SV OU Metagame Discussion Interview - Mind Gaming
Hello Everyone, I hope you're having a splendid day. Today, I am joined by none other than Mind Gaming. Mind Gaming posted an impressive 9-3 record this SPL. He was able to advance to Top 16 of this OST. He was recently added to the OU Council. He has bought items like Eject Pack to the forefront and popularized the current Ting Lu-Skeledirge cores.
I really wanted this to happen as I want to give the community a perspective of what most would view as a good player. I feel like a lot of conversations happen and the insight isn't available to everyone, especially players just getting into competitive pokemon. The goal was to give an in-depth discussion on the metagame that could be enjoyed by not only beginners but also experienced players, I hope that was accomplished. This interview was a blast to do, if you enjoyed it give tons of likes/hearts. Please give feedback so I can see if this series is worth continuing for the community.
Hello Everyone, I hope you're having a splendid day. Today, I am joined by none other than Mind Gaming. Mind Gaming posted an impressive 9-3 record this SPL. He was able to advance to Top 16 of this OST. He was recently added to the OU Council. He has bought items like Eject Pack to the forefront and popularized the current Ting Lu-Skeledirge cores.
NJNP: Mind Gaming thank you for taking the time to talk to me and allowing this conversation to be viewed by the larger ou player base. You’re a well-respected player and you’ve made your impact felt on this tier by showing the importance of Red Card, Leading the pro Eject Pack charge, and reminding people Corviknight can retain some viability in this tier….How did you generally go about preparing for your SV OU matches from SPL to OST?
Mind Gaming: Yo thx for having me. My prep in the early rounds consisted of just playing what I thought was the strongest in the meta since there was nothing to base of prep. Then for later rounds I looked over the scouts and decided which archetypes they are most likely going to bring and searched for mons that look good into those. At the end of the Week I then would build a team consisting of a lot of those mons that counter different archetypes e.g. red card vs. shed tail.
NJNP: What led to the creation of what I call the sharks 6 (Toxapex, Ting Lu, Dragapult, Skel, Corv, Tusk)? This team was heavily used by y’all in the later weeks of SPL and was popular in ost as well. I personally feel this team has now become such a staple that you have to make sure your team doesn’t fold to it when building, are you surprised by the teams decently high usage in ost/ladder play?
Mind Gaming: I built the team back in week 3 since Dragapult looked really good in the meta and was the perfect spin block for Tusk since it other than Gholden doesn't get ohkod and is faster. Also, it worked really well at picking up weakened mons and acting as speed control. This was all in a meta where neither Cinderace nor Garganacl were really popular making Dragapult spikes really hard to handle. However, the team back then had Chien Pao so I had to change it up a little. Corviknight just seemed to fit perfectly as a ground immunity and further chip with helmet.
NJNP: Aside from that team, the team that felt like the quintessential mind gaming team of this generation was the team you used vs mcnmt, that game was a very hyped matchup based on how well you 2 were performing, you mostly controlled the tempo of that game and that was due to you showcasing 3 eject pack users, Hydreigon, Iron Valiant, and Great Tusk along with red card user Amoongus. What was the thought process behind the build and heading into that match-up in particular?
Mind Gaming: The current sv ou meta is really slow almost every team that is not ho has about 3-4 mons outsped by max speed great tusk. Mncmt has been using a lot of offensive teams like me but almost no shed tail so I was fairly confident that as long as I have fast mons that maintain momentum and make it impossible for him to attack in the early game is enough pressure to lead into a late game that is way in my favor. Eject Pack is great since I can keep spamming 120bp stab moves for a lot of damage while my opponent is busy switching every turn.
NJNP: Speaking of the current sv ou metagame, how do you feel about the current state? It currently feels like you have to pick between shed tail or anti shed tail balance, very little in between, do you see it that way?
Mind Gaming: The current meta is a really interesting one it seems like players have adapted to tera and figured out what works best and what not. Shed tail for sure is one of the most consistent "cheese" strats if you still wanna call them that. The problem I see with it is that shed tail in itself is not the win con you can counter easily like spike stack/weather/terrain but has a lot of win cons you can choose from that all require different counters. For example, a shed tail team based around Roaring Moon requires entirely different checks than a shed tail team based around Volcarona. On top of that even changing the move set slightly or the tera types can easily flip the entire mu and even if you have seen the same 6 mons before you still can't be entirely sure of the sets. So you still have to either assume the sets at your own risk of losing when you take one wrong assumption or lose momentum scouting. For example, banded dnite is really good into most shed teams but you never know if there is a surprise tera ghost on lets say valiant to lure it. Or the typical scouting for Baxcalibur tera type when it can either boost eq bp with ground to get the kill on your wall or get free set up immediately ending the game with the fairy/ghost tera immunities. There are still a lot of strats other than shed tail but it's the number 1 thing that you can't ignore while building imo.
