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What do you think your strengths and weaknesses are as a player and how do you emphasize your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses?
What qualities do you think make a player great?
Who are some UU players that you believe will find success in upcoming UU tournaments and why (i.e. the standard "who are the underrated/up-and-coming players" question)?
Do you prefer team tournaments or individual tournaments?
What did you like the most about your team tournament experiences?
grats :o
fav football team?
Who do u think is gonna win ucl?
why did you buy me in pocl?
did you like the result of buying me?
ure so cool and never gets mad, how?
If you had to pick the best scene on television, would it be...
or...
...or is it:
(Not included: the season one "fuck" scene from the fourth episode where McNulty and Bunk re-investigate Deirdre's death, partially bc nudity and partially because it would blow all these other scenes out of the water.)
Which team's winning SPL this year?
If you could change one thing about BW UU (ban or drop one 'mon, change one move, etc.), what would it be?
What's more obnoxious, Mew in BW UU or Clefable in DPP UU?
Best character from the Wire actually played by someone from Baltimore? (Notables include Kima, Prop Joe, Snoop, the Deacon and Lieutenant Mello.)
Pick any year in history. For the rest of your life, you can only listen to music that was released in that year. What do you pick and why?
I promised to tour ban you for something not too long ago Tony. I forgot exactly what it was but the fact that you've YET to shout me out at all confirms it was the right decision.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I'm a 16 years old french guy, currently in high school. I like reading, listening to music, watching series and spending time with friends.
Most known for?
I can't really tell what between winning NU Open or being a UU room meme for the longest time got the most amount of people to know me.
Favorite Pokemon?
Absol!
Most Used Pokemon?
Aerodactyl-Mega is clearly the pokemon I've used the most in ORAS UU for quite obvious reasons, it's just the best mega in the tier.
What brought you to Smogon and competitive Pokemon in general?
I believe I first registered a smogon account in order to schedule with some other player for a french team tour and I ended up staying around. I found about competitive pokemon early during the XY era, it took me a lot of time to start building and playing decently because no one told me about Smogon back then.
What is your favorite Generation of Pokemon and why?
DPP has to be my favorite Generation just because my first pokemon game ever was Diamond. Worth noting that I can still look back at the 4G mons and say most of them are pokemons I appreciate.
Thoughts on the current metagame of ORAS UU?
I personally think that the tier would be much better without Hydreigon, it also has some other problems such as Celebi or Entei but they are not nearly as toxic as Hydreigon is. Other than that I still appreciate playing ORAS UU, it's the tier I've spent the most time playing which means I'll always look back at it with some nostalgia.
What is your favorite playstyle?
Bulky Offense has defined the teams I build for a really long time. It's just very effective in general, I build and use it with relative ease nowadays so yeah.
Do you think any playstyle is blatantly dominant or weak in the metagame?
Bulky Offense has been really good for a long while now, on the other hand Stall teams always seem like they hurt more and more each time something drops and it just feels weaker than ever now.
Thought on the Klefki ladder?
I havent played it that much to be honest, I got tired of it in like 5 games but that's something to blame on ladder not on Klefki especially. However, I've played a lot of games with friends and I really didn't like what I saw. Even though I respect the fact that the council is trying to make some changes in order to balance the metagame I just think Klefki brings more trouble than anything else. As opposed to most threats we have banned, Klefki is overpowered in the sense that it brings way too much utility by itself. It's incredibly splashable and it puts a massive amount of work every game, you just can't deal with klefki the way you would deal with another spiker. Prankster changes everything in the hazard game in the sense that it allows Klefki to come back multiples times in the same game which means the klefki user just has to pressure the opponents hazard remover to be free to set spikes up. That, paired with it's overall versality are enough to put Klefki over the edge and I personally believe that allowing it to come back would be a mistake.
Thoughts on S/M so far?
I just bought the game yesterday and it's been great so far. Everything seems so much better than in ORAS, it's just a pleasure to play. Can't really say much about the competitive side yet other than i'm looking forward to a really fun gen!
How was it like to win NU Open as a UU main (congrats btw)?
It felt great, actually. After I lost PU open I only had like 12 points and winning NU open was my only hope at reaching playoffs, I really didn't think I would be able to pull it off but I still wanted to try. So I just put a lot of effort in preparation and started building and as you can tell it ended up working well. Thank you!
What advice would you give to newer tournament players who strive to reach high level of play?
Watch important tournaments replays and try to understand the better players mindset, keep on playing and always make sure to focus on the games you're playing. Also, keep on trying, playing pokemon isnt some sort of skill you are born with, there's always a lot of room for improvement.
Who are some of your favorite people in the Smogon Community?
I've made a shoutouts post quite recently so I feel like answering that question wouldn't bring that much interest so here is the post.
Finally can you provide for us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle with a brief explanation of how it works?
team (open)
Whimsicott @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moonblast
- Encore
- U-turn
- Energy Ball
Here is the BO team i've made for Slam playoffs. It's a pretty simple team featuring Calm Mind Reuniclus which most people seem to forget about these days. It packs enough speed and power to handle more offensive teams while also having tools to deal with balanced teams. Bulky Waters are a tiny bit annoying although Banded Metagross does a fine job at luring those, thus allowing Krook & Aero to pressure the opponents team as much as possible. A pretty fun team overall, feel free to try it out!
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Thank you for your time and the great interview, Sacri! If you have any questions that you would like to ask him, feel free to leave them below. I'll be back next week with another interview!
Salut Sac Riz
Why and how did you get involved in lower tiers, do you play OU (never see you play it) ?
what about specs kyurem ?
fav song & series ?
do you play any other game ?
What do you think your strengths and weaknesses are as a player and how do you emphasize your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses?
What qualities do you think make a player great?
Who are some UU players that you believe will find success in upcoming UU tournaments and why (i.e. the standard "who are the underrated/up-and-coming players" question)?
Do you prefer team tournaments or individual tournaments, and why?
What did you like the most about your UUPL and other team tournament experiences?
What players who you have not yet played in a tournament setting would you be most excited about facing in a high-profile match and why?
What is the most difficult part of rating teams? What is the thought process you use when rating teams?
Why am I objectively superior to Shiba in every possible way (and Accelgor in almost every possible way)?
Recommend some fun, action-packed anime for me. No boring weeb stuff. I want blood.
What genre(s) of anime do you prefer?
What anime do you consider genre-defining and why?
What are your favorite guilty pleasure anime?
Do you like to read for pleasure, and, if so, what are your favorite books/genres?
Sacri <333 <33
Baguette or Pain de Mie? Love both but baguette probably
Croissant or Macarron? Croissant without a doubt
What about Brioches? Good too
What's the most underrated threat in UnderUsed? And the most Overrated? As far as usage goes, I suppose Reuniclus is a little underrated, don't have anything else in mind. I'd say Suicune is a little bit overrated, nothing crazy though.
What are your thughts about the Sun and Moon OU Metagame? Are you hyped for the Sun and Moon UU Metagame? It has been fun so far, obviously we still need to see how the metagame is going to settle in the future but I think I might play OU a little more this gen. Definitively hyped for the SUMO UU meta.
SUMO, SuMo or SM? Both SUMO/SuMo work
how exactly did grats sacri come to exist? I think it has been like 2 years since the meme was born. At that time I played roomtours super frequently and at some point a user won a roomtour, another use said "Congrats Sacri'" probably thinking it was me and thats basically how it started.
why the apostrophe? i'm not bashing it btw just curious. When I was like 10 I used to play some MMO called Dofus, my username was "Sacrilège" which was a pun based on the type of character I was using. I started to make some friends in game and they naturally started calling me "Sacri'" so I kept the pseudo when I joined the pweb like 3/4 years ago.
best uu meme set? Nasty Plot Crobat! (It's actually the only one I can think of D:)
what series are you watching atm? At the moment I'm watching How to get away with murder (s3) and I recently finished watching Hit the floor. Both are interesting in their own ways, check them out.
fav series ever? That's a super tough question but I think I'm going to pick Glee just because I still listen to glee covers frequently (most of them are rlly good) and also because it is the most unique series i've ever watched.
you're a cool dude, stay like u are (: really appreciate the support, love u too
edit: fav gen7 design? worst gen7 design? Sylvally is def my fav design, really wish it had a better movepool. Alolan Dugtrio for the worst one, just because I don't understand anything about it.
