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Welcome to the SS Monotype player interviews! During this project I will be interviewing a lot of influential players and contributors in today's community. I will also be interviewing some older faces in the Monotype community. This week, I have Wanka with me, arguably the biggest buffoonin the community. He also has some weeb avatar so I won't be putting that up like I have previously.
Can you tell us a bit about your life outside of Smogon?
Hello, my name is Chris and I currently attend Millersville University in Pennsylvania. I recently transferred from a private school in order to cope with covid and tuition etc. I plan on finishing school as a management/marketing major and hopefully am able to find a job in a couple of years. I'm definitely not alone when I say 2020 has not been the best year of my life, but we'll find our way lads. Love talking about pretty much any sport and have recently become a (weeb). Right now you can probably catch me playing Emerald Kaizo and watching MHA.
Outside of Pokemon, do you play any other video games? (among us doesn't count)
baha agree tbh. I actually took a step back from competitive gaming not too long ago to try and salvage my study habits during corona, but I was really big into APEX Legends and Call of Duty not too long ago. I got pretty close to being ranked in APEX over the summer, but ultimately stopped playing once I transferred schools. I also had a pretty long Old School Runescape spell that I also had to take a step back from due to the commitment that game requires once you reach a certain point. In general though, I'm probably the best at shooters compared to any game I play, including mons. I definitely see myself getting back into them once I straighten my life out and potentially streaming.
What do you think you are most known for in Monotype?
Probably Co Leading with yourself and eien for about 6 months and for having some questionable quotes that many in this community have seen lmao. I've been able to maintain some good long term success as a player, but outside of one individual tour win and a few good team tour performances relative to the amount I've played in, I think I've taken a step back as a player recently in both mono and UU, the other tier that I play. Luckily, I've been able to be apart of some really good teams and have scraped a couple team tour wins as well. Oh I guess people might recognize that my teams have gotten bounced in mpl finals the past two iterations lol.
What made you play Pokemon competitively? What got you into Monotype and made you want to stay?
My next door neighbor from my hometown showed me showdown because he was lightly into playing and I ended up becoming immersed into the UU community not too long after I checked it out. Always loved mons but never knew a competitive side existed until I found PS. Arifeen was an admin on the main mono side server at the time and was also a voice in the UU room along with myself and some of our friends. He took us to the server to shit around and I challenged him to mono not long after and he told me I should tryout for his league and the rest is history. The reason I stayed I guess was because I found myself to be a lot better at it compared to UU at the time. That being said, the player base was really raw so it was a lot easier to stand out and make a name for myself as a player when everyone else was still really bad. I say this all the time, but this community has come a very very long way in terms of our player base and level of competition our major tournaments hold.
What is your favorite Pokemon in general and favorite one to use competitively?
Favorite mon in general is still heracross since it fits two of my favorite types into one mon bop. Favorite mon to use competitively is probably Hydreigon. Dragon/dark while being immune to ground will always be good on a lot of archetypes and it got even more versatile in gen 8 with nasty plot. Any meta I've played a lot I've been able to find success with it.
What is your favorite type in SS Monotype?
I haven't built too much yet, but fighting seems decently anti meta rn. Still ends up getting exposed at times like it always has, but well timed aggression still rewards the type and I like that the look of team comps has changed a bit with the addition of urshifu and zapdos galar.
What is your favorite monotype gen? Why?
My heart says ORAS ofc, but my brain says SM. I'll always be drawn to the staleness of ORAS and challenging myself to find new ways to breakdown that meta, but SM was truly balanced and really shined a light on the best players in our community. During SM was also when I really tried to build myself up as a council member and put a lot of time in on that side of the fence so It will always be the generation I appreciate most and feel that Eien, and the rest of our community did a fantastic job on.
You’ve seen the Monotype community go through a lot during the years, you yourself have changed a lot over this years. What are your thoughts on the present state of it? How do you think the community has changed for the better in the last couple of years, and how do you think the community can improve?
