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Welcome to the Random Battles Community Interview! The goal of this project is to interview well-known members of the Randbats community every month and learn more about them. These members may include players who’ve been successful in tournaments, high-ladderers, format/forum contributors, and more! Check out past interviews here!
Without further ado, let’s move onto the interview itself:
Syrinix
Thanks for agreeing to do this interview! Let's start off with a fun question about yourself. What’s your favorite movie and why?
snorlax142857
Thanks for having me here! unfortunate to start off the interview with a rough matchup already, I'm not really much of a movie person. like I don't even remember if I've seen any in the past year or two LOL can I get a different first question
Syrinix
Haha, no worries! Let’s go with something a bit easier- What’s your favorite Pokemon game of all time?
snorlax142857
Well I guess that's easier cuz there's not much I can think about before I maybe disappoint again. I've never actually played any of the Pokemon video games, the closest thing was when some friends and I tried DelugeRPG in 2017 and I probably lost interest in a month or so. that was also around the time I got into competitive Pokemon, I could talk about that next
Syrinix
It's interesting that you've never played a main series Pokemon game before since I imagine that's how a lot of competitive players are introduced to the franchise. How did you stumble upon Pokemon Showdown and what were some of the first formats you played?
snorlax142857
Some friends and I got bored in class in late 2016 and somehow we ended up playing Pokemon Showdown. I think I've generally liked pvp games with a fair amount of strategy (in 2015/16 my most played game was Bloons TD Battles) so I grew to like it, when my only prior Pokemon experience was collecting a couple hundred Pokemon cards in elementary school. I started with learning the full type chart and other basics through rands; several months later I started trying to build teams, but of course this began with silly low-ladder stuff like six starters (shame, the Gen 9 starters are actually somewhat viable LOL). Through 2018 I dabbled in many of the usage-based tiers and got to 1500 on the ladder in most of them through a lot of trial and error, and I also tried several OMs for fun.
Back then I didn't take PS as seriously, I remember missing an entire Middle Cup tiebreaker in spring 2018 cuz I was really busy with school that week. Come 2019 I started spending more time but that was when I started playing rands more instead of trying to learn teambuilding. I remember struggling with many bouts of tilt on the ladder, but then I peaked the Gen 7 rands ladder for the first time that summer, and ever since getting drafted for RBTT III I've been almost exclusively playing rands.
Syrinix
Rands is the best format for sure! It’s really cool to see how you went from never playing a Pokémon game to being very skilled at Randbats. Since you exclusively play Randbats, why do you enjoy playing it over any other format?
snorlax142857
tbh... not sure? While I've loosely followed tier shifts and a handful of metagame discussion threads through the years, I think I imagine staying on top of all the meta changes (especially with Tera now) and constantly maintaining a successful team for any of the usage-based tiers would be much more of a time commitment than maintaining an equivalent position in Rands. but maybe someday I'll realize I'm missing out on opportunities to get creative, decide I need to learn some teambuilding and team preview meta skills, and find out that it doesn't actually take that much time, lol.
That being said, Rands definitely has lots of events and a great community (though I say the latter without having gotten as involved in Rands room chat/events as I probably could, whoops). People are nice and there's a good balance between the competitive motivation to get better and being chill with how games go. Between Rands Slam and RBTT, there's also no lack of tournaments to stay occupied year-round, and monthly spotlights are a fun addition too. I guess this all makes it nice and comfortable to just stick around here
Syrinix
No teambuilding is definitely a huge perk of being a Rands main, haha. We do indeed have a ton of events going on year-round and I’m happy to see that a lot of people enjoy them, given that I’m one of the people involved with the behind-the-scenes organization for a few of them. What is your favorite Random Battles tour/event to participate in?
snorlax142857
I would say RBTT, as it has a nice variety of formats and great team spirit (though I could be biased because it was my first major Rands tour and still the source of my only custom avatar). Maybe this is just my experience, but I feel like it's also the best at maintaining hype throughout the whole season, as those who don't make it to the playoffs typically care enough to stay updated on what happens.
Syrinix
RBTT is something a lot of us look forward to every year, and for good reason! Given that you’re skilled enough to get drafted for tournaments like RBTT and WCoR, I’d imagine you play quite a lot to get better at Randbats formats. How often do you play Random Battles, and what’s your favorite format? Why?
snorlax142857
Every day, as long as I'm not too busy! (I would like to say I haven't missed a day in 2023 so far.) I have the habit of hopping onto ladder in the morning and playing one game in each of a few formats to stave off rating decay and getting rusty. Recently, this has included Gen 9, Gen 9 blitz, Gen 9 dubs, Gen 8, and Gen 8 dubs. Then depending on how much work I have to do that day and whether I feel like I can avoid tilting too much, I'll come back later and ladder more of these formats or something else like the Monthly Spotlight. I haven't gotten involved much in Rands room tours, typically only joining in on some of the rarer formats or mashups, but I try to sign up for most Rands forum tours, typically averaging three or four series a week lately (that one week with six was a bit hectic).
