Disjunction
Favorite Pokémon: Diancie
Most used Pokémon: Gallade
Most known for: Being a Room Owner in the NU room
Disjunction: It's going great! Having a little bit of a busy day but happy to be here :)
Earth: You’ve been around on Smogon for more than three years now, what do you enjoy doing the most here?
Disjunction: Definitely contributing to the PS room. It's where I've started and it's been the area of the community that I've put the most work into and spent the most time in, it's like my baby haha. I would have to say that I enjoy calling and laddering with all of my friends, too. That's the part that keeps me coming back.
Earth: What drew you to NU? What made you stick around in this community?
Disjunction: Hm, I don't know. Maybe it was just a coincidence? I've been playing on Smogon simulators since the first BW games, but I never made a Smogon account or stuck to any chat rooms. I went from tier to tier mostly doing whatever I was doing on a whim. Come XY, I tried NU for the second time after they banned Sigilyph (I quit playing the first time cause I hated it) and I figured it'd be fun to see how other people played the tier and joined the NU chat. I'm a naturally chatty person so before I knew it I made friends in the room and got voiced and I kind of just stuck from there.
Earth: Interesting. What are your thoughts on the current Meloetta suspect test? Is there anything else that deserves to be tested in a near future, in your opinion?
Disjunction: Well, I don't think my opinion on Meloetta is exactly a secret, but I think it's quite unhealthy. I believe there exists clear counter play against it and that makes it a healthier presence compared to previous suspects, but the defensive backbone in the tier can't really stand up to it. I'm not going to write a novel on it, but I think Melo requires your team to be able to pressure it offensively which shouldn't be the case for every team. In terms of future suspects, I'm not sure. I would like to see a discussion on Aurora Veil opened up, but I don't agree that it should be a suspect. I think non-Pokemon elements in a metagame are better left up to a council vote. Beyond Aurora Veil and Meloetta, I could see Rotom-Mow and maybe Slowbro getting a suspect, but I don't think I see either as broken, unhealthy, or overcentralizing. Seeing how the metagame shapes up in the next month or two is important before we decide on anything else, in my opinion.
Earth: You’re currently hosting the NU League Express, who do you think are potential winners? Are there any underdogs who are doing particularly well?
Disjunction: FLCL is currently 5-1 in his group, so he's guaranteed to move on to playoffs. It's hard to bet against doobie, especially after being on the same LCPL and PSPL team as him and seeing how terrifying he is. Finch is also undefeated in his group so far and I know he's been a beast in the tier lately. I also have to give out the honorary mention of meeps, despite him only completing 2-3 games so far. I think he's got the tier on lock down right now and is definitely one of the top three players. In terms of underdogs, there are a lot of people who don't have as much name recognition that are getting pretty impressive records, but I think you can also attribute that to the NU League Express following a pretty new format for Smogon tours. I think a lot of players aren't as used to the round robin style. But yeah, a couple of names that come to mind are Pohjis, Robert Alfons, PursuitofHappiny, Twixtry, and KevinELF who all have pretty impressive records. I don't know if I would bet on them winning the whole thing, but they've obviously shown consistency here.
Earth: What’s your favorite NU metagame ever, and why?
Disjunction: ADV NU by a long shot. I think it's the perfect example of what a healthy offensive metagame should look like. Hitmonchan and Huntail can be overbearing sometimes, but I also believe a little centralization around certain offensive threats is healthy in its own right. ADV NU is a very diverse tier that may look kind of messy on the surface, but only gets more interesting the more you play it. Each threat has a bunch of different options for how you can build it and, subsequently, how you can play it. It also requires a lot of thought and experience in the tier which makes high level matches enjoyable to play and watch. I wanted to play it exclusively all throughout nupl, but the team's needs forced me to move elsewhere.
Earth: Could you tell us more about yourself in real life? What are your hobbies outside of Pokemon?
Disjunction: I like experiencing a little of everything, I guess, haha. I've been an avid cyclist for 3-4 years now and enjoy taking my bike through as many bike paths in Ohio as I can. My friends and I have recently been getting into disc golf over the past couple of months, and we've been traveling over our home state whenever we can to try as many courses as we can. I also try and force myself to read when I feel I've spent too much time on my computer because I don't like the thought of my brain decaying on dumb websites and video games. I'm currently between jobs, but I've been avidly applying to places over the past month or two, so I'm hoping this stagnation in my life comes to a close pretty soon. Oh, I'm also really big on traveling, it's my dream to take my bike on a country-wide trip.
Earth: Going back to NU, how was your NUPL experience? Jarii wanted to ask you directly, do you think he was a good manager?
Disjunction: NUPL was fun for sure and I'm glad I got to know a lot of my teammates. I feel like I was on tilt for most of the time spent on my team and I feel pretty guilty that I couldn't put out the results that I wanted to. Regardless, it was still fun supporting my other teammates that did absolutely killer this season. Dundies was a perfect pickup and I'm glad I convinced Jarii to buy him, Honko is one of the coolest dudes I've met on Smogon, and of course shane is the ORAS NU king. Legit, shane would throw out wild ideas that I would never even consider bringing to a serious game and I couldn't tell him no because I can't question his judgment in that tier. Jarii was a good manager for sure, but I should have removed his admins in our server and then removed his ability to tag people. He also likes coming up with wild excuses like "needing an incentive to win" even though he almost beat FLCL 2-0 after we woke him up in the middle of the night while on vacation to sub in for 49. He also needs to get more lucky because that's clearly holding him back from the record he wants. All-in-all he's done his best with the team and it's been a good ride.
Earth: Are there any new contributors that caught your attention, recently?
Disjunction: I've been liking what a couple of our PS room voices and new room drivers have been doing on the subforum. PursuitofHappiny, Skelos, and meeps have been doing cool things in the vr and other subforum projects. There's also some contributors that I've seen around from other communities on Smogon like Martin and Colonel M. Quziel, who was previously someone I considered PS-only, has also been coming around lately and I've been liking his posts a lot too.
Earth: Lastly, could you share a team with us and briefly explain it?
Disjunction:
Typhlosion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Raticate-Alola @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Sucker Punch
- Double-Edge
- Pursuit
Uxie @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat
- Psyshock
- U-turn
Golbat @ Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Toxic
- Roost
- Defog
Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
Rotom-Mow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Raticate-Alola @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Sucker Punch
- Double-Edge
- Pursuit
Uxie @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat
- Psyshock
- U-turn
Golbat @ Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Toxic
- Roost
- Defog
Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
Rotom-Mow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
This is a team I built a while ago around Specs Typhlosion. I don't know if I would call it my best team in the recent meta, but it's my favorite simply because of how fun it is to play with. The idea around the team was that you used Raticate to Pursuit trap Jellicent / Slowking in order to remove the only few Fire resists that can stand up to Typhlosion. Raticate also does work outside of just Pursuit-trapping because of how easy it is to break down walls with it. From there, I went with Defensive Magic Coat Uxie in order to simplify the matchup against Webs and other hyper-offensive, hazard-dependent playstyles. Golbat solidified my hazard control and secondary Fighting resist. Rock Polish Rhydon provided a good win condition and an Electric immunity, which I believe should be on almost every team. Scarf Rotom-Mow in the back was something I felt was necessary since I needed a Water check and speed control. Scarf isn't my favorite set, but it works in the context of this team.
Thanks for your time, Disj! If you guys have any question for him, feel free to ask them below.
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