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Welcome to the OU Player of the Week Project: Rebooted! For those of you that don't know, this is a project where I interview a tournament player and have you, the readers, leave any questions you may have down below for them to answer. The ultimate goal is to gain insight as to how they play this skillful and strategic video game. If any of you have a suggestion for who I should interview, feel free to VM/PM me, and I will take your suggestion into consideration. Now, enough of this boring intro. Let's get to it!
ArchPhantom
Most Known For:
Top 16 in OST, Played for Afrabs in WCOP
Favorite Pokemon:
Blaziken
Most used Pokemon:
Garchomp and Tornadus-T
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Hello (n_n)/ I'm a 21 year old dude living and working atm in Qatar and just saving up to go back to uni. I'm a sucker for games, anime and football (feet). Speak Arabic too :D! Hajimemashite ~
Where did you get your name from?
I honestly do not remember how this name came to be :o
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
I got a little bored after beating the GBA pokemon games over and over, so I went online and see if there was some type of pkmn. This was around 2008, a couple years after pkmn emerald iirc. That's when I stumbled upon shoddy battle and I was like "omg, unreal." And thus the obsession began
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
I feel ORAS plays much more aggressive compared to XY and with all these strong ass threats, it's p cray. Though I like what ORAS is doing atm (excluding Goth stall.) and I feel there's still some innovations to be created in this meta, maybe. ORAS still has some maturing to do (ex: Mega Metagross was S rank in early ORAS + a suspect tested messiah; now it's not even seen anymore) and perhaps it may transcend late XY as a really great meta.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
Hmm, team match up always existed in mons but I don't think it's as big as its sometimes made out to be. Any team will always have its weakness, but what separates good players from the rest is their ability to identify and then mitigate team weaknesses to the best of their ability with smart teambuilding and wise in-battle decisions.
Do you feel that there is anything that is suspect worthy at the moment?
not really
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
I love sand balance because it has such a strong presence no matter what you're up against. The value you get out of just two slots in sand setter and Excadrill is quite insane imo--(Speed Control, Hazards, Hazard Control, match up vs HO, residual damage, anti-fairy and anti-bird, strong late-game cleaner)-- with the only downsides being that they stack weaknesses and get shredded by strong prio users (Breloom, Bisharp, Azumarill). But yeah sand balance is one of my faves.
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
Gen 4 is near and dear to me because it's where I learned the ropes, the ins and the outs, etc. good days, good days <3
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
Typically, I'd look up my opponent's replays (if it's a big tour) and try to identify patterns and playstyles they tend to favor. I then go with a combination of 6 mons that match up well vs said patterns/playstyles without being utter shit vs other things. I also tend to avoid ct'ing unless my opp always brings a certain set. Like always, always. Then I test that team vs friends, on ladder, vs. good players, etc. After that, I make variations of the team if I feel it necessary just to have options ya feel. But in most cases I just whip out a team that I feel is cool or that has a mon I didn't use in a while and just dive in.
Favorite to win STour?
Leftiez and cosine180 no lies told
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
Eh, bye bye Gothitelle I guess cause Trick + STag is p damn dumb imo
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
My advice for new players is to use whatever resource you're comfortable with (YouTube, smogon articles, battling 101, tutoring, etc) to get yourself familiar with the basics of competitive mons. Study and play test top teams of the tier you're interested in and when you lose, take notes and see what you could've done to win. Try out different playstyles and don't limit yourself. Also get involved in the community; join tours, workshops and leagues; if you have questions, ask. But most importantly, have fun!
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
I'd make it so that newcomers or beginners are met with a useful guide pack/alert/thingie upon signing up that includes the 1 2 3s of mons to help get em started. (idk if this is already implemented, if so my b)
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
Here's a non descriptive mixture of frens and players I look up to:
GeeMick, ThePack, AM, cosine180, Leftiez, Lady Bug, bludz, Albacore, BlackBloodz, Masterclass, Clone, Tom Bus, blazelatias, OmfuGOD, njnp, analytic, Invok3r, bad ass, ben gay, mencemeat, bluwing, blunder, aim, bof folk, and a whole bunch of others *.*
Finally, can you provide us a team that's a good fit for this metagame and reflects your playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 96 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return
- Roost
- Heal Bell
Keldeo-Resolute @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Secret Sword
- Sleep Talk
- Scald
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 96 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return
- Roost
- Heal Bell
Keldeo-Resolute @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Secret Sword
- Sleep Talk
- Scald
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
The above team revolves around wearing down and trapping shit so Excadrill or M-Altaria can win, p straightforward. Bulky DD M-Altaria is this teams answer to a lot of offensive threats like Both Zards, electrics, and fast fighting types. Heal Bell gives me some clerical support to cure random status especially with all the wisp Tflames running around. Banded Ttar + SD Exca are mainly for speed control though they help a ton in breaking Altaria's C&C's down. Magnezone's function is to trap steels for both my set up dudes and to check Thundurus + a few fairies (sick check right haha)
Lando-T is the team's rocker with Knock Off for that Mag trappin synergy. On this build, I decided to go with a SDef lando because M-Zam and Gengar literally just win otherwise. Trust, SDef lando t is like really, really good. Finally, Keldeo was needed seeing that Bisharp destroyed me. Resttalk + LO is a p decent hard hitting set that worked for this build. Threats to this include Azumarill and Mega Diancie but all can be played around. The key to this team is to play very, very strategically; no stuntin' allowed w this squadron
