All Gens Ruins of Alph Player of the Week: Fear

Lavos

Banned deucer.
It's rare to see 'new players' involving themselves in old gen, especially the first two. You're now known as a GSC and BW player.

What was your first motivation to delve into GSC and make it one of your main tier?
Three years ago I knew nothing of GSC. In SPL4 I saw the amazing 700+turn battle between Colchonero and Earthworm. It instantly reminded me of a chess match, which is a game I found a lot of competitive success in when I was 4-12 years old playing in the junior leagues. So I figured I'd be good at it, and enjoy it. I asked Earthworm, a teammate at the time, to tutor me in the ways, and he graciously showed me the basics and had a couple matches with me. I played the standard boom team and the standard stall team, and was crushed easily both times, which humbled me a bit. I was busy with SPL and quickly forgot about the strange old tier, but afterwards I came across Borat's GSC guide series and my interest was renewed. The first few paragraphs blew me away. Everything I knew about the tier was nothing in comparison to the vast expanse of knowledge I had yet to gain, and I saw that as a challenge, so I started studying, then playing. I laddered on PO all day despite there not being much activity, and got a lot of experience playing guys like M Dragon and Isa 20+ times. Anyways, the point is that it became a bit of an obsession and after a couple months I now thought I was hot shit at GSC. Challenged my friend BKC to a casual bo5 and he fucking demolished me in 4 games where I only won 1 due to a HPump miss. That's when I realized I was still scraping the surface and that motivated me to become the best at GSC. I still have a lot to learn but every day it becomes even more interesting. To me, playing GSC is sort of like Jenga, the game where you stack blocks on top of one another until one person unbalances the tower and makes it crash down. Every turn adds yet another layer of complexity, pushing it towards the tipping point, and both players are frantically trying to keep their gameplan from crashing down. It's an intellectual journey and an undeniable thrill.
What do you think is left to do/achieve for you to be recognized as (achievements) and feel like (own progession curve) a top-tier GSCer?
I'm playing GSC in this WCoP, I think I really need to prove myself there by going undefeated, which I think I'm fully capable of doing. It would be great if I was paired in the prelim rounds with big names such as Earthworm, beating legends will give me more recognition. Additionally, I need to perform better in next SPL, as a 5-4 record isn't something to write home about. This will give me the achievements necessary to improve my perception in GSC. As far as my own progression curve goes, I think I'm advancing at a natural pace and the only way for me to improve will be playing as many matches as I can and learning from each one. I've already gone through every GSC guide/analysis which is in a language I can read, so the rest has to come from within.

I like new-gen players take on old-gen sometimes, is there anything you got from later gens that you tried to apply to GSC? Did you find any success doing so?
In BW I'm known as a fairly aggressive player, and this carries over to GSC. Not in the teams I play, but the way I use them. Even when playing stall in a gen that's already the slowest, I feel it's important to keep making aggressive plays so your opponent can never feel 100% comfortable with any move. And I've found a lot of success with this style due largely to my own inexperience. By playing aggressively, I can give myself a chance of beating opponents that are far more skilled, who would easily crush me if I tried to match their own defensive playstyle. I think it's the best way to play the odds against a superior foe. The only situation in which it's inexcusable to play aggressively is when you are certain that you cannot lose from your current situation, bar incredible luck.
Opinion on BW1 as a tier compared to BW2?
I think BW2 was better for a long time, and the only segments where I'd rather be playing BW1 are when Genesect was OU and currently, due to the Spikes + Magic Guard metagame that I hate so much. But keep in mind that I only started playing Smogon tiers in March of 2012, and BW2 released late July/early August iirc, so I didn't get a taste of it back when the meta was really crazy.
Opinions on the WCOP decision?
It's a good decision when looking solely at the merits of the decision itself, but it was made in a poor fashion. The sudden announcement after zero discussion or even a warning that it might happen, coupled with how unprecedented it was, made me rather upset. Community input is extremely important to me. However I had a discussion with the TDs about implementing preliminary suspect tours, and I think I made a compelling case because they were announced a day later. So I'm no longer upset. At least we get a say now.
Do you feel like the implemented changes + reun ban will fix all of the "problems" bw has ATM that has created a really negative stigma around the tier?
No, I think permanent weather is still ridiculous. I didn't realize how broken it was for a long time, since BW was my first and only tier for a good year and a half, but after some extensive DPP and dabbling in ORAS I'm sure of it. Gutting Sun is smart, banning reuniclus is smart, but I don't think it's enough. However I understand if the TDs do not want to make such a drastic change to an old tier. Yet it seems that if they're going as far as to effectively kill Sun then maybe it's in the realm of possibility. Fingers crossed.
Opinions on bpass in general (and especially gsc, where well-played bp is incredibly dangerous)?
I think BP is way better in BW than GSC. In the latter, all you need to win are two phazers/drumlax/anything huge that the BP team doesn't have time to boost up and deal with. Or HazeNite which fucking rules. And even if you don't have that stuff you can still win against BP. But yeah in BW it's a strategy where it makes it so that the game is almost 100% decided by matchup and if you don't have the exact stuff you need to beat it then you lost. I don't like it, I think it's uncompetitive and thus it warrants a ban. But sadly, getting tier leaders to make changes that aren't widely reflected in usage stats has proven to be difficult. I remember the brightpowder thread where there were actually moderators...of this website...who have great influence on tiering decisions...saying it doesn't matter how stupidly uncompetitive the item is as long as the usage stats are low. I don't know how people with such weak minds get in positions of power, I suggest it's from kneeling and opening wide though. /rant
Hi Lavos. Happy to read you again.
Hey Quasar, been a while. GL in World Cup!
what's up man haven't talked to you since spl.

How did you go about learning a tier like GSC OU well after it was past its prime in tournaments?
Hey henry, it's been too long, let's agree to talk more. Partly my fault for never being on IRC. You can see my above answer to McMeghan for how I learned GSC. tl;dr: Earthworm told me basic mechanical differences from BW (intro), I played some games, read a lot of theory/guides, played some more games, read some more theory/guides, repeat.
What would you have done differently to make learning different generations easier/more efficient, if at all?
I would have played far more games before asking older players for help, reading guides, etc. I'm a very hands-on person and I deal with reality much better than theory. For example, I've always been a poor composer, but I can nail a complex piano piece by simply picking up the sheet music and playing. However, this won't work for everyone, and others should start with the theory and then move to the games. It's a matter of knowing what's right for how you learn.
What do you think has given Kingler12345 the opinion that Baton Pass is more difficult to handle in GSC when it is the worst gen for it?
I scratched my head at that one too. No Magic Bounce, no Stored Power, no Speed Boost, no ridiculously OP stat boosting moves. Maybe he watches too much Jorgen.
 
Favourite Pokemon?

Zangoose.

How did you get involved into competitive Pokemon?

In a part of a french forum, people were rating teams. I was curious and I decided to share my amazing Pearl version team. Raters told me my team was shit and EVs were missing. This is how I discovered Pokemon had a true strategic side. It was in ~September 2007 I think?

The french community was then based around "teams". I made a lot of friends and some of them (Ojama / Go10 / dadoux) are still playing today!

I discovered Smogon in end-2008 but I was only laddering on SB because my English was absolutely awful and I thought registering of forums would've been useless. I finally made an account to join the 2009 World Cup. I'm only "invested" on the community since 2013 because like I said I wasn't interested by Smogon + I took a 2 years break after Wcop 2011.

What past gen tier are you most known for playing, and what are some of your greatest achievements in playing (in either this tier or in general)?

I'm known for being the Smogon Tour 16 finalist and I'm considered as a good DPP player, I think it's for the reason I beat Conflict, M Dragon and Fakes in this tier during playoffs. I'm a bit ashamed to say that, but that's all. I never did ST playoffs after that for a ton of reasons. I think some people know me from my EPIC Ladder Tournament run!

What are your favourite old gen tiers and why?

It's DPP and just not because I started playing competitively with it but it's also a tier I saw evolving a lot, from the Deoxys-S ban until the tier it became nowadays.

I really started to appreciate ADV during ST16 and I consider it today as the best tier ever made because it is just so balanced and pleasant to play. This is a tier in which the best player wins almost every time.

I also gotta talk about a tier I discovered a bit late: DPP Ubers. By "late", I mean during the last Smogon Tour with DPP Ubers. I was curious about it because my friends Go10/Private became absolute fanatics of the tier and they even stopped playing OU for it. This tier is indeed excellent, probably the most balanced Ubers tier existing (I should try ADV Ubers before saying that). You can use pretty much what you want, hyper offense / balance / stall, everything works if you build and play well. I'll make sure to not miss the next Ubers Premier League just to play it.

What are some of your most often used Pokemon in the tiers that you play?

Aerodactyl in ADV, Tyranitar in DPP and Alakazam in BW.

What type of playstyle do you enjoy using the most in these tiers?

The playstyle which corresponds with me as a player the most is hyper offense. I make a lot of agressive plays (sometimes a bit too much) and I think in terms of stats, I'm a lot more effective when I'm using offense.

I never use full stall (or at least very rarely) because it doesn't really fit to my personnality. Like I said, I make a lot of agressive plays, not because I find it cool but because I'm a very hasty guy and sometimes (especially when I'm laddering), I want to clean my battles as quick as possible. That's probably my biggest weakness as a player.

Do you consider yourself having innovated or popularised any sets throughout your time playing?

I can't really say I have innovated something but I guess I made people aware of how Swampert in DPP could be dangerous with a Choice Specs. I explain everything on this post. I don't think this set will ever become standard because I first make it to surprise people, even though it's still very hard to switch in it.

I think I helped popularizing Passho Berry Tyranitar in DPP, which allows to gain a Starmie pseudo-switchin in offense which is a really cool thing because this thing is terrible to face..

For what concerns the other tiers, I built one the firsts sand stall teams in BW1 during the 2011 Wcop (I got 3 wins in a row with it). At this time, the metagame was splited into sand offenses (with Excadrill), sun offenses and rain stalls. Rain offenses were a bit less used than the others, especially because the ban of Swift Swim + Drizzle was recent, I guess that made the players less motivated to use them. The team I built was the same as Delko's Benelux Stall except I had Mew > Skarmory to make sure I could break rain stall teams with the help of Stallbreaker Jellicent. You can find the team here, attacks/items/comments are in french though. I stopped using this team after Prankster Sableye has been released, I let you guess why!

Are there any specific games you've played that you consider really great?

ST16 Final against BKC in which I brought a rain team even though I knew I had few chances to win knowing BKC's playstyle. I had some regrets after, not because I brought rain but just because Private told me to put Roost on Zapdos which I didn't. Could have made me won the game, rip.

ST16 Quarterfinal against M Dragon was one of the best DPP games I've ever played. A very tight game until both of us revealed our last mon (100% sure he was expecting Empoleon haha).

A tour semi-final against WhiteQueen, very close game.

ADV Cup Round 2 Game 1 against iconic, a bit unlucky on that one (with the Roar rolls + the last turn) but a solid game without a doubt.

What's your view on your times in SPL and WCOP so far, enjoyable?

My first SPL (5) was a fiasco due to the fact I played tiers I didn't sign up for (XY OU/XY Ubers), Funkasaurus told me he felt super bad for me but I told him it wasn't his fault. He actually didn't really want me in his team and was just overbidding, thinking I could've make any other team spending a lot of money on me, I guess that didn't really work haha.

I've been retained by the BIGS this year and that was a super tournament for me because our team was solid and motivated to win it. Hope I'll be BIG next year too. If I have to talk about my performances during this SPL, I'd say I've been pretty average. During week 1, I wanted to surprise Fakes by bringing a Stall team but I've been thrashed by Breloom. I also played awfully against august during Week 6 while I was 80% sure he would've used the team he used. It wasn't a bad SPL at all in terms of performance but I could have avoided some shit.

I'm super hyped for this World Cup, I'm training a lot in ORAS which I'm starting to find ok after the Lando-I ban (but please ban Manaphy, this thing is retarded). It's also cool to play a better tier than the last year's one with Aegislash / Mawile. Both were absolutely ridiculous.

Are there any changes to older tiers that you think would be beneficial?

I know some DPP fanatics want to see Latias back which is something I can understand but I'm against because this meta was (in my opinion) just overcentralized around steels/dragons and bulky sand teams with swampert/skarmory/jirachi. I mean, ok it wasn't a bad meta at all, but I think DPP is fine as it is now. Some tiers need a lot of work atm, let's focus on them.

Yeah BW is garbage. I left after the 2011 Wcop because of the shit this game became. When I returned a bit before 2013 Wcop, I was complaining every day at how Venusaur was broken, that doesn't really count though because I was -a bit- lost with all the new stuff BW2 had (Therian forms, Keldeo, Sheer Force Lando-I, Kyurem-B, etc). I'd say nerfing suns is a good first step, but I don't think we should ban Reuniclus / Alakazam. They're both amazing for obvious reasons but I'm pretty sure they aren't ban worthy. Limiting Spikes to a single layer sounds weird but why not if it gives a solution.

Oh I almost forgot but TDs have to make something very quickly about Baton Pass. I can't imagine reviving the nightmare OLT #1 was for me and I just want to stop facing BP in general.

Who do you look up to as a player and/or person, and which players are you close friends with?

I'm really focused on ORAS for the moment so I make sure to watch every "high level" ORAS game.

I consider McMeghan, Ojama and Reymedy as my best friends on the website and I always make sure to not miss a game from the two firsts because it's just cool to see some people taking the best decisions in their battles 95% of the time whatever the tier/generation they are playing. I also make sure to not miss a game from Reymedy, but for my personal entertainment haha.

Are there any old players who you wish would come back, either to play again or just to talk to?

Recently with some franch friends we were talking about how Haldar could have been one of the best Smogon players if he was more invested in tournaments. I considered this guy as the best french DPP OU Player during the Latias meta (and even after its ban). His teams were sick and he was playing super well, he went 3-0 in 2009 (or 2010) World Cup and made some really great performances in Smogon Tour by only playing OU (he wasn't playing UU and Ubers). Yeah I'm pretty sure this guy would've been a Smogon top player but he left when BW came out.

I'd also love to see Phyres being back. I knew Smogon and Shoddy Battle thanks to him and it'd be cool to see him again.

How do you feel about the comparatively larger successes of newer players recently, for example, in this year's OST, and are there any players that you think are underrated?

Doing great in a tournament doesn't mean you're good but I'm super excited to see new players making cool performances. I pay a particular attention on players who are building by themselves and not always counting on their friends to make them teams. Not to offense some people or what but I always had a higher respect for people who are playing well AND building well.

How do you feel about Smogon as a whole right now?

I think Smogon's biggest problem is its communication. For example, a lot of people think PS! and Smogon are 2 very different websites while they're not. I even remember a friend asking me "is there a smogon server on PS?". Smogon's and PS' homepage should be the same one. Also the homepage should be fully redisigned. Putting the Twitter is a good start, the Twitch also should be added, same thing for the Top X Ladder and the tournaments playoffs.

Yeah I don't wanna sound as someone who's trying to teach things to people but I just feel like Smogon's communication has centuries of lateness.

Any teams you feel fit you as a player particularly well?

