I sent them the interview questions on Tuesday, and sent a follow-up message on Thursday, still haven't heard back from them. I don't want to pester Brambane any more than I already have, but I am genuinely not sure how to handle this situation.
-
The moderators of this forum can be found in the CAP forum staff directory.
-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
Project Player of the Fortnight
- Thread starter Brown4Sides
- Start date
- Status
Alright good work team
Interview #3 - 
Tell us a bit about yourself outside of Smogon.
I have pet reptiles, tarantulas, and work in informal education. My favorite food is mozzarella cheese. My favorite color is yellow. My favorite whale is the north atlantic right whale. My least favorite pizza chain is Papa John’s. My favorite brand of soda is Dr. Pepper. The worst kind of egg is hard-boiled. The best pizza topping is mozzarella. French fries should be dipped in mayonnaise. Butternut squash is the vegetable I am most likely to take on a plane. I cannot whistle or snap my fingers. I like to save the juice from pickle jars but never end up using it. I have twelve empty pickle jars, please help.
What is the origin of your username?
A Grass-type Fakemon I made based on brambles. It evolved into a Grass/Dark-type but I don’t remember what it was called. Definitely not Malaconda though.
What got you into CAP?
Many eons ago, long before the introduction of Pokemon Online, stone tools, and peanut butter-filled pretzels, there was a little Pokemon simulator called Shoddy Battle. DougJustDoug’s Create-A-Pokemon server was the only server with a Little Cup ladder (also the only server with a NeverUsed Ladder, and a big reason why the metagame started to grow in the first place) so I started going there to find matches so I could sweeper people with that good cheese of Bounce Barboach.
I got into CAP due to the proximity to the project. Colossoil was my first proper project, I arrived on the tail end of Cyclohm. Colossoil was a pretty goated project, Plus ran that thing like a machine for better or worse.
What is your favorite CAP Pokemon?
Colossoil.
What is your favorite regular Pokemon?
Lugia.
What is your favorite CAP art submission that didn’t win?
I don’t really get attached to that many designs. For all the CAPs I participated in except Malaconda and Volkraken it was pretty clear from early on which art design was gonna clean house. Chromera for me was obvious when Gravity Monkey dropped the concept art; if they finalized the design it would win. It was perfect for where the project was going. Second place surprised everyone though, but that design was quite cool. Would have been pretty happy to see it win too.
Hazmutt is also very cute, tough contest for it though.
What is your favorite generation of CAP?
Probably Gen 4? I like Gen 4 in general from a mechanics standpoint, but building Gen 4 CAP is absolutely awful since Krilowatt chokes teambuilding so hard and Revenankh isn’t like broken per se but if it gets the right set vs your team you basically lost when the battle started.
I think Gen 8 is kind of the sweet spot for CAP, although I have good appreciation for Gen 6 even if I can’t build a decent team to save my life. Gen 5 is good too if you stomach all the usual issues with Gen 5. We just need to nuke Krilowatt from every generation except Gen 8, that Pokemon adds nothing positive to the metagame and just makes building more dogshit.
What is your favorite CAP OM?
CAP LC or CAP VGC.
What would you say are your biggest contributions?
Whenever I feel like chiming in seriously at a stage of a process. I purposely try to not address the questions asked directly and focus more on what I think are the important points for that step in the process. I don’t mind being contrarian either for the sake of learning more from the project. I enjoy pushing the limits of what is acceptable for stats in particular. Aside from that, I sometimes manage for team tours although pretty much all my players would say I am a lazy manager.
What is your favorite part of the CAP process?
Post-Play Lookback. A CAP isn’t actually done until Post-Play Lookback, it’s more of a trial run, a test recipe. PPL is when we have the most interesting and informed conversations. Everything else is primarily educated guesswork of how this CAP could interact with the metagame.
What is a lesson you learned from a recent CAP process/buff process?
That reliability is the most important thing in Pokemon, above all else. In a game rife with 5%s, 10%s, 20%s, damage rolls, etc etc etc, you cannot understate how valuable it is to be reliably consistent.
This was really the lesson I learned from Voodoom’s buff process. Voodoom, by all accounts, had and still has some absolutely incredible damage output and a decent Speed tier. But you don’t want to use Focus Blast, deep in our jaded hearts we have no faith in the move. You are okay clicking the move when its your hail mary, the way your Gengar is going to swing the game against Tyranitar. You don’t want it as your best attacking option. And if Voodoom misses or predicts wrong, it has 0 role compression and survivability tools. It doesn’t get turns to attack again, this isn’t a Ting-Lu or Dondozo spamming Fissure in VGC. It has to predict amazing or its got to hit, and that is too hard to do consistently. If you are going to be a good breaker and breaker alone, you have to be reliable. Such was the beauty of Urshifu.
