Approved by Nayrz with idea from Arii Stella
Banner by Six
Welcome to Ubers Player of the Week! Ubers players were interviewed 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 wasn't able to be interviewed this time, but maybe in the future the project will be revived again. Hope you enjoy the final interview!
Holy Ghost 
Favorite Pokemon?
Most known for?
Had several decent tour runs like open, ssnl and circuit playoffs in USM.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Ubers resident mexican, I graduated high school this year and still figuring out what I want to do in life but corona kinda screwed a lot of stuff over for me. I like playing games in my free time even though im not the best and mostly casual like csgo, genshin, brawlhalla, realm of the mad god, tagpro and played league for a few days cus a friend made me. Im tagpro goat tho no cap. I listen to a lot of music with my main genres being hiphop and kpop.
Any backstory on your name?
Truthfully I made my smogon account while I was listening to Montana of 300 - Holy Ghost which is the main reason why I picked this name. I also thought it was pretty cool and mysterious after hearing stories of people being controlled by the Holy Ghost or something when I was younger in Church which contributed to me deciding on the name. I also love ghost types which is a nice +.
How did you get into competitive Pokemon?
I started playing pokemon with Sapphire on the gameboy which I played so much its crazy. I fell in love with pokemon at an extremely early age at like around 5 playing the gameboy/ds games and collecting many cards. I never got into TCG but I really enjoyed opening card packs and pulling some cool looking cards as a kid, my folks probably hated it as it got pretty expensive :pain:. A friend showed me PS! when I was like [redacted] years old that I was admin with on a pretty popular pokemon facebook page (cringe I know) like early 2013. I was noob asf at ou back then but I met someone who later went on to create the first big side server (frost, even more cringe) and I played a little monotype on it. I bounced between main/side server meeting some cool people that made me stay playing Pokemon on here even though majority of them quit and never pursued the smogon aspect of things but a few stuck around like Skysolo Alpha Rabbit ara six and magic. I think I got into Ubers around 2017-18ish a little before solo and rabbit as im bad with remembering things. I gravitated towards Ubers as who doesn't like battling the strongest Pokemon?
Least and favorite Ubers generation?
Its really hard for me to decide between USM and ADV as my favorite, but I think I'll have to go with ADV. I just love pretty much everything about ADV, the actual games, anime, pokemon it has and the ubers metagame. I dont hate any gen tbh but if I were to pick my least favorite it would have to be Oras due to my inexperience in it and I don't have any motivation or interest to pick it up. Overall personally it would be usm>adv>dpp>bw>ss>oras>rby/gsc(if you count these, I dont actively play them)
You started in SM, what are your thoughts on the USM metagame? Do you think its the best metagame balanced-wise?
I absolutely loved playing SM/USM. At a point I was pushing out teams like nothing creating tech and just pretty solid teams overall. I really love how you can use Pokemon that seem pretty useless due to the ability of Z moves, the strength of offense and just the amount of niches needed as team compression in USM is intense. I do think it is the best metagame objectively as it offers pretty much everything you could ask for and more, I don't think one archetype is superior by far to another which is pretty cool trait to have. I think the state of USM atm is extremely boring and the innovation has been cut down to near 0. I believe there is still room for innovation as I have some Pokemon and sets I need to build with still but people rather use standard teams now opposed to when it was the current gen. I dont believe anything is broken either which is very good, pdon is by far not broken at all as it has a plethora of checks/counters its just that pdon is so versatile and can fill many roles that its usage is insane. I think gen 7 was the rise to many great players and at its peak was a super incredible metagame, I just grew bored of it recently. If I was asked about a year ago for my favorite metagame it would be USM in a heartbeat.
With Farceus being banned recently and it being your 3rd favorite generation how did you feel about the Farceus meta? Do you think the tier is better with or without?
Absolutely hated the metagame with Farceus. I heavily agreed with Dream on the topic with it bringing DPP as one of my favorites to my least liked. Im not an expert at DPP but I started playing awhile before Farceus was added and was have major fun playing but it all ended when it got added with broken ass ekiller. Not to mention Ghost/Fighting/Steel which were also pretty damn good but not as good as crazy as ekiller. I've seen countless games where someone sends ekiller out late game, clicks SD and just wins. Sure theres counterplay early/mid game but if they play it right stuff like giratina/kabutops/etc wont always be there to stop it. I strongly believe ekiller was way too good in the tier and no one could change my mind on that, tier is way better with Farceus gone. It was good for closure though having a vote, im not mad at that at all and wouldn't be that mad if it stayed but I just would never play it. Brought it back to one of my favorites to play casually again, super fun metagame and I really love no preview metas and think the lead matchups are very unique and cool. I like the pace of the metagame too.
