TJ: Hi Ktut, how are you doing today?
Ktut: Hello TJ! I’m really fine and trying to use my keyboard with a cat sleeping on my left arm. It’s a happy Sunday evening! How about you?
TJ: I'm doing well, thanks for asking! (:
TJ: Can you tell us a little about yourself outside of Smogon?
Ktut: I’m a 20-year-old French dude living in Brittany, which makes me feel closer to the UK and the US. I’m currently having some health issues (nothing really bad), giving me more time to spend in this cheerful and wonderful community. Otherwise, I’ve been studying Quantum Physics and am kind of interested in most topics, especially Maths, Philosophy, the Anglo-Saxon culture, Music, Drawing, and Sports. I also love animals, having a walk on the seashore and singing. Like many people of my age, I don’t really know what I should choose for my future career.
TJ: Cool. What brought you to Smogon / the PU community?
Ktut: I first started playing on the ORAS OU ladder with one goal in mind: peaking above 1900 with Abomasnow semistall. I only used hail and thought that I would stop Pokémon after reaching my goal. When I reached it (not really, actually), I created a Smogon account to RMT my Hail team. Most of my time was spent making OU RMTs and rating OU teams. Unfortunately (for my free time), and fortunately for me, I discovered the small hidden wonderland that Smogon is. I got sick of OU and took a break by going to PU last year, from where I haven’t been able to escape because PU people are so nice, chill, and the tier has something about it that fascinates me.
TJ: I'm glad that you choose to stick with PU (:
TJ: How did you get your username?
Ktut: When I first created an account on PS!, I didn’t know what to put and chose the oldest word I could remember having said in my life: the name of my comfort blanket I had when I was a baby. “Blanket” in French is “Couverture”, but young me spoke very poorly and said “Catoute”, which is pronounced “K-toot”, hence “Ktut”. My blanket was green, which in Spanish becomes “Verde”. Ktut+Verde=Ktutverde. I added a dieresis on the “u” because my goal was to give people a tongue-ache. The official version is that “Ktutverde” means “Green King Tut”, though.
TJ: KING KTUT
TJ: What are your thoughts on the current PU metagame? Is there anything that you think should be resuspect tested?
Ktut: This metagame is the one I’ve enjoyed the most by far. People still complain about an overwhelming number of offensive threats, but that’s nothing as compared to past metas. I’m glad that Kingler, Pyroar, and Neckboi were banned, and that stuff like Ferroseed and Togedemaru rose by usage, since I just found them annoying and leading people to make lazy builds. I strongly believe that the least broken PUBL Pokémon is Archeops, which I found quite fine in Ferroseed meta, and could be just fine now since the seed can’t support it anymore with its typing and spikes. Regirock, Mudsdale, Quagsire, and Gastrodon being better than ever, Eelektross still sticking around, Snowslash having become a PU staple, spikes being less reliable, and finally FurCoat Cat having become a relevant threat leaves me to believe that a resuspect would be acceptable, although not needed at all.
TJ: What is your favorite playstyle and why?
Ktut: My favorite playstyle is Bulkyoffense because it’s a bit hard to use something else in PU… BO is the best playstyle in most tiers, offering good offensive pressure and bulky tanks/pivots so as to always have fast games and being able to deal with most playstyles. I also like HyperOffense but it is hard to justify not using rain in PU, because screens, webs and hail HO aren’t really good, and HO teams all look the same so it’s not that fun. Oh, I’m also a big fan of “x4 StealthRock weak Pokémon” teams: after Volcarona and ZardY, I’m now trying to use Articuno and Scyther to their full potential, which is a really different and fun approach at team building.
TJ: You are one of PU’s most innovative builders, do you think anything is relatively unexplored at the moment?
