Approved by 5gen & S1nn0hC0nfirm3d | Amazing Art by Albatross
(Interview Date: 5th of August 2021)
Hello everybody and welcome back to "ZU Player of the Week"!. This project will feature interviews from some of the ZU's greatest community members so that we can discover more about their Pokémon and personal lives. I am thrilled that I will have the chance to interview so many amazing ZU players and I hope that you enjoy these as much as I do. This week we have none other than this year's BW ZU Cup Winner who is also in the finals of two other cups...
DnB!!
Favourite ZU Pokemon:
(BW ZU Council Member, ADV ZU Council Member, BW ZU Cup Winner, Purugly Pioneer)
i think in the ZU space Purugly fits the best because I made it rise from like C rank to A+ in BW ZU 2 years ago during ZUPL where I used it every week
and now it even rose to BW PU ._.
thank god its still super good in ORAS ZU.
Ditto used Transform!
Ditto transformed into Purugly!
*meow meow*
Hello DnB. How are you doing on this wonderful day?
hello, im currently sitting in my room, directly next to the window, beautiful view over the austrian alps and i'm currently watching Zenzi, the neighbours cow, she's is chilling on the field outside
Not a response I was expecting but that's certainly amazing, that's really cool you live next to cows!! You definitely live in a far more interesting and scenic place than I do
well, its austria, most people just know it from movies and i have to say: "the sound of music" perfectly shows u how austria looks
Oh damn, I had no idea the movie was so similar to real life but that's pretty cool
How did you first get into PS/Smogon?
well, i started playing competitive in like 2008 where i randomly stumbled across german pokemon forums, back then shoddy battle was the main simulator, but i was mostly trolling around during that time, trying to make DPP OU teams with entei, suicune and raikou etc. i started to take it seriously when BW came out and we switched to pokemon online as our main simulator, my smogon account was created in 2014 because i was mostly active in the german community before that, but yea, its been a pretty long time
Here I was thinking joining in 2012 was a long time ago, but the fact you started to play competitively in 2008 blows my mind; that's so long ago haha and it's pretty awesome that you've played on multiple simulators and seen the communities progress as times have gone on
yea, a lot of stuff happened. back in the day, there were certain clans like IDM etc, which had private skype chats & forums that only members could join (discord didnt exist back then). i remember trying my best on the PO ladder to get enough points to join the HERO clan, which was a pretty well known clan back then. sadly, most members quit but i still have some friends from back in the day, special shoutout to Lasen who is still around
and we used to have clan wars to determine, who the best clan was. tbh, kinda weird that these clans dont exist anymore, i think it was a pretty cool idea
Oh that's kinda cool; i never knew they were a big thing back then as the closest thing to them that i've known about during my time were leagues which were much smaller and more focused on monotype
It's at this point that I wanna congratulate you on your recent victory in the BW ZU Cup as well as the deep runs you've made for both the DPP and ADV cups (which have yet to be concluded). How did you first get started in old gens ZU?
i just dug up a youtube video where i played XY FU, which was a OM back in the day and i used scarf articuno to destroy the ladder. FU was the 1st version of ZU, they changed the name of the tier, i think everyone should know why. but yea, i stumbled across ZU a few years later during SM and i have to say: SM ZU is to this day on the best metas i ever played, its really well balanced and so many fun things exist
then ZU classic and ZUPL began and i started to build random teams in other oldgen ZU tiers, i really like those niche metas, because there is still so much more stuff to discover. one player can really innovate the metagame, and i think thats the really interesting part about oldgen ZU. and ofc its just fun to use pokemon that would normally never see play in higher tiers
oh ye for sure, it gives pokemon you'd never think about using a chance to shine which is part of the fun. Out of the old gen zu tiers do you have a favourite and if so why?
pew, its pretty weird, in my first ZUPL it was BW ZU 100%, but then i discovered DPP ZU which is also great. then czim introduced me to ADV ZU and this tier is also just wild. but overall, i really have to say, that SM ZU is just perfect as it is, and even tho i never get to play it these days, it still holds a special place in my heart
Ah that's great to hear. Since you brought up the topic of ZUPL, are you excited that it's going to start soon, what gen do you expect yourself to be playing, and how much would you say is an .overpay for yourself?
well, in my first ZUPL i played BW ZU and did great, i was really cheap but destroyed everyone (besides Tack ). 1 year later i played BW ZU again, went for a way higher price and got destroyed left and right, since the tier changed quite a bit. but thanks to the recent changes, the tier is finally fun again for me. im not quite sure which tier i want to play, im probably fine with BW and DPP but i would love to play ADV, fingers crossed that they allow that tier in ZUPL. and for the overpay stuff, i dont know, i dont take this game seriously anymore, i just use random teams and somehow do well most of the time. i think my biggest strength is that i know every oldgen ZU meta, so i think the team support aspect will make me expensive again. as a player, i wouldnt pay more then 6-8k for myself, because it can go either way
lmao, im thinking there's a fair chance you'll got for a bit more so that means you can .overpay every mock that happens!
