Corporal Levi
ninjadog of the decade
Despite having only gotten into the tier in earnest at the start of SM, Dundies is fast establishing himself as an LC player to watch out for. Placing in the top 16 in the Spring Seasonals, ending 5-2 in LCPL, and not losing to OP even once, Dundies effortlessly proves that he has all the talent and looks to succeed. But for all of his critically acclaimed plays, one thing continues to evade Dundies - a tournament victory. Could LC Open be where this changes?
Hi, my name is Jacob. I'm 18 and live in Georgia, and I'll be attending my first year of college this year. I'm usually working out (literally every day), hanging out with friends, going to parties, working, or just hanging out watching Netflix / playing mons. I started playing LC a little bit about a year ago, just laddering here and there and playing in the Lost Cave challenge, but other than that, I hadn't played much LC at all. Once SM started I began to play more frequently and I really enjoy the tier, so I stuck with it. Ever since I've just been joining tournaments like Swiss Tournament, LC Seasonals, and LCPL, having decent luck and getting better as I go along.
After going into LCPL as certainly one of the more hyped up players, what are your thoughts on your own performance? What did you think of the Guerrilla Goletts? Of LCPL as a whole?
I've always been super competitive and I really don't like losing, so I set a pretty high expectation for myself finishing LCPL with one loss at the most. Sadly, I went 5-2, which is still good, but most importantly I was really happy with my performance throughout. I think in almost every game I put myself in a solid position to win. I also sort of felt I took somewhat of a leadership role out of my teammates and tried to do a lot of testing to benefit everybody I could. My first loss was to tko in a game I feel I outperformed and put myself in a position to win, then just ended up losing to a High Jump Kick miss. Alas can't beat lucky dong players GG. My other loss was to miltankmilk in a super weird game. I didn't take the loss too hard on myself, as our team was guaranteed to not make playoffs, so the game didn't matter and I brought a weird ass team (triple bulky waters and Scarf Alola-Vulpix because why not). I ended up kinda just losing to a cool Z-move Rufflet set, and I think miltankmilk won that game on prep really, considering it would've done well against a lot of my serious builds. As for my team as a whole, I loved the Goletts. Shrug was by far the best manager I've had in any team tour, and my team got along really well overall (even PD). I feel luck wasn't in our favor after midseason and it caused us to not make playoffs, but I don't regret anything about this LCPL. I thought LCPL as a whole was pretty great. There was a good share of great games and stupid memes / banter, and Coconut did a really good job of hosting it smoothly. I look forward to next LCPL if I'm still around.
Do you plan to stick around for the tours involving LC that are coming up? What are your expectations for those?
Definitely. I'm in a few small ones like LC Gods Among Us and LCPC, which are fun and I plan on doing well in, though I'm more focused on the LC Seasonal Circuit and LC Open. LC Seasonal so far has been pretty fun and I did decent in the first, though I'd like to maybe make at least top 3 this time around, if not win. I think LC Open will have a pretty good turnout and it'll likely get more exposure to the tier from higher level tournament players, which is pretty cool. It's a tournament I've been set on doing my best in for a long time, and my goal is to win it, nothing less.
You had good things to say about the LC community when you first got involved in SM. Now that you're more established, do you still feel the same way? What are the areas you think we could improve on?
I think I've really gotten along with a lot of people in the community and made friends along the way. Hanging out in the LC Discord and talking to the people in the community is always fun since theres a wide variety of different types of people. It's hard to pick out something to improve on, but I'd say just finding ways to help newer players with teambuilding and playing the tier in general would be helpful. I know Coconut just made a nice resource when you can give replays of your playing to be reviewed, which is pretty cool.
Who are the users that you particularly respect or look up to?
I really respect players who can play almost any tier and do really well, even against mains of that tier. A few that come to mind are Teddeh, Christo, and Level 56, all of which can really play any lower tier and succeed. As for LC players, I really only look up to Heysup. Pretty sure this would be like any LC player's answer, he's like the really old LC godfather lol. I also have a lot of respect for teal6; he's just a super nice dude which seems hard to come by in high levels of power and is also a great player.
