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Welcome to OU's Player of the week, a thread where I interview well known players to gain insight on how they battle, as well as get to know some things about them. The goal of this thread is to have these high level players give insight to other players in this community in hopes of creating a better overall experience in the OU environment. As always, if theres someone youd like to see interviewed, feel free to shoot me a PM. So without further ado, let’s get to it! (Just a note: Anyone tagged in this post was tagged in the interview by Hugo)
Most Known For: IDM CEO, Winning OST 9 despite losing to double01, BW and XY teambuilding, XY OU Council member, being an XY RU Holy Knight Lord King Emperor of Thunder and God of Lightning
Favorite Pokémon: Raikou
Most used Pokémon: Latios
Where did you get your name from?
I chose this name as my email address when i was like 10 years old. I don’t honestly remember how I came up with such a brilliant idea, but fast forward to the time when BW got released in North America, I decided to use it as the Smogon forum signup name because I thought I would just play Pokemon casually anyway and any random username will do. Boy was I wrong.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
It all started around the time when BW came out in North America. I have played all the main Pokemon games in the past, however I was not aware of the deep competitive aspect of Pokemon. When I heard that BW was coming out, I went on Youtube and accidentally stumbled upon videos from people like mtgxerxes and shofu (in DPP), and became aware of it even though I didn’t completely get what’s going on. So when BW finally came out, I started wifi battling “competitively”. To give you an idea, my first BW team revolved around SD baton pass Ninjask to Garchomp and Carracosta, so you can say I’ve come a long way since then. But to make a long story short, I found out that people play on PO late 2011, and I started going to the Smogon server and later on the PO Beta server when BW2 came out (as Smogon migrated to PS—I didn’t think PS was a good simulator back then). Then I started joining tours on Smogon in late 2012.
What’s it like leading one of the most famous Pokémon clans in IDM?
It is absolutely fantabulous. If you’ve never known what it feels like to be at the helm of the most powerful and well respected clan in the world, you haven’t lived.
How did IDM start, and how do you recruit people?
We were initially just a group of friends who mainly use Skype as a means of communication. One day when we were in a call, PROBLEMS jokingly suggested that we should make a clan and our own channel on PO, and CTC agreed. I followed along as I didn’t think their idea would last anyway, but alas the IDM clan has been in shambles for around two years now. Personally I don’t think of IDM as a clan, its just a group of friends with a hilariously embarrassing label on it, but apparently some people think that we influence Smogon from the shadows be it through PokeDollars bribery or illegal supply of teams made by me or CTC. As far as “recruiting” goes, I guess we just let people who we are friends with into our Skype group.
What’s it like playing in big team tours such as WCoP and SPL? Favorite and least favorite moment(s)?
I’ve had the luxury of being in good teams in WCoP and SPL, so they are always quite a pleasant experience. I can’t really pinpoint any particular favorite or least favorite moments aside from the obvious euphoric feeling when your team won and depressing atmosphere when your team lost. However, the times when players’ ego clash in these team tours is definitely something I don’t look forward to, so that can be a “least favorite” moment.
What is your thought process when making teams?
This probably applies to most people, but I often try to build around a certain Pokemon. The more uncommon it is, the better because that means others won’t prepare for it. Of course said Pokemon also has to be effective in some way, because there is no use in being creative for the sake of it. Its also helpful to have a reliable 2-3 mons core that can handle most of the metagame, because you can quickly incorporate these cores into your ideas and tweak them as needed.
How did you get so good at making teams?
I don’t know. I played the game a lot in the past so building teams become intuitive at some point. Having good players to bounce ideas off also helps immensely to make sure you don’t waste your time building around crap, as is a good grasp of the metagame. I make plenty of bad teams still, and the picky penguins who asked for my help are usually not shy in voicing their dissatisfaction.
Whats your favorite playstyle and why?
Balance or bulky offense. I’ve never been a huge fan of stall although its useful to bring it every once in a while in tournament play so you don’t become predictable. Hyper offense is often very matchup and prediction reliant, which I’m also not fond of. With balanced teams, however, you should have room to outplay or outsmart your opponents as needed. You might not gain an insurmountable matchup advantage right off the bat as can be seen when playing stall or HO, but the opposite is also true.
As a member of the OU council, can you give us insight as to what goes into deciding what does and doesn’t deserve a suspect test? Are there any bans that you didn’t agree with?
The mighty ruling fists of Aldaron decide what Pokemon shall be incriminated next, and I voice my opinions as I see fit. I agree with all the bans made in XY, man. At any rate, you need not worry about my seemingly ban-happy attitude as M Dragon is always there to balance things out.
If you could change OU, be it through a ban or unban, what would it be and why?