What is your favorite moment from a CAP Tournament?
Giving Fakee like 6 sets to potentially build teams around and Fakee proceeding to make a team with all 6 and load it up. Won the game too.
Thoughts on the current Gen 9 CAP metagame?
It’s hard to say, Orthworm was an absolute blight on the tier so I am glad its gone. So was Revenankh, it literally takes ten minutes of teambuilding after updates to realize that was a big whoopsie to return Poltergeist to its movepool. I still think Jumbao sun is a little oppressive to deal with, it tapered off when balance receded since like you could kind of role over it with some of the HO mons. Sun was really good at blowing apart slower teams with those Band Roaring Moons, the offensive Tusks, the Iron Moths. Now with Shed Tail gone, it will be interesting if sun can regain some of its consistency.
Krilowatt is a headache in the builder like most CAP gens. You either need like Clodsire, Gastrodon, hyper offense, or something to set-up in its face like Hatterene. Otherwise, you just gotta find those trades or use Tera wisely. It is not quite as oppressive as it was when those Argh/Book/Libra teams were the core of balance.
Gen 9 has a lot of fun stuff though which no other gen can replicate. Smokomodo is pretty fun, as is Colossoil. There are so many more options for dealing with Cawmodore, which wasn’t broken in Gen 8 but definitely made building less enjoyable than I think we should have ever allowed. Stratagem is as cool as ever, Miasmaw actually feels viable for once. Chromera is kinda hard to use but its very funny and workable. Also for the first time since Gen 5 the worst CAP isn’t Malaconda. It probably isn’t even bottom five!
If you could change one thing about the mechanics of Pokemon, what would it be?
Any move with 95% accuracy should just be 100%.
Or just copy the Temtem battle system. That game’s battle system is so much better than Pokemon. Unfortunately it just doesn’t quite have the variety or accessibility for me to get into it competitively.
Hopes for The Teal Mask/The Indigo Disk?
Bring back Galvantula, trying to play Mono Bug without an Electric-type is like rolling your elbow across a cheese grater.
Can you share a team that you are proud of?
https://pokepast.es/14c238a9330e46c3
Normal Spam for CAP LC. This team was inspired by a Heysup DPP LC team that just stacked Normal-types since Normal resists in LC can sometimes be pretty dire. CAP LC happens to have the best Normals for breaking said resists, setting up for hilarious endgames with Porygon or Eevee sweeping. Scratchet and Pluffle are also just really cute.
Anything else you want to say to the viewers at home?
I have pet reptiles, tarantulas, and work in informal education. My favorite food is mozzarella cheese. My favorite color is yellow. My favorite whale is the north atlantic right whale. My least favorite pizza chain is Papa John’s. My favorite brand of soda is Dr. Pepper. The worst kind of egg is hard-boiled. The best pizza topping is mozzarella. French fries should be dipped in mayonnaise. Butternut squash is the vegetable I am most likely to take on a plane. I cannot whistle or snap my fingers. I like to save the juice from pickle jars but never end up using it. I have twelve empty pickle jars, please help.
What is the origin of your username?
A Grass-type Fakemon I made based on brambles. It evolved into a Grass/Dark-type but I don’t remember what it was called. Definitely not Malaconda though.
What got you into CAP?
Many eons ago, long before the introduction of Pokemon Online, stone tools, and peanut butter-filled pretzels, there was a little Pokemon simulator called Shoddy Battle. DougJustDoug’s Create-A-Pokemon server was the only server with a Little Cup ladder (also the only server with a NeverUsed Ladder, and a big reason why the metagame started to grow in the first place) so I started going there to find matches so I could sweeper people with that good cheese of Bounce Barboach.
I got into CAP due to the proximity to the project. Colossoil was my first proper project, I arrived on the tail end of Cyclohm. Colossoil was a pretty goated project, Plus ran that thing like a machine for better or worse.
What is your favorite CAP Pokemon?
Colossoil.
What is your favorite regular Pokemon?
Lugia.
What is your favorite CAP art submission that didn’t win?
