Player of the Week 34: Celestavian

[GOAO]

Favorite Pokémon: Mienshao
Most used Pokémon: Timburr
Most known for: SPL Winner, LC room mod and undefeated in SPL 5!
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Tell us a little about yourself.

I'm a 22 year old guy from Pennsylvania currently going to school for computer science. I've worked at UPS (a package delivery service, for you non-Americans) for almost 4 years now, and it's basically the only thing keeping me from being as big as a house. In addition to LC I'm also a big VGC player, but unlike iss I don't plan on abandoning you guys anytime soon! My hobbies include general video gaming, poker, dabbling in art every now and again, reading, and biking in the summer.

How and when did you get your start in LC?
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I first played the tier in the DPP era. I wasn't very good at it, or Pokemon in general at that point, and I found the tier got too offensive for me as I continued playing it. I stopped for a while and tried various other tiers until BW rolled around. After the Murkrow/Drilbur suspect happened, I decided to give the metagame another try, and with Eviolite fixing most of the problems I had about the tier's offensiveness, I fell in love with it.

What is your favorite aspect of LC?​

No Megas! Mega evolutions, while cool as a concept, have only injected power creep into the game at a much higher rate than before. Little Cup provides a tier that has no chance a mega evolution will appear, so I don't have to worry about them being mandatory on your team. As a non-metagame example, I love the community of LC, and it's one of the main reasons I stuck with the tier in BW when I picked it up again. I've heard some grumblings about the community becoming less friendly, but I don't think so. I still feel it's a welcoming place where people are eager to help you if you ask questions.

Is there any mon, playstyle, etc that you feel is underrated in LC?
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I like Scarf Porygon a lot, but it's not a really widely used set. It can hit 21 Speed with a Scarf, and with the correct Download boost, it hits like a truck. It's also still decently bulky, being able to tank for instance 0 Atk Mienfoo Drain Punch. In the same vein, Scarf Mienfoo isn't used as much as it should be either. At the cost of not absorbing Knock Off as well, Mienfoo gains huge power at huge Speed. While 25 Speed unfortunately falls short of tying 13 Speed Shell Smashers like Omanyte, it does outspeed most other Scarfers like Gothita as well as Pokemon like Abra, Gastly, and Diglett, which can otherwise give Mienfoo problems.

Anything you find overrated?
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I'm not buying entirely into the Drifloon hype. The current standard set is forced to forgo what is in my opinion its most threatening move: Destiny Bond. What made the old Drifloon sets such a pain was that if you let it get an Unburden boost, one of your Pokemon was guaranteed dead because of Destiny Bond. Now it's pretty annoying, especially with Diglett, but IDK don't feel as threatened by it as I was before.

If you could change something about the current metagame, what would you change?
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DAN BIGLETT

What players do you look up to / are good friends with?

Despite him being gone, I still look up to Elevator Music. He was a great leader and a great battler and one of the very few people I could never beat back in the days of BW/BW2. blarajan was also really good back then but now he sucks which is sad. As for good friends, I consider the entire LC cast and crew to be my good friends, and I really haven't developed any kind of special relationship with any of them in particular. You guys are all great and you're what keeps my crusty old self around!

What's your favorite playstyle and why?
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Balance is definitely my favorite. Basically all of my teams have at least one Scarfer, two win conditions, a 2 or 3 mon defensive core, utility in the form of SR, spinning, or status, and a filler that does its best to patch up any weaknesses in the rest of the team. Thanks to Eviolite, balance is really good in LC, as it gives your defensive Pokemon a lot of extra value, while giving otherwise frail win conditions like Timburr or Omanyte a chance to set up. Stall, the bane of balance, is also very rare in LC, which makes it a lot less risky to run balance than it would be in other tiers.

Why the fuck you changed your username to Celestavian?​

Is there any advice that you'd like to pass on to new LCers?

