o sorry lol i forgot
Jirachee answer your last questions after this interview if you want to
Favourite Pokemon?
Funnily enough it's not Blaziken but instead Salamence! He was my first level 100 in my Sapphire, sporting a fearsome moveset of Fly / Dragon Claw / Fire Blast / Flamethrower and he's an all-around beast.
How did you get involved into competitive Pokemon?
In autumn 2007, a new friend I'd made in 6th grade asked me if I liked Pokemon. I said that I had when I was younger, and he let me know about D/P. When I got home after school and got permission from my mom to go on the computer, I searched it up, finding impressive monsters such as Staraptor and Garchomp. I looked up walkthroughs of the game on youtube, and stumbled upon a channel called Marriland, who also had a wifi battle posted - a fight against a fellow by the name of Untouchable. I thought this was the coolest thing ever, especially when he led with a Salamence and finished the guy off with a fucking Rattata, and decided I too wanted to post wifi battles. However, I was 11 - so until I hit the required 13 years of age, I lurked on the tube and various websites, learning about EVs and IVs and natures. DPP ingame was fucking amazing, btw. I remember when I first encountered Toxic Spikes, I was very proud of myself for guessing that stacking it a second time would inflict bad poison.
So May 2009 rolls around, I'm 13, Platinum is released in America, and I start my yt channel with the incredibly clever name BlazeKickinChicken. My first battle was against a guy named fabdoghouse98 - my team was the Empoleon I had picked as my starter (I kept restarting until I got a Modest one) with Choice Specs, an SR Gliscor that was Lax because I wanted +Def but didn't have the patience to wait for Impish, a double spiking Cloyster with SDef so abysmal it got OHKOed by Spiritomb's Dark Pulse, mixed Flareon, SD Pursuit Weavile, and Gyarados with Thunder Wave / Rest / Roar / Taunt @ Chesto Berry. It's worth noting btw that the general attitude on youtube was extremely anti-Smogon ("they aren't original" the battlecry of a generation) so I didn't use the forums at all, although I did experiment quite a bit on Shoddy - I developed my love for Spikes Roserade there - and of course I checked out the strategy dex. The first time I came onto the forums was to check out Philip7086's Team of Torment after MrFlamethrowa, one of the best yt players (who was also an integral part of two yt sub-communities I look very fondly back at, Pokecentral101 and Regileague), used it. The vid had that stupid Rob Zombie song... fucking Dragula lmao
Anyway I eventually ventured to different forums looking for more people to play against - GameFAQs was my main one around the time HG/SS came out in Japan, eventually moving to Marriland sometime during that winter, and a bit after those games' American release in the spring, I finally decided to come to Smogon - I had been wary ever since Marriland said that really good players were there in the video description of his battle against Disfunction and I overcame my initial nervousness to register an account. I beat the first guy I played, I think he had a Scyther lead... and the rest is history.
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)?
DPP OU. I won Smogon Tour 16, the last ADV/DPP/BW one - that season everyone was amazed at Marth winning three BW tours back-to-back and thus seemed to not notice when I became the first person to win a tour in all three metagames in one season.
In addition to being known for DPP, which I was a Frontier brain for last year, I was also one of the most... well-known let's say (I get really self conscious haha) BW players when it was the main metagame starting from the late stages of BW1, circa the latter half of the latter half of SPL 3 which is where I began to break out - right after the season I won my first tour. I had a 3-1 record in that SPL, including winning the legendary semis battle against Smogon's newly beloved, Earthworm-touted BW wunderkind McMeghan, who became my competitive rival for the rest of the year. Despite my polar opposite record that WCoP where I joined US East, I played a big role in taking down three-time reigning champions Oceania. I made it to the finals of Smogon Tour 14 that fall, taking out Bloo, Heist and Vinc2612 before McM beat me in two games I will never not give him shit for because while he was the more deserving winner they were still extraordinarily frustrating. The following year I helped East to its first WCoP championship, with a performance that earned me rave reviews from some very respected names that went so far as to hail me as the best BW stall player, and was a brain in the Frontier.