You used to be known as a PU main. How do you feel SM LC compares to ORAS PU in terms of fun, diversity, balance, and so on? How do you feel LC compares to level 100 tiers in general?
ORAS PU was a decent tier for the most part, but towards the end of it, everything seemed to just be bulky teams using defensive cores like Bronzor + Clefairy, which honestly made the tier pretty boring and I got worn out on it really quick. LC has a somewhat nice diversity to it, where you can successfully use a lot of different playstyles to some success. One bad thing about LC, though, is that the tier doesn't get new Pokemon from tier shift, so the tier kinda centralizes around certain playstyles a little bit, but it's something I don't mind too much. Also stall isn't viable, which is kinda cool. In comparison to level 100 tiers, the battles are shorter and there's obviously the super fun speed ties and rolls that make LC what it is, but overall I'd say how you play in both is pretty similar strategically.
What are your thoughts on the presence of metagame-defining items like Eviolite and Berry Juice? Do you think that they are overpowered relative to other popular items like Life Orb and Choice Scarf? Would you consider them beneficial to the health of the metagame or not?
I don't think they're really overpowered honestly. I kinda consider them as just a part of the tier. I could see fast wallbreakers becoming a bit overpowering with the absence of Eviolite, so I'd consider that to be more beneficial to the tier, while Berry Juice can be a nuissance at times, but I don't really see it as a negative force in the tier either.
What about other things that are frequently brought up as potential suspects, namely Abra, Diglett, Staryu, and Vullaby? If you don't find them broken, would you say that banning one or two of them to "shake up the metagame" is worth considering? Is there anything else you think is potentially banworthy, or could use a retest?
I personally don't think anything needs a suspect at the moment, but out of those four, Abra and Vullaby are the most threatening at any point to me. Between Counter Sash Abra and Life Orb Abra, there basically isn't any counters, between Psychic, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam, and either HP Fire / Ground / Fighting, but it's one of those Pokemon Diglett is able to keep in check and can be played around depending on the set. Vullaby's versatility is what makes it most threatening, as it's hard to tell whether you're facing a physical bulky variant, Choice Scarf, or Nasty Plot, the latter being somewhat tough to play around because of Weak Armor. Thankfully the meta seems to be centralizing about around Onix builds, being a really nice check for any of the sets. Torchic is another Pokemon I'm finding very hard to play around, as not only is it hard to switch into, but once it's played its role offensively, it can pass off the Speed to another bulky sweeper like Croagunk or Rufflet. However I feel like Torchic builds are pretty matchup based, as Torchic alone isn't insanely hard to check, and it's hard to fit hazard control on Torchic teams with sweepers like Croagunk and Rufflet, so I feel like it's pretty easy to beat teams like that by just getting up hazards and keeping up offensive pressure. As for retests, I like the idea to shake up the meta a bit, but everything seems kinda broken still. Maybe Drifloon???
Finally, do you have a team that you would like to share with us?
Here's a pretty solid team that I built around Scarf Snivy. The team hasn't gone through much testing but in my experience with it so far it's done pretty well. The team basically focuses on wearing down or taking out Snivy's biggest checks and counters so it can clean late-game. Fire Blast Grimer-A is a solid way to get nice chip damage on Pawniard and punish it for switching in, while Substitute + Fire Punch Snubbull is a great way of luring Foongus and Ferroseed. Foongus is a bit annoying for the team, so make sure you're doing your best to pressure it through getting off damage with Knock Off + U-turn from Mienfoo or Fire Punch, followed by Substitute, and another Fire Punch from Snubbull. Slowpoke is also amazing so it's bound to grab you some W's.
Thanks for responding in a timely manner, Dundies!
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Thanks for reading our sixth player of the week. I'll do my best to get the next one up soon.
Player of the Week 6: Dundies
Tell us about yourself. How did you get into competitive Pokemon? How did you get into LC?