Ktut: It’s hard for me to tell what is really underrated, since I have my own team building bias, and because metagames change so rapidly in PU that most of my team ideas never go very far beyond the state of experimentation. With Guzzlord in mind, I think we could try reviving Silvally-F and Probopass. Both check it well, and are very useful vs plenty other Pokémon. Also Silvally-F checks the almighty Gurdurr, has a really good speed tier and can run underrated SD sets; whereas Probopass can trap Spdef Snowslash, set rocks up vs most hazard removers, check Guzzlord thanks to a huge Painsplit recovery, and deal with annoying threats such as Eelektross and Froslass. I look forward to seeing more CM Mesprits, Tangelas, Gastrodons, Scarf Defog Skuntank and Toxic Gurdurrs, which are great glue picks in the current meta.
TJ: Who do you think are some good-up and-coming PU players?
Ktut: Damn, I wanted to avoid this question. I’m fairly new in PU (I joined 12 months ago approximately), so there are still players whose past I don’t know of, but who I’ve been seeing more and more often. I don’t particularly care about tournament results, but rather about the quality, diversity of building; ability to play; and understanding of the metagame. PILZ isn’t very active in the community but is clearly more than competent in tournaments; lockjaw is a player whose name I had never heard of before this current seasonal but is really solid. Chloe is a fantastic person who I met quite recently, and has been showing really good tournament results; Many can do much, much better, and I’m looking forward to seeing him do well. Gum doesn’t play that much but is a smart lad. PhantomHurious, the biggest memer of the PU room, has started playing seriously and has a lot of potential; Squash17 ^_^, a new french friend who I met a month ago, has been learning PU very rapidly and qualified for PULT and I strongly believe in him. Oathkeepre doesn’t use his full potential in team building but is consistent and plays well; finally tlenit1, the ladder lord with his Claydol Qwilfish teams: extremely competent at playing, but sticking to the same awkward teams. A really nice dude who can become a solid player if they stop sticking to their beloved claygod stalls.
TJ: Do you have any advice to give to newer players?
Ktut: Don’t focus only on winning tournaments. Don’t think that using stall, rain or strong teams made by other people will make you better faster. Experiment, but don’t believe in miracles: low ranked Pokémon are often unviable because they aren’t worth using. Claydol and Absol are ladder memes and aren’t good. Read forum posts. Post cleverly on forums. Chat with other players. Don’t rely too much on teambuilding and try to make up for bad matchups by playing smart. Don’t believe what influential users say until you have tested it by yourself. Enjoying the teams you use is key to becoming better at playing. Try, fail, try again, fail again. Failing is learning. Learn from your failures. Keep your smile, take breaks. Wins will come to you when you stop caring about them.
TJ: Favorite Music/TV Show?
Ktut: I’m a huge fan of French Reggae at the moment, especially Naâman&The Fatbabs, Dub Inc and Jahneration. Incredible skill and super cool songs, you should definitely Youtube them. I liked Nightflyers (Netflix) a lot, and am looking forward to the next season of One-Punch Man, a funny Manga that still tackles a philosophical question: what if we could have all the power we can dream of?
TJ: Lastly, could you provide us with a team that reflects you and give us a short explanation of it?
Ktut:
Here is the most “ktut” team I could find. It’s a remix from my first PU team ever, which has been changing through metagame shifts (originally called Shitnotic, you can find it in the PU RMT section). ProboTang is just a great defensive core applying a lot of pressure on opposing teams, Tangela taking advantage of Stoutland/Primeape/Rain trends; while Probopass takes advantage of Froslass/Spdef Snowslash. Scarf Defog Skuntank is an innovation I started using a lot and is its best set imo. Lanturn is great vs all the Pompoms running around, Sensu is a Lilligant-proof Pokémon right now because Skuntank is super rare for some reason, while Chan utilizes a CB set quite well, since the AV Spin set kind of sucks in this Froslass meta: also the team needs immediate breaking presence. #RIPtype0inchat #RIPmcbfga #RIPshiinogod
Ktut: Hello TJ! I’m really fine and trying to use my keyboard with a cat sleeping on my left arm. It’s a happy Sunday evening! How about you?
TJ: I'm doing well, thanks for asking! (:
TJ: Can you tell us a little about yourself outside of Smogon?