Why is ADV your favorite Ubers metagame?
I originally picked up ADV ubers to have a chance in the ubers circuit playoffs (it didn't only feature SS back then). iry tutored me in the basics of the tier and blossomed my passion for the gen. I think the prevalent Pokemon are extremely cool and I like the overall pace of the game. No team preview is also very interesting and I think it adds an element of skill being able to guess your opponents last or remaining teammates and play around them accordingly. Its a rather straight forward generation playwise but some people just cant grasp the mechanics and overall metagame knowledge that others have which allows for a little skill gap between majority of players imo. Deoxys-Attack mindgames and trapping a forretress with magneton or earthquaking the incoming magneton is always a thrill to me still, I also enjoy using pokemon like Godquaza and slaking. The lead metagame isn't as punishing as DPP but I enjoy it nonetheless. Overall I enjoy playing this tier the most and I still have fun playing/building for it which is what really matters.
If you could change one thing about any Ubers metagame what would it be and why?
Make dark physical in ADV, mainly looking at pursuit. Firstly it would make Metagross pretty insane as pursuit would 100% KO Deoxys-attack where as now if the deo stays in pursuit doesnt even KO. Metagross would also even be able to trap the latis which would be massive and maybe even broken. That would be the biggest change but stuff like Aerodactyl, Snorlax, Heracross and Skarmory also get it which could have some cool things. Other moves like knock off and hp dark could maybe be useful somewhere but pursuit is the main attraction with this. I base all of this on calcs I did so if I messed up the calcs thats a L...
You're one of the few that voted no ban in the Dynamax suspect, why did you feel it shouldn't have been banned? How do you feel about the SS metagame as a whole?
I had a love-hate relationship with Dynamax, I liked what it added in some aspects but hated it in others. I was never a fan of SS from the very beginning as it seemed very not interesting to me but dynamax added a little something to the metagame for me personally. I play ubers for the brokens and the chaos some mons can bring so I just sorta liked what dynamax brought to the table. I think the tier will be better off without it sure, I wasn't too involved in the meta to have the full analysis but I liked it. Although I hated some things it had to offer such as the stuff like yveltal, calyrex-s and a few others plus the ability to not he phazed/tricked. I think a banlist would be cool to have but overall and in the longrun not worth and more negative than positive I feel and just would be too much work to keep balanced. It was 100% getting banned regardless though which isn't the best mentality to have for me voting no ban but as I said before I had a love-hate relationship, the meta will be better without it pretty sure. The last I was sorta involved with the meta was pre tundra so I dont really have a thought of it atm but with the mons back it seems kinda cool, I plan on getting more into it maybe sometime soon not sure.
You were drafted to Dareal Drizzlers this UPL, how was the experience throughout the season?
Didn't expect to be bought by the Drizzlers because I didn't really know the managers/didn't think they knew me but was bought for like 7k iirc. Was kinda bummed I was looking like a permabench slot at first when I thought I was 100% starter worthy but I didn't have much team tour experience so its w/e. Lhabitat went MIA so I became the new ADV slot which was a blast even though I had a pretty bad 1-2 record, not the best games though. I came into the tour really wanting to hone my ADV and having mm2 manager really helped that as we bounced ideas off each other and helped me create some of my favorite teams. I expected to be an USM slot though as that was really the only tier I had prior success in but our USM players did fine and I got subbed into it once and got a win but I had hella fun playing ADV so im happy with my overall season even though I feel my 2-2 record should have been better. I met a lot of cool people through it that I talk to regularly like nora/dnnp/staxi/etc while like the only person I knew coming into it was 64 plays. Nayrz and MM2 were great managers though from what I saw and did a lot of helping and the SS guys did their thing even though I didn't know anything about the tier so I muted the channels. I didn't pay the most attention to the season but I remember us getting haxed quite a bit and we didn't have the best season possible but nonetheless it was a good experience compared to my other team tours I've played in.