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 152 Atk / 96 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Tyranitar @ Passho Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 196 Atk / 64 SpA / 32 SpD / 216 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Fire Blast

Machamp @ Custap Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- DynamicPunch
- Payback
- Ice Punch
- Substitute

Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 16 Atk / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
- ExtremeSpeed / Roost

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
- Trick

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Agility
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Ice Punch

I always wanted to use the amazing 4 attacks lead Metagross in a physical oriented offensive team and here's the result! Tyranitar switches easily on fire moves lead users and sets up rocks. Pretty funny to explode turn 1 against Zapdos and send Machamp turn 2. Also, Nite is Hasty because I have to outspeed Timid Heatran and 280 Speed Gliscor. The team has some weaknesses of course like Suicune, offensive Gliscor or Agily Gross but I just like it like that! You can use LO Gengar > Rotom-W if you want to have better matchups against defensive teams but that means you'll have to keep Machamp healthy because its the only mon that can rk DDTtar and potentially stuff like Gyarados. Also, Metagross becomes a huge threat.

Are you still going to continue playing in tournaments?

I think I'll stop playing after winning 1 team tournament + 1 single tournament. That could be long, sigh. Nah, I don't plan to stop. If the game becomes boring then I'll just play less and less until I'll fully stop.
 
hey man! ive learned a lot about dpp from your spl games. i really enjoyed watching your games vs bad ass, tv rocka, and marshall.law.

what is your favorite team of all dpp (any meta)?
thoughts on the current dpp meta?
thoughts on venusaur in dpp?
what kind of music do you like to listen to?
are there any recent trends in dpp that you'd like to comment on?
opinion on the introduction of scald?
#1 underrated mons in adv/dpp/bw?
 
any sets you feel work really well but are relatively undiscovered in DPP?
do you plan on making a smogon tour run soon?
advice to ppl getting into old gens (beyond fighting people and reading analyses, as well as joining tours)?
 
Sapientia said:
How can you stand being friends with the two most angry users on smogon?
The two most angry users ? Besides McMeghan I don't know who you're talking about!

I know your question is a troll to Ojama & Reymedy, some people do not really like them but I know them most than 99,99% of Smogon and I can tell you they are both good guys. Also, being salty/angry is nothing compared to cheating/making people believe you're a girl, etc.

rural said:
1. what is your favorite team of all dpp (any meta)?
2. thoughts on the current dpp meta?
3. thoughts on venusaur in dpp?
4. what kind of music do you like to listen to?
5. are there any recent trends in dpp that you'd like to comment on?
6. opinion on the introduction of scald?
7. #1 underrated mons in adv/dpp/bw?
1. Probably Zak91's CurseTtar team. This team had an incredible matchup against almost every offensive team. This Tyranitar was actually very good in the Latias/Mence metagame because Infernape/Lucario/Breloom weren't as common as in the actual metagame, it had the ability to absorb Latias/Mence's Draco Meteors pretty easily and wasn't even 5HKO'ed by Heatran's Earth Power. Absolutely ridiculous. I think the worst threat of this team was Skarmory but I guess he was counting on Trick to deal with it. You can watch this video if you want to see how cool the team was.

2. Current DPP is excellent but I want to nerf full BP / Gliscor pass they're both stupid as shit (just look at dEnIsSsS and -Tsunami-'s w/l ratio during last ST).

3. I didn't play it a lot but it's a really cool mon if you need a grass to absorb Toxic Spikes and/or a (pseudo) breloom check. Its lack of instant recovery move is pretty annoying though (that's the main reason why I don't use it a lot). Basically, Venusaur is a Roserade without Spikes/TSpikes/Natural Cure (which allows to use Rest without being too passive) but with a significant bulk addition.

4. I listen every kind of music actually lol.

Favorites videogames OSTs :
- Mirror's Edge :heart:
- Driver
- Hotline Miami
- FEZ
- Metal Gear Solid

Favorites rap albums :
- illmatic
- good kid, M.A.A.D city

Good YouTube channel to discover music.

5. SubRoost Gliscor :pimp:

6. M Dragon's post resumes my opinion about Scald.

7. Kingdra in ADV, Milotic in DPP and Slowking in BW. I love water mons. :heart:

Kingler12345 said:
1. any sets you feel work really well but are relatively undiscovered in DPP?
2. do you plan on making a smogon tour run soon?
3. advice to ppl getting into old gens (beyond fighting people and reading analyses, as well as joining tours)?
1. Huh nothing comes to my mind, sorry u.u

2. Depends on my work schedule. I'd really like to play the next Smogon Tour because it'll be the 20th season and this number is particular for me #believe. I give myself this season as my last chance to make a performance in this tour. If I don't even make it to the playoffs, I guess I'll spend my time doing better things.

3. Watching replays from the big tournaments (especially SPL/WCop) is the best way to learn a tier. I learnt ORAS OU thanks to this thread.
 
o forgot to ask this but: do you think sand veil should be banned in dpp? it might open up the whole garchomp thing but i read somewhere that ppl thought chomp would be broken anyways
 

davidTheMaster

TheMasterMind
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Best player francophone?

what's your favorite playstyle in ADV/DPP/BW OU

what do you think about bw meta atm?

btw j'attends toujours les let's play sur DK 2 et 3 depuis 2 ans zzzz
 
Favourite Pokemon?

