Project PU Player Of The Week - Megazard (Week 19)

[TJ]

Megazard
Favorite Pokemon: Rayquaza
Most used Pokemon: Mesprit
Most known for: PUTL, PU/ AG Roomowner, Global Driver, PU Council, QC
​

TJ: Can you tell us a bit about yourself outside of Smogon?
MZ: I'm a 19 year old college freshman (sophomore in about a week), probably for math. Outside of spending a lot of time on mons, I play various video games, spend way too much time between Youtube and Netflix, read a fair bit, and I'm a professional podcaster™®. Basically anything that doesn't require going outside.

TJ: What made you choose your username?
MZ: I was like, 12 or something when I first started using it? Fairly certain the through process of the young, not very savvy internet user me was just "I'm gonna think of a cool username. How about Megazard Z?". This was after I had Bippy for about 2 months and really wasn't feeling it, which shall never be forgotten.

TJ: How and when did you get into competitive Pokemon / PU?
MZ: Saw Showdown linked on some random website or youtube video or something and decided to take a look. Back then I just played randbats and it probably took me about a month to discover that there was other stuff than the battle button, like chatrooms. OU was the starting place because default tier, but the room isn't exactly the most inviting to a young kid with zero internet skills so eventually I ended up in PU. I've never been attracted to it because of the low tier mons or anything, it was just a nice place that didn't seem to mind my presence, so I stuck around. Competitive play wasn't really my interest at first either, I was far more into Nuzlockes, but I'm just the kind of person who tries to go super hard and competitive whatever game I pick up, so that just came naturally.

TJ: How does it feel being the new PUTL? What do you enjoy most about it?
MZ: It was certainly unexpected, but a good experience. I dump so much time into this site because I truly enjoy spending so much time on Pokemon, so that might as well have the side effect of helping to build my favorite tier. I don't know that there's any one best bit, it's mostly a lot of administrative stuff and the occasional four hour debate about why the tier shouldn't get deleted. I suppose access to more smogdrama? That's not to say this isn't fun, just that none of it ought to be that inherently standout.

TJ: What are your thoughts on the PU/ Ubers Grand Slam decision?
MZ: Obviously I think PU is worth including. The thread was set up so that PU could only get in if it was simultaneously decided that Ubers should get kicked out, so I can't really fault the decision to not include PU. It wasn't based on our merits so much as addressing systemic problems with Ubers. Personally I would've rather seen a decision which acknowledges the problem that locking tiers leads to inconsistency with metas being worth including but not included because it's hard to figure out how, but at least the fact that people are acknowledging PU's merits and that it has legitimate chances at being made core sooner rather than later is a big step up.

TJ: What are your thoughts on the metagame?
MZ: Perfectly enjoyable, not quite standout fun like Qwilfish meta but really no complaints here. Building itself isn't the most enjoyable but it's always been my least favorite bit of mons so idk. Aurorus really doesn't seem worth even a suspect to me, and the same goes for Pyroar or Kingler or whatever people don't like. This really seems like the time to start using some of those lesser seen mons that suffered a lot in the arch/mag metas, a lot of the innovation recently has been finding mediocre unranked mons and giving them a purpose but I think there's plenty of room to work with ranked but practically unseen stuff like Alolan Persian.

TJ: What do you want from the tier shifts next month?
MZ: Don't take more defensive mons, it's really the main catalyst for disrupting the tier. In fact, give us back Miltank and Altaria. That being said, Gastrodon's probably going and those guys probably aren't coming back so RIP. Qwilfish would be fun, Spikes would be super dominant again but I've got zero issues with that and hazard control isn't nearly as impossible as it was in SM. Froslass just seems pretty interesting too, I've never seen non-suicide lead sets be viable but it'd be fairly interesting to work with.

TJ: Thoughts on GSC PU?
MZ: Not gonna play very much of it unless it really captures me. GSC NU was a fairly fun diversion but haven't played it in like a year and don't remember much. GSC is just a weird gen and I can see it being enjoyable, but I severely doubt it'll be worthwhile competitively at all.

TJ: When is PUPL?
MZ: Very soon. Don't worry.