I wouldn’t change anything at this point.
What are you looking forward to the most in ORAS?
I’m not as excited as most people in abusing broken stuff in new metagames, but I’m looking forward to seeing the new Hoopa form in action. Also the defensive setup megas such as Slowbro, Sableye and Altaria all seem quite menacing. Can’t wait for CrashinBoomBang’s Comeback to tournament play and domination of Smogon Tour/OST while wielding a Mega Slowbro team co-created with his bestie, Tele.
Aside from the obvious Salamence and potential Greninja, do you foresee any of the new megas / mons w/ new moves being too much for OU?
The majority of new Megas we get this gen will be worthwhile to use in OU, though they won’t be quite at Salamence’s level. However I can’t speculate too much about it as I have not played a single game of ORAS.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
I am good friends with a lot of players, and talking with them is probably the most enjoyment I get from Pokemon these days. As for players who I look up to, I’m not sure if “look up” is the right word but here is my personal Top 5 players who I admire for their Pokemon skills:
Bloo-sama and McMeghan-dono, as they are undeniably at the top of their games and Smogon right now (both of these barbie Ash Ketchum ass niggas are not satisfied by merely being top 2, though). It seems mandatory to mention both higher beings lately because of how well they’ve performed, and luckily I have the honor of talking to these two Gods often. They have been a dominant force in this game for as long as my participation in Smogon, and I think everyone can learn a lot from them, not only from their skills but also their mentality. McMeghan is more of a happy guy with positive outlook including in Pokemon (I'm starting to think this contributes a lot to luck--an extreme case of this would be user -Tsunami-), while Bloo is very driven. You can see this if you talk to them, and these respective qualities translated to their Pokemon success;
CrashinBoomBang-senpai, primarily for his ballsy playstyle. Its funny because the first few times I talked to McMeghan, he immediately said he’s interested to see me play CBB because of how aggressive CBB plays. Certainly one of those players who is very hard to read especially because testicular fortitude is a rarity nowadays;
aim-kun is probably the person I’ve known the longest in Pokemon (since early 2012). He was already very good at the game at the time, and similar to CBB he makes very risky plays and is good at reading the opponent, which I also come to learn from. And yet he still continues to improve, mainly in terms of his decision making and game plan;
BKC-sensei is also one of the best team builders around and someone I respect a lot. He was very proficient in BW yet eventually came to despise the gen, complete ass in XY, but the amount of knowledge he has in ADV and especially DPP is unreal. There were many instances when I watch him play in DPP during Smogon Tour, and as the opponent leads with <insert generic DPP lead here> he would go “Oh I know his team,” and more often than not he’ll get all 6 mons right. He also won the Smogon Tour despite not being a playoff material. No wonder the girlscouts are all over his Elder Wand;
There are many other players I come to respect, but I won’t bother to expand on the rest (you can question me about them if you want). I do hold these players in high regard through my daily interaction with them or through team tours I participated in: Masterclass, FLCL, SoulWind, SilentVerse, Adam, DracoMalfoy, bro fist, dragonuser, august... And of course CTC, the thug-cum-revolutionist who runs IDM and Team Archive thread, nothing but respect and adoration for that guy. I’m sure I’m still missing a lot of people but I can’t name every single pipsqueak who had their bright moments, nor can I speak of players I don't really know in the same regard.
Do you have any advice for players that are newer to the XY OU Metagame?
Do not use Baton Pass no matter how bad you are. It won’t get you anywhere. And please don't use the excuse "I just want to try it out." It works, it's gay, and it will get you nothing but hate.
If you’re semi-new, watching good players helps, and you can also look up pokeaim or thunderblunder777 on youtube if you want live commentaries. Check out dblacstardust for ubers content, and chimpact for the best egglocke youtube has to offer. Of course you also have to play/practice yourself to actually improve.
Finally, is there a team that you could show us that reflects your playstyle that is a good fit for this metagame with a brief explanation of how it works?
No. Just watch my replays.
So there it is. If you have any questions for Hugo, feel free to ask him in the thread. I’d like to thank him once again for doing this. See you next week!
Banner by me
Welcome to OU's Player of the week, a thread where I interview well known players to gain insight on how they battle, as well as get to know some things about them. The goal of this thread is to have these high level players give insight to other players in this community in hopes of creating a better overall experience in the OU environment. As always, if theres someone youd like to see interviewed, feel free to shoot me a PM. So without further ado, let’s get to it! (Just a note: Anyone tagged in this post was tagged in the interview by Hugo)
Most Known For: IDM CEO, Winning OST 9 despite losing to double01, BW and XY teambuilding, XY OU Council member, being an XY RU Holy Knight Lord King Emperor of Thunder and God of Lightning
Favorite Pokémon: Raikou
Most used Pokémon: Latios
Where did you get your name from?
