Project OM Interviews (#22: Ren)

iapt

the unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley
is a Tiering Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
What’s the most impressive trick your dog can do?
Hes still very young so he can't do many but we are working on shake and roll over atm

Can your cats do any tricks?
Depends on if you consider stealing food a trick

I just watched Ted Lasso, can you explain what a False Nine is?
From my understanding of the google results, its an offensive player who drops back to receive the ball in order to disrupt the defense.

Thoughts on the two point line in lacrosse?
Genuinely didn't know that was a thing, it might not exist in NY but we mightve won a few more games if it does

If a mega stone had Regen, but also added Bug type, would you use it? And on what?
Interesting question. I probably would use it, but it would depend on the boosts it gave, and no idea what I would use it on
 

OM

It's a starstruck world
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews! Today, we've brought in BH's best wincon spotter...


Hello sevag and welcome to OM interviews! How are you doing today?

Aye OM~!, sorry to keep you waiting, but I'm doing well today ^^
I'm not gonna lie, I've always wanted to do an interview for a while now, so I'm super happy to be here. How have you been captain?

I'm good thanks! So, you've become a major actor in OMs in the past year or so, and every character needs their introduction. So, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Yes ofc ! So, I'm from California, 21 years old, and currently a Senior at college studying Engineering . I absolutely love to play soccer and tennis, and do so whenever I can and lately I've been really into slacklining and hacky sacking! I currently work in a lab on my college campus, and over the summer I went to Armenia to work at a solid state chemistry lab. I tend to often be really swamped with school work, but whenever I get the chance I love to cook new recipes, especially for my roommates.

Hacky sacking.... Sick. Moving on, you're also a major portion of the BH metagame and community! How did you even end up getting into ps and oms?

yeah, lmao. Me and my roommate decided to buy one, on some random thursday evening, and ever since we've been hooked

Aha, so this is actually a long one

In 8th grade / freshman year of high school I was obsessed w/ ORAS, and started to get really into breeding. Thus, I wanted to find a community where I could trade my pokemon w/ others, so as one does, I set out looking for said community. I first went to serebii because that was where I tended to get all my pokemon information from, but couldn't really figure out how to navigate the website, so I went looking for a different platform, and I ended up stumbling on pokemon showdown. So, I got really into the WIFI community then, and because my brother had a DS I was able to becoem a certified cloner and got a lot of clout from that. I remember I amassed around 4 full boxes of competitively bread pokemon with half a box being dedicated to all the Victini events from BW and ORAS at the time, all at max EV's and a variety of competitive movesets. During this time was when I also got into battling on randbats / OU / VGC (which i was absolutely TERRIBLE at and still am). Unfortunately, our house was broken into and my DS was stolen (rip DS), and I didn't have the willpower to start all over, but I wanted to remain on the site so I began to do some pokemon battling, mainly OU & AAA. And then one day (winter of sophomore year ~2015), my second cousin told me about this awesome pokemon metagame where you could give shedinja sturdy and make it unkillable. From that point on I was hooked on BH. I would play off and on throughout high school, and got a fairly adequate level where I'd every so often enter high ladder, but no more. I didn't actually get a smogon account until three years after this when I got name locked b/c someone used an inappropriate account name on PS, and I wanted to as I put it then "get back to battling!". So, I created my smogon account to submit said appeal form. After High School I didn't really play much, but got back into during the pandemic. I pretty much went no life here for most of 2020, and got really knowledgeable in the meta game. A second place finish in the 2020 BH Open, and a few posts on the BH forum later and I was asked by A LOSR to join the council. From then I went on to get drafted in OMPL (by the two best OMPL managers (unbiased opinion ofc) if I do have to say so myself) and ended up doing pretty well there. Since then I've been part of BH council helping out whenever I can, and I'm now really looking forward to OMWC ^^

That sounds awesome! (except for the getting the ds stolen saga.) So, how is it being part of BH & it's community? Any stories you'd like to tell?

omg yeah it's been great I really love the BH community and everyone who's a part of it

I think it's been really awesome to have joined the Sinnoh Remakes Circle Jerk and I've met just so many characters from that. One of the coolest things that has come from that has been the whole chess side of that server that has popped up. After the queen's gambit a bunch of us began to get really into chess, so me city and ivar began to play chess against each other a ton and we've all gotten a ton better. And then we have retired (i think) BH player Shedinja_Headinja whole totally school us all everytime we challenge him cuz he's like 2100 or something.

Of course though, I can't talk about Sinnoh Remakes with out mentioning PURPLE FROG. You see purple frog is essentially shiny Mega-Swampert and I'm not sure how this really happened, but dinodude for some reason was obsessed with this mon and its nickname (in SR we like to attribute various nicknames to certain pokemon and that becomes part of the pokemon's identity) and as a joke we all began to idolize "Purple Frog" and talk about it as if is a deity. Because of this in nat dex bh, almost all of our teams would contain "Purple Frog" and from the sheer number of games and exploration that we did play with this mon we wound up pushing from C to B+ on the ndbh VR. Even though ndbh does't currently have a ladder we still look up to Purple Frog and hope that one day we can spam it on ladder once again. :purple_frog: :orz:

Furthermore, what about BH draws you to the metagame? What does it provide that other metagames... don't?

As I mentioned earlier, I was initially drawn to BH by sturdy shedinja, but what really got me hooked to it was the pure sandbox(ness) that BH provided, while still maintaining a balanced metagame. I really enjoyed spamming broken things and using whatever wanted. I enjoy the fact that in the builder I have complete control over my teams, and I can put (or try to put) together literally any idea that I want. I feel the most creative when building BH, and having all these different options with how you can mess with a mon (moves, abilities, nature, etc), is what gives me the most joy when building, something other metagames often lack. I just think that being able to build anything and having to be prepared for literally everything is pretty awesome.

And how has it been being part of the BH council? Are you guys currently looking at anything in the metagame, or do you feel like it's settled?

Aye yea, it's been super awesome. Working with city, losr and stresh has been a blast. It's been really cool to just discuss the metagame and talk about in what direction the metagame should go. It's a huge privilege to be in a position where your thoughts on a metagame are really valued and can influence the metagame in the future, and I'm just honored to be a part of council. After banning sleep, we actually haven't discussed any potential banworthy things, because somehow, there aren't any obvious ones. If I were to look at ~one~ thing though, it would be Thunder Cage. The move on it's own is kinda borked. In general it's super good coverage since it's able to hit pokemon like Ho-oh and Tapu fini super effectively. It also has a rediculously high pp which lets you trap really passive pokemon and literally run them out of recovers with it. In conjunction with leech seed it honeslty looks a little icky, but I don't think we have enough information yet to decide whether it might be banworthy or not. But over all, I'm realy happy with where we're at right now, and I think it's the most settled the meta has been over the entirety of gen8bh.

Good to know! As someone's who's been your manager before, I can say for certain your teambuilding style is one of the most fun out there. For the readers, could you go in depth in what you do & look for when building your teams?

In general all my teams start with either a pokemon / idea I have in mind, or a team structure I'm going for. When looking at an offensive pokemon I have in mind, I'll start off by pairing it with a mon that can come in on its checks and make progress. I'll then pair these two pokemon with either one or two improofers, and then try and find a pokemon that compliments said improofer. At this point I'll usually have 4-5 pokemon on my team, and then I'll add a final pokemon to perform a role that I think the team is lacking, this might be a hazard remover or setup check. With these structures, I'll tend to cycle through a ton, via test games / the eye test looking at how it kinda flows, what pokemon it lets in, how easy can I bring pokemon in off of others, and how the imposter MU goes.

https://pokepast.es/0e6ff4e56d1b3bec here's an example of a team where I kind of followed this structure.