TJ: Are there any new contributors that caught your eye recently?
MZ: Darkinium hasn't caught my eye so much as occupied half my alerts recently. Post volume isn't everything, but seriously, even I wasn't quite this prolific.

TJ: Can you name any up and coming players showing good potential?
MZ: Not really, I think we've moved past the point where previous answers like Sam I Yam or @Genzeon or jklioe can be considered new. At the risk of being revealed as the elitist I truly am, the larger performances recently made by lesser known players have definitely been in more of the "mediocre but mildly lucky and their opponent really wasn't doing as well as they're capable of" category. Idk, this isn't calling people bad or saying they don't have the potential for better. But watching the games as opposed to the records shows some really unimpressive wins where rewatching the games doesn't scream "this dude's playing/building really well and deserves attention" as much as "meh they kinda clicked buttons and won".

TJ: What advice would you give to people trying to get involved in PU?
MZ: Feel free to be wrong, don't make that your character trait. A lot of people come to PU with the intent to use xdrandom pokemon like Corsola or just generally reinvent the meta. That's fine in and of itself, but constantly disagreeing with everyone and never admiting that others may have a point is where things inevitably go wrong. There are absolutely hidden gems out there and the metagame could always use a fresh set of eyes discovering the next cool thing, but if all you're here to do is break the meta and get mad at people, rethink why you're playing.

TJ: Who are some of your favorite people from the PU/ AG community?
MZ: I like most people, it's really hard to narrow it down. I'll go with galbia, Akir, HJAD, Taskr, yogi, dibs, TONE, Slowbroth, Robert Alfons, and gasquakee for PU, Chloe, Zesty43, Pigeons, Racool, and HunterStorm from AG. I will also like you alot more if you agree to come on Untier Talk.

TJ: Do you think PU has a good chance at winning PSPL?
MZ: You guys are fine I suppose, not exactly my standout pick. Nobody else really is either though ig, like when OU has to get a bit of luck the AG room you know there's an issue. So sure, why not. Sorry, that was too serious. I meant to say, YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST, GO PU [INSERT DIBS ART HERE]

TJ: Favorite Food / Snack?
MZ: The opportunity to eat this is quite infrequent, but a good chili definitely rises above anything else. That being said, bad chilis get really, really bad, so there's a bit of a risk there. I don't snack much because most good junk food has cheese or gluten in it (neither of which I can consume without getting suck), so gonna have to go with apples.

TJ: What other videogames do you play?
MZ: I play a lot of smash 4 and can't wait for smash 5. Recently played through all the official 2D metroids and talked a lot about that in discord, but they were pretty great. Most of what I play on a day to day basis are different nuzlockes because they're nice to play on the side while watching Netflix or something, but I'm currently working through Fire Emblem 7 (the first US one) and DK Tropical Freeze (which is worth all of the hype).

TJ: Lastly, can you give us a team that fits your playstyle and explain it?
MZ:

Importable

Stoutland @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Facade

Mawile @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

Hippopotas @ Eviolite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind

Monferno @ Eviolite
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Fire Blast
- Vacuum Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Nasty Plot

Grumpig @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind

Leafeon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Double-Edge
- Knock Off
- X-Scissor

Didn't really have any SM teams that felt super worth sharing, so here's an ORAS squad that's been used by several people in the bo3 tour. Sand is fun and this hits my sweet spot of being just awkwardly in between offense and balance that you kind of switch into things and kind of don't. NP Monferno and SD Mawile are silly breakers that get rid of fat stuff and stall for sand stout to clean up with Grumpig and Leafeon handling more utility roles, fairly self explanatory all around.

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

 

[Darkinium]

Overrated and underrated Pokemon and/or sets in the current meta?

In a similar vein to the previous question: since you're both heavily involved with the main VR and the set VR, what're some things you think should be bumped up or dropped down?

Any instruments you play/want to pick up?

Thoughts on the BP and Arena Trap ban and how it affected ORAS and USUM PU? What would be better or worse if they had never happened, especially in USUM? What do you think of trapping abilities and BP in other oldgens?

Favorite oldgen?

Do you think the PU Bo3 tour has the potential to shake up or develop oldgens, or will they stay relatively the same?