Celebi, shockingly.

How did you get involved into competitive Pokemon?

I played Silver, Yellow and Emerald (in that order) and then sort of forgot about pokemon. Anyway, fastforward a couple of years and I hear about Diamond and Pearl. By this time I'm a bit older and have more of a competitive streak in me, so I do the whole research thing and find out about IVs/EVs, which leads to Smogon, which leads to Shoddy Battle. I got into DP in the garchomp era, and my first team was something amazing like blissey / celebi / weavile / raikou / breloom / something i forget, maybe gyarados? I remember playing maniaclyracist in my first few days and got wrecked by his stall team. Up till that point i thought people were idiots for wasting time with hazards, but after that game...well, yeah, I changed my mind.

What past gen tier are you most known for playing, and what are some of your greatest achievements in playing (in either this tier or in general)?

DPP. I've gotten to OST semis a couple of times and made tour playoffs that one year I tried, but my greatest achievements are probably in team tournies (because I suck and my teammates carry me :P)

What are your favourite old gen tiers and why?

I actually like the lower tiers like BW NU, DPP UU, BW UU. DPP OU is okay to play, but sometimes it gets boring when you play it too much, so I wouldn't say it's my favourite, although it's probably what I'm best at. The lower tiers have a bit more variety and room for innovation, so that's why I like them.

What are some of your most often used Pokemon in the tiers that you play?

Hmmmm in DPP I like zapdos / clefable / lucario / starmie, some other stuff. Stuff that isn't frail as glass but is also really strong always sounds good to me. I think heatran is really overrated, for what it's worth. Oh and this isn't part of the question, but tyranitar and heatran are not electric resists, so stop playing them like they are!

What type of playstyle do you enjoy using the most in these tiers?

I'll play anything because if you don't show the ability play anything, you'll just get counterstyled. This is part of the reason why I went full offense vs ToF after bringing a blissey vs Iconic in game 1 of WCoP this year. I guess if you had to categorise the most enjoyable playstyle into a general category, it would probably be balance, but not always standard balance. I like balance teams with a nice core and then you just add a couple of nukes to the end of it to bust up stuff. I'll definitely switch it up every now and then in tournaments to keep people guessing, though.

Do you consider yourself having innovated or popularised any sets throughout your time playing?

Yeah... I don't like to say definitively "I invented something" because it's always possible it existed before, but some stuff I either came up with on my own or somewhat popularised include lead metagross, lead machamp, iron ball meta, CM roar latias in that era.. I probably hand a hand in making 3 attacks agility empoleon more common, but the credit to inventing that all goes to ace matador, as far as I know. I may have helped CM clefable become more legitimate in DPP too, but who knows.

Are there any specific games you've played that you consider really great?

I mean, it's been so long since I've actively played in the tournament area consistently that I've forgotten a lot of the old games, but the game I just played today against phil in WCoP I thought was pretty solid. Playing Quantum Mechanics for the tiebreaker a few WCoPs ago was also a pretty good game, I think.

Are there any changes to older tiers that you think would be beneficial?

I dislike that people intentionally play to force situations where they get free scalds to break down other teams on 30% chances in BW onwards. Sure, it's skillful to maximise the chances you get to do that, but I think it's lazy, or at least suboptimal, teambuilding if your best way to break down stuff is by burning with scald. I don't know that scald is actually broken, but it's at least unhealthy. I'd test scaldless BW (possibly oras) to see what it's like at least. I like the change of dropping exca down and doing the complex ban in BW. No comment on the complex sun ban, but sun seems basically destroyed as a playstyle now. Not sure whether that's a good thing or not. Latias and mence should stay banned in DPP.

Who do you look up to as a player and/or person, and which players are you close friends with?

There's too many ppl I'm close friends with, so if I start naming names, I'll forget people. They know who they are. As for who I look up to, Earthworm, Gouki, husk when i was first starting. Heist and BKC deserve mentions in the more modern era. I look up to Ojama more for his TV taste than battling, but he's pretty decent too. I look up to MoP for just running the most random stuff and making it work. He's a really innovative player.

Are there any old players who you wish would come back, either to play again or just to talk to?

Everyone from brofessionals that's semi-dead and 6a9 Ace Matador.

How do you feel about the comparatively larger successes of newer players recently, for example, in this year's OST, and are there any players that you think are underrated?

Tbh I haven't been following much, but it's good to see newer players have success. It's nice to see a new kid on the block do well instead of the same old faces winning everything. Underrated....... probably scofield was a little underrated when he played.

How did you enjoy WCOP this year? What have been your favourite parts of current or past WCOPs?

Yeah it was enjoyable. I'm glad you got me into it. Facing all the old veterans in DPP was pretty fun! WCoP has lots of good memories for me and is probably my favourite tournament. The favourite part is probably when I tiebreaked vs Quantum Mechanics to save ocn and then we went on to win it all, although winning it all and breaking the asian dynasty for the first time is a close contender.

How do you feel about Smogon as a whole right now?