NJNP: So you mention players have adapted to Tera, and you also highlight Banded D nite is great counterplay to shed tail offenses, yet as you bought up as an example a surprise Tera ghost from something like valiant can negate that countermeasure you installed in your team, which begs the question is it shed tail that’s too much for the metagame or elements such as Tera, Booster Energy, Roaring Moon/Valiant or a culmination of everything all at once you feel?
Mind Gaming: For me it's definitely neither balanced nor fun since it limits one a lot in builder trying to find ways to play around it. I often end up putting red card on my teams because I think it is way too hard to handle consistently otherwise for every team that does not have one. I also feel the need of putting in specific mons into a lot of my teams to not get overwhelmed. However "a good meta" imo doesn't mean that it has to be balanced or give the player who played better a better chance at winning but to make as many ppl as possible enjoy the game. In that sense shed tail might not be too much for the meta since there are a lot of players who enjoy using it and sharing their cheesy sweeps with new sets to their friends. In the end, it comes down to what the majority agrees on is more fun. But I strongly believe it should get suspected in the near future to figure that out.
NJNP: Final question, what is something you’d recommend to up-and-coming players attempting to get a better grasp of the SV OU metagame?
Mind Gaming: To just play the game a lot and try to have fun. From what I've seen so far the thing that holds ppl back from improving the most is constantly taking breaks and having to relearn the meta due to being burned out/ getting tilted/ losing interest.
NJNP: Thank you so much for your time, is there a team you can share with us that you feel is solid in the current metagame?
Mind Gaming: https://pokepast.es/9c1e158316f2ac47 really like this one but in general I feel like cb dnite + card amoongus + gambit + tusk + 2 breaker/speed control of your choice teams are really solid in the current meta and are unable to fail.
Mind Gaming: Yo thx for having me. My prep in the early rounds consisted of just playing what I thought was the strongest in the meta since there was nothing to base of prep. Then for later rounds I looked over the scouts and decided which archetypes they are most likely going to bring and searched for mons that look good into those. At the end of the Week I then would build a team consisting of a lot of those mons that counter different archetypes e.g. red card vs. shed tail.
NJNP: What led to the creation of what I call the sharks 6 (Toxapex, Ting Lu, Dragapult, Skel, Corv, Tusk)? This team was heavily used by y’all in the later weeks of SPL and was popular in ost as well. I personally feel this team has now become such a staple that you have to make sure your team doesn’t fold to it when building, are you surprised by the teams decently high usage in ost/ladder play?
Mind Gaming: I built the team back in week 3 since Dragapult looked really good in the meta and was the perfect spin block for Tusk since it other than Gholden doesn't get ohkod and is faster. Also, it worked really well at picking up weakened mons and acting as speed control. This was all in a meta where neither Cinderace nor Garganacl were really popular making Dragapult spikes really hard to handle. However, the team back then had Chien Pao so I had to change it up a little. Corviknight just seemed to fit perfectly as a ground immunity and further chip with helmet.
NJNP: Aside from that team, the team that felt like the quintessential mind gaming team of this generation was the team you used vs mcnmt, that game was a very hyped matchup based on how well you 2 were performing, you mostly controlled the tempo of that game and that was due to you showcasing 3 eject pack users, Hydreigon, Iron Valiant, and Great Tusk along with red card user Amoongus. What was the thought process behind the build and heading into that match-up in particular?
Mind Gaming: The current sv ou meta is really slow almost every team that is not ho has about 3-4 mons outsped by max speed great tusk. Mncmt has been using a lot of offensive teams like me but almost no shed tail so I was fairly confident that as long as I have fast mons that maintain momentum and make it impossible for him to attack in the early game is enough pressure to lead into a late game that is way in my favor. Eject Pack is great since I can keep spamming 120bp stab moves for a lot of damage while my opponent is busy switching every turn.