These questions are actually kinda fire. Our community was incredibly flawed during ORAS including myself. It was essentially a transition period for the community to put more effort into building up our smogon reputation and just getting everyone to mesh together. It was rough though, there were several rifts in the community since nobody really knew how to handle themselves on smogon yet and in general the fight for spotlight brought out a lot of poor moments for our community. We had players boycotting suspects and voting out of spite. The team tournament environment was also just incredibly toxic and poor and not nearly as competitive as it could have been due to the length it took to ban some of the broken elements of ORAS. Ultimately the gen never was able to develop properly because of how toxic the community was to each other. Bad news aside, I truly do enjoy our community now. I think discord coming into existence helped more than people give it credit, but I think we've been able to respect each other to a completely different level as time has past and a lot more gets done because of it. SM was as good as it was partly because of this. There will always be mini rifts and not everyone can get along, you'll find that anywhere you go on this site, but again, we've come a long way.
What do you think of the SS meta? What is your opinion on it compared to the SM Monotype meta?
Still incredibly raw ofc. You can't really have too many definitive opinions on it given the nature of game freak adding DLCs and such. SM obviously will be tough to beat in terms of the council being able to bring out a similar level of balance that it had, but aye shits brand new and I think at large our community, including myself has agreed with pretty much every decision that's been made so far so I can easily see SS being able to find that balance in due time.
How do you think DLC 2 has affected the SS meta?How are you liking it?
It's almost like a breath of fresh air in a broken way baha. When an influx of mons get brought in like this, the pace increases drastically. I think pre DLC2 certain types we're pigeon holed into certain archetypes and team comps being able to only run a select amount of mons. With the additions you can already see the versatility of team choices on a lot of types come out as everyone is scrambling trying to figure out what's best on each type and the different archetypes you can run on each type now. These are the "fun" periods of the generation, but not necessarily the most balanced of course so ye mono is enjoyable rn. The balance will come in due time.
Tough luck in back 2 back mpl finals. Talk about those runs and teams? Did you guys surpass expectations either year?
To a degree yeah. Both times I felt like I had a top4 team, but never the best one. Both teams we're pretty remarkable though when our backs were against the wall, which I don't like to take credit for because it was always just individuals stepping up and winning the most important games. I think the treeckos definitely had more of a chip on their shoulders given that we had a lot of mono mains trying to make a name for themselves so that was really enjoyable to see everyone ride that run we had. I think the treeckos run does edge over tapus slightly for me just because I was playing this time and felt a little bit more apart of the tour as opposed to watching the tapus do their thing.
Are there any up and coming players that have impressed you or that you think will make a mark in the community?
Tough question imo. I think everyone is essentially on an equal playing field right now in SS especially with how rapid the meta is changing. Only time will tell who is going to leave their mark on SS. I'd like to see Floss continue on his hot start to the gen and also I think peachy and zugu can dominate this meta if they put their minds to it. Your frenchman seems like he has the drive as well. But again, everyone's on the same playing field rn so we'll have to see.
Are you looking forward to MWP? Any changes you'd like to see in the tournament?
To piggy back off of the previous question, MWP is going to be the first test per say post DLC. I do see myself signing up, but i'm not sure what I'll play. Nothing specific tbh, I think the tour is in good hands and im sure whatever format get decided on will be good.
Do you have any advice for players new to Monotype and trying to get involved in the community (monotype or smogon in general)?
This is why I say discord was a savior for this community. You can literally just peep the room intro and find resources, but also like damn just hop in the discord and start talking and asking questions. It allows everyone to be so inherently connected and there are a lot of people that are willing to answer questions in the discord. Lurk first on smogon though before you start posting in every thread. See what people are talking about and how you can add to discussions before blindly posting your opinions. And shit if your not comfortable with building yet just hit up the teambuilding workshop. Also just show people inherent respect too like this will make your life so much easier in terms of getting integrated into the community. You don't need to get on your knees in front of anyone, but you can essentially help people help you this way.
Any advice on how to become a better player and teambuilder?
Repititon truly does wonders in this game especially right now when the meta is raw and chaotic. It's going to come down to who can get a grip on the meta and the way mons/types interact the first. The only way to do this is by playing and failing and playing some more until you essentially beat it into your brain. I'm a firm believer in watching your own replays too. It's honestly very rare that I watch my games and think that I played as best as I could, even in wins. If you get turbo lucked that's one thing, but I could not tell you the amount of games that I've watched of myself where I've gotten unlucky and still had avenues to win a game that I ended up overlooking. Take the time to look at your mistakes and understand what you could have done differently. Time and experience will help you understand and actually see the mistakes you made, but this game is very simple, don't cut corners for stupid reasons if you truly want to be great at this game.
