Player of the Week #5: IronBullet93

[Sam]

IronBullet93
Favorite Pokemon: Swampert
Most Known For: RMT Mod | UU fanatic since DPP | One of the most senior active UU players | Repping Specs Whimsi
Most Used Pokemon: Arcanine (DPP), Suicune (BW and XY)
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namehtmas: Tell us a bit about yourself.

IB93: I'm a 20 year old finance masters student studying in London. In my free time I like playing tennis, reading thrillers and fantasy novels, playing guitar, chilling with friends and watching football (Tottenham fan if anyone's interested). I'm also a really big fan of classic rock, particularly the Beatles as you can probably tell from my profile.

namehtmas: What was your first pokemon game?

IB93: My first one was Sapphire, I was hooked straight away and have loved Pokemon ever since. I also bought my one and only console back then, a Gameboy Advance SP. I still have it and my first cartridge, it's got over 400 playing hours on it with the Pokedex filled and all 4 trainer stars and everything.

namehtmas: What brought you to Smogon?

IB93: Back in 2008 I came across a team building guide on gamefaqs which mentioned stuff like EVs, IVs, competitive battling, and competitive terms like sweeper, tank, wall which meant nothing to me. Through the guide I found out about this whole new side to Pokemon that I never even knew existed. It mentioned Smogon a few times so I decided to check the site out. I was pretty amazed that there was an entire website devoted to competitive battling! I ended up downloading Shoddy Battle, made a team that I was using in-game, and started battling.

Needless to say I got my ass kicked several times, but eventually through studying the strategy dex and testing countless teams I got a reasonable grasp of it. After a while I actually found that I didn't like DPP OU much, so I started playing UU instead and found it really interesting and fun to play! I played it almost exclusively for a long time. I lurked around the UU forums for a few months and then started posting and contributing, gradually getting into the other tiers and becoming a better and more experienced battler along the way.

namehtmas: What other tiers do/did you play besides XY UU?

IB93: Well I used to play DPP and BW OU extensively in tournaments like wcop, st and tour before I left and I'm gradually getting back into them now. I haven't played much XY OU yet, I've just been having too much fun with UU.

namehtmas: Who are some of your favorite people on Smogon?

IB93: I had a really tight group of buddies before I went on hiatus but I've come back to find a lot of them have sadly quit Pokemon, though they still hang out on IRC. Some of my close friends still active include BKC, Iconic, tab, HBK, Bloo, M Dragon, Harsha, Bad Ass, and Hot N Cold. I've also made several new friends since I've returned, there are a lot of friendly guys in the community and it's been really nice to see that familiar faces like Nas, koko, and Meru are still around playing UU.

namehtmas: Congrats on the new Council spot! What are some things you are looking forward to in UU?

IB93: Thank you! I'm really looking forward to all the new megas of course, and also the Pokemon that are going to be dropped back into UU from BL. I never got a chance to play with Staraptor and Klefki in UU, so it will be interesting to see how they fit into the metagame. It has certainly become a lot more offensive over the past few months and with all the new mega buffs it seems like the trend is only going to continue from here, so those people who are convinced they will prove to be too overpowered again might be surprised! The mega I'm most looking forward to is Pidgeot. It has never really been viable competitively and it has always been one of my favourite Pokemon in-game and in the anime, so it's going to be really cool to finally be able to use it in UU! Spamming No Guard Hurricanes is going to be epic.

namehtmas: What is some advice you would give to new players?

IB93: Well I would say that make sure you lurk on the forums before you start posting and contributing because it's very easy to start off on the wrong foot here. You really need to get used to the culture first. IRC is also an excellent way to mix in and talk with members old and new and get yourself involved in the community. In terms of playing, I would urge you not to try anything too outrageous first and try to form teams using standard Pokemon to get used to the style of UU and its various threats. Balance is a good playstyle to start off with as it's not fast or slow and allows you to get used to the pace of the game. Of course once you get used to it and start playing more it's good to branch yourself out to other archetypes as well.

namehtmas: Is it math or maths?

IB93: Hahaha man we could talk about this for hours. Well there are actually logical explanations for both. If "mathematics" is considered singular, then the shortened form "math" makes sense because it would be silly to remove the "ematic" and just leave the s at the end. On the other hand, if it is considered plural then "maths" makes sense as it is still a plural and should therefore have the s on the end. Here's the deal: Oxford dictionary says mathematics is plural - but it is used as if it was a singular noun. So yeah both are essentially correct. But as we know, in the US "maths" sounds completely wrong while in the UK we would never say "math".

IB93: Hope you guys found this an interesting read, thanks and feel free to ask me any questions!

Thank you IronBullet93 for a great interview! Like he said, go ahead and ask any questions you'd like to ask him in this thread. I'll be back next week (promise) with another installment of POTW. Don't forget to PM me nominations!

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[pj]

Hi Ironbullet93 :)
How did you come to know that Specs Whimiscot is good in UU and other than it have you Discovered something new would you like to share?
also since you are uu player what are you expecting tier after oras?

 

[IronBullet]

praj.pran

Hey man Specs Whimsi actually came about when I was looking for ways for offensive teams to keep Hydreigon and Mega Ampharos in check. For me Steels never really cut it as they were too easily worn down by their secondary STABs in Dark Pulse and Volt Switch for my liking. So I turned to Fairies, and saw that most of them (Florges, Aromatisse, Diancie) were really only viable defensively and would have no place on fast paced offense. Enter Whimsi, whose most used set at the time was the physically defensive version. I considered its offensive capabilities and was convinced it could do well: average but usable special attack, fantastic speed tier, great typing and Switcheroo to boot. As a bonus it resisted Ampharos' Electric attacks making it a fantastic counter to it. So I decided to slap a Specs on and give it a go, and it worked! Fairy is an amazing offensive typing and this combined with its good speed, surprise factor and Switcheroo makes it a great asset against offensive and defensive teams alike.

