All Gens Ruins of Alph Player of the Week: Fear

[McMeghan]

How do you get your building ideas? Do they randomly pop up in your head or do they usually come up after analyzing metagame trends and whatnot? You often wander outside the box in your teambuilding, and I like that aspect of you as a player (random example: that BW team with Helmet Espeon and Taunt Toxic Gyarados).

Top 5 regrets in your "career" as an individual player.

 

[trc]

Since it's time for the next interview, babidi1998 if you want to answer those last two questions just do it in the same thread, it's fine.

McMeghan​

Favourite Pokemon?

Used to be Charizard, but as time goes by, it's less and less the case. My top 3 is certainly Charizard, Articuno and Zapdos, and I'd pick the two legendary birds over Charizard nowadays (especially Articuno).

How did you get involved into competitive Pokemon?

I already touched upon this subject in my OU PotW thread, but I'll explain in more details this time, sorry for the wall of text x_x

In late 2005/early 2006, I joined a french videogame website named gamekult. I was your typical internet noob back then and I bragged about my in-game accomplishments on the forum. During my exploration of the PokeWeb, I discovered the premier french Pokemon website back then: Pokemon-France. I'll quote what I said in my PotW thread here: I came across the competitive section on a french website and it was talking about NetBattle and the different roles in a team (Sweeper, Staller, Heal Beller, etc). It looked pretty interesting, especially the fact that I could face humans and friends online. The section is actually still accessible.

I spent a ton of time on NetBattle, playing ADV and getting involved in the French Community from back then. I went back to talk about strategy on gamekult, then moved on different and more specialized Pokemon websites (Pokemon-France, Puissance-Pokemon) where I'd post on the forums and rate teams. I also played in IRL tournaments a lot, and I only have positive memories from that period of time (for the record, I often met, played and talked with froggy25 in these tournaments). The format was terrible tho (ADV 3v3 picked from full team preview). Note that I won the first IRL tour I joined, guess I was destined to great things hehe.

I played on ShoddyBattle too during the early days, but left pretty soon after the 4th Gen came out as I lost interest in Pokemon in general. I made a brief comeback in Platinium since I was interested to check how competitive Pokemon had turned out. That's when I made my Smogon account (to play Smogon Tour). I didn't stay around tho.

Finally, I'll copy paste what I mentionned in the PotW thread: later on, when Black&White came out in Europe, I bought the game and wanted to look up some information online. I once again read the competitive section and Gen 5 looked pretty interesting so I downloaded PO and laddered a bit (Blaziken had just been banned on Smogon, so mid 2011). I distinctly remember wanting to use Espeon and Magic Bounce because it'd abuse the usage of SR by my opponent.

What past gen tier are you most known for playing, and what are some of your greatest achievements in playing (in either this tier or in general)?

ADV and BW I guess.
I started making a name for myself in BW1 thanks to my performances in WCoP (3-0 in my first participation), random unofficial Tournaments and Smogon Tour (won 2 BW individual tour in ST12, the first one I participated in from start to finish). As time went by, I got a lot more involved in ADV and made a lot of good performances in Smogon Tour and various tournaments (Derdomme Cup being the most notable one when it comes to ADV). I'm also pretty satisfied of my ADV showcase in the last SPL, where I went 7-1.

What are your favourite old gen tiers and why?

ADV without a doubt. It has the perfect mix of diversity, competitivity and overall balance imo. GSC is very strategic, but it's too slow-paced for my taste. DPP is an excellent tier, but it has a bunch of things I'm not a huge fan of (Lead match-up potentially dictating the pace of the whole game, lot of hazards, U-Turn, etc).

RBY is super fun if you don't take it too seriously. I have a love-hate relationship with BW; it has a ton of diversity if you bother digging into it, but right now I'm just sick of it. We've reached a state where Hazards Wars and Magic Guard users dominate the tier, and I find it pretty boring and annoying to play in.

What are some of your most often used Pokemon in the tiers that you play?

It varies a lot based on the metagame trends and what I like to use at the moment. If I take into account what I often come back to and my latest favorites, it'd be: Zapdos, Celebi and Magneton.

Zapdos is solid at everything it does in ADV. It hits like a truck and is naturally bulky. It gets a lot of momentum on its user's side is great to dictate the flow of the game in general.
Celebi has so many good sets and unique traits. I love to use its Physically Bulky sets to check the like of non-CB Gross and Snorlax in tandem with Skarmory/Waters as it allows me to play around Magneton or Explosion based Offenses. The CM and BP sets are deadly and game winners.
I love Magneton just because I like getting rid of Skarmory asap, on top of limiting the spikes advantage a lot of people like to rely on.

What type of playstyle do you enjoy using the most in these tiers?

I'm pretty diverse in ADV, I've used everything, from Hard Stall to "Hyper Offense". In the last SPL, I've used rather offensive teams throughout the tournament. After some past hmm... traumatizing experiences, I realized I prefer controlling the flow of the game.

Do you consider yourself having innovated or popularised any sets throughout your time playing?

Eh, not really honestly, which is too bad because I would have loved to come up with something really innovative and consistent. I guess I could say that I brought back Starmie to life in ADV. Both the defensive set when a team Ojama and I made became very popular and successful in Smogon Tour, and the offensive set thanks to my RMT.

I used a lot of LO Alakazam at the end of BW1, and I know some people grew affectionate on it after using a team I passed around during the Frontier Phillip won. I wouldn't really say I "popularised" it tho...

Are there any specific games you've played that you consider really great?

There are definitely some Old Gen battles that I particulary remember for different reasons. I'll list them in chronogical order (I took the time to edit out nicknames/alts to make them more legible):

• ST 14, Round 1 of PlayOff vs. AM [DPP]; DPP used to be my weak gen back then, and I was down 0-1 going into that game (had just lost ADV). I decided to ball hard and went into the game with a very offensive team around SubCM Bulky Raikou (graciously built and given by Ojama). Even tho it seemed I was behind the whole game, I did a pretty good job at scouting the opponent team and getting rid/taking care of what could stop a Raikou sweep late game. I felt like I understood DPP better after that game.
• ST 14, Semi-Final vs. Malekith [DPP]; this game was the Semi-Final tie-breaker (I had just lost BW after winning ADV). It's a wild race from start to finish, with many unexpected sets popping up and changing the face of the game. Here is the log with the spectators commentaries.
• SPL 4, Semi-Final vs. Danilo [ADV]; talk about a "traumatizing" game. This is the tie-breaker of the SPL4 Semi-Final, and I just get 6-0'd from Cune early game. One of my worst choke and it haunted me for a while.
• ST 18, Quarter Final vs. Masterclass [BW]; no replay or log, sorry for linking a chimpact video... Anyway, I was pretty glad of the team I brought (Rain Offense around NP 3 Atk Celebi) and I think I played that game as well as I could to bring the victory home, against a player I respect a fuckton.
• SPL 6, Semi-Final vs. Triangles [ADV]; go BIG or go home, I went BIG in this one.