Can you show us a team you've been liking in SS and provide us an explanation as to what the team is about and how to use it?
https://pokepast.es/333c41ac8f642bb6
Honestly this is still pretty untested, but I think I can have some decent ladder success with this. Going to be interesting to see how buzzwole does in this meta. Band galardos seems pretty potent so far and I felt like double scarf in this meta isn't the worst idea given how fast paced everything is. Celesteela + Aegislash seems pretty annoying so I figured I could just run sub cm keld to hopefully ease a steel matchup that I'm not really that prepared for with the rest of my guys. Could probably run u turn on scarf shifu, but ye that's what I have so far.
Favorite People on PS?
Pak (dad), Sabella (dad), Chait (step dad), my fellow WoA headasses and UU Barclay headasses. Always like to meet new people on discord too and have met some new people by virtue of the gaming communities new child, among us.
Top 5 or 10 players in mono in your opinion?
Lycan, Chait, Sabella, Trich, Peachy, Leru (when active), Zukushiku (when active), Star (not a regular in our community, but can't argue with 30+ wins in only 5-6 tours played), Zap (Even though I waxed that ass oho). None of this takes SS into account, but ye just some people that I feel play the game properly.
Why did you leave me with these TL baboons? One won't even do his interview :( ( I asked this as a joke and he wrote his biggest answer)
He's too busy taking selfies with Trudeau sigh. We've had this talk already baha, but yeah I just felt like I couldn't give as big of a commitment as I would have liked, especially with a new gen starting. If I told you I don't get sad seeing the new council go to work on the new gen without me though I'd be lying. I felt like I left the tier in good hands though. Myself and Eien talked about this a lot because there are a lot of aspects that go into tiering and we felt like you guys had the best minds for it out of the previous SM Council. People may not agree with everything Zap does LOL, but he does offer a lot of good insight to tiering and I trust the both of you. Then you throw in young Decem who Eien had raised from childbirth, a level headed and overall smart guy and wallahi you have your TLs. Decem has never really been in the spotlight as a player, but there are very few people that can say they've contributed as much as he has to this community and at the end of the day the dude knows how the game works and is one of the more creative minds we have. All in all a great trio (:
Any last words you want to leave us with?
Apologies for having to dip out on everyone fr LOL, but yeah stay humble noobs.
Big thank you to Wanka for answering my questions with extreme quickness unlike another ugly boomer (sabella) Sorry this one took so long (again). Blame Sabella. Feel free to ask Wanka questions in the thread!
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Can you tell us a bit about your life outside of Smogon?
Hello, my name is Chris and I currently attend Millersville University in Pennsylvania. I recently transferred from a private school in order to cope with covid and tuition etc. I plan on finishing school as a management/marketing major and hopefully am able to find a job in a couple of years. I'm definitely not alone when I say 2020 has not been the best year of my life, but we'll find our way lads. Love talking about pretty much any sport and have recently become a (weeb). Right now you can probably catch me playing Emerald Kaizo and watching MHA.
Outside of Pokemon, do you play any other video games? (among us doesn't count)
baha agree tbh. I actually took a step back from competitive gaming not too long ago to try and salvage my study habits during corona, but I was really big into APEX Legends and Call of Duty not too long ago. I got pretty close to being ranked in APEX over the summer, but ultimately stopped playing once I transferred schools. I also had a pretty long Old School Runescape spell that I also had to take a step back from due to the commitment that game requires once you reach a certain point. In general though, I'm probably the best at shooters compared to any game I play, including mons. I definitely see myself getting back into them once I straighten my life out and potentially streaming.
What do you think you are most known for in Monotype?
Probably Co Leading with yourself and eien for about 6 months and for having some questionable quotes that many in this community have seen lmao. I've been able to maintain some good long term success as a player, but outside of one individual tour win and a few good team tour performances relative to the amount I've played in, I think I've taken a step back as a player recently in both mono and UU, the other tier that I play. Luckily, I've been able to be apart of some really good teams and have scraped a couple team tour wins as well. Oh I guess people might recognize that my teams have gotten bounced in mpl finals the past two iterations lol.
What made you play Pokemon competitively? What got you into Monotype and made you want to stay?
My next door neighbor from my hometown showed me showdown because he was lightly into playing and I ended up becoming immersed into the UU community not too long after I checked it out. Always loved mons but never knew a competitive side existed until I found PS. Arifeen was an admin on the main mono side server at the time and was also a voice in the UU room along with myself and some of our friends. He took us to the server to shit around and I challenged him to mono not long after and he told me I should tryout for his league and the rest is history. The reason I stayed I guess was because I found myself to be a lot better at it compared to UU at the time. That being said, the player base was really raw so it was a lot easier to stand out and make a name for myself as a player when everyone else was still really bad. I say this all the time, but this community has come a very very long way in terms of our player base and level of competition our major tournaments hold.
