Sorry for the delay! I've got another interview for you all now and I'll leave it down below. Feel free to look for it in the OP as well though.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi, I’m Rodrigo, but everybody calls me Rodri. I’m 17 and still working on my High School Diploma which means that I’ve plenty of free time to spend with my family, friends and my pets. I feel like I’m a very sociable and quiet guy. Mi favorite sport is definitely tennis, but I love watching soccer… specially when it comes to support my team, Athletic de Bilbao. In the future, I would like to become robotic engineer.
Most known for?
For being the sexiest one, pls. Haha, just kidding (maybe not). I feel that comes from my Grand Slam run, Tournament in which I reached the finals. Also, I’m getting pretty well-known between the UU Community due to my UU Majors run. Finally I get to qualify for some Ladders tournaments like Rult or OLT play offs, however I didn’t get too far on those Tour.
Favorite Pokemon?
There are a few mons that I like a lot, but if you ask me to choose one… Lapras would my choice. I love his design, typing and also how it sounds when I send it out to the field. Besides when I saw the Pokemon anime Lapras was one of the main characters.
Most Used Pokemon?
Sylveon, definitely Sylveon. I just can’t live without that mon. Just by adding it to a UU team, you can check/counter very important threats such as Hydreigon and Conkeldurr. The support that this Pokémon provides to the team and how easy is to partner with are the two main reasons for which I use it so much.
What brought you to Smogon and competitive Pokemon in general?
I’ve never been a gamer, to be honest. In fact, Pokémon is the only game I play and enjoy. The reason why started playing this game was the Pokémon anime, which I used to watch when I was a child. One day, I saw a YT video about VGC and I knew that I wanted to play this game. Singles was my favorite format, so I searched a way to play it competitively… And that’s how I found Pokémon Showdown. At the very beginning, I just played Random Battles and not that much. As I was meeting people that shared the same passion, I started to play a lot more. I played in several Forums before this one and I sign up on Smogon when I felt ready to stand out in a Tournament… And it wasn’t easy at all, but I finally reached my objective.
What is your favorite Generation of Pokemon and why?
My favorite gen is ORAS, the one that I know the most. I don’t have that much to choose, to be honest, especially because I started in XY and I didn’t even know what the hell an EV was.I’ve played old gens too, but there are only a few tournaments to play them… So I feel that I didn’t have the time to enjoy it yet.
Thoughts on the current metagame of ORAS UU?
I personally like the current UU metagame, especially because some of my favorite Pokémon are all very viable and I feel very comfortable building in this tier. However,I think that UU is a bit centralized due to some mons that are so good doing their job that there's no reason not to use them . The recent Klefki drop might bring more hazard stacking ofensive teams.
What is your favorite playstyle?
In general, stall. Since I began playing this game I liked to stall my opponents. I’m not sure why, maybe because I’m a patient person, but I definitely like playing fat teams that eat every hit for breakfast. However, I don’t play that much stall on tournaments: it’s not that funny when your opponent brings 5 stall breakers. Nevertheless, my favorite playstyle in the UU metagame is balanced. I feel like balance is the easiest playstyle to build and play, is very viable and the most part of the top tier Pokémon are staples on balance teams.
Do you think any playstyle is blatantly dominant or weak in the metagame?
Mmm… I’d say stall. I’m not saying that there aren’t good stall mons in the tier, but it’s pretty easy to pressure that playstyle in the current meta. Very common Pokémon with very common sets are good enough to beat stall in UU (Calm Mind Chandelure, Taunt Krookodile, Leech Seed Celebi…).
Thoughts on S/M so far?
I haven’t played too much Sun & Moon for now, but from what I’ve seen I feel like UU will be the funniest tier to play. I’ve already talked this with some friends and we all agree that When the tier will be stabilized the tier will be very enjoyable to play. Also, this is the first “generation change” that I experience, as between XY and ORAS there’s not too much difference. Z-Moves, new Pokémon… I like all that stuff. The thing that I like the least from the new metagame, are the Terrains (Psychic, Grassy…) but we’ll be ok at the end. I am really looking forward to see every tier get stabilized and enjoy the new metagame.
