Interviews with yan[sogeking] and Atticus

Interview and Flavor by Typhlito. Art by Bummer

It was almost time for Valentine and CTC's match to commence, so I headed over to the lounge room for a cup of coffee, where I accidentally ran into yan[sogeking] and Atticus. I decided to take the opportunity to interview both of them.

I greeted yan[sogeking] with a cup of coffee. He gladly accepted the coffee and agreed to an interview.

Hey Sogeking. Thanks for allowing me to interview you. Congrats on making it into the semifinals! It must be pretty exciting making it this far.

Yea, I'm very excited about it; it's cool to see all the effort I put into it doing work. It will be even more difficult now.

I was wondering what your thoughts were on your potential opponents in the semifinals.

CTC is the best in the world, Atticus is a legend himself, and although Valentine is the zebra (laughs), he has been doing pretty well, too.

Its nice to hear that you have some really nice things to say about everyone! Anyway, you probably had to get through some pretty tough battlers to make it this far. Any thoughts?

I'm pretty sure that if I had faced more experienced players in the beginning rounds I would have lost pretty bad. haha.

Although you are a pretty good battler, did you expect to get this far when you signed up?

Well, if the OST was hosted in BW OU, I would be inclined to say "yes". But as it's in XY OU, I really didn't expect it, as I only started taking XY serious after SPL, in which I was playing BW, ended.

That makes you getting this far that much more exciting! So what do you think about XY OU? Do you like the tier?

To be honest, I was enjoying the tier more during the pre-Genesect and Mega Lucario ban metagame, but I still prefer the current XY OU metagame over BW OU. Keldeo is broken in BW haha.

yan[sogeking] sits back and takes a sip of his coffee.

Sometimes it's a pain in the ass since many good battles are decided on 50/50 gambles, but it's part of the game, I guess.

Hah, I know what you mean about Keldeo. It still can give people trouble in XY but that perma rain made it a force to be reckoned with. Anyway, what do you think of your matchups in the tournament? Which matchup was your favorite?

Wait. Do you mean player matchups or battle matchups?

Oh, I meant battle matchups.

I have enjoyed many of my battles during the tournament. I really can't choose a match up I enjoyed more.

yan[sogeking] seemed lost in thought for a second while chugging down his coffee. Suddenly stopped drinking his coffee and stuck his tongue out as if he burnt it. I tried not to smirk.

I believe my favorite battle was my second against Philip7086. I also really liked my first match against Nysyr. My third battle against The PDC Show was great as well. They were all very intense games decided on late-game coinflips.

Speaking of coin flips, were there any upsets in the tournament? You know, besides the whole swag play thing making stone cold lose in round 1.

Well, upsets happen very often. Luckily in my matches, unexpected game-changing turns didn't happen much except in my matches against The PDC Show where in game 1 I got flinched by extrasensory and in game 3 I got a well-timed crit.

I see. It goes to show how luck can decide a match regardless of skill.

But I believe the biggest upset was CTC beating Lizardons after a 0-1 start. In his second game, he needed to rely on Scald burning to turn the game around and in the last game, he managed to win a 400 turn stall war.

Oh wow, that's a lot of turns! Well anyway, I think we should start wrapping up. So if you win, what would be the first thing you would do?

If I win I will take a pic with me holding the trophy. :]

What no speech?

Well, I don't have much to say to be honest. Usually people dedicate it to users who have helped them practice and stuff, but the only one who helps me is papai noel, so I don't think it will be needed.

Sounds good. That actually leads to my final question quite nicely. Any final thoughts you would like to share with you're adoring fans?

BRASIL PORRA, HERE IS WORK. .kael

That's it. o_o

We could hear the people in the stadium cheering louder. We noticed that Valentine and CTC's match was about to begin. Neither of us wanted to miss the showdown so we started saying our farewells.

Haha nice. Well, I would like to thank you for your time. Good luck with the rest of the tournament!

Thanks.

As I said farewell to sogeking, I realized that I still needed to interview Atticus. I approached Atticus and asked if he wanted to do a quick interview while watching the battle. He seemed a bit hesitant since he also wanted to watch the game, but ultimately agreed.

Hey, Atticus. Thanks for doing this interview with us and congrats on making it to the semifinals! It must be pretty exciting for you to make it this far.

Yeah, I honestly didn't expect to get this far but it's been a thrilling ride.

I bet it was. You had to get by some tough battlers to get this far. Any thoughts?

With absolutely no offense towards the people I've faced, but I've had a relatively soft path to the semis compared to some of the other competitors. I got a bye, Oglemi and macle for m first 3 rounds, and well I wouldn't exactly say either of them are active in XY. The other guys have been very tough though and with some luck I've managed to overcome some great opposition.

Speaking of the other guys, what did you think of the other matchups through out the tournament? Were there any upsets?

You mean like upsets in my matches?

I mean like upsets in any match.

Ohh ok. Gr8stard losing was probably the biggest seeing as he was the pre-tournament favorite. If I'm being honest though, I haven't really been keeping track of tournament outside of like Round 5 and onward. I know my bros pana and phil lost early so I suppose I'll mention them.

From the corner of our eyes, we could see the action going on in the field. It was pretty intense. I then attempted to focus on the interview so we can finish up before the match ends.

So you are already aware of the other semifinalists. What are your thoughts on them?

CTC and Valentine are the best remaining players left if I'm being honest. CTC in particular is an excellent player and should be the favorite to win the entire thing but Pokemon is Pokemon so anything can happen. As for sogeking, I've known him for a long time and he was pretty mediocre when I was teammates with him in the World Cup. Since then though he's definitely stepped his game up and is now one of the better players.

I see. So who would you think would be the toughest to beat?

CTC without a doubt, he's the only one left that actually makes his own teams lol.

Well if you managed to win the whole thing, what would be the first thing you would do?

Go to Disneyland.

Why Disneyland lol?

lol it was a joke, NFL players typically go there after they win the Super Bowl.

Haha you got me. Didn't think of that.

Trying to hide my embarrassment for not getting the joke, I continued with the interview.

So then you wouldn't really do anything special?

I'd fist pump or something after the game but nah nothing really, maybe have a victory drink or something. The bragging from winning a trophy comes years after the final match, I'll enjoy that I guess!

Yep you definitely do get bragging rights for winning that's for sure. Ok, well its time to start wrapping up. So do you have any final thoughts for your adoring fans?

Yes, I'd like to thank all three of them for their support, particularly users Aeroblacktyl and ChomperTheSharptooth, it is time to achieve.

Cool. Well, it's been a pleasure. Thanks for your time and best of luck in the rest of the tournament!

Thank you. Looking forward to seeing what sogeking has to say.

Haha you'll know soon enough.

As soon as the interview was finished, we put our full attention on the battle. Unfortunately, we missed most of the action, which was pretty disappointing, but at least we could watch the replay. So, I shook Atticus's hand and made my leave. As I made my way to my hotel room, I recollected all of the things I learned from the semifinalists. They were all genuinely good people and I would be happy with whoever wins.