Well no new sets, but I have been trying a couple of underrated pokes. I have been impressed with Bronzong, it is an excellent support Pokemon with its bulk, SR and Levitate which is a huge advantage over Jirachi and Metagross. Dangerous Pokemon like Zygarde, Mega Aero, Kyurem and Nidoqueen can't do much to it, and the same goes for the next suspect Diggersby. So I feel it has potential to see more usage as it can counter several significant threats. Another one is Specially Defensive Drapion, who is a very good Mega Zam counter and has plenty of opportunities against special attackers like Celebi and Roserade and weak walls such as Umbreon to come in and lay down Toxic Spikes. It also gets Taunt, STAB Knock Off and Whirlwind which are excellent support moves setting it apart from Roserade and Tentacruel, and are particularly effective against more defensive teams.

Well with all the new megas and the BL dropdowns it's hard to say what to expect! One thing I think is definitely going to happen is that it's going to become a lot more fast-paced and offensive, continuing the trend of the past few months. The new megas have some crazy attacking and speed stats, and Pokemon that are considered fast in the current metagame will find themselves being outpaced by the new additions.

 

[Hot N Cold]

oh hai IronBullet.

- favorite UU mons to use (bar whimsicott).
- favorite style and why you feel comfortable playing with that style.
- i have absolutely no played zygarde metagame, there is any really underrated or very good core which works specially well on this meta?
- favorite niche mons to use but which are pretty niche and you only can use them a few times. what ones?
- and last question, are you playing the Smogon Premier League this year?

Thanks Ib93 =]

 

[IronBullet]

Hot N Cold

Favourite mons:

• Suicune - I just love using it, it is one of the most solid Pokemon in the tier and is capable of fulfilling so many roles that I find it so easy to slap on a team. It can be used as a win condition with CM, a bulky water, and a hard stop to so many physical threats all in one. Also one of the sexiest mons in existence.
• Cobalion - I always like using underrated stuff and Cobalion is a great example. It has an awesome typing and is quite fast allowing it to check top threats like Hydreigon, Lucario and Mega Aero. Sets up rocks and gets Volt Switch which makes it even cooler. Also its Sub SD set is an amazing win condition, and can straight up destroy unprepared teams.
• Toxicroak - Dry Skin alone makes it one of my favourites. There are so many Scalds flying around that having Toxicroak who can reliably switch into them without having to fear those damn burns is priceless. Also when a Crobat comes in only to get OHKOed on the switch by Life Orb Ice Punch...few things are more satisfying. :P

Favourite style is definitely balanced offense. I feel that it, as the name suggests, provides the best balance between covering as many threats as I can defensively while still allowing me to go on the offensive and put my opponent under pressure at any time. It's very important to have a defensive core to fall back on when things go wrong, and at the same time to have a way to break down my opponent's own core. And I feel balance provides the best of both worlds in this sense. It is also very hard for my opponents to know what to expect when you're running balance as there are so many possible options to consider when you're building a balanced team, while other playstyles like hyper offense and stall are very one-dimensional and your opponent will most of the time know what is coming.

On Zygarde: Ziggy has fit in quite well into the metagame. Its DD set is rather underwhelming due to its relative lack of power and dependence on Outrage while the SubCoil set is very hard to set up against standard teams so it hasn't been overpowering. For example it just falls flat against a standard core of queen/megastoise/hydrei. In terms of cores I think a solid one right now would be one involving Toxic Spikes alongside SubCoil Zygarde. It really helps to break down the Ice Beam-carrying bulky waters and defensive Fairies like Aromatisse and Florges that counter Ziggy. Dragon Tail also naturally has great synergy with hazards in general. Zygarde in turn hates hazards, especially T-Spikes, so using something like Mega Blastoise would be a good idea to keep them off the field. So for example a good core would be Zygarde/Roserade/Mega Blastoise, in fact DMT has recently posted a RMT with this particular core that sums up the Zygarde metagame very well. I myself have been using a core of Sub CM Chandelure + Bronzong + Whimsicott that covers both ZygRde and the latest suspect Diggersby reasonably well.

Favourite niche mons hmmm. From current experience I would definitely say Cresselia, Drapion and Heliolisk. Cress's Sub CM set is one of the best win conditions I have used in UU so far. It has ridiculous physical bulk allowing it to easily counter stuff like Mienshao and Lucario and it can set up on so much stuff it's crazy. Stall is sometimes even straight up 6-0ed by it! Specially Defensive Drapion is an awesome check to MegaZam, one of the few that can beat any of its sets, and has a really cool place as a Toxic Spiker with Whirlwind and Taunt that sets it apart from Forry, Roserade and Tentacruel. Heliolisk is such a cool mon! As I said with Toxicroak, I just love anything that offers a free switch-in into Scalds. And its Specs set actually packs quite a bit of power. 109 Sp Atk is not bad by any stretch, and 109 speed is fantastic considering it outspeeds Infernape, Cobalion and Virizion. STAB Volt Switch is great, and any Ground switch-ins are smacked by Grass Knot or HP Ice. Definitely a Pokemon worth trying out, it's tons of fun to use.

Smogon Premier League - YES! It's been ages since I last played in it, man it was one of the things I missed most about Smogon while I was away. Made a lot of friends and it was really amazing playing alongside top players and learning from them. Definitely going to sign up this year. :)