Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews! Today, we've brought OM's biggest joker...
Hello Ren and welcome to OM Interviews! How are you doing today!
I'm doing fairly well! I'm on two shots of espresso and a cold brew, so a little ascended but had a good day otherwise
Glad to hear!! Starting off, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?
I'm really bad at these lmao I'm a 22 year old person from Canada, I like video games and coffee and stuff! That was pretty lackluster but yeah hahah
Oh I major in compsci I guess.
Next off, you've been in OMs for such a long time... Could you tell us how found PS!, and by extension, the OMs community?
So I've actually known about PS since it was released, apparently? I used to be a part of a smaller community focused on writing stories, and there were quite a few of us who enjoyed taking Pokemon to its limits. Eventually all of us ended up with quite the ego saying we could beat each other in Pokemon (we were NOT good) and that's how we found Showdown as a way to battle online without having a DS and stuff. I forgot about it a while after, but then I ended up using it again after a while in Grade 9 when I told
InfernapeTropius11 about it. Eventually, he got me into Smogon too where I started off as a Monotype main, but I ended up getting bored of that and saw Almost Any Ability in Gen 6. I thought that sounded fairly cool so I whipped together a team (I forget what it was - It had regen Milotic and Dusknoir) and I took some names. That's when I knew OMs was what I wanted to play!
That's awesome!! Personally I think you've grown to be one of the best OM players of this generation - could you give some insight into how you approach pokemon competitively? (whether it be in the builder or while playing!)
I'm flattered. Most people in OMs currently know me as a player who doesn't really build, but I used to build a lot of teams. In the builder, most of the time I just focus on having fun. That sounds very cheesy, but it's really easy to forget that while optimizing a team is really important, having fun in the actual game and using fun teams will almost always put you into a great mental state, and I think that's a super important quality to have when you're playing important games. That's not to say that fun teams can't be optimal, but if you're not enjoying the game, you'll more often than not just want it to end and tunnel on winning. I like to use teams that give me a lot of time to figure out the game, but also ones that just have sets I enjoy using. In the actual game, my closest friends know that I used to get nerves every game and could not handle pressure at all. I did offer to tiebreak for the Tyrantrums if it came down to it, though, and it all came down to advice a friend of mine gave me which let me think super clearly about stuff. If you're playing against an opponent who's favored, I'd take it with zero pressure because if I win, it's great! But if I lose, I'm not underperforming, I'm performing to how people expect me to perform. Against an opponent who isn't favored, I know my own capabilities, and I know I'm capable of beating them. I guess in terms of playing, the piece of advice I think most people could benefit from is that you don't have to win every game to be a good player. Most of the best players take quite a few losses, and Pokemon is Pokemon. Take comfort in you knowing your own capabilities, and if after that you still feel pressure in the actual game, listen to some music that you know will calm you down. Like I said, mentality makes a huge difference.
A great take on that, to be honest. Moving forward, what's your current favourite OM and why? Do you have any teams you've enjoyed using from that meta?
That's a tough question, because all of them have their factors that I enjoy and factors I don't enjoy. I guess when it comes down to it, I really enjoyed my BH game vs stresh with no paralysis. The endgame was incredibly formulaic and didn't have much potential for luck involved, and it really came down to understanding what plays he was likely to make and what my outs were. Even with paralysis, I'd have to say that I still enjoy BH, but it's a lot closer and the thing that pushes BH over AAA for me is the potential for more creativity. I also enjoy long games which rely on somebody to be analytical, rather than just having matchup, and that's one of the reasons I enjoy BH and most OMs.
https://pokepast.es/80e2d9df5dc32772
This is a terrible team, and I wouldn't ever bring this to a tournament game, but it's so fun to use. I love using HO, and I think that when you're playing BH, HO is one of the instances where you can truly show how creative the metagame can get. I know I just said I enjoy longer games, but something else I enjoy is removing any degree of interaction the opponent can have, and I feel BH HO as a playstyle lends itself to that idea pretty well. The Magearna also has no Imposterproof LMAO but it hasn't lost a single game yet, so that's what counts smile
That team looks fun as hell, I might bring it if I ever try to ladder BH. That being said, since we mentioned the Tyrantrums, you've just won OMPL! How do you feel about the win, the team, and the tour overall?
