Interview with BKC

Thanks, I hope I won't become the new Bluewind!

It's cool. Since the last Tour, I've been working really hard on my ADV, since as someone who came into Pokemon during DPP and jumped right into BW as it came out, going back to an older generation was my weak spot. I actually somehow managed to not lose an ADV game in the ST14 playoffs until the finals, but I didn't do well during the regular season at all. I got a lot of help from experienced ADVers like 6A9 Ace Matador, Floppy, gene, and others, as well as practicing on my own a lot. The results speak for themselves, I suppose, although MarceloDK would have you believe otherwise.

I expect the OU council to announce a complex ban for that any day now.

In ADV, the semifinals of the tour I won, vs Conflict: http://pastebin.com/3MyC5mqQ. I didn't start the game off too well, letting Blissey set up Calm Minds, forcing me to Explode with Conflict switching in Skarmory to absorb it, but I managed to fight my way back to victory.

In DPP, round 2 of the tour I won, vs Go10: http://pastebin.com/5EC5F6mP. This was a really tight game overall that ended very close.

In BW, round 4 of the tour I won, vs Andeby: http://pastebin.com/i2fpPbqQ. This was probably the most intense BW game I had all season, as DragMag is pretty terrifying and it took some maneuvering to work around it.

In ADV, my favorite probably is my Charizard team (the one I used vs Conflict in that log), because Charizard is one of my favorite Pokemon and it works quite well. The idea is to remove Tyranitar and then use Sunny Day, getting rid of its sand and letting Porygon2 / Suicune function much more effectively, and it has many ways to win. It isn't the best team, with Snorlax + Blissey teams being a pain in the ass, but it's a lot of fun to use and it gets the job done.

In DPP, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I'm never really satisfied with and am always tweaking even my best teams, but this season my famous Marcelo-defeating Lucario team was the one I used the most and was quite reliable. I originally had Choice Band Dragonite and MixTar, but I switched their two roles about halfway through the season and got much better results with it.

True; sometimes I worry about a team's problems too hard in theory, but decide to use it anyway and end up playing around them relatively well, as is the case with the infamous Lucario team.

In BW, I used a range of stuff from Froslass offense to my favorite sand stall. However, I mostly liked using this balanced rain team gr8astard originally made for WCOP finals, to which the two of us made some changes to afterward (and for the better too because Nasty Plot Celebi is amazing).

I, like a lot of people, was surprised at how well High Impulse did, ghosting accusations notwithstanding. He used other peoples' teams in just about every battle, but I think I'm in a minority nowadays when I say that in my opinion, being able to make your own team as opposed to just using others' is important in becoming a good player, and that might have contributed to his round 1 loss vs Ciele.

Boudouche of course also stands out as a surprise this season, as he isn't really all that well-known on Smogon, although he caught some attention with his WCOP performance. He's a very strong player, especially in DPP, and he beat some big names to get here.

In terms of underperforming players, Marth started out this season on fire, becoming the first player to win 3 tours in a season when he won 3 consecutive BW tours, and was expected by many to make playoffs with his performance in that generation alone, but because he doesn't play ADV or DPP, he fell just short.

I think Dice also surpassed many players' expectations, as he is primarily known as a BW player, but proved this season that he is more than capable at the other two generations. He played extremely well in the playoff against Lowgock, but was stopped by some rough luck in both ADV and DPP.

I mentioned earlier how my DPP battle vs Go10 was one of the better games I played in the regular season, but what I forgot to say was that I think he's very underrated, and am not very surprised that he made the playoffs. What did surprise me was his round 1 loss to Malekith. He used a team with no Stealth Rock, and even worse, Electivire, yet he still nearly won.

I'm retiring from playing Pokemon, as I have no interest in XY. It'd be nice to go out on a high note. I'll also be managing the Indie Scooters in SPL, which will be a lot of fun, and maybe I'll captain US East in WCOP next year.

Usually some sort of metal, as somehow it helps me focus. Carcass, Darkthrone, Gorguts and Morbid Angel are favorites. However, sometimes I switch it up and go with some hip hop from artists such as the Wu-Tang Clan, Big L or Eminem.

My teammates on US East and the Scooters, and #beastaroonis. Dice gets a special mention for the massive amount of testing he's done with me.