It's fine I guess? Winning at all costs is probably seen as more acceptable nowadays then a few years ago, but maybe that's just everyone getting more competitive, so it's w/e.

Any teams you feel fit you as a player particularly well?

Yeah. I don't have the pastebin on me since I built it long ago on a computer far, far away, but one of my favourite (albeit flawed) teams was my dual electric team.

Lead Empoleon / Agility roost Tbolt HP Ice Zapdos @ Zap Plate / Scarf Raikou / Celebi (i think it was leaf storm uturn hp fire recover) / CB dug / CB ttar. The team is really outdated now, but it rocked in frontier back in the day and is pretty fun to play if you get it right. Some specific pokemon can wreck it though. The earlier version had lead ape and Shuca agili emp over raikou, which has both its advantages and disadvantages.

The plan is simple: we kill the electric checks with dug and ttar and sweep with an electric, and we hope we don't get set up on and lose when we lock ourselves into a move doing that.

Are you still going to continue playing in tournaments?

Done with individual stuff unless there's something that i just have to play (like the walkthrough tourney). May play in the next SPL, but for all intents and purposes I'm done from most tourneys.
 
- favourite DPP UU squadron?
- SPL 2 vs SPL 5 sharks, who would you give the edge to and why?
- why do you always beat me in suicide chess? :(
 
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Sapientia

Wir knutschen
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Pretty sure I used lead meta earlier :<

Big fan tho. Always hated to play you in tournaments and still the guy against whom I have the worst tournament record. Imo the best player of the dpp era :)
 

Atticus

Atticus
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnuswon the 10th Official Smogon Tournamentdefeated the Smogon Frontieris a Two-Time Past SPL Champion
- favorite specific sharks moment from spl5?
- worst teammate you ever had to fight alongside?
- favorite EW quote?
- what's the all time dumbest Phil moveset you've seen that doesn't include a particular metagross that shall not be named

finally and most importantly, will you ever beat this rank?
 

panamaxis

how many seconds in eternity?
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Two-Time Past SPL Championis a Three-Time Past WCoP Champion
- favourite DPP UU squadron?
That frosslass + rotom + moltres + resttalk raikou + hitmontop? + something quad. Idr it exactly but spikes + roarkou + moltres was awesome.

- SPL 2 vs SPL 5 sharks, who would you give the edge to and why?
I think SPL 2 sharks were more consistently scary across the board, so I'd give them the edge. SPL 5 sharks were a really strong team too, though.

- why do you always beat me in suicide chess? :(
Because your rooks are filthy traitors.

Pretty sure I used lead meta earlier :<

Big fan tho. Always hated to play you in tournaments and still the guy against whom I have the worst tournament record. Imo the best player of the dpp era :)
Thanks for the kind words. Again, that's why I put in that disclaimer. I'm reluctant to say I invented something because you can't realistically know what everyone else is using and if an idea has been 'discovered' first, so yeah you're probably right.

- favorite specific sharks moment from spl5?
toss up between getting kael for effectively 0.5k or getting you midseason after thinking your sign up post was a joke.

- worst teammate you ever had to fight alongside?
Maybe that one guy who brought an illegal mon in week 1 of SPL, got DQed cos of it, bitched out Jabba for god knows why and forced me to subsequently play UU all season?

The Cryonicles (6) vs. The Congregation of the Classiest (5)
BW OU 1: Krack vs. Akola
BW OU 2: Lady bug vs. ToF
BW OU 3: BIG Loven vs. Lamppost
BW UBER: HSA vs. Eo Ut Mortus
BW UU: Smurf. vs. Snunch via DQ
BW RU: Amarillo vs. SGV
VGC 2012: Human vs. Cybertron
DPP OU: hanke vs. MYST0GAN
ADV OU: panamaxis vs. Ala
GSC OU: Ditto vs. Agammemnon
RBY OU: Carl vs. Austinf


Lol looking back at that lineup cryos were in serious trouble anyway if they were playing me in ADV. The serious answer is if I have played with someone outright cancerous, I don't remember it. I guess I might have to say WhiteQueen not because I dislike WQ as a person (i actually do like WQ) but because of MIAing during the season.