Ubers Most Wanted is around the corner, how do you feel about the fresh tournament format? Thoughts on a World Cup of Ubers?
I didn't pay attention last MW really but the concept seems pretty cool. The whole idea of battling with the loser losing a "life" or being "assassinated" or whatever is neat, I like it. I heard they're making changes to it for old gens or something which will most likely make it even more fun to play. Everyone I talked to seemed to enjoy it. Wcou is ehh idk. I've seen both sides of the coin and both raise fair points about it. I think it could be cool to have but like over MW? It seems MW is the better tournament personally and Wcou would only be fun if it includes old gens and seems like a huge jerk anyways. It seems it would be a hassle to setup and do mod tour stuff from what mods say. I don't think France would just be dominant like a lot of people say though, places like us east and europe have very strong squads in their regions. I wouldn't mind if Wcou happens or not though, not the most interesting tour to me.
What is your favorite type of teams to use across the generations?
Offense or balance. I like fast paced games but I also like my defensive backbones because thats just my playstyle, I hate stall and don't see myself ever using it in Ubers. I much rather rely on outplaying the opponent with offense than resort to using stall in ubers. I just tend to be an aggressive player and it costs me games sometimes but thats just what it is and something I need to work on.
Any advice for new players trying to break into Ubers?
Make friends. Ubers at times is extremely inclusive, especially when I first started playing it felt this way. I didnt really make friends when I started but rather played in tournaments which helped people recognize my name and that im not the WORST player that plays this game. Although it seems to be easier now as the newer community is extremely nice and with discord being more popular now its easier to dive right into discussions with more made players. I never was the type of person to ladder much starting out and I personally never check the ladder rankings but thats just me, if you peak thats still pretty noteworthy and can help land you a spot in UPL/MW if thats your goal. If your goal is to land a spot in an Ubers team tour when they come around talk to managers and do tryouts. Sadly tryouts dont always work even if you beat the managers but some say they actually decide based on tryouts but regardless its a good thing to do. Bottomline is dont be toxic/annoying to people, play in tournaments (you dont have to win or have an amazing tour but if you show interest and at least some positive results you have a shot, always try to improve) and make some friends. If you ever need some help with learning an ubers tier you can hmu on here/ps/discord and I can try to point you the right way.
Do you look up to any Ubers players?
When I started I had a lot of respect for Gunner Rohan but I don't really look up to anyone. I guess I could say I look up to people like Terracotta and Zesty when it comes to building as I thought they had very cool approaches to the tier. I kinda always done my own thing and didn't worry too much about others. My top 3 players of all time though would be like Hack, Hyw and Pohjis personally. I think Exiline is almost there.
I don't really pay attention to others games too much but regardless this is probably my favorite for nostalgia reasons. Hyw was the first good player I got to battle and even though the game wasn't perfect it was the start of my time playing Ubers. I later submitted this team to the gen 7 bazaar as one of my very first sm teams (maybe my very first I dont really remember) which a friend named the team "geoman-see you later" which I thought was pretty funny and cool. Gameplay wasn't anything crazy or special and was pretty straight forward. Battle meant nothing to him but I really enjoyed it as hyw is one of the best Ubers players of all time imo.
Could you provide a team and an explanation?
(click for import)This is basically the team I brought in UPL vs Isma with band metagross>rayquaza and a few set differences. Essentially the same team at its core, Kyogre lead, lati, bulky normal, forre, band/steel and a Stag Deo-a. Kyogre lead is my favorite lead with these evs as it lives anything m2 lead can do and nuke it with hydro and I really love rain teams like this over other archetypes. Lati is too good to pass up on as I opt'd for Latios for the more offensive variant being able to ice beam groudons because those can be a problem if they stick around. Blissey does Blissey things and I prefer wish>heal bell on this team because its won be a few games because of it and is great at pivoting into one of your steels or helping Kyogres longevity if needed. Forretress is straight forward I really hate having to deal with spikes and I like using earthquake on rain to catch Mags, you can add more attack to counterev them if you insist but this usually does the trick. Metagross the the band and a secondary steel which can potentially absorb a boom and help break through stuff with Deo-atk as last which is the best RK in the game and usually drops a few kills every game tbh. I feel spell tag is way common now and its harder to bait but its always possible, good "noob trap" I guess. Overall a very easy team to pilot and beginner friendly I would recommend it to anyone.