Hi, my name is Jacob. I'm 18 and live in Georgia, and I'll be attending my first year of college this year. I'm usually working out (literally every day), hanging out with friends, going to parties, working, or just hanging out watching Netflix / playing mons. I started playing LC a little bit about a year ago, just laddering here and there and playing in the Lost Cave challenge, but other than that, I hadn't played much LC at all. Once SM started I began to play more frequently and I really enjoy the tier, so I stuck with it. Ever since I've just been joining tournaments like Swiss Tournament, LC Seasonals, and LCPL, having decent luck and getting better as I go along.
After going into LCPL as certainly one of the more hyped up players, what are your thoughts on your own performance? What did you think of the Guerrilla Goletts? Of LCPL as a whole?
I've always been super competitive and I really don't like losing, so I set a pretty high expectation for myself finishing LCPL with one loss at the most. Sadly, I went 5-2, which is still good, but most importantly I was really happy with my performance throughout. I think in almost every game I put myself in a solid position to win. I also sort of felt I took somewhat of a leadership role out of my teammates and tried to do a lot of testing to benefit everybody I could. My first loss was to tko in a game I feel I outperformed and put myself in a position to win, then just ended up losing to a High Jump Kick miss. Alas can't beat lucky dong players GG. My other loss was to miltankmilk in a super weird game. I didn't take the loss too hard on myself, as our team was guaranteed to not make playoffs, so the game didn't matter and I brought a weird ass team (triple bulky waters and Scarf Alola-Vulpix because why not). I ended up kinda just losing to a cool Z-move Rufflet set, and I think miltankmilk won that game on prep really, considering it would've done well against a lot of my serious builds. As for my team as a whole, I loved the Goletts. Shrug was by far the best manager I've had in any team tour, and my team got along really well overall (even PD). I feel luck wasn't in our favor after midseason and it caused us to not make playoffs, but I don't regret anything about this LCPL. I thought LCPL as a whole was pretty great. There was a good share of great games and stupid memes / banter, and Coconut did a really good job of hosting it smoothly. I look forward to next LCPL if I'm still around.
Do you plan to stick around for the tours involving LC that are coming up? What are your expectations for those?
Definitely. I'm in a few small ones like LC Gods Among Us and LCPC, which are fun and I plan on doing well in, though I'm more focused on the LC Seasonal Circuit and LC Open. LC Seasonal so far has been pretty fun and I did decent in the first, though I'd like to maybe make at least top 3 this time around, if not win. I think LC Open will have a pretty good turnout and it'll likely get more exposure to the tier from higher level tournament players, which is pretty cool. It's a tournament I've been set on doing my best in for a long time, and my goal is to win it, nothing less.
You had good things to say about the LC community when you first got involved in SM. Now that you're more established, do you still feel the same way? What are the areas you think we could improve on?
I think I've really gotten along with a lot of people in the community and made friends along the way. Hanging out in the LC Discord and talking to the people in the community is always fun since theres a wide variety of different types of people. It's hard to pick out something to improve on, but I'd say just finding ways to help newer players with teambuilding and playing the tier in general would be helpful. I know Coconut just made a nice resource when you can give replays of your playing to be reviewed, which is pretty cool.
Who are the users that you particularly respect or look up to?
I really respect players who can play almost any tier and do really well, even against mains of that tier. A few that come to mind are Teddeh, Christo, and Level 56, all of which can really play any lower tier and succeed. As for LC players, I really only look up to Heysup. Pretty sure this would be like any LC player's answer, he's like the really old LC godfather lol. I also have a lot of respect for teal6; he's just a super nice dude which seems hard to come by in high levels of power and is also a great player.
You used to be known as a PU main. How do you feel SM LC compares to ORAS PU in terms of fun, diversity, balance, and so on? How do you feel LC compares to level 100 tiers in general?
ORAS PU was a decent tier for the most part, but towards the end of it, everything seemed to just be bulky teams using defensive cores like Bronzor + Clefairy, which honestly made the tier pretty boring and I got worn out on it really quick. LC has a somewhat nice diversity to it, where you can successfully use a lot of different playstyles to some success. One bad thing about LC, though, is that the tier doesn't get new Pokemon from tier shift, so the tier kinda centralizes around certain playstyles a little bit, but it's something I don't mind too much. Also stall isn't viable, which is kinda cool. In comparison to level 100 tiers, the battles are shorter and there's obviously the super fun speed ties and rolls that make LC what it is, but overall I'd say how you play in both is pretty similar strategically.
