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 !
Hey what's up Pak ? Thanks for being here with me today.
whats poppin, not much just getting ready for vacation and getting some work done
We're always ready for vacation ! Even if you're well known among the strategic scene, could you introduce yourself for those who don’t already know you but also what you achieved as a player on Smogon ?
Whats up guys, i've been part of the uu community for about 5 years now. From what started as some room auth in my earlier years eventually led to getting more and more involved with smogon tournaments and the forums as a whole. I've been a council member for a couple years now and was a UU C&C mod for a decent stretch of the last gen. As for achievements in tournaments, the main ones would be my appearances in every official team tour featuring sm uu, with the exception of the most recent snake draft. Some went better than others, but I ended up going fairly comfortably positive over that span and my team ended up winning smogon snake draft 2. Aside from officials, most people know that uupl is a huge passion of mine, and my teams have made playoffs every year since i began playing in 2016. Last year we were finally able to win it all and honestly that was my last big goal when it came to tournaments.
Well ready for trouble make it double ! And what about your other face, who are you in real life ?
irl im really just a regular dude. I'm 20 years old, going to college studying marketing, and working a job at a local grocery store. Aside from playing mons, people also know me on here for being really into fitness, specifically lifting (and the ensuing pre-workout addiction). It's something i really take pride in and i just love it. Additionally I like hanging with friends, watching various shows, or playing some other games like yugioh (super super casually).
Is there any special song your listening while training ?
it's usually a revolving door of my main lifting song at whatever time, but atm it would probably be 'Choppas' by maxo kream
Alright let's back into Smogon. Could you tell us the generation where you consider yourself to be the best ?
despite dedicating a lot of time to the current gen (mainly laddering) and of course gen 7, my home will always be oras uu. I could go on a 14 paragraph rant about opinions on the tier, approaches to the tier, potential bans, etc. etc, but it's where I started and made a name myself, and it will always hold a special place in my heart
Yeah ORAS is great, I started to play during ORAS and while I believe some Pokemon should be gone atm (*cough* Conkeldurr *cough*), I think it's still a great generation. By the way, since we just got March shifts and you're part of the UU Council, what's your thoughts about it ?
the most recent shifts have really put a damper on my opinion of the tier. I was pretty outspoken that I wasn't fan of the meta a month or so ago, and now it seems like everything we did to this point was mostly invalidated. It's just chaos rn and we gotta get to work asap.
Yeah the metagame is obnoxious, we’ll probably have a lot of work.. Otherwise I was thinking about that but what's the meaning of "Pak" ? From where doe this nickname come from ?
its weird. So my first name irl is Parker, and somehow someway a childhood nickname of mine became pakmasta. I really have no idea why but yeah. It, or some slight variation was my main username of choice for whatever website through a lot of my teen years. I got to ps and it was my original name there, but i ended up getting known more under the name Specs Cranidos in 2014. Although I eventually changed back to pakmasta, despite most people not realizing it was the same person. After a while i was like damn this name is pretty whack and pretty much everyone called me pak anyway, so I switched over to it on smogon and got the alt on ps later on. I still get people asking me if I'm from pakistan all the time.
Specs Cranidos now, Choice Band Umbreon 2 weeks ago, you guys are weird lmao ! Because we're talking about Pokemon, do you any favorite one ?
bro competitive pokemon has ruined my perception of everything i liked as a kid. As a result, my favorite mons these days would definitely be hydreigon and roserade.
Big rip for your childhood.. Any tips for a newer player who would like to be picked for the upcoming UUPL ?
I might not be addressing the right level of new here, but the main thing is that if you don't end up getting picked, either due to a lack of forum recognition or other stuff, don't get discouraged. I didn't make it into uupl 2015 and it really motivated me to reflect on how i could get better, whether its in the teambuilder or in the battle. The results will come and your name will get out there, hopefully in the right ways though, and the team tour picks will follow.
Thanks for that precious advise.. and now final question : what's your guilty pleasure ?
pokemon answer: putting roserade on everything
irl answer: pre-workout, never start taking it please
Alright lmao, once again thanks for you time and your answers, feel free to shoutout some friends if you want !
np thanks for having me. I don't want to forget anyone but shoutouts barclay, the gijion goons, uupl 7 rangers, spl 9 raiders, snake 2 serpents, etc
Perfect, see ya bro !
Feel free to ask to Pak any questions you want !
If you have some recommendations for an interview, feel free to DM me !
