Multi Gen Ubers Player of the Week · [Week #3: Mr.378]

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The Gunner

formerly Enzo Gorlami
is a Tiering Contributor
Approved by Sweep
Based on other Player of the Week threads
Co-hosted by Arii Stella


Art by NicoReaper

Welcome everyone to Ubers Player of the Week! This'll be a weekly project where Arii Stella & I alternatively interview well known players every week to try to get to know them better. If anyone has suggestions on who we should interview next, feel free to shoot Arii / me a PM. Anyways, lets get to it!



Mr.378

Favorite Pokemon(s):

Kingdra has always been a favorite of mine. It had a unique typing and using it on rain teams is very fun.

Most Known For:
Referred to as the 'Iron Man of Ubers' because of his ability to play every Ubers tier at a highly competitive level.
Tell us a little about yourself.

I'm a 21 year old Computer Engineering student with only one semester left before I graduate and I'm currently working over the summer. I've played this game competitively for over 10 years on and off now and I enjoy playing a few other games as well.

How did you come up with your username 'Mr.378'?

Originally way back in 2004 when I was still a young kid on a different site my first user name was Kyogre372 to match another one of my friends who had a Groudon themed name. At some point I changed it to 378 because that particular number was taken and it stuck. I eventually joined forums for non Pokémon related subjects so I wanted a name that wasn't related to mons but was generic and changed my name to Mr.378 and it has been that since.

How and when did you get in Ubers?

As said I started playing this game competitively at a young age and was naturally attracted to the powerful legendary Pokémon so Ubers was the tier for me. It was far less established way back then but I could still play it and test around with different teams. I remember my first one way back in Adv was a variant of what's now seen as PTR's (Transcendent God Champion) team (Mewtwo/Lugia/Ho-oh/Kyogre/Groudon/Rayquaza) because they had the highest base stats and I wanted to start simple and use the strongest. Since then I've always had a spot for Ubers even though I've branched into many other tiers.

What is your favorite generation in Ubers, and why?

DPP Ubers has always embodied what Ubers at its best is to me. Though not perfect, it has the right balance of mons having great power and versatility while not being ridiculously strong makes it the greatest for me. It's the broken checking broken philosophy that Ubers has always stood for at its pinnacle.

What's your favorite playstyle and why?

It varies honestly on what tier and meta I'm playing but I always like playing offensively oriented teams over defensively made ones. They tend to be the ones that play to win the game while defensively made teams try to not lose longer. I find offensively minded teams are not only more effective most of the time but are more enjoyable to use. How offensive varies though. In ORAS I would say I use more hyper offensive builds and one similar to them a lot because of how many powerful threats there are in the tier and how hard to is for teams to check them while in other tiers I like what most players consider balance more. It ultimately is a circumstantial preference though and the best players should be able to play any playstyle well.

What are you most looking forward to in gen 7, Pokemon Sun & Moon?

I'm mostly interested in seeing what will be changed mechanically rather then any new mons though they may very well have a huge impact. In the transition from BW to XY arguably the change in mechanics was the bigger then even the addition of powerful mons like Xerneas and Yveltal. Nerfing weather and changing Defog were huge changes that completely changed Ubers and I want to see if Sun and Moon will have any changes like this.
Who are some of the players you look up to and are friends with in this community?
I've known a lot of people in this community and I'm great friends with a few of them as well. There are two in particular I'd like to give shout outs to though. First being Thugly Duckling a great friend of mine since early ORAS and someone who I feel is one of the most under looked ORAS Ubers players out there. The second being Astounded who I feel is one of the best Ubers players out there and one of the people here I talk to the most.

In terms of people I've looked up to way back in the day, I looked up to the old Supermod Obi/David Stone. He's one of the smartest users to join this site and playing him in adv way back on Netbattle and losing to him so thoroughly showed me how much there is and was to learn and one of the reasons I wanted to improve.

If you could change one thing in Ubers, what would it be?

That is a hard decision to make honestly. I wouldn't change anything in particular with how the tier right now is structured because the problem I have with ORAS Ubers goes beyond one specific thing. I suppose it would be that as a site we finally come to more of a conclusion on what we want Ubers (and other lower tiers I suppose) to be. Right now there are no large official tournaments for any of these tiers in particular. There's only Grand Slam and SPL which are multi-tier tournaments. It's wrong that none of these tiers alone are worth a trophy but them combined are supposed to. We should decide whether Ubers and tiers like it are worth giving a trophy to or not.

Do you plan on managing/playing in next year's UPL?

As of now I plan on managing again. It was fun this year even though my team had some bad luck.

Favorite UPL/Seasonal/Ubers Open game(s)?


This was my HRUC game vs Steel that I feel helped guide some of my preferences in ORAS pretty well. The team I used was more imperfect than what I currently like on this build but it demonstrates it well. It also shows that non Deo-S Hyper Offense is also really strong and how bug a difference unrevealed moveslots can make.

Do you have any tips for newer players trying to establish themselves in the community?


Be persistent is what will work the best. Most importantly, try to lurk on Smogon a bit before you try integrating yourself into the community because this site has plenty of resources to answer your questions on starting in the tier and the basics on how the meta works. Asking questions in the Ubers room or to a certain person isn't a bad thing by any means but some are easily answered. In terms of experience as much hate as it gets the ladder generally does work when you're new to a tier. The best way to really learn Ubers or practically any tier is to grind the ladder until you reach a decent level, have a good grip on the tier, and can perform well on it and get a good ranking. Once you do that you can move up and try playing in smaller tours like the ones we have in Ubers room or on the forum. If you become good at the tier people will notice you and begin to respect you. Laddering and playing in room/forum tours is also a decent way to met people on the site and become friends with them.


