Shadestep
volition immanent
Shadowtags
Favourite Pokemon: Sylveon / Lilligant
Most used Pokemon: Tauros
Most known for: Hating Ice-types
Shadowtags: I’m doing great! Just watching a few matches from vgc worlds while I answer the questions n_n
Shadestep: How did you find out about PS and Smogon, and how did you come up with the name Rapture’s Finest (superior imo) and Shadowtags?
Shadowtags: My first introduction into PS was shortly after Pokemon XY was released. I was primarily a monotype player at the time and spent a good amount of time laddering in that metagame. May 2014 was when I joined smogon to post a sick fairy monotype team I used a lot on ladder. Feel free to find it if you need a good laugh, most of the sets on that team are horrible, although I remember getting pretty high up on ladder with it o-o. Did nothing else on the site until early 2015 when i signed up for the tutoring program to learn a real tier (OU). Another year and a half of workhorsing later and here we are. Rapture’s Finest is a reference to the game Bioshock while Shadowtags is of course named after the most broken ability in the game. Neither really took a lot of creativity to come up with but I think they both suit me pretty well
Shadestep: What attracted you to join the NU community and start actively contributing?
Shadowtags: I tried learning OU and found the tier really annoying to play mainly because I was still pretty bad lol. So I decided to be tutored in NU since I liked a lot of the pokemon in the tier, things like Lilligant and Typhlosion (rip). Picked up the tier pretty easily and worked on a lot of my faults as a player so eventually I felt confident enough to start talking in the NU room. As far as what I enjoy about the community, I’ve always found the majority of the regulars on PS pretty easy to talk to and that's more or less still true a year later.
Shadestep: What do you think is the most fun thing to do on Smogon? (Team Rating, competing in tournaments, having fun on the ladder, tutoring, etc)
Shadowtags: My favorite thing to do on Smogon is run the NU teambuilding lab™. Building teams is something i’ve always enjoyed doing since NU is a tier where pretty much anything can be built around provided you execute your idea right. Working with the talented users that help run the lab is great as well. Aside from that, I do a little bit of everything with team rating, tutoring and playing in tours being the main way I spend my time on the site.
Shadestep: What do you think of the current NU meta?
Shadowtags: I like the meta right now for the most part. The newest drops provide some new niches while not being exceptionally good which i enjoy. I also like seeing people starting to run more offensive teams in response to strong but slow breakers like Jynx and Mesprit being more common which crush bad balance squads pretty easily. Also been seeing a ton of malamar lately, which is nice since it’s broken. Tauros is also still broken but what can you do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Shadestep: What is your favourite NU meta ever? (ORAS, XY, BW, etc)
Shadowtags: I guess ORAS would be my favorite by default. BW NU is absolutely terrible (???) and I don’t have much experience with DPP and ADV. GSC NU is cool if only for the fact it’s a different way to play GSC, although I prefer GSC OU.
Shadestep: Who are your favourites to win the NU league? Any players that you didn’t expect it to make it far who did?
Shadowtags: Maybe if the leaderboard was actually being updated I could answer this question better but I think either FLCL or Realistic Waters will take it this year. I think TTFTW has had decent runs so far, so he’s an underdog pick should he make playoffs.
Shadestep: Why didn’t you join the NU open?
Shadowtags: I’m honestly a bit burnt out on mons right now so I haven't really been interested in playing for tours. Should be back in action for next NUL though.
Shadestep: Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What are your hobbies and interests?
Shadowtags: Aside from my awesome internet persona on Smogon I’m not all that interesting, just your average 21 year old slaving over a college degree. My only real exciting hobby/interest is super smash bros melee although I’m pretty ass at the game nowadays lol
Shadestep: Do you have any memories with friends from PS / Smogon that you still remember now?
Shadowtags: Favorite memory by far is the Nekopara call, never had so much fun being a weeb. A close second was ghosting user shadestep in his nupl tryouts (didnt actually happen). Hearing Tennis and Kiyo make fun of each other in calls when I was first learning the tier was pretty great as well, too bad most of the skype groups i'm in are dead nowadays.
Shadestep: Can you show us a picture of yourself?
Shadowtags: Nahh. might get to see me soon though.
Shadestep: Lastly, do you have any life advice you want to share with us?
Shadowtags: Do a lot of drugs and follow me on twitter
That's it! Thanks for being patient all, I'll have these running on a weekly basis again soon hopefully, now my vacation is over. If you have any more questions for Rapture feel free to do so down below!
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