Hello everyone, and welcome to this edition of the featured LC player of the week! This project aims to increase visibility of LC players to both the outside world and our community while promoting both users and the strategies they think are effective in the metagame. If you'd like to see someone interviewed for Featured LC Player of the Week, please feel free to pm me! If you'd like to see something done differently, also please let me know!
dcae
Favorite Pokemon: Charizard
Most Known For: Ambiguous name pronunciation
Playstyle: Abuse the broken stuff
Signature Pokemon: Murkrow
This week's subject is dcae. Dcae is a big part of Smogon's Little Cup community in Generation 6, being a key member of the #Littlecup where he currently edges out a delicate balance of spamming and offering good advice in order to maintain his position with the most lines chatted in the irc room (currently he is dropping in these rankings rapidly), and of the Little Cup chat room on Pokemon Showdown. Although dcae is slightly newer than many of the big names of Little Cup, this is not what makes him an enigma; what separates dcae from the pack is that he is actually not terrible at battling, and can even hold his own against some BW OU vets, a tier he now tutors alongside XY LC for Smogon's Battling 101. While dcae joined relatively late in the Gen V LC scene, he has already become an integral part of the community and is knowledgeable enough about the tier that any newbie would do well to get to know him. Without further ado, let's see what dcae had to say to my questions!
Tell me a little bit about yourself, the real-life dcae.
I'm a typical French guy, I love football (soccer for american peasants), and I've been playing competitive Pokemon for a couple years.
How and when did you start playing LC? Do you remember your first team?
I started playing LC at the end of March 2013, and I only tried it to get PS Voice. I don't remember exactly how I managed to build my first team, because it ended up extremely successful, since it ended up archived as the hyper offensive team of BW2 LC. I really enjoyed LC so I stuck with it.
What is your favorite element of LC?
XY LC's best aspect is its offensive bias, although I enjoy LC overall due to the different items and damage calculations, which make the metagame quite unique.
If you could change one thing about LC by banning or unbanning it, what would it be?
Tbh LC is perfect right now, although I still don't think Yanma should've been banned, so I guess I would unban it :)
LC user or player you most admire?
LC has a lot of great guys, but probably the player I most admire in terms of skill and teambuilding is Charmander. He was a remarkable player, absolute boss at LC.
What do you think is the most successful Pokemon, core, or strategy in the current meta?
Atm the meta is bent over by physical Pokemon; running Pawniard as Knock Off support + offensive physical Pokemon is the way to go right now, especially if the aforementioned outline is supported by a solid glue mon like Chinchou or Missy. Pawniard individually is such a wrecking ball atm.
Advice to new LCers?
I would really just battle a lot, get an idea of the metagame, check out #littlecup and integrate yourself into the community by lurking a bit instead of jumping. Questions are great in that channel though, so don't be intimidated. Following that will get you integrated into the community and playing at a high level of Little Cup.
"I haven't built much since Yanma /Tangela were banned, [and this is] one of my fav teams to use in Tang/Yanma metagame.
"This was a mashup of the Sun core and the hyper offensive core I designed with prem (Yanma + Vanha + Pawniard). At first I thought this was a ridiculous idea, but it turned out to be one of the funnest teams to use. I started out with the early game pair, Sub Swirlix and Knock Off Pawniard. Sub Swirlix is a fun set and weakens opponents a lot early game, while Pawniard's Knock Off allowed it to weaken shit like Tangela to ease a Carvanha late game. The Sun core applied massive midgame pressure, with Solarbeam LO Tangela nuking everything in sight supported by Fire Blast nukes fired by Vulpix (Fire STAB was godly in this metagame) I cleaned with the Speed Boosters, Yanma + Carvanha overwhelmed teams late game after they were weakened by the Sun core and Pawn Knock Off + Swirlix, and just maintained constant pressure. This notably massive, constant offensive presence meant that Stealth Rocks were not a necessity, and the team did fine without it. It won a couple LC minitours and was the quintessential hyper offensive team of the Tang/Yanma metagame. So much fun... RIP TANGELA AND YANMA."
Closing Remarks from the Editor
Thanks again for tuning into another edition of Featured LC Player of the Week! As always, feel free to pm your questions and suggestions to me. Thanks to dcae for being an awesome subject, and make sure to follow him as he plays LC in this year's SPL!
dcae
Favorite Pokemon: Charizard
Most Known For: Ambiguous name pronunciation
Playstyle: Abuse the broken stuff
Signature Pokemon: Murkrow
Tell me a little bit about yourself, the real-life dcae.