The idea of this team is that Kyu-white and Rayquaza work really well together, because Rayquaza is able to bait in ice scales pokemon and nuke them with v-create, and kyu-w is able to come in on prankster pokemon and click buttons with Boomburst. I then improofed them with Lanturn and gave it glare for speed control. I decided to then add Etern as a secondary improof, and then added Xern as a late game cleaner and priority user. I didn't have a set up check or hazard remover so I shoved Giratina into the team. This isn't the best team, but it's fun to use! There's also this team that followed a similar idea that started off with Blace and Kyu-B, and then went from there.

https://pokepast.es/2d89b049b3586a7c

When looking at building certain team structures in mind, it definitely varies, but it revolved around finding certain synergetic cores and then building a team that covers everything between them. This is most often in stall, Here I generally have a formula and try to work within that and then add a twist at the end. So a simple stall formula I might follow is pheal 1, complementary pheal mon 2, ice scales, fur coat, set up check, "the spin"

As well, you're a fairly active tournaments player! How do you feel about the games you've played for any major tournament so far, and does any one come off as particularly memorable?

Yea, not sure how it happened but I've somehow managed to become a tournament goon. I'm actually really happy with how most of my tournament runs have gone. I'm proud of getting 2nd in the BH Open and reaching top 6 in the Stabmons ssnl. I think it's fun to branch out and play other OM's but it's sometimes a little frustrating learning how many of these OM's work because of how different the maneuvers that are common in these games, are to BH's. I think for sure, I'm most proud of my BH Open run since that was my first ever legit tournament, and just the stress I'd feel before every game and the triumph after which win was awesome. Going 6 - 2 in ompl, and beating stresh in semis was also pretty awesome, but just having that first tournament run, and getting 2nd is sick. (I'm still a little traumatized by jungle healing tho... Stresh has beaten me with that move one too many times shudders)

From BH specifically, it makes me a little sad sometimes seeing so many people drop it. There are a ton of old players who've retired, a good amount due to how different bh8 is from bh7. I hope that bh8 can be in a place where some of these people might wanna come back and check it out. Along these lines, I think it would also be sick to host a Hackmons PL or something of the sort. I think it'd be really cool if some of these older players would come back for this and we could watch them duke it out in gen 6 & 7 bh. This would also be super cool, cuz I know almost all of SR would be able to participate here, and there are a ton of BH players there, who many ppl haven't seen that I think deserve the opportunity to play in tours. I haven't put any planning into this and not sure if I'd ever have time to organize, but it's just something I'd love to see happen. As for myself, I kind of hope to just keeping doing what I've been doing. I'm not to pushed on more tour accomplishment (although I am trying out my hand at the om circuit rn for fun). Personally, I'd just love to explore more BH archetypes and try to perfect them and write RMT's and document these times. I suppose I get this from the scientist side of me


As well, are there any other metagames you dabble in? What draws you to them?

Well recently I've tried out AAA and Stabmons and I've really enjoyed both metagames. I think stabmons I mostly played it purely for the OM circuit points , but I've really enjoyed using Dr. Phd. BJ's HO teams. It's pretty fun to play a metagame where HO is forces to have a specific structure and you can kind of just throw together pokemon and not instantly lose to imposter because of it :P

But I think I've definetely enjoyed AAA more out of the two. I enjoy how the metagame operates, and the plays you make to get your breakers in. The metagame to me feels offensive forward so often times people will be trying to make hard reads and predicts everyturn, which results in super dynamic games which I've enjoyed a lot.

What are you looking forward to in WCoOM? Are there any players you'd be excited to see, and what would they bring to the table?

If there's one thing that makes me patriotic OM~!, it's sports. And I'm just hyped to (hopefully) represent US West, I'm also super hyped to build some kick ass teams with our BH Core. We've got some amazing players and builders in City, quojova, and Onyx and I'm not sure if we'll be able to fit all four of us on the team, but I'm super excited to work with them and see what we can come up with

Penultimately, is there anyone you'd like to shout out?

a loser, dinodude, cityscapes, fwqef, Churro, Onyx Onix 7, TTTech, lph, idea, Ivar57, Varrio, quojova, Stolen Identity, Quantum Tesseract , A Touch Of Crazy, , draegn, opfish, Brandoogie, Nihilslave, anaconja, Smeds, Osake, Dragonillis, Palapapop, Aethernum, xavgb, willdbeast, Hfroste, beauts, Dr. Phd. BJ, KeeganSkymin4444, the whole sleep slowkings gang, everyone I was with in temper tyrantrums, and a bunch of other people. I've met so many awesome and amazing people on PS from all over the world, and I did my best to remember as many as I could. If I couldn't remember you I'm sorry but you know who you are and you all mean a ton me :))

TheCoastsOfToast

And finally~ Anything you'd like to say to the viewers?

lmao, hopefully I didn't talk, type? you ears out, but thank you so much for reading my interview and thank you OM~! for hosting me. This was super awesome. And if you're reading this and we haven't met yet, feel free to hit me up, I love chatting with new people and am more than willing to play some bh games or help you get into the meta if you want !

Feel free to ask him questions below!

(If my tags fail can you dm me ur smogon on discord OM~!#9639)
 
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Dr. Phd. BJ

aphasia
is a defending SCL Champion
OMPL Champion
hi sev answer questions or else

What is your favorite anime?
Name the last song you have listened to.
What is your favorite sport to watch?
What is your favorite season?
Who is the best chess player in the bh community (and why is it not you)?
How do you pronounce Yveltal?
Where in the world would be your dream vacation?
A cowboy rode into town on Friday, stayed three days, and rode out again on Friday. How did he do that?
What is your favorite pokemon?
What is your least favorite animal?
What is your biggest fear?

was a pleasure getting to know you throughout omsl, wish you the best of luck for your future endeavors :)
 
What is your favorite anime?
Cowboy Bebop is definitely my favorite. Incredible music and the themes explored in the show were really well done. The action scenes and story in general were really amazing and really well developed.
Name the last song you have listened to.
Amoeba by Clairo. I didn't realize she released this new album until after like a month it was released and I've been so hooked. This song is amazing.
What is your favorite sport to watch?
Soccer, but only when Arsenal is doing well ;-;
What is your favorite season?
Hm, this is a hard one, but I like fall fashion the best so gotta give it to Fall.
Who is the best chess player in the bh community (and why is it not you)?
It's ShedMiddleFinga He's insanely good at chess and beats all of us chess players at it. He's read and studied chess theory. I unfortunately have not.
How do you pronounce Yveltal?
WHY-VEL-TULL. This is the only correct pronunciation.
Where in the world would be your dream vacation?
Your mom's place.
A cowboy rode into town on Friday, stayed three days, and rode out again on Friday. How did he do that?
The horse was named Friday. Come back when you have better riddles. (I used to be rlly into riddles)
What is your favorite pokemon?
Did you not read the interview Dr. It's Victini. He's so cute (I own a Victini plushie) >.<
What is your least favorite animal?
Ants. Hate ants. They come into ur house when it rains and they're so annoying. Just keep to your own damn business my god.
What is your biggest fear?
Getting scholar's mated by cityscapes

Hell yeah! it was great getting to know you too BJ, and it was super cool playing for u in omsl.
 

cityscapes

Take care of yourself.
is a Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnus
don’t mind me just tagging everyone who was missed TTTech idea Varrio KeeganSkymin4444 opfish Brandoogie Nihilslave xavgb (couldn’t find smeds or hfroste)

now some questions for the man of the hour
  1. do you think chess can serve as a “universal” competitive game that can help people overcome ideological plateaus (i.e. always playing the same way) in other games? if not, do you think such a game exists?
  2. favorite dinosaur?
  3. what are some underrated poison heal users in bh?
  4. will you still be here in 5 years?
  5. what non competitive video games have you been playing recently?
  6. open a new tab and google “timer” and set it to five minutes and start it. open up ps in another tab. build a bh team in that 5 minutes. post result here.
  7. how much theory do i need to study before i beat shedmiddlefinga (i have read 1 chess book and watched several chess coach andras videos)
  8. do you have any overarching goals in life?
  9. which inactive bh player do you miss most? what’s your favorite bh tour match from that player?
  10. chess has stockfish, mons does not. how does this affect the way you approach each game?
  11. open rp: i, a bh amateur, have posted my incredibly unsound team and gloated about how easy this metagame is while showing off my 1400s elo rating. how do you respond
  12. do you believe in any cool conspiracy theories or are you a normie (blue pilled)
  13. when will you stop following vaguely anti capitalist accounts on instagram and read some theory for once in your life
  14. thoughts on touhou?
  15. draw a picture for me in ms paint (it can be anything)
 

hayedenn

forgotten me already?
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
hi noob, thx for the s/o and grats on the interview

1. go to sushi order?
2. what’s your favorite armenian dish?
3. favorite non-ladder OM (not counting camo)?
4. what’s a unique skill you have that most others do not?
5. if you could be skillful at any instrument, what would it be?
6. favorite video game that isn’t pokemon?
7. favorite book series?
8. you’re stuck on a desert island, what OM user do you trust most to help you escape?
9. favorite feel-good tv show?
10. what penguin image/gif represents you best?
11. ok last question. be honest, am i too mean?
 