Are there any changes to older tiers that you think would be beneficial?

While ADV is as balanced as it gets, I'd like to test different variations of the tier, mainly without Spikes, Sand and Trappers and some combination of these (Spikes and Trappers together for example).

BW could (should?) definitely see a return of Mold Breaker Excadrill, the hazards are way too dominating and it's far too easy to play around all the Spinners of the tier. Wouldn't mind getting rid of Drought + Chlorophyll either.

Who do you look up to as a player and/or person, and which players are you close friends with?

There are way too many players to mention here. I'll focus on the players who have influenced me when it comes to ADV.

Cristal and Austinf were my best buddies back on NetBattle. I played and discussed about the tier and its trends with them two mainly back then. They were also the best players in our communities and all our games were very close. They were solid teambuilders and I enjoyed a lot my time with them. Cristal is still an active bro

CrashinBoomBang and Ojama are the two players who shaped me the most in modern ADV and after I came back on Pokemon. CrashinBoomBang's way to play ADV influenced me a lot and taught me to be a lot more aggressive,to abuse what I could easily expect from my opponents based on their team archetype and mine. The only problem is that after I met CBB, I became really one-dimensionnal in ADV. I'd always use Tyranitar/Spikes/Gengar teams. Back then, I'd spend a LOT of time talking about everything Pokemon related with Ojama (I still sorta do). We built so much teams for our Tour runs (think ST 13 'till ST15), especially in ADV... What was great (and still is) with Ojama is that we tried every playstyles and we weren't afraid to use unconventional stuff like Snorlax+Blissey stalls, or double Steel stalls (Forre + Skarm). We didn't playtest a lot but we've "pre-played" so much with our builds it was almost unhealthy. We knew what to do vs everything individually and in tandem just based on "theory".

Nowadays, I mainly talk about ADV with BKC who's super enthuasiast and passionate about the tier, which is lovely Would also like to shout-out Triangles for actually using cool stuff in Tournaments instead of just theorymoning about them like most of us do.

Finally, I'll mention M Dragon because he's probably the tournament player I have the worst record against in ADV. He can use anything and everything and knows the tier like the back of his hands. It's pretty impressive that he's as versed in RBY and GSC as he is in ADV to top it off (he's still a ridiculous dude, especially when he claims he has built everything known to mankind!).

Are there any old players who you wish would come back, either to play again or just to talk to?

Pretty hard question to answer. I'm a newfag when it comes to Smogon, and nobody knows/cares about franch from the NetBattle era.

I'll mention wilson46 who was one of my favorite BW Player, VIL because from what I've seen in SPL and heard from MDragon, he uses super cool stuff with great success.

How do you feel about the comparatively larger successes of newer players recently, for example, in this year's OST?

I like it. I like when new players emerge and do well. I hope they'll keep it up! Smogon is also more popular than ever. With more players joining tournaments, there are higher odds of some underrated gems to become the good to great players of the new generations.

I also think a lot of players become pretty lazy and don't invest themselves as much in newer gens, so it's not surprising to see new players who are eager to learn and delve themselves in new generations being able to push around some of the old farts around here.

How do you feel about Smogon as a whole right now?

I like it, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in many area of the site, Tournaments being one of them. I like how every gens/tiers is represented in the official circuit nowadays at least.

Any teams you feel fit you as a player particularly well?

Team

Tyranitar (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 136 HP / 28 Def / 252 SAtk / 92 Spd
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Flamethrower

Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk / 26 Spd
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Roar
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Aerodactyl (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spd
IVs: 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 30 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Earthquake
- Double-Edge
- Rock Slide

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Def / 216 SAtk / 20 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Seismic Toss
- Ice Beam
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic

Swampert (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SAtk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Hydro Pump

This is the team I built and used against Typhlito in the last World Cup. Since then, I used it in a lot of Tournaments and it's been the basis of some of my ADV builds. It fits me as a player because it has a solid defensive backbone with a lot of offensive options to take the control of the game when I want or need to. Tyranitar pursuits Gengar for Forretress, and I even have Zapdos to play around HypnoGar. HP Fire Forre owns other Forre and Skarmory late-game. Zapdos also help me check every variants of Suicune with Blissey. Aerodactyl is an amazing revenge killer and appreciate both Sand and Spikes. I use Adamant to force Suicune's hand and because the damage output is often worth it, especially against stuff like bulky CM Rachi.

Final question - are you still going to continue playing in tournaments?

Yes. Maybe not as intensively as I used to, but I still have fun and I'll stay around for a while I think.

 

[Kingler]

1. any recommendations for learning ADV or teambuilding (I've built like 5 teams and would probably like to learn; tutoring signups are at an incredibly inconvenient time) advice? I've played a decent amount and know common sets, lures, etc. but trying to find out which set fits better on a team is often quite difficult.
2. Do you feel like Reuniclus should be banned? I guess it could be taken step by step (sun + mb exca -> reun), but do you feel like it'll help improve one of the most hated metas
3. Do you feel like there is still room for innovation in ADV? Are there any common tweaks in EV spreads for mons to suit certain teams (I think 44 HP duggy is used to survive bliss's ice beam?). With the next gen and ADV probably being removed from WCoP, do you feel like it'll have adequate tour representation?
4. What set do you feel is more effective as a swampert as well as general lure, MixMence or MixTar?

 

[e7e]

Which were the bests ADV OU matches that you've ever played and/or watched?

Which are the 5 pokemon that you find more effective in the current ADV OU meta?

Would you be pleased if there were more ADV OU tours, even if not officials?

What is you opinion about the player ]v[ajintupacz?

You said that you can play any playstyle. Is there one in particular that you enjoy the most?

What are your thoughts about a BotW which all weeks are ADV OU?

It's possible to see that Blisseys are being less used in the current metagame. In your opinion, what caused that?

What would you think if all the 8 slots of WCoP were ADV OU?

 

[The Grand Babido]

i'll just respond 2 my questions real quick

do you think the addition of public replays changed the pace of how fast a metagame develops?

this is an interesting question man. i guess it is hard to say. public replays definitely encourage u to use more squads than usual which would suggest there are more teams around in general which would then suggest that there is a broader base of teams making it harder to 'metagame' the metagame cause of the increased variability, if that makes sense. the question is whether that actually happens tho...... maybe i'm looking at it too deeply.

then on the other side of the coin u get better access to other squads so u can spot weaknesses/things to be exploited. i'd say that side is probably more important as well....

not really sure how to answer this. kinda stumped. if u want an answer then the answer is: yes, probably.