Lastly I'm also known for ADV. Besides Tour I played it in last year's WCoP and this past SPL, I also got an ADV Smogcast together with chaos, Loki, cbb and Danilo about two years ago.
What are your favourite old gen tiers and why?
DPP OU (with Latias and / or Salamence) - it was my first and whenever I play the dragon(s) meta for fun it's always awesome. Mence might've been broken yeah but my nostalgia goggles cloud me from caring.
DPP UU - I've had a massive hardon for it ever since I played one of the guys from my Serebii clan with Heysup's Free Bird team. There's a reason it's often lauded as the greatest tier of all time, although you have silly detractors who overexaggerate the presence of Spikes and the morons who ruin it for everyone with whistle's stupid Sand Veil team.
DPP Ubers - just like what I did with UU, I took Jibaku's Vulcan Fury team, tried it on wifi and fell head over heels.
ADV OU - at first I hated it because it was really hard and I just didn't get it; I wanted to be able to win every game with one team that I considered the best. However, when you
get ADV, you don't go back. If I had more experience in UU and Ubers they would most likely make this list as well.
BW1 OU - yeah Deo-D was stupid, and Terrakion was ridiculous, and Landorus was sort of straddling that same border... but man, it was great.
BW RU - I messed around with it in its early stages in autumn 2011, using an RMT with I think a lead Hariyama and SubCM Cresselia... I think the guy had a username like superpascal. I never was extraordinarily dedicated to the tier but I always played it on and off (except during the peak of Hail, yuck) right to the end of the generation and enjoyed the hell out of it. I had a good run in GS2's Open, taking out some solid players before meeting my death at the hands of Heist / babidi in round 5.
GSC OU - it's utterly chesslike. I'm still getting more experience here, although I was able to help quite a bit in it this past SPL. I sorta view learning this tier as The Ultimate Pokemon Challenge. Satan bless my competitive drive.
What are some of your most often used Pokemon in the tiers that you play?
DPP - offensive Zapdos, mainly Specs (my team that got passed around last fall has made Zap the #1 lead for the past two seasons of Tour!) because it's an offensive behemoth that also has defensive utility, SR MixTar because I dislike when spinners come in on my rocks dude, Breloom because fuck having offense walled by Hippowdon / Swampert / the now-rare Vaporeon and it checks DDtar / LO Aero who I'm also very paranoid of, SDef Hippowdon because it walls the dog shit out of everything - for example I remember a battle against McMeghan in the spring of '12 for the all gens tour where I won because Hippo stalled out a Leaf Storming Celebi and afterwards survived Specs Kingdra's Surf.
ADV - Zapdos for the same reasons as DPP although I'm more likely to go with a defensive set here, CB Tyranitar because brutalizing Swampert with Focus Punch is one of life's greatest pleasures, Salamence due to its nostalgic sprite and it's my favorite pokemon and because it excels in a multitude of roles, Jolteon because it's like a weaker Zapdos but with the benefit of Speed and VOLT ABSORB, Heracross because the SubSalac SD set (mopcross) is one of the most terrifying sweepers in any generation.
What type of playstyle do you enjoy using the most in these tiers?
DPP - bulky offense because my perfectionist tendencies don't get in the way of building the team as much as my more defensive shit and it consistently plays at a comfortable tempo. Semistall (or "spikes based balance" for the purists) is a pretty close second.
ADV - any kind of interesting offense, the possibilities are nearly endless. I've fallen out of favor with more defensive teams for the most part since they are much harder to do something cool with and are quite easily taken advantage of.
Do you consider yourself having innovated or popularised any sets throughout your time playing?