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Osake

Hasta Siempre
is a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Social Media Contributor Alumnus
My man's becoming famous !
Here some questions :

1) What's your favorite metagame outside of OMs ?
2) Who is your favorite OM French player ? (be careful.......)
3) Why is Exeggutor still legal in AAA ?
4) What's your favorite food
5) What's your favorite pasta ?
6) Do you prefer to be poor and happy or rich and sad ? (even if you'll be rich and happy cuz you are amazing)
7) If you've watched Myazaki, what's your favorite movie and why ? If not, what's your favorite animation movie ? (I'm not 100% sure of the translation but like My Neighbor Totoro is an animation movie and Titanic is not)
8) Penguin or Auk ?
9) Why are you playing chess when go exists ?
10) A man is blind, deaf, and dumb : how many senses does he have ? (you asked for hard riddles this is SUPER hard isn't it :d)
11) Have you ever done Einstein's enigma ? is it hard ?

:heart:
 
do you think chess can serve as a “universal” competitive game that can help people overcome ideological plateaus (i.e. always playing the same way) in other games? if not, do you think such a game exists?
I think the thing with chess is that, people will still inherently fall into patters where they will play a certain way. People, will gain a preference for playing aggressive moves, or always going e4 in the openings, so I don't think it'll necessarily result in people "overcoming ideological plateaus". However, I do think chess is an incredible game at increasing one's ability to critically think, and think ahead. Like I'd definitely say that chess has had some influence on me as a pokemon player. I do think that I've started to take longer in each of my turns, and try and dig deeper into the lines which may arise from each play. I.e. sure I can go to my Xerneas on a predicted Giratina, but does that really even allow me to make progress, they can always go to their ice scales Zama-C. That's like a simpelest version of that thought. But I have realized from chess that I have to think longer about each move I make and the consequences of it. In both chess and pokemon, you usually don't get a take back, thus each move is permanent and puts you in a new position in the game, and it is necessary to think about whether that position is a winning or losing one. I think chess has allowed me to view pokemon more like that, and I bet similar principles such as this can be applied from chess to other games. But, it is universally agreed, that in terms of pure competitive gamplay, chess is a game which really allows each person to showcase their prep & ability to think on the fly (opening knowledge vs. midgame creativity).

favorite dinosaur?
Ankylosaurus are sick af. (credit to churro for telling me all about a bunch of cool dinasours)
what are some underrated poison heal users in bh?
I think Yveltal and Reshiram can be a really effective poison healers, and just pokemon in general that can switch in on anchor shot, spectral thief, and core enforcer. I've wanted to do some exploring with pheal Zekrom for a while now too tbh since it was so good in pre-dlc but haven't really gotten around to it. In ndbh tho, my favorite phealer was Mega-Ampharos, and i feel like pheal can really work on any pokemon as long as they can switch in on passive guys and make progress (which is why pheal Tapu Fini is so good).

will you still be here in 5 years?
I don't really know. I like to think that I'll still be connected with a bunch of people I've befriended on PS and smogon, but I'm not sure if I'll be playing pokemon then. I think yolk's got the ideal balance tbh where he's got a full time job and can play every once in a while, but will often take extended breaks and the like. If we're looking at optimal cases tho, it's gotta be loser. The man literally only plays PS when he's at work and does all his smogon stuff at work as well. I literally have no idea how he does it, but if I get an engineering job like that, that would be pretty cool / funny.

what non competitive video games have you been playing recently?
Tbh, I don't play any other video game besides PS. I'm generally way too busy, but every once in a while on the weekends I'll play some smash or fifa on my roommate's respective console's.

open a new tab and google “timer” and set it to five minutes and start it. open up ps in another tab. build a bh team in that 5 minutes. post result here.
https://pokepast.es/645ad1a741041be5

how much theory do i need to study before i beat shedmiddlefinga (i have read 1 chess book and watched several chess coach andras videos)
you probably need at minimum a year of reading books, and practice against high level players a bit below his level before you even have a shot at winning a serious game. On the other hand, if you watch IM Rosen videos you could probably learn it all in 30 days.

do you have any overarching goals in life?
I have this terrible problem where I always make my goals super unachievable and am I hyper perfectionist so I try to reach for these goals and never make it so I always end up disappointed with where I am which I think I needed to preface this when I say "I wanna win a nobel prive in chemistry". But in actuality, my goal in life is to be in a place where I can do meaningful and impactful research in the field of solid-state chemistry which can result in the breakthrough of new technologies / opportunities either in the sector of climate change, energy storage, nuclear waste management, ceramics, etc. And I hope to be in a position one day, where I can mentor people through their early stages of research and lab positions and the like, cuz it's been really rough for me lmao, and I want to help people who might have also struggled like I did / am. I also hope to do this research in a way which is impactful to the scientific world in Armenia and hopefully make them more competitive on the international stage. And besides this professional nonsense, I just hope I have friends, family, time / money, and be part of a community in which I feel belonged and can live my years with. Like the above is optimal, but if I just achieved this stuff below with a nice stable job, I'd also be more than content.

which inactive bh player do you miss most? what’s your favorite bh tour match from that player?
This has gotta go to two players tbh, the first one being Draegn, and the second being Smeds. I got to know draegn pretty well when I started to go no life in PS early last year, and he kinda faded out from playing bh. In these early times it was honestly super nice to just chat with him and play and test and ladder, and I thought we connected really well. Like even tho his timezone was way across the world, I'd like actually stay up untill 3am playing bh with him and that was just super pleasant. I couldn't really find any of his tour games tbh, but I remember he'd speak fondly of this one game in which he beat kl4ng. Here's this one game he played vs morogrim in OMPL Vhttps://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-616243901

I miss Smeds a lot too. We always had like topnotch banter and I really enjoyed chatting with him. He's one of the people on PS, who if I had the time and money I'd make the effort to see them irl if the opportunity woulda been there. I wanna keep in touch with him more tbh, but it's hard to stay in touch w/ so many people, especially when school work is always so pressing and they're on a total opposite time zone. Smeds doesn't have a smogon account, so he never played in tours, but there was this one NDBH snake tour in SR hosted by KeeganSkymin4444 and we were paired up round two where he ended up beating me. He would always send me that replay to piss me off :P https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexbh-1188300195

chess has stockfish, mons does not. how does this affect the way you approach each game?
I think the thing w/ pokemon vs. chess is that as much as we want to think there are good plays and plays in pokemon, every turn is inherently rng dependent and a 50 / 50 to a certain extent, and no outcome in each turn is certain, so sometimes it might be hard to visibly see a line. However, towards the end of games, lines do in a fact show up, where one side can dictate the exact ways in witch an end game is played. So, in pokemon I kind of think about probabilities in each turn, and tring to figure out what's the best pokemon to go to given the probability that my opponent might click this, this, and this move. I think in pokemon too, to be able to win, you have to envision how you can create a scenario which is a winning position, i.e. having a certain match up on the field where you can click buttons. So, maybe instead of trying to win the game outright, you try and create a winning position or tactic. In pokemon, in a balanced mu there isn't "one move that will win you the game outright" which is dissimilar to chess, but if you try and do certain plays that can get you into a position where you have a finite chance to be in a winning position then you are doing well. Which I think is an idea that deviates from stockfish and how chess is played. This is inherently because both players move at the same time without knowing what the other person clicked. All we knows is "there's a high probability they clicked this move". I think a unique thought experiment actually for how chess and pokemon differ is if it is possible, in an even match up for one side to win while announcing all their moves before actually clicking it. From this idea, you can develop sub categories where it's like "in this position where you have a chance to make a play, is there a play that will guarantee progress even if you announce it to your opponent". This can I suppose create a pseudo-pokemon stockfish. A further thought experiment would then be if each person alternates announcing what move they will click each turn, what type of pokemon battle would emerge from this.