How do you get your building ideas? Do they randomly pop up in your head or do they usually come up after analyzing metagame trends and whatnot? You often wander outside the box in your teambuilding, and I like that aspect of you as a player (random example: that BW team with Helmet Espeon and Taunt Toxic Gyarados).

Top 5 regrets in your "career" as an individual player.

that team was more a gimmick than anything but that team was based around the idea that, in rain, ferrothorn+chans wall everything that is not a fighter, scizor or tyranitar. obviously there are some more exmptions but they are more niche or i'm forgetting them. anyway if u pair them with dug + a keld/sciz counter u got a good backbone. i always wanted to use gyarados but didn't like how passive and how many free turns restalk gyara gave (especially in BW) so i opted for that set (with wish support from espeon...). was a fun team but nothing i'd use in a serious match.

sometimes they just come to me. other times i try to think of new ways to beat things. and then other times i'm just searching through the dex for combinations of resistances/moves/stats/coverage etc.....

damn man... not one, not three, but five regrets?? three clearly stick out so i'll talk about them

#1 is letting marshall.law hit his will-o-wisp on my +6 scizor (after it missed) in DPP in the first round of tour playoffs after taking ADV. i'm not sure why i let him do it (was his fault for getting greedy with hazards) and i ended up getting revenged by a lucario (whereas i would've clean swept if i was not burned). i then needed to hit two hpumps to win and missed the first and then went on to lose BW. i guess i've learnt from my mistake. gotta take luck when u receive it, and u gotta accept it when you're on the wrong end. all evens out, unless u play passive squads every game. that is why i've declined restarts in the past (like vs rey in BW last tour)

#2 is losing to kokoloko in slam semis. was a series i should probably not have lost. blamed luck at the time but i played poorly in uber and ru. was kind of weird cause i played two great games in uu and nu but then two of my worst in uber and ru.

#3 would be my loss vs valentine in the quarters last ost. should have taken the tournament more seriously at that stage and was using the same team multiple times every round. think i even used it three times in one round. played poorly in this series as well. its funny that in a metagame with aegis, deo-d, greninja, mega mawile, and mega lucario at the start of the tour, every single team i used from r1 is still legal now. wasn't making the most of the right pokes

some others like thinking eo would extend frontier for me and various SPL games bug me but not to the degree of these three...

----------

anyway i'll send that question right back at u. wat are your top five regrets?

and some other questions...

why did u not perform well this tour? did u expect to qualify easily? obviously if u gave it your all u would be in the top 16 but for someone like u, only 80% effort would be needed to qualify

you going all out in the classic? who are the guys u are scared most about? do u think players like VIL and floppy will do well? any surprise picks for top 8?

 

[Smurf.]

When we throwing down for powc?

 

[River Martini]

1. Congrats for being a TD! How do you feel when you are handling arguably the largest case on smogon?

2. Who do you root for in OST?

3. What are your biggest life goals (in real life, not competitive pokemon)?

 

[MoxieInfinite]

thoughts on the Borat guide(s).

 

[Lavos]

When do you think the BW OU metagame was at its best?

Who would you consider fellow greats in your respective tiers of fame? (ADV, BW)

Any up-and-coming players to watch out for, particularly on the franch side?

How do you manage to keep so calm, especially considering your role as a TD? I think I've only seen one log of you ever getting upset.

 

[Endeby]

What do you think are the main habits separating top level players from "just good" players?

How should I EV my defensive Swampert in ADV? How about Snorlax?

Some TD related questions: Would you like to see double elmination used for more official tournaments than the ladder tournament? Bo5? Seeding? Ok, I don't actually believe seeding is a good idea. Still gotta ask!

 

[Jirachee]

Ah, Meganium-sama.

First of all, I'd love to have your opinion on the dreaded killer moth: Volcarona. Do you think it should be banned from BW OU?

What do you think of Evuelf, his johning antics, and the fact he makes fun of you for always waiting the deadline to play?

Why do you always play on deadline day?

What are, in your opinion, the best / worst additions BW2 brought?

Care to tell us more about The Nemesis, Gliscor?

Is there a player version of The Nemesis, that you can never beat?

Why is MadMeghan so funny?

Why would you ever run 252 Speed Timid Jellicent? I'm confused...

Is there a tournament you still want to win (badly)?

 

[Oglemi]

play moar adv nu imotbh

why is lunatone not used more in adv ou

will oras ou ever be playable???

 

[Stockings]

When will Triangles return?

Most underrated mon in ADV?

Strangest successful tour team that you've seen, as in, a team that shouldn't be good but is?

 

[Sapientia]

You said there is a lot of room for improvement in the tournaments part of this site. What do you think are the biggest "problems" and how to plan to improve this areas in the future?

And why haven't I ever played against you? :(

 

[Finchinator]

pls answer these before sunday night ;]

Was there any specific turning point moment where you went "wow, a lot of people look up for me for how I play this game / how I contribute to this community" or do you not think about that too often?

Do you feel any pressure given that a lot of the community now expects you to perform so consistently in various tours after your past success or is it not a factor in your thinking process, preparation, and play?

How much money did you think you would go for in SPL 6? Do you think you were worth the amount you went worth?

Thoughts on the recent success of the Belgian Brothers ZoroDark and MetalGross?

Are you looking forward to the upcoming WCOP this summer or are you more interested in the currently running cups for the Classic (or neither :o)?

Which BW2 lower tier was your favorite at the end of the generation (if you had one) (uu w/ hail+chandy, uu w/out hail+chandy, ru, nu w/ jynx+scoli, or nu w/out jynx+scoli)?

Who is the most surprisingly successful battler you've seen (as in someone who you thought wouldn't do well, but ended up doing very well)?

Was there any point recently where you seriously considered either quitting or being significantly less active in playing pokemon? How long do you think you'll be playing and do you think the future of the community is going to be an improvement from the recent status of the community or will the quality of the community grow lackluster?

Finally, if users Jirachee and Evuelf where pitted against each other in an important BW2 OU battle, who would you pick to win, do you think Evu would john until the deadline, and do you think either would have the balls to bring out broken moth? :O

sorry for having a lot of questions i guess lol

 

[Clone]

Can you teach me adv OU?

Can I rematch u in ORAS OU?

I know you're not the "most known" for playing DPP, but how do u feel about that tier as a whole? Is there anything that you feel is too powerful for it?

If the clear skies tournament is a success, can you implement that over normal BW OU for everything related to BW?

When is the OU council gonna ban aidspass?

 

[Fireburn]

Do you think Swampert is viable in ADV Ubers?

Less random question: If you could change one thing in every gen 1-5, what would it be and why?

 

[Lord Ninjax]

Opinions of the following mons in ADV:
Salamence
Suicune
Flygon
Raikou
Heracross
Silliest thing you've ever seen used in a serious Tour (preferably ADV)? Silliest thing that worked?
Who are the top 5 ADVers playing/of all time?
Winner of ADV Cup/Smogon Classic?
What do you wanna ban in BW OU (Volc, Cube, Weather)?
Rate my ADV skill out of 10? Should I stop bringing Spikes+Suicune balances or TTar+Aero Sand Teams and expecting wins?