I know you're also a bit of a Battle Spot player. What's your thought on the current meta, and what're you looking forward to or dreading in BSS Classic, BSPL, etc.?

What's your goal with Untier Talk? Is it just a way for you to spend time, giving more transparency to stuff like tiering and the VR, a resource to players, or something else? What are some new topics you're looking forward to or planning to talk about in the future?

If you had to free something from PUBL (or something that was banned to PUBL but then rised to NU), what would it be? Do you think anything would actually be worth retesting? Outside of Magmortar, what was the most banworthy Pokemon you had to boot?

Since you're PS global auth, if you could join any PSPL team, which would it be?

Favorite fast food place?

What would you ban from each oldgen to make them better? Pokemon, moves, abilities...

Favorite PS! room?

Favorite metas overall? Others tiers, OMs, USUM or oldgens...

Pet peeve in building, battling, posting, etc.?

 

[ShuckleDeath]

Can you give a reason why Aurorus should not be tested?

What are some underused sets and mons you have been enjoying?

Whos worse me or Akir?

Beethoven or Mozart?

 

[dibs]

Tea, coffee or hot chocolate

 

[Raseri]

what team do i get to manage for pupl

 

[ManOfMany]

what team do i get to manage for pupl

The Half-Blood Prinplups

 

[asa]

uncreative, but mega charizard x or mega charizard y?

anything you see as banworthy / suspect worthy at the moment?

(some of) the pokemon you want most and least in this upcoming tier shift?

 

[MZ]

Replies within quotes for my convenience

Overrated and underrated Pokemon and/or sets in the current meta?

In a similar vein to the previous question: since you're both heavily involved with the main VR and the set VR, what're some things you think should be bumped up or dropped down? I don't really touch sets VR at all, not gonna comment on that. Ferroseed still shouldn't be S rank but I've already talked about that a few times. Other than that I really don't care that much, there's a few things that could change like Weezing dropping but eh, no big deal.

Any instruments you play/want to pick up?
Nah, I'm content to just whistle.

Thoughts on the BP and Arena Trap ban and how it affected ORAS and USUM PU? What would be better or worse if they had never happened, especially in USUM? What do you think of trapping abilities and BP in other oldgens?
BP wasn't broken, it was a fun part of the meta, and I'm quite sad to see it go. Drypass was a fairly big deal for multiple Pokemon and I had some great Bulk Up Pass shenanigans. Speedpass wasn't that broken either. That being said, not having mediocre players cheese Speedpass wins is nice I guess. Trapinch wasn't broken either but I can't work up the energy to care that much. Overall I don't really think trapping is broken in any old gens, but losing it just isn't really that huge of a deal.

Favorite oldgen?
Not a huge fan of any of the PU ones, probably just ORAS. If it's ADV I prefer NU, if it's BW I prefer battle spot, if it's DPP then that gen can go die in a hole seriously it's just never fun.

Do you think the PU Bo3 tour has the potential to shake up or develop oldgens, or will they stay relatively the same?
It has the potential, but it won't change anything. People aren't really coming up with new things that I've seen, any larger changes will need to be during PUPL with multiple people testing stuff and coming up with new builds and all that. A lot of this has been recycling or new but uninspired builds, which is totally fine but not changing anything.

I know you're also a bit of a Battle Spot player. What's your thought on the current meta, and what're you looking forward to or dreading in BSS Classic, BSPL, etc.?
Not a huge fan of current meta, just not especially stable or balanced or anything. Works fine enough, I can see why people like it, but staying fresh and covering threats that are just slightly too big is really hard to balance. That being said, I don't really play a ton of BSS, really just get back into it for tours. Looking forward to classic to see if my ridiculous GBU run was a one time fluke or if I can do some stuff there (assuming I can actually win a game of oras or sm).

What's your goal with Untier Talk? Is it just a way for you to spend time, giving more transparency to stuff like tiering and the VR, a resource to players, or something else? What are some new topics you're looking forward to or planning to talk about in the future?
It is a way to spend time and give transparency. I wanted a new project, people seem to really like it, it helps provide info, like all of the above really. For the future, at some point we should probably talk about how to git gud and play well, resource-like things like that on a slow news week. Also speculation about new gens from a PU perspective is pretty fun, looking forward to that if this is still going when gen 8 rolls around.