open rp: i, a bh amateur, have posted my incredibly unsound team and gloated about how easy this metagame is while showing off my 1400s elo rating. how do you respond
I make an informative post about their team, the pokemon, and its structure and depending on my mood, my level of "condescending" will vary in my response to them. I will take this opportunity to say a little bit about the BH meta. I will not hold back. The response will be filled with many typos.

do you believe in any cool conspiracy theories or are you a normie (blue pilled)
I mean I guess it's not a conspiracy theory tbh, but I do firmly believe that the US government purposefully aided in the collapse of many economies and government in Latin America and Jamaica in collaboration with the IMF to put these countries in severe debt and use them for labor and the financial gain of many large corporations. I also remember in this one college class I took, they showed us a graphic of US occupation in Afghanistan and Opium export from there. And there was a pretty startling connection between a very low production of Opium in Afghanistan before 9 / 11, and a dramatic increase in Opium production in Afghanistan immediately after 9 / 11, and the US invasion thereafter. We were kind of just given this as "food for thought" so I suppose I'll pass this on to you as "food for thought" as well.

when will you stop following vaguely anti capitalist accounts on instagram and read some theory for once in your life
I don't really plan on reading any serious literature in this manner tbh. I have read a bit of Foucault, and watched that one debate of Foucault vs. Naom Chompski when it comes to some "ideal society" and how to get there in this one Critical Theory class I took. But do I plan on reading any political science works, nah not really. (I've also mostly forgotten what I've learned in this class but carry with me some of the ideas from it subconsciously). The closest I'll get to reading some of these works is when I have the time to read sci-fi dystopian novels (the good shit tho i.e. the works of Ursula K. Le Guin and others.)

thoughts on touhou?
This is my first time hearing about it tbh, but I guess it's kind of cool how one person designed it all and stuff.

No clue what you look like, but this is what I imagine you look like laddering on the gen8BH ladder. (yes you have bangs here, and if you don't have some rn, you will within the next two years I can garuntee it)


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I usually go with my dad like once ever 3-4 months or so and we get a bunch of nigiri and some sides. My favorite orders are always a seaweed salad and raw seafood salad to start. I usually like some miso soup here as well like a nice a nice small warm bowl. I usually like to get something different here as well depending on what the given restaurant has. Then we usually want the nigiri. I love sake, saba, tuna, Amaebi (sweet prawn and heads to deep-fry), Unagi, and salmon roe. Those are usually what we get, but its always a combination of them and not often all. Then I usually want to share 1 - 2 roles with my dad, and finish it off with a tuna hand roll and some mochi (preferably a fruit flavor).

2. what’s your favorite armenian dish?
ooooh this is hard. I think it's gotta be what we call "bagh sarma" which translates to cold sarma. This is essentially rice w/ lemon, parsley, olive oil, and a little bit of tomatoe sauced wrapped in a grape leaf. My mom makes it on special occasions and it's so goooood. Some other contenders have gotta be manti (which is a type of armenian dumpling), fasoulia (grean bean stew), and sou boureg (which is filo dough layered with cheese).

3. favorite non-ladder OM (not counting camo)?
NATIONAL DEX BALANCED HACKMONS. We need a ladder for this ASAP. I asked petmods when they'll do the pet mod season vote again cuz those get a ladder, but in the simple questions and answers I got a couple of sad reacts and and haven't gotten a response in almost half a week I think when the dude usually responds asap and ik he saw my post. So, I'm scared that they're not doing pet mod of the season anymore, but we'll see. But ndbh definitely deserves a ladder and I'm confident it would get decent activity. Besides ndbh, probably sketch since i explored that one hella.

what’s a unique skill you have that most others do not?
hmmmm, I suppose something most people can't do is touch their nose with their tongue. I can also slackline ig.

if you could be skillful at any instrument, what would it be?
It would be sick to know how to play a classical guitar. I'm always jelous of people who can just go to their rooms and jam out, or to be able to play around with a guitar and make random tunes. also guitars get girls

favorite video game that isn’t pokemon?
I suppose it's either FIFA or Minecraft. Minecraft is deeply rooted with my childhood and I still enjoy playing it on the rare occasion. FIFA on the other hand potentially caused me more harm than joy, but I'd play it obessively through out high school and did in fact enjoy it.

favorite book series?
There's this one series by Drew Hayes called "Super Powered" which was a book essentially written like a serial series where the author would post 1 chapter every Monday and Wednesday. And each book was around 200 chapters, so it took about a half year to a year for each book (4 book series to end). The book takes place in a world with 3 different kinds of people, "supers", ppl with super powers, "powereds" ppl with super powers but can't control them, i.e. everytime i sneeze I teleport, but never otherwise), and just ordinary people. The book follows a group of 6 college students who were given a procedure done for the first time, where they were able to go from powereds to supers and are then enrolled in a college campus in a hero certification program to become super heroes, and have to compete against their class to do so. (Ik this sounds exactly like My Hero Acadamia, but it's wayyyy better and more serious (take it from my cousin who's read and watched both))

you’re stuck on a desert island, what OM user do you trust most to help you escape?
Onyx Onix 7 . He'd probably think hella logically and know exactly what to do in that scenario to help me escape. I bet he's already thought of this situation tbh. Everyone else I've met would be too irresponsible and probably eat me if they got too hungry.

favorite feel-good tv show?
I don't watch TV shows, (yikes). But my favorite feel good anime is Mob Psycho 100.

what penguin image/gif represents you best?
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ok be honest, am i too mean?
Yeah, stop bullying me >:(. Say nice thins to me. I like hearing nice things.
 
1) What's your favorite metagame outside of OMs ?
hmmm, tbh I haven't really ever play any metagames outside of OM's. I enjoy watching VGC tbh, but I've tryed playing it every once in a while and never got above 50% gxe LMAO, so I couldn't really get into it :PP I think it would be fun to have a go at OU tho. Gets some of that ~real meta tournament clout ya feel ya feel~

Who is your favorite OM French player ? (be careful.......)
I hate all french players so I will tag TectonicDestroyer

Why is Exeggutor still legal in AAA ?
Honestly Osake, I genuinely do not know. Exeggutor in combination with future sight + leech seed is literally broken. It's ability to pressure defensive pokemon, set future sight, and wall barraskewda is quite remarkable and causes a lot of stress on team building. I think Exeggutor should be banned, and I'm not sure why council is slacking. For some reason they keep talking about Weavile and Genesect. Not sure what that's about.

