Well #81: inside the mind of andviet

[awyp]

"A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except Tuesday, you can shout any question down that well and you'll be told the answer." The man seems pretty impressed, and so he shouts down, "Why not on Tuesday?" A voice from in the well shouts back, "Because on Tuesday, it's your day in the well."

hey I am the user known as andviet, im known as other things back in the day but we'll focus on my current transformation. ive been playing mons from 2008-2012 and from 2022-present, I've taken a 10 year hiatus and came back to play mons because the nostalgia hits so hard and im addicted to the feels of it. i was a pretty damn good player back in the day if i do say so myself (won multiple tours, participated in the smogtour playoffs, 1st iteration of spl), trying to hit that back in form. im really into the competitive mons scene, but as i gotten older its good to ease back and learn to have fun and not just worry about winning tour games.

i currently help moderate RMT and Battling 101, i njoy helping out newer players. i have 2 sides to me, i have the professional OG competitive pokemon nerd as well as a uncontrollable troll who lives under a bridge and sips on monster every hour on the hour. its a hard medium to stay in the middle of because as a highly touted member of this community u cant troll too hard or u get INFRACTED ICBB BANNED DEUCER.

i used to live in texas now i live in a terrible state that zf shoutouts every day. in my late 20s, i work in IT (wfh) most the time, i pretty much work in cyber security and make sure my current company is following standards in order for them not to lose millions of dollars. im into cars a lot, i drive a nissen (fire). i really love cooking for others as well as eating but i have acid reflux :( so i can't eat like a fatass all the time. my favorite food is pho. id like to think im a kind person :) (i think). uh i love kanye west (i dont like him being stupid but i love his music).

since there's not a lot of users who've been here for this long (13-14 years), i have to say i really love the transformation smogon has taken, when i was in my teens the site used to be very immature, lots of bigots, not too much moderation going on in the social sense. that has totally changed and for the better so it's something i usually like bringing up when i can especially since people are always referencing that smogon is on a downhill. its not cuh

i love cats, im thinking of adopting soon :3

please ask me anything you want, i want to flood this thread. ill ansr any question for the next week. let me put this song right here to set the mood:

​

 

[a fairy]

what's a part of smogon you're not involved in that you'd like to have been/would like to get involved in? both community- and metagame- wise

biggest smogon mistake / biggest smogon accomplishment

wdym you played in spl1 your account wasn't around back then :)

 

[awyp]

what's a part of smogon you're not involved in that you'd like to have been/would like to get involved in? both community- and metagame- wise

i want to be more involved in Ubers (Gen 9) to be honest, as well as dive deeper in Gen 7 meta. Community wise I would like to help more with The Flying Press.

biggest smogon mistake / biggest smogon accomplishment

Biggest Smogon mistake was probably when I was younger and posting on sub forums where I'm not supposed to (Not following the rules) (No one reads the stickies) // Losing to Kevin Garrett :x. Biggest Smogon accomplishments: Being friends with Lady Salamence

wdym you played in spl1 your account wasn't around back then :)

uhhhhh it was.....look harder :)

 

[faint]

I am also in my late-20's working from home in IT.

I am happy to see more Vietnamese people getting thrown into the well.

I hope you enjoy your stay.

I also recently adopted a cat and would recommend you do the same.

I do not have any questions for you at this time.

 

[Nichalho]

This might be a more tutor type question, but what would you recommend to someone struggling to improve at the game? I feel like even though I play fairly often and read and watch as much as I can, I haven't seen any noticeable growth in my skills in some time.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

in my late 20s

ive been playing mons from 2008-

Coppa?

 

[Fancy1]

ik I ask everybody this but favorite albums at the moment

also adopt a cat

my goat

 

[awyp]

I am also in my late-20's working from home in IT.

I am happy to see more Vietnamese people getting thrown into the well.

I hope you enjoy your stay.

I also recently adopted a cat and would recommend you do the same.

I do not have any questions for you at this time.

Thank you my fellow countryman, I hope you have a fantastic day.

This might be a more tutor type question, but what would you recommend to someone struggling to improve at the game? I feel like even though I play fairly often and read and watch as much as I can, I haven't seen any noticeable growth in my skills in some time.

Struggling is normal, how soon did you start?

I would say there's a lot of ways to get better but "noticeable growth in skills" is hard to measure sometimes, sometimes its good to play with someone / have someone watch you to see if you're making notable improvements. What would you like to improve in specifically and maybe I can help give you some tips? but outside of that I would consider signing up for B101, I'd be even willing to tutor you if it's a tier I specialize in.

My base line recommendations: Play so much on the ladder until you get tired, follow trends, join as much tournaments as you can, during team preview create an outline of how the game can play out and try to see your wincons, measure risk / reward on every play.

