Project Ubers Player of the Week #3: Lasen

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byulharang

formerly Holy Ghost
is a Tiering Contributor
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!

:eternatus: Lasen :zacian-crowned:

Favorite Pokemon?

:absol: or :swablu:

Most known for

Resident Ubers shitposter, (sometimes) funny, going 0-5 in a single UPL and being the best gartic host the Ubers discord knows. Oh, I've also been playing since forever ago, so some people vaguely remember me from PO :]

Any backstory on your name?
It's actually an amalgamation of my first and last name, I wanted something short and sweet that was "good for gaming" as cringe as that sounds. Few letters from my first name and a few from my last, make it sound exotic and not indicative of the game I play nor of where I'm from so that I could use it for a lot of stuff and voila :kiss: :ok_hand:

How did you get into competitive Pokemon?
Been playing Pokemon since I can remember myself and one day I saw a video of a YouTuber sweeping someone on DPP with Ninjask passing boosts to Marowak and thought "woah, people can do that? That's so cool!" This was back in 2008 and the video is still up (Link to video). This was my first proper view of Wi-Fi battles and wanted to get in on the action. Unfortunately, my DS never let me connect to Wi-Fi for some reason, but I circumvented that problem by playing PBR on my Wii at the time! This also lead me to finding out about Hydropoleon and Gigatitan, two names I'm confident no one will recognise . I kept googling for "free Pokemon online games" after that, which lead to my discovery of Shoddy Battle and eventually Pokemon Online. Good times.

Favorite and least favorite Ubers generation?
BW and RBY respectively, but idk if RBY really counts? I guess I'd have to go for USM as least favourite. I grew up playing BW and it's the tier that I feel makes the most playstyles shine, while also having 3 different weathers be equally viable and able to be mixed and matched together. USM just doesn't seem right to me, maybe it's because I was actively put off from learning it by multiple unfortunate experiences until it was near the end of its life span. RBY isn't a gen that anyone genuinely enjoys btw, don't @ me.

Thoughts on the current state of SS? Excited for the next DLC?
I don't enjoy metagames that are way too volatile, and sadly, Gen 8 falls under this category at the moment. Casually, it's a really fun experience but I wouldn't bet on myself to win a ssnl or anything. Thankfully, there's discussion about kicking Dynamax off the tier and DLC 2 is right around the corner, so who knows? Maybe things are gonna turn up Milkhouse.

Do you look up to any players?
I wouldn't say I look up to any Ubers players as I grew up playing alongside them and my ego never allowed me to considering myself inferior, even if I am if you look at the stats haha. I can tell you who I don't wanna disappoint when I team up with them, though: Reje because he is a perfectionist who will call my dogshit in my face if I play bad and even if I win but I didn't follow his line of reasoning of playing 100% perfectly Tape aka March Fires because he has an unparalleled work ethic considering how little time he ACTUALLY spends playing and building and the Swedish duo of Kebabe + Hack who just seem to "get" some metagames better than anyone else. Special shout-out to the OG Perfectionist, Astounded because he truly is a mad genius and a puppet master.

What are your thoughts on Farceus DPP?
I've been local in the past that Farceus is a mistake of an unban. It feels really limiting in the builder, where at times, you want to run something nice and innovative, but you have to default to the usual 3 same Arceus (Normal/Fighting/Steel) with an occasional different form rearing its head. I do enjoy that the existence of Arceus in the metagame punishes some extremely greedy players from trying to get a "perfect win" by clicking buttons and not thinking and I definitely don't consider it as much of a must have as BW where you lose in builder if you're not running Arc or some EvasionPass bs (ban soon! ™️) but it really just feels like the counterplay isn't quite there. Not a fan at all, but wouldn't cry if I was forced to continue playing the tier.

How do you feel about the recent BW evasion discussion? Do you think it should be banned? Thoughts on baton pass being allowed in Ubers in general?
I can only parrot what others have said as my stance is the same as the majority's. Evasion has no place in any core metagame and the fact that BW Ubers is not only the only BW tier, but also the only Uber tier that allows it makes it crystal clear it's just a poor decision taken in the past, which, thankfully, we are able to reverse at the moment. The amount of control that slips from both players' hands and goes straight into winning nothing more than a game of chance every turn warrants a ban. Baton Pass honestly only got stronger every generation, as the amount of better recipients and tools this "strategy" uses only grew larger. I don't condone a blanket ban across Ubers and I'm actually against banning it in any past gen that it is currently legal, but I wholeheartedly agree with the SM and SS ban.

