeing all of the changes and new faces in the metagame. I hope I get to see the community grow in the future.
Yeah tour growth and being able to connect with people are some of the most fun i've found as well so i can definitely relate to that aspect. Now that you mention ladder, if you look in the current Hall Of Fame you're the only player who's been able to win two ladder tours which is a pretty incredible feat to say the least. What has been your approach to LTs and how do you think you've managed to be successful in that type of tournament?
In the two LTs I won, I didn't have too much trouble qualifying. If the ladder is active and it's the last hour or so of the cycle, I find it easiest to find one team you are confident in and stick with it. It's much easier to find a rhythm and go on a long win streak that way. In the actual tour, while there are a lot of great players, it's easier to win because you don't have to go through nearly as many rounds.
Especially in 1v1, when ladder's active it's really a tossup for anyone to qualify since you can queue so much in short amounts of time so ladder activity is huge. Smaller bracket size is something i never really thought of before really, but that's a really interesting perspective on it. Is LT your favorite tour format or do you have any others that you particularly enjoy?
Yeah I like LT as well as majors. With majors, you can lose early on and still be fine. This helped me out when I was still learning SV because I could go 2-1 in my pool and still move on. Most of the other tours that I've played in, like seasonals and masters, go on for too long while not giving players who lose early on a realistic chance because of those tours being double elimination.
I think most people would say they didn't enjoy Majors so i wouldn't have thought you liked it. I think with a tier as volatile as 1v1 i agree that tours should give players multiple opportunities, but it is a steep ask for most to make insane losers runs in larger circuit tournaments. On the team tour side of the circuit, you recently won Premier League alongside the Big Baller Barraskewdas. During the auction what was it like seeing yourself be the highest priced player? It seemed like every manager pair had their eyes on you and it was more a matter of who was willing to spend more lol.
A lot of managers told me they wanted to draft me, so I had a feeling going into the draft that I would be the most expensive player. With that, there was some pressure to perform at a high level, but most of that I put on myself. I was happy to get drafted by crucify and potatochan because I knew they would draft a good lineup, despite having less money after drafting me.
Yeah those two definitely put together a great lineup this year that really put you ahead of other teams before the tour even started. How was the team environment throughout the tour and how did you think the team was able to come together to have great performances in both regular weeks and playoffs?
The environment was great and the team bonded both over mons and outside of mons. The discord was super active as well. Our whole roster was broken tbh, especially with players new to 1v1 or players that haven't played in a long time like taka and santu popping off. Weeks weren't too much of a struggle. For playoffs, it was just a matter of keeping the team focused. We had players who would get you a win when you had to have it, which is an important piece to a championship team.
Yeah there were definitely a lot of decorated names on the roster like Leru, eblurb, and Santu and then Taka having a great showing while only being 3k was huge for the team. What was your favorite moment from this tour mons related or otherwise?
Definitely winning the tour and watching all of our wins in finals. I especially enjoyed eblurb's 4-0 win over previously unbeaten delemon. I know eblurb worked really hard throughout the whole season and wanted us to win badly. I was really happy with the outcome of his game specifically.
Yeah that must've been satisfying to see especially since it was one of the most anticipated matchups at that point in the tour. Looking forward we have World Cup coming up soon and US South is definitely looking stronger this year thanks to a lot of new players from the region playing in this PL and previous players like Lumii having great runs as well. Do you think South has the chance to pull another finals run off?
There's definitely potential with a lot of newblood being from US South. It's tough to win in playoffs, though, as we saw with last year's team. US South had a record-breaking regular reason and lost to US Central in finals. The talent is there though, and it should be a fun World Cup.
Yeah, winning in playoffs is a whole different environment than average tournament play so it can definitely be a challenge. WC looks to be promising with the amount of newbloods and the addition of another SV slot this year means potential for even more new faces to turn up. Do you have any teams throughout tournament runs this year that you were really happy or successful with that you would be willing to share? You moved around from SV to SM throughout PL but i think a lot of the ideas you brought in both tiers were really interesting so either would be awesome.
This team I brought to g5 of finals. Lando T handles a lot of the physical top tiers like zardx, physical dnite, and most gyarados. I wanted to use specs zone to lure some of the opposing ground types like lando t, garchomp, and zygarde, since I hadn't used zone much. Volcarona just kind of glued the team together, beating a lot of the psychics, fairies, serperior, and metagross. The team has some weaknesses, but in SM, that's something you learn to deal with. I felt I could at least bluff my way out of a bad matchup if I loaded into a potential 3-0. 