 

[awyp]

ik I ask everybody this hit favorite albums at the moment

also adopt a cat

View attachment 523735
my goat

lovely cat, i love cats. beautiful eyes :3

as for my favorite album (very good question) ive been listening to a lot of kanye west, specifically 'Donda', I've also been listening to Travis Scott 'Days Before Rodeo'

Coppa?

No? who tf

 

[Nichalho]

Struggling is normal, how soon did you start?

I would say there's a lot of ways to get better but "noticeable growth in skills" is hard to measure sometimes, sometimes its good to play with someone / have someone watch you to see if you're making notable improvements. What would you like to improve in specifically and maybe I can help give you some tips? but outside of that I would consider signing up for B101, I'd be even willing to tutor you if it's a tier I specialize in.

I started in gen 6, but only really started playing seriously before gen 9. For now, I'd just like to be able to climb ladder and get reqs; enough to know what I'm talking about and be able to participate more. I signed up for B101 many months ago and have been waiting in line. I've also been asking for help on njnp's server. Thank you for the advice! I really appreciate it.

 

[awyp]

I started in gen 6, but only really started playing seriously before gen 9. For now, I'd just like to be able to climb ladder and get reqs; enough to know what I'm talking about and be able to participate more. I signed up for B101 many months ago and have been waiting in line. I've also been asking for help on njnp's server. Thank you for the advice! I really appreciate it.

I'll PM you

 

[1LDK]

Based on all of your years of experience
Who wins in this death battle?

Toxapex @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 52 Atk
- Gunk Shot

Or

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Knock Off
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic

 

[awyp]

Based on all of your years of experience
Who wins in this death battle?

Toxapex @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 52 Atk
- Gunk Shot

Or

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Knock Off
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic

fuck Gunk Shot that move gives me anxiety, Clefable wins easy. GG

 

[Voltage]

- What is the most "middle of the road" Kanye album?
- Do you anticipate maintaining an "outright ban" stance on Tera types if there happens to be a second suspect test?
- What measures do you enact in your work-from-home environment to make sure you're staying productive? I really struggle working from home because I really like having a defined line between where I work and where I don't.
- What is your preferred way of shitposting?
- Do you have a headphone indent on your head?
- Do you think when you were younger your enjoyment of mons was motivated more extrinsically (winning makes it fun, basically) or intrinsically motivated? Has that changed significantly between the 2010s and the 2020s?

 

[awyp]

- What is the most "middle of the road" Kanye album?

I just want to thank you for some of the fantastic questions I'll try to dive deep. As a Kanye stan I don't think he's dropped a bad album until Jesus is King and you can make an argument for self titled album 'Ye'. Middle of the road in my eyes means passable score so I'd say Ye, I like the album but I don't listen to it very often. Most underrated Kanye Album has to be Yeezus.

- Do you anticipate maintaining an "outright ban" stance on Tera types if there happens to be a second suspect test?

I would vote outright ban, but the community is varied in opinion, I would say since I'm a realist, it will be a restriction under play for Tera. (Don't know which one yet possibly Tera Preview)

- What measures do you enact in your work-from-home environment to make sure you're staying productive? I really struggle working from home because I really like having a defined line between where I work and where I don't.

As someone who's worked a majority of my time from home (since out of college) I would say, it really depends on the job. I've been given work laptops before and to make sure that doesn't indent in my life I close the Laptop as soon as I complete my job for the day. My current work is done via Virtual Machine so as soon as I close out of it, I'm in the clear. I have a very hard time staying productive as well, but as long as I have something to do for work, I have an intent of getting it done as soon as I can so I have a clean plate. I will say personally the problem lies in the cell phone, I highly recommend don't give your personal # at work or you'll have people bothering you all hours of the day (who you don't give a shit about). If you need to provide a phone number make sure you have a work phone.

- What is your preferred way of shitposting?

I love posting memes on statements made in the metagame discussion (try never to flame anyone), I shitpost a lot on Cong of the Masses / Smogoff, I just let my brain go off, no filter. I usually post without thinking oh people might find this funny, I just go for it.

- Do you have a headphone indent on your head?

Now you're embarrassing me, yes I fucking do and I hate wearing my headset but I do. I use these and they indent the fuck out of my head within minutes. I highly recommend getting the double ear so it doesn't leave an imprint on the side of your head (since it's tight)

- Do you think when you were younger your enjoyment of mons was motivated more extrinsically (winning makes it fun, basically) or intrinsically motivated? Has that changed significantly between the 2010s and the 2020s?

I've always been competitive, when I was younger I was just rude about it (not saying gg, trolling my opp after games). But now even if I get beat and it's unfair I say "gg" I'm an adult, this is a game it shouldn't taken seriously. But I can't lie I'm still competitive af, it's just my nature so I take it serious. I would say not much has changed about my desire to win, I always want to win [now I'm just mature about it] (one thing has changed is I used to use a lot of meme sets / UU mons on my team in OU but now I try to use popular mons and sets. Back then I was trying to make a name for myself because people thought I was a nobody / easy win, now I would say the motivation still is there because a very few people recognize me from 10 years ago.