 

[Sapientia]

I came up with another question: What do you think of the player Vertigo and his influence on modern ADV OU

 

[McMeghan]

1. any recommendations for learning ADV or teambuilding (I've built like 5 teams and would probably like to learn; tutoring signups are at an incredibly inconvenient time) advice? I've played a decent amount and know common sets, lures, etc. but trying to find out which set fits better on a team is often quite difficult.
2. Do you feel like Reuniclus should be banned? I guess it could be taken step by step (sun + mb exca -> reun), but do you feel like it'll help improve one of the most hated metas
3. Do you feel like there is still room for innovation in ADV? Are there any common tweaks in EV spreads for mons to suit certain teams (I think 44 HP duggy is used to survive bliss's ice beam?). With the next gen and ADV probably being removed from WCoP, do you feel like it'll have adequate tour representation?
4. What set do you feel is more effective as a swampert as well as general lure, MixMence or MixTar?

1. I'd recommand reading discussion threads, playing (like you're doing so much lately on smogtours) and getting someone to answer more specific questions. Feel free to shoot me some PMs whenever you want if it's about ADV. I don't tutor but I like answering questions and talking about the ADV's intricacies. Some years ago, when Masterclass made Play-Offs of Smogon Tour back when ADV was still represented, he asked me to teach him how to build in the tier and I wrote him this document, it could certainly be improved and it lacks a bunch of stuff, but maybe you'll find it useful nonetheless?

2. I don't really think so. Reuniclus is so good because pretty much all its checks are hazards weak/hazards bait (SpDef Jirachi, SD Scizor, Physical Tyranitar). I'd prefer to take it step by step and first adressing the hazards/spinner issue by unbanning Mold Breaker Excadrill. CM Reuniclus has been fine for a long time, and there are lot of counterplays available in the tier (Encore Politoed, Taunt Mew, Taunt Gliscor, CM Wish, Sableye, etc). The only reason Reuniclus is currently dominating the tier is because it's very easy for him to outlive its checks with hazards up. It's still certainly a beast.

3. Yes, there is still room for innovation! A good example to prove it is the Post SPL Dump thread, full of movesets tweaks. There are a ton of stuff that could see more usages if some of us took the time to properly build around them / include them in the right team. I actually have a list full of this kind of stuff for building purposes, but I often just fall back in my comfort zone...

ADV is a small enough meta where you can actually EV your Pokemons to survive exactly what you want to better check/counter some Pokemons, so yes, there are a lot of EVs tweak at your disposal there! Here are some examples:

Jolteon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 48 HP / 208 SAtk / 252 Spd
IVs: 30 HP / 30 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

I run this Jolteon in a very offensive team that doesn't appreciate Aerodactyl at all. With that in mind, the Jolteon is EV'd to speedtie it (I'll take the 50% chance to kill it if it comes down t it) AND the 48 HP investment allows it to always survive a Rock Slide from Jolly Aero (Choice Band Aerodactyl Rock Slide vs. 48/0 Jolteon: 239-282 (84.4 - 99.6%)).

http://pastebin.com/cZX6zNVk
Here are a lot of Tyranitar I calced a while ago for a team that needed Ttar to check Curselax (Roar) and WoWGar.

Finally, I think ADV will have more than enough tour representation with the Smogon Classic being a thing now.

4. Both MixMence and MixTtar are classics, and any seasonned ADVers won't risk their Swampert on an unscooted Ttar/Mence. If I had to answer, I'd say Ttar because Ttar has typically less switch-ins than Mence. It's actually not that hard to play a seemingly Physically Based Tyranitar only to reveal HP Grass when your opponent thinks he's safe (DD HPGrass Ttar is a thing). If you intend to play a Physical Ttar with only HP Grass as a special move, I'd advice considering Toxic to cripple Swampert while giving yourself a lot more free room with your EVs and nature.

In general, I think MixMence is a better lure, but it's honestly hard to rank them. Tyranitar and Salamence are without a doubt the two best Mix Sweepers of the tier.

Which were the bests ADV OU matches that you've ever played and/or watched?

Which are the 5 pokemon that you find more effective in the current ADV OU meta?

Would you be pleased if there were more ADV OU tours, even if not officials?

What is you opinion about the player ]v[ajintupacz?

You said that you can play any playstyle. Is there one in particular that you enjoy the most?

What are your thoughts about a BotW which all weeks are ADV OU?

It's possible to see that Blisseys are being less used in the current metagame. In your opinion, what caused that?

What would you think if all the 8 slots of WCoP were ADV OU?

1. Like I said in the interview, I loved my semi-final game vs Triangles in the last SPL. I also really liked the in-season one I played with him, you should be able to find the log in the Replays thread. He had a great lead but I played pretty well to come back in the game, and at the end it came down to sort of a 50 50.
During the last SPL, I liked dekzeh vs GS, Danilo vs Malekith and KG vs Alf the most.
I liked a lot Majin vs Golden Sun in last season play-off (log available in the SPL 5 replay thread).
Most of the other ADV battles I remember are from the Smogon Tour and are too old to remember correctly, let alone retrieve the logs... However, I remember a Smogon Tour game against Majin in particular that was very close and that I loved playing: http://pastebin.com/pFR2xhrf (it's pretty long tho).

2. Subjective as hell:
Tyranitar, Zapdos, Metagross are in a separate class for me. They're extremely reliable at leaving their mark on the game and they check a pretty large amount of stuff.
I'll try to be more fancy with the other two:

• Celebi, and by Celebi, I mean CeleJump in particular. Well crafted CeleJump teams are very dangerous
• Gengar, and here, I mean BoomGar in particular. The sheer amount of special attacks at your disposition mean your opponent will often have to play around it/bring their dedicaced Special Sponge to soak Gengar's hits (Snorlax, Blissey, Regice). BoomGar is very reliable at breking defensive cores because of that, and it still has its sheer speed to be a threat for Offensive teams (Explosion is also pretty cool to deal with CM Spam).

3. Yes, I'd like to play in "tweaked" ADV tournaments. Think a tour where you're allowed to use one uber for one round, or where Spikes are banned, or where you're forced to run at least 1 UU and 2 BL mons. This kind of stuff!

4. Anyone who plays and likes ADV has respect for Majin. You don't pull so many great SPL seasons only thanks to luck or coincidences. I haven't played him enough to for a better/more detailed opinion of him as a player, but from what I've seen/played, he can be pretty creative and is very good at using the classic stuff as well.

