Clone
Free Gliscor
Banner by Skarm™
Welcome to OU's Player of the week, a project where I interview well known players to gain insight on how they battle, as well as get to know some things about them. The goal of this thread is to have these high level players give insight to other players in this community in hopes of creating a better overall experience in the OU environment. As always, if there's someone you'd like to see interviewed, feel free to shoot me a PM. So without further ado, lets get to it!
daftmau5
Most Known For:
Not a whole lot tbh which is why i felt super flattered when you asked me hahaha. I'm pretty new as far as tournaments go but i kinda got noticed after having a decent run to the top 8 in OST and then trc was enough of a legend to give me a shot in WCOP this year.
Favorite Pokemon:
Typhlosion. I basically soloed Gold with my Typhlosion and 5 fodder mons that would be used to revive/heal Typhlosion. Mega Typhlosion would be the icing on the cake!!
Most used Pokemon:
Probably Garchomp because of its ridiculous versatility. You can run a fat rocky helmet set to blanket check most physical attackers, run rocky helmet SD to semi check phys attackers BUT also push damage on things like Clefable and Gliscor OR my favourite set atm: SD life orb which just takes a huge dump on a plethora of slow teams. You can also get tricky with sets like sub salac.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm a 22 year old aussie law student. Touch footy is life but i also enjoy lifting and house music.
Where did you get your name from?
Mashed together Daft Punk and deadmau5 cos i'm a huge fan of both.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
I started laddering in the final month of BW2 using RMTs but i guess i got serious during early to mid XY after my good mate Prankster started helping me out. Before that, my cartridge strategies revolved around things like Confuse Ray/Thunder Wave/Attract Lanturn.
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
It feels way faster. As much as i enjoyed XY (especially late XY), ORAS offers a lot of diversity and scope for creativity once you step away from the cookie cutter builds and i find this to be awesome.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
I'm not very sympathetic to the idea. I'll admit it's hard to be 100% ready for every single threat but you at least owe it to yourself to try and check as much as possible. Running a slow ass team and getting swept by Manaphy or Zard Y is your own fault tbh. Not commenting on the ladder but i'm really enjoying ORAS OU at the moment. There isn't a whole lot i'd want to change. All in all, I feel teambuilding in ORAS is difficult but rewarding.
Do you feel that there is anything that is suspect worthy at the moment?
Maybe Goth. No one really brings stall at a tour level so i don't personally care too much but I can see why it sucks to be laddering and have your stallbreaker trapped, tricked, neutered and pp stalled. I probably find Scald more annoying purely because it leads to situations where players just stay in and click Scald and pray for a burn instead of looking for a better play.
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
Probably bulky offence/balance partially because it's what i'm good at building. I generally enjoy fast paced games but also like having a defensive backbone to pivot around if necessary. I also really like playing HO too but i'm not too good at building it.
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
I guess ORAS since i'm fairly new to mons in the scheme of things and it's what i'm most familiar with. BUT, I've been learning DPP since about December of last year and i'll admit I enjoy it more than ORAS sometimes. I just love using sets like LO Overheat Heatran, OTR Bronzong and Petaya Empo.
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
Before i start building, i'll try to scout my opponent and try and find something they're generally weak to and try to implement that in my team OR if i can't do that, i'll try and bring something non-standard to catch them off guard like Hawlucha or Nasty Pass into Zard Y. That being said, i don't put all my eggs in one basket and pray i get the instant victory with that single mon. I'll try and build something that functions well in general. This is my basic strategy for all tours.
Favorite to win STour?
Leftiez because i feel he is the most complete player across the 3 generations.
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
I want more rapid spinners because 1. Offensive spinners are basically limited to Starmie and Excadrill which isn't a whole lot of choice and 2. I hate Defogging my own hazards away.
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
Play on the ladder and watch replays from tournaments to get an idea of high level play. Everyone rags on the ladder but it's a good place to start and also a good place to test teams and learn about the meta in general. Once you feel comfortable, start entering individual tournaments like OST and Smogon Tour. It's a good way to get noticed and impress captains who then might be willing to give you a shot during a team tour like WCOP or SPL.
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
It would be nice if everyone knocked their ego down a peg. Arguments generally break down into "Who the fuck are you? LOL". If being relevant on a pokesim is your benchmark then you honestly have to re-evaluate where your life is going.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
My best mate on PS is Prankster. He's basically taught me everything i know about mons and is just a great person in general. Gingy is also a really good mate but i don't seem him much anymore :c TRC is also a fucking champ for supporting me during OST and then giving me a chance in WCOP.
The OCN Oras crew (Tom Bus, Escavalier, D4RR3N, Frizy, TGMD) is hectic and of course I can't forget the Top Shits (Tom Bus again, Alkov, Blackbloodz, Void). There's also everyone in bof/bitg - love you all. ABR is also a really chill dude when he isn't using Shed stall.
I really look up to Heist and Stathakis as tour players because not only are they successful and exiting players, they are extremely approachable and not egocentric.
Finally, can you provide us a team that's a good fit for this metagame and reflects your playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
I thought CM Lati would make a great offensive core with HP Fire/Iron Head Kyub since Kyub lures MZor,Ferro and Clef (which all have really high usage) to pave the way for Lati to drop boosted Dracos. Kyub is also a great lead vs Rocky Chomp and also takes advantage of other bulky grounds which are trending atm such as Hippo, Gliscor and Lan-t. Excadrill makes a great late game cleaner and checks a lot of things on offense like +1 sweepers, fairies etc. Hippo, Clef + MZor forms a defensive backbone yet the latter two are also solid wincons. Feel free to make Excadrill Air Balloon SD Spin (drop rock slide) but be sure to change the nature to Adamant (Jolly is better on LO imo since you don't get traced/revenged by Timid Garde, outrun Adamant Exca and can actually do stuff outside of sand like outrun Heatran). Have fun!
Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 16 Atk / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Iron Head
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Roost
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Slack Off
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 20 Def / 204 SpD / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Roost
- Swords Dance
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 23 Spe
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 16 Atk / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Iron Head
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Roost
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Slack Off
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 20 Def / 204 SpD / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Roost
- Swords Dance
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 23 Spe
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave