All Gens RoAPL V: Talk Thread

[Sakito]

RoAPL 5 Player Interview (All gens): Vileman

Sakito: Hey everyone! Today I'm interviewing Vileman, who is generally known to be a versatile all-gens player, and has been a player for team Latin America in WCoP for some time now. Vileman, how was your experience in the WCoP last year, and what are some thoughts/expectations you have going into WCoP this year?

Vileman: Hello! WCoP last year left me a bit salty as I feel i could have played a bit better and got some better odds. That being said, it was a great experience in which I learned a lot, hopefully I will do better this year in a tier i feel more confident in as I've been practicing it for a while now. All of LA is also hoping to bounce back from last year's bad performance so the motivation is great right now.

Sakito: That's great to hear. In terms of old gens, which do you feel is the most enjoyable for you to play, which gen is your least favorite, and which gen do you feel is your strongest overall?

Vileman: I can't really enjoy playing BW right now, mostly because I can't seem to find a team which fits my taste (and also haven't spent much time working on this tier). Picking a favorite is harder but it's got to be between rby and gsc, the two I've practiced the most in the past 2 years. Right now I feel stronger in RBY than GSC as it's the one I've spent most time on, and I also enjoy playing it more (although the luck factor can be a bit ridiculous sometimes).

Sakito: Something that you feel is underrated in RBY?

Vileman: There's been a lot of new mons taking the spotlight lately, victreebel and articuno made some nice appearances in SPL, so it's hard to say that something is underrated when everything good is being shown more, even more so in a tier with few actually viable strategies.

Sakito: How would you describe your playstyle? Does it vary depending on the generation you're playing?

Vileman: It depends on the gen and who I'm playing. I try to keep offensive pressure whenever possible but at the same time try to avoid big risks, this is also very important in gens without team preview in which you can't really risk (without a good reason) any mon without knowing your opponent last mons.

Sakito: If you could make changes to any of the old gens, which changes would you make?

Vileman: Some people have discussed banning wrap in RBY, which I would agree tbh as it's a strategy which rely solely on luck (if you miss the first wrap vs a mon with thunder wave its useless, but if you hit every wrap not much your opp can do, specially in late game scenarios), other than that I would not change anything in rby. People have been complaining about reflect mons but I think theres been some good progress in handling those. Not much to comment in other gens (BW is the only one which has reasonable discussion but I haven't invested much time in this tier).

Sakito: What would you say is your favorite memory while competing?

Vileman: It's got to be SPL 6. SPL is by far the best team tournament in smogon imo, and I had the fortune of being on a great team too.

Sakito: Who in the community do you look up to as a player?

Vileman: I'd say Lavos is the guy to watch right now for any old gen player. He's been doing amazing in all tournaments and innovating a lot in GSC. He was also one of the people who helped me start in gsc which I appreciate till this day.

Sakito: Do you have any goals on smogon right now?

Vileman: Not really, my plans are to play WCoP and then retire. I've played way more than I should already and don't really have much time on my hands, and while it's been fun I think it's time for me to move on.

Sakito: I see, I have no more questions. Anything you'd like to add?

Vileman: Gooooooooooooooo LA xD

Sakito: Haha, thanks for your complete answers. It's been a pleasure.

Vileman: You're welcome!

 

[Lutra]

RoAPL 5 Team Power Rankings

1st: Aspertia Arcanines (54.1 pts)
Mysterious M / roudolf13 / Alexander. / Maya Chansey / Mr.378 / Melle2402 / Heysup / CZ. / Rodriblutar / Sharow / SoulWind / Chill Shadow / Garay oak / Kebab mlml
2nd: Mauville Magnetons (52.0 pts)
The Idiot Ninja / Charmflash / teal6 / rozes / Lavos / Diophantine / Golden Sun / Triangles / Windsong / fatty / Luck>Skill / Lopunny Kicks / false / gz
3rd: Sunyshore City Shaymins (49.5 pts)
Excal / sig / Kaz / Thiago Nunes / Hyogafodex / Sceptross / eden's embrace / A Hero's Destiny / Tamahome / Vay / FLCL / Roseybear / Eternal Spirit / Altina
4th: Mt. Moon Men (48.4 pts)
Gilbert arenas / PDC / Heroic Troller / MetalGro$$ / Kingler12345 / Coconut / Void / robjr / GaryTheGengar / TonyFlygon / McMeghan / Cynara / frisoeva / Sam I Yam
5th: Hearthome City Heatrans (48.3 pts)
Mister Tim / ilesaural / Nails / Bedschibaer / Oibaf / Arifeen / Hclat / SamuelBestt / M Dragon / hellpowna / Raiza / Ace-11 / yjh971203 / xImRaptor
6th: Pyrite Town Pichus (47.7 pts)
jacob / Groudon / Genesis7 / The Quasar / HSA / Vileman / thelinearcurve / z0mOG / H.M.N.I.P / Mannat / Insult / ayevon / FMG / Analytic
7th: Konikoni City: (46.4 pts)
Finchinator / crayon pop / Hipmonlee / EB0LA / dice / TSR / elodin / Souf / snøfall / Fener / Eo Ut Mortus / UD / xray / jonfilch
8th: Po Town Power: (45.6 pts)
Sam / Jirachee / Pearl / Tobes / BKC / Slick Willy / Fakes / CMx / Stone_Cold / Emeral / 69 problems / choolio / mael / DKM
Managers / Players

Formula used: (217 - SUM OF ALL AVERAGES)/2

Gives a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 98.​

 

[Finchinator]

hate to break it to you but posting power rankings in the middle of the finals between the 4th and 7th best team may not have been the best look for the brand

 

[snøfall]

7th place, indeed very accurate

 

[PDC]

all other teams are shit besides mine

 

[PDC]

how we lose 3 members to activity and being banned and still take finals

 

[Ismakhil]

RoAPL 5 Team Interview: Aspertia Arcanines

This interview was conducted during Week 7 of RoAPL

Ismakhil: Hello everyone. Today I’m interviewing Mysterious M, who managed the Aspertia Arcanines. Hi Mysterious M, it's a pleasure to interview you! How was your experience managing the Aspertia Arcanines this year?

Mysterious M: Hey there, this is the second year I am managing the Arcanines along with Roudolf and it has been a blast. We’ve had a really strong draft for both years, and last year we missed the playoffs by one point on the last week. This year we are close to it once again and I hope we will make it. The team has some amazing players and the overall experience is great. Let’s hope we win this one!

Ismakhil: Nice to hear, good luck! Did you get everyone from your initial draft plan?

Mysterious M: Realistically speaking, getting everyone is impossible. We did have some top targets in some tiers going into the draft, like SoulWind for BW and Mr.378 for GSC. We also got some other people who did well last year like Kebab mlml and Heysup. And finally, we wanted some people who play multiple tiers like Rodriblutar and Chill Shadow. Overall, we had a roster that was able to function with multiple rotations.

Ismakhil: That sounds like your draft was very successful. Who were some rising stars that you’ve observed throughout the tournament?

Mysterious M: Vay (who’s currently 5-1 in DPP), Raiza (5-1 in BW), and Fatty who also is 5-1 in ADV/DPP. Raiza was in our plans prior to the draft and is super solid. Another star is one of our own, Kebab mlml who went 3-0 last year and is currently 5-1 in ORAS!

Ismakhil: Who do you think were some steals during the auction?

Mysterious M: I will begin with one of our own steals: getting Sharow for 3K when he was 2nd place in the most recent DPP Winter Seasonal was a great opportunity. False going for 5k is also a steal; his perfomance speaks for himself (5-1). 4.5K for Asuya is also a steal in my opinion, since he is a veteran and a solid player overall in DPP/BW. While there were some more 3K steals like Alkione, Roseybear, Tobes, gz, et cetera, those are all people who can attain a solid record for a team.

Ismakhil: Let’s talk about you. Which metagame did you enjoy the most with helping and also watching?

Mysterious M: Ι tried to help my players in every generation despite my lack of knowledge in BW and GSC. I enjoyed preparing and testing for ORAS and ADV mainly which are my favorite gens. Roudolf and I knew our weakness in preparation for the above two tiers, therefore we bought players who can stand alone and bring results, like Soulwind who is 6-0 in BW lol.

Ismakhil: Can you tell us why your team should win this roapl?

Mysterious M: Our team has the players and what is needed to win ROAPL. We did go undefeated for 5 weeks, but until the last moment we have to be concentrated in order to clutch playoffs. After that anything can happen!

Ismakhil: Have you improved in any tier solely through managing RoAPL?

Mysterious M: I familiarized myself a bit more with BW, where I had to try and test some teams in order to pass them to one of my players. It is a fun metagame and I will definitely try to improve in it in the future!

Ismakhil: Which tiers do you enjoy the most outside of the ones featured in RoAPL?

Mysterious M: USM Ubers, since I have been an Ubers main for a few years, but since USM OU was playable, I started playing the tier. I had a good run in OST and now I am looking forward to playing in WCoP.

Ismakhil: Thank you for your answers :D, good luck in making playoffs and winning RoAPL!

Edited by Excal​

 

[Lutra]

May 19th 2019: Fix: Entry into the playoffs is decided by the top 4 according to Points (descending) > Individual Wins (descending) > Win Percentage (descending) Dead Matches (ascending). If a tie persists, head-to-head will be evaluated, and a 3-on-3 tiebreaker will be scheduled if the head-to-head was a tie. It never went beyond Individual Wins this RoAPL, so this year's OPs will be amended to prevent confusion for next RoAPL.

May 27th 2019: Fix 2: Entry into the playoffs is decided by the top 4 according to Points (descending) > Individual Wins (descending) > Individual Adjudged Losses (ascending) > Dead Matches (ascending). If a tie persists, head-to-head will be evaluated, and a 3-on-3 tiebreaker will be scheduled if the head-to-head was a tie. The OPs will be amended again.

 

[Lutra]

RoAPL 5 Team Interview: Mauville Magnetons

Lutra: Today we are joined by The Idiot Ninja, who has managed Mauville Magnetons in 2 RoAPLs now, including the one that is about to conclude. TIN, how well do you think the latest draft turned out for you? How good a team did you end up with, and is there anything you want to try differently next auction?

The Idiot Ninja: The draft went about as well as I could have hoped for. We basically got everyone we wanted during planning, and the unspecified good GSCer we wanted to splurge cash on ended up being the best GSCer in the pool, which was great for us. Unfortunately, a handful of players I really trusted vastly underperformed, and the same happened to a few players Charmflash wanted us to draft, so the final result wasn't quite good enough. Overall though I'm really confident in my planning, drafting, and auction abilities. I wouldn't say I'm looking to switch anything up in the next auctions, other than trying to keep the dedication of the various players in mind a lot more; it's something I am generally good at but I had a few lapses of judgment this year. I'm also still looking for an assistant manager that really works well with my style. I still love both Void and Charmflash, but I feel like we had a few clashes in the way we approached things and I'll be looking to find a guy that I’m more compatible with.

Lutra: Which other team tournaments do you get involved in, and which do you enjoy most out of all of them? Also, what roles do you play in each?

The Idiot Ninja: Ahh there's a decently sized list here. SPL I've played in twice now. It’s the best team tournament, and it is not a close call. The atmosphere, the competitiveness, the team spirit that builds over the months, the hours spent practicing, and the figurative blood and sweat left on the keyboards; I just fucking love it. I've been a regular RBY starter in both of my appearances, but I am hoping for a manager spot in the future. I've done EGL twice as a player and twice as a manager + player (managers can buy themselves in that tournament). It's a good opportunity to link up to the rest of the Italian community and keep tabs on our domestic talent, so I enjoy it a lot. For a national competition the level is quite high, too. I've managed PPL once during a time where I just wanted to practice and refine my drafting and general management skills. It was pretty enjoyable, but it shares a lot of tiers and playerbase with RoAPL so the experience wasn't that different honestly. And the same thing for WCoPP: I managed it once. It was fun working with a full squad of Italians, but at the end of the day it’s still the same tiers and the same type of preparation going into it.