What's your favorite food
ooooh, this is a hard one. I love like all kinds of food, but I think a good bowl of spaghetti / penne bolognese has gotta be my favorite. I can't count how many times I've eaten it in my life, and it always hits the spot every single time. I think my #2 has gotta be poke. I just love raw fish, and being able to eat a high quantity with like yummy rice and toppies is just *chef's kiss* BAGUETTE

oopsie, I did say i love bolognese, so I'll just answer this question differently w/ what's my favorite pasta dish. WELL I'm glad you asked :P. There's this one italian place near my house and they have this wonderful spaghetti dish. It's like angel hair pasta w/ crab & cherry tomatoes and it's sooooooo good. It's got the spice from the red peppers, and crab ofc and it's just so addicting :sob:

6) Do you prefer to be poor and happy or rich and sad ? (even if you'll be rich and happy cuz you are amazing)
Aha, thanks for the confidence. This is a hard one tbh, because in the end money is everything unfortunately. But like thinking about it, what's the point of being rich if I'm sad all the time. If I'm happy then it's not thaaaat bad being poor tbh. LIke you sure you might get stressed, but stress w/ happiness is better than sadness with not stress. Being sad just sucks tbh. It's like top 3 worst feelings so yea. (if I'm friends with you tho, I'll never be sad tho so yea maybe i'll take the money :P)

If you've watched Myazaki, what's your favorite movie and why ? If not, what's your favorite animation movie ? (I'm not 100% sure of the translation but like My Neighbor Totoro is an animation movie and Titanic is not)
omg I'm glad you asked. Well first off, you got the question correctly :). So, if you read my RMT maybe you noticed that it was studio ghibli themed. Well, I loveeee studio ghibli. They're movies always make feel so much. Honestly, all of them are so good, but I think my favorite has to be Nausicaa: of Valley of the Wind. I just really really enjoy the themes explored in that move about the environment and stuff. I also felt like I connected a lot with Nausicaa cuz she was also kind of like a scientist, and I just aspire so much to really believe in something and in myself that much, just like she did about the "toxic jungle". Also that last scene omg. I think I've seen the movie 3 times, and I've shed a tear each time. I also really liek Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and Porco Rosso a lot.

Penguin or Auk ?
Okay okay, Auk's are so cute omg. but like I gotta say Penguins Osake. Is this even a question, cmon man :P did you see my penguin compilation in beaut's response. Penguins are sooooooooo cute. And they slide on their little bellies and slide around. and they play in snow omg, penguin gang all the way.


Why are you playing chess when go exists ?
I mean have you challenged me in a game of go yet? I'll play go when you do that. As of right now tho, I've got two good friends who play chess, so I play chess with them when I can :). Also, chess is like a national sport in Armenia funny enough, so I gotta rep that.

A man is blind, deaf, and dumb : how many senses does he have ? (you asked for hard riddles this is SUPER hard isn't it :d)
ooooh. So, I thought about this a lot actually and I think there might be multiple answers. But my answer to this is FIVE. Why five? Because he's dumb. He has the sense of hearing, and a can see. But, because he's dumb, he doesn't listen, not does he choose to see what's in front of him :P.

Have you ever done Einstein's enigma ? is it hard ?
No I haven't. Maybe we can do that together :P It should be fun cuz I looked it up real quick and it seems pretty cool to do some riddles.
 
hello x x savage x x

when are you getting a namechange
are you going to start a youtube channel
favourite copypasta in sr
worst bh set and why is it leech seed pheal
worst bh mon and why is it carkol
what is the best duosion set
what are you thoughts on bolt beak koko
will you play camo or mnm soon
will you use ho or stall against a mysterious monster in a dungeon (zap cannon zekrom)
are you from antarctica
describe your favourite scenery in antarctica
do you have a favourite chinese dish yet
where do you have chinese food in antarctica
wdyt about the outlook of climate change and renewable energy
wdyt about your ability on guessing others' age
hmmmm, I suppose something most people can't do is touch their nose with their tongue. I can also slackline ig.
how long is your tongue
 

a loser

I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Tennis questions:
  • Are you lefty or righty?
  • What part of your game do you feel best about? (ex. serve, volley, backhand, etc)
  • How often do you get to play and do you have a regular partner/friend to play with?
  • Who is your favorite male tennis pro to watch?
  • Who is your favorite female tennis pro to watch?
Music questions:
  • Have you listened to Snail Mail and, if so, are you excited for the new album coming out soon? (i have and i am)
  • Do you keep up with or read any reviews on Pitchfork? If you don't, or haven't heard of it, I feel like you'd like it.
  • I feel like we have similar taste in music, but with mine being better and you liking some more cringe stuff. That being said, do you like any of the following artists? Fleet Foxes, Frank Ocean, Beach House, Grizzly Bear, The Avett Brothers (earlier stuff), Father John Misty, LCD Soundsystem, St. Vincent
  • Not a question but I've been putting off listening to the new Clairo album too and need to change that cause the first was pretty good
Engineering questions:
  • Have you taken the FE yet? If not, do you plan on taking it and going for the PE later?
  • Favorite core engineering class you took? (mine was statics but circuits was actually cool)
  • Do you actually enjoy working in labs? I never like, hated it, especially doing interesting things like pouring then destroying concrete and stuff, but reports were no fun.
Mons questions:
  • RIP to your DS. My house was actually broken into a few years back and my DS (among other things) got stolen too. Took my Soul Silver and several other games I'd put a lot of hours into. That being said, do you have a switch and do you play any current mons games if you do? Or did you at least replace the DS?
  • You covered the highs of OMPL, but did you have any lows or like, realities you didn't realize you'd face as a starter in your first big team tour?
  • In any meta, what is your favorite and least favorite necessary move? (can be status, attacking, w/e, but has to be something most teams use) Do you use these moves in BH? How do you avoid the least favorite one, if possible?
 
hello x x savage x x

when are you getting a namechange
are you going to start a youtube channel
favourite copypasta in sr
worst bh set and why is it leech seed pheal
worst bh mon and why is it carkol
what is the best duosion set
what are you thoughts on bolt beak koko
will you play camo or mnm soon
will you use ho or stall against a mysterious monster in a dungeon (zap cannon zekrom)
are you from antarctica
describe your favourite scenery in antarctica
do you have a favourite chinese dish yet
where do you have chinese food in antarctica
wdyt about the outlook of climate change and renewable energy
wdyt about your ability on guessing others' age

how long is your tongue
Hello x x lph x x

when are you getting a namechange
1. You see, when it comes to names, there has to be a balance in this word and this balance revolves around X's. For every certain number of characters in usernames, there must be a certain number of corresponding X's. This is averaged out across all usernames. I'd be more than happy to change my username, but I must play my part to maintain this balance. BUT you can help keep it intact. If I change my name to Sevag (or lazzerpenguin) you must name change to XxlphxX (which imo is very cool)

are you going to start a youtube channel
2. Yeah, so I've wanted to make youtube videos for like forever, and I've ever streamed on twitch to like just SR people before which was a ton of fun, but I'm currently lacking the initiative to actually start a channel. I need to like come up with ideas and ask people to make videos with me, cuz making them on my own sucks. bottom line is, I'm lazy lmao so i'll do it at some point maybe :P

favourite copypasta in sr
3. dimrahpumpkin: What’s up gamers! So today I decided to hop on the [Gen 8] Balanced Hackmons ladder with an epic simple + no retreat spam team (fuck the smogon stall tryhards for banning shell smash) and I met this weird boomer avatar guy who was named rrrrgg or something and he had a stupid meta darm team lol, those tryhard fuckers are always fucking carried by darm and they cant bother to come up with an original team like me. Anyways I’m 3 mons down and I finally got a kill with zekrom and he sent out a Gourgeist with poison heal and I was like "ok noob lol, what are you gonna do?" I clicked bolt beak cuz its my strongest move but he only took like 60% and he stole all of my boosts with broken spectral thief!!! Well whatever, i just kept clicking bolt beak expecting to finish him off easily, but he kept spamming spiky shield like a braindead stall fucker. he court changed my precious sticky web I set up with my truant ninjask and set up his own rocks while easily stalling me out, wtf??!!! How is this balanced?? Now I was kinda angry so I pulled out my original no retreat Orbeetle (I named him Big Chungus lol) expecting to stored power sweep his entire team, and as I set up, HE USED FUCKING SPECTRAL THIEF AGAIN AND STOLE ALL MY BOOSTS AND I COULDNT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT AND ARGHGUHG!!! I LOST TO THIS SAME FUCKING BRAINDEAD BOOMER 5 TIMES IN A ROW LIKE WTF I CANT DO ANYTHING AGAINST THAT GODDAMN PUMPKIN!!! I EVEN TRIED X-SCISSORING HIM TO DEATH BUT HE WOULD JUST KEEP CLICKING SPIKY SHIELD LIKE A WIMPY VIRGIN!!!1 I urge everyone on this forum to get Gourgeist out of the meta asap because it is uncompetitive and utterly broken. Thanks for your time.

4. Worst BH set:
Zapdos @ Metronome
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Oblivion Wing
- Thunder Cage
- Nasty Plot
- Taunt

Leech seed Xern goated

worst bh mon and why is it carkol
5. Put some respect on carkol. You have no right to say it's a bad set if you've never beaten it.

But worst BH mon is EASILY, WORST MON ON TEAM: Registeel


what is the best duosion set
6. Duosion @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Future Sight
- Volt Switch
- Sticky Web
- Toxic

what are you thoughts on bolt beak koko
7. It's gone because it's banned

will you play camo or mnm soon
8. neither !

will you use ho or stall against a mysterious monster in a dungeon (zap cannon zekrom)
9. stall obviously. you know me

are you from antarctica
10. My family is from antarctica and we emigrated from there as refugees due to climate change & famine. But, I born in US West, and that's where I currently reside.

describe your favourite scenery in antarctica
11. There's this one shallow hill that kind curves up. And the bottom is like a smudgy white, but once you get to the top it's a crystal clear view with powdery snow. I miss it sometimes.

do you have a favourite chinese dish yet
12. Damn, not yet. Gotta start going out more to try out some of them dishes.

where do you have chinese food in antarctica
13. I've only visited antarctica so I haven't gone to a lot of chinese restaurants. But there's this one chef, just under the glacier behind the lake, that makes really good pork belly & dumplings which I enjoy.

wdyt about the outlook of climate change and renewable energy
14. It's kinda interesting how we have all the technology necessary to live sustainably with renewable energy, but it's just getting the policy for them to be implemented which is the main roadblock. Big oil companies and the ag business kinda just lobby against this type of stuff and it's looking a little bleak. We'll see how it goes, but I'm not that optimistic. Every year, I hear more and more families from antarctica escaping the melting ice caps to seek refuge in places like Africa. China and US West.

wdyt about your ability on guessing others' age
15. I'm apparently terrible at it since you're a lot younger than I thought xD

how long is your tongue
16. I can touch like the tip of my nose with it.

Thank you for these wonderful questions lph. I hope that one day I can give you a tour of Antarctica before it all melts.
 
Tennis questions:
  • Are you lefty or righty?
  • What part of your game do you feel best about? (ex. serve, volley, backhand, etc)
  • How often do you get to play and do you have a regular partner/friend to play with?
  • Who is your favorite male tennis pro to watch?
I'm righty!

I like my cross court forehand the best. I have an extreme grip so I get a ton of spin, which lets me get some extreme angle shots. I also really like my add-side out wide second serve. I can get a solid amount of spin on my kick serve and make the ball curve away which gets me some nice second shots.

I play like at least once every two weeks, but I try and get in a game a week. I don't have a consistent hitting partner (he ghosted me ;-;), but I have a few friends who I cycle through playing with.

My favorite male tennis players are Khachanov and Dominic Thiem. I actually bought Thiem's racket because I wanted to play like him xD, and I gotta rep Khachanov cuz he's Armenian (even thought he represents Russia)

Music questions:
  • Have you listened to Snail Mail and, if so, are you excited for the new album coming out soon? (i have and i am)
  • Do you keep up with or read any reviews on Pitchfork? If you don't, or haven't heard of it, I feel like you'd like it.
  • I feel like we have similar taste in music, but with mine being better and you liking some more cringe stuff. That being said, do you like any of the following artists? Fleet Foxes, Frank Ocean, Beach House, Grizzly Bear, The Avett Brothers (earlier stuff), Father John Misty, LCD Soundsystem, St. Vincent
  • Not a question but I've been putting off listening to the new Clairo album too and need to change that cause the first was pretty good
Nah, I've never actually listened to Snail Mail. Haven't heard of em either. But you never miss with your music recommendations so I'll give it a shot, then I'm sure I'll be excited for their new album.

I've never heard of pitchfork. Tbh, I don't often go on music review sites. I mostly just judge things based on my own opinion or my friend's. I'd like to learn more about it though, if it's more than just music reviews. You can tell me about it !

Wow loser, really calling my taste in music cringe. Smh, how uncool of you. My music taste is in fact quite spectacular, spanning a wide variety of genres. You seem to be stuck in chill / pop music so get with the game. I enjoy Fleet Foxes, Beach House, and the Avett Brothers. A friend of mine recommended St. Vincent before but I couldn't really get into her stuff. I do like Tori Amos though, who ig is kind of similar. Maybe I should give St. Vincent another shot though, now that you've mentioned her.

DUUUUUUUUUDE, you have to listen to it. It's literally insaneeeee. It's not really like her other stuff which is p cool. It's like really melow but also catchy. PLEAAAASE listen to it.

Engineering questions:
  • Have you taken the FE yet? If not, do you plan on taking it and going for the PE later?
  • Favorite core engineering class you took? (mine was statics but circuits was actually cool)
  • Do you actually enjoy working in labs? I never like, hated it, especially doing interesting things like pouring then destroying concrete and stuff, but reports were no fun.
Nah, I haven't. NGL, this is my first time hearing about both of em. Is it worth taking? I'm ~probably~ going to go into academia for my career, but should I take them if I wanna get a saucy job?

Hmmmm, I think my favorite core engineering class was Kinetics of Materials. This class was basically about phase transformations, nucleation, and rates of reactions. I found it really awesome to learn about how atoms literally move and difuse through out a medium at it made my materials science, which often feels rlly static more exciting and alive in a sense. It's actually something that I'd like to pursue in secondary school or work on for some company (even tho it's more prominent in academia)

I do enjoy working in labs, for the most part. Sometimes things can get a little stale, but I enjoy just knowing exactly what I'm doing and how I'm doing it and just going about the process. I love getting hands on in general, and am least motivated when working on my computer or do math / engineering problems. Working in the lab kind of just gives me more motivation, even if it is super repetitive. but OH yeah, I actually look a concrete class freshman year, and we made different types of concrete with varrying amounts of agglomerate / fly ash and then measured their compressive strengths. The lab was kind of fun, but I can see how it gets boring. Honestly, often times I liken working in a lab as cooking. There are a lot of similar themes with how you go about doing your work, and I find both really meditative. But yeah, reports for classes are no fun, and no joke. I've had to do like a lab report a week which is like 4 pages single spaced (only account for words and that was brutal). And last year I had like 10 page lab reports due every single week and that sapped the life out of me. On the upper hand tho, I am really good at writing papers / reports now :P. And heck loser, we have enough engineers in SR I feel like. Why don't we go ahead and start our own engineering startup

Mons questions:
  • RIP to your DS. My house was actually broken into a few years back and my DS (among other things) got stolen too. Took my Soul Silver and several other games I'd put a lot of hours into. That being said, do you have a switch and do you play any current mons games if you do? Or did you at least replace the DS?
  • You covered the highs of OMPL, but did you have any lows or like, realities you didn't realize you'd face as a starter in your first big team tour?
  • In any meta, what is your favorite and least favorite necessary move? (can be status, attacking, w/e, but has to be something most teams use) Do you use these moves in BH? How do you avoid the least favorite one, if possible?
No I don't have a switch. After my DS got stolen I was able to get a new DS and omega ruby game, but after beating the game and getting back into breeding and all that good stuff, the data got corrupted, and by that point I kind of just lost my motivation for the games. And dang, I'm sorry to hear that all your games got stolen. It honestly sucks so much, cuz not only do they steel a game in which you put tons of hours in, but there are also a bunch of memories and the like in those games which you do wanna keep. Kinda like your first starter, or your first lvl 100 pokemon, etc. Now it looks like were both PS goons. If I do get a switch, you should get a switch too and then maybe we can exchange friend codes uwu :point_left: :point_right:

Honestly, my biggest low during ompl was just kind of like having a creativity / team building block through out the whole tour. I'd circle through a ton of archetypes and the like trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to bring / innovate and rarely got exactly what I was looking for. I do wish I brought more teams instead of just relying on my one stall team, but that did get me the wins so I happy about that. It was also a bit disappointing to see PDT / sugarhigh not do too well but I suppose that's how it goes sometimes. I think my biggest shock was that I thought in team tours, everyone pours hours into their team, through out the ideation and testing phase, and when I realized that not everyone does this, and borrowing teams happens every once in a while, that was a little disappointing cuz from an outside perspective I always thought tour teams were some of the best. Turns out half the time you kinda match up fish a bit, and often times even if you do put in a ton of prep you can just MU'd.

