Approved by Sweep
Based on other Player of the Week threads
Based on other Player of the Week threads
Art by NicoReaper
Welcome everyone to Ubers Player of the Week! This will be a weekly project where I interview well known players to try and see into their mind a bit. If anyone has any suggestions on who I should interview, feel free to shoot me a PM. Anyways, lets get to it!
The Trap God
#trapped
Favourite Pokemon:
Gengar
Been one of my favorite Pokemon since gen 1 because I loved the design and thought he was a hilarious trouble maker in the anime. Glad that Mega-Gengar is so good in ORAS because it feels great being able to win with your favorite Pokemon.
What would you say you're most known for?
I'd like to think I'm known for being one of the better players out of the new wave of ORAS players, a solid 3-1 record in my first UPL, 6th place finish in Ubers Spring Seasonal, and consistent performance in the entire Seasonal circuit giving me the 5 spot on the ORAS Ubers Power Rankings thread and a top 8 finish in the Seasonal Playoffs.
I'm 17 years old and going into my senior year of highschool. When I'm not playing mons I like to hangout with friends and family, hangout downtown by the beach (since I live 2 miles from the beach), going to concerts, reading, camping, and watching movies. I'm always up for meeting and talking to new people, even though I consider myself more introverted than extroverted. I'm almost always listening to music since I was raised by my father who happens to be a musician and music fanatic. He owns about 2000 vinyl records and he raised me on classic rock and blues however I've found interest in rap, alternative rock, indie rock/indie pop.
How did you choose the name "The Trap God"?
I actually switched alts a lot and "The Trap God" was just one that I came up with that I thought sounded pretty cool. I probably would’ve switched names but within 2 weeks of being a regular in the ubers room, I was voiced so I stuck with the name and it grew on me.
How and when did your get start in Ubers? Why Ubers and no other tiers?
Like a lot of the new players that came up during ORAS, I started by grinding ladder and roomtours. I have a funny story that goes with my decision to play Ubers over any other tier but it would be too lengthy here so if someone asks about it in this thread I’ll make a response and tell the story. Anyway, I started playing in tournaments when the Seasonal circuit came out. I was still pretty bad when I joined Ubers Summer Seasonal and I was knocked out by round 5 by Steelphoenix and Benbe. After getting an idea of where I stood in competitive, my main focus was to learn other playstyles other than offense because it would not only give myself more options and diversify my team choices, but it would also help me learn how these playstyles worked so I could face them more easily. I ended up using sand balance and hard stall in Fall Seasonal and I ended up making it to round 9 from loser’s bracket. My placings were getting better and better as I learned more about the game and metagame. Eventually I worked my way up to a 10 ranking on the PR and got drafted by the drizzlers for 3k. I’d say UPL was my first start on a big stage for Ubers, and I forged myself a 3-1 record despite losing in week 1. I earned a starting spot during finals week and beat the formerly undefeated Omfuga, which was a big win because it prevented the team from going down 2-0 and it gave me a win against the player with the best record in ORAS for UPL IV.
I’ve dabbled in other tiers but there’s none that appeal to me the way that Ubers does, and I just don’t have the drive to be competitive in other tiers. I might pick up OU for S&M.
Favourite aspect of Ubers?
My favorite aspect is that Ubers is so volatile and there’s so many unique things that have to be prepared for. Ubers Pokemon by definition are broken and it’s interesting to see how players try to prepare for a toss up of threats or abuse the top tier threats. We also get to play around with niche tools like Shadow Tag, Darkrai’s Dark Void, Baton Pass etc. I also like that Ubers players do something to deal with threats rather than just complain about “how broken they are”. The Ubers playerbase is definitely built around critical thinkers that are willing to adapt to the brokenness of the Pokemon within the tier.
What is your stance on team match-up?