I'm a typical French guy, I love football (soccer for american peasants), and I've been playing competitive Pokemon for a couple years.
How and when did you start playing LC? Do you remember your first team?
I started playing LC at the end of March 2013, and I only tried it to get PS Voice. I don't remember exactly how I managed to build my first team, because it ended up extremely successful, since it ended up archived as the hyper offensive team of BW2 LC. I really enjoyed LC so I stuck with it.
What is your favorite element of LC?
XY LC's best aspect is its offensive bias, although I enjoy LC overall due to the different items and damage calculations, which make the metagame quite unique.
If you could change one thing about LC by banning or unbanning it, what would it be?
Tbh LC is perfect right now, although I still don't think Yanma should've been banned, so I guess I would unban it :)
LC user or player you most admire?
LC has a lot of great guys, but probably the player I most admire in terms of skill and teambuilding is Charmander. He was a remarkable player, absolute boss at LC.
What do you think is the most successful Pokemon, core, or strategy in the current meta?
Atm the meta is bent over by physical Pokemon; running Pawniard as Knock Off support + offensive physical Pokemon is the way to go right now, especially if the aforementioned outline is supported by a solid glue mon like Chinchou or Missy. Pawniard individually is such a wrecking ball atm.
Advice to new LCers?
I would really just battle a lot, get an idea of the metagame, check out #littlecup and integrate yourself into the community by lurking a bit instead of jumping. Questions are great in that channel though, so don't be intimidated. Following that will get you integrated into the community and playing at a high level of Little Cup.
Pawniard @ Berry Juice
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
Carvanha (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 SAtk / 236 Spd
Lonely Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Aqua Jet
Yanma (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 5
EVs: 240 SAtk / 236 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef
- Protect
- Air Slash
- Bug Buzz
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Tangela @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 5
EVs: 200 SAtk / 108 SDef / 200 Spd
Timid Nature
- Solar Beam
- Ancient Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder
Vulpix @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Level: 5
EVs: 196 SAtk / 76 SDef / 236 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Hypnosis
- Energy Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
Swirlix @ Berry Juice
Ability: Unburden
Level: 5
EVs: 20 HP / 76 Def / 200 SAtk / 204 Spd
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
- Surf
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
Carvanha (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 SAtk / 236 Spd
Lonely Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Aqua Jet
Yanma (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 5
EVs: 240 SAtk / 236 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef
- Protect
- Air Slash
- Bug Buzz
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Tangela @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 5
EVs: 200 SAtk / 108 SDef / 200 Spd
Timid Nature
- Solar Beam
- Ancient Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder
Vulpix @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Level: 5
EVs: 196 SAtk / 76 SDef / 236 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Hypnosis
- Energy Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
Swirlix @ Berry Juice
Ability: Unburden
Level: 5
EVs: 20 HP / 76 Def / 200 SAtk / 204 Spd
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
- Surf
"I haven't built much since Yanma /Tangela were banned, [and this is] one of my fav teams to use in Tang/Yanma metagame.
"This was a mashup of the Sun core and the hyper offensive core I designed with prem (Yanma + Vanha + Pawniard). At first I thought this was a ridiculous idea, but it turned out to be one of the funnest teams to use. I started out with the early game pair, Sub Swirlix and Knock Off Pawniard. Sub Swirlix is a fun set and weakens opponents a lot early game, while Pawniard's Knock Off allowed it to weaken shit like Tangela to ease a Carvanha late game. The Sun core applied massive midgame pressure, with Solarbeam LO Tangela nuking everything in sight supported by Fire Blast nukes fired by Vulpix (Fire STAB was godly in this metagame) I cleaned with the Speed Boosters, Yanma + Carvanha overwhelmed teams late game after they were weakened by the Sun core and Pawn Knock Off + Swirlix, and just maintained constant pressure. This notably massive, constant offensive presence meant that Stealth Rocks were not a necessity, and the team did fine without it. It won a couple LC minitours and was the quintessential hyper offensive team of the Tang/Yanma metagame. So much fun... RIP TANGELA AND YANMA."
Closing Remarks from the Editor
Thanks again for tuning into another edition of Featured LC Player of the Week! As always, feel free to pm your questions and suggestions to me. Thanks to dcae for being an awesome subject, and make sure to follow him as he plays LC in this year's SPL!
