Approved by UU moderation & inspired by Feliburn's project
Welcome guys in the "UU Player Interview", a project where you'll be able to discover or re-discover some well known players of the UU community. Those people may be known thanks to their high-skilled level or their achievements on the strategic scene but also thanks to their dedication into the tier or within the community. Time to gossip !
'Sup CBU ! How are you doing ?
Oh hey man, thanks for having me here. I'd say all and all I am pretty good. Uni life is tiring but I am managing. How about you?
I'm doing great, a bit tired but it doesn't matter a lot since holidays are in less than 24h for me ! Not gonna lie, I'm pretty happy to have you there ; 2019 was a crazy year for you ! How did you manage to reach seach a good level and winning both 2019th Underused Ladder Tournament and UU Majors IV ?
If you told me at the begining of 2019 I'd go on to win 2 UU circuit tournaments, I wouldn't have believed you. UULT is a very special tournament for me. It was the first one I ever managed to make playoffs 4 years ago, got some Ws that did wonders for my name but never really got to play in finals for the whole thing. I remember winging the ladder part on week 4 and having to play my last game during Easter, on my phone, under the family dinner table. Guess it was worth at the end. As far as UU Majors is concerned, I was much more motivated. UU Open had just pass by me yet again(r1 exit), felt extremely snubbed during the Snake Auction and pretty much was out there to put a point across. All and all I am happy with the way I played all of my series, got to use both fun and funky stuff, while winning consistently. Special shoutout to all my friends that supporting me with kind words throughout both my runs, especially LLH
That was super cool to see you under the spotlight ! I haven’t asked yet but could you introduce yourself for people who don't know you ?
Yeah fs. My name real name is Marios, I am 25 years old and live in Greece. My biggest passions are music, basketball and terrible black humour jokes. I played pokemon casually since Generation1 but only made the jump to competitive during my 3rd year in University (about early X&Y). What urged me to make said jump was an oldschool YTber named MTGXerxes (if you know you know). I love approaching the game from an offensive standpoint and playing games on the edge heavily relying on my instincts. Honestly, idk what else to say. All and all, thats me.
Thanks for the answer. Now let's dig into the lame questions : what is your favorite Pokemon overall and what's your most used Pokemon since the beginning of 8th Gen ?
I guess it is true what they say; ''your first one is always special''. Don't even have to think about it twice, my favorite pokemon is Venusaur. As for my most used pokemon, I'd say probably Noivern. Very splashable, extremely versatile utility and decent speed control.
Yeah Noivern is definitively a staple in the tier.. and what do you think you are known for besides winning both 2019th UULT and UU Majors IV ?
I believe that question is better off being answered by the people I have interacted with at any given point. What I can talk about is what I would like to be known for. Getting rid of my early admitedly cringeworthy manners and helping others impove,if I can, are the focal points of my smogon presence these days...Well, and winning tours ofc. Can't go wrong with that
Yeah you're right.. Talking about Smogon, how did you end up here ? Is this because of the YTber you talked about ?
Funny enough no, not at all. MTGXerxes was the reason I joined Pokemon Showdown, but my original plan was to just use stupid stuff on ladder and pass the time. About a million smackings later(man I was bad bad early on), I entered a chat for the first time. In there I won a couple of tours and caught the eye of a long gone user named selfiehater/Staraptor4UU. He told me to sign up for a UU Auth vs Non Auth Tournament that was about to go down on Smogon. From there, I guess the rest is history.
Aight I see and why this username ? Is Choice Band Umbreon one for your guilty pleasure ?
Haha no but being a relatively stupid builder you never know. When I decided to join smogon, I wanted to settle on a name to use. At a random ladder game, I faced a user called ChoiceSpecsMegaBeedrill and found the concept of pairing a pokemon with an item it should never be using funny. Did a quick rundown of my top5 favorite pokemon and Choice Band Umbreon was the one that made the least amount of sense. That CB payback tho, now you got me thinking
Hehehe.. If you don't mind, let's talk about Gen8 UU. As you know Pokemon HOME just came out ; do you think some Pokemon may be problematic for the tier now that they get back their old movepool ?
Well, I'm not involved at all with OU so I couldn't tell you how we will be affected by the eventual future drops. As of this point in time, HOME just gave us Oprah memes with Toxic and brought back Knock Off Weavile. Weavile might be pushed off the edge but it was a true menace even before. If anything Throat Chop was a more consistent Knock Off(in regards to its damage output). What I'm trying to say is that, yes HOME did help out Weavile, but if it wasn't broken before it still isn't. As for the wider Toxic distribution, I couldn't be happier. I was sick and tired of Milotic, Vaporeon, Umbreon wars taking 30-40 turns of mindless PPstall. With Heal Bell/Aromatherapy almost non existent, a much needed amount of pressure is put on walls to not mindlessly stay in clicking buttons.
Yeah it's definitively easier to pressure those walls now.. Could you share with us the most efficient team you made so far in SSUU ?
Being an offense minded player, building has been rough this gen. However, this team I feel does well covering its basis against pretty much everything. I'll not go into depth because I literally put up an RMT of it yesterday(shameless plug) so if anybody is interested in studying the team in depth it is all there. I trusted that team enough to bring it against Pak(who honestly is as tough of an opponent as I could have got) in UU Masters and it amazed me how well it did.
Yeah I saw that team and read your RMT.. (I just noticed I didn't liked it yet ._.).. I tried to play with Pangoro but I found it too slow for what I'm used to play. Last but not least.. who are your best buddies on Smogon ? Are they the same as on your RMT ?
Well this is a more difficult question to answer than you may think. I've always said that online friendships, especially those that may be amongst people living in different continents, have strict limitations. I have hung around with many people over the years, but there are a select few that have confided to issues that I had as Marios, not as CBU. These are who I consider my closest friends in here and I love to death. Them being YouthBerry, LLH and BluBirD252. Everyone else I have met over the years are a privilege to know and appreciate the time they wasted with me, but the people I mentioned above are just a little bit more special to me.
I understand what you mean man. Well well that was my last question, thanks for your time and all you great answers. It was cool to have you by my side for this interview !
Pleassure was all mine man. I had a great time. Keep up the great work! I do notice you have done wonders for our tier and your impact on the community has been nothing but positive. May I add some s/o because I am actually afraid for my life if I don't?
Thanks man, it means a lot to hear that. Yeah sure feel free.. it's highlight time !
Aight then. PinkDragonTamer, Juuno, Donphantastic, Jacobikko, avarice, Accelgor, His, Lord Iroh, Estarossa, Splash, Hugo Barrington, Euphonos, Finding True Love, Island Spices and zben
Perfect ! Have a nice day !
You too
Feel free to ask to CBU any questions you want !
If you have some recommendations for an interview, feel free to DM me !