- favorite EW quote?
[06:37:09] <~Philip7086> i'm sitting there playing you
[06:37:29] <~Philip7086> all of a sudden, the glass window right in front of me shatters
[06:37:32] <~Philip7086> sounds like a fucking gun shot
[06:37:33] <&rems`laptop> WTF
[06:37:36] <~Philip7086> yeah
[06:37:38] <~Philip7086> i froze dude
[06:37:43] <~Philip7086> that's the most scared i've ever been in my life
[06:37:43] <&rems`laptop> wow holy fuck
[06:37:47] <&rems`laptop> damn man
[06:37:49] <&rems`laptop> wtf happend
[06:37:53] <~Philip7086> i think it was a gunshot, but i can't find the bullet anywhere
[06:38:08] <&rems`laptop> uhh what the hell
[06:38:11] <~Philip7086> that was the first time in my life i screamed in fear and froze and couldn't move man
[06:38:13] <&rems`laptop> where is your xbox
[06:38:19] <~Philip7086> livingroom
[06:38:23] <&rems`laptop> damn
[06:38:25] <&rems`laptop> did you call
[06:38:26] <&rems`laptop> the police
[06:38:30] <&rems`laptop> what did you have to do
[06:38:31] <~Philip7086> dude, then the security came like 5 mins later
[06:38:38] <~Philip7086> said they heard a loud noise, and saw some nigga running
[06:38:41] <~Philip7086> so they came to check it out
[06:38:54] <~Philip7086> i had to file a police report n shit
[06:39:01] <~Philip7086> dude shattered glass everyfuckingwhere
[06:39:04] <&rems`laptop> damn thats crazy
[06:39:05] <&rems`laptop> wow
[06:39:12] <&rems`laptop> thats so random too
[06:39:17] <&rems`laptop> it was only your apartment?
[06:39:18] <~Philip7086> yeah it really is dude
[06:39:21] <~Philip7086> yup
[06:39:24] <&rems`laptop> wtf
[06:39:32] <~Philip7086> like, i don't even talk to anybody in SLO man
[06:39:35] <~Philip7086> i keep to myself n shit
[06:39:42] <~Philip7086> i dont have any enemies here
[06:39:45] <&rems`laptop> damn man what the heck
[06:39:46] <~Philip7086> like...
[06:39:48] <~Philip7086> ugh
[06:39:48] <&rems`laptop> so do you gotta sleep
[06:39:50] <&rems`laptop> with a busted ass window
[06:39:51] <&rems`laptop> now
[06:39:53] <~Philip7086> yup
[06:40:00] <~Philip7086> gotta tell management in the morning they said
[06:40:07] <~Philip7086> =/
[06:40:07] <&rems`laptop> god damn
[06:40:13] <~Philip7086> i was so scared man, i swear
[06:40:21] <~Philip7086> we still can't find whatever it was that they used to break the
window
[06:40:30] <~Philip7086> and i know he didn't punch it or anything, or else i would've seen the guy right in front
[06:40:35] <&rems`laptop> did the security try and figure it out?
[06:40:39] <~Philip7086> yeah
[06:40:46] <~Philip7086> one of them chased after the guy apparently
[06:40:47] <&rems`laptop> man thats crazy
[06:40:47] <~Philip7086> but lost him
[06:40:50] <&rems`laptop> ahh
[06:40:54] <~Philip7086> and like the police department came n shit
[06:41:09] <&rems`laptop> damn
[06:41:10] <~Philip7086> dude i was literally scared stiff
[06:41:15] <&rems`laptop> haha
[06:41:16] <~Philip7086> and i was like shaking n shit
[06:41:24] <&rems`laptop> man i never been like that
[06:41:28] <~Philip7086> i held up my figh stick to shield me, lol
[06:41:42] <&rems`laptop> LOL
[06:41:45] <&rems`laptop> like a boss nigga
[06:41:53] <&rems`laptop> damn
[06:41:56] <~Philip7086> dude i thought it was a gun man i swear
[06:41:57] <~Philip7086> it probably wasn't
[06:42:02] <~Philip7086> but like, jesus fucking christ
[06:42:07] <&rems`laptop> seems like it was random vandalism
[06:42:12] <~Philip7086> yeah
[06:42:16] <~Philip7086> but there's no rock or anything
[06:42:23] <~Philip7086> so like... idk what could have done it
[06:42:28] <~Philip7086> and like the glass fucking FLEW
[06:42:32] <~Philip7086> all the way across my apartment
[06:42:41] <~Philip7086> so it was a really powerful blow
[06:43:05] <&rems`laptop> damn
[06:43:10] <&rems`laptop> did it land all over you and shit
[06:43:15] <~Philip7086> yeah
[06:43:20] <&rems`laptop> man who knows what the fuck it was
[06:43:31] <~Philip7086> dude the glass flew like 20 feet
[06:44:02] <~Philip7086> i'm like still shaky man
[06:44:03] <~Philip7086> =/
[06:44:07] <~Philip7086> that was the most scared i've ever been
[06:44:24] <~Philip7086> i was seriously sitting, waiting for some dude to show up, stick a gun through the hole and shoot me
[06:44:35] <~Philip7086> i really thought i was going to die
[06:44:42] <&rems`laptop> did you shit your pants nigga
[06:44:44] <&rems`laptop> dont be ashame
[06:44:59] <&Earthworm> lol

[06:45:05] <&Earthworm> i am undefeated today with a suicune weak tea

[06:45:06] <&Earthworm> m
[06:45:23] <&Earthworm> nobody has used a suicune


- what's the all time dumbest Phil moveset you've seen that doesn't include a particular metagross that shall not be named
I can't remember anything close to as dumb as TFCgross, so I'm just gonna have to ignore your disclaimer and just say that. Metagross @ Life Orb Agility / HP Fire / Shadow Ball / Explosion. Walled by a goddamn tyranitar, lol....

finally and most importantly, will you ever beat this rank?
Corporal Rank 7? EZ-PZ. LEM? Not unless you carry me up there.
 
