[AMA] Ray Jay

[Ray Jay]

This Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread is a resource provided to you by the Smogon Mentorship Program. In it, feel free to ask this mentor about anything you'd like. They're most prepared to answer Smogon-related questions, but don't be afraid to ask them about their personality and life outside of this site. Have some patience when you post a question in this thread; it will likely take the mentor a few days to reply. If you're looking for our up-to-date list of mentors, check out our Mentor Profiles onsite. Read through their relevant information below, and enjoy!

Username: Ray Jay
Areas of Expertise: Little Cup, C&C

Background: I started Smogon back in 2010 under the name Dr. Reid due to being interested in the C&C process. I was accepted onto the first Grammar-Prose team (what a nerd; grammer checks pokemon analyses) and was involved in a lot of the early writing for Generation V. After a while I lost interest in OU and began playing Little Cup pretty obsessively, which is where I spend most of my time and contributions to today.

Hobbies: Ultimate Frisbee, Piano / Guitar, Movies and Netflix, Animal Crossing

Favorite Pokemon: Snivy

Good Questions to Ask Me: I'm open to answer pretty much anything! For Smogon question in particular, I have a lot of experience helping users get involved in C&C , have worked on a few Smogcasts, and I have experience as a tier leader from running LC last generation, so feel free to ask about these things and others!

​

 

[FireMage]

What was the biggest challenge when running the LC Tier?

After your break, what was the most pleasant change you found to the tier, similarly what was the worst thing that happened?

 

[ryan]

What made you leave Smogon when you did?

What made you come back? :0

Favorite LC bunny Pokemon from Kalos?

Favorite user with a dog gif for their avatar?

 

[Superpowerdude]

Favourite LC shellsmasher?

Favourite LC pokemon?

 

[Ray Jay]

What was the biggest challenge when running the LC Tier?

After your break, what was the most pleasant change you found to the tier, similarly what was the worst thing that happened?

My biggest challenge when I was in charge of LC was the fact that I became tiering leader very late in BW2 LC metagame, so we were pretty much done with tiering. LC was extremely balanced (if overcentralized) so suspecting wasn't the right thing to do but the metagame was old and not very fun. It was hard to get people to continue to contribute (myself included) when there was nothing to guide our playing.

The most pleasant change I've found is the influx of gen vi users. I love a lot of these guys and gal, and think they're going to make some great contributions to the tier. The worst thing that happened is I somehow still got rounded up to write the LC guide again this gen 9.9

What made you leave Smogon when you did?

What made you come back? :0

Favorite LC bunny Pokemon from Kalos?

Favorite user with a dog gif for their avatar?

When I left Smogon it honestly had nothing to do with Smogon, I got overwhelmed by the end of HS and college apps and stuff. There was simply too much going on in my life (I was one of those really involved kids in High School) and Smogon seemed like the thing I had to drop. Seeing as I was tiering head, I didn't feel like I should be in that position if I couldn't contribute a ton of time to the tier and somehow that just translated to me quitting completely cuz overwhelmed.

I came back because my first semester of university was honestly a joke and had too much free time. I also missed some people that I had used to hang out with on irc. Finally, I really couldn't picture Gen VI LC without me contributing so I knew I had to come back :D

Bunnelby

Treecko that'd be you!!!

Favourite LC shellsmasher?

Favourite LC pokemon?

My fav shellsmasher is Dwebble because I feel it's really versatile right now and I hate Tangela. Although maybe after Tangela gets banned I'll go back to liking Tirtouga more idk.

Favorite LC Pokemon is Snivy because it's the cutest / sassiest Pokemon ever but unfortunately not too viable right now. I really like Pawniard because it punishes people that use stupid strategies like Sticky Web or Icy Wind or stuff like that and because Knocking Off everything is really fun. Phione should be freed also, just saying.

 

[Kingler]

the only good that has come from this thread is that superpowerdude posted
Why do you like snivy?
What is your favorite strategy(not broken stuff and shit)?
Which new users do you like specifically?(follow up of fm's q)

 

[Ray Jay]

the only good that has come from this thread is that superpowerdude posted
Why do you like snivy?
What is your favorite strategy(not broken stuff and shit)?
Which new users do you like specifically?(follow up of fm's q)

Snivy is both cute and sassy just like me irl
Favorite LC strategy is hazard stacking + Pawniard because people are stupid
Best new users off the top of my head are Raichy, Raichy, Raichy, Goddess Briyella, and Raichy

 

[awesomesocks42]

How do you recommend getting into C&C without looking like an idiot/noob/pompous a-hole?

 

[prem]

why are you so cute.

 

[Snowflakes]

why does LC have the highest Indian concentration out of all tiers.

 

[DTC]

how do i get integrated into the little cup community

edit: why does snowflakes still post?

edit2: why did you tell us to ask you questions when you were going to leave a minute later?

 

[Anthiese]

Who are your favorite ACNL Residents? (mine are Goldie/Colton/Leonardo)

 

[Ray Jay]

How do you recommend getting into C&C without looking like an idiot/noob/pompous a-hole?

Ooh I was hoping someone would ask this! So I think the key to getting involved with C&C is actually having something to contribute. I think a lot of users contribute just because others do it too / it's a way to get smogon attention but I think users that really put a lot of effort into their contributions shine rather noticeably. To avoid being an idiot: play the tier you want to contribute for a lot. Daily if you can. To avoid looking like a noob: read the stickies all throughout the forums, read other analyses, familiarize yourself with the system as much as you can such that your contributions are formatted correctly... there are a ton of resources in the C&C subforum to make sure you know what to do. If you're still confused, ask questions. To avoid looking pompous: take suggestions from C&C members and the GP team in stride. Don't be arrogant when something goes well, but don't be self-deprecating when something goes poorly. Don't over-reserve yourself on analyses / contributions, work at a continuous pace rather than spurts, and if it's not fun anymore, stop.

why are you so cute.

genes I guess

why does LC have the highest Indian concentration out of all tiers.