Honestly, scald as a move kinda blows. Like half the time you hit like a wet noodles, and all you're fishing for is burns. But the chance to burn is literally less than getting slept by hypnosis. It's the same as hitting a ohko move. Yet, we rely on it so much to burn. And it's like in a game you can go like 5 turns and miss all your ohko moves and it's just like yea, it's an ohko move, it's meant to rarely hit. But, then when it comes to scald like oh, I didn't burn on the first 3 attemps, hax??? and it's like man. It's literally one of the best describers of rng in pokemon. And then in bh it's dicey cuz half the time i wanna run willo, but ya know, gotta burn the bouncers. And then i wanna run sacred fire but then you have only 8 pp. I just hate how scald here is literally optimal. It shouldn't be, but ig it is. You obviously know i use scald a ton in bh, esp on my Giratinas or Tapu Finis. I avoid scald by simply not getting burned.

My favorite move is probably V-create. I love V-create you just hit hard and true, and just nuke things. I might be biased though, cuz Victini is my favorite pokemon !
 

OM

It's a starstruck world
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews! For our 21st Iteration this Generation, we'll be talking to the ever protesting....

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UT!​

Hello UT and welcome to OM Interviews! How are you doing today?

I'm doing well OM, how about you? I'm excited to do this!

I'm doing well as well! Starting off, do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?

Sure! I'm 27-year-old man, married for four years to my lovely wife, have a dog who I spoil too much, and my first kid (it's a boy!) due in January. I live in Texas, am a software engineer, am a deacon, and my other hobbies include playing board games, reading history and sci-fi books, bird watching, and biking.

You are so much more qualified than I am oh god. How'd you get into ps & oms?

I have been on Showdown off-and-on since my college days (which is like ten years ago...), but never on a consistent account, just used keyboard-smash alts. I played mostly random and OU tiers, but did play a few OMs back then. During the pandemic I decided to try laddering Super Staff Bros 4 (ban Andrew please), so I registered the name UnnerfTalonflame. I made the jump to OMs when I was poking around on the forums and saw that Talonflame was A-ranked in AAA, and was like, I need to get in on this. I started playing OMs more, loved them, and pretty quickly got plugged into what I can only describe as an awesome community!

That's awesome! In the short time you've been here, you've shown up as a pretty well-recognized builder & player! Could you tell us about your favourite metagames and why you ended up liking them?

My favorite metagames are AAA, Godly Gift, and the brand-new Revelationmons, and all for pretty different reasons. AAA feels like the most wide-open meta; you can do some pretty crazy stuff with all of the abilities, and it really enables my preferred playstyle (Bulky Offense) with the pivot- and wallbreaker-heavy meta it enables. Godly Gift is really fun to build because the team comes together so naturally; once you decide which Uber to build around, the stats really help shape the teambuilding process, and it's neat to figure out the best way to build around your Uber and maximize its ability. Unlike AAA, there really aren't any surprises once you get to team preview, it's usually pretty clear what everything does. And then Revelationmons is the wild, wild west, and my first experience with a brand-new meta. There are so many cool techs and combinations that I know we have not thought of yet, and tbh a lot of them are really broken, but it's fun to discover them. It's wild, and super offense-heavy right now.

Moving on, do you have any teams from those metagames you'd like to show off & break down?

Sure! https://pokepast.es/f32f2c258c996c96 This is probably my most successful team I have ever built, and even though it's still pretty old, it puts in a lot of good work. CorvBlissPert is a common pivoting core in AAA; they can at least soft-check pretty much every breaker in the tier, and pivot to bring in the appropriate breaker/speed control. Choice Scarf Azelf is an amazing mon right now, it provides security against Triage, outspeeds almost everything, and still has good power and item removal. Terrakion is one of the primer breakers, with very few safe switch-ins, generally the team is trying to get in as frequently as possible early game. SFLO Genesect is both a strong wallbreaker and really nice win condition if it can find the time to Shift Gear, especially if Terrakion has already battered down the opposing defensive core. https://pokepast.es/937933b80be050a5 This is my favorite Godly Gift team at the moment, mostly because Choice Band Rayquaza hits like a truck. Dragapult (which is 100% broken) and Zeraora both hit extremely hard with Ray's donated stats, and already have amazing speed tiers and access to pivoting. Mandibuzz is here because Pult is broken, Rotom is a nice blanket check to a number of attackers, and Scizor is the "break glass in case of Xerneas" (also broken) check. https://pokepast.es/09738076d988022b And this is my current favorite Revelationmons team. Terrakion really appreciates a stronger and more accurate Rock STAB+access to Fighting priority, and is very hard to answer defensively. Double Dance Skarmory is probably my favorite tech on here, as it's a surprisingly potent win condition with access to Flying Body Press. Not as much to say here since the meta is underdeveloped, but they're all pretty cool techs (except for Blissey, who is just supposed to pivot once or twice before getting KOed)

That's awesome!! As leader of Revelationmons & part of the AAA Council, how do you feel about these leadership positions? Do you see anything problematic in either of those metagames?

Being on leadership has been a fantastic experience so far. All of the councils are made up of active people who are passionate about the meta, and it's cool to have high level discussions about the VR, potential bans, and just general state of the metas. One of my favorite things to do is help people learn more about OMs, and being on council helps give me the ability to maintain high-quality resources and access to better players than me to learn even more about the metas. Overall I think the AAA metagame is in a very healthy place right now, especially considering that we just had a major ban in Weavile a few weeks ago. I don't think there is anything obviously broken or unhealthy in the metagame currently, but will be watching the World Cup very closely to see what gets used and if anything seems particularly problematic out of that. Revelationmons, a better question is what's not broken. So many mons gain so much from the mechanic, and it's hard to tell what's simply good, and what's too good. Especially since defensive mons don't really get much out of the mechanic, it can feel overwhelming to try and answer all these offensive threats. We've already done one ban slate, but I am hopeful we can wait until there is a ladder to do a second or more.

Understandable. You're also part of the OM Room staffing team! How has that been for you? Have you learned anything? Made any memories?

The best parts about being staff are being able to use broadcast commands and ~startbattle. Serious answer, it's been fantastic just getting to know the other staff members more. Everyone is super friendly and great, and it's fun to talk to everyone about the metas they are passionate about. All of the staff members are just really cool people, and becoming better friends with them has been a blast. OMs is also a pretty chill room with a very high quality of regular user, so it's honestly been pretty easy from a moderation/staffing standpoint. The best memories have mostly just been talking to people, and learning more about them and their interests. In particular I've really enjoyed getting to know iapt (aka I Am Potentially Tactical) and am trying to bully him to going to college in Texas. I also learned Think lives like, stupidly close to me, and now pass him restaurant recommendations.

That's good! Furthermore, how has it been balancing PS as a hobby with your generally busy everyday life?

It's been fairly easy so far, but that may change in January. I spend more time at my job with Showdown running than I would like to admit, and also my wife works a good bit later in the day than I do, so that gives me some free time in the afternoon. Nights and weekends I generally have a pretty hard boundary around for family/friends/other hobbies/church. There is a time and a place for everything though, and I'm pretty happy with my balance currently.



You've played in a few tournaments as well! How have you found those experiences, and how do you see yourself going forward?

I did Spotlight League this year, mostly because I was really excited to play Godly Gift more and see what a team tour was like. As much as I enjoyed it, and as fun as it was, especially naming all my teams after Taylor Swift albums, I’m also a naturally anxious person and did not enjoy the extra pressure of playing tour games. I love building, testing, and playing friendlies, but I am unlikely to join any tours going forward, and I am happy with that.

And that's fair! I have the same problems myself, ngl. With your mention of taylor, how do you define your music taste? Do you want to link us some of your favourite songs?

