Project PU Player Of The Week - galbia (Week 12)

[TJ]

galbia
Favorite Pokemon: Mightyena
Most used Pokemon: Skuntank
Most known for: Being the PU Tier Leader
​

TJ: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself outside of Smogon?
galbia: i am a 21 year old student living in italy. currently attending the second year of an engineering degree. i am a bit of an introvert person in real life but i still like spending time with my friends when i am free. i started playing way too many years ago and this is as close as an hobby i have ever had. my other interests include movies and music on and off like everyone else.

TJ: How did you come up with the name "galbia"?
galbia: Quite uninteresting, it is similar to what friends used to call me irl so it doesn't really mean anything. I picked the name on the forums just because I didn't plan on staying around as much as I did, I now get called g the most since it's shorter.

TJ: Cool. What drew you to PU? What made you stick around?
galbia: Well I was already part of the RU community and when it came around i decided to join it with Robert Alfons just to see how it was because we were a bit bored. Then we got picked for the first council and I kept playing it on the side until after it became official and I played in SPL. At that time, I just decided to focus on it since I was a moderator and didn't quite have the time i had before

TJ: What’s your favourite generation of PU and why?
galbia: Going to focus only on generations 6 and 7 which are the ones i played seriously; I think ORAS before the shift that brought in Cacturne was just the best overall balance wise but I also enjoyed USM a lot before Qwilfish left so I am going to say those two.

TJ: What are your thoughts on the potential Magmortar / Archeops suspect test?
galbia: I think it's obvious the tier isn't great right now and we will definitely do something about it after the tier shift. To be honest, I believe Archeops should be suspect tested first since it's just insane and impossible to beat in some matchups. Magmortar is quite a big problem too due to the lack of good defensive Pokemon capable of handling it and should probably be suspect tested as well. I also think Pokemon such as Aurorus and Pyroar should be addressed as they affect the tier in similar ways. Anty made a good post about the meta, and I agree with in general

TJ: What Pokemon do you want from the tier drops?
galbia: i'd like some spikers like froslass, accelgor and qwilfish but i doubt it will be possible so i will just hope to get a couple better defensive mons and not to lose miltank too

TJ: What do you think is the most challenging part of being the PU tier leader? What do you enjoy about it?
galbia: The only practical goal we set is to eventually have PU back in official tournaments in the future and most of the decisions me and Megazard take (with the help of the other mods and the council most of the time) are thought with that end goal in mind. Obviously I have stayed around all this time because of the friends I made in the different communities and for that reason I try to make the community as welcoming as possible since that's usually the best way to get caring contributors and probably the most difficult thing as well. I also want to add that i really have to thank the people that still spend time updating the resources and writing analysis and articles since i have stopped doing that some time ago. They are the ones deserving to be praised the most since they are the ones making the community great for real.

TJ: Are there any new contributors that caught your eye, recently?
galbia: They are known names already but allstarapology and yogibears have done a ton of work recently. There is also that guy, TJ, who has been trying really hard recently.

TJ: Who do you think will win Seasonal?
galbia: Pepeduce has a great name and is on fire but the most likely winner is Taskr right now since he is still in winner's bracket. There are a lot of good players that can beat him in losers' tho. HJAD , Teddeh, and Megazard have a good shot too tho depending on how well they can prepare for their future opponents.

TJ: Who are some of your favourite people in the PU / Italian community?
galbia: Of course Italians are a bit closer to me because we speak the same language bu there is really a ton of people I have become friends with during the years and I really struggle to make names in this situation. I have to mention Anty and Megazard for sure tho. They have been here the longest and I have grown to hate them a lot during the years please someone make them go away before I am forced to leave myself.

TJ: Lastly, could you share a team with us and briefly explain it?
galbia:

Importable

Miltank @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 160 SpD / 64 Spe
Careful Nature
- Milk Drink
- Power-Up Punch
- Substitute
- Body Slam

Skuntank @ Choice Band
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Poison Jab
- Sucker Punch

Silvally-Dragon @ Dragon Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 184 HP / 136 Def / 124 SpA / 64 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Grass Pledge

Magmortar @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Healing Wish

Swanna @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Defog
- Surf
- Hurricane
- Brave Bird

This team isn't super serious but it's quite funny and works pretty well against common threats. Sub+pup Miltank is a great threat to popular balanced cores and becomes super hard to stop once it gets going. the rest of the team covers its weaknesses and is solid mons in general. Silvally Dragon is pretty bad tho.

Thanks for your time! As always, if you guys have any questions feel free to ask them below! ​

 

[yogi]

Jesus christ finally.
Love yah gman and how you keep pu going.

Fave time you lost to me?

 

[Haaku.]

What’s your favorite Italian food?

As someone trying to get into the PU metagame, what are some pieces of advice you’d offer?

With Pokemon like Vikavolt potentially dropping next tier shift, do you think this will be a good change for the metagame?

Se tu potessi imparare un linguaggio nuovo, quale linguaggio impara?

 

[MZ]

 

[asa]

any underrated threats that you've been liking as of late?

if you had to unban anything from oras pu, what would it be?

what tier / metagame do you play most outside of pu?

 

[Akir]

What is your opinion of the current Gen1 OU metagame?

 

[Anty]

give power rankings of all the PUTLs

 

[Aaronboyer]

Did you find the Smogon Exhibition to be a success or a failure?
Any up and coming PU players?
Who do you think is going to win BOTW W3?
Is Deoxys balanced for PU and justify why or why not?
Why are the Italians the only nationality group to have their own voice chat?
Cutest Italian (that isn't you)?
Cutest Brit?
Why do the Brits and Italians clash a lot?