I'm pretty glad to win! I got close once before, but I was thinking I'd have to retire with no win and no custom avatar. I managed to get both, and the custom avatar sounds like it'll be pretty cool, so I'm pretty pleased about that. Going into the tour, I was a little worried about the team potentially burning out, because the other teams were very stacked and having to play that many high level games straight can be fairly draining. Needless to say, the team did not disappoint and I was really pleased with their overall performance. I definitely think that overall, the tournament experience was good, but I think that the OM tournament community can stand to improve how they approach the spectating experience and also how they define what makes a good teammate, a good support player on the team and the like. It's really easy to burn yourself out by supporting too many slots, and too often people forget that being able to build multiple metagames doesn't mean that building for all of them is the only way you can make sure you're worth the buy. It's really easy to get in your head over not living up to what you're expected to do, but remember that if you're burning yourself out, you're hurting the team but also yourself. It's better to do less than more in some cases!
Glad to hear! Although, it's a bit sad to hear you'll be leaving OMs... are there any moments or interactions that you still fondly remember from your years on the site?
I'm definitely staying in touch with quite a few people as I transition into doing other things. I feel like this is a good time to mention that most people in the OMs community have been nothing but kind to me, and I'll always look back on these days with fondness. I appreciate how when I was new, the two people who taught me BH (
E4 Flint and @Haylighter who are two of my best friends) took their time to make sure I learned a lot, and let my playstyle sort of develop into its own thing. I appreciate how all of my friends consistently showed up to help me out whenever they suspected I needed it. I love that we can all come online to talk about this game or other things, and the community's so incredibly strong. I guess the thing that I look at with the most fondness is that no matter what, every single person in this community, OMs or greater, has their own circle of friends, and they actively make the lives of other people better. It's not really a secret that the world's not in a great place right now, but everybody contributes to another person logging on and smiling despite everything. I think that's really cool. I believe that just the realization that by talking to your friend, you make their day better is something super important to have. I know a lot of these people on this site have turned some of my bad days into great ones. Don't underestimate the impact you can have on others. That's what I think I'll look back on with the most fondness.
And I hope your transition goes wonderfully, Ren. After Pokemon, what do you plan on doing? Any hobbies or games you've picked up and have been enjoying?
It's not a secret that I'm going to Japan for a year, and dedicating myself to growing as a person there. I think that everybody has growing to do regardless of where they are in their life, and I think that exposure to a new culture will help me see everything in my own unique way. Other than that, I've been enjoying a lot of Minecraft again, and I'm also dipping my toes into Valorant (which apparently you need headphones for and nobody told me this??). I enjoy playing Mafia, and I find playing Among Us fairly fun as well. Other than that, I just play whatever piques my interest. I tend to dedicate myself to more deception and strategy, but I do enjoy my fair share of combat based games as well. I don't know what exactly I'll end up doing, but there's a ton of options and I'm excited for what all of them have to offer!
That trip sounds like it'll be wonderful, I hope you a fantastic time there! Next off, could you tell us a bit about your thoughts on OMs as a whole? Whether it be critical or not, now's probably the best time to share!