I chose this name as my email address when i was like 10 years old. I don’t honestly remember how I came up with such a brilliant idea, but fast forward to the time when BW got released in North America, I decided to use it as the Smogon forum signup name because I thought I would just play Pokemon casually anyway and any random username will do. Boy was I wrong.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
It all started around the time when BW came out in North America. I have played all the main Pokemon games in the past, however I was not aware of the deep competitive aspect of Pokemon. When I heard that BW was coming out, I went on Youtube and accidentally stumbled upon videos from people like mtgxerxes and shofu (in DPP), and became aware of it even though I didn’t completely get what’s going on. So when BW finally came out, I started wifi battling “competitively”. To give you an idea, my first BW team revolved around SD baton pass Ninjask to Garchomp and Carracosta, so you can say I’ve come a long way since then. But to make a long story short, I found out that people play on PO late 2011, and I started going to the Smogon server and later on the PO Beta server when BW2 came out (as Smogon migrated to PS—I didn’t think PS was a good simulator back then). Then I started joining tours on Smogon in late 2012.
What’s it like leading one of the most famous Pokémon clans in IDM?
It is absolutely fantabulous. If you’ve never known what it feels like to be at the helm of the most powerful and well respected clan in the world, you haven’t lived.
How did IDM start, and how do you recruit people?
We were initially just a group of friends who mainly use Skype as a means of communication. One day when we were in a call, PROBLEMS jokingly suggested that we should make a clan and our own channel on PO, and CTC agreed. I followed along as I didn’t think their idea would last anyway, but alas the IDM clan has been in shambles for around two years now. Personally I don’t think of IDM as a clan, its just a group of friends with a hilariously embarrassing label on it, but apparently some people think that we influence Smogon from the shadows be it through PokeDollars bribery or illegal supply of teams made by me or CTC. As far as “recruiting” goes, I guess we just let people who we are friends with into our Skype group.
What’s it like playing in big team tours such as WCoP and SPL? Favorite and least favorite moment(s)?
I’ve had the luxury of being in good teams in WCoP and SPL, so they are always quite a pleasant experience. I can’t really pinpoint any particular favorite or least favorite moments aside from the obvious euphoric feeling when your team won and depressing atmosphere when your team lost. However, the times when players’ ego clash in these team tours is definitely something I don’t look forward to, so that can be a “least favorite” moment.
What is your thought process when making teams?
This probably applies to most people, but I often try to build around a certain Pokemon. The more uncommon it is, the better because that means others won’t prepare for it. Of course said Pokemon also has to be effective in some way, because there is no use in being creative for the sake of it. Its also helpful to have a reliable 2-3 mons core that can handle most of the metagame, because you can quickly incorporate these cores into your ideas and tweak them as needed.
How did you get so good at making teams?
I don’t know. I played the game a lot in the past so building teams become intuitive at some point. Having good players to bounce ideas off also helps immensely to make sure you don’t waste your time building around crap, as is a good grasp of the metagame. I make plenty of bad teams still, and the picky penguins who asked for my help are usually not shy in voicing their dissatisfaction.
Whats your favorite playstyle and why?
Balance or bulky offense. I’ve never been a huge fan of stall although its useful to bring it every once in a while in tournament play so you don’t become predictable. Hyper offense is often very matchup and prediction reliant, which I’m also not fond of. With balanced teams, however, you should have room to outplay or outsmart your opponents as needed. You might not gain an insurmountable matchup advantage right off the bat as can be seen when playing stall or HO, but the opposite is also true.
As a member of the OU council, can you give us insight as to what goes into deciding what does and doesn’t deserve a suspect test? Are there any bans that you didn’t agree with?
The mighty ruling fists of Aldaron decide what Pokemon shall be incriminated next, and I voice my opinions as I see fit. I agree with all the bans made in XY, man. At any rate, you need not worry about my seemingly ban-happy attitude as M Dragon is always there to balance things out.
If you could change OU, be it through a ban or unban, what would it be and why?
I wouldn’t change anything at this point.
What are you looking forward to the most in ORAS?
I’m not as excited as most people in abusing broken stuff in new metagames, but I’m looking forward to seeing the new Hoopa form in action. Also the defensive setup megas such as Slowbro, Sableye and Altaria all seem quite menacing. Can’t wait for CrashinBoomBang’s Comeback to tournament play and domination of Smogon Tour/OST while wielding a Mega Slowbro team co-created with his bestie, Tele.
Aside from the obvious Salamence and potential Greninja, do you foresee any of the new megas / mons w/ new moves being too much for OU?
The majority of new Megas we get this gen will be worthwhile to use in OU, though they won’t be quite at Salamence’s level. However I can’t speculate too much about it as I have not played a single game of ORAS.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
I am good friends with a lot of players, and talking with them is probably the most enjoyment I get from Pokemon these days. As for players who I look up to, I’m not sure if “look up” is the right word but here is my personal Top 5 players who I admire for their Pokemon skills:
Bloo-sama and McMeghan-dono, as they are undeniably at the top of their games and Smogon right now (both of these barbie Ash Ketchum ass niggas are not satisfied by merely being top 2, though). It seems mandatory to mention both higher beings lately because of how well they’ve performed, and luckily I have the honor of talking to these two Gods often. They have been a dominant force in this game for as long as my participation in Smogon, and I think everyone can learn a lot from them, not only from their skills but also their mentality. McMeghan is more of a happy guy with positive outlook including in Pokemon (I'm starting to think this contributes a lot to luck--an extreme case of this would be user -Tsunami-), while Bloo is very driven. You can see this if you talk to them, and these respective qualities translated to their Pokemon success;
CrashinBoomBang-senpai, primarily for his ballsy playstyle. Its funny because the first few times I talked to McMeghan, he immediately said he’s interested to see me play CBB because of how aggressive CBB plays. Certainly one of those players who is very hard to read especially because testicular fortitude is a rarity nowadays;
aim-kun is probably the person I’ve known the longest in Pokemon (since early 2012). He was already very good at the game at the time, and similar to CBB he makes very risky plays and is good at reading the opponent, which I also come to learn from. And yet he still continues to improve, mainly in terms of his decision making and game plan;
BKC-sensei is also one of the best team builders around and someone I respect a lot. He was very proficient in BW yet eventually came to despise the gen, complete ass in XY, but the amount of knowledge he has in ADV and especially DPP is unreal. There were many instances when I watch him play in DPP during Smogon Tour, and as the opponent leads with <insert generic DPP lead here> he would go “Oh I know his team,” and more often than not he’ll get all 6 mons right. He also won the Smogon Tour despite not being a playoff material. No wonder the girlscouts are all over his Elder Wand;
There are many other players I come to respect, but I won’t bother to expand on the rest (you can question me about them if you want). I do hold these players in high regard through my daily interaction with them or through team tours I participated in: Masterclass, FLCL, SoulWind, SilentVerse, Adam, DracoMalfoy, bro fist, dragonuser, august... And of course CTC, the thug-cum-revolutionist who runs IDM and Team Archive thread, nothing but respect and adoration for that guy. I’m sure I’m still missing a lot of people but I can’t name every single pipsqueak who had their bright moments, nor can I speak of players I don't really know in the same regard.
Do you have any advice for players that are newer to the XY OU Metagame?
Do not use Baton Pass no matter how bad you are. It won’t get you anywhere. And please don't use the excuse "I just want to try it out." It works, it's gay, and it will get you nothing but hate.
If you’re semi-new, watching good players helps, and you can also look up pokeaim or thunderblunder777 on youtube if you want live commentaries. Check out dblacstardust for ubers content, and chimpact for the best egglocke youtube has to offer. Of course you also have to play/practice yourself to actually improve.
Finally, is there a team that you could show us that reflects your playstyle that is a good fit for this metagame with a brief explanation of how it works?
No. Just watch my replays.
One of my favorite balanced teams to use have been posted by bloo, and I don’t feel like showing others, so I guess this one will have to do:
http://pastebin.com/TuE0gW5h
I don’t know how this team would fare now, but it was certainly quite fun at the time it was created. Simply put, SubBP Celebi gives free turns for Specs Keldeo and Gardevoir to fire off hits while also being a decent check to Excadrill (unless it flinches you twice), Scarf Landorus-T provides intimidate support as well as some much needed speed, and Raikou provides speed and momentum while handling Thundurus and most birds well enough. Heatran is there as a Steel and Dragon resist as well as a reliable SR setter, plus it serves as a good check to Jolly SD Talonflame.
http://pastebin.com/TuE0gW5h
I don’t know how this team would fare now, but it was certainly quite fun at the time it was created. Simply put, SubBP Celebi gives free turns for Specs Keldeo and Gardevoir to fire off hits while also being a decent check to Excadrill (unless it flinches you twice), Scarf Landorus-T provides intimidate support as well as some much needed speed, and Raikou provides speed and momentum while handling Thundurus and most birds well enough. Heatran is there as a Steel and Dragon resist as well as a reliable SR setter, plus it serves as a good check to Jolly SD Talonflame.
So there it is. If you have any questions for Hugo, feel free to ask him in the thread. I’d like to thank him once again for doing this. See you next week!