What are your thoughts on the presence of metagame-defining items like Eviolite and Berry Juice? Do you think that they are overpowered relative to other popular items like Life Orb and Choice Scarf? Would you consider them beneficial to the health of the metagame or not?
I don't think they're really overpowered honestly. I kinda consider them as just a part of the tier. I could see fast wallbreakers becoming a bit overpowering with the absence of Eviolite, so I'd consider that to be more beneficial to the tier, while Berry Juice can be a nuissance at times, but I don't really see it as a negative force in the tier either.
What about other things that are frequently brought up as potential suspects, namely Abra, Diglett, Staryu, and Vullaby? If you don't find them broken, would you say that banning one or two of them to "shake up the metagame" is worth considering? Is there anything else you think is potentially banworthy, or could use a retest?
I personally don't think anything needs a suspect at the moment, but out of those four, Abra and Vullaby are the most threatening at any point to me. Between Counter Sash Abra and Life Orb Abra, there basically isn't any counters, between Psychic, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam, and either HP Fire / Ground / Fighting, but it's one of those Pokemon Diglett is able to keep in check and can be played around depending on the set. Vullaby's versatility is what makes it most threatening, as it's hard to tell whether you're facing a physical bulky variant, Choice Scarf, or Nasty Plot, the latter being somewhat tough to play around because of Weak Armor. Thankfully the meta seems to be centralizing about around Onix builds, being a really nice check for any of the sets. Torchic is another Pokemon I'm finding very hard to play around, as not only is it hard to switch into, but once it's played its role offensively, it can pass off the Speed to another bulky sweeper like Croagunk or Rufflet. However I feel like Torchic builds are pretty matchup based, as Torchic alone isn't insanely hard to check, and it's hard to fit hazard control on Torchic teams with sweepers like Croagunk and Rufflet, so I feel like it's pretty easy to beat teams like that by just getting up hazards and keeping up offensive pressure. As for retests, I like the idea to shake up the meta a bit, but everything seems kinda broken still. Maybe Drifloon???
Finally, do you have a team that you would like to share with us?
Slowpoke @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 156 Def / 116 SpA / 116 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Snivy @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
Level: 5
EVs: 236 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Knock Off
- Glare
Grimer-Alola @ Eviolite
Ability: Poison Touch
Level: 5
EVs: 80 HP / 36 Atk / 196 Def / 196 SpD
Brave Nature
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast
Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Def / 76 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Onix @ Eviolite
Ability: Weak Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 76 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Explosion
Snubbull @ Berry Juice
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 116 Def / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Play Rough
- Fire Punch
- Thief
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 156 Def / 116 SpA / 116 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Snivy @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
Level: 5
EVs: 236 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Knock Off
- Glare
Grimer-Alola @ Eviolite
Ability: Poison Touch
Level: 5
EVs: 80 HP / 36 Atk / 196 Def / 196 SpD
Brave Nature
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast
Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Def / 76 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Onix @ Eviolite
Ability: Weak Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 76 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Explosion
Snubbull @ Berry Juice
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 116 Def / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Play Rough
- Fire Punch
- Thief
Here's a pretty solid team that I built around Scarf Snivy. The team hasn't gone through much testing but in my experience with it so far it's done pretty well. The team basically focuses on wearing down or taking out Snivy's biggest checks and counters so it can clean late-game. Fire Blast Grimer-A is a solid way to get nice chip damage on Pawniard and punish it for switching in, while Substitute + Fire Punch Snubbull is a great way of luring Foongus and Ferroseed. Foongus is a bit annoying for the team, so make sure you're doing your best to pressure it through getting off damage with Knock Off + U-turn from Mienfoo or Fire Punch, followed by Substitute, and another Fire Punch from Snubbull. Slowpoke is also amazing so it's bound to grab you some W's.
Thanks for responding in a timely manner, Dundies!
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Thanks for reading our sixth player of the week. I'll do my best to get the next one up soon.