Player of the Week 40: Berks

GOAO

Banned deucer.

Favorite Pokemon: Swirlix
Most used Pokemon: Chinchou
Most known for: Six scarf team, LC Contributor and cute.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I'm a 17 year old guy from Utah, USA, which, yes, means I'm LDS; I like to think I'm chiller than most of them though - and I definitely wouldn't sleep with my cousin if that's what you're wondering ... anyways! I'm a huge nerd for choir and theater, as I will have been involved with my high school's top choir for all three years and in the plays/musicals for two come next year. I also do a lot of AP classes and stuff and I got a 35 on the ACT so that's pretty neat! If you're wondering at all, this is what I look like :D

How and when did you get your start in LC?

hoooooooooooo boy
Picture a young, 15 year old Berks with nothing to do who happens to discover a website called Smogon because he wants to play some online mons cause he's bored af in Computer Tech. Picture that same nerd on a completely different alt because a) I have a crippling inability to pick usernames I like and b) I actually didn't realize you could change them until like Alt #4™. I created a Sticky Web team based on Mienfoo and titled based on my moronic inability to read. You can find and read and cringe at that first RMT to your heart's extent here. Having realized I created a thread with a Nazi joke in it, I promptly moved on to another alt, with which I dabbled in Doubles. Not particularly fond of the tier, however, and missing my LC days, I made my way back to LC under the alt Good Morgan. It was under this alt that the pinnacle of my tryharding made its way out, in the form of Pleaure in the Pathless Woods, an XY LC RMT that somehow made it into the Team Showcase, and its sequel, Dreamers of the Day, an ORAS LC RMT. If you asked me why I for some reason thought RMTs were the pinnacle of Smogoning achievement I really wouldn't be able to give you a solid answer; regardless, those RMTs are cringe-filled wonders in their own ways, and I think looking through every RMT I've ever done up to 6 Scarf Squad is a fair record of my maturing on Smogon.
My first real contact with the LC community came through the tutoring program, where I met Mambo. At this point, I had finally progressed to my final alt H&MBerkeley, and since I already had a grasp on the meta we were able to focus a little more on just joining the community. Believe it or not, I switched from Good Morgan because for some reason I was unnaturally pissed at not getting drafted to SPLC. SPLC. Then I got voice, sparking the First Great LC Auth Purge™, and now we're here! Look at that!

What is your favorite aspect of LC?

Little Cup is an extremely stable tier, as it has no tier shifts and the last few suspect tests have resulted in various "no bans". This makes it fun to pick up and learn as a new player, as for the most part the things that are good when you pick up the tier will still be good in a month or two, making picking up the tier much more rewarding in the long run. Despite being such a stable tier, somehow the meta also seems to be slowly evolving, as seen in the rise of Drifloon and stuff like Ponyta slowly going away means that the tier is hardly ever boring. Also, since the top threats are consistent, you can always innovate around them with awful mons like Litleo! It's just a really varied, interesting tier that I am alright at so it's a good time!

Is there any mon, playstyle, etc that you feel is underrated in LC?

In general, I think people overlook Choice Scarf users as the threats they really are. In my honest opinion, Speed is the most important stat in a tier as offensive as Little Cup, and a Choice Scarf can turn any Pokemon with base 34 Speed and above - essentially, anything as fast or faster than Shellos - into a win condition or revenge killer, which is pretty cool.
As much as it really isn't underrated persay, I think people who claim that Fletchling is any less threatening now due to metagame adaptation maybe sell it short a little bit. Fletchling's viability is not contained in itself like it was when it beat everyone and earned itself a suspect; rather, I think the real allure of Fletchling is all the incredible cores it can create. In essence, Fletchling creates a good core with any Pokemon that a) shares its checks, such as BirdSpam; b) can easily eliminate its checks, such as FletchDig; or c) sets up on its checks, such as Fletchling + Shellder. It's such an incredible teammate and wincon and in reality it's just as effective as it's been since dropping from the S ranks the first time.

Anything you find overrated?

I have not and will not ever use a Ferroseed on a team I've built myself. Not only is it incredibly easy to wear down, but running it almost always means your team is gonna turn out bulky balance or semi-stall, which do not fit my playstyle in the slightest. It struggles as one of the easiest Pokemon to lure due to its 4x Fire weakness and with powerful Fire- and Fighting-type Pokemon in general Ferro is slow as hell too, which turns me off on the extreme. It's complete Taunt bait and I'd much rather spend that slot on a more resilient or powerful Grass-type such as Foongus or Snivy.

What is your opinion on the Diglett suspect test?

If you mean the most recent one, I think it was less interesting as a question of banning Diglett and more interesting as a case study of LC tiering philosophy. The fact that the community maintained enough support to call for another suspect of Diglett after it was initially left unbanned was cool to watch, and it helped us flesh out our suspecting ideologies for upcoming generations.

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

Corporal Levi has the kind of calm thought process and knowledge that I genuinely envy sometimes, plus he's a chill af dude who is always down for a conversation. Shrug, Oma, Vileman, Sken, and Fiend are my homies, Jac is cute, Coconut. is really cool, and I've played a super laggy game of Sm4sh with Quote before! :D

What's your favorite playstyle and why?

My favorite playstyle is easily offense, but that's more a result of me building around my asshat habit of sacking my wincons than it is any personal preference. In general, any solid team with a Choice Scarf user in the back is good with me!

Do you think Missy needs a re-test? Why?

Y'know, I used to think a Missy re-test would be a good idea, but then I realized that it's actually fast, strong, and versatile, so no, that's dumb! Anything with 19 Speed and that kind of utility and power is dumb and shouldn't be in the tier! :toast:

Any LCPL Predicts?

  • CrashinBoomBang will go undefeated save one match, in which he will miss a Rock Slide, lose two Speed ties, and receive either a 4 turn sleep or a critfreeze​
  • For one week, the entirety of Levi's ORAS squad brings Tahupass​
  • For one week, Levi's team gets swept in ORAS​
  • Confide will play genuinely dominant matches throughout until the final match, in which he gets one Iron Head flinch and is subsequently written off as just another dirty haxxor​
  • ggggd never brings webs, but each of Sken, GOAO, and macle do​
  • Sam-testings does something. The book is still open on what exactly he does, but it'll be something​
  • mad0ka will play genuinely average matches throughout until the final match, in which she receives one Iron Head flinch and subsequently writes off her opponent as just another dirty haxxor​
  • Berks will get at least one legit win this time, dammit​

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

Since I can't really recommend using multiple alts until you can finally establish an identity on the site, my advice is to lurk and lurk often. Making an effort to figure out what makes the community tick before diving in headfirst, be it LC or any other Smogon or Internet community in general, will help you become a bigger part of the community faster. Also, if you're looking for a place to start, avoid posting in the Viability Rankings for a while. Just trust me.

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

All the teams I have rn that aren't RMT'd already are for LCPL, so sorry! I encourage you to check out the RMTs I've linked above and the ones I'll link below though, cause as silly as it seems I'm actually pretty proud of some of them :D​
Bless your hearts!​
 
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Holiday

on my best behavior
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
can you give me a shoutout?

how'd you get a fucking 35 i'm still trying to get to 34 lmao
 

Merritt

no comment
is a Tournament Directoris a Site Content Manageris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Dedicated Tournament Host
Head TD
What playstyle in particular do you think is particularly effective? Not effective?

Planning on instate/out of state for college?

Best Pokemon in LC in your opinion?

grats on potw!how could you say no missy ;~;
 

Fiend

someguy
is a Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
LC Leader
berk even though you're mormon and older than me and like swirlix can i adopt you?
 

absdaddy

Banned deucer.
when is my potw interview

whos your favourite lcer and why absdaddy

what would you unban if you had to free something in LC
bonus points for krow

i cant pinpoint why do you remind me of FlyinMankey and Aarons Aron but u really do, any ideas

if you had to ban either foo or diglett, which mon would u ban

which lcpl team is the shittiest and the best in ur opinion
 
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Berks

has a Calm Mind
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
im really excited to do something man
same

How does it feel to be LC's Cutest User(tm)?
idk ask Melonz :D
[answer sponsored by WaterlessMelon]

can you give me a shoutout?

how'd you get a fucking 35 i'm still trying to get to 34 lmao
Shoutouts Cheek Pouch for sounding like Darryl off of Bob's Burgers

Dude I didn't even study I'm just real good at testing is all ... You can do it brother

What playstyle in particular do you think is particularly effective? Not effective?

Planning on instate/out of state for college?

Best Pokemon in LC in your opinion?

grats on potw!how could you say no missy ;~;
I'm a huge fan of that borderline between bulky O and hyper offense, cause sacking wincons usually turns out alright when you can fall back on a foongus. Stall, of course, sucks here, but I find defensive teams pretty easy to break in general due to the nature of the teams I build

I'm really hoping to go somewhere West Coast like Stanford or something like that, but in reality the UofU and USU aren't awful options. And definitely not BYU, even in Hawaii

Pawniard gets Knock Off, strong priority, Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, resists Flying, has near unresisted offensive coverage, boosting moves, and has a good Speed tier. It's obviously one of the most consistent yet versatile threats in the metagame.

n_n

berk even though you're mormon and older than me and like swirlix can i adopt you?
only if you can get around the custody lawyer that is my dad ;(

when is my potw interview

whos your favourite lcer and why absdaddy

what would you unban if you had to free something in LC
bonus points for krow

i cant pinpoint why do you remind me of FlyinMankey and Aarons Aron but u really do, any ideas

if you had to ban either foo or diglett, which mon would u ban

which lcpl team is the shittiest and the best in ur opinion
GOAO

favorite lcer: Shrug
(@God) why absdaddy?: "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad." 2 Nephi 2:11

#freeswirlix

could it be that I just quoted a scripture
or is it all the n_n faces

Ban diglett, foo has to stick around to keep my boy Pawn balanced so I don't have to fix 90% of my teams

best: Naughty Noibats
[this answer sponsored by WaterlessMelon]
shittiest: Naughty Noibats
[this answer sponsored by @OP]

But real talk is that Croagunks have CrashinBoomBang soooooooooooooooo
 

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