Salut Sac Riz
Why and how did you get involved in lower tiers, do you play OU (never see you play it) ? I started playing UU without any actual reason, I think I saw a youtube video about it, I tried playing and really liked it so I ended up staying around for 3 years
what about specs kyurem ? Really good & consistent wallbreaker
fav song & series ? I don't have an actual favorite song because my taste in music changes all the time, let's say Don't stop me now by Queen just because I think I won't ever stop to like it. Fav series is glee as I said.
do you play any other game ? i haven't in quite a long time, I used to really like Zelda though
What do you think your strengths and weaknesses are as a player and how do you emphasize your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses? When I focus entirely I think I'm able to make the optimal plays thorough the game which means I'm able to evaluate the risk vs reward correctly often enough to put me in a winning position. My main weakness is my lack of constancy, for reference I can't always play the way I did when I won nu open, even if I really want to. I emphasize my strenghts the same way I mitigate my weaknesses, by trying again and again until I'm able to play well constantly.
What qualities do you think make a player great? As stated earlier, constancy is a big one. The huge amount of tournaments which happen each year rewards players who can play well constantly, Ciele is the perfect exemple for this this statement. He isn't a flashy player by any means, he just plays the way he believes to be the safest and that's how he was able to do so well recently imo.
Who are some UU players that you believe will find success in upcoming UU tournaments and why (i.e. the standard "who are the underrated/up-and-coming players" question)? The lines are a bit blurred at the moment because new gen & stuff, as far as ORAS UU goes I think obii definitively has a ton of potential, same applies to yourself & TSR.
Do you prefer team tournaments or individual tournaments, and why? Tough call. Normally I'd say I like team tours the most but the pressure I feel in those often prevents me from playing as well as I can, so I suppose individual tournaments are better for now.
What did you like the most about your UUPL and other team tournament experiences? Getting to team up with players I respect and test with them.
What players who you have not yet played in a tournament setting would you be most excited about facing in a high-profile match and why? I'd be really excited to play user: Pearl just because I know the match would be interesting and close. He plays and builds well and I'm always excited to face this kind of player
What is the most difficult part of rating teams? What is the thought process you use when rating teams? The most difficult part is definitely to keep the original teams spirit intact while also making the team better overall. When I rate team I try to understand the reasoning behind the users team in order to make it better without changing it's aim.
Why am I objectively superior to Shiba in every possible way (and Accelgor in almost every possible way)? Because your edgy call out on PS! are hilarious. I don't find you & Accelgor to be that similar, he's super positive and you're super edgy.
Recommend some fun, action-packed anime for me. No boring weeb stuff. I want blood.
Kuroko's Basket & Haikyuu! are both fun and intense, if you dont mind sports based animes I'm sure you'll enjoy these. SNK is also really good but only one season as of now.
What genre(s) of anime do you prefer? I usually like anime based on shonen mangas the most
What anime do you consider genre-defining and why? Dragon Ball is definitely genre defining as far as shonen anime/manga go, it has pretty much defined the genre with it's epic action scenes & super intense plot. (this applies a bit more to the manga but whatever, dragon ball is definitely worth reading)
Do you like to read for pleasure, and, if so, what are your favorite books/genres? I do like to read, I usually like heroic fantasy ones, the Eragon saga is a rlly good one.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi! My name is Ryan (the superior one s/o fuga and killintime). I'm a second year community college student from Chandler, Arizona looking to go into accounting once I get my Bachelor's. In my spare time I watch and play lot of sports (mostly watch baseball and american football but play pick-up games of basketball), travel a ton with my family, listen to music, and of course play a lot of video games on my Xbox/PC with Pokemon being one of the games I've invested the most time in. Also I think Meek Mill is top 1
Most known for?
Back in the day, I'd probably say that my main claim to fame before being a SmogDrone was popularizing WP Celepass with Mega Sharpedo in early ORAS by spamming it on ladder. Currently within the UU community, I'd say that it was managing a team to finals in the most recent UUPL. Other than that, I guess I'm also known for just being a general contributor to UU for the past 2 1/2 years (PS room + Smogon), even though I don't have much to show for it except a couple badges. Also I get beat by meme-teams a lot :(
Favorite Pokemon?
Arcanine
Most Used Pokemon?
Currently Sylveon or Swampert, they're probably 2 of the most splashable Pokemon in the tier rn.
What brought you to Smogon and competitive Pokemon in general?
Pokemon in general would be credited to my next-door neighbor way back in the day, he introduced me to games like Ruby and Fire Red which I played non-stop for a few years until Diamond and Pearl came out.