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that luck is part of the game, and you need to prepare for the eventuality of it occurring rather than praying it does not. I learned this when I started reading top VGC player's philosophy about the game, as well as from my time playing Poker. In a skilled game with heavy luck elements, you don't play to win, you play to maximize your chances of winning. It would be nice if every game was decided by a 100% chance victory for one of the players, but many times you will need to rely on 90%, or 85%, or lower. Risk management is not just an old SPL meme, it's a real thing you need to consider when building a team or playing the game. When bad luck happens, take it in stride. If you're laddering, then playing a large amount of games will even out the luck over time, giving you both plenty of hax losses and hax wins. If you're playing in a high-profile event, then people will not judge you for losing by luck. If you maneuver yourself to a 93.75% win chance and then a crit happens, you'll still be a good battler, despite the frustration of losing a game you really wanted to win. Just don't make an ass of yourself by exploding into a geyser of salt.

Lastly, do you have a team you'd like to share with us?

Hide

Skrelp @ Eviolite
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 116 Def / 200 SpA / 36 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Talk

Drilbur @ Eviolite
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Abra @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
Level: 5
EVs: 240 SpA / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Protect

Vullaby @ Eviolite
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 236 Def / 156 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- Roost
- U-turn

Timburr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
Level: 5
EVs: 116 Atk / 156 Def / 236 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off

Mienfoo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn

This team is one I've used since the beginning of ORAS, and while I wouldn't say it's amazing, it does exemplify the team structure I explained before. My win conditions are Timburr and Mienfoo, my defensive core is Vullaby + Skrelp, Drilbur serves as a utility Pokemon, and Abra is the glue that patches up the weaknesses of the rest of the team. Skrelp covers my dual Fighting win conditions by OHKOing Fairy-types pretty easily, while still posing a threat in case they switch out. Drilbur sets and removes Stealth Rock, while softening up opposing Pokemon with powerful Earthquakes after it has done its job so that the others have an easier time sweeping. Abra is really good, taking any one hit with its Focus Sash and then likely OHKOing the attacker back. It stops Fletchling after SR, opposing Timburr and other Fighting-types, Pawniard, and anything with relatively low HP. Vullaby is super bulky, while having pretty good damage output and utility with its STAB moves, as well as a slow U-turn which is fantastic in some situations to get Timburr or Mienfoo in for free. Timburr is my signature Pokemon, used here as a boosting win condition that can either pave the way for Mienfoo to clean up with HJK, or potentially sweep itself. Mienfoo is the other win condition, winning the game with a very fast and very powerful HJK once Ghosts and Psychic-types are gone.

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[Fiend]

What was it like being a brony?

 

[sam-testings]

Wait what was you name before celestavanian?

Uhhh favorite era and if you could unban one mon what would it be?

 

[gali]

what -kin do you identify as

 

[TruSwagblu]

How does it feel to be POTW twice (iirc)?

 

[Celestavian]

What was it like being a brony?

In hindsight, terrible. Bronyism is a disease guys, don't catch it!

Wait what was you name before celestavanian?

Uhhh favorite era and if you could unban one mon what would it be?

This current metagame of ORAS is easily my favorite. Besides Diglett, nothing is broken, and there's plenty of room for innovation as the metagame isn't really "solved" so it's not stale either.

If I could unban something, it would be gen 5 Carvanha. It was banned before my time, but honestly, I don't understand why. It's definitely manageable now, and really, nothing in Gen 6 really screwed it besides having an extra wall in Spritzee and an extra strong priority user in Fletchling, both of which aren't really hard stops to it anyway. Berry Juice doesn't really help it either, besides making some Pokemon like Chinchou less bulky by forgoing Eviolite. Gen 5 had a lot of the same checks as we have now, such as Foonguss, Timburr, Bulky Mienfoo, Ferroseed, Porygon, Sash Abra, Chinchou, Lileep, and Sturdy Magnemite. I don't see why Carvanha could be broken with so many easy to use checks available. Like I said though, I wasn't there, so maybe there's something I'm missing.

what -kin do you identify as

I found this while browsing Tumblr one day. It perfectly fits me~

How does it feel to be POTW twice (iirc)?

Like a worthy reward for a player of my magnitude!

 

[apt-get]

b-but...

 

[Merritt]

What's your opinion of BW LC, since many people seem to dislike it? If you share this opinion, do you think there's anything that can be done to "fix" it?

What's your favorite innovation?

Do you not like it when people call you hawkstar?

grats celertoilsivam!