1v1 Player Interview #11: DripLegend
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Known for: Coming out of nowhere to become one of the top SV 1v1 players.
Favorite Pokemon:
Most Used Pokemon:
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Known for: Coming out of nowhere to become one of the top SV 1v1 players.
Favorite Pokemon:
Most Used Pokemon:
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Welcome back to 1v1 Player Interviews! After our long hiatus, we'll be interviewing DripLegend! How are you doing today? How's life going for you?
I'm doing pretty good. School just ended for me recently so i finally have a much needed break from that stress.
Haha same, glad that you have that break though! Well, starting off, how did you get into Pokemon? What about competitive and 1v1?
I first started mainline games through Soulsilver and got Platinum soon after (two amazing games btw) and every since those I have been hooked and played every gen since then. Usually with my dad but he said gen 9 mons were ugly LOL. I started using ps for random battles and eventually got into the competitive scene through pokeaim like most people have. I've also been involved in other competitive scenes like making worlds for Pokken back in 2016 but yeah. I never really tried 1v1 until i started laddering it for fun in early gen 8, where i ran into LRXC on ladder while he was recording with Potatochan. They originally thought i was an alt which was really funny, and once the video got posted i was extremely happy to get featured, and it made me instantly hooked on the format.
With your starting 1v1 in early SS, what made you decide to start playing SV 1v1? How did you end up getting as good as you did at 1v1 as quickly as you did?
I wanted to play SV since i already had a love for the format and thought it would be nice to actually see a gen through the beginning for once. I had a lot of spontaneous activity during SS, and had to stop playing for a while due to some stuff going on in my life at the time. Starting a new gen from the beginning through all the chaos is something I hadn't done before and being on the same playing field as everyone else while discovering what was good made it a lot of fun to start. I got a lot better by being able to lurk and learn from other great players for a while. Being in spaces like the US central teamcord gave me a lot of inspiration for how to build and play the format even if I haven't gotten a chance to play in the tour myself. I've also been able to make and catch up with friends after being able to come back after leaving for a while and i'm especially thankful for all of them.
Speaking of tours, how was your experience in the Global Cup run? What were some of your favourite and least favourite moments?
I had a lot of fun playing Global Cup. The format allowed for a new spin on double elimination so it gave me the opportunity to make mistakes and not be instantly punished which was really helpful for learning experiences. My favorite moments have to be like 3 different series LOL, but if i had to pick one it would be my series vs delemon where I was able to use my insane gallade set which worked exactly as i imagined. One of my least favorite moments was everyone stealing my wp chien pao set (i now know not to showset in public replays LOOL) not that i don't like using it still but it was really unexpected that people had their eyes on me enough to start using my sets.
Now that you're in the top 16 in Majors, how do you feel that it's different from Global Cup? Are there any differences in how you prepare or play?
I felt a lot more pressure to perform in this since my global cup run was really good. I definitely play with a little more stress knowing it's single elimination, but I still feel confident in myself. I prepared more for pools than round 1, since playing 3 people for two weeks is a lot but overall i'm still prepping a lot and hoping to have another great run. I would say my play is relatively the same, as once i'm starting a series i get into sort of a rhythm so stress doesn't affect me too much, but I was extremely paranoid about drowning in pools being a pool boss this time around.
That makes sense with the stress part, the stress of expectations is real... You were saying earlier that you would ladder quite a bit during SS. How do you think the experience of being a ladder player is different from being a tournament player in SV?
There's a big change in environment and time input. Laddering has no overall drawbacks to losing (unless you really care about gxe) and lets you make more mistakes. The pool of players on the ladder is also smaller than a lot of other tiers, so it's really common to run into the same person multiple times running the same team, so cteaming is more common. Being a tournament player has a more intense focus on building, which can scare off newcomers to the format, but it really gives you good learning experience. There's a lot more stress with the threat of being eliminated if it isn't a team tour, but it does wonders for getting a better understanding of the format and interacting with more players in the community.
With PL a bit over a month away from starting, are you excited? What are your thoughts on how the SV metagame will shape up to be after the release of Pokemon Home?
I'm really excited for this PL since it's going to be my first time signing up for one in the first place! I'm also really excited about the plans for what i'm doing during PL but those will see the light of day soon. I think the metagame will have a more diverse pool of usable pokemon which is always great, and threats that were previously overbearing are going to come back which is really awesome to see. I think there's going to be a week where everything is running around crazy, but with the power creep we've already seen this gen new strong threats are always welcome. PL will also be the first team tour with SV, which is really exciting as well. There could be bans at the beginning, but it's only natural with mons like Hoopa-Unbound returning. I just hope they don't put the cart before the Mudsdale again...
I'd hope they'd not do that again as well... that was absolutely painful... Anyways, on a bit of a different note now! Do you have any SV teams that you'd like to show off? Also, could you give us a bit of a look at your building process?
https://pokepast.es/2bb1af944aea7724
this is the team featuring the two crack sets i made for GC. The idea behind gallade was trick room allowed me to beat both iron valiant and espathra, two potent threats everyone was spamming at the time of making this. Roseli allows it to live specs moonblast from valiant. Haxorus also lured the protect sets that were popular at the time, as Espathra could just protect and win against first impression. Chien Pao was my sylveon lure, as having a team like this just screams weak to sylveon. The choice band set that's popular never had good rolls to OHKO sylveon, so i was thinking of how i could deal more damage. Weakness policy was made for this set, and it puts in a ton of work. Outside of sylveon, it lures first impression mons and fighting types that use close combat primarily. My general building process changes depending on a lot of factors, but i really enjoy building crack sets like these and changing expectations of what sets i'm using.
that's... definitely more creative of a team than any I've built this generation for sure! What are your plans for the future? Do you have anything that you're really looking forward to going forward?
I'm really looking forward to PL right now, basically counting down the days for signups LOL. I'm especially excited since i plan to manage in it which is going to be a lot of fun. Majors is also going on too which i'm looking forward to playing in. I plan on starting to make some SV content, since most 1v1 content hasn't been published for the gen at large but i'm broke right now LOL. Home is also exciting for the meta going forward.
Looking forward to seeing all the SV content from you! Do you have any last words for the readers?
Thanks for taking the time to read this i'm really grateful to get this opportunity! Don't be afraid to reach out! Making new friends and talking to people has been one of my favorite things to do since coming back. My dms on discord are always open :))
Thanks for your time!!
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Date of Interview: May 22nd, 2023
Duration of Interview: 93 minutes
There will be more interviews to come in the future, the hiatus is finally over!
If any of you all have questions for DripLegend, feel free to ask them below! I will be locking this thread at some point, but it will be open for at least a week, so ask away!
Date of Interview: May 22nd, 2023
Duration of Interview: 93 minutes
There will be more interviews to come in the future, the hiatus is finally over!
If any of you all have questions for DripLegend, feel free to ask them below! I will be locking this thread at some point, but it will be open for at least a week, so ask away!