What is your favorite Pokemon in general and favorite one to use competitively?
Favorite mon in general is still heracross since it fits two of my favorite types into one mon bop. Favorite mon to use competitively is probably Hydreigon. Dragon/dark while being immune to ground will always be good on a lot of archetypes and it got even more versatile in gen 8 with nasty plot. Any meta I've played a lot I've been able to find success with it.
What is your favorite type in SS Monotype?
I haven't built too much yet, but fighting seems decently anti meta rn. Still ends up getting exposed at times like it always has, but well timed aggression still rewards the type and I like that the look of team comps has changed a bit with the addition of urshifu and zapdos galar.
What is your favorite monotype gen? Why?
My heart says ORAS ofc, but my brain says SM. I'll always be drawn to the staleness of ORAS and challenging myself to find new ways to breakdown that meta, but SM was truly balanced and really shined a light on the best players in our community. During SM was also when I really tried to build myself up as a council member and put a lot of time in on that side of the fence so It will always be the generation I appreciate most and feel that Eien, and the rest of our community did a fantastic job on.
You’ve seen the Monotype community go through a lot during the years, you yourself have changed a lot over this years. What are your thoughts on the present state of it? How do you think the community has changed for the better in the last couple of years, and how do you think the community can improve?
These questions are actually kinda fire. Our community was incredibly flawed during ORAS including myself. It was essentially a transition period for the community to put more effort into building up our smogon reputation and just getting everyone to mesh together. It was rough though, there were several rifts in the community since nobody really knew how to handle themselves on smogon yet and in general the fight for spotlight brought out a lot of poor moments for our community. We had players boycotting suspects and voting out of spite. The team tournament environment was also just incredibly toxic and poor and not nearly as competitive as it could have been due to the length it took to ban some of the broken elements of ORAS. Ultimately the gen never was able to develop properly because of how toxic the community was to each other. Bad news aside, I truly do enjoy our community now. I think discord coming into existence helped more than people give it credit, but I think we've been able to respect each other to a completely different level as time has past and a lot more gets done because of it. SM was as good as it was partly because of this. There will always be mini rifts and not everyone can get along, you'll find that anywhere you go on this site, but again, we've come a long way.
What do you think of the SS meta? What is your opinion on it compared to the SM Monotype meta?
Still incredibly raw ofc. You can't really have too many definitive opinions on it given the nature of game freak adding DLCs and such. SM obviously will be tough to beat in terms of the council being able to bring out a similar level of balance that it had, but aye shits brand new and I think at large our community, including myself has agreed with pretty much every decision that's been made so far so I can easily see SS being able to find that balance in due time.
How do you think DLC 2 has affected the SS meta?How are you liking it?
It's almost like a breath of fresh air in a broken way baha. When an influx of mons get brought in like this, the pace increases drastically. I think pre DLC2 certain types we're pigeon holed into certain archetypes and team comps being able to only run a select amount of mons. With the additions you can already see the versatility of team choices on a lot of types come out as everyone is scrambling trying to figure out what's best on each type and the different archetypes you can run on each type now. These are the "fun" periods of the generation, but not necessarily the most balanced of course so ye mono is enjoyable rn. The balance will come in due time.
Tough luck in back 2 back mpl finals. Talk about those runs and teams? Did you guys surpass expectations either year?
To a degree yeah. Both times I felt like I had a top4 team, but never the best one. Both teams we're pretty remarkable though when our backs were against the wall, which I don't like to take credit for because it was always just individuals stepping up and winning the most important games. I think the treeckos definitely had more of a chip on their shoulders given that we had a lot of mono mains trying to make a name for themselves so that was really enjoyable to see everyone ride that run we had. I think the treeckos run does edge over tapus slightly for me just because I was playing this time and felt a little bit more apart of the tour as opposed to watching the tapus do their thing.
Are there any up and coming players that have impressed you or that you think will make a mark in the community?