Finally, can you provide us a team with a brief explanation on how it works?


Mewtwo @ Leftovers
- Fire Blast
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Self-Destruct

Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Lovely Kiss

Mew @ Leftovers
- Shadow Ball
- Submission
- Fire Blast
- Swords Dance

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
- Leech Seed
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
- Recover

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
IVs: 28 Atk / 26 Def
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Drill Peck
- Rest

Rhydon @ Leftovers
Ability: Lightning Rod
IVs: 26 Atk / 26 Def
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Curse
- Roar




GSC Ubers is a metagame I'm known for playing so I'll provide a team in it I've taken a liking to.
This team is a more balance build that's based off the sample team I made a long time ago. It uses a Rest Curselax and Rhydon to status/set up on some of the more common mons in the tier like Lugia and Ho-oh. Celebi really helps the team out here by providing bell support allowing them a lot more leeway. Mew is three attack Fire Blast to counter the increasing trend of Forretresses' and Steelixs used in the tier.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Big thanks to Mr.378 for taking out time to complete this interview.
Make sure you ask him any (respectful) questions below! :toast:



 
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SparksBlade

is a Tournament Directoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a member of the Battle Simulator Staffis a Top Dedicated Tournament Host
Community Leader
who do you test your gsc ubers teams with
if isa and conflict reject my challenge, how do i lure someone else into playing gsc ubers
 
Since you play so many different generations and in many different tournaments, how do you prepare for your games?
Do your preparations differ depending on the generation played?
 

Mr.378

The Iron Man of Ubers
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
U have been here for so long... Do you ever get bored with mons and what makes you keep coming back? lmao
This is a good question and one I've asked myself a lot before but there are a few reasons why I keep playing. As said in my interview I traditionally played mons in on and off cycles and the most recent one of mine started at the beginning of ORAS where I got more involved in the community and the game then I usually did. To me I still haven't done everything I would like to. I still want to play in and achieve success in major tours for instance which is a goal that keeps me constantly updating and improving on how I play the game. Mons is a game with a relatively high degree of variance which if anything adds to how fun it can be because it keeps each game different and always makes you wonder what if something went differently on a certain turn. I also play a lot of tiers which each require different skillsets and thinking styles to succeed in and learning them entertains me. Understanding how to approach each generation of ubersi s how I came to become good at each one of them and having a great game or coming up with a great new idea is worth all of the hax and unfortunate luck you encounter along the way. For these reasons I still enjoys mons to this day and to be honest at this point mons just works best with me because it is more flexible time wise then a lot of other games. I already invested the initial time to brak the basic skill barriers to learn and become good at the game and tournament matches and ladder games are always on your time (Except for STour but that's different) which may not always be the case for other games. No other competitive game interests me right now anyway I'd say.

To sum up the wall I just made I'll know when my time to quit this game will be and it may even be soon but it isn't now.

who do you test your gsc ubers teams with
if isa and conflict reject my challenge, how do i lure someone else into playing gsc ubers
To be honest if anything it's easier to find gsc ubers games then it was in years past. Back a few years ago it was limited to being lucky and finding someone on PO that played it which was rare so you had to have an established group of people to 'test' with which was pretty meaningless because there were no tours. This year now that PS supports gsc fully and upl had gsc ubers there is new blood to test with. If the Old Gens room for example if I want a GSC Ubers game there's usually someone on that knows how to play it that I can test against. Even in our Ubers room and on Smog Tours there can are people who are good testing partners. Usually though friends and other good players are your best bet if you wish to test though but there are options now.

Since you play so many different generations and in many different tournaments, how do you prepare for your games?
Do your preparations differ depending on the generation played?
Yes and no. There are some specifics you should know about each tier to take in account before preparing and during your preparations. In older gens for example where there are less options you should focus on specifics and making teams that are similar but different to maintain an upper hand. This is especially potent in older gens where there is no team preview to keep an element of surprise up until you're ready to execute your strategy. In newer gens you should try making a variety of teams and make sure you aren't weak to any mons or play styles they like. This is a more general preparation tip but it's more important in newer gens where you can't cover everything perfectly or even effectively in the builder. Ultimately though building while an important aspect of the game that can provide an insurmountable advantage at times is still just the first half of it. How you execute your gameplan and respond to your opponents will decide the outcome.

Other then that there are just preparation tips that are always a good idea like watching how your opponent plays and how they think, what mons team styles and moves they like, and making sure the team and strategy your bringing can work and provide the optimal odds of winning.
 
Hai 378, since you have a lot experience playing in official and no official tournaments.
How do you go about preparing for your matches?
Does the process change depending on the tour?
Oh and also, what would be your advice for newer players before play an important game?
 

Mr.378

The Iron Man of Ubers
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
This is a late answer but I wanted to wait before answering. I already sort of went into this but usually start preparing by looking at what kind of tour I'm playing in, what kind of opponent I have, and what they may do. From there I assess how much preparation I'll actually need. More important games will obviously get more team building innovation and testing then less important tours because in them you can usually get by with just bringing a good team and being better then your opponent. In higher profile games it's less clear cut because your opponent may prepare more then they usually would and you have to try and predict what they will do before the match. It's a mind game that you have to get used to in order to succeed a bit how much it matters and in what ways varies on what metagame you are playing. In short your preparation process has to be different for every tour because it will be for everyone else.

For newer players the most important thing to know is to double check everything ahead of time. There have been too many botched matches due to minor errors that went unnoticed until it was too late. Also stay level headed and not give in to pressure. This takes more experience depending on the person but remaining calm and composed so you can play your best is something you always need to do in tournaments.
 
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