Favorite teamstyle to use in BW Ubers?
Hyper Offense, for sure. Nothing quite like just bringing absolute nonsense where E-Killer can potentially kill you at any given moment because it carries the correct 4th move and item combo to invalidate everything you stand for as a builder. Really gets me in the mood when I'm in those "kill or be killed" situations.

How was your experience on the Dialgas this UPL?
Mixed bag, honestly. The team was amazing, don't get me wrong - genuinely think we had the best team on paper and in the playing field. However, I just wasn't in the right head-space for a couple of key weeks and seeing us lose matches we should have definitely won left a much sourer taste in my mouth than any other tournament I've played. Maybe I was just too invested in this tournament? But also not at all if that makes sense...

Favorite game you've witnessed?
There were a couple of amazing games I witnessed that have stuck with me (Ramiel vs. V0id in XY Ubers and DracoNinja vs. MenceMeat in ORAS OU) but from games I could provide you a replay link to, I'd have to say Terracotta vs. Leru in UPL 6 [USM] Terracotta zygod VS leru (purely because my memory is shit and I remember instances of games but very few games or who played them, sorry!). It was I am pretty sure the first high level USM game I watched and my team chat was bitching about Goth being an absolutely zoinker of a mon, something that made the tier unhealthy and match-up reliant but who tf cares, right? Terra plays aggressive, the team can pressure goth with hazards and it only really traps, like, 1 mon and that's Waterceus. Load into game, lo and behold, Goth is sitting menacing on opposing preview. After a really bad early game for terra, he gets Salamence quite low and Yveltal gets Toxic'd with the FINAL 'mon being BU Marshadow, who expertly lives a Foul play and proceeds to LITERALLY reverse 6-0 Leru's entire team. What a banger game.

Any advice to new players looking to break into Ubers?
I'm gonna be honest and tell people that Ubers isn't the easiest scene to break into as the people that frequent it tend to be very elitist and stuck in the past. A good piece of advice I can give people is "lurk more" - that's to say don't jump into the discord and start talking instantly, wait for a bit, see how people interact with one another and what is seen as OK. We're actually quite welcoming of people wanting to get into our tier, but our history of various users being alts makes us a bit more cautious. Regardless, if you can accept the differences that Ubers has a tier and as a community and don't mind getting playfully teased, you'll fit right in!

You've been in the Ubers community for some time now, how do you feel about the progression in the tier throughout the ages? Do you think Ubers is on the right path to being back in officials?
I feel like Ubers has taken a few steps forward and a few steps back throughout its course. We've suspected everything, from mons, to abilities to even clauses and it's quite fascinating to look back, maybe with rose tinted glasses. Overall I've enjoyed the direction this tier has taken and a lot of the decision making has been good, with us not jumping the gun on a lot of things people wanted banned such as Kyogre back in BW1. There's always room for improvement, obviously, but I trust we're on the right path to being added back to at least Snake, which is something that would honestly thrill me. Ubers has a very passionate playerbase and it sometimes leads to hijinks that could have been avoided, but make no mistake - our heart lies in the right place.

Could you provide us with a team you've made and explain the thought behind it?

:kyogre: :ferrothorn: :arceus-ghost: :genesect: :latios: :excadrill: (click for import)
Team I brought vs. Carl Murray this year's UPL, Rocks Ghostceus is very good because it's a noob trap and also sets up rocks consistently vs. Magic Sun. Ferro + Ogre is the standard SDef duo that wins a lot of games with phasing, knocking and hazard damage. Excadrill is speedy sp def that checks stuff like Ghostceus and Dragons, the only spinner that can do good damage to Gira-O (Cloyster who?). Team is rounded out with scarf Genesect who is honesty top 3 mons imo and Roar + Surf Latios who phases out greedy E-Killers when they try to set-up on you after you draco while also catching Ttar on switch-in. Very happy with this build!

Closing thoughts
I'm overall interested to see where Ubers is going to go as a tier. I've never been the blind optimist type, especially because GameFreak has time and time again proven they don't care about their competitive player-base and if they do, they CERTAINLY don't care about those of us that play Singles with Ubers getting shafted every year more and more. I'd like to see DLC2 shake up the metagame, seeing new innovations is such a blessing and since teambuilding is "solved" but still volatile as heck, maybe seeing Galarticuno slap everyone around when it's least expected is gonna be fun. I'm also looking forward to the Tapus coming back, the terrain moves they got makes me rub my hands in anticipation.

