byulharang
formerly Holy Ghost
Approved by Nayrz with idea from Arii Stella
Banner by my good friend Six
Welcome to Ubers Player of the Week! I'll be interviewing top Ubers players that have had success and are respected in the community. You will be able to ask questions to the player I interview by commenting on this post. Everyone cannot be interviewed but you can VM me or DM on Discord suggestions, hope you enjoy!
cromagnet
Favorite Pokemon?
Most Known For
Performance in UPL VIII with the Dapper Dracovish, success in SS and the guy that got Zesty into Pokemon.
Any backstory on your name?
I actually don't know where it came from. My cousin suggested that I name one of my crobats cromagnet back in DPP when I was like 9 or 10 years old. I have asked several times how he came up with that name and he doesn't remember, so the true origin was lost to time.
I've been playing Pokemon for 15 years now and I would always build teams and battle my friends with "competitive teams" that were actually really bad. I found Smogon in 2015 and starting playing more seriously from then on out. I started out playing ORAS OU and starting doing AG and Ubers in gen 7 along with doing smog tours rather than just ladder.
Gen 7 is absolutely my favorite. It's a rather large meta with a lot of room for innovation and coming up with wacky sets. I never really thought it was wildly unbalanced either. I really have only played USUM and SS but I would have to say ADV would be my least favorite just due to my inexperience in it and the mechanics being significantly different.
Getting back to what I was saying about a wildly unbalanced meta, I think SS is pretty unbalanced. I do like the meta but building can get pretty daunting as you continue to build. For building balance, Zacian has 2 switchins and Eternatus has 3 viable (counting Chansey and Blissey as one mon) switchins. Add on top of that insane threats like Excadrill and breakers with no switchins like Lunala, and teambuilding can get restrictive. I found ways to overcome this a bit, like discovering the power of Rotom + Wish and using spin balloon Excadrill as a hazard control that doesn't make the team passive. I just feel like, especially when building balance, there's those overwhelming, almost ubiquitous threats that force you to run certain Pokemon that makes you feel like you've already built a team before.
With that being said, I like the meta overall. I'm a big fan of how dmax users like Volcarona and Dragapult can be good. The meta being restrictive to only allow a handful of dmax-reliant sweepers reminds me of how megas made select Pokemon viable. I also like how other mons in lower tiers (like Urshifu, Mandibuzz, Togekiss, etc) can find viability. I think that when DLC 2 comes out the meta will be more insular with the old ubers coming through to dominate the meta. I am pretty excited for the DLC overall though. I think it will be a unique blend of all gens previously, taking Pokemon from gens 6 and 7 without primal formes or megas. Should be interesting to see if the new Pokemon will help to balance the meta out a little bit more, like adding a new answer for Zacian.
I like the current restrictions. It balances dmax in a way that there's few offensive threats that are too overwhelming, such as dmax Zekrom which is borderline unstoppable in Galar Dex AG. It also enables some Pokemon to act as emergency checks to the huge threats like Zacian. I think the dmax ban should be added to. Some things like Kyurem-B and maybe even Excadrill should be suspected or quickbanned. It would prevent the meta from being wildly unbalanced rather than the moderate unbalance from stuff like Zacian. I could also see things like Kyurem-W coming down since dmax like won't make them busted. I'm very happy to see the restrictions in place for DLC 2, since dmax Yveltal, Xerneas, and Zygarde are very busted in National Dex AG and they would be even moreso in a meta with standard clauses and no Arceus.
I was a huge advocate for the baton pass ban, I never understood why every gen we go through this same cycle with baton pass being legal for a little bit or the whole gen and then we find it unhealthy. I am from AG, so I have plenty of bad experiences with baton pass. As far as other things being banned, I think this gen is really close to the others in terms of banned things so I think we're good.
I'm a big fan of balance, you got your offensive threats and defensive Pokemon to fall back on. Balance has been my staple through 2 gens and all the tiers I've played. I relied on balance for the majority of UPL but dabbled in offense when I realized its the key this gen. So balance is my favorite but I also am a growing fan of hazardless screens.
Wow that's a tall order, but I'd probably have to say the game of PDC vs Poek from like 3 years ago. PDC lets Poek's Bisharp get up to +3 attack, uses z stealth rock on the sucker punch, lives the +3 sucker on the next turn and takes out the Bisharp. Crazy game and one of those times a somewhat-overlooked feature really saves someone. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-303307
Yeah I look up to Ubers players that have helped me a lot during my time playing like PurpleGatorade and my good buddy Zesty. KyogreF4n, Orch, and Garay Oak are other super solid players I've been watching for a long time.
It was a wild tour! I went into it very nervous since it was my first big PL and doubted myself quite a bit at first. The beginning was rough coming up with ideas and shaking off the nerves but I got going pretty quick and had a good idea to build around almost immediately every week until semifinals tiebreak. The tour began to drag on at the end since the idea well dried up but we were able to overcome and bring some good teams out there.