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opinions on tour formats, especially the newly introduced classics? also the current wcop change that includes all gens now vs. all current gen slots?
would you change anything in BW (volc, reun maybe) as it is rn?
 

panamaxis

how many seconds in eternity?
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Two-Time Past SPL Championis a Three-Time Past WCoP Champion
opinions on tour formats, especially the newly introduced classics? also the current wcop change that includes all gens now vs. all current gen slots?
would you change anything in BW (volc, reun maybe) as it is rn?
I just had a look at them now. I assume the classics are the same format as grand slam is/was? Looks fine to me. I think that format is pretty fair. In terms of other tour formats, I've always dislike tour a lot because the way it's structured it gives advantages to certain timezones over others. From an aussie perspective, you get to play the Friday tour if you get up on Saturday morning and that's about it, unless you're going to go hardcore and do a 6am Sunday start (from memory). But that's a biased view cos I'm Australian, and the site is predominantly American so I totally understand why they schedule tours at the time they do. Apart from not liking the actual times they're held at, tour is a good and fair format.

New WCOP format I like. The only concern I had before this change came in was whether teams would be able to find a decent GSCer, but that hasn't really seemed to be a big issue here, so I think it's a good change.
OST is good stuff.
Frontier should probably be scrapped if it wasn't already.
SPL format is great, but if I was hosting it I would be a super nazi about people trying to sell back players for credits midseason (they'd have to be basically dead or a reaaaallly good reason). No issues with the format of SPL itself. Very minor issues about administrative stuff.
Never looked into the Ladder Tournament so I don't even know how that works.

I don't think volc is an issue, especially with sun basically not existing now. Reuniclus is probably a symptom of the spikes metagame destroying all its checks rather than reun itself being too good alone. Spikes + Reun is very different to just Reun, I think. Take that as you will. Then again watching BW battles is like torture to me nowadays, so I'm not the most qualified person to talk about it.

Hope that answers your question.
 

panamaxis

how many seconds in eternity?
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Two-Time Past SPL Championis a Three-Time Past WCoP Champion
Flygon @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 56 HP / 200 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- U-turn
- Roost

+ magnezone

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Lucario ExtremeSpeed vs. 56 HP / 0 Def Flygon: 266-314 (84.4 - 99.6%)
252 Atk Life Orb Infernape Close Combat vs. 56 HP / 0 Def Flygon: 262-309 (83.1 - 98%)
252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Hydro Pump vs. 56 HP / 0 SpD Flygon: 255-301 (80.9 - 95.5%)
252 Atk Life Orb Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 56 HP / 0 Def Flygon: 264-312 (83.8 - 99%)
 
Might as well ask a question to all of these guys since better late than never, and more information would be nice.

I am currently trying to get into DPP whatever (literally any DPP tier, DPP Ubers/OU/UU/NU/LC, DPP Doubles, even) and this is the "dawn of my DPP journey". (Newer gens don't interest me at all for various reasons; I haven't even looked at SM.) I'm also looking for regulars here who I can play with whenever I feel up for monz, but I'll put that into my sig later.

The question I have for you guys is this: What are some of the things you wished you had done at the start of your DPP journey, when DPP was new to you? What were the experiences that you wished you had had earlier? Like, one of those "damn I wish I discovered this mon/set earlier" or "I wish I played this dude/joined this tour earlier" etc etc, but not necessarily limited to those options. Feel free to advertise the stuff you think I absolutely MUST try.

I haven't thought up any further questions yet, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Tagging everyone interviewed in this topic who seemed to be interested in DPP to ask them for their thoughts. If I left you out by accident, don't hold it against me; I'm not sure I even remember how to tag right lol

Atticus babidi1998 McMeghan Smurf. Jirachee BKC boudouche panamaxis
 

panamaxis

how many seconds in eternity?
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Two-Time Past SPL Championis a Three-Time Past WCoP Champion
The closest thing I can give you to an answer is trying to use different styles of teams. You will probably have a certain type of team that feels natural or comfortable to you (type of team meaning stall, offense, balance or some variation). Being more open to trying different styles when beginning to learn a generation will probably help you understand the metagame on a more holistic level. Even if you have one style that you like, trying out playing with different styles is probably still going to be useful to you because having played that style yourself will possibly give you a better idea of how to play against that style, regardless of what type of team you use.
 
The best piece of advice I can give is to stay one step ahead of the game. If everyone is using a standard archetype of team or common core, try to find a pokemon or 2 that can dominate. Best example from my experience is circa-2010, when many DPP UU teams were basically built with a milotic + registeel + sdef toxic arcanine core. What's one mon that can freely switch into any of the above? Qwilfish, who can get up 3 layers easily on half the opp's team. Pairing that with specially defensive torterra gave me an incredible defensive base that could dominate 80% of teams. Pokemon is a cyclical game, and the 'standard' teams will inevitably shift. You only have to look at the team archive to see that many teams that were amazing in that period are really bad today. Recognising where the standard is shifting will allow you to come up with teams that are anti-metagame and those teams are always best.

Tagging SOMALIA coz I know he will have some useful tips.
 
At this point, I think I might just try and take this over and interview people in place of whoever originally did it; problem is I don't know how the interviewees were originally decided/who to interview.

PM me if you want to be interviewed/know someone who wants to be interviewed for this, cause I'm gonna try and bring this back. No promises, though.
 

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