If this feeling flows both ways?
Sad to see you go
Was sorta hoping that you'd stay
Baby, we both know
That the nights were mainly made
For saying things that you can't say tomorrow day
In the recent tiering survey, respondents had only one name on the tip of their tongue when writing comments, but rather than a Pokemon it was a user: Arcticblast.
First joining Smogon in 2008, Arcticblast has been playing competitive Pