Obvious Power
Favourite Pokemon: Squirtle
Known For: Various team styles, hosting LC Battle of the Week, and being a Driver in the PS room
Hey everyone, it's your favourite bot, QuoteCS, here again with another great interview! Today I had the liberty of talking to Obvious Power, an LC player who has made quite the name for himself in recent months, including a Top 8 placement in the LC Open!
QuoteCS: Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself to get things started.
Obvious Power: I'm a 16 year old junior in high school. When I'm not hanging out with friends or studying for school, PS! is usually my go-to place. I enjoy playing school sports like racquetball, basketball, and track & field, even though I'm not that great at them. Pokemon's basically the only video game I play other than an occasional game of League or hopping on a Minecraft server to talk to some friends. All in all, I'm just a pretty average high school-er that likes to play mons :]
QuoteCS: Livin' the life, I'd say.
When did you start playing LC?
Obvious Power: I started playing on PS during the very beginning of Pokebank, I believe, and after two months or so, I discovered Little Cup and fell in love with it. My very first match was against Naykart and I remember getting destroyed pretty hard. I stayed out of the chat room and kept to the ladder for awhile, but the sudden disappearances of members of my teams got me more curious in the tier and why things were getting banned and so I became more involved and started coming in on a regular basis.
QuoteCS: What do you like most about LC?
Obvious Power: We have the cutest mons! But I also really don't like battling against stall and it's definitely tougher to pull off a good stall team in LC. I know how people talk about the tier being over centralized, but I feel as if so many pokemon can be used in unique ways and have great niches. For example I made a team around Shellder a couple weeks ago and had great success with it. I even used it and won in one of my LC open matches, though I think I forgot to save the replay. The overall offensive nature along with a crazy amount of legal Pokemon make this tier great for me.
QuoteCS: Speaking of LC Open, congrats on your most recent win! How does it feel to be in the Top 8, and what are your thoughts on the LC Open in general?
Obvious Power: Thanks, I never expected to get this far! Right now, I'm leaning towards zeriloa and calloflochie being the final matchup if they don't play each other beforehand, but there are only great players left at this point so anybody could take it and I'm just hoping to be a contender and put up a good fight. It sucks that so many LC players got haxed out of it early, but what can you do, that's Pokemon for you.
QuoteCS: What do you think is one of the best strategies/teams in LC right now? Also, do you in particular have any "under the radar" tools you'd like to share with your fellow players?
Obvious Power: I think VoltTurn teams and bulky offense have always been good and are still the prominent strategies this meta. I honestly haven't been very innovative lately and don't have some great underused pokemon to show off, but one thing that the average LC player seems to not do is really make their team their own. Don't just use the default EV spreads and move sets for your pokemon and assume they'll be the best for you. A great example of this was when a bunch of us LC players were making a team together and we realized it was rather weak to Larvesta. At this point we bumped our Mienfoo's speed up to 14 to "speed creep" and put on Stone Edge. Don't take the default movesets and EVs and assume they're the best; really think about what'll be most beneficial for you and work from there.
QuoteCS: If you could change something about LC, what would it be?
Obvious Power: This is honestly my favorite meta I've played seriously and the only thing I'd do is ban all Squirtle checks and things that could be accused of outclassing it!
QuoteCS: GG LC. Only Squirtle remains.
Which LC users/players inspire you? Which ones do you admire and respect?
Obvious Power: I don't think I could possibly name everybody, but I'll try to name off the guys I talk to the most. First one would have to be zeriloa. He's such a great battler and seems to do well in every tier. He's also just a nice guy to talk to, fail to build teams together with, and practice battling with. Some other users I really respect for battling skills and I love to teambuild or battle with would be Levi, GlassGlaceon, and Fiend(even though I lose to him every time lmao). Levi's teambuilding skills are phenomenal and he definitely deserves that RMT badge. I built the best team I've ever used because Glass organized a session to work together with other people like WaterlessMelon, Tahu, and Zeril. I feel like Fiend gets a lot of crap for his teambuilding, but it seems to me he's just having fun and he's great at working with what he's got. There are so many users on PS that are great to talk to; there's no way I list them all but some of the ones that stick out in my mind right now would be Vileman, Aerow, trash, Slashari, TUO, Fizz, and the three ROs (Congrats by the way :o)
QuoteCS: All great choices, and thank you very much, I'm quite happy in my new position.
Last, but certainly not least, do you have any advice for new LCers?
Obvious Power: To begin with, I'd definitely recommend using a sample team from the thread or getting a team from someone you know is pretty good at the tier. It's the way I start any tier and I think it's effective. Next you just have to get battling experience in the tier! Use the ladder, it's the best way to get a huge variety in teams. Don't get so caught up in whether you won or lost, think about what you learned and how you can improve next time. Consider watching your own replays and thinking about what you could've done differently. To this day, I still am learning just from watching other players play or re-watching my own matches. Once you feel more confident, try building a team and see what's effective and works for you. Always make adjustments to your team and strive to make it perfect. Never be afraid to ask people questions. If you do it right, one day you'll be the one answering questions and helping other people.
Thanks to Obvious Power for the interview. I'll be back again next week with another LC Player of the Week!
