Project RU Player of the Week #1: EonX

[Chakra]

Approved by Spirit

Based on Other Player of the Week Threads

banner by Lax ​

Hi guys, welcome to a new project called Player of the Week where I will be interviewing a new RU player each week and getting knowledge from them on the current metagame. This week we have EonX, a very experienced RU player who has been playing the tier for a long time, moderates the Rarelyused room on PS!, and has been in tournaments like RUPL.

EonX ​

So, to start off the interview, can you tell us a little about yourself and what your favourite pokemon is?

Well, my favorite Pokemon is obviously Virizion and I'm so glad it's great in RU. I'm 23 and been playing competitive Pokemon since DPP. Really started taking it seriously when BW2 rolled around and picked up RU. Outside of Pokemon, I do play competitive Smash 4 and have been picking up Pokken as well.

Is there any mon or play style that you find to be underrated in RU?

I'm not sure about underrated, but I definitely feel that a double dragon core with Flygon and Tyrantrum is largely unexplored due to the high pressure they can put on teams. As for underrated Pokemon, I'd have to say Aerodactyl. People are starting to catch on to how Pursuit is very helpful to distinguish itself as a fast Rock-type attacker. Definitely easier to support than one might think at first.

What’s your opinion on the possibility of a mega steelix and tyrantrum suspect in the near future?

I think it would be overall beneficial for the tier. I know a lot of people will question Mega Steelix, but you have to keep in mind that it would be for over-centralization. It's on 24-25% of teams for crying out loud lol. Tyrantrum is obvious and was very controversial the first time. A revisit would be nice.

What’s your opinion on the possibility of Honchkrow dropping to RU? Any drops you would like to see in the near future?

Honchkrow will definitely be a major threat, but with Diancie and Rhyperior around defensively and base 80 being the optimal Speed tier for a wallbreaker, I think it will be manageable. I'd love to see Milotic, but that isn't realistic. A realistic one I'd be interested in seeing would be Mandibuzz. We haven't had a good defensive Defogger since Gligar, so it'd be interesting to see how it would do.

Which play style do you prefer to use the most?

I definitely like playing balance in the current metagame. It's hard to use heavy offense and stall is quite difficult as well. I definitely like balance and bulky offense the most, and the current meta is kind to that.

What do you think about Virizion recently rising to S rank in the viability rankings, any other mons that you feel should rise to S in the future?

I think Virizion has slowly been on the rise overall ever since Mega Pidgeot and Moltres left. Durant leaving was just the final event to let Virizion go to S rank. I think the best A+ rank Pokemon are Alomomola, Flygon, Venusaur, and Meloetta. Each of them could rise to S rank if the meta shifts just slightly in their favor.

Anything that you feel is overrated in the current meta?

Probably Sawk if I had to go somewhere with it. It was really good a couple of metas ago, but it's a little too reliant on Sturdy to perform at optimal capacity.

Do you have any advice for new players looking to get into RU?

Use your resources. Also, try to get to know a couple of the top players so they can help ease the transition into RU. We're all a team and we're all here to help :)

Finally do you have a RU team that you really like that can be posted along with the interview?

A fun team built around Calm Mind Virizion that I recently used in RU seasonals against miltankmilk. It's a little bit of a VoltTurn team with Pursuit support to soften up opposing teams for Virizion or Flygon (or Manectric if I get a late Tailwind up)

EonX's team

Aura Burst (Virizion) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Metal Blast (Registeel) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 SpA
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect
- Seismic Toss

Shadow Eye (Spiritomb) (M) @ Dread Plate
Ability: Infiltrator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 184 HP / 240 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

Lurgy (Garbodor) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Aftermath
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Haze
- Pain Split

Double Wind (Flygon) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Outrage
- Tailwind

Summon Bolt (Manectric) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Thunderbolt

That's it for the interview, and thanks again to EonX for letting me interview him! Post any questions you have below. :)

 

[Kableye]

What's your Smash main(s) and what draws you to them?

If you could ban one RU Pokemon right now what would it be and why?

 

[Take Azelfie]

What 2 NU Pokemon do you think deserve a lot more credit in RU ATM?

 

[EonX]

What's your Smash main(s) and what draws you to them?

If you could ban one RU Pokemon right now what would it be and why?

Mario and Shulk are my Smash mains. Mario has always been a character I've liked in every version of Smash. As far as Shulk goes, I wanted to use him because I love Xenoblade Chronicles so much. Seriously, that game recently went on the WiiU eShop for $19.99. Best $20 you'll spend. That's literally a steal for a game that's $50+ on the Wii USED bc of how rare it is.

I'd honestly love to see an RU without Mega Steelix. I've been talking about this for well over a month now and I think the recent usage stats kind of justify that. I mean, it's on 25% of teams here lately. Even in BW, Slowking and Druddigon were 16-19% max and they had multiple sets to still give diversity whereas Mega Steelix is just one super good set. That's insane imo.

What 2 NU Pokemon do you think deserve a lot more credit in RU ATM?

Abomasnow is definitely one thanks to its STAB combination and Focus Blast to heavily pressure defensive teams. It's not as good as its Mega counterpart since it wears itself down with Life Orb, has less bulk, and is susceptible to Knock Off, but it's still a very potent threat to deal with. The other might surprise some people, but I think normal Audino is largely unexplored. It's probably the most underrated mon for defensive builds and it's able to keep Sigilyph and Manectric in check, which is honestly huge for such teams. Access to Knock Off also means it doesn't fold to Hoopa and it can equip itself with a Mega Stone to act as a Knock Off shield and Mega if it has to against specific teams.

 

[atomicllamas]

Drudigon had like 30% usage bro

 

[Omfuga]

Yet another reason why RU will never be as prestigious as its pokemon-online counterpart, LU.

ban druddigon

 

[Miyami~~]

If you could have 1 Pokémon drop from UU, what would it be and why?

Love you Eon, nice to see you got interviewed <3

 

[EonX]

Drudigon had like 30% usage bro

My memory is terribad. But it still had more than one set :P

If you could have 1 Pokémon drop from UU, what would it be and why?

Love you Eon, nice to see you got interviewed <3

I would love for Milotic to be RU. One of my favorite RU teams from Gen 6 was in Beta stage when Milotic was still RU and it was a fantastic offensive Defog deterrent thanks to Competitive, decent bulk, and good Special Attack. It was honestly one of the best Water-types we ever had in RU and it wasn't even broken either. It was just a cool mon that was fun to use and it wasn't way too good. Just really solid with checks and counters, but great strong points that no other Water-type has ever really been able to replicate in RU due to its bulk, Speed tier, and power. It's a shame that Gyarados had to drop to UU when it did. Otherwise, we might have had a chance to have Milotic again this gen.

~ glad you liked the read ^_^

 

[Hopeee]

If you could retest two previously banned mons what would they be and why?

 

[EonX]

If you could retest two previously banned mons what would they be and why?

The only one I would even consider is Shuckle because of the fact removal is a lot more reliable (AKA, Flygon) when it comes to Sticky Web. Even still, we have a bad enough problem with wallbreakers as it is, so helping them probably wouldn't be so great. P. much everything else was removed due to being too powerful offensively, and even though Diancie helps with some of them (Moltres, Noivern, Yanmega) I don't think that's enough to justify retesting them atm.