5. It honestly depends on the moment. For example, during ST 14, I loved running Modest Gengar Spikes Sands, which were pretty offensive. In ST 15, I used a lot of Stall teams around CM Roar Cune and/or Bulky Curselax + CM Bliss. Right now, and it's been the case for some time, I like running Offenses usually featuring one trapper and a clear win condition.

6. Why not, it wouldn't get boring for me. We all know how BotW work tho, there is a lot of hype for the first few weeks, then it just dies down. Maybe have it run for like 4-5 weeks every 2-3 months? Another problem with BotW is that most picked players nowadays just don't care at all and bring joke teams and play sub-optimally, which means it's not really that entertaining anymore, at least for me.

7. Blissey kills momentum and give free turns to dangerous threats such as Tyranitar, Metagross or Snorlax, which are all running rampant in this Offensive metagame. Even worse, it's a free set-up bait for dangerous threats such as CM/SD Pass Celebi. Add to this that a lot of CMers are designed to beat Bliss (WishCM Rachi, Cro/Roar Cune, etc), or are often put in teams designed to bait Bliss and you have the answer. Oh, it's also possibly Spikes bait depending on the set. I still think Bliss is a great Pokemon, especially the T-Wave variant as many Offensive Teams hate seeing their members getting paralysed.

8. I'd love it. WCoP is a tournament where a lot of metagame advancements are made because everyone care and teamwork to build with creative and solid teams. We would probably see a lot of innovative/creative sets and strategies, even in "dead" tiers" if they were to be the WCoP main tiers.

anyway i'll send that question right back at u. wat are your top five regrets?

and some other questions...

why did u not perform well this tour? did u expect to qualify easily? obviously if u gave it your all u would be in the top 16 but for someone like u, only 80% effort would be needed to qualify

you going all out in the classic? who are the guys u are scared most about? do u think players like VIL and floppy will do well? any surprise picks for top 8?

1. I often talked about my regrets with some people like Bloo in the past, so this will be an easy one:

1. Losing to Snunch in the Semi-Final of OST#8: I was really feeling it back then. I felt like I was ahead of most people in BW1, and my run so far had been pretty much perfect. I was super confident in my ability to play my way out of every even/good match-ups. I was still sorta new back then and used the same teams of varations of them and the inevitable happened: I got counterstyled. Not only did I lose a Tournament I went far in and had good hopes of winning, but I had pretty much 0 chance to win these Semi-Final games (Game 1 was Ojama's Toxic Stall vs Sun with Cloyster, Alakazam and Hydreigon, Game 2 was RainStall vs Tickle Wobbuffet, CB Ttar, SD Virizion and Psychic Volcarona, oh and Toxic Rotom-W).
2. That tie-breaker game vs Danilo that I already mentionned in the interview. Our whole season was on the line and I was already pretty disapointed in myself from a personal point of view during that season (negative record and lot of suboptimal plays). We had made a great come-back to get the tiebreaker, notably with that famous game between pi face and Donkey. It all came down to that ADV game vs Danilo. It happened at 3 AM my time, after a like 1 hour long game which we decided to tie because it was gonna be endless. All this tension building up to a game where I got 6-0'd like a complete noob vs. early game Cune. Oh and truth to be told, I couldn't stand Danilo back then. He was trashtalking 24/7 in #spl and was loud in general. The difference with now is that he was a newcomer so I wasn't used to it yet ahah.
3. Losing to Nelson in the first Grand Slam Play-Offs: I don't think I need to explain why here. I dominated that Tournament as hard as I could have only to lose against someone who got under my skin a lot back then. I've also been pretty unlucky in the LC game and choked the NU game, sigh...
4. Losing to kd24 in ST13 Play-Offs because I misscalced a turn and lost my win condition. For the context: I had just calced +1 something and afterwards I forgot to remove the SpA boost. I expected my HP Fire Landorus to kill his Ferrothorn but it didn't due to that misscalc and I lost Landorus, which I needed to win the game later. Add to that: he was running a ParaHax team and he later took the DPP tiebreaker by setting up DDTtar on my Scarf Ttar Stone Edge misses.
5. Probably the 6-0 against Zephir in WCoP 13 (the one East won). I hated BW2 and played like absolute garbage early game and lost my only way to break his team. I probably could have avoided the 6-0 but I just played hoping he would hard choke, which obviously didn't happen.

I also have some Unofficial Tours loses that stick my throat, especially losing to the Semi-Final in the Helping Hand tour vs WhiteQueen. I like the concept a lot and choked like a dumbass in that game.

2. It's a mix of reasons. One of them was not being really consistent in ORAS, unlike in XY last season. I could feel it before the season even started as the only team I liked was 6-0'd by Charizard Y. There are a lot of games I didn't play as well as I could and it kept costing me points there and there. I also feel like I have been pretty unforunate RNG-wise whenever I was advancing a little bit. Later in the season, I just couldn't bother focus on playing because I was always busy with other Smogon stuff (read: the OST drama).

3. I never really go "all out" in anything except WCoP and in SPL. In pretty much every tournaments, I just wing it with what I already have during the earlier stages and I start caring it that carries me far enough. I thought I could build the motivation to hone my GSC and RBY skills for the Classic for example, but that didn't happen. So once again: I'll see how it'll go, and if I do well, I'll start caring more with all the preparation/building jazz. Floppy seems to be on fire lately, he has had a lot of good tournament runs and could beat the iron while it's hot with the Classic. As for VIL, I guess it'll depend on how much he cares? Based on the SPL games and MDragon's stories, he should get a good of amount of points with RBY/GSC/ADV alone granted he doesn't face one of the tier powerhouses early on.

As for the surprise picks, hmmmm I think any naturally good and motivated players have a good chance if they bother getting a lil' bit familiar with all the gens. Thinking about guys like destiny device, KratosMana or FLCL here, who are not known for their Old Gen skills.

When we throwing down for powc?

Lol, nice try! Contact my manager: Isa

1. Congrats for being a TD! How do you feel when you are handling arguably the largest case on smogon?

2. Who do you root for in OST?

3. What are your biggest life goals (in real life, not competitive pokemon)?

1. It was quite the gruelling task for many reasons. It took a lot of time, especially for Ciele and me, but at the end of the day, I have no regrets with the decision we took.

2. WhiteQueen, of course! UltiMario would be a /c/ool winner too.

3. He he. Don't plan to answer that one, sorry!

thoughts on the Borat guide(s).

Loved them. Definitely some of best reads here. I remember in particular a part where he mentionned how he analyzed himself to become an inherently better player, despite already getting good Tournament results. I kinda feel in the same way now. Even tho I have had some good Tour success for a while, I feel like a much better player than for example when I won the Smogon Tour. I'd recommand Borat guide to anyone who wanna become a better player in general, without a concrete tier in mind, just the desire to git gud.

When do you think the BW OU metagame was at its best?

Who would you consider fellow greats in your respective tiers of fame? (ADV, BW)

Any up-and-coming players to watch out for, particularly on the franch side?