Personal Question: Top 3 Ubers players of all time?
I am gonna say Tape / Hack / Donkey in no particular order. All 3 are insane and did it for 2-3 generations straight.


=


Thanks for your time Lasen! Feel free to ask him questions in the thread below!


 
Are you implying i’m a noob for the team you took vs me despite haxing the shit out of me? :p


Name 2 players (us excluded). One you think is handsome and the other ugly. Don’t tell which is what.

Top 3 songs?

What do you play outside Pokémon?

Why do you feel you were the most motivated in your team?

Did we deserve to win UPL?

We both agree that Chillshadow sucks? xD

Any way of improving the community? Maybe Discord can serve for more purpose?

Cool thread you’re really a nice dude and I appreciated the shit talks we had in some battles we had!
 

Inspirited

There is usually higher ground.
is a Contributor Alumnus
Ubers could use more memes from the one and only Lasen, when can we expect the next wave of that excellence?

When is Greece, what food should a tourist stay away from?

How does one become a Thunder King?

How many unfortunate souls have been crushed by Mirror Coat Swampert so far?

You mentioned that you were surprised that I don't touch OMs at one point. Which OM should others and I be looking at trying out to start off with?
 
1. Whats the sexiest and least sexiest name you've seen?
2. Is cereal soup?
3. Whats the best insult you've ever received?
4. Marry, fuck, or kill between sparks, dream, and nayrz?
5. Whats the worst smell you've smelt?
6. Worst replay?
7. Favorite copypasta?
8. If you were stuck in LucosDICampos house, what tool would you use to escape?
9. Which pokemon would you go on a date with?
10. Congratz on getting interviewed my dude :]
 

Lasen

smiling through it all
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
Are you implying i’m a noob for the team you took vs me despite haxing the shit out of me? :p


Name 2 players (us excluded). One you think is handsome and the other ugly. Don’t tell which is what.

Top 3 songs?

What do you play outside Pokémon?

Why do you feel you were the most motivated in your team?

Did we deserve to win UPL?

We both agree that Chillshadow sucks? xD

Any way of improving the community? Maybe Discord can serve for more purpose?

Cool thread you’re really a nice dude and I appreciated the shit talks we had in some battles we had!
It's good if you're bad and you're facing bad, you know I consider you a good player!


1)Benbe and Peli

2)Opinion changes a lot, at the moment I'd say King Krule - Sublunary, Kanye West - Black Skinhead and Floxytek - Electrocore

3)I played Yu-Gi-Oh! but my budget is boom rn. I've been playing a lot of roguelikes again, like Risk Of Rain 2 and Binding of Isaac which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I'm waiting for Cyberpunk 2077 which is looking more and more like its release date :psynervous::psynervous:

4) Daniel may have been the only one who was motivated literally every single week, so no LMAO not even close, I was near the bottom.

5) [TR]Gengar17 is my Habibi

6) I actually think the Ubers community utilises its discord server the best, with long discussions happening that go in depth about a lot of issues we have with the current metagame, where the tier is heading, old gens or currently running tournaments. The moderating team also engages in direct conversation which makes everything feel more personal and makes them appear closer to the base user. On the other hand, our forums are pretty much perma-dead with very few projects being run and most people (myself being a perpetrator of this too) never really making posts about their opinions on current events in a well thought-out format so that people can look back at your opinions if they're not always online reading every single piece of discourse. Maybe we should post more on here? I think so, yeah.

Thank you for dropping by! I appreciate the questions and your input as always.


Ubers could use more memes from the one and only Lasen, when can we expect the next wave of that excellence?

When is Greece, what food should a tourist stay away from?

How does one become a Thunder King?

How many unfortunate souls have been crushed by Mirror Coat Swampert so far?

You mentioned that you were surprised that I don't touch OMs at one point. Which OM should others and I be looking at trying out to start off with?

1) When Sparksblade tells me I've been funny at least once in my life, when he called me "cringe" I really felt that :psysad:

2) Honestly, most food is good cause I actually live super close to the tourist centre and the Acropolis, but don't go and sit at the random places that have some greasy old man enticing you with "OPA SMASH PLATES MOUSAKA MALAKA" but try to ask a native where you can grab some good food! We're very hospitable and someone will surely try to help you out, whether it's Souvlaki-esque food you're craving or food more close to home.

3) Step 1 is to get slotted vs. a great player when unknown, then disappear from public perception when you win for just enough that people are amazed but you don't oversell yourself. There is no step 2. Have an ego the size of Uranus, I guess?