This is going to be a little boring, but I really don’t listen to much music on my own time beyond Taylor Swift, the Hamilton soundtrack, and Sandra McCracken, who I expect exactly zero people on here to recognize (odd mashup, I know). Honestly, I’m not sure how to define that…that being said, here is my favorite from each:

'tis the damn season - Taylor Swift
Wait For It - From the Hamilton Soundtrack
O Love That Will Not Let Me Go - Indelible Grace Music

And do you have any hobbies outside PS?

Big ones are reading (mostly Sci-Fi and history), board games (Wingspan for a casual game, Power Grid for a more competitive one), birdwatching (the Carolina Chickadee is my favorite bird, have a few feeders in my back yard for them), biking, and playing with my dog.

That's really cool to hear about! As we start wrapping up, are there any shoutouts you'd like to make?

Oh gosh, I just had my 100th post, so I made a bunch of shout-outs there, can I just link that? I would say Osake, Beauts, DrPhdBj, Discordual, and ItsChew all deserve shoutouts for being cool people, iapt for being really cool people, and Think for being my biggest mentor on Smogon. There are a lot more people who make OMs a special place, especially staff, the rest of the council members, devs, and of course, everyone who plays AAA.

Finally, anything you'd like to say to the readers?

I hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I will try and answer any more questions y'all might have! Also if you ever want to play a game of SSB4, AAA, GG, or Rev, you know where to find me.

Feel Free to ask UT more questions below!
 

in the hills

spreading confusion
is a Top Artistis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
can i name your son
is the scarf real? was it ever real?
would you ever get a cat
my favorite thing to do with oms is coming up with really bad funny looking sets, what are some wacky AAA sets you've made?
what are books
are you excited for being a parent?
whats your dogs name

i ran out of questions very fast rip
 

iapt

the unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley
is a Tiering Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Favorite book of all time?

Favorite food?

Favorite SSB quote?

Favorite sports to watch/play?

When will talonflame be s tier in aaa????

Does your dog have a favorite toy?

Best defensive reciever in godly gift?

Favorite movie/tv show you've watched recently?

Marvel or DC? (very important)

Can your dog do any tricks?

If you could free one thing in AAA right now, what would it be?

Was awesome to read and youre a cool person too :heart:

Also gz on badge
 
Last edited:
Couple Questions for UT(and a bonus)

Who is your hero?
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
Favorite Texan Food?
Are you any good at singing?
Favorite Author/Book?

Bonus Question: when are you going to convince AAA council to unban the Bat

Man i hate iapt, beat me to most of these :psyangry:
 

hayedenn

forgotten me already?
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
will you still be here in 5 years?
what books have you been reading recently?
open a new tab and google “timer” and set it to five minutes and start it. build a GG team around Swoobat post the results here
open a new tab and google “timer” and set it to five minutes and start it AGAIN. rank every single taylor swift album (counting the karaoke ones)
do you have any overarching goals in life?
open rp: i, an aaa amateur, have posted my incredibly unsound team that got top 5 on the ladder and gloated about how easy this metagame is. how do you respond?
what's the most bizarre thing you've ever witnessed in the OM room?
what’s a unique skill you have that most others do not?
favorite video game that isn’t pokemon?
have any birdwatching pics u want to share? (posting on discord is acceptable for this)
you’re stuck on a desert island, what OM user do you trust most to help you escape?
will you ever l2p?

s/o cityscapes for coming up with good questions last time that i stole
 

UT

Roaring 20s, tossing pennies in the pool
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Team Rateris a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Appeals + C&C Lead
can i name your son
You can, but no promises I'll call him that. We already have the name picked out it's Fletchling
is the scarf real? was it ever real?
I really try to push back on taking her songs too autobiographically, but that's such an oddly specific detail that I think it might be real. But, Jake's sister has denied it, so hard to say for sure.
would you ever get a cat
I had cats growing up, and I do like them, but my wife is very allergic, and I like her more than cats. I did come very close to adopting one in college though; his name was Cashew and he was sooooo cuddly I almost couldn't stop myself.
my favorite thing to do with oms is coming up with really bad funny looking sets, what are some wacky AAA sets you've made?
I'm not a super creative player, sadly, but my rain team has a Swift Swim Terrakion (I swear it works). This also reminds me to try building around Cursola again, thanks
what are books
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover.
are you excited for being a parent?
So, so excited. And nervous and happy and scared and overwhelmed. I just hope to be a good dad to him, and will try my hardest.
whats your dogs name
His full legal name is Rexifex Maximus, but we call him Rex for short, and he is a very good boy.
i ran out of questions very fast rip
It's okay, this was a good start! And if you think of any more, I'm here all week until OM kicks me out.
 

UT

Roaring 20s, tossing pennies in the pool
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Team Rateris a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Appeals + C&C Lead
Favorite book of all time?
This is a reaaaly hard question. I would probably say Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe; I also got to meet him and he signed a copy of the book for me, so that's super cool. Ask me in a week and I might have a different answer though.
Favorite food?
Easily pasta. There is such a wide variety, and they're all soooo good. There is an amazing Italian place near us that we go to for pretty much all special occasions, and they know us by name now. I'm totally cool with this.
Favorite SSB quote?
Cake calling you a nerd every time it switches out is pretty fun. I also always chuckled when dogknees gets KOed and just yells "Nap time!"
Favorite sports to watch/play?
Watch is probably football, with basketball as a close second. Play is probably basketball, with soccer as a close second. I'm really bad at both though, so...
When will talonflame be s tier in aaa????
Sadly, probably never AAA UU when. As much as it pains me to say this, I actually think it's trending down right now. Zapdos is everywhere and that's a huge problem for it. It's still very good, and honestly a pain to account for when building sometimes, but probably more like B+/A- now.
Does your dog have a favorite toy?
Just tennis balls. He loves tennis balls so much. All other toys come and go, but tennis balls are forever.
Best defensive reciever in godly gift?
Hard to say; Slowking is probably my most used defense receiver, but I'm also addicted to Regen. Lando-T and Clefable are also good, but never Volcarona in Def.
Favorite movie/tv show you've watched recently?
I really love the Star Wars TV shows, pretty much all of them. I would say either season 7 of The Clone Wars or The Mandalorian are my favorites. Honorable mention to Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Marvel or DC? (very important)
I don't watch very many movies, but I have seen many more Marvel ones, so I guess that
Can your dog do any tricks?
Beyond the standard ones, we haven't taught him many. The most useful one we taught him, is if we say "dead in here" he knows there's food on the floor to eat. We never have to clean up any dropped food.
If you could free one thing in AAA right now, what would it be?
I used to say Gengar, and my justification was No Guard Hypnosis was part of why it's banned, so now that we have Sleep Move Clause we should re-test it. But it would still be very clearly broken, so that's probably not worth. So just to be contrarian, let's say Weavile still waiting on those other bulky waters it was oppressing.
Was awesome to read and youre a cool person too :heart:

Also gz on badge
Thanks on both accounts! Hope that answered all of your questions!
 

UT

Roaring 20s, tossing pennies in the pool
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Team Rateris a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Appeals + C&C Lead
Who is your hero?
This is going to sound like a cop out, and it kinda is, but I try not look up to people as heroes. We're all flawed, and treating someone as a hero makes it too easy to dismiss those flaws and elevate someone to a higher status than they deserve that being said, Dirk Nowitzki
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
The lame but real answer is where I am now, because I have too many friends and family here to consider moving. If we pretend I can pick up my whole life and place it somewhere else, probably Costa Rica. Great climate, lots of different biomes, and fantastic bird watching.
Favorite Texan Food?
Texas BBQ>>all other BBQ. Fight me.
Are you any good at singing?
Very, very awful. I'm afraid that my wife will eventually stop sitting next to me at church over it.
Favorite Author/Book?
You already got snipped on book, but for author, I would probably say Tolkien. Dude made up a language, and then was like, I need an epic story to go with it.
Bonus Question: when are you going to convince AAA council to unban the Bat
Never
 

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