NJNP: Speaking of the current sv ou metagame, how do you feel about the current state? It currently feels like you have to pick between shed tail or anti shed tail balance, very little in between, do you see it that way?
Mind Gaming: The current meta is a really interesting one it seems like players have adapted to tera and figured out what works best and what not. Shed tail for sure is one of the most consistent "cheese" strats if you still wanna call them that. The problem I see with it is that shed tail in itself is not the win con you can counter easily like spike stack/weather/terrain but has a lot of win cons you can choose from that all require different counters. For example, a shed tail team based around Roaring Moon requires entirely different checks than a shed tail team based around Volcarona. On top of that even changing the move set slightly or the tera types can easily flip the entire mu and even if you have seen the same 6 mons before you still can't be entirely sure of the sets. So you still have to either assume the sets at your own risk of losing when you take one wrong assumption or lose momentum scouting. For example, banded dnite is really good into most shed teams but you never know if there is a surprise tera ghost on lets say valiant to lure it. Or the typical scouting for Baxcalibur tera type when it can either boost eq bp with ground to get the kill on your wall or get free set up immediately ending the game with the fairy/ghost tera immunities. There are still a lot of strats other than shed tail but it's the number 1 thing that you can't ignore while building imo.
NJNP: So you mention players have adapted to Tera, and you also highlight Banded D nite is great counterplay to shed tail offenses, yet as you bought up as an example a surprise Tera ghost from something like valiant can negate that countermeasure you installed in your team, which begs the question is it shed tail that’s too much for the metagame or elements such as Tera, Booster Energy, Roaring Moon/Valiant or a culmination of everything all at once you feel?
Mind Gaming: For me it's definitely neither balanced nor fun since it limits one a lot in builder trying to find ways to play around it. I often end up putting red card on my teams because I think it is way too hard to handle consistently otherwise for every team that does not have one. I also feel the need of putting in specific mons into a lot of my teams to not get overwhelmed. However "a good meta" imo doesn't mean that it has to be balanced or give the player who played better a better chance at winning but to make as many ppl as possible enjoy the game. In that sense shed tail might not be too much for the meta since there are a lot of players who enjoy using it and sharing their cheesy sweeps with new sets to their friends. In the end, it comes down to what the majority agrees on is more fun. But I strongly believe it should get suspected in the near future to figure that out.
NJNP: Final question, what is something you’d recommend to up-and-coming players attempting to get a better grasp of the SV OU metagame?
Mind Gaming: To just play the game a lot and try to have fun. From what I've seen so far the thing that holds ppl back from improving the most is constantly taking breaks and having to relearn the meta due to being burned out/ getting tilted/ losing interest.
NJNP: Thank you so much for your time, is there a team you can share with us that you feel is solid in the current metagame?
Mind Gaming: https://pokepast.es/9c1e158316f2ac47 really like this one but in general I feel like cb dnite + card amoongus + gambit + tusk + 2 breaker/speed control of your choice teams are really solid in the current meta and are unable to fail.
Hey It's Me Again, NJNP
During SPL, reached out to my friend SetsuSetsuna to see if they wanted to build, they sent me a bin of something they were working on, I took this inspiration and built something completely different LOL, it's a fun chaotic team that imo I shouldn't have won as much as I did. Considering I just finished interviewing thee eject pack guy, felt it be a fun team to give out - https://pokepast.es/de9b9734955a0894
If you wanna join my server where we are continuing to supply teams, support in this crazy metagame, and overall discussion - https://discord.gg/VbC3Nx8Vgj
During SPL, reached out to my friend SetsuSetsuna to see if they wanted to build, they sent me a bin of something they were working on, I took this inspiration and built something completely different LOL, it's a fun chaotic team that imo I shouldn't have won as much as I did. Considering I just finished interviewing thee eject pack guy, felt it be a fun team to give out - https://pokepast.es/de9b9734955a0894
If you wanna join my server where we are continuing to supply teams, support in this crazy metagame, and overall discussion - https://discord.gg/VbC3Nx8Vgj
I really wanted this to happen as I want to give the community a perspective of what most would view as a good player. I feel like a lot of conversations happen and the insight isn't available to everyone, especially players just getting into competitive pokemon. The goal was to give an in-depth discussion on the metagame that could be enjoyed by not only beginners but also experienced players, I hope that was accomplished. This interview was a blast to do, if you enjoyed it give tons of likes/hearts. Please give feedback so I can see if this series is worth continuing for the community.
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