4) I actually have only crushed 2, get flanked and Sparksblade, but that's 2 more than I honestly expected. GOAT tech, tho!

5) the OM that feels the most like Ubers I'd say is Mix and Mega, as it's Ubers based with stipulations such as no Dynamaxing or Zacian-C and some bans like Lunala that don't make sense to an outsider, but they certainly do from an insider's perspective. Rain is dangerous in both metagames, Dracovish claims 1 every time it comes in and the tier is infested with lowkey fat mons. It's very enjoyable for sure. If you're feeling frisky, Balanced Hackmons is basically ANYTHING-ANYTHING goes with standard clauses and a few bans, which is basically old gens Ubers levels of "yeah, even if I prep for this mon that's a threat it might still blow me up".


1. Whats the sexiest and least sexiest name you've seen?
2. Is cereal soup?
3. Whats the best insult you've ever received?
4. Marry, fuck, or kill between sparks, dream, and nayrz?
5. Whats the worst smell you've smelt?
6. Worst replay?
7. Favorite copypasta?
8. If you were stuck in LucosDICampos house, what tool would you use to escape?
9. Which pokemon would you go on a date with?
10. Congratz on getting interviewed my dude :]
1) Sexiline is sexiest (que le sex!) and least sexy is my fellow Greek, Savouras. It literally means "trash player" why the fuck would you ever pick that as your name it's not even good ironically...
2) It's not savoury so no.
3) I hate to admit it but it was from Chop who asked me how I managed to not shoot myself in the army when I weigh 50kg that shit had me cackling.
4) Marry Sparks cause he'll pay my bills, fuck Nayrz cause I think his pillow talk would be phenomenal and kill dream he's the odd man out. Sorry!
5) Human Flesh burning. Just no.
6) this uncontested. It's guaranteed to not be what you think it is.
7) MakeSumDollaz.pdf or lavos quitpost
8) Why would I wanna escape?
9) None cause I'm not into that stuff.
10) Thanks!
 

SiTuM

j'ai du faire un mauvais rêve
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
what do you think of LE CHOUINAY :joy:

what do you think of cielbakasan

how do you feel about actually winning games in upl o_o

who is the best between me and ismakhil? and why is it me?
 

Lasen

smiling through it all
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
what do you think of LE CHOUINAY :joy:

what do you think of cielbakasan

how do you feel about actually winning games in upl o_o

who is the best between me and ismakhil? and why is it me?
1) Only thing worse than Ubers zoomers is Ubers French zoomers :joy:

2) Banned user, nothing to say.

3) I won my first ever game so it was sweet to return to the limelight!

4) You play more than one gen and you passed me that one GOATered Darkceus USM team back in early 2019 so I have to go with you.

If you could chance one thing in each gen of ubers, either by a ban or just by making it so that GF never created it in the first place, what would you do and why?
I'll assume you mean change and say that I'd make weather permanent again. I'm a weatherman, what can I say?
 
What pokemon reflects your mood rn?

What do you regret the most?

If you had to live in the same house with anyone from PS for a month, who?

Dogs or cats?

Favorite food/film/emote/quote?

If you try to fail and you succeed, which have you done?

Best Uber player that has never played in UPL?

Top 3 Finnish Ubers players? (you’ll have to name me here if you didn’t in the first one)

What lifepath are you going to play first in Cyberpunk 2077 and why is it corporate?

You wake up on a beautiful summer day. You feel energetic and refreshed from the sleep, which you got probably a solid 9-10 hours. You gasp like a bear that has just awoken from a deep slumber, and then you rise up. Suddenly you notice something is off with the Skin color on your hand. You look at the mirror and realize you have switched bodies with Iry!! What do you do?

Edit: Confirming I lost to mirror coat pert
 

Lasen

smiling through it all
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
What pokemon reflects your mood rn?

What do you regret the most?

If you had to live in the same house with anyone from PS for a month, who?

Dogs or cats?

Favorite food/film/emote/quote?

If you try to fail and you succeed, which have you done?

Best Uber player that has never played in UPL?

Top 3 Finnish Ubers players? (you’ll have to name me here if you didn’t in the first one)

What lifepath are you going to play first in Cyberpunk 2077 and why is it corporate?

You wake up on a beautiful summer day. You feel energetic and refreshed from the sleep, which you got probably a solid 9-10 hours. You gasp like a bear that has just awoken from a deep slumber, and then you rise up. Suddenly you notice something is off with the Skin color on your hand. You look at the mirror and realize you have switched bodies with Iry!! What do you do?