I'm not sure of the answer to this question. I would guess it has to do with the fact that if you calculate number of indian users for LC / total LC users, it is higher than for the rest of the tiers.

how do i get integrated into the little cup community

edit: why does snowflakes still post?

edit2: why did you tell us to ask you questions when you were going to leave a minute later?

To get integrated into LC you need to be on irc, that way the tiering leader and his cronies who don't actually play LC will begin to recognize your name. Then you have to quietly make good contributions to irc, ladder / play in tournaments well, maybe make an rmt if you're really cool and ask for it to be featured in the smog, post in the forums a lot, and then one day you will randomly get promoted to half op on the LC channel. You are now integrated, and it will be easy to go up from there.

Snowflakes obviously sees the benefit in me answering the question about indians and thus felt inclined to post.

I wanted something to come back to later!

Who are your favorite ACNL Residents? (mine are Goldie/Colton/Leonardo)

Wow this is tough! Strictly AC:New Leaf is a bit easier, I'm a big fan of Poncho, Apollo, and Yuka.

Animal Crossing across all platforms is a bit tougher, but some other ones I really like are: Cupcake, Jitters, Ace, Deena, Derwin

As for all time favorite villagers.... definitely gonna go with Bob and Kody!

 

[Anthiese]

ooohhh Kody i know who that is! He's in my ACNL town!

 

[Electrolyte]

What are your aspirations for Little Cup in this new generation?

Aside from being just adorable, what other reasons made you interested in Little Cup?

How has grammar checking opened your eyes to the stupid grammar mistakes of your peers irl?

 

[Ray Jay]

What are your aspirations for Little Cup in this new generation?

Aside from being just adorable, what other reasons made you interested in Little Cup?

How has grammar checking opened your eyes to the stupid grammar mistakes of your peers irl?

For LC this generation, my biggest aspiration was to be in SPL which we took care of pretty quickly. I'd also like to raise up some users that go on to influence Smogon as a whole!

I was interested in LC because it was really really different than OU and every other tier derived from that so it had the fun of learning competitive Pokemon all over again.

There's only one phrase that the GP team (specifically, Zystral) has ingrained into me as a mistake I notice constantly, and that's "since" vs. "as". Technically the correct usage of "since" is only when chronology is involved while "as" is the correct word for comparisons or flow in logic when chronology is not present. Noticing this always has pretty much ruined my life.

 

[Zystral]

There's only one phrase that the GP team (specifically, Zystral) has ingrained into me as a mistake I notice constantly, and that's "since" vs. "as". Technically the correct usage of "since" is only when chronology is involved; "as" is the correct word for comparisons or flow in logic when chronology is not present. Noticing this always has pretty much ruined my life.

GP APPROVED 1/0

"while" is also reserved for chronological contexts, should be avoided when talking about differences.

 

[Ray Jay]

Zystral can't spell "analysis" without "anal", right?

 

[Kavatika]

Best new users off the top of my head are Raichy, Raichy, Raichy, Goddess Briyella, and Raichy

Why am I not on here?

edit: ok serious question leggo

I'm going through High School right now, and I'm really having a problem with smogon (actually games in general) going before my school work (like an unfinished presentation that's due today). I'd really like to be more involved in school, and make more of an effort to get straight A's (I know I'm capable), but I really don't wanna quit smogon (or games) altogether. You have any advice?

 

[Ray Jay]

Why am I not on here?

edit: ok serious question leggo

I'm going through High School right now, and I'm really having a problem with smogon (actually games in general) going before my school work (like an unfinished presentation that's due today). I'd really like to be more involved in school, and make more of an effort to get straight A's (I know I'm capable), but I really don't wanna quit smogon (or games) altogether. You have any advice?

So I went through pretty much the same thing as you in High School. I realized no amount of "prioritizing" was really going to be enough because I just didn't really care about high school. What I did was make sure I loved going to High School. To do this I just got involved with as much random stuff as possible, started ultimate frisbee club, joined choir, joined student government, got to know my teachers better and asked if there was anything they needed help with, and basically it felt like I wasn't just wasting my time there trying to earn some pretty easy to earn grades... when I was more involved, it made me want to achieve more in my school work.

 

[teamtotodile1991]

Favorite starter?

Favorite pokemon?

Favorite new Kalos Pokemon?

Favorite Kalos Starter?

Do you like Lanturn?

 

[dice]

why do u like those lvl 5 mons

why do u like frisbee (lol!!!!!!!!!!!!)

why do u think ur good at selfies

 

[Ray Jay]

Favorite starter?

Favorite pokemon?

Favorite new Kalos Pokemon?

Favorite Kalos Starter?

Do you like Lanturn?

why do u like those lvl 5 mons

why do u like frisbee (lol!!!!!!!!!!!!)

why do u think ur good at selfies

teamtotodile1991

1. Snivy
2. Vivillion
3. Fennekin
4. Lanturn is a boss

Dice
1. I'm lazy and dont like training pokemon
2. frisbee is life
3. literally everyone on our team said my selfie was better than yours so I guess that had a lot to do with it

 

[teamtotodile1991]

You missed No. 2 :p

 

[Ray Jay]

You missed No. 2 :p

Oops! Snivy (it's my fave starter and fave pokemon)