How do you manage to keep so calm, especially considering your role as a TD? I think I've only seen one log of you ever getting upset.

1. BW1, post Excadrill ban. The tier was very great, enjoyable and balanced minus Deoxys-D being a cock. BW2 messed everything up and it's never been the same since then.

2. ADV, I'll only talk about the players of my era (aka modern ADV): ST15 Ojama (when he cared more about ADV basically), M Dragon, dekzeh, Golden Sun, reyscarface, 2012-13 CBB. Probably forgetting people as I always do with this kind of stuff sigh.
BW, with only BW1 in mind because I don't consider BW2 one of my tier of fame: Ojama, BIHI, Akola/Roxou (however you wanna name him), Heist. BKC and Peachy were up there too. I also should probably mention badabing and reyscarface for constantly getting great results back then.

3. The French community is split, and the one I "grew up" with now don't play Pokemon anymore for the most part so there is no new newcomers. I'm barely invested in the one on PS. I think Twin Citiez has a good potential based on his mindset and our numerous discussions/test games.

4. When I came back on Pokemon, I had decided "with myself" that I wouldn't get mad over it and over the hax like I always used to when I was playing on NetBattle so there is that. Also, I do get mad or voice my annoyance a lot more than I seemingly do in private conversations. Everyone needs to vent sometimes right I guess!

What do you think are the main habits separating top level players from "just good" players?

How should I EV my defensive Swampert in ADV? How about Snorlax?

Some TD related questions: Would you like to see double elmination used for more official tournaments than the ladder tournament? Bo5? Seeding? Ok, I don't actually believe seeding is a good idea. Still gotta ask!

1. Constant desire to do well. Doing their best to avoid hax (Smog Article on the subect). Putting things into perspective to take the best decisions, but also to realize that the player probably could have done something differently and played the game better, which leads to improving one-self.

2. Non Curse Pert: Full HP / Defense, speed creep a bit or invest into Special Attack for the Hpump outputs vs bulky Steels. CursePert: Full HP, lot more SpDef but still enough physical bulk to check Ttar/Gross. Don't forget HP Rock > Rock Slide if you decide to for the full physical route. You won't need the flinch chance with speed drop, but you will want the accuracy and the PPs.

Snorlax is completely different. Never invest a lot in HP as Pokemons with very High HPs are better off investing in their defenses. I suggest a lot of Atk (310-330) on the offensive sets (CurseBoom / 4 Atks), and then a mix of Def and SpDef to soak up the hits and avoid taking like 35% from Zap Tbolts lol. Go full hard bulk on the CurseRest sets (mix of HP/Def/SpDef, Careful).

3. I wouldn't mind trying or at least considering double elim, especially in long tournaments with a small pool of players for Play-Offs (Tour, GS, Classic). Given the nature of Pokemon, luck will most of the time influence the result of a serie or at least an individual game, at least in some way, and I think Bo3 are enough to somewhat balance it. Going further will just make series longer (probably too long) while not necessarily fixing the issue. Bo5 /could/ be considered for the last stages of big Tournemants such as OST, or maybe Bo3 for every tiers/pairings in SPL/WCoP playoffs starting semi-final.

I'll answer to the rest tomorow or on thursday. There is a lot and it's late/I have work to do, sorry about that :[ I'm sorry if I left some grammar/vocabulary mistakes along the way, I didn't take the time to reread myself.
Keep them coming nonetheless!

 

[Isa]

Hi Smurf. Mcmeghan wants to play late during Sunday. Does this work?

 

[McMeghan]

Ah, Meganium-sama.

First of all, I'd love to have your opinion on the dreaded killer moth: Volcarona. Do you think it should be banned from BW OU?

What do you think of Evuelf, his johning antics, and the fact he makes fun of you for always waiting the deadline to play?

Why do you always play on deadline day?

What are, in your opinion, the best / worst additions BW2 brought?

Care to tell us more about The Nemesis, Gliscor?

Is there a player version of The Nemesis, that you can never beat?

Why is MadMeghan so funny?

Why would you ever run 252 Speed Timid Jellicent? I'm confused...

Is there a tournament you still want to win (badly)?

Philou :D

1. I'm on the fence with Volc. It certainly has flaws, but it's one of those mons that is ALWAYS threatening granted it has the right moveset/item. There is always one variant which will fuck you side-way, and it's not that hard to play around its main downside (the SR weakness). On the other hand, I do think a lot of player underprepare for it because "why bother?". Volcarona does have checks tho. For example, any +100 Speed BS Scarfer with a Rock move will be enough and safe no matter what the moveset (Garchomp, Terrakion and LolNape in OU alone) and you have access to plethora of other checks, albeit less reliable because they can be beaten with the right moveset/items (Gyarados, Keldeo, Heatran, etc). Hopefully, we'll get to test BW with Excadrill around and with a new and better spinner in the tier, maybe Volcarona will get better to the point where it'll be too good. As of right now: no banerino.

2. Evuelf is a good BWer and I'm proud of his johning antics
I also have no shame regarding how I schedule and when I play my games, so he can keep making fun of me!

3. Two reasons stand out: 1) I'm lazy and will often not be prepared (granted I care enough to prepare) before the deadline day; 2) I usually wanna play when I'm "in the mood", which is rarely the case, especially when I get asked to play without prior notice. Delaying the game allows me to prepare myself mentally to play the game/be in the mood.
The combination of these two factors usually mean I'll play on deadine day or max one/two days before.

4. Best: Landorus-T, Amoonguss, Ice Punch Conk, Roost Move Tutor (Volc, Hydrei, Gliscor, etc). As far as Smogon decisions go: Sand Veil ban under the Evasion Clause (SubSD Gliscor was ridiculous in BW1), Deoxys-D ban
Worst: lol... let's not mention what has been banned: SR Terrakion/Garchomp, Keldeo, TechniLoom, Giga Drain Chloro Venusaur.
I feel like I'm forgetting stuff here.

5. Sand Veil SD Gliscor was a total beast in BW1. The only counter was Skarmory, and with all the Magnezone floating around, it needed Shed Shell to actually be viable vs Gliscor teams. It was hitting so damn hard and it was piss easy to fish for misses and win the game/take a huge advantage this way. At the time it started seeing usage, I was using a lot of bulky/fat teams and most of them were very weak to that Gliscor, which led to some spanking from the like of Funk in the No Johns Tour or SoulWind in a Smogon Tour (and Taylor on the ladder lol).

6. The three players I think I have the worst tour record against are: M Dragon, badabing, MoP (we faced two or three times in the SuperStars he won, which was years ago) and reyscarface (that POWC final game was total bs tho, and I choked so hard in a XY game we've played in the last Smogon Tour it was horrendous). Off the top of my head, I'm good vs everyone else.

