TJ
Banned deucer.
curi
Favorite Pokemon: Infernape
Most used Pokemon: Gurdurr
Most known for: Playing OU, PU Room Driver, Workshop Builder
curi: I'm feeling pretty good actually, thanks.
TJ: Can you tell us a little about yourself outside of Smogon?
curi: I'm a 17-year old guy from Sydney, Australia and I'm actually in the process of moving to Osaka, Japan to study and teach English for a bit. I'm a huge fan of football / soccer / whatever tf you call it and I've been playing for about 11 years now, although admittedly we've been doing really badly this season so I've lost a lot of motivation to train but it's still something I really enjoy. Aside from that, I'm really into scuba diving and snorkelling, which is something I've also been doing for a long time now, but I've also been trying out a few new things like rock climbing and even ice skating which i've picked up through school friends.
TJ: How and when did you get into competitive Pokemon? What drew you to PU?
curi: So I've played mons casually for as long as I can remember, but I started playing mons competitive around late 2017 once I had become really burnt out of tf2 and I was looking for a new game to play and I managed to stumble upon PS and I just started playing OU for a bit. Eventually I met yogi through a few friends and he managed to convince me to play PU. I eventually met tondas later and liked talking about with him so eventually I just decided to stick around.
TJ: Out of curiosity :^), where did you get your username from?
curi: Ok you can fuck off. Ok but for real I was just looking for a new name to use and eventually I found that 'curiosity' was free on the forums and so I just went with it. A few months later I met TPP, So Noisy and Qplaz and they started calling me 'curi' and I just rolled with it.
TJ: What's the best team in PUPL right now and why?
curi: Alright I'm not even going to pretend like I've been keeping up with the tour but I've been playing around with both tondas and Chloe and obviously I'm rooting for them because they're my friends but aside from that, I honestly think that EviGaro's missies has the best lineups right now. SM has a huge lineup of fantastic players between Shaneghoul, yogi, LordST, obii, Gondra, Eternally, etc. with fantastic building support from yogi and LordST, while it also has a great set of old gen players. While week 1 didn't work out for them, I have no doubt that they'll be able to dominate in the upcoming weeks and are my favourites to win PUPL this year.
TJ: Are you excited for Slam?
curi: Seeing PU in slam is definitely exciting, especially since that'll mean drawing in a much larger playerbase, so it'll be interesting to see where the tier goes from there
TJ: What advice would you give to new players starting out in PU?
curi: PU is relatively easy to get into, seeing how all the resources a newer player will need are dumped into the one thread, so definitely go ahead and read through that if you're looking out for anything. The PU room and discords are pretty open to newer players and are very welcoming to newer players, so you should definitely check out those places.
TJ: Can you name any up and coming players showing good potential?
curi: Honestly I don't think I can really comment on this but I can definitely tell you that PTF is a sleeper threat and that KellyKafka deserves some recognition.
TJ: Who are some of your favorite people on Smogon / in the PU community?
curi: I've made a few really good friends here, so it'll be basically impossible to tag them all, but my absolutely favourite people on this site include TPP, So Noisy and laser火circus for being fucking hilarious to play both mons and pubg with as well as tondas and Qplaz for being great people. Would be bad if I didn't tag Specs Chloe and PTF for also being great people as well as User: TJ for being cool. Special shoutouts to lyd for being the most memeable person on this site.
TJ: Its bad tagging Specs cuz he sucks
TJ: Cutest PU user?
curi: I'm obliged to say Chloe.
TJ: Favorite TV Show/ Movie?
curi: In all honesty I haven't found the time to be watching tv lately, but some of my older favourites include House of Cards, Clarkson-Era Top Gear, Atlanta and other political dramas like Designated Survivor and Bodyguard. In terms of films, I'm really into Tarantino films, specifically Pulp Fiction and Django: Unchained, as well as stuff like Grave of the Fireflies, Gran Torino, and Apocalypse Now, but honestly I really don't mind watching anything as long as it's not pointless bullshit but even then I loved revenge of the sith so :shrug:
TJ: Finally, could you give us a cool team and briefly explain it?
curi:
Guzzlord @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 136 Def / 252 SpA / 60 SpD / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 200 Def / 36 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
Kabutops @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Liquidation
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
Eelektross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 28 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Acid Spray
- Giga Drain
Froslass @ Leftovers
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Ice Beam
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 136 Def / 252 SpA / 60 SpD / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 200 Def / 36 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
Kabutops @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Liquidation
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
Eelektross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 28 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Acid Spray
- Giga Drain
Froslass @ Leftovers
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Ice Beam
While this is generally a really standard offensive build, I'm an absolute sucker for building with offence since I believe that it rewards both smart and aggressive play more than any other playstyle, particularly PU. I've always had a thing for teams that can consistently keep up the momentum and I think this team is a good example of that style of build; between mesprit / gurdurr / eelektross and froslass , it really shouldn't be hard to ever regain or keep up the momentum and provide the team's win-conditions with many opportunities just to get that win. Honestly I don't think there's much to talk about here since it's so standard but I will say that there's a lot you can do with mesprit / gurdurr / eel / speed control that most people haven't really looked at yet.
TJ: Thanks for your time, curi! As always, if you guys have your own questions, feel free to ask them below!