 

[dibs]

Tea, coffee or hot chocolate?

 

[Taskr]

favourite alcoholic drink?
funniest pu user?
favourite game thats not pokemon?

 

[EviGaro]

Will I play a pupl game this year?
What if I say please?
Why do you still unironically allow DPP PU?
When you think of PU, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

 

[g]

fave time you lost to me?

the only legit loss was against a Tangela I underestimated so I guess that.

What’s your favorite Italian food?

difficult to say but a well cooked risotto always gets me. then of course there's pizza.

As someone trying to get into the PU metagame, what are some pieces of advice you’d offer?

to read the discussion on discord and in the main threads (vr and metagame) and try to play as many tournaments as possible or to challenge the more experienced players in the room.

With Pokemon like Vikavolt potentially dropping next tier shift, do you think this will be a good change for the metagame?

i kind of answered this already but I'd prefer more defensive threats at this point. For sure vika would be fun for a while tho.

Se tu potessi imparare un linguaggio nuovo, quale linguaggio impareresti?

something like Chinese or Japanese if it took less time but as of now I would be happy with French or strengthening Spanish.

any underrated threats that you've been liking as of late?

Glalie is the fastest spiker so I played around with it but it's pretty bad so I will just say offensive miltank just because it is a bit awkward to check

if you had to unban anything from oras pu, what would it be?

free baton pass. also carracosta probably.

what tier / metagame do you play most outside of pu?

only randbats sadly.

What is your opinion of the current Gen1 OU metagame?

I quit playing seriously shortly after the first rby cup which still hadn't completely adapted to the mechanic changes (body slam Vs normals etc.) so I didn't really experience the new trends much but from outside it doesn't look too fun if I have to be honest.

give power rankings of all the PUTLs

i take no responsibility for anything said, take it as seriously as you want.
Dell: set the precedent for a tier leader that just stops playing and disappears. Probably a good guy at hearth tho. chaotic evil
Whitedmist: great responsible person that I respect a lot, very sad to see him go. lawful good
galbia: crazy enough to stay this long, probably long enough to become the villain. chaotic neutral
magnemite: kind of disappeared like Dell but at least he gave us some good discord emojis along the way. he now left the discord for good I think which is a bit sad in a way. neutral evil
anty: shadowtl for a long time before being promoted and not being able to keep up with the incredible work we do every day. Lawful evil
megazard: tier leader of too many irrelevant things. Chaotic good
Haund: the real puppetmaster.

Did you find the Smogon Exhibition to be a success or a failure?

Success because we won but it all kind of died down midway imo. It was decent overall.

Any up and coming PU players?

seen you do well in the budget tournament, try to accomplish something in the next seasonal and it might be you.

Who do you think is going to win BOTW W3?

friendship?!

Is Deoxys balanced for PU and justify why or why not?

obviously no but speed might be fine because spiritomb and skuntank are on every team already

Why are the Italians the only nationality group to have their own voice chat?

because we are loud, also it's more of a meme now because we don't use it anymore if we have to call :c

Cutest Italian (that isn't you)?

just going to say haund is way to white skinned to be Italian.

Cutest Brit?

dibs is the only possible answer

Why do the Brits and Italians clash a lot?

they have an inferiority complex

Tea, coffee or hot chocolate?

Tea because it's always what I end up drinking each time I go out for a coffee.

favourite alcoholic drink?

Negroni if the place is fancy enough else I tend to go for a safe beer.

funniest pu user?

hard question, definitely not haund but lst is too weeb to win

favourite game thats not pokemon?

bioshock overall probably. Really liked Nier and p5 from last year above everything else.

Will I play a pupl game this year?

not if you want to win

What if I say please?

maybe.

Why do you still unironically allow DPP PU?

acting like it doesn't exist is probably the way to go.

When you think of PU, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

this is sad. never play this fucking tier. also risotto nero best character in vento aureo and kamen rider amazons is trash and edgy as fuck. goodbye niggas


keep questions going!

 

[Darkinium]

Most overrated set/Pokemon?

EDIT: Also, do you play any instruments, and are you interested in picking any new ones up?

 

[dibs]

Thoughts on the inevitable Pepeduce vs Taskr finals?

 

[Haund]

who has the most mamma puttana among
1. the italians
2. the pu community
3. smogon as a whole
4. the italian political grand hotel

favorite oras monoletter team
favorite "apparently garbagest of garbage set but wins games more often than not"
what do you want to name our child

 

[g]

Most overrated set/Pokemon?

Scarf Swanna is a typical weak scarfer that also takes ¼ from rocks. Swanna in general is good tho.
Primeape is probably overrated and used much more than it should be.

EDIT: Also, do you play any instruments, and are you interested in picking any new ones up?

not picking up one seriously is something I really regret

Thoughts on the inevitable Pepeduce vs Taskr finals?

I hope it's decided at the last game by a stall Vs stall pp war just to see them play as long as possible

who has the most mamma puttana among
1. the italians
2. the pu community
3. smogon as a whole
4. the italian political grand hotel

1. Tele (or Haund if we count "relevant" ones)
2. The guy who laddered with Probopass Dusclops stall early USM
3. Doxxxing assholes
4. Easy D'Alema

favorite oras monoletter team

of course letter A with Magnetic Flux Ampharos

favorite "apparently garbagest of garbage set but wins games more often than not"

Choice Scarf rock type furrymon

what do you want to name our child

Lodovico