Ktut: I’m a 20-year-old French dude living in Brittany, which makes me feel closer to the UK and the US. I’m currently having some health issues (nothing really bad), giving me more time to spend in this cheerful and wonderful community. Otherwise, I’ve been studying Quantum Physics and am kind of interested in most topics, especially Maths, Philosophy, the Anglo-Saxon culture, Music, Drawing, and Sports. I also love animals, having a walk on the seashore and singing. Like many people of my age, I don’t really know what I should choose for my future career.
TJ: Cool. What brought you to Smogon / the PU community?
Ktut: I first started playing on the ORAS OU ladder with one goal in mind: peaking above 1900 with Abomasnow semistall. I only used hail and thought that I would stop Pokémon after reaching my goal. When I reached it (not really, actually), I created a Smogon account to RMT my Hail team. Most of my time was spent making OU RMTs and rating OU teams. Unfortunately (for my free time), and fortunately for me, I discovered the small hidden wonderland that Smogon is. I got sick of OU and took a break by going to PU last year, from where I haven’t been able to escape because PU people are so nice, chill, and the tier has something about it that fascinates me.
TJ: I'm glad that you choose to stick with PU (:
TJ: How did you get your username?
Ktut: When I first created an account on PS!, I didn’t know what to put and chose the oldest word I could remember having said in my life: the name of my comfort blanket I had when I was a baby. “Blanket” in French is “Couverture”, but young me spoke very poorly and said “Catoute”, which is pronounced “K-toot”, hence “Ktut”. My blanket was green, which in Spanish becomes “Verde”. Ktut+Verde=Ktutverde. I added a dieresis on the “u” because my goal was to give people a tongue-ache. The official version is that “Ktutverde” means “Green King Tut”, though.
TJ: KING KTUT
TJ: What are your thoughts on the current PU metagame? Is there anything that you think should be resuspect tested?
Ktut: This metagame is the one I’ve enjoyed the most by far. People still complain about an overwhelming number of offensive threats, but that’s nothing as compared to past metas. I’m glad that Kingler, Pyroar, and Neckboi were banned, and that stuff like Ferroseed and Togedemaru rose by usage, since I just found them annoying and leading people to make lazy builds. I strongly believe that the least broken PUBL Pokémon is Archeops, which I found quite fine in Ferroseed meta, and could be just fine now since the seed can’t support it anymore with its typing and spikes. Regirock, Mudsdale, Quagsire, and Gastrodon being better than ever, Eelektross still sticking around, Snowslash having become a PU staple, spikes being less reliable, and finally FurCoat Cat having become a relevant threat leaves me to believe that a resuspect would be acceptable, although not needed at all.
TJ: What is your favorite playstyle and why?
Ktut: My favorite playstyle is Bulkyoffense because it’s a bit hard to use something else in PU… BO is the best playstyle in most tiers, offering good offensive pressure and bulky tanks/pivots so as to always have fast games and being able to deal with most playstyles. I also like HyperOffense but it is hard to justify not using rain in PU, because screens, webs and hail HO aren’t really good, and HO teams all look the same so it’s not that fun. Oh, I’m also a big fan of “x4 StealthRock weak Pokémon” teams: after Volcarona and ZardY, I’m now trying to use Articuno and Scyther to their full potential, which is a really different and fun approach at team building.
TJ: You are one of PU’s most innovative builders, do you think anything is relatively unexplored at the moment?
Ktut: It’s hard for me to tell what is really underrated, since I have my own team building bias, and because metagames change so rapidly in PU that most of my team ideas never go very far beyond the state of experimentation. With Guzzlord in mind, I think we could try reviving Silvally-F and Probopass. Both check it well, and are very useful vs plenty other Pokémon. Also Silvally-F checks the almighty Gurdurr, has a really good speed tier and can run underrated SD sets; whereas Probopass can trap Spdef Snowslash, set rocks up vs most hazard removers, check Guzzlord thanks to a huge Painsplit recovery, and deal with annoying threats such as Eelektross and Froslass. I look forward to seeing more CM Mesprits, Tangelas, Gastrodons, Scarf Defog Skuntank and Toxic Gurdurrs, which are great glue picks in the current meta.