All things considered, I think the administration of OMs is better than it used to be. I think outside of tournaments, the community's pretty fine, but when it comes to tournaments, people become unnecessarily hostile (myself included) and I don't think any one person is to blame for that. I think that overall, the community fosters an environment where everyone's desperate to prove that they know what's going on, and when it comes to the actual game there's a huge urge to win because of what awaits them if they don't. I've seen managers criticize their players and teammates bashing others on their team, as well, which is a hard no. Out of everybody in a tournament, teammates and managers should be understanding, unless the player who played hard throws in which case the player should just say they messed up and understand. I've seen a lot of people just afraid to lose because they don't want to have to deal with how the OMs Discord talks about and/or to them after a game. I've also noticed that a lot of the people who say they're worried about losing because of that, or the people who agree with me on this, are also a part of the same self-serving cycle. I think it has to end. A new player has no reason to want to join if the Discord allows absolutely no room for misplays, and if I was a new player and this was my first OMPL and I lost a game, I'd probably have quit. It's important to understand that in Pokemon, there's a myriad of valid plays at any given moment and as a result, it's super tough to actually ever say someone 100% hard threw. Yeah, it's true that some plays are better than others, often times much, much better, but ultimately nobody's a perfect player and I think being more understanding about that is incredibly important. In addition, if you're ever the one bashing and/or flaming somebody for their play or team choice -- Why would anybody ever want to team with you? The community could stand to be more forgiving, and that's a change I hope happens.
That being said, there are definitely people who make the tournaments community healthier at times as well. Nobody's ever 100% positive, but I recognize that everyone in the tournaments community isn't 100% negative either. I also think being fully positive is boring and doesn't really foster a great environment for learning, but I think too much negativity is worse than too much positivity and it's important to understand what some people did correctly in a game just as much as it being important to understand how you could've played a game better. I'd like to give shoutouts to
UT and
iapt in particular -- I think they do an incredible job of keeping the tournaments space pretty positive, and I know they've also fell victim to some toxicity but they don't let that deter them from bringing other people up and they're real rolemodels. I think this competitive community is better than other ones, but I think that it can always improve and I know it's capable of improvement. It's just about finding a balance between constructive criticism and motivation.
As you've been on PS for such a long time - do you think your experiences here have helped to change you in any way? How do you think it's impacted you and you impacted it?
I'm definitely a better person because of my experience on PS. I've met a lot of friends who've helped me grow in various ways, and even just people in the community have helped me out a ton. Seeing a lot of people and the way they approach life has been fairly eye-opening to myself too. I think that the biggest trait I've developed during my time on PS is to recognize that everybody always has a reason for something, and to always keep myself open to hearing the other person's perspective instead of rushing to judge. 16 year old me was fairly hotheaded and confrontational. My experiences in a competitive setting have also helped me approach other games and life in general, and if I ever returned to the time when I was 16, I'd do it all over again. In terms of how I've impacted the community, I'd like to think that I've made quite a few friends who I've helped out a bit and made laugh a little. I don't mean to speak for them, though - That's just something I tell myself so I can sleep at night smile
Next off, is there anything you hope to see from the next generation of Pokemon?
Dexit being gone is a huge one for me, and I love the idea of megas being brought back. I'm also hoping that freeze is changed to frostbite, I think it's a really cool change introduced in PLA and it should stick. Something a lot of people might not expect from me is that I'm hoping they ride PLA's success and finally develop an open world Pokemon MMORPG (or literally any MMORPG), I think I'd play that. I love the idea of being able to go through growing as a trainer with others.
Wonderful! To close off, is there anyone you'd like to shoutout but didn't get to?
Hmm... It's tough because I'd definitely be missing some people if I shouted a list out. I've met so many people on this website who have impacted me in various ways. I guess clanx, gangshin, mocha, extra and philcord all deserve a shoutout for impacting me in various ways. If you're not in those groups, though - Odds are you're still fairly important to me smile. I'd also like to shout out my friends from outside of Smogon who've helped me develop as a competitive gamer and a person in general and given me something to look forward to even after I leave! I'm excited to stay friends with them, as well as the people I've become close with on Smogon. Hoping that stays!
And finally, is there anything you'd like to say to our readers?
Stay cool o/
Feel free to ask ren anything below! This will be the final OM interview from this generation and from me - so I hope you enjoy it the best you can!
Mamoswine
Quagsire
Wailord