Team matchup isn’t as big of a deal as I used to think. Early on in ORAS I was a player who just listened to all the widespread nonsense of x playstyle beats y, but y beats z, and z trumps x. Maybe at the time it was true that certain playstyles had an obvious edge over others, however I feel the progression of the metagame and team building has advanced ORAS Ubers into a stage where there isn’t as obvious of an edge of one playstyle over another. All good teams pack tools for all playstyles, which is why in ORAS the better player usually wins. I feel the worst it gets for match-up these days is “if Ho-Oh gets a free turn it can do serious damage” or “Xerneas is somewhat threatening if x gets chipped” etc. This is also why good players can play out of a seemingly “bad matchup”. It’s because they can play around the threatening pokemon and try to limit the amount of damage it does to their team.
What is your favourite play-style and why?
My favorite play-style is definitely offense and it isn’t because it’s a “braindead playstyle” or “easy to use”, it’s more because aggression is rewarded heavily and I like to play a high risk high reward play-style. Offense itself is one of the harder playstyles to use because you’re proactively trying to make something happen through the likes of conditioning and double switching rather than sitting back and waiting for openings. I’m willing to grind games out with balance or bulky offense, but my comfort zone is definitely offense because I like to capitalize on my opponents making braindead plays with balance as well as finding ways to pick apart a well structured team is always an interesting challenge with offense. Also, I originally started out with offense which is why I generally feel comfortable with it because of the amount of games I’ve played with it.
You've performed very well in Seasonals, do you have any favourite game that you have played?
One of my favorite games was game one of my series with Blim. I had gotten rocks up and baited his defogger (Salamence) to come in and doubled into Darkrai to pressure the defog. I lost all my momentum immediately due to a Dark Void miss, allowing Salamence to get a free defog off. From a seemingly great position, I was immediately blown back and realized I had my work cut out in order to beat this semi-stall/stall team without rocks. I ended up realizing that if I could kill Blissey, Darkrai would do a lot of work against his team. This is why I saved Darkrai on turn 12 rather than going for a flinch, which everyone spectating seemed to think was the play. The middle part of the game consisted of me playing aggressively as possible and Blim playing defensively as possible. I ended up pressuring the physically defensive backbone of the team by popping Salamence’s intimidate and Yveltal’s Charti Berry with Primal Groudon. Because Yveltal and Salamence were slightly damaged and previously in the game I had predicted Blissey to switch out when Groudon was staring it down, I knew that my opponent was forced and conditioned into believing clicking Toxic was the best play on turn 28 when my Groudon was in versus Blissey. He expected me to set up or click Stone Edge, but instead I clicked Precipice Blades knowing very well that he was forced to try and make a play. This opened up the floodgates for Darkrai to do a lot of serious damage to the rest of his team and I ended up winning despite not having rocks up the entire game. Looking back, this was one of the best games that I’ve ever played which showcased how to play out of a sticky situation and use offense correctly.
What are your expectations from Sun&Moon based on what we have seen "Solgaleo, Lunala, Zygarde"?
I honestly haven’t looked to much into the spoilers for S&M, but I’m hoping that we get some Pokemon that can deal with some of the current threats without being too overpowered and needing a ban. Hopefully we’ll get some new offensive oriented Pokemon as well as new Pokemon that can fit on balance and play a few different roles creating more diversity in balance and bulky offense builds.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
Some good friends of mine are magsyy, dice, Hydra, Parameter, darrell1297, Samqian, and hyw. Magsyy taught me a lot of the fundamentals early on when I was just picking up Ubers and he helps me prepare for matches still. He’s one of the best at breaking down games and seeing all the different paths that the game could take which is why we usually look over my tournament games together. Despite being a known troll and shitposter, I’m grateful that he saw potential in me back in the day and being a great friend since. Some other players I look up to are Dice and Hack. Dice and Hack are the two best team builders in ORAS Ubers hands down despite having their own unique approaches on the metagame. I look up to both of them in terms of their game knowledge and skill when it comes to playing, but a lot of the success I’ve had has been while using their teams. Dice is also a good friend of mine who has been really supportive and I look up to the fact that he can play so many tiers at SPL level. With all that being said, I have many other friends that I didn’t mention but always have my back which I’m incredibly grateful for (you know who you are). Shout Outs to drizzlers management for being some of the coolest people to talk to and giving me the opportunity to be a starter in my first UPL, and shoutouts to old news for being a great friend and training partner during UPL season. We had some really cool conversations about life as well as mons. RIP The GOAT.