I've played DPL for the last two years which is also great fun. Doubles is a tier I enjoy playing a lot. The community is full of weebs and I'm not a weeb, but I got drafted by what was probably the least weeb team, so I think I got lucky this year. On that note, I also signed up for OPL, which is some sort of Spanish community-based team tournament; it had Doubles as a tier and I like playing Doubles, so I went for it. I helped Sabella and Lopunny Kicks with their draft plan in OUPL this year too. It was a fun experience because I enjoy the planning a lot, but I didn't have any of the responsibilities of a manager once I was done with it. I just kinda got to do the fun part and then let them handle themselves. I somehow got involved in a LCWC too. I still don't know how; I really don't play LC. I went 1-3 and our team got last place. Was pretty sick. I think that's everything.

Lutra: Going back to this year's RoAPL, did you notice anything that was different than you expected based on last year and/or previous years?

The Idiot Ninja: Nothing in particular, no. It seemed to be pretty in line with the previous editions. I didn't notice anything particularly unique to RoAPL5.

Lutra: What would you like to see (including more of) in future RoAPL editions?

The Idiot Ninja: I want to see more new players getting to showcase what they're made of. I think the growth of new players in Old Gens has been going pretty slowly lately and it's a shame. I'm not sure if this should come through some sort of ruleset changes or through managers taking more risks, but that's about the only thing that I think needs some improvement currently.

Lutra: Where does the name "The Idiot Ninja" come from? Are you self-deprecating?

The Idiot Ninja: LOL I used to struggle with depression a couple years back but no, not anymore. There's a pretty big eSports organization called Ninjas in Pyjamas, and an up-and-coming amateur team named themselves 'Samurais in Jeans' to mock them. I found that really funny and when I was brainstorming for a new nickname, I remembered that whole clownery and thought something similar would be funny. Obviously it isn't very good but for a few minutes some years ago I thought The Idiot Ninja would sound pretty funny so I went for it. I have regretted that decision ever since and I intend to get a name change at some point in the future.

Lutra: A few weeks ago you wanted to change the ruleset of RBY. Can you explain that desire and whether you will continue to pursue it based on the feedback you got?

The Idiot Ninja: The RBY council listened and took the issue in their hands, which is why I didn't keep pursuing it myself actively. They recently DM'd a group of qualified RBY players a survey about their opinions; I assume the results will go public shortly. I hope something will change because the current metagame leads to a lot of games being decided on match up, and I think there are changes that could be done to improve this. For more elaborate arguments you can just check back on that thread because I've already elaborated on this.

Lutra: What are your interests outside of Pokémon?

The Idiot Ninja: Game design is something I'm really interested in. I'm intrigued by all sorts of games, ranging from chess to card games to all of the digital stuff. I hope to get into that industry in the future. Playing video games is also naturally how I spend a lot of free time. I'm pretty solid at League of Legends and various digital card games...I speedrun and glitch hunt in a few lesser known games. Basically just a lot of playing games, watching games, studying games, all of that. Outside of that, I follow European football pretty actively. I like watching various panel shows and other comedy stuff (mostly from UK comedians, I really enjoy their humor). I listen to a ton of music (mostly DnB and not much else in other genres). I meditate almost every day, and that's about it I think.

Lutra: Did you make any friendships this RoAPL? Any favorite moments in the team chat?

The Idiot Ninja: I got to team up with cool people I hadn't teamed up with before, but I wouldn't say any proper friendship formed, no. But I can probably say that about most of my teammates in any tournament. I tend not to bond with Smogon people on a personal level much, other than a few exceptions. As for team chat moments, my favorite was probably when Exiline's scheduling was off by 1 hour because he googled "timezone US Central", and google gave him the timezone for the town of Central, Indiana, which uses EST. Exiline didn't notice so he thought his opponent was late.

Lutra: Anything else you'd like to say? Thank your for your responses.
The Idiot Ninja: I don't think I have anything else to add, thanks for the interview and thanks for reading

Edited by Lutra and Excal​

 

[Lutra]

RoAPL 5 Team Interview: Sunyshore City Shaymins

Lutra: Hi, it's time for Sunyshore City Shaymin's interview. We are joined by team manager Excal. Excal, your account is less than a year old. Can you explain how you found out about competitive Pokémon on the web?