TJ: Who do you think are some good-up and-coming PU players?
Ktut: Damn, I wanted to avoid this question. I’m fairly new in PU (I joined 12 months ago approximately), so there are still players whose past I don’t know of, but who I’ve been seeing more and more often. I don’t particularly care about tournament results, but rather about the quality, diversity of building; ability to play; and understanding of the metagame. PILZ isn’t very active in the community but is clearly more than competent in tournaments; lockjaw is a player whose name I had never heard of before this current seasonal but is really solid. Chloe is a fantastic person who I met quite recently, and has been showing really good tournament results; Many can do much, much better, and I’m looking forward to seeing him do well. Gum doesn’t play that much but is a smart lad. PhantomHurious, the biggest memer of the PU room, has started playing seriously and has a lot of potential; Squash17 ^_^, a new french friend who I met a month ago, has been learning PU very rapidly and qualified for PULT and I strongly believe in him. Oathkeepre doesn’t use his full potential in team building but is consistent and plays well; finally tlenit1, the ladder lord with his Claydol Qwilfish teams: extremely competent at playing, but sticking to the same awkward teams. A really nice dude who can become a solid player if they stop sticking to their beloved claygod stalls.
TJ: Do you have any advice to give to newer players?
Ktut: Don’t focus only on winning tournaments. Don’t think that using stall, rain or strong teams made by other people will make you better faster. Experiment, but don’t believe in miracles: low ranked Pokémon are often unviable because they aren’t worth using. Claydol and Absol are ladder memes and aren’t good. Read forum posts. Post cleverly on forums. Chat with other players. Don’t rely too much on teambuilding and try to make up for bad matchups by playing smart. Don’t believe what influential users say until you have tested it by yourself. Enjoying the teams you use is key to becoming better at playing. Try, fail, try again, fail again. Failing is learning. Learn from your failures. Keep your smile, take breaks. Wins will come to you when you stop caring about them.
TJ: Favorite Music/TV Show?
Ktut: I’m a huge fan of French Reggae at the moment, especially Naâman&The Fatbabs, Dub Inc and Jahneration. Incredible skill and super cool songs, you should definitely Youtube them. I liked Nightflyers (Netflix) a lot, and am looking forward to the next season of One-Punch Man, a funny Manga that still tackles a philosophical question: what if we could have all the power we can dream of?
TJ: Lastly, could you provide us with a team that reflects you and give us a short explanation of it?
Ktut:
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 220 Def / 248 SpD
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Toxic
- Heal Bell
Oricorio-Sensu @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Dancer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Hurricane
- Revelation Dance
- Roost
Probopass @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
- Toxic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Tangela @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
Skuntank @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Defog
Hitmonchan @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 220 Def / 248 SpD
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Toxic
- Heal Bell
Oricorio-Sensu @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Dancer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Hurricane
- Revelation Dance
- Roost
Probopass @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
- Toxic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Tangela @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
Skuntank @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Defog
Hitmonchan @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge
Here is the most “ktut” team I could find. It’s a remix from my first PU team ever, which has been changing through metagame shifts (originally called Shitnotic, you can find it in the PU RMT section). ProboTang is just a great defensive core applying a lot of pressure on opposing teams, Tangela taking advantage of Stoutland/Primeape/Rain trends; while Probopass takes advantage of Froslass/Spdef Snowslash. Scarf Defog Skuntank is an innovation I started using a lot and is its best set imo. Lanturn is great vs all the Pompoms running around, Sensu is a Lilligant-proof Pokémon right now because Skuntank is super rare for some reason, while Chan utilizes a CB set quite well, since the AV Spin set kind of sucks in this Froslass meta: also the team needs immediate breaking presence. #RIPtype0inchat #RIPmcbfga #RIPshiinogod
TJ: Thanks for your time, Ktut! As always, if you guys have your own questions, feel free to ask them below! 
