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maybe this is heaven
Welcome to the SM version of OU Player of the Week! This project will feature interviews from some of the most accomplished and influential users in the tier so that we can learn more about them.
If there is a user that you would like to see interviewed be sure to let me know.
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TDK
Favourite pokemon: Latios
Most used pokemon: SM is Landorus-Therian, across generations is Tyranitar by far.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself outside of Smogon?
I'm a 19 year old college Freshman (soon-to-be Sophomore) majoring in Criminal Justice. Right now I spend most of my time on school, friends, with a side of Pokemon and other frivolous things. I watch anime, play video games, and the like in my free time but I generally don't spend much time on them during the school year, although I do still spend a large portion on Pokemon. Throughout my younger years, most of my time was spent on Sports, video games, and activities with friends. I've played soccer ever since I was 4, and primarily to play right back. Most other sports were mostly pickup games with friends, but I actively played football and basketball for a long time. I've also actively followed the NFL for the past 6 1/2 years, but kinda cooled down with the intensity lately. Video game wise, I was always a Nintendo kid. I've played so many Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon games that it's kinda crazy to think about how much time I've spent on them. Don't have any regrets or anything because spending time on things you enjoy is how you should go about it, but still kinda wild to think about. I've also played some Fire Emblem, which I enjoyed a ton, and plan to play some of the older versions over the summer. I also spent a lot of time in high school as apart of Robotics team where we learnt about engineering related things and the like and competed against other high school teams.
Where did you get your name from?
I originally signed up for a Serebii account in 2013. At the time I had some pretty shitty past online aliases, and being 15 years old I decided to pick something unique and creative. As such, I picked something only a 15 year old could come up with; word play on the Pokemon "Dragonite," forming The DragonKnight. There's no exciting backstory or anything; I just liked Dragon-types the most and rolled with it. Eventually, after prodding from my US East teammates, I conformed alongside my friends BKC and PDC and adopted a three letter name. Admittedly I find the origin of my name somewhat embarrassing, but TDK is incredibly simple and changing your username after being apart of a website for so long is silly, so I have no intentions of adopting another alias anytime soon.
How and when did you get into competitive Pokemon?
I started playing Pokemon when I was about four years old, and was pretty hooked. Although I didn't play competitively, I've always been a super competitive person, and then ran across both PS! and some competitive forums while looking at information for Pokemon XY, which was unreleased at the time. I played some but didn't fully invest myself until I tried out for East in WCoP in 2014, only to be told by my friend that PDC dubbed me "nothing special."
What’s your favourite generation of OU and why?
Sort of a cop out answer but generally I don't have a favorite generation. I really love and enjoy building and playing in Sun and Moon due to how new it is; there's still loads of opportunities for creativity and formulating new standards, but at the same time due to unbalance the tier is quite volatile and very strenuous to constantly build teams aptly. I enjoy BW2 a lot simply because I find it very enjoyable to play in; there are very few circumstances of a "matchup" loss, only those that could be credited to a lackluster team rather than a volatile factor of the tier, meaning the better player will win more often than not. I also very much enjoy playing and building in GSC, despite not being too well versed in it. All in all right now I'd say SM is my favorite but mostly because it's the current generation.
What’s your favourite playstyle to use and why?
Bulky Offense. It's the most consistent playstyle, allows you to play around most every matchup, and gives you both a defensive backbone to fall back on and offensive presence to pressure your opponent.
What are your thoughts on the current metagame? How do you feel about SM in comparison to ORAS?
Right now, SM is in a pretty weird state. While it isn't a perfect metagame, most everything that is absurdly busted has been handled, or is being at the moment. But even with that, the metagame has some unappealing factors. "Cheese" strategies are more common than I've ever seen; stall, Baton Pass, gimmicky strategies like Webs, Rain, Trick Room are all very prevalent in OU. While "cheese" merely existing doesn't mean much, the viability of these strategies, for the most part, is there and adds some unwanted factors. Even though they can be annoying, I also feel like most of the strategies get too much flake or are just simply overrated. Outside of Baton Pass, which isn't nearly as strong as some people make it out to be, all of the aforementioned cheese strategies easily workable with a solid team, and can be played around except for some few obscure scenarios. In general I do enjoy the metagame for the most part; seeing the teams used in important tournament games such as OST finals is really neat, as people produce solid teams that aren't simply just gimmicky cheese that people love to spam in grinding situations.
In general, compared to ORAS, I find SM as a place where creativity is far easier. Between Z moves and the multitude of viable Pokemon, it's really easy to be creative and innovate. ORAS didn't have this to quite the same extent, even towards the earlier portion of the generation. Because of this, I enjoy it more. From a more objective standpoint, at this point in time in Gen 6, I believe SM is far less volatile tier, as at this point in time, 7 months after release, full BP chains were still legal, as well as Deoxys-Speed, Deoxys-Defense, Aegislash, and Mega Mawile. All in all I can say I much prefer the metagame we have in SM at this point in time compared to the one in XY at the same timespan, and it's nigh impossible to tell how the tail-end of the metagame will look like. Comparing SM to ORAS now, ORAS is a very balanced tier where there are very few things that can remotely be sought of as "broken," but at the same time strategies are tried and true and there is little room for creativity left without sacrificing actual viability and delving into silly gimmicks.
What do you think is the most challenging part of being Head of the OU Council? What do you enjoy about it?