Edit: Confirming I lost to mirror coat pert
1) Psyduck because I have a headache :psywoke:

2) The entirety of 2018

3) Jox because he'd cook for me and kiss me on the lips ever so gently.

4) Cats, no doubt

5) Lasagna/Bladerunner 2049/:thonk: or :xavgb:/Those who can't, cheat (it's better in Greek) or if you want a mons quote "Durza needs to remove his enter key"

6) Lost the game.

7) Zayele!

8) Astounded/Pohjis/Loloartsi

9) Gonna shoot Keanu Reeves with my laser dick

10) Ask my wife to peg me so she doesn't realise something is wrong, then spend all the money I got from Gucci to fly to Switzerland and visit Dignitas.
 
1. Have you been engaged by the army, if so did you enjoy being the waterboy?
2. As a waterboy did you drink a lot of water?
3. How much water do you drink a day?
4. How much water do you drink a week?
5. Do you drink anything other than water?
6. Which is better water, fille or skysolo?
7. Have you ever wondered why skysolo sucked?
8. Did you know skysolo went on this page before posting on this thread?
9. What are your thoughts on WAP?
10. If you ever had a WAP what would you do with it?
11. Why do you play CAP?
12. Stop playing CAP?
13. Why do you still play Pocket Monsters?
14. Who is your biggest inspiration in life?
15. Who do you hate the most on smogon, and why is it not me?
 

Lasen

smiling through it all
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
1. Have you been engaged by the army, if so did you enjoy being the waterboy?
2. As a waterboy did you drink a lot of water?
3. How much water do you drink a day?
4. How much water do you drink a week?
5. Do you drink anything other than water?
6. Which is better water, fille or skysolo?
7. Have you ever wondered why skysolo sucked?
8. Did you know skysolo went on this page before posting on this thread?
9. What are your thoughts on WAP?
10. If you ever had a WAP what would you do with it?
11. Why do you play CAP?
12. Stop playing CAP?
13. Why do you still play Pocket Monsters?
14. Who is your biggest inspiration in life?
15. Who do you hate the most on smogon, and why is it not me?
1-2-3-4-5) waterboy is a forced meme, please do not. :angry:
6) Fille is juicier
7) I used to, then I found out.
8) He still couldn't find a funny maymay! xaxaxa
9) Fun.
10) SexNoise_03.mp3
11) I don't.
12) I won't.
13) Serotonin machine go brrrrrrrrrrrrr.
14) Genuinely? My dad.
15) Everyone I hate is either ICBB or already banned :pimp:


hi lasen! i don't have any questions but i hope you have a nice day
Thank you uhuhuhu, you're a great man yourself!
 
Hi Lasen! It's a pleasure that my friend loving1096 was your teammate in the last upl, he told me he really enjoyed it very much.
As for me, I feel honoured that you think highly of Chinese players, it motivates me to spend more efforts in encouraging those guys to participate in tours held by smogon. There's not too many questions to ask but I really wonder that what's your opinion on loving1096, I mean as an ORAS Ubers player, whose playstyle may show a sharp contrast to the majority players.
I sincerely hope the community better and wish you the best of luck in future tours, have a nice day ; )
 

Lasen

smiling through it all
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
Hi Lasen! It's a pleasure that my friend loving1096 was your teammate in the last upl, he told me he really enjoyed it very much.
As for me, I feel honoured that you think highly of Chinese players, it motivates me to spend more efforts in encouraging those guys to participate in tours held by smogon. There's not too many questions to ask but I really wonder that what's your opinion on loving1096, I mean as an ORAS Ubers player, whose playstyle may show a sharp contrast to the majority players.
I sincerely hope the community better and wish you the best of luck in future tours, have a nice day ; )
I'll always cheer you guys on!
Loving has a very distinct playstyle in Ubers that no one else has emulated in the current landscape. His builds always surprise us as a whole, usually in a positive way. The Ho-Oh Ditto semi-stall archetype is something he has mastered not only in the teambuilder, but also in the playing field as I haven't seen anyone pilot teams that rival his and get even remotely similar results. However, his builds are often exploitable, as seen by a couple of games this UPL and the ORAS Cup finals vs Pohjis. Overall, I'd love to see more of him in the future as he was someone we didn't know much about just a year ago and now his name is one that people bring up semi-regularly. Please relay this message to him that everyone in his team supported him from beginning to end. 战斗!
 
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