I'd have to shout out Gen 8 Randdubs as one of my favorite formats. Winrate leveling made Gen 8 one of the more balanced gens for Rands, and I like dubs' greater emphasis on board state management (especially with Dynamax - nerf Max Airstream though) as opposed to positioning a single wincon. The faster pace is also a bonus. On that note, Blitz is also fun for being able to step away from the calculator and just play on instinct (where is my patience?)
Syrinix
Randdubs is an interesting choice as it’s a unique format that can be difficult to get into. It’s amazing to see your dedication and consistency to battling on the ladder or in tournaments, though. What strategies do you use while battling?
snorlax142857
I tend to use the calc when I'm unsure about how much damage will be done, even for ladder games above a certain point. I'll also look up sets when I'm playing formats I'm less familiar with such as old gens or some BF tiers. There's a lot of resources available and there's no need to disadvantage myself in a tour game going in blind (ladder is a different story though cuz that's supposed to be more for fun...)
In terms of battling itself, I think one thing I've gotten better at this year is being more mindful of which mons are more or less useful in each matchup. If your Toxic-less Toxapex lets in Specs Eggy-A for free but you need to preserve it to wall a fighting-type breaker, you might need to pull off some well-timed double switches. Conversely, even a chipped Hustle Delibird might be able to put in some work in this same matchup. There's no Pokemon that's always good or always bad, it all depends on the matchup at hand. Consequently, the information war and making inferences about your opponent's unrevealed mons is also pretty important, though I might not be the best one to ask about that.
Syrinix
Using headcalcs during ladder battles is the way to go tbh. You’ve already given some solid advice regarding how to deal with matchups in Randbats, but I’m curious: what are a few of your favorite Pokemon to roll (in any generation)?
snorlax142857
Haha I'm pretty bad at choosing favorites... I guess one new mon I want to shout out is Brambleghast. Especially in dubs, its ability to block and gain an attack boost from moves like Hurricane, Heat Wave, Blizzard, and even Whirlwind makes its subseed, Strength Sap, and hazard setter/removal sets more disruptive. Separately, I generally like bulky setup mons with setup + recovery + 2 attacks, as they can sometimes carry games singlehandedly once their checks get worn down. Shouting out some additional Grass types in honor of team US Midwest, these include NP Celebi and BU Gogoat. (it's unfortunate that Grass is a rather mediocre type overall and our mascot in particular struggles in the winrates even at level 100 :( )
Syrinix
I always forget about Brambleghast’s Wind Rider ability… Interesting choices though! Level 100 Sunflora can at least nuke some things with Leaf Storm if it gets a chance too. On the flipside, what’s your least favorite aspect of Random Battles (an individual Pokemon’s set, a broader situation you sometimes encounter, an entire format, etc)?
snorlax142857
For me the most frustrating thing would have to be matchups. If you load three fire weaknesses and zero resists into a Ho-Oh and Ninetales, there's not always much you can do about it (whether Tera in Gen 9 makes such situations better is a debate for another day). Having a janky set sometimes compounds this problem, so hopefully a roles system can be put in place for more gens going forward.
Now for maybe a hot take, I wonder if tours are accessible enough. There's only 32 slots in Rands Slam playoffs, for example, and 120 in RBTT, and there are clearly more good players than spots available in these major tours as the Rands community continues to expand quickly. The logistics of expanding these - whether it's from 32 to 64 playoff spots, 12 to 15 RBTT formats, heck even Swiss tours so "better" players are less likely to get "haxed" out earlier - could end up greatly increasing the logistical overhead so I guess I only have a passing thought to offer here and not an actual plan to act on. (upon second thought, 15 RBTT formats seems plausible actually...)
Syrinix
Awful matchups are definitely rough to deal with and can drain away your motivation to continue playing the match. Stay tuned for more old gen revamps though :eyes:! I see your view in that there are a whole lot fewer spots for skilled players in major tournaments and I personally would like to see more of these players face off against one another. Before we wrap things up, what kind of advice would you give to new players, or players seeking to improve their battling skills?
snorlax142857
Practice makes improvement. It's the best way to get more familiar with the game, and everyone goes through the stages of learning the type chart, move mechanics, making predictions, positioning wincons, etc. through laddering, tours, and friendly challenges. Rands has a super welcoming community, and there will be many people at a similar level to play against as well as more experienced players who can guide you.
Aside from that, enjoy the process! PS a game after all, and it's not worth getting too mad over when things don't go well. Luck is part of the game and it's important to give yourself credit when you played well and lost to factors outside of your control, but also recognize where you could've managed risks better and keep that in mind for next time.
Also, get good sleep if you can. idk if it's just me living up to my username but I seem to end up making better decisions in tours when I'm well-rested, and it generally boosts performance irl too!
Syrinix
Some great advice that I’m sure readers will make great use of! That about wraps up this interview—thank you so much for taking the time to be interviewed and providing well thought-out answers. We really appreciate it!
snorlax142857
ngl I'm still feeling the impostor syndrome as we wrap up, this was a great experience. Thanks for having me here and for making the community interview series possible!
Thanks to snorlax142857 for the great interview! Feel free to ask them any further questions in this thread and keep an eye out for future interviews!