I don’t really get attached to that many designs. For all the CAPs I participated in except Malaconda and Volkraken it was pretty clear from early on which art design was gonna clean house. Chromera for me was obvious when Gravity Monkey dropped the concept art; if they finalized the design it would win. It was perfect for where the project was going. Second place surprised everyone though, but that design was quite cool. Would have been pretty happy to see it win too.
Hazmutt is also very cute, tough contest for it though.
What is your favorite generation of CAP?
Probably Gen 4? I like Gen 4 in general from a mechanics standpoint, but building Gen 4 CAP is absolutely awful since Krilowatt chokes teambuilding so hard and Revenankh isn’t like broken per se but if it gets the right set vs your team you basically lost when the battle started.
I think Gen 8 is kind of the sweet spot for CAP, although I have good appreciation for Gen 6 even if I can’t build a decent team to save my life. Gen 5 is good too if you stomach all the usual issues with Gen 5. We just need to nuke Krilowatt from every generation except Gen 8, that Pokemon adds nothing positive to the metagame and just makes building more dogshit.
What is your favorite CAP OM?
CAP LC or CAP VGC.
What would you say are your biggest contributions?
Whenever I feel like chiming in seriously at a stage of a process. I purposely try to not address the questions asked directly and focus more on what I think are the important points for that step in the process. I don’t mind being contrarian either for the sake of learning more from the project. I enjoy pushing the limits of what is acceptable for stats in particular. Aside from that, I sometimes manage for team tours although pretty much all my players would say I am a lazy manager.
What is your favorite part of the CAP process?
Post-Play Lookback. A CAP isn’t actually done until Post-Play Lookback, it’s more of a trial run, a test recipe. PPL is when we have the most interesting and informed conversations. Everything else is primarily educated guesswork of how this CAP could interact with the metagame.
What is a lesson you learned from a recent CAP process/buff process?
That reliability is the most important thing in Pokemon, above all else. In a game rife with 5%s, 10%s, 20%s, damage rolls, etc etc etc, you cannot understate how valuable it is to be reliably consistent.
This was really the lesson I learned from Voodoom’s buff process. Voodoom, by all accounts, had and still has some absolutely incredible damage output and a decent Speed tier. But you don’t want to use Focus Blast, deep in our jaded hearts we have no faith in the move. You are okay clicking the move when its your hail mary, the way your Gengar is going to swing the game against Tyranitar. You don’t want it as your best attacking option. And if Voodoom misses or predicts wrong, it has 0 role compression and survivability tools. It doesn’t get turns to attack again, this isn’t a Ting-Lu or Dondozo spamming Fissure in VGC. It has to predict amazing or its got to hit, and that is too hard to do consistently. If you are going to be a good breaker and breaker alone, you have to be reliable. Such was the beauty of Urshifu.
What is your favorite moment from a CAP Tournament?
Giving Fakee like 6 sets to potentially build teams around and Fakee proceeding to make a team with all 6 and load it up. Won the game too.
Thoughts on the current Gen 9 CAP metagame?
It’s hard to say, Orthworm was an absolute blight on the tier so I am glad its gone. So was Revenankh, it literally takes ten minutes of teambuilding after updates to realize that was a big whoopsie to return Poltergeist to its movepool. I still think Jumbao sun is a little oppressive to deal with, it tapered off when balance receded since like you could kind of role over it with some of the HO mons. Sun was really good at blowing apart slower teams with those Band Roaring Moons, the offensive Tusks, the Iron Moths. Now with Shed Tail gone, it will be interesting if sun can regain some of its consistency.
Krilowatt is a headache in the builder like most CAP gens. You either need like Clodsire, Gastrodon, hyper offense, or something to set-up in its face like Hatterene. Otherwise, you just gotta find those trades or use Tera wisely. It is not quite as oppressive as it was when those Argh/Book/Libra teams were the core of balance.
Gen 9 has a lot of fun stuff though which no other gen can replicate. Smokomodo is pretty fun, as is Colossoil. There are so many more options for dealing with Cawmodore, which wasn’t broken in Gen 8 but definitely made building less enjoyable than I think we should have ever allowed. Stratagem is as cool as ever, Miasmaw actually feels viable for once. Chromera is kinda hard to use but its very funny and workable. Also for the first time since Gen 5 the worst CAP isn’t Malaconda. It probably isn’t even bottom five!
If you could change one thing about the mechanics of Pokemon, what would it be?
Any move with 95% accuracy should just be 100%.