After Generation 4, I didn't really play any Pokemon until the announcement of XY, when I forced myself to pick up a 3DS in preparation for it. When XY finally came out, throughout the first few months of XY, I just continuously battled and traded with a few buddies of mine from Xbox on Wi-fi until one of them (Gotham Paladin) mentioned Pokemon Showdown, where we didn't have to Pokegen our mons into the game to have good IVs, natures, etc.. From there I just lurked in the UU room (some of my fave mons were in the tier at that time) for like a solid 7-8 months until I joined Smogon.
What is your favorite Generation of Pokemon and why?
Game-wise, probably 4. I loved how there were so many pivotal legendaries in that generation and Pearl (the one I got) really felt like a complete game with the story as well as the after-game stuff we could do (like catch Giratina, Regigigas, etc). Competitively I'm kinda a new kid so I'd say 6, even though I really hate this tier at times LOL
Thoughts on the current metagame of ORAS UU?
I think it's okay at best. I'm not really a fan of how offensive the metagame is right now, as it's p hard to not get 6-0'd by a single Pokemon nowadays while teambuilding. And if you try to cover up that hole for a single/couple mons, it always seems to open up more holes for different threats. I'm also not really a fan of the recent decisions (Hydreigon and Klefki), because keeping these in tier means it restricts teambuilding even more, even if those 2 can fit on a variety of teams extremely well. All in all though, I do hope something changes before the next gen though because I wouldn't want to look back on ORAS UU as a bad tier, as a lot of people say.
What is your favorite playstyle?
Probably balance, I usually like to have Pokemon to switch-in to when a threat comes in. The only bad thing about it is that it's really just Sylveon/Bulky Water/Steel/Crobat as a lot of the main cores ~_~
Do you think any playstyle is blatantly dominant or weak in the metagame?
After Klefki dropping, I think Offense is pretty great now because of the drop, Prankster Spikes, T-Wave, and Steel/Fairy typing is a completely valuable asset to those types of teams. I'd also say Stall might be getting even weaker because of the same drop, continuously trying keep the hazards off their side of the field while also trying to widdle the other team with hazards of their own could be quite a task with Klefki in the tier.
Thoughts on S/M so far?
I don't have the game, but SM OU looks really fun from just watching it. Z-Moves look pretty overpowered and unpredictable though (even more-so than Mega-Evos), so I wouldn't be surprised if they're brought up for ban discussion at all.
Who are some of your favorite people in the Smogon Community?
I like a lot of people, top ones being from a group chat w/ antorozesSnowy.DrReuniclusVapoPakAlways!petyerscald :D I'm also too lazy to tag everyone but people in my UUPL/UU skype groups (old and new) and PS tours/B101 staff are my favorites too, you guys know who you are
Finally can you provide for us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle with a brief explanation of how it works?
This is a pretty old, basic balance team featuring Band Metagross (I LOVE THIS THING) and Bulk Up Conkeldurr. It also has THE ESSENTIALS being Sylveon/Water/Crobat/Steel :D, so that's how you know it's standard. The sets might be kinda odd, but they're that way for a reason, Trick being used for the omnipresent bulky Psychics running around and Dual STAB hitting extremely hard while BP takes a bit of the pressure off on Pert for stuff like Aero. There are some others as well, like Pursuit on Bat for Bee as well as HP Fire (and Modest) on Sceptile for stuff like Escav and Doublade to again, help keep pressure off Pert. Though as always, if you don't have a Snorlax, P2, Bronzong, or Blissey, you're gonna be weak to Nidos, and this team is ._. I've had pretty good success with it though, with a couple wins in the group stages in UU majors, a few in UU Mafia, as well as 2 wins in LTPL (my own and one by Sam).
Thank you for your time and the great interview, Shiba! If you have any questions that you would like to ask him, feel free to leave them below. I'll be back next week with another interview!
I have a few questions for user Shiba.
1. How do you feel about
in our current metagame? As seen here it can really break balance which I know you are quite fond of.
2. Today I learned that Bruxish Psychic fangs does 70% to mega blastoise. How does this make you feel and are you excited for SM UU or does it scare you?
3. When you put a bulky water on a team that isn't swampert, how long does it take for your hand to spasm until it is replaced with a swampert?
4. Where does your lust for Band Metagross come from?
5. Why is J Cole's new album gonna be good but Gambino's album was whack?