It's not really a challenge so to speak but the most annoying aspect of being OU Leader is most definitely all of the whiners. People complain about things all the time no matter what, and people will always complain about things in OU because they think they're always right. While the metagame isn't perfect, people make so many false assumptions, assuming they understand how tiering works and how we should ban things and that they're undeniably right, but in reality are simply fools that have no understanding of how tiering works nor what goes on behind the scenes. The very same people are the ones who complain about the OU council whenever they get the chance. It makes me wonder why I spend time doing something just to be met with nonstop complaints from people who don't understand what's going on at every opportunity.
I enjoy influencing the tier to be the best it can be. Obviously I'm not someone who's been involved in tiering since the early days, but I have a solid understanding of tiering and (hope to) do what I can to create the best tier possible with what's presented to us.
You've already posted your opinion on the Mega Metagross suspect test. Do you believe anything else is suspect-worthy?
I think Greninja, Baton Pass, and something in regards to Stall as a whole all deserve some action from the Council. Greninja, both Ash and Protean, are incredibly threatening and dominant in the OU metagame right now, as everyone knows. Protean has a vast array of options and is very difficult to take on, while Battle Bond is simply incredibly powerful and one of, if not the, scariest Pokemon to face in a late game situation. Personally, I don't have any intentions to vote ban on it, but it does warrant attention and it's probably the most disliked non-BP thing in OU atm. The ever disliked Baton Pass strategy is most definitely the most threatening it's ever been since full BP chains were banned. The addition of Necrozma and Magearna simply put BP on another level; these two Pokemon, with boosted Speed, are incredibly difficult to take on. Necrozma's biggest issues, Dark-types, can be circumvented through the use of Dugtrio, while Magearna is simply a very difficult Pokemon to take on, especially when it can freely get a speed boost. Stall, lastly, is such a strong playstyle right now. Despite a Dugtrio ban not taking place, I still believe Stall will need to be looked at again. I don't believe there's much room for diversity for stall, but the classic Stall build is incredibly menacing that there are next to no single Pokemon that can aptly prepare you for the build and pull its weight vs any other kind of team.
While this is all I can say at this point in time, as should the results of the Mega Metagross suspect test end with a ban, the metagame would change, shortening the game between the top tier Pokemon and those just outside of reach. Potentially I could see some of the things Poek detailed in his POTW interview becoming warranting of action, but at this point in time they simply aren't a priority. Volcarona in particular I find borderline absurd to aptly handle without the use of a Chansey at the moment; between all of its sets and options, it can ignore pretty much every possible check and counter aside from Chansey with Toxic. Inferno Overdriver, Shattered Psyche, Charti Berry, HP Ground, HP Ice, etc.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone trying to break into the tournament setting?
The best way to break into the tournament scene is really just make a name for yourself. The biggest challenge I see people really running into that solidifies their place in the tournament community is recognition, and thus being picked up in team tournaments. I'd be lying if I said only the best players are picked for team tournaments; managers to employ the strategy of picking people they like and offer little over people who contribute greatly to the team. However, for the most part, if someone knows you're good, you'll get picked. Doing well in an official tournament can get you recognized. Consistently performing in a relevant unofficials, such as a Circuit tournaments, will get you noticed. Playing and performing well vs relevant tournament players can get attention. Building solid teams, either used by people in tournaments, on the ladder, or posted on the forum can get you recognized.
For people who wish to improve upon their skills to the point they'll get recognized or for people who want to up their game beyond where they're at currently, the biggest thing I can say is to not get too discouraged and repetition is key. People improving or getting better at 'Mons will make mistakes; trust me, we've all been there. However, it's important not to just give up after a poor performance, regardless the negative publicity. I've had my fair share of poor performances. To be perfectly blunt, I was pretty terrible my first SPL, and nothing really "clicked" until mid WCoP 2015. I made some bad team building choices, I didn't play perfectly, I generally just wasn't a great player. I improved a lot because I wanted to get better and had the drive to improve. However, I've made a big turn around and improved a lot. Part of my improvement, however, is from repetition. I got a lot better at team building because I build a lot of teams; to the point I can really build something solid simply by writing it down on a piece of paper just because I remember most everything necessary while building. Repetition is also huge for playing; the more you play, the more you understand predictions in games and strategies; what to do, when to do it, how to do it.
Who are some of your favourite people in the Smogon community?
I don't want this to be a cheesy shoutout post because I generally really detest writing them, so I'm going to keep names to a minimum, but it'll probably look like one anyway..
Starting out I wanna say I'm very thankful to my original friends on Smogon and that I won't forget them. I very much enjoy talking to all of you and wish some of you were still as active as you used to be. col49, Dallaren, Kid Buu, Gingy, Stathakis, sugarhigh, Tesung, Tokyo Tom. Miss you Jaiho.
I also have met some people, particularly in the tournament community, that I love to talk to and do so on a near daily basis. These are some of the people I stick around for because I wouldn't enjoy Pokemon the same way if they weren't around. BKC, blunder, CrashinBoomBang, FLCL, KratosMana, Jirachee, John, McMeghan, Pearl, Poek, rozes, TheEnder (come back ;_;), amongst many others. Thanks to everyone who makes Smogon and Pokemon enjoyable n_n
Finally, can you provide us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 56 Def / 8 SpA / 140 SpD / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Soft-Boiled
- Psychic
Scizor-Mega (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 120 Def / 124 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog
Garchomp (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Dragon Claw
Amoonguss (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Toxic
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Water Shuriken
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Spikes
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 56 Def / 8 SpA / 140 SpD / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Soft-Boiled
- Psychic
Scizor-Mega (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 120 Def / 124 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog
Garchomp (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Dragon Claw
Amoonguss (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Toxic
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Water Shuriken
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Spikes
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