I sure do! Funkasaurus and I's team played a major role in popularizing Hippowdon and Scarf Jirachi in the later stages of BW1, which is the same time I was among the dudes popularizing SDef Perish Song Celebi on (semi)stall, mainly alongside Ojama, whose Toxic Invasion team revealed it to the masses. In early BW2, I often ran Sweepage's SDef Leech/Protect/Drain Punch Breloom on bro fist's team that I tweaked with him after he 6-0ed me with it in a test and it gained quite a bit of traction amidst all the Techloom hype. During WCoP '13 I became the second person to make a Tailwind (!!!) + Dragons HO team - pana was first, I will however respectfully point out that his team struggled with Ferrothorn which my team aimed to utterly crush [LO HP Fire Suicune and LO Focus Blast Kyurem-B] - and the first to use it in a big match; my CB Salamence surprised Aqualouis and gave East the early lead over France. In end/post-BW, I was running Reuniclus ss and thus contributed a good amount to the metagame going the way it is now, my b guys!
In DPP there are a lot of things I've come up with by virtue of necessity being the mother of invention, I know I'd leave something out so for the time being I will leave this but at one point when my time has come I do intend on writing a history of my pkmn career as much for myself as for interested community members (pre-emptive apology for what will inevitably be quite a self-indulgent thread haha) and there I will go over them, my memory is stupidly accurate at this sorta thing so I doubt I'll leave anything out.
I will give mention to the time in early 2012 when I took inspiration from the vet favorite, SubRoost Zapdos, and turned the LO Aerodactyl on my Bleed team into a Sub Roost Taunt set. It worked incredibly well and I thought I was a genius for inventing it it until I learned husk, one of my idols, had made a team with it before... and then my ego rose to dangerous levels as I congratulated myself for thinking on the same level as such a legend. I'll also mention my Leech Seed / Seed Bomb / Mach Punch Breloom that I devised in autumn '14 (Jirachee affectionately dubbed it "cancebolaids" what a friend) that I have used quite a bit since then and a few others have taken a liking to, I posted about it a few times in RoA. Umm, I have also been a Nidoqueen advocate for quite a long time and like to think I helped boost her popularity, although Heist is her real lover. Lastly, Fakes and I helped make Bold Starmie the thing it is today.
In ADV I was using Jolteon on my flawed but faithful team in late 2012 approximately a year before Spikes teams with it (which I also helped popularize, I used one in the semis of ST16 playoffs against cbb) started appearing and I was very glad when he started getting recognition. In spring 2013, my quest for Optimal Stall led me to start using a Starmie team that was for the most part identical to the one McMeghan / Ojama made and passed around, which contributed to Spikes becoming less of an essential factor in the metagame in the following months (something that is present nowadays as well, which makes me very happy). I've also seen quite a few more Charizards thanks to the RMT I posted which makes me happy, although he's a bit high maintenance so he hasn't really enjoyed the massive boost in popularity of McM's offensive Starmie or Smurf's Kingdra.
In GSC I hope to spread the gospel of Piloswine!
Are there any specific games you've played that you consider really great?
Satan knows there have been a ton... again I will probably detail everything I can remember in that aforementioned thread when my retirement comes, but for now I will name my ADV battle against Danilo this past SPL. God that was fucking tight, my Zapdos survived sand by 3% for the game. My BW1 game against McMeghan in SPL 3 semis was also superb, as well as my BW2 game against Lohgock in WCoP '13 semis, the ADV games against Heist and Vinc for rounds 3 and 3 of ST14 playoffs and the deciding DPP battle against boudouche in ST16 finals.
Are there any changes to older tiers that you think would be beneficial?
BKC's Handy-Dandy Guide To Fixing BW2 OU!
Ban: Kyurem-B, Sun, Rain, Sand, Reuniclus, Latios, limit Spikes to 1 layer
Unban: Excadrill, Manaphy, test Tornadus-T and Thundurus, unban Genesect for 5 minutes and then ban him again because fuck him
I would love Latias to come back to DPP, I never thought she was broken and the tournament I hosted this past fall reaffirmed my thoughts, it was still an amazing tier. I think Assault Vest and Rocky Helmet in DPP would make the tier perfect absolutely perfect - AV gives a great way to check some overwhelming special attackers such as Zapdos and Gengar, while RH gives a way to fight back against U-turn spam that can sometimes be really hard to handle with SR up as well as a way to chip spinners.
I'd limit Spikes to one layer in ADV, it kills me to see such a great tier turn into a Spikes + sand + Aero fest as it so often does.
