Project NU Player of the Month - Kiyo (April)

Yoshi

IT'S FINK DUMBASS

Kiyo
Favorite Pokémon:
Growlithe
Most used Pokémon: Electrode
Most known for: Being one of NU's grandpa
Yoshi: Hello Kiyo, how’s it going!
Kiyo: It's going well. How are you?

Yoshi: Pretty good, thanks for asking! When people think of long-term NU players, one of the first names that might come to mind is Kiyo. At what point did you start playing NU, what captivated you, and why did you end up sticking around?
Kiyo: I have been playing NU since BW1, but I really got involved in XY. The teams were fun to build and play with, and I had a bunch of time so teambuilding was something I ended up getting pretty good at. I stuck around for the same reason most people do, I think. I have made some pretty good friends from Smogon and PS. Pokemon is something I wish I didn't play as much, but it has really great moments and a lot of fond memories associated with it.

Yoshi: From ORAS to mid SM NU, you were one of the tier leaders of the tier. As you are not in that position anymore, how do you feel about the way everything is being run under the current leadership?
Kiyo:
I think Eternally and Hootie do a great job, they're both really good guys. I think they've worked hard to get NU where its at right now.

Yoshi: Since you have stepped down from being tier leader, your activity has noticeably dropped, at least publicly. What’s been keeping you busy in the real world?
Kiyo: I'm spending the time I used to play Pokemon more productively. I'm working on a teaching degree right now, I work part-time as a swim coach, and I try to challenge myself with old-man hobbies like poker and golf.

Yoshi: With the recent tier shifts, we lost Slowbro and Diancie, as well as gained Pangoro. What are your thoughts on the new meta, and what made you come to the decision to vote “No Ban” on a quick ban on Pangoro (the decision resulted in keeping Pangoro in NU, but it was not unanimous)?
Kiyo: I'm really excited about this metagame. I think Slowbro really held back metagame development and with it gone I expect to see a resurgence in Offensive teams. Losing Diancie kinda stinks, that mon has some really good things going for it with typing, but I don't think the tier is unstable without it. Some people were posting that Incineroar would become too big of an issue, but I think if you look at how most tour players approach checking Incineroar that argument is really weak, typically you're just pivoting on its predictable movepool to gain momentum and force it to switch and take rocks again. Like having hard stops to SD Incineroar is only important if it can ever reliably set up, if you punish swords dance by doubling to Passimian at a high percentage you can discourage the use of the move (and set) altogether. I think Pangoro is largely dealt with the same way, although its much harder to pivot in and out of because its attacks just do so much more damage. I feel like Pangoro struggles to find switch ins and if it could ever reliably set up SD with Chople Berry it might be getting 2 kills. It's just really slow and in general I think slower wallbreakers need to have the bulk to take a hit or two to be effective, like Pangoro OHKOs or forces a bunch of stuff out, but its outspeeded by a reasonably large portion of the metagame so its not going to be getting as many hits off as something like Heliolisk or Sceptile.

Yoshi: Well said! NU has had a history of being very conservative in terms of unbanning NUBL Pokemon, with good reason. However, some people dispute that certain Pokemon (Like Cofagrigus or even Mega Camerupt) may not be all that bad for the meta. If you had the choice of testing any NUBL Pokémon (if any), which Pokémon would you choose and why (or if none at all, why not)?
Kiyo:
I wanted to drop Gigalith back down for a pretty long time, I thought it brought a lot of cool features to a metagame feeling the effects of polarizing threats. I think the potential for that is kinda out the window now with Vanilluxe, Slowbro, and to a lesser extent, Diancie, being gone. I'd like to see something like Cofagrigus in the tier, I think its adds a nice element of bulky but powerful without being overwhelming, spinblocking is relevant too because people think Blastoise is a hazard remover. I don't know about camerupt, I haven't put a ton of thought into it outside of meming that it beats Weezing and maybe people would stop running the Blastoise Weezing builds that I dislike playing against.

Yoshi: As NUPL is starting very soon, and you are presumably taking on the role of being a manager once again, what kind of players are you looking for this year? Returning veterans? New talent?
Kiyo: I am going to buy players that I think are good. I've had mixed results with draft plans, I may just try and wing it this year because I don't want to try and find that diamond in the rough. The year I won everything went according to plan and players were more often than not, cheaper than I expected. When things dont go according to plan though I think you're just kinda s.o.l. if you didn't bid on some pros early. Either way, I'll probably end up overpaying for a bunch of mediocre players and finish in third.

Yoshi: NUPL offers a variety of NU tiers besides SM NU, with GSC NU being the new addition to the format in place of the best of three slot. What is your favorite old generation NU and why?
Kiyo: ORAS NU will always be my favorite. I'm partial to it because I spent so much time playing it, but I also think its a genuinely good metagame that gets even better with time. I thought it was great at the end of the generation, but I can understand why people thought it was boring. We did play a tier-shift locked metagame for 7(?) months. The tier was really well balanced and a good example of what can happen with some more speculative suspect testing. If we're counting XY NU though I'd probably pick that, the only individual tournament I ever won on Smogon was XY NU, I peaked the ladder with Shedinja 200 points above 2nd, and there's just way more cool toys that I miss getting to use like Dragalge and viable mon Prinplup.

Yoshi: Finally, could you share one of your favorite NU teams (from any generation) and provide a brief description?
Kiyo: (click for importable)

This is one of my favorite ORAS NU teams. I brought this to my debut game in SPL7 and got my opponent with the CB Relicanth. The teams just kinda designed to punch holes, Thunder Wave fast shit, and hopefully stick around long enough to clean with Swellow or Gurdurr. The nicknames are from a G-Eazy album, I started listening to him a couple summers back because this girl I liked was into his music.

Thanks for the interview Kiyo! If you guys have any extra questions for Kiyo, feel free to drop them in this thread! Also, if there is anyone you would like in particular to be interviewed for next month, feel free to shoot me a PM. Thanks guys :toast:!
 
If I become manager for NUPL this year, I am so gonna draft Kiyo

Kiyo: ORAS NU will always be my favorite. I'm partial to it because I spent so much time playing it, but I also think its a genuinely good metagame that gets even better with time. I thought it was great at the end of the generation, but I can understand why people thought it was boring. We did play a tier-shift locked metagame for 7(?) months. The tier was really well balanced and a good example of what can happen with some more speculative suspect testing. If we're counting XY NU though I'd probably pick that, the only individual tournament I ever won on Smogon was XY NU, I peaked the ladder with Shedinja 200 points above 2nd, and there's just way more cool toys that I miss getting to use like Dragalge and viable mon Prinplup.

I will indeed
 

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