This team I brought 2 times in finals featuring one of my favorite mons to use in SM: registeel. Both registeel and altaria have fairly safe matchups and pair really well together with registeel beating fairies most other steel types and altaria beating grounds and some fires. Volcanion was more of a matchup fish while still beating a lot of fires that registeel and altaria struggle with. The teams have some weaknesses, but in SM, that's something you learn to deal with. I felt I could at least bluff my way out of a bad matchup if I loaded into a potential 3-0. 
I don't remember the specifics with this team because I built it early on in PL and used it in LT as well. Basically, it was 2 brokens + a valiant and (most) steel beater in iron moth. I won some games early in the meta with clear amulet because goodra-hisui, zapdos, and sylveon were running around, so that was a cool tech.
Yeah it's really interesting seeing the thought process into these and changing up patterns/usage like you mentioned by using zone is super important in tournament play. I don't think i'll forget my reaction to watching you vs delemon week 1 of PL and him instantly forfeiting after clear amulet activated lmao. Did you have last thoughts for the readers?
Good luck to everyone in any tours you are in and the upcoming World Cup. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. Thank you for reading!
Thanks for your time :D
1v1 Player Interviews
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#12 Squirtell 1v1
Favorite Pokemon:
Most used Pokemon:
Most known for: Being the only player in 1v1 history to win two Ladder Tournaments, as well as being an incredible competitor throughout the tier's history.
Welcome back to 1v1 Player Interviews!! This time we're featuring a player with multiple impressive performances this year, Squirtell! To start off how are you doing? Whether it's related to mons or irl, whatever you're comfortable sharing.
I'm doing great! Thank you for asking. I started my first year in college, and that's been fun. It's kept me busy though, so I haven't had too much time for mons as of late. The new DLC seems fun though!
Yeah college takes some getting used to but glad to hear you're enjoying it so far. Before we get into the nitty-gritty i've always wondered how you got the name Squirtell. It plays on the pokemon but I was wondering if there was any sort of backstory behind it since you spell it differently?
There's not a crazy backstory behind it, but my favorite pokemon has always been squirtle, and my younger self wanted a username on PS that resembles it. Squirtle and Squirtel were taken, so I just added another letter to get Squirtell.
Yeah that makes sense. I've been pretty spoiled by having a unique username so i luckily don't get that issue. So how did you start playing pokemon and when did you start to get involved in the competitive aspect?
I started playing pokemon around 9 years ago when my friends at school were talking about it, and I wanted to try some new games. My first game was Pokemon X, and I have so many hours on that game. I was introduced to Pokemon Showdown by pokeaimMD back in 2018. Soon after, I saw an Elo Bandit video on the 1v1 metagame and thought I'd give it a try.
Yeah i still remember how excited i was for X&Y to release after first seeing mega evolutions come out and i was counting down the days until i could use a dragon type charizard lmao. I think a lot of the playerbase has been led to the community through Bandit's content so it's cool to see the streak continuing through a lot of these interviews. What made you wanna stick with the tier and community throughout the years?
The metagame is super fast-paced, so early on I was able to grind a lot of games on the gen 7 ladder (bring it back) and get really good at the tier. I stuck with this tier because I started out really well in tours, so that kept me motivated to keep playing. It's been fun seeing all of the changes and new faces in the metagame. I hope I get to see the community grow in the future.
Yeah tour growth and being able to connect with people are some of the most fun i've found as well so i can definitely relate to that aspect. Now that you mention ladder, if you look in the current Hall Of Fame you're the only player who's been able to win two ladder tours which is a pretty incredible feat to say the least. What has been your approach to LTs and how do you think you've managed to be successful in that type of tournament?
In the two LTs I won, I didn't have too much trouble qualifying. If the ladder is active and it's the last hour or so of the cycle, I find it easiest to find one team you are confident in and stick with it. It's much easier to find a rhythm and go on a long win streak that way. In the actual tour, while there are a lot of great players, it's easier to win because you don't have to go through nearly as many rounds.
Especially in 1v1, when ladder's active it's really a tossup for anyone to qualify since you can queue so much in short amounts of time so ladder activity is huge. Smaller bracket size is something i never really thought of before really, but that's a really interesting perspective on it. Is LT your favorite tour format or do you have any others that you particularly enjoy?
Yeah I like LT as well as majors. With majors, you can lose early on and still be fine. This helped me out when I was still learning SV because I could go 2-1 in my pool and still move on. Most of the other tours that I've played in, like seasonals and masters, go on for too long while not giving players who lose early on a realistic chance because of those tours being double elimination.