Can you tell us about your experience in Grand Slam as well as UU Majors so far? Also, what advice would you give to newer tournament players who strive to reach that level of play?
My Grand Slam experience was just incredible. When the WCoP began, a bunch of old friends that “grew up” with me were chosen to play that Tournament and they were doing all an amazing job, growing as a player and finding their place in the Smogon community. However, me, I didn’t get to play the World Cup because I didn’t show the best of my abilities during the season. After all, I knew that I was good enough to play at that level, I didn’t want to stay behind all my buddies… So I signed up in the Smogon Grand Slam. I lost several Opens pretty quickly (NU, DOU, LC) which discouraged me a lot until I realize how well I was doing in the UU Open. Unfortunately, I lost to King UU in a very close series which made me depend on the Ubers and PU Opens. When I saw I had to face ZF in the Ubers Open I told to myself “Well, it’s been fun” but I managed to get a W and stay alive in the Tournament, reaching the GS Play Offs with no help, with a worse knowledge about the tier than the other classified people. I managed to pass Round 1agains sacri which made me face Ciele, the player that beated me in OLT. So I prepared the match up very carefully and I did very well on the series. I think that was the moment in which people started betting for me. Reaching semi-finals was an achievement for me, but I knew that I had the capability to win the whole thing so I did my best in order to prepare my match up versus my good friend DennisEG. After playing a very close BO5, I managed to reach the Grand Slam Final. I unfortunately lost 0-3 that Final vs ICT. However I was still very satisfied of my GS run, watching so much people supporting me, showing my level of play even on the tiers that I don’t usually play.
My UU Majors experience was also very pleasant. On the first rounds I didn’t see me as one of the favorites, as I had big players such as King UU, Sacri and Meru on my pool. I built a bunch of funny stally teams (Tangela <3) for that Tour and managed to make a 8-1 score, being the first of my pool and therefore entering the playoffs. Since I played GS, UU was the tier that I enjoyed and experienced the most. The thing that I liked the most from that Tour was the fact of knowing the UU community, meeting a lot of nice and cool people. There’s no doubt in my mind the UU community is the one that I like the most.
I advice the new players to enjoy every Tournament they play, this is the most important thing. But don’t be conformist, work hard to get better and better. Something I used to do during those tournaments was watching my replays, even If I won that game, I analyzed it and thought about what could I’ve done better. That’s how you improve, when winning is not enough, when the most important play is to win the game by playing immaculately. Is so much valuable learning Pokémon that learning a tier. If you know how to play that game, there won’t be bad tiers for you.
Who are some of your favorite people in the Smogon Community?
Juanen and Trosko: they’re both always supporting me in every Tournament I play. Also, there are a lot of people that I appreciate such as Lcans, The50mph, Poek and Carloo. And finally my family in this game that there are FK guys, They're so much to mention them all but they all know who I'm talking about
Finally can you provide for us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle with a brief explanation of how it works?
http://pastebin.com/yypTsvmB
Yeah, sure. I built this team for the GS Quarter Finals and it has already given me many important victories in Uu majors. It is a pretty standard fat balance build overall, with a lot of top tier mons. In fact, if I remember correctly, this team hasn’t lost a game in official tours yet.
Sylveon+Celebi+Suicune+Krookodile is a very strong combination that matches up well against almost the entire metagame. There’s no doubt in my mind Sylveon is the best support mon in the tier, while Signal Beam Celebi lets me 1v1 opposing Celebis and still hit Hydreigon pretty hard. Suicune is a solid win condition and my Entei counter, Krookodile has my favorite set which is 3 atks + Taunt with Rocky Helmet… Krook is that kind of mon that is useful in every single match up. Finally, Haze Crobat in order to keep in check set up sweepers such as Cobalion. And Mega-Aggron, a fat steel type that sets up rocks.
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Thank you for your time and the great interview, Rodri! If you have any questions that you would like to ask him, feel free to leave them below. I'll be back next week with another interview!