7. You tell me Philou! Any examples in mind?

8. I just wanted a SpinBlocker that wasn't Gengar because too weak to Starmie! Jelli's sole purpose was to play around (Semi-)Stall, so I went all out on the speed to get the Taunt vs more Pokemons.

9. WCoP, it's the reason why I joined Smogon Tournaments after all. Out of the invidual Tours, it'd probably be a second Smogon Tour but I'll take anything.

play moar adv nu imotbh

why is lunatone not used more in adv ou

will oras ou ever be playable???

1. As much as I love the 3rd Gen, I only am genuinely interested in OU. I'm not a particular fan of Uber, UU or NU, even if they're fun tiers when I have to play them.

2. Because despite it's cool niche, its bulk is still pretty poor. It's also slow and doesn't hit hard. And it hates status :[

3. Who knows... Most of the ladder players actually like, and some of our Tournament players don't hate it. I'm not a huge fan, but I do think it gets more flak than it deserves, especially when it comes to match-up and teambuilding.

When will Triangles return?

Most underrated mon in ADV?

Strangest successful tour team that you've seen, as in, a team that shouldn't be good but is?

1. I'm not the right person to ask, I never chat(ted) with him D:

2. Gyarados, Umbreon and Slaking.
Gyarados is a physical sweeper that isn't afraid of bulky Waters (at least, not as much as Ttar/Mence/Aero) and that's a huge perk.
Umbreon can get auto-win vs defensive teams and is a pest for some offensive teams as well with a Wish/Protect set.
Slaking hits like a truck and is always a threat as soon as you take care of Skarm/Forre. It sure has its flaws, but it's the hardest hitter of ADV after all.

3. That's quite the specific question man. Most team tournaments are designed to appeal to the Tour PlayerBase because it's usually fun to play with friends, so it's not like I often had bad expectations from a team tour, and in the rare cases I did, it turned out to be shit nonetheless. I guess the Tag Team Tournament could fit here. I thought it would be pretty standard and boring, but I had more fun than expected being paired with someone I would have never teamed with by myself. MikeDecIsHere turned out to be a beast who racked up a lot of wins and we took it home at the end hehe.

You said there is a lot of room for improvement in the tournaments part of this site. What do you think are the biggest "problems" and how to plan to improve this areas in the future?

And why haven't I ever played against you? :(

1. I'd like Tournaments to be rooted in the other areas of Smogon, especially the media one (The Smog, Competitor mainly). Back in the the days, The Smog had a lot of articles by and for Tour players, and I think a lot of people liked reading them. We've often had some media projects related to Tournaments getting a lot of hype in their first editions (Competitor in SPL3, Bloo/VN project for SPL), but they just keep dying down pretty soon after their launch, and I'd like to try Something In That Regard.

I used to like how Tournaments players tried to contribute more on the site. Not only the media, but also RMTs, posting in the various subforums, etc. I don't know if that's fixable tho (and it's not like the situation is horrible either in that department). When talking about aim recently on IRC, Iconic mentionned how he was part of a dying breed: the badgewhores. It is true that we have less Top Players who try to contribute in other areas of the site nowadays, or at least that's how I feel about it.

I'm also not afraid to tackle down the Historic Institutions if it's for the better. Read changing the format of old tournaments if it's deemed they have to be fixed.

2. Probably because you don't join enough Tournaments ;)

pls answer these before sunday night ;]

Was there any specific turning point moment where you went "wow, a lot of people look up for me for how I play this game / how I contribute to this community" or do you not think about that too often?

Do you feel any pressure given that a lot of the community now expects you to perform so consistently in various tours after your past success or is it not a factor in your thinking process, preparation, and play?

How much money did you think you would go for in SPL 6? Do you think you were worth the amount you went worth?

Thoughts on the recent success of the Belgian Brothers ZoroDark and MetalGross?

Are you looking forward to the upcoming WCOP this summer or are you more interested in the currently running cups for the Classic (or neither :o)?

Which BW2 lower tier was your favorite at the end of the generation (if you had one) (uu w/ hail+chandy, uu w/out hail+chandy, ru, nu w/ jynx+scoli, or nu w/out jynx+scoli)?

Who is the most surprisingly successful battler you've seen (as in someone who you thought wouldn't do well, but ended up doing very well)?

Was there any point recently where you seriously considered either quitting or being significantly less active in playing pokemon? How long do you think you'll be playing and do you think the future of the community is going to be an improvement from the recent status of the community or will the quality of the community grow lackluster?

Finally, if users Jirachee and Evuelf where pitted against each other in an important BW2 OU battle, who would you pick to win, do you think Evu would john until the deadline, and do you think either would have the balls to bring out broken moth? :O

sorry for having a lot of questions i guess lol

1. The first time was after I reached ST12 playoff, which helped me to get picked in SPL on top of my WCoP performance. Afterwards, I feel like it got to an another level after the first Slam regular season and moreso after the Smogon Tour win. I often felt annoyed about losing to players people expect me to win against, but after a lot of time spent on this game, I think it's better to focus on the consistency rather than a one-time exploit, and I'm content with myself in that regard.

2. I feel the pressure, but it's not a factor regarding how I play and prepare. It's factor regarding how I feel regarding my wins/defeats tho. The worst is when I choke/play bad a in high-standing game, where people expect me to do well. An example is the BW game I played against you in Tour PlayOff. Note that I don't wanna belittle your win, I just think I was capable of much better than what I displayed in that game.

3. 22-30k. I probably cost too much but I did my best for the price to be worth it and it worked out IMO.

4. It's great. They're belgian and former BIGs so I have all the reasons to be glad of their success. It's about time they confirmed their PO results here.

5. I'm very much looking forward the next WCoP and I currently have close to no interest in the Classic, except maybe the ADV Cup. Like I said earlier, I'll start caring about this if I can go far without much effort (and no, this isn't a defense mecanism to justify a potential bad performance in the tournament).

6. That's pretty easy to answer: BW UU (both with and without Hail). I disliked Uber/NU/LC and was indifferent to RU.

7. Can't really answer here because I never give someone 0 credit. Pokemon isn't really a hard game, and I try to look at concret results rather than my subjective POV, so if anyone get good results, it means they deserved it. Recently, I was surprised Tesung won ST18, especially considering the people he had to beat and I think he deserved it, dont read there that I said he lucked out!

8. In 2013, I completely stopped caring about Pokemon for a bunch of months and basically came back with XY/SPL5. Since then, I have stayed pretty active. I still have periods where I don't really feel like playing Pokemon (like right now to be honest), but I care enough about Smogon and the Tournament scene to at least stay around and do my job as a TD (where in the past I couldn't be assed to care about it much when I was tired of playing).

I don't think I'll leave soon. If anything, I might reach a point where I'll just play SPL/WCoP and the occassional Tournament, but I wanna stay around to shape the Tournament scene or at least be involved in the TDs discussions/projects.