I think most people would say they didn't enjoy Majors so i wouldn't have thought you liked it. I think with a tier as volatile as 1v1 i agree that tours should give players multiple opportunities, but it is a steep ask for most to make insane losers runs in larger circuit tournaments. On the team tour side of the circuit, you recently won Premier League alongside the Big Baller Barraskewdas. During the auction what was it like seeing yourself be the highest priced player? It seemed like every manager pair had their eyes on you and it was more a matter of who was willing to spend more lol.
A lot of managers told me they wanted to draft me, so I had a feeling going into the draft that I would be the most expensive player. With that, there was some pressure to perform at a high level, but most of that I put on myself. I was happy to get drafted by crucify and potatochan because I knew they would draft a good lineup, despite having less money after drafting me.
Yeah those two definitely put together a great lineup this year that really put you ahead of other teams before the tour even started. How was the team environment throughout the tour and how did you think the team was able to come together to have great performances in both regular weeks and playoffs?
The environment was great and the team bonded both over mons and outside of mons. The discord was super active as well. Our whole roster was broken tbh, especially with players new to 1v1 or players that haven't played in a long time like taka and santu popping off. Weeks weren't too much of a struggle. For playoffs, it was just a matter of keeping the team focused. We had players who would get you a win when you had to have it, which is an important piece to a championship team.
Yeah there were definitely a lot of decorated names on the roster like Leru, eblurb, and Santu and then Taka having a great showing while only being 3k was huge for the team. What was your favorite moment from this tour mons related or otherwise?
Definitely winning the tour and watching all of our wins in finals. I especially enjoyed eblurb's 4-0 win over previously unbeaten delemon. I know eblurb worked really hard throughout the whole season and wanted us to win badly. I was really happy with the outcome of his game specifically.
Yeah that must've been satisfying to see especially since it was one of the most anticipated matchups at that point in the tour. Looking forward we have World Cup coming up soon and US South is definitely looking stronger this year thanks to a lot of new players from the region playing in this PL and previous players like Lumii having great runs as well. Do you think South has the chance to pull another finals run off?
There's definitely potential with a lot of newblood being from US South. It's tough to win in playoffs, though, as we saw with last year's team. US South had a record-breaking regular reason and lost to US Central in finals. The talent is there though, and it should be a fun World Cup.
Yeah, winning in playoffs is a whole different environment than average tournament play so it can definitely be a challenge. WC looks to be promising with the amount of newbloods and the addition of another SV slot this year means potential for even more new faces to turn up. Do you have any teams throughout tournament runs this year that you were really happy or successful with that you would be willing to share? You moved around from SV to SM throughout PL but i think a lot of the ideas you brought in both tiers were really interesting so either would be awesome.
This team I brought to g5 of finals. Lando T handles a lot of the physical top tiers like zardx, physical dnite, and most gyarados. I wanted to use specs zone to lure some of the opposing ground types like lando t, garchomp, and zygarde, since I hadn't used zone much. Volcarona just kind of glued the team together, beating a lot of the psychics, fairies, serperior, and metagross. The team has some weaknesses, but in SM, that's something you learn to deal with. I felt I could at least bluff my way out of a bad matchup if I loaded into a potential 3-0. This team I brought 2 times in finals featuring one of my favorite mons to use in SM: registeel. Both registeel and altaria have fairly safe matchups and pair really well together with registeel beating fairies most other steel types and altaria beating grounds and some fires. Volcanion was more of a matchup fish while still beating a lot of fires that registeel and altaria struggle with. The teams have some weaknesses, but in SM, that's something you learn to deal with. I felt I could at least bluff my way out of a bad matchup if I loaded into a potential 3-0. I don't remember the specifics with this team because I built it early on in PL and used it in LT as well. Basically, it was 2 brokens + a valiant and (most) steel beater in iron moth. I won some games early in the meta with clear amulet because goodra-hisui, zapdos, and sylveon were running around, so that was a cool tech.Yeah it's really interesting seeing the thought process into these and changing up patterns/usage like you mentioned by using zone is super important in tournament play. I don't think i'll forget my reaction to watching you vs delemon week 1 of PL and him instantly forfeiting after clear amulet activated lmao. Did you have last thoughts for the readers?
Good luck to everyone in any tours you are in and the upcoming World Cup. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. Thank you for reading!
Thanks for your time :D
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Duration of interview: 2 hours, 36 minutes
If you have any questions for Squirtell 1v1 feel free to ask them here!
Thread will be open for around 2 weeks until the next interview is posted so keep an eye out!!!
Duration of interview: 2 hours, 36 minutes
If you have any questions for Squirtell 1v1 feel free to ask them here!
Thread will be open for around 2 weeks until the next interview is posted so keep an eye out!!!