Any advice for new players getting into Ubers?
Be willing to ask for others for help. Understand that just because someone peaks the ladder or is a roomvoice doesn’t always mean they’re giving good advice. At the end of the day you have to be able to tell when you’re getting good or bad advice. You’ll be able to read different opinions and get help from more experienced users through reading analyses and looking at the Ubers and RMT subforums on Smogon. I’d argue that the ladder is one of the most crucial stages to becoming a fundamentally solid player. Good players of course can go out and peak the ladder but it takes dedication, hard work, and skill to go and grind the ladder on your own for extended periods of time. People often skip this stage or cut it short because they feel they’re “too good for the ladder” or “the ladder is just filled with scrubs” and it’s why you see so many players going into tournament games nervous and choking. Having a lot of concepts ingrained into your brain means you will be able to perform no matter what the stage is. As you get better, start asking some Ubers regulars if they want to test battle, because this is where you might be able to face players when they’re being more serious and competitive. Don’t just randomly challenge users to battles but instead send a PM first and see if they’d be interested in playing you and giving you tips. Stay humble as you notice improvement. Remember that there’s probably someone better than you and you should be respectful to all your opponents even if you feel they unfairly won. Lastly, theres always something to be learned from a loss. Even if you feel you were unfairly “haxed”, look back and see if you could’ve put yourself in a better position to win.
Lastly, can you provide us a team with a brief explanation of how it works?
Tyranitar @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Foul Play
- Rock Slide
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
Latios @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Grass Knot
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Arceus @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Shadow Claw
- Earthquake
Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpD / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Foul Play
- Rock Slide
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
Latios @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Grass Knot
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Arceus @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Shadow Claw
- Earthquake
Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpD / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
I don’t really build much, because the most solid ORAS teams have already been built by someone else, so I tend to use other people’s builds that I like. Keep in mind that this team was built as a counter team to one of my Seasonal opponents who brought a lot of random niche steels. While I was mainly preparing for a specific team type, I wanted to be slightly prepared for other playstyles so I used the classic Tyranitar and Excadrill sand stream-sand rush duo which can be a strong core in the offense matchup. I’m running Shuca Foul Play Tyranitar to help with Salamence as well as offensive Arceus forms if Gengar doesn’t get the mega off. Air Balloon is used on Excadrill for the same reason, as Pokemon like Groundceus or DD Primal Groudon can be a pain to deal with if other checks are worn down. I’m running 4 attacks Latios instead of a defog set because the team doesn’t really have any member weak to rocks and it makes for a nice steel lure. HP fire can catch things like Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Bronzong off guard. This can open up a hole for DD Primal Groudon to be an even larger threat than before. Taunt/Destiny Bond Mega-Gengar was added to assist in trapping steels and removing support arceus forms (as well as offensive). Gengar would also be able to assist in removing passive threats like Lugia and Blissey in the off chance my opponent brought stall. Ekiller was the last member of the team which adds a strong priority user and setup sweeper that can also be really threatening against steel cheese teams when paired with steel lures and traps. This counter team ended up working out and I’ve played around with it on ladder and in room tours though I’ve yet to use it again in tournament because there are better sand teams that have more favorable matchups, unlike this team which was more aimed at picking apart one specific team structure.
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Thanks again to The Trap God for taking the time out to complete this interview!
Make sure to ask him any question you have below!
Edit- Ayy 300 post shoutouts ZoroarkForever cuz he is johning his deserved interview and shoutouts to the Ubers community love you guys except user php.
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