If you had to free something from PUBL (or something that was banned to PUBL but then rised to NU), what would it be? Do you think anything would actually be worth retesting? Outside of Magmortar, what was the most banworthy Pokemon you had to boot?
I'd free Archeops. Everything we banned would still be broken, but it's clearly the least broken of the bunch. Like you could argue Samurott, but I think that'd be too much and other than those 2, shit's really busted. Eventually a Samurott retest would be nice, don't feel the need right now though. Most banworthy is easily Klinklang, that just had zero good stops. Absolutely no contest imo, even Sawk and Gallade weren't that strong.

Since you're PS global auth, if you could join any PSPL team, which would it be?
I'd only want to join rooms I'm auth in, it doesn't sound fun going to somewhere random and playing with people I don't know at all. That's PU, AG, RMT, Chess, or OMs ftr.

Favorite fast food place?
In and Out

What would you ban from each oldgen to make them better? Pokemon, moves, abilities...
I don't think banning is the way to go. DPP I just personally don't like, there's zero fun about the format. ADV needs more stuff, not less, it's just not got enough to work with. BW is weirdly balanced no matter what and I don't find anything especially stupid, although BP+Stats going would probably just be a straight improvement. Or maybe Fraxure I guess. In ORAS, Stout is more than a bit of a menace, but I've got no interest in revisiting ORAS bans.

Favorite PS! room?
Couldn't pick between AG and PU

Favorite metas overall? Others tiers, OMs, USUM or oldgens...
PU. Gen 7 PU is real nice. AG is good, but not as good. I'm playing several other tiers for PLs and join a lot of tours, they're not as good. Like I enjoy battle spot, oras monotype, adv nu, etc. but they don't compare. Free Sketchmons though.

Pet peeve in building, battling, posting, etc.?
Building in general peeves me, easily where I'm the weakest. I can try for hours and get nothing decent, feel like something is good until a test instantly shows basic flaws, etc. The real kicker is that I'm not sure how when I generally manage to be a good team rater and can identify threats and fix things for other people's teams fairly well, that shit really bugs me.

Can you give a reason why Aurorus should not be tested?
Not really broken or especially overcentralizing imo. Strong mon that's p much just fine where it is, I'm not feeling overwhelmed by it. Maybe I was a little too hard though, a suspect would probably be fine to just examine its place. PU suspects are just always pro-ban though, so it'd be mildly concerning if say, council consensus was no ban but it got banned or something.

What are some underused sets and mons you have been enjoying?
Alolan Persian, Z-Focus Punch Kangaskhan, SD Mawile.

Whos worse me or Akir?
Yes

Beethoven or Mozart?
Beethoven

Tea, coffee or hot chocolate
Hot Chocolate, I don't need caffeine

what team do i get to manage for pupl
what many said

uncreative, but mega charizard x or mega charizard y?
neither

anything you see as banworthy / suspect worthy at the moment?
I already answered this in the first post

(some of) the pokemon you want most and least in this upcoming tier shift?
I already answered this in the first post

 

[Quantum Tesseract]

What's your favorite nuzlocke you've done?

What metagame that you've played is the most fun to build in (not necessarily playing)?

Which generation of PU would you say is the easiest for newcomers to pick up?

 

[MZ]

What's your favorite nuzlocke you've done?
Mono-Grass Heartgold. With dupes clause u get 8 mons, most of which kinda suck, and they're weak to like, 6 gym leaders, 2 e4 members, lance, and your rival. It was just a lot of fun making it work. Never went to Kanto though

What metagame that you've played is the most fun to build in (not necessarily playing)?
Probably XY PU. It was a weird and dumb and broken meta, but I was using all kinds of crazy stuff and made more teams for it than any other meta. You could just open the builder, say "I wanna use [insert random set like Tbolt Garbodor here]" and do that and have a fun team ready to go in like 10 minutes tops.

Which generation of PU would you say is the easiest for newcomers to pick up?
Gen 7, current gen is p much always easiest