Or just copy the Temtem battle system. That game’s battle system is so much better than Pokemon. Unfortunately it just doesn’t quite have the variety or accessibility for me to get into it competitively.
Hopes for The Teal Mask/The Indigo Disk?
Bring back Galvantula, trying to play Mono Bug without an Electric-type is like rolling your elbow across a cheese grater.
Can you share a team that you are proud of?
https://pokepast.es/14c238a9330e46c3
Normal Spam for CAP LC. This team was inspired by a Heysup DPP LC team that just stacked Normal-types since Normal resists in LC can sometimes be pretty dire. CAP LC happens to have the best Normals for breaking said resists, setting up for hilarious endgames with Porygon or Eevee sweeping. Scratchet and Pluffle are also just really cute.
Anything else you want to say to the viewers at home?
Thank you Brambane for answering the questions! You may now ask Brambane your own!
what do you think of Octillery?
what is the topping on pizza you'd get the most flak for?
what tera type would you use irl and why?
what is the WORST US state to live in, in your opinion?
What edits would you make to DPP Krill to make it OK w/o making it dogshit in later gens?
what is the topping on pizza you'd get the most flak for?
what tera type would you use irl and why?
what is the WORST US state to live in, in your opinion?
What edits would you make to DPP Krill to make it OK w/o making it dogshit in later gens?
1: Are there any Pokemon you think are being slept on in the metagame right now?
2: On the same note, are there any Pokemon you think are overrated right now?
3: What is your favorite set that you have built?
4: Which team did you enjoy managing the most?
5: What do you teach?
6: Thoughts on pannu vs Jordy?
7: What the hell is up with the recommended videos for the video you gave?
2: On the same note, are there any Pokemon you think are overrated right now?
3: What is your favorite set that you have built?
4: Which team did you enjoy managing the most?
5: What do you teach?
6: Thoughts on pannu vs Jordy?
7: What the hell is up with the recommended videos for the video you gave?
ping me again and I will turn you into ground mustard
1. It should have a Paradox Form called Iron Artillery. It's a cool Pokemon, not once I paid much attention to as a kid. I use Remoraid whenever I can in Little Cup, Fire Blasting Ferroseed is cathartic.
2. I think pineapple is pretty accepted at this point as a true pizza topping, but I would also put mealworms on a pizza given the chance.
3. Probably Rock, mostly because I want to resist fire and poison.
4. Louisiana has the double whammy of absurdly high insurance and low minimum wage. The cost of living in the state is absurdly high for any of the metropolitan areas. It also gets hit with crazy storms an unfair amount of times, and they never improve the infrastructure for them.
5. Just make Magic Guard the hidden ability, it's not like its other hidden ability does anything. Trace Krilowatt is probably still usable, but at least you don't need to warp every single team you make to deal with it. Magic Guard Krilo is good but in the land of BW there is so much dumb shit throwing strong moves around its much more tempered.
1. The more boring answer is Great Tusk, Skeledirge, and Kingambit. We all acknowledge these Pokemon are good but I think absolutely carry team archetypes on their back. So like not really slept on, but it is sometimes understated how much these mons rule in CAP.
As for actual sleeper threats, Aurumoth is in a somewhat awkward speed tier but it is a terrifying Tera user that has the coverage to slam pretty much every single defensive juggernaut in the tier. It's hard to fit on teams and get rolling, but it is one of those Pokemon that is a nightmare to switch into with balance teams. Not a Pokemon, but Mirror Herb and Red Card are super clean tech items that should see more use.
2. Arghonaut is kind of like the gatekeeper of CAP, where it will punish a bunch of low-tier cheese. However in the current metagame, it is now a defensive Pokemon that needs more support than its worth on a lot of teams. Being weak to Fairy, Grass, Electric, and Flying is just so ass right now. Arghonaut gets one bad Circle Throw and it throws the game. Or if the opponent has Substitute or something. It is just so easy to tech into these days with the standard offensive mons like Iron Valiant, Roaring Moon, Caribolt, etc etc. Granted, Arghonaut is almost certainly part of why they are standard; a victim of his own success.
I am also not super high on Equilibra, but it is by far the most consistent removal in the tier and that is irreplaceable. I think Great Tusk just offers more presence for a lot of teams.
3.
dog (Dachsbun) @ Figy Berry
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Howl
- Stomping Tantrum
- Lick
- Play Rough
If you Lick a Normal-type you get 150 BP Stomping Tantrum.
