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Welcome to the OU Player of the Week Project: Rebooted! For those of you that don't know, this is a project where I interview a tournament player and have you, the readers, leave any questions you may have down below for them to answer. The ultimate goal is to gain insight as to how they play this skillful and strategic video game. If any of you have a suggestion for who I should interview, feel free to VM/PM me, and I will take your suggestion into consideration. Now, enough of this boring intro. Let's get to it!
dice
Most Known For:
besides being reyscarface's boyfriend, i'm just your everyday tour player. if you don't know me, my favorite aspect of the game is analysis. i really enjoy understanding the nuances of both playing and teambuilding and adapting it to my own style. conversely, i enjoy trying new techs and ideas to add to a meta. i've always had a knack for understanding and spotting quality teams/players, and thusly became pretty competent at teambuilding / meta analysis. b/c of it, i'm pretty good at picking up new tiers and gauging meta potential of certain sets or mons. altho i've fallen out of favor in Contributing, i was/am a pretty competent tutor and team rater esp. for these reasons.
i think i'm known for my ubers and bw ou play mostly. i've been a pretty avid uberer since gen5 and have loved the way an essentially untouched tier inherently becomes balanced with smart teambuilding. i've always enjoyed the metagame theory and have kept up with it ever since. i started out playing in bw ou, so it's kinda like my 'baby'; i definitely have a sense of stewardship in regards to it.
i've done some other shit here and there, winning some shit like an ru open, making tour playoffs a couple of times, etc. i'm the us west captain for wcop this year, and i managed the cryonicles with reyscarface last spl.
Favorite Pokemon:
lugia and snorlax
Most used Pokemon:
my teambuilding vice in oras is probably latios. i always seem to use it as a crutch mon just because it has such fantastic resistances (keldeo, zard-y coverage) coupled with strong stabs. in a similar vein, starmie is definitely a mon i use a lil too often in dpp just b.c. it's so good at what it does. i always err in using balance too often, so i use these mons plenty. bw garchomp is my most used mon and i have 0 shame in that.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
i'm a 20 y.o dude from good ol indiana. i'm going into my junior year at university and majoring in bio. i attend johns hopkins university and am a pre-med student. outside of my pokemoning, i'm into a quite a few media. i'm a voracious reader and movie/tv/anime watcher. i also play hella league of legends. i spend a lot of time on irc if i'm online, and the social aspect of it has kept me active on smogon.
Where did you get your name from?
when i was like 14 it always seemed like the best players in the mmos and shit i played had short yet Impactful usernames... so i sought out a word that sounded kinda cool and was relatively short. it's not deep or meaningful if u had ur hopes up.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
i always enjoyed the cartridges as a kid but lacked wifi compatibility to play dpp online. i was on the hunt for a way to do so and eventually came across pokemon online. i joined the prestigious PokeBattleCenter community with ppl like lavos/donkey/blim and have played ever since.
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
i enjoy many of the new additions and vastly prefer some of the teambuilding restraints there are now as opposed to in xy (land-i, gard were ridic..). i enjoy the new shit oras provided, so i'd say i like it better in general. battles tend to be faster paced as well which i enjoy. i don't have any real reasoning tho.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
team matchup is an overromanticized concept. ppl chalk up losses too quickly to a Detrimental Matchup, but in all honesty a good squad can overcome pretty much every matchup. yea, sometimes u gotta outplay ur opponent to have a shot, but that's just the nature of the game. because u aren't given the same resources as ur opponent to start off a pokemon game, u have to make the best of what u have. some interesting concepts arise from this.
counterstyling exists purely to take advantage of ur opponents tendencies in tour play (see: panamaxis r1 wcop [3-0]). this leaves ur squad way more susceptible to threats, but it can maximize ur odds of winning if u predict a certain playstyle / pokemon. it's something i don't buy into as i prefer to take the safer route and make a more solid squad with a couple of neat techs for my opponent; less chance of a Big Reward (nigh on impossible to lose game) but it eliminates the possibility of ur oppo switchin it up big time. altho even counterstyle squads can be built to have a semblance of consistency, to have a true Counterstyle u gotta go all or nothing. havin a cm reuni by itself in oras aint gonna win a game singlehandedly vs a known balanced player. u gotta add some more shit to Ensure victory [or just go w. the safer method and not be as sound as u want vs the playstyle]. it's like a scale of safety/consistency and risk/ease of winning.
tangentially related, but this is why u gotta have a few key qualities to be a Good player. versatility is a major factor in both teambuilding and playing. to maintain an edge, u can't consistently have the same playstyle; u can never predict bloo's next move For Sure. u also can never predict heist's next team. it's just the intangible quality of uncertainty some players possess that make them Good.