Excal: Hello! What's interesting is that despite the young age of my account here on Smogon, I've actually been involved with competitive Pokémon since 2009. I found out the way a lot of the vets seemed to have found out, which was beating the Elite Four hundreds of times and then seeking greater competition. I found Youtube videos recorded by people like Marriland, Uutton, Disfunction, MTGXerxes, symphonyx64, and so on. These videos really inspired me, so I started my own YouTube channel, and joined some xat chatrooms like PokeCentral101 and PBC and played WiFi battles! I actually knew about Smogon at the time but did not know too much about the forums -- I just used the strategy dex -- so if I had known about the forums I would have a much older account.

Lutra: Ah. I completely forgot xat existed. I think I used it on a forum or at least had mod powers somewhere. Okay, so take us through what you've done on the Smogon forums in the past year.

Excal: Xat was the best, funny enough it's actually still up as a site, but it's completely dead. I came onto Smogon not really knowing what I was signing up for to be honest. I didn't realize that there was so much to do on the forums, I didn't really know how people were established as players, and I wasn't familiar with the social dynamics either. I started off on Smogon by posting an RMT of a very strange DPP team that took me to great heights on the ladder, which was my first step in becoming more familiar with the community. Some time soon after, I met eden's embrace on the DPP ladder, we talked for a bit, and then became really good friends, which is what caused me to meet people like Sceptross, FOMG, and a few others. A few months later, I went on Ruins of Alph by happenstance (I had known Sceptross and FOMG were ROs there for a while), and I enjoyed the room a lot so I stuck around. RoA-wise, the rest is history after that. These days, I contribute to the forums via tutoring, writing analyses, and doing stuff for RoA like hosting tournaments, working on interviews, and sometimes posting on forums.

Lutra: How do you feel about the recent Latias unban in DPP OU?

Excal: Honestly, I'm pretty conflicted about it. I alluded to not really being familiar with the social dynamics of Smogon, and the Latias suspect is what got me posting. I regret some of my original posts about Latias to be honest. I was adamantly against it, and I posted a lot of random stuff, but I think I shouldn't have because the core of my belief at the time was that I loved DPP for what it was and didn't see a necessity to change it (also I don't think I came off well in my posts at all). Nowadays, because we've been forced to play with Latias in the meta for over half a year, I've gotten used to it. I don't think Latias is broken, and it adds unique dimensions to team building. There are definitely a lot of positives about it (but some negatives as well), and I like how there are many different sets you can use. I definitely think Latias, if anything, is really underrated and surely a top 3 mon in the tier: it's ranked below Jirachi (#1) and Tyranitar (#2) but it also makes these two stronger, and it's definitely better than Heatran. For the revote, I'm really not sure what I'd vote. I don't know if the Latias meta is better than the meta without Latias, and thankfully I don't have to think about it too much until the revote! It's funny, because I used Latias before it was banned in 2009, and during that time I was against the ban of Latias, but that was mostly because I felt like Latias was what barely allowed Salamence to function in the tier. Once Latias was for some strange reason voted off before Salamence, the tier was an absolute shitshow until they banned Salamence maybe a month later. LatiMence was seriously a fun time though.

Lutra: The RoA room was growing pretty strongly before, but has tailed off in recent months. As a mod, do you think it won't grow much anymore, or is it just a temporary hiccup while we get a stronger grip on our projects, including finding trustworthy contributors to become room staff?

Excal: I think something that I'd love to see is a stronger appeal to the more competitive community, which at the end of the day is probably what experiences the most growth or has the most potential to grow. I enjoy the fact that people like Earthworm, Astamatitos, Lavos, Conflict, dice, and a few other top players come to RoA a reasonable amount. I think it will definitely grow more regardless because RoA staff is really stepping it up with new projects and we're really determined to expand. As a staff member, I am constantly inspired by the efforts put in around me. I would love to find more trustworthy contributors to become room staff, but it's also not smart to rush that process. I think that will naturally come with time as well, and I enjoy our current auth structure a lot with great new additions to the team like Earthworm and Smoochyena. Firelit nights is also a recent room voice who has deserved it for a long time and is a great contributor. Since these were recent, I have no doubt in my mind that we will find some more great contributors in the future.

Lutra: Let's focus on RoAPL now. Were you surprised you were picked as a manager given you were picked above people with prior experience, or were you confident you possessed the skill and determination to see-off the weaker candidates?

Excal: I was pretty surprised I was picked. Prior to this I had taken a 3 month hiatus from Pokémon that at the time I considered to be indefinite. Some irl circumstances changed and I was asked if I wanted to manage the tournament. I had never managed anything, so I felt like I really wanted to at least try it out. While I was definitely surprised that I got picked, I was confident that I would be a good manager. If I didn't have that confidence, I doubt I would have ended up signing up.

Lutra: How did you think your draft went? What things were you pleased about, and what things disappointed you? How competitive did the team feel relative to the others?

Excal: I actually felt really confident about my draft. When we planned the draft, we wanted to go not only for really solid players, but also players who were motivated and who would give the team some life. We got initial players like FLCL, Eternal Spirit, and Tamahome for surprisingly cheap, and we had a great retain in Hyogafodex. We also got Vay for very cheap considering his dominance in the DPP scene prior to the tournament. Because of some of these steals, I was willing to splurge more to secure players. I was irritated though by the fact that someone was willing to pay over 20k credits for eden's embrace, who I really wanted on the team so I had to pay 21k for him. But at the end of the auction, we had 3 spots to choose so I'm happy we had enough credits left over to pick out some great subs in Sakito, Sinkyr, and Watchog. While we had a star player for every tier, comparatively we had slightly weaker spots in RBY, ADV, BW, and ORAS vs some teams, so we knew we had to count on motivated people over-performing in some areas relative to the pool. Overall though, I strongly felt that we had an amazing draft and that we drafted a winning team compared to the other teams.

Lutra: I have to ask, why did you choose sig, or should I say Konzern, as your assistant manager?

Excal: Ahh, I didn't know if I was allowed to mention him. So I actually befriended sig, without knowing he was Konzern, through tutoring him in DPP. Once he got drafted during the midseason of SPL, I was helping him with prep and building. Through that experience we became good friends, and he's actually the one who wanted to manage with me, rather than the other way around. We became even closer through the management process and honestly he was a really great assistant manager for our team. When he turned out to be Konzern, it was pretty unfortunate, but looking back I'm not surprised he was an alt. His skill was way too diverse and had I been around on Smogon before Konzern was banned, maybe I would have suspected it.

Lutra: Your team made an amazing comeback throughout the qualification phase after not getting off to a great start. What do you think went wrong initially? Was it motivation, luck? What changed?

Excal: I think we honestly faced the two best teams in the tournament for the first two weeks, which was part of why we found difficulty, but also we were still experimenting a bit with lineup positions because our lineup was pretty flexible. Our prep during week 2 where we lost 3-9 was not great, so I actually sent a motivational message in our announcements channel to boost team morale. I'd say during week 1 we got a bit unlucky, but it wasn't exactly an excuse we were thinking of. Also, for a lot of us, school was becoming quite a lot during the first two weeks. Once we were more motivated and we figured out the best ways to approach our lineup compared to other teams, our team started to shine throughout the rest of the tournament before playoffs. I'd say a thriving team chat was a huge influence on our strong performance.

Lutra: Any predictions on who's going to win the finals between Konikoni City and Mt. Moon Men? (The two teams you played the first two weeks).

Excal: I predict a tiebreak scenario and then Konikoni City to win. Mt Moon Men is a really good team but Konikoni City seems more motivated. Both teams definitely deserve to be in the final and I'm looking forward to spectating the rest of the matches!

Lutra: Thanks for your great answers! Anything else you'd like to say, like maybe some advice?

Excal: I think tournaments like RoAPL are really great. While they are smaller, they are still really fun ways to experience team tournaments. Make the most out of them! Thank you for interviewing me, it was a pleasure!