definitely excited to see how you do this time around tho
well, i have to tell this story
i have never played BW NFE before in my life, but 85% and quag went all in on me and bought me for nfepl last year for like 16k or smth. they had to build teams for me every week (my current NFEPL team does the same now btw) and i did okay, i just found it super weird that managers are willing to bid so much money on players, that havent ever played the tier before. i dont know, i managed a few teams in german PLs in the past and this strat has never worked out for me
as someone who led nfe before i can say bw nfe playerbase is not v developed and therefore support + a strong player like yourself on paper should do pretty well, tho that price is probably still a little excessive
I've actually seen you play some of the old gens in some of the other lower tier PLs and WCs (such as NFE which you've mentioned as well as PU and probably others that im missing), does it surprise you that managers rate you quite highly despite the fact you have quite a laid back attitude when it comes to playing the game? Do you think these sort of metas just kinda clicked with you so you were generally able to have strong records?
i played most of these metas when it was current gen, so i get some kind of nostalgia when playing them. i just found out that lower tier people are generally just way more laid back than OU players. i tried to be really good in BW/ORAS OU, and i was really invested in that, spent all my free time in becoming better, but a few years ago i found out that its just not worth it, i want to have fun when playing mons, and not invest hours and hours in prepping for a tour match and then lose to random shit. i realised that stuff like hax is part of the game, it happens to everyone and ofc it sucks when u get crit in your final tiebreak game, but i would just play chess if i want to play a game where just skill matters and no luck is involved. i think my attitude has really helped me when prepping/playing in those metas, i invest 1-2 hours at most per week when it comes to prepping, because i rather spend my free time with other stuff. and overall i am a way happier person now, because i just dont care if i lose an important tour series, it sucks for like 10 minutes but after that i just forget about it, i know that i tried my best while playing and there is no reason to be sad about, life goes on and there are more important things than mons and internet fame. i just want to have fun, using weird pokemon in niche metas and enjoy talking with people about stuff like the next broken thing in ADV ZU
it's really been interesting to hear your perspective and your development as a player and that is great that you've found a very healthy attitude to have towards the game that has worked well for you; sometimes it is easy to forget mons is just a game haha but hopefully some of our viewers can relate to your experiences
Just a couple more Pokemon related questions now; it's been a couple months since the shifts occurred for BW ZU, are there any Pokemon you are still sad about losing and which Pokemon have been great additions to the metagame?
i tried most of them and i think its pretty well balanced, muk seemed super OP at first, but we got mr mime and grumpig which keep it in check. articuno is still a sleeper pick, but its still BW, spinning is hard and rocks can keep it in check. glalie had the biggest influence so far, a good spikes user in a gen, where spinning is, again, really hard. its still too early to tell, ZUPL will show us if one of those mons is too much, but i think that something like a Spikes ban would be great for the tier, because way to many games are just decided by hazards (like in most BW tiers). of course im sad to see purugly go, but i think its always great to shake up oldgen metas and i would love to see other tiers doing the same and with the changes to oldgen policies, i think the oldgen lower tier community will grow even more because it is actually possible to change up those metas now, finally.
ah ye it definitely gives more reason to play these old gens since they are no longer static and pl will be great for the meta development
you already briefly touched on it for bw, but could you name 1 overrated and 1 underrated Pokemon from each of the ZU Old Gens?
ADV ZU: Overrated: Choice Band Birds, Underrated: Spoink
DPP ZU: Overrated: Kecleon, Underrated: Arbok
BW ZU: Overrated: Munchlax, Underrated: Grumpig & Mr. Mime
ORAS ZU: Overrated: Electabuzz, Underrated: Clamperl
SM ZU: Overrated: Scarf Electivire, Underrated: Purugly
oo interesting, thanks for sharing
moving away from mons now; can you tell us a bit about yourself outside of Smogon?
im an event manager in his mid 20s living in salzburg, austria, but im currently looking for a new job, because i dont enjoy managing events that im not interested in like weddings or traditional austrian "bierzelte" (like oktoberfest, but smaller), which i sadly had to do for my current job. im a huge movie & music nerd, im a DJ and started to DJ with records 1 year ago and recently started to play full gigs vinyl only, really happy that i finally started with that. and ofc i am organising my own parties & festivals in austria, trying to bring some underground house & techno music to austria. thats also the reason why i do most of my tourmatches during weekdays, because im always out on weekends lol. also im a paramedic, dedicated to drug related stuff, so that i can help people that think they need drugs to enjoy good parties and then take too much.
wow you do a lot of stuff lmao, hope ur able to find a new job that you enjoy soon
What are some of your favourites/recommendations when it comes to movies and music?