Tough question imo. I think everyone is essentially on an equal playing field right now in SS especially with how rapid the meta is changing. Only time will tell who is going to leave their mark on SS. I'd like to see Floss continue on his hot start to the gen and also I think peachy and zugu can dominate this meta if they put their minds to it. Your frenchman seems like he has the drive as well. But again, everyone's on the same playing field rn so we'll have to see.
Are you looking forward to MWP? Any changes you'd like to see in the tournament?
To piggy back off of the previous question, MWP is going to be the first test per say post DLC. I do see myself signing up, but i'm not sure what I'll play. Nothing specific tbh, I think the tour is in good hands and im sure whatever format get decided on will be good.
Do you have any advice for players new to Monotype and trying to get involved in the community (monotype or smogon in general)?
This is why I say discord was a savior for this community. You can literally just peep the room intro and find resources, but also like damn just hop in the discord and start talking and asking questions. It allows everyone to be so inherently connected and there are a lot of people that are willing to answer questions in the discord. Lurk first on smogon though before you start posting in every thread. See what people are talking about and how you can add to discussions before blindly posting your opinions. And shit if your not comfortable with building yet just hit up the teambuilding workshop. Also just show people inherent respect too like this will make your life so much easier in terms of getting integrated into the community. You don't need to get on your knees in front of anyone, but you can essentially help people help you this way.
Any advice on how to become a better player and teambuilder?
Repititon truly does wonders in this game especially right now when the meta is raw and chaotic. It's going to come down to who can get a grip on the meta and the way mons/types interact the first. The only way to do this is by playing and failing and playing some more until you essentially beat it into your brain. I'm a firm believer in watching your own replays too. It's honestly very rare that I watch my games and think that I played as best as I could, even in wins. If you get turbo lucked that's one thing, but I could not tell you the amount of games that I've watched of myself where I've gotten unlucky and still had avenues to win a game that I ended up overlooking. Take the time to look at your mistakes and understand what you could have done differently. Time and experience will help you understand and actually see the mistakes you made, but this game is very simple, don't cut corners for stupid reasons if you truly want to be great at this game.
Can you show us a team you've been liking in SS and provide us an explanation as to what the team is about and how to use it?
https://pokepast.es/333c41ac8f642bb6
Honestly this is still pretty untested, but I think I can have some decent ladder success with this. Going to be interesting to see how buzzwole does in this meta. Band galardos seems pretty potent so far and I felt like double scarf in this meta isn't the worst idea given how fast paced everything is. Celesteela + Aegislash seems pretty annoying so I figured I could just run sub cm keld to hopefully ease a steel matchup that I'm not really that prepared for with the rest of my guys. Could probably run u turn on scarf shifu, but ye that's what I have so far.
Favorite People on PS?
Pak (dad), Sabella (dad), Chait (step dad), my fellow WoA headasses and UU Barclay headasses. Always like to meet new people on discord too and have met some new people by virtue of the gaming communities new child, among us.
Top 5 or 10 players in mono in your opinion?
Lycan, Chait, Sabella, Trich, Peachy, Leru (when active), Zukushiku (when active), Star (not a regular in our community, but can't argue with 30+ wins in only 5-6 tours played), Zap (Even though I waxed that ass oho). None of this takes SS into account, but ye just some people that I feel play the game properly.
Why did you leave me with these TL baboons? One won't even do his interview :( ( I asked this as a joke and he wrote his biggest answer)
He's too busy taking selfies with Trudeau sigh. We've had this talk already baha, but yeah I just felt like I couldn't give as big of a commitment as I would have liked, especially with a new gen starting. If I told you I don't get sad seeing the new council go to work on the new gen without me though I'd be lying. I felt like I left the tier in good hands though. Myself and Eien talked about this a lot because there are a lot of aspects that go into tiering and we felt like you guys had the best minds for it out of the previous SM Council. People may not agree with everything Zap does LOL, but he does offer a lot of good insight to tiering and I trust the both of you. Then you throw in young Decem who Eien had raised from childbirth, a level headed and overall smart guy and wallahi you have your TLs. Decem has never really been in the spotlight as a player, but there are very few people that can say they've contributed as much as he has to this community and at the end of the day the dude knows how the game works and is one of the more creative minds we have. All in all a great trio (:
Any last words you want to leave us with?
Apologies for having to dip out on everyone fr LOL, but yeah stay humble noobs.
Big thank you to Wanka for answering my questions with extreme quickness unlike another ugly boomer (sabella) Sorry this one took so long (again). Blame Sabella. Feel free to ask Wanka questions in the thread!
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