 

[BIG ASHLEY]

Donda

brightobject !!!!!

 

[antemortem]

brightobject DN!!!!!

 

[Sijih]

whens the last time you had to leave a building because of a fire alarm?

what do you do to stay active even though you have a WFH desk job?

whats the goal of RMT?

whens the last time you read a book?

whats your greatest mons win?

would you rather never eat dessert again or have to eat dessert every day and then burn every calorie off in the gym every day?

 

[awyp]

whens the last time you had to leave a building because of a fire alarm?

Great questions, I'll try to go into detail. My first year out of college, we had yearly fire alarms at my company (to test that it works type shit) so I'm used to it. The last time I had to leave a building was a very annoying one, I'm at my ex's apartment (3ish years ago) that's affiliated with the university she goes to (it's a high rise building) its 3 o clock in the fucking morning and the alarms are loud as fuckkkkk and someone pulled the fire alarm by accident / as joke at 3 am and we had to evacuate the building and stand outside 3 am for an hour until the fire department arrived. hopefully last time.

what do you do to stay active even though you have a WFH desk job?

I used to go to the gym pretty actively (during lunch break and after work), twice a day but since Covid I just try to briskly walk after work everyday for about 45 minutes. it keeps my mind fresh and keeps me mentally sane.

whats the goat RMT?

very good question, I think the goal currently is to help users as much as we can, we have forum rmt and discord rmt so we try to have a fine balance since both require different things, when posting on the forum it always has to look pretty / follow forum rules but on discord you're just posting your pokepaste with no description. we want rmt to be a place where you can always post a team for advice and get knowledgeable / opinioned responses on how to improve the team or just be used as somewhere to grab a team to test / use / understand and learn team structures

whens the last time you read a book?

i dont read books (dont kill me), i read enough at my job tbh but outside of work i sometimes read on my kindle, something i read recently was "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen (read it sometime last year)

whats your greatest mons win?

14 years ago, wasn't my greatest win but the most memorable i had a friend (so i thought) named symphonyx64. we're playing for the smogon tour and he asked me hey bro do you have a team i can use for gen 4 uu? i was like yeah i do but its the team im going to be using in the tournament (its my only team), i told him if we ended up matching up it would be fair if he forfeited since he literally knows my team and would be using it against me. round 4 moves along and i matchup with symph. im like bro okay forfeit and he was like "nah" im like CUZ DIDNT YOU SAY YOU WOULD, AND HE'S LIKE "I CAN'T". so i ended up having to play him using my team while he used my team against me. i ended up beating him (no mercy), and winning the smogon tour that day. (team was umbreon, venusaur, altaria, milotic, arcanine, donphan)

would you rather never eat dessert again or have to eat dessert every day and then burn every calorie off in the gym every day?

im not a sweets person at all, so easy ansr never eat dessert again tyvm

 

[zf]

New jersey....!!!!! what part?

ever seen kanye in concert?

what type of Nissan? (dripped out quirked Up Nissan altima whips it around a turn with just a little bit of swag)

 

[awyp]

New jersey....!!!!! what part?

my favorite user zf~!!!!! new brunswick :) (central jersey)

ever seen kanye in concert?

(no and it's probably not a goal of mine) ever since he dipped mid concert see here:

what type of Nissan? (dripped out quirked Up Nissan altima whips it around a turn with just a little bit of swag)

infiniti q60 ;) im a nissan bitch tho broken tail light car smells like vape juice tinted windows u name it

 

[BIG loven]

What are your favorite types of music genre's?

What is your favorite Generation and tier of Pokémon to play?

 

[awyp]

What are your favorite types of music genre's?

I love rap but I also like alternative music / indie music. Big fan of Toro y Moi and Thundercat. Shotuout to lofi hiphop I listen to Nujabes a lot

What is your favorite Generation and tier of Pokémon to play?

I would say personally Gen 4 OU, its what I grew up on. Objectively I think it's worse than the newer gens because of Critical hits doing 2x damage, but it's something I will always lean back on.

Great questions frend :)

 

[SpaceSpeakers]

Do you have any pets?

Where are u from?

How old are u?

How much time do you spend using the internet?

Which tiers are u interested in?

Ik some questions are unrelated and too personal but i really want to know tho
U can just ignore those if u dont want to tell here
I'll be fine

 

[Neko]

i love cats, im thinking of adopting soon :3

What kind of cat? Tiny? Biggie? Old and fluffy?

Also:
1. What changed in smogon between then and now? Can you give one example of what you missed here that existed before but not now?

2. What makes a tier fun for you?

3. Favorite mon?

4. When mono meow >:3

Thankie in advance Andviet