4. LuckOverSkill l has been my friend for ages now, so I loved Steelix D's. Having Micaiah on a team is a treat. I think the chemistry on Tusks was really good though. Hard to say. Dj Breloominati♬ is a force of nature as a manager and awesome team presence in general.
5. Primarily zoology and other life sciences, occasionally I get roped more into the traditional STEM curriculum.
6. A clash of the titans, but I would bet on pannu.
7. Idk man I just like Bellsprout.
72 hour warning!
Though actually more like 71 hours since I meant to post this an hour earlier but got sidetracked by playing Future Redeemed.
Though actually more like 71 hours since I meant to post this an hour earlier but got sidetracked by playing Future Redeemed.
dammn i kept forgetting to ask Brambane important questions in a public setting like
1: what's your favorite local cuisine? if one could call it that
2: of the unhinged sets you've made, which one performed better than you expected?
3: most memorable broken cup load?
4: what schemes and developments do you have planned for your future in cap?
5: what's your favorite animal? or anminals? do you own any animniminials?
6: what typing is your least liked, and how would you change it if you could?
7: of official pokemon, which do you consider to have the best competitive design?
8: share a funny replay
i;'m out of questions have a nice day
1: what's your favorite local cuisine? if one could call it that
2: of the unhinged sets you've made, which one performed better than you expected?
3: most memorable broken cup load?
4: what schemes and developments do you have planned for your future in cap?
5: what's your favorite animal? or anminals? do you own any animniminials?
6: what typing is your least liked, and how would you change it if you could?
7: of official pokemon, which do you consider to have the best competitive design?
8: share a funny replay
i;'m out of questions have a nice day
1. Generally, North Carolina barbeque. If I am going to be extremely specific, if you have spent any time in New Orleans you will learn that the city has a pretty large Vietnamese community on the east part of town with literally the best bakery in world, the bahn mi there will change your life.
2. For SS CAP:
Gyarados @ Wide Lens
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Power Whip
- Stone Edge
This set is fucking absurd and I assure you I have no recollection of what the EVs do, but this mon fucking collects Ws by clicking SE moves against the Arghonaut/Zapdos cores every time they try to force out Gyarados. STAB on Gyarados is a copout if you just always hit Power Whip you don't need Waterfall!!!!
3, I got a Moxie Tera Rock Diamond Storm Xerneas with some king of boosting move, I think it was Shift Gear. Felt pretty good about myself.
4. I have two tours planned for 2023, first request will probably go up later today.
5. The answer to all these questions, probably to the surprise of no one, are snakes and spiders.
6. I fucking hate how the Bug-typing is balanced, this type is so incredibly under the power curve its ridiculous. I have no idea why they made this type NFE against Fairy, it was already one of the worst types in the game before Fairy was added. I would make this typing neutral into Fairy and Ghost, and resist both types as well. I think it would give Bug a substantially better and unique defensive profile while solving its main offensive woes, which is that the coverage you want to run with Bug STAB to hit everything fucking sucks.
7. ADV/DPP Flygon is the coolest Pokemon oat. Especially ADV Flygon, where it has genuinely bad defenses and recovery but its immune to Spikes, sandstorm, and resists QuakeEdge so its actually a defensively useful asset to teams. DPP Flygon is cool for again having terrible SpA but its defensive qualities and raw power of Draco Meteor with Ground STAB makes it one of the best mixed attackers, personally I think ever.
8. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1742609496-go0jlhd3l3vakg6xat46uxudi9c1kxqpw
its funny because Espathra was UU LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
It is now time to nominate the next Player of the Fortnight!
Also, what I'm about to say might be controversial, but I've given this a lot of thought, and making a decision on this was not easy, but I've decided that Jordy is an illegal vote. Selected players should be able to use their forum account to answer questions, and while Jordy has been seen on Discord, I would have to copy and paste their answers to questions from Discord to here which is something I would rather not have to do. I would be willing to change this is Jordy made a post here on the forums though. However, Jordy will always be Player of the Fortnight in our hearts.
With that out of the way, my vote is:
Da Pizza Man
Piyush25
spoo
Also, for whoever the next potf is, they get to answer a one-time only interview question:
Favorite submitted CAP 32 design?
With that out of the way, my vote is:
Da Pizza Man
Piyush25
spoo
Also, for whoever the next potf is, they get to answer a one-time only interview question:
Favorite submitted CAP 32 design?
Last edited:
dex
pannu
D2TheW
pannu
D2TheW
Last edited:
CAP Reading Comprehension Disease strikes again
- Status