Banner by Six
Welcome to Ubers Player of the Week! Ubers players were interviewed 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 wasn't able to be interviewed this time, but maybe in the future the project will be revived again. Hope you enjoy the final interview!
Holy Ghost Favorite Pokemon?
Most known for?
Had several decent tour runs like open, ssnl and circuit playoffs in USM.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Ubers resident mexican, I graduated high school this year and still figuring out what I want to do in life but corona kinda screwed a lot of stuff over for me. I like playing games in my free time even though im not the best and mostly casual like csgo, genshin, brawlhalla, realm of the mad god, tagpro and played league for a few days cus a friend made me. Im tagpro goat tho no cap. I listen to a lot of music with my main genres being hiphop and kpop.
Any backstory on your name?
Truthfully I made my smogon account while I was listening to Montana of 300 - Holy Ghost which is the main reason why I picked this name. I also thought it was pretty cool and mysterious after hearing stories of people being controlled by the Holy Ghost or something when I was younger in Church which contributed to me deciding on the name. I also love ghost types which is a nice +.
How did you get into competitive Pokemon?
Least and favorite Ubers generation?
You started in SM, what are your thoughts on the USM metagame? Do you think its the best metagame balanced-wise?
With Farceus being banned recently and it being your 3rd favorite generation how did you feel about the Farceus meta? Do you think the tier is better with or without?
Why is ADV your favorite Ubers metagame?
If you could change one thing about any Ubers metagame what would it be and why?
You're one of the few that voted no ban in the Dynamax suspect, why did you feel it shouldn't have been banned? How do you feel about the SS metagame as a whole?
You were drafted to Dareal Drizzlers this UPL, how was the experience throughout the season?
Ubers Most Wanted is around the corner, how do you feel about the fresh tournament format? Thoughts on a World Cup of Ubers?
I didn't pay attention last MW really but the concept seems pretty cool. The whole idea of battling with the loser losing a "life" or being "assassinated" or whatever is neat, I like it. I heard they're making changes to it for old gens or something which will most likely make it even more fun to play. Everyone I talked to seemed to enjoy it. Wcou is ehh idk. I've seen both sides of the coin and both raise fair points about it. I think it could be cool to have but like over MW? It seems MW is the better tournament personally and Wcou would only be fun if it includes old gens and seems like a huge jerk anyways. It seems it would be a hassle to setup and do mod tour stuff from what mods say. I don't think France would just be dominant like a lot of people say though, places like us east and europe have very strong squads in their regions. I wouldn't mind if Wcou happens or not though, not the most interesting tour to me.
What is your favorite type of teams to use across the generations?
Offense or balance. I like fast paced games but I also like my defensive backbones because thats just my playstyle, I hate stall and don't see myself ever using it in Ubers. I much rather rely on outplaying the opponent with offense than resort to using stall in ubers. I just tend to be an aggressive player and it costs me games sometimes but thats just what it is and something I need to work on.
Any advice for new players trying to break into Ubers?
Do you look up to any Ubers players?
I don't really pay attention to others games too much but regardless this is probably my favorite for nostalgia reasons. Hyw was the first good player I got to battle and even though the game wasn't perfect it was the start of my time playing Ubers. I later submitted this team to the gen 7 bazaar as one of my very first sm teams (maybe my very first I dont really remember) which a friend named the team "geoman-see you later" which I thought was pretty funny and cool. Gameplay wasn't anything crazy or special and was pretty straight forward. Battle meant nothing to him but I really enjoyed it as hyw is one of the best Ubers players of all time imo.
Could you provide a team and an explanation?
(click for import)Personal Question: What got you into kpop and what would you rec someone?
A friend showed me Twice - Dance the night away long ago and I listened to it on my own one day and was curious so I clicked "fancy" by twice as I seen it on youtube, was no disappointed. The instrumental just gave me hella hiphop vibes so I was interested in it and loved the song. Still one of my fav kpop songs to this day and was a pretty "high bar" song to get into the genre with tbh. Idek what I would rec someone, kpop has so many styles as its really just an umbrella term. You have girl crush, rap, godly high notes, ballads, osts, chill, sad, rock, pretty much everything you could want.
Ask questions for Holy Ghost below!