The team was very supportive and Icemaster and Purple Gatorade were always there for me and would help me bounce ideas around. They were always able to help during the few times I would run with an idea until Thursday and then we'd find something wildly wrong that we had to scrap the team entirely, such as my original screens not being able to deal with thunder wave at all. The real mvp of our SS core for me though was Shivam3299 who I brought on as a helper. We had great testing in AGPL and that translated over to UPL. He would throw a ton of different teams at whatever I was bringing so we had a pretty solid idea of individual threats or cores and could tell pretty early whether a team would work in most mus or not.
Dave and Abs were very supportive managers too and I really liked their hands-off approach of not telling me what to use. The entire team was all great players and great people and made the tour the most fun tour I've been a part of.
For advice to new players, I'd have to say to get as much experience as possible. Play ladder, play tours, ask prominent players for games to better yourself. Get into the meta now while its small and the building is somewhat formulaic to jumpstart the Ubers experience. In terms of getting into a tour like UPL, networking is key, getting to know people who can help sell you or may even be a manager who can draft you.
Here's my favorite team I've built in UPL. I asked Icemaster randomly one week if he thought togekiss paraspam could work and he thought it could. I previously had a paraspam pre-DLC but it didn't work too well since it didn't have a breaker. Here I called upon my week 1 tech and brought body slam Urshifu to act as a breaker, for momentum, and as a para abuser. Togekiss is standard and my way to air slash flinch everything down. This is the team where I discovered Rotom + Wish so I have Blissey to provide that as well as act as a t-waver. Rotom provides an amazing MU vs hazard stack (basically any hazard setter), rain, sand, and can take a hit from pretty much any one Pokemon, paralyze it, and of course be wished up later. Dusk Mane is the chosen rocker with T wave. Eternatus is there for the utility it provides and has shadow ball to help lure in Lunala.
I'm a big fan of underground rap, so artists like Rittz, King ISO, Bone Thugs n Harmony, Kxng Crooked, and Locksmith I'm a big fan of.
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Thanks for your time answering these questions Cromagnet! Feel free to ask questions below in the thread!
Banner by my good friend Six
Welcome to Ubers Player of the Week! I'll be interviewing top Ubers players that have had success and are respected in the community. You will be able to ask questions to the player I interview by commenting on this post. Everyone cannot be interviewed but you can VM me or DM on Discord suggestions, hope you enjoy!
cromagnet
Favorite Pokemon?
Most Known For
Performance in UPL VIII with the Dapper Dracovish, success in SS and the guy that got Zesty into Pokemon.
Any backstory on your name?
I actually don't know where it came from. My cousin suggested that I name one of my crobats cromagnet back in DPP when I was like 9 or 10 years old. I have asked several times how he came up with that name and he doesn't remember, so the true origin was lost to time.
How did you get into competitive Pokemon?
I've been playing Pokemon for 15 years now and I would always build teams and battle my friends with "competitive teams" that were actually really bad. I found Smogon in 2015 and starting playing more seriously from then on out. I started out playing ORAS OU and starting doing AG and Ubers in gen 7 along with doing smog tours rather than just ladder.
Favorite Ubers Generation? Least favorite?
Gen 7 is absolutely my favorite. It's a rather large meta with a lot of room for innovation and coming up with wacky sets. I never really thought it was wildly unbalanced either. I really have only played USUM and SS but I would have to say ADV would be my least favorite just due to my inexperience in it and the mechanics being significantly different.
Thoughts on the current state of SS? Excited for the next DLC?
Getting back to what I was saying about a wildly unbalanced meta, I think SS is pretty unbalanced. I do like the meta but building can get pretty daunting as you continue to build. For building balance, Zacian has 2 switchins and Eternatus has 3 viable (counting Chansey and Blissey as one mon) switchins. Add on top of that insane threats like Excadrill and breakers with no switchins like Lunala, and teambuilding can get restrictive. I found ways to overcome this a bit, like discovering the power of Rotom + Wish and using spin balloon Excadrill as a hazard control that doesn't make the team passive. I just feel like, especially when building balance, there's those overwhelming, almost ubiquitous threats that force you to run certain Pokemon that makes you feel like you've already built a team before.
With that being said, I like the meta overall. I'm a big fan of how dmax users like Volcarona and Dragapult can be good. The meta being restrictive to only allow a handful of dmax-reliant sweepers reminds me of how megas made select Pokemon viable. I also like how other mons in lower tiers (like Urshifu, Mandibuzz, Togekiss, etc) can find viability. I think that when DLC 2 comes out the meta will be more insular with the old ubers coming through to dominate the meta. I am pretty excited for the DLC overall though. I think it will be a unique blend of all gens previously, taking Pokemon from gens 6 and 7 without primal formes or megas. Should be interesting to see if the new Pokemon will help to balance the meta out a little bit more, like adding a new answer for Zacian.