I'd give Spikes an extra layer in GSC - just the one, three layers would be hell, but the second layer is a small boost, just the right amount imo. I would also probably get rid of HP Legends because I feel Zapdos needs to be knocked down a peg, and I'd definitely consider getting rid of Lovely Kiss on Snorlax.
Who do you look up to as a player and/or person, and which players are you close friends with?
My biggest idols coming up were Gouki (still the greatest), Earthworm, Philip7086, panamaxis, imperfectluck, husk, Atticus, Bluewind, 6A9 Ace Matador and gene/G80, as well as Heysup and Jibaku for their impressive exploits in their tiers.
I'm friends with a lot of great players, I'll refrain from getting into a name-dropping circlejerk but they all know who they are and that they rule!! I will however mention Ciele because he is my favorite :)
Are there any old players who you wish would come back, either to play again or just to talk to?
The aforementioned guys I idolize, a few of them still hang around but aren't all that active. Others include Zak91, Krack, Scofield, hanke, DarkLucario, and my buddy Blue Star!!
How do you feel about the comparatively larger successes of newer players recently, for example, in this year's OST?
I think it's great, it is always refreshing to see new guys showing up and proving themselves; I remember when I was one of them not all that long ago. However I do wish a few of them would "know their place" a little more.
How do you feel about Smogon as a whole right now?
It's cool. Sometimes politics frustrate me but I TM28 it.
Any teams you feel fit you as a player particularly well?
Aside from the more defining RMTs (Art of Ruin, The Great Southern Trendkill with Funkasaurus [my most prized tutee!], Bleed, Nær sólen gar niþer for evogher), there have been quite a few over the gens, and the only reason I hesitate to post an exact one is because there a million alterations I make and don't like having one definitive version.
In BW, there is The Sand Stall Team (I will post it eventually Jirachee fuck off) - it started in summer 2011 as Heatran / Forretress / Jellicent / Tangrowth / Jirachi / Tyranitar. I eventually dropped Tangrowth + Jirachi for Celebi + Gliscor / Hippowdon, when BW2 came around I obviously threw in some Landorus-T and Amoonguss. There is also my Reuniclus team I made at the tail end of BW that has unfortunately helped make the metagame what it is, Garchomp / Skarmory / Gengar / Tyranitar / Gastrodon (Alomomola a few times) / Reuniclus (sometimes Alakazam). The aforementioned Tailwind team (Mew / Tornadus / Suicune / Garchomp / Kyurem-B / Salamence) is the polar opposite of what I usually like to run in any gen but that's part of why I like it so much.
In DPP, I've been fond of my bulky SD Scizor team that I've had for about two and a half years - Floppy has dubbed it as one his favorite non-gorgie teams. My SR + MixNite + Lucario squad was the talk of the town in late '13 as we heard clamoring of its unbeatability, but it isn't really anything too innovative - it's extremely similar to LizardMan's classic team from late '10. The aforementioned SpecsZap team as well, and in summer '12 I was rolling with some balance/semistall reminiscent of an old Krack team feat. U-turn Gliscor and early use of Bold Starmie that I was insanely comfortable with, Heist tells me to go back to it when I'm having teambuilding block.
In ADV I'll always look back fondly at my first real team, I posted about it in my Charizard RMT. There's the aforementioned Starmie stall team. The SD Focus Punch Hera + CM Roar Raikou team I made during ST16 playoffs holds a special place in my heart, as do my many Jolteon Spike teams. Golden Sun-style Modest Zapdos + CBtar bulky offense squads are always a blast to use, as are Triangles-esque MixMence things, and I'm quite proud of my more recent Regirock team that Jirachee is very fond of.
Final question - are you still going to continue playing in tournaments?
For sure! I think my last tournament before retiring will be SPL 7, which ends about a week before I turn 20 and seeing as I'll be working + at university then I think it'll be a good time to hang it up. However I do hope to stick around the community as a spectator, and a more recent appreciation for RBY as well as the adrenaline rush that comes with playing it means I might play that casually.