Favorite Pokemon: Rampardos
Most used Pokemon: Uxie
Most known for: Modding the NU room and using fun shit that actually works.
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Disjunction: So why is your name what it is?
Can-Eh-Dian: Basically I wanted to pick a name that people could recognize me by. I knew I was Canadian and I'm good at making awful puns so it came natural to me.
Disjunction: What's your favorite pokemon type?
Can-Eh-Dian: Probably Electric types because they all have pretty cool designs and there are a lot of fun electric types to mess around with in NU
Disjunction: Do you have a favorite team archetype?
Can-Eh-Dian: Probably Bulky Offense because I like the concept of being able to take hits, while at the same time dealing out hits. Alot of my first teams and most of my succesful teams have been Bulky Offense, although recently i've been experimenting with HO and Stall builds.
Disjunction: How did you come to competitive battling/smogon?
Can-Eh-Dian: When I was younger, I had seen a couple videos from people like Haydunn playing 4th gen NU and I always thought it was really cool but I didnt know how to breed, battle etc. Then last year I found out about PS! from some kids in one of my classes. Naturally, I hopped on showdown when I got home, made a shitty team around shedinja and laddered for a bit. I was drawn to Smogon when I started reading RMTs that I could steal and there were all sorts of beautiful well written ones. However, it still kinda remained as an on/off hobby that I would do if I was bored until last August when I really became involved in NU and the NU room.
Disjunction: What is your favorite aspect of competitive battling? (Teambuilding, battling, etc)
Can-Eh-Dian: Teambuilding for sure, and it would be more enjoyable if i was any good at it lol. Being able to explore a bunch of possible combinations and the mental excerise that goes along with it is really enjoyable. That's also the reason I opened the Teambuilding Lab is because half the time when im talking to friends im building teams anyways so It just seemed like a good fit.
Disjunction: What's your favorite element of NU?
Can-Eh-Dian: The best part of NU is that I can just grab something thats normally regarded as a shitty mon and find out that in the certain meta it actually has a pretty big niche. Stuff like Raichu, Drifblim, Arbok, and Floatzel are all half decent mons which most people would just dismiss (not so much raichu in this meta tho. Try zebstrika). Oh and ofc i got to shoutout the community because its really cool with genuinely nice people like Ras and Zeb running the tier.
Disjunction: Which generation of NU have you enjoyed the most?
Can-Eh-Dian: Well considering i'm a newer player, relative to some others i'm going to have to say XY. I played BW2, but not enough to where I could really appreciate the tier and how it works. XY is the tier that I grew up in and will always have some sort of sentimental value to it.
Disjunction: If you could make any change to the NU tier list, what would it be?
Can-Eh-Dian: Way to word the question ;]. Ofc theres the obligatory FREE HITMONCHAN, M BANETTE, AND SKUNK (raseri), but something that would be cool and would diversify the tier would be if all the mega's Base Forms dropped to their respective tiers because we would probably get cool shit like Gardevoir, Ampharos, and Zard. Its never going to happen but one can dream.
Disjunction: Which NU player(s) do you admire the most?
Can-Eh-Dian: Admire is kind of a weird word when talking about other players. I certainly respect and enjoy watching tournament players like Cased, Zeb, SG etc because they're at a level that I aspire to achieve myself. But I also respect people like Tennis who I can sit in a call with for hours and he never gets tired of playing this game. It astonishes me how people can do that lol.
Disjunction: Do you have any advice for anyone new to NU?
Can-Eh-Dian: If you really want to improve, the forums are your friend. They contain everything you need to turn yourself into a better player, just make sure that if you're new to follow the conduct of the other posters. Lurking is a good thing and when you make posts, try and match the quality of users who are recognized as quality posters. It just makes it more enjoyable for everyone. Oh and if you just want a place to hang out and arent really uber-competitve then stop by the NU room :].
Disjunction: Where are you most active? (Pokemon Showdown, Smogon, IRC...)
Can-Eh-Dian: Early on I was definitely more active in the NU room because it was a good place for me to meet new people and establish a place in the community. Recently though I've been much more active on the forums because the forums are a super fun place to be of you're really active. I hope to try and get more active on IRC but its always dead when I go there :[
Disjunction: Do you have any current goals that you want to meet as a player?
Can-Eh-Dian: Of course I want to improve to the point where I can be a sucessful tour player, who doesn't? That being said some things I really want to achieve in the future are Forum Moderator, PS! RO, and maybe if i'm lucky NUTL.
Disjunction: Could you give us a sort of mini-RMT of a favorite team of yours to give us an example of your play style?
Can-Eh-Dian: http://hastebin.com/degucewide.md
I wanted to build around Dual Pixies because in theory they can break each others checks allowing each other to sweep. Garb + Toad is a pretty standard.hazard stacking core that beats a ton of the metagame right now. Toxic Garbodor gives me a fighting chance against Barrier + CM Mush which is a huge threat. Kangaskhan allows me to check fast threats like Typhlosion and Sneasel that would normally be a lot of trouble for me. AV Mag is a nice Wallbreaker and Fire check that also beats Lilligant which is another huge threat. Not the best team but a fun offensive one using some of my favourite mons.
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Thank you Can-Eh-Dian for participating this week! Feel free to ask our player whatever burning questions you'd like to hear!