i dont enjoy mainstream movies, things like the marvel stuff and other blockbusters, i spend most of my time in small cinemas that show indie films. thank god parasite got a lot of publicity when it won its deserving oscar last year, giving more spotlight to korean cinema, which puts out a lot of great movies every year. but the most important stuff when it comes to movies: old classics, im talking Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Andrei Tarkowski or David Lynch (i know, to film nerds they are well known, but many younger people dont know these names...)
they made a lot of great movies without any special effects and they still work today and its never been that easy & cheap to watch those movies, thanks to netflix etc.
same with music, i havent listened to the radio for years, im just listening to music in my own bubble and dont follow current pop charts at all, but everyone that likes electronic music should check out DJ Koze, Kollektiv Turmstraße and Robag Wruhme, those are my 3 favorite artists of all time, although they are not underground at all tbh
thanks for such a detailed response, i'll definitely check out some of these during my free time :D
you also mentioned that you spend a fair bit of free time working as a DJ, what are the best parts of being a DJ and what's the biggest event you've been at?
i have never played at big events, my sound is pretty niche and the scene in austria is quite small, i guess around 500 people in some club in vienna. my favorite gig tho was at our own festival, where we build the stage & everything our self out of wood, on a field next to a farm in a little town and people from berlin, france and romania showed up. we were like 300 people, quite small for a festival but we were all 1 big family. and when it comes to the DJ stuff, its just a great feeling, spending hours on hours in records shops or on bandcamp to find new music (yes, i rather spend my time digging through music then to prep for tour matches :])
and also, something i found out now that i had to manage some mainstream events: EDM DJs mostly play songs, that people know, that people can sing along. in our scene, we have some classic tracks that everyone knows, but most of the time we play new and unknown tracks to the people, and thats the really interesting part, going to a party, not knowing what to expect and listening to many new sounds you have never heard before, on a big soundsystem, thats the beauty of our scene
perhaps in the future we may see you at a big event haha but that's still that's very impressive ngl and sounds like a lot of fun
Do you have any favourite food and drink?
And do you enjoy cooking?
i enjoy almost every food, but lately i finally got to eat some good sushi in town, im always down for that. as for drinks, i also used to work as a bartender, so i always enjoy a good cocktail, a good white russian gets me every time. cooking, idk, i can cook but im mostly too lazy and thank god my girlfriend enjoys cooking, without her i would order food almost every day
ah i see, good choices
Do you play any other games outside of Pokemon or any sports during any free time you have?
i play hearthstone since it came out, was pretty good at it, but for a few years now i have only been doing my daily quests lol. darkest dungeon was a game i really enjoyed, especially the PvP part, really hyped for darkest dungeon 2 which should drop this year. also: dark souls and starcraft, although i mostly just watch that stuff because i dont have the freetime to fully enjoy those games anymore. when it comes to sports, my job is mostly enough sports for me, but since my car broke down in january, ive been cycling and running through the city which did honestly a lot for my physical fitness, but i would love to join a beachvolleyball or tennis team in the future, always enjoyed those back in the day
hmm i see, that's pretty interesting, rip your car tho
I thought about this question for a while; user Quagg has given you a penguin. You can't give it away or sell it. Describe a day with your new found friend!!
i recently got a penguin tattoo on my arm LOL
firstly, i would love to know how the skin/feathers feel, then i would put on my smoking & cylinder hat and walk around the city with my new friend and visit a cocktail bar and just enjoy the moment
oh LOL what a coincidence. That sounds like a pretty fun time for both you and penguin, great answer!
that's a really cool tattoo
We're on the final straight of this interview now, could you perhaps share a team of your own design that you are especially proud of?
ok so
BW OU saw a lot of those smurf HO teams, using Lead Skarmory + Rest Jellicent to spinblock and i thought, if the same could be done in BW ZU as well. i did some testgames and well, it worked, sadly i never got to use it in ZU classic, but the team really does work, you just have to play careful around taunt user with omanyte. other than that, its pretty simple: get up hazards, block spin, sweep with the rest. its also physical offense, to just overwhelm your opponents physical walls and break through.
seems like a great team that's very fun to use, also great nicknames haha
i dont remember the time i started to use nicknames like that
but for a while people called me "the guy with the smiley nicknames", back when i was still playing on ladder so i just went with it
lmao what a wholesome nickname
It's been great having you answer these questions today. Any shoutouts or final remarks you'd like to give?
big shoutouts to Tack and SBPC , great friends to have. and special shoutouts to Gefährlicher Random and MAX UND MAX , both started out as lower tier mains and are right now right at the top when it comes to SS OU and played great in world cup. and of course the whole oldgen lower tier community who are still playing those metas
and sry for my lengthy answers but most people dont know anything about me, so hopefully they do now
Your answers have been great and very entertaining so no need to worry!!
and thanks for the interview, your questions were a lot of fun
Feel free to ask to DnB any questions you want!