Do you feel that there is anything that is suspect worthy at the moment?
naaaa, some pokes are super constricting, but nothing is over the top imo. the meta would probably improve with some dudes gone tho.
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
i think i said it above, but my favorite playstyle is balance. i enjoy having a Safe defensive core to back up my squad while having enough Oomp to not be ridiculously passive. i rly rly rly dislike passive squads and always make an effort to not have (what i label) "shitmons" on my teams.
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
bw fosho. i mentioned this earlier too. i just started in this generation and spent the most time metagaming in it and playing in it. it's where i made my name. i also enjoy the bw meta a lot minus reuniclus and volc.
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
my process in tours is almost always the same. i always scout out some logs of my opponents if i'm unfamiliar with them just to get a general feel for their overall playstyle. i'll then build a team accordingly. if they're a more versatile player, i typically just make a squad i feel is good and just play to outplay. i don't spend a lot of time reviewin tape as opposed to some of my peers. i find it mostly to be a waste of time and would rather force my opponents adapt to my style than vice versa.
Who do you think will win WCoP?
well i hope west does!
Thoughts on the newly introduced Smogon Classic? Favorite to win?
it's an interesting dynamic to have an old gens tour fosho. i wish i hadn't fizzled out early due to my persistent pokeboredom kickin in (i dgaf about the game in several month periods if i get bored). i'm rootin for one of bab/rey/bkc to take it all.
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
ideally, it'd be nice to eliminate some of the most restraining mons in the teambuilder. manaphy, while it isn't suspect worthy, is a total bitch to build against if you're using something other than ho. a few other mons have that issue as well.
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
just join hella tours. you'll get good eventually. :^)
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
i kinda wish there wasn't such a stigma around smogon / tournaments. there's always an air of Elitism tossed around from ppl who don't understand the culture here. there are standout examples of poor users in the community, but they don't speak for the genuine people i've met and continually interact with everyday on this website.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
my first ever smogon friends were bkc and bloo, (funny stories behind meeting both of them; u can probably ask) so i'm unfortunately stuck talking with them the most out of all the smogdudes i know. also, heist, honus, tdk, and badabing are some of my closer pals as well. shoutouts #dodriobrate: eo ut mortus, BLEUWIND (my true bf), rewer, jibaku, earthworm, reyscarface, nails (i just put him here so he wouldn't complain i don't really like him), pttp, rodan, silentverse, folgorio, yohoe, nayrz, and a few others!!! and of course all my west pals and almost all my cryonicles members!
friends aside, if i had to make a top 5 of players i look up to the most for various reasons (mainly consistency, game sense, and versatility) they'd be: mop, reyscarface, bloo, bkc, and ojama
for ubers: melee mewtwo, syrim, poppy, donkey, and jibaku
Finally, can you provide us a team that's a good fit for this metagame and reflects your playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
immortal (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
pure (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Earthquake
principal (Scizor) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 60 Def / 120 SpD / 64 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
11th moon (Manaphy) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 240 HP / 96 SpA / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Rest
- Rain Dance
inner sect (Serperior) @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Glare
- Dragon Pulse
epoch (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 216 SpD / 44 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
pure (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Earthquake
principal (Scizor) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 60 Def / 120 SpD / 64 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
11th moon (Manaphy) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 240 HP / 96 SpA / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Rest
- Rain Dance
inner sect (Serperior) @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Glare
- Dragon Pulse
epoch (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 216 SpD / 44 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
i used this squad against pokebasket in r1 of wcop. the idea was using serperior + mega scizor as an offensive core; serperior can lure in several checks and counters of scizor with glare (heatran, zard-y, zard-x) so sciz is faster and can eventually overpower them once they're weakened lategame by teammates or hazards. sciz is a fantastic mon on balance since it checks some pesky mons like altaria, weavile, and azumarill which are huge thorns in most team's side. heatran provides a necessary talon check / hp fire lati and flamethrower clef check among many other duties while settin sr. i'm always a sucker for hazard removal, and latios fit the bill with its resistances and ability to lure in heatran for serperior. land-t provided the zard-x check and secondary thund check and is a general fastmon to revenge kill annoying threats like manectric and tyranitar if need be. manaphy rounded off the squad by being a water type (thus, heatran answer) and stallbreaker which i desperately needed. serperior is one of my favorite mons to use just b.c. it's so offensively threatening and checks manaphy which is HUGE for any balanced squad. the sets on this were made for my opponent, so they prob aren't as good now that i've posted it (e.g. eq latios) but it's still a pretty nifty squad imo.
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Feel free to leave any questions you have for dice below. See yall next week!