What do you think about the current Dynamax restrictions? Do you think it should be altered ?
I like the current restrictions. It balances dmax in a way that there's few offensive threats that are too overwhelming, such as dmax Zekrom which is borderline unstoppable in Galar Dex AG. It also enables some Pokemon to act as emergency checks to the huge threats like Zacian. I think the dmax ban should be added to. Some things like Kyurem-B and maybe even Excadrill should be suspected or quickbanned. It would prevent the meta from being wildly unbalanced rather than the moderate unbalance from stuff like Zacian. I could also see things like Kyurem-W coming down since dmax like won't make them busted. I'm very happy to see the restrictions in place for DLC 2, since dmax Yveltal, Xerneas, and Zygarde are very busted in National Dex AG and they would be even moreso in a meta with standard clauses and no Arceus.
Do you agree with the Baton Pass ban? Do you think anything else should be banned or suspected outside of Dynamax?
I was a huge advocate for the baton pass ban, I never understood why every gen we go through this same cycle with baton pass being legal for a little bit or the whole gen and then we find it unhealthy. I am from AG, so I have plenty of bad experiences with baton pass. As far as other things being banned, I think this gen is really close to the others in terms of banned things so I think we're good.
Do you have a favorite playstyle to use in Ubers?
I'm a big fan of balance, you got your offensive threats and defensive Pokemon to fall back on. Balance has been my staple through 2 gens and all the tiers I've played. I relied on balance for the majority of UPL but dabbled in offense when I realized its the key this gen. So balance is my favorite but I also am a growing fan of hazardless screens.
Favorite game you've witnessed?
Wow that's a tall order, but I'd probably have to say the game of PDC vs Poek from like 3 years ago. PDC lets Poek's Bisharp get up to +3 attack, uses z stealth rock on the sucker punch, lives the +3 sucker on the next turn and takes out the Bisharp. Crazy game and one of those times a somewhat-overlooked feature really saves someone. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-303307
Do you look up to any Ubers Players?
Yeah I look up to Ubers players that have helped me a lot during my time playing like PurpleGatorade and my good buddy Zesty. KyogreF4n, Orch, and Garay Oak are other super solid players I've been watching for a long time.
Congratulations on winning UPL! Care to tell us your experience as a Dapper Dracovish and the tournament as a whole?
It was a wild tour! I went into it very nervous since it was my first big PL and doubted myself quite a bit at first. The beginning was rough coming up with ideas and shaking off the nerves but I got going pretty quick and had a good idea to build around almost immediately every week until semifinals tiebreak. The tour began to drag on at the end since the idea well dried up but we were able to overcome and bring some good teams out there.
The team was very supportive and Icemaster and Purple Gatorade were always there for me and would help me bounce ideas around. They were always able to help during the few times I would run with an idea until Thursday and then we'd find something wildly wrong that we had to scrap the team entirely, such as my original screens not being able to deal with thunder wave at all. The real mvp of our SS core for me though was Shivam3299 who I brought on as a helper. We had great testing in AGPL and that translated over to UPL. He would throw a ton of different teams at whatever I was bringing so we had a pretty solid idea of individual threats or cores and could tell pretty early whether a team would work in most mus or not.
Dave and Abs were very supportive managers too and I really liked their hands-off approach of not telling me what to use. The entire team was all great players and great people and made the tour the most fun tour I've been a part of.
Any advice to new players looking to break into Ubers?
For advice to new players, I'd have to say to get as much experience as possible. Play ladder, play tours, ask prominent players for games to better yourself. Get into the meta now while its small and the building is somewhat formulaic to jumpstart the Ubers experience. In terms of getting into a tour like UPL, networking is key, getting to know people who can help sell you or may even be a manager who can draft you.
Here's my favorite team I've built in UPL. I asked Icemaster randomly one week if he thought togekiss paraspam could work and he thought it could. I previously had a paraspam pre-DLC but it didn't work too well since it didn't have a breaker. Here I called upon my week 1 tech and brought body slam Urshifu to act as a breaker, for momentum, and as a para abuser. Togekiss is standard and my way to air slash flinch everything down. This is the team where I discovered Rotom + Wish so I have Blissey to provide that as well as act as a t-waver. Rotom provides an amazing MU vs hazard stack (basically any hazard setter), rain, sand, and can take a hit from pretty much any one Pokemon, paralyze it, and of course be wished up later. Dusk Mane is the chosen rocker with T wave. Eternatus is there for the utility it provides and has shadow ball to help lure in Lunala.
Personal Question: I heard you're into hip hop, do you have a favorite rapper?
I'm a big fan of underground rap, so artists like Rittz, King ISO, Bone Thugs n Harmony, Kxng Crooked, and Locksmith I'm a big fan of.
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Thanks for your time answering these questions Cromagnet! Feel free to ask questions below in the thread!