Smogon keeps growing number-wise, and we keep attracting contributors and players who become good to great. I think Smogon, or at least Tournaments will keep improving as long as the people in staff position are open-minded and reasonnable to adapt and evolve with the community.

9. Evuelf would certainly john, and Jirachee would be the likelier to bring the Broken Moth. As for who would win, it'd a hard question to answer. I found Jirachee to be have up and downs during his SPL battles. For example, he played a perfect game vs Aqualouis while he made a lot of questionnable plays vs High Impulse, so it'd probably depends on Jirachee's form!

Can you teach me adv OU?

Can I rematch u in ORAS OU?

I know you're not the "most known" for playing DPP, but how do u feel about that tier as a whole? Is there anything that you feel is too powerful for it?

If the clear skies tournament is a success, can you implement that over normal BW OU for everything related to BW?

When is the OU council gonna ban aidspass?

1. I don't plan to/want to tutor someone from 0 (let's say ADV bi-curious in your case) to hero, but I love answering more specific questions, so there is that :|

2. Join tournaments ;)

3. Too powerful? Nah. The tier is fine and balanced, and I don't think anything stands out as too good in it. I like playing it most of the time. I like the teampreview-less game planning in a tier with much more threats than in ADV. I already mentionned it, but I'm not a fan of the whole lead match-up because there are definitely games where it's very hard to come back from the momentum loss caused by a bad match-up. I think Pokemon would have been better off U-Turn which is too good of a momentum handler so that's one thing I dislike about DPP I guess. I don't think I'm involved enough with DPP to give completely informed opinions on my other subject of dislike (such as the importance of hazards in the tier).

4. Literally every time a Clear Sky tournament happened, the metagame turned out to be complete garbage. Just an immense DragMagTerrakion fest which is a lot worse than the Weather Wars imo.

5. We're working on that right now.

Do you think Swampert is viable in ADV Ubers?

Less random question: If you could change one thing in every gen 1-5, what would it be and why?

1. I don't play ADV Ubers enough to know the right answer :[ Why would you run Swampert when you can use Groudon? It sounds pretty bad imo. Doesn't even check the best Pokemons in the tier (Groudon, Kyogre, Lati@s, Deoxys-A), can't do anything to Lugia, doesn't appreciate the burn from Ho-oh, etc...

2. RBY: Remove the crit ratio being related to the Speed BS. I'm not a fan of how carefully though-out set-ups are usually not worth it because you're bound to get crit very fast and also pretty often (looking at your Slowbro and Amnesia Lax).
GSC: Fine.
ADV: limit Spikes like in GSC (one max). Still fine.
DPP / BW: too much ahah (U-Turn, Volt Switch, LO, Hazards to name a few). Free Mold Breaker Excadrill in BW please, and maybe ChloroSun ban afterwards, depends on the tier evolution.

Opinions of the following mons in ADV:
1.Salamence
Suicune
Flygon
Raikou
Heracross
Silliest thing you've ever seen used in a serious Tour (preferably ADV)? Silliest thing that worked?
Who are the top 5 ADVers playing/of all time?
Winner of ADV Cup/Smogon Classic?
What do you wanna ban in BW OU (Volc, Cube, Weather)?
Rate my ADV skill out of 10? Should I stop bringing Spikes+Suicune balances or TTar+Aero Sand Teams and expecting wins?

Salamence: excellent Pokemon. My favorite set is the Choice Bander, especially the Jolly one because with its Attack/Speed and Intimidate, it's a great check to many Pokemons (CM Rachi, CM Mono Cune, Flygon, DD Gyara, DDTtar, etc) on top being an offensive powerhouse. Most balanced / stall are too prepared for the DDer, so I'm not a huge fan. MixMence is great but it doesn't really fit the kind of teams I usually build.
Suicune: amazing Pokemon. Probably the best bulky water in Offensive team, since it has an offensive presence, unlike Swampert. CroCune/Roar Cune can win games very easily with minimal support. Top 4 without a single doubt, and one of the Pokemon you have to prepare for the most IMO (hence why Zapdos is amazing :D).
Flygon: alright. Hits like a bitch but typing/ability are god-like and give it a great niche nothing else can fill in the tier. CB Jolly and bulky Toxic/4 atks are the only worthy sets imo.
Raikou: good. One of the most unstoppable Pokemon once it gets going since the speed tier is so good. Also an underrated yet very effective Special sponge. Too bad it's so Dugtrio weak and that there is often something cockblocking it waiting in the back to prevent it from sweeping (Aero/DDTar in mind here).
Heracross: typically the kind of Pokemon worth building around. Most Physical attackers in the tier share the same checks/counters but Heracross is so different from all of them just because of that Bug Stab. It's one of these Pokemons a lot of people underprepare for and end up being terribly weak to. I think it needs clever teambuilding to properly work tho.

2. I've seen people running DD Special Ttar/Mence. Pretty garbage IMO but it of course has the surprise factor going for them. Floppy once used Charm CB-Less Dugtrio against me, which surprised me to the highest degree. Floppy is the king of random silly shit, you should watch his games/plays with him if you wanna be surprised.
I once made Final of a Smogon Tour running a pretty gimmick team. I remember it was Milotic/Dug/Magneton/Celebi CM Psychic HP Fire Recover/Breloom Spore Toxic Mach Punch Leech Seed/Sharpen Tbolt Porygon2. I think that was pretty cool tbh.

3. Didn't play enough in the past to judge sorry :[

4. ADV Cup? I'd like to win it obviously hehe. If I don't, I'd give it to one of GS/Ojama/BKC (apprently MDragon and Smurf are not in it anymore). Smogon Classic: Heist (he seems to care+great skills all around and currently on a good roll).

5. None of Cube/Volc/Weathers. Just ChloroSun if it still creates the current issue in an Excadrill meta.

6. I have never seen you play so I can't rate, but I think your latest posts in RoA were on point knowledge of the tier-wise.

I came up with another question: What do you think of the player Vertigo and his influence on modern ADV OU

Pretty lame answer, but I think I missed most of his contributions/influence. All I know about Vertigo is that he made shitton of ressources for ADV and that he tutored Danilo (with that fact, I guess I could say Vertigo's influence has been nothing but negative then).

Hi Smurf. Mcmeghan wants to play late during Sunday. Does this work?

Yup, that's a deal. Not /too/ late tho, fk OCN timezones

 

[Style_Dota]

McMeghan the finals that took almost two months to win rofl

Also:
"Strangest successful tour team that you've seen, as in, a team that shouldn't be good but is?"

Fuck you man das not cool. I didn't know who you were before that either :[

 

[PDC]

favorite to win smogon tour?
how incredible is life orb alakazam in oras?
how did it feel to win smogon tour? how much did you prepare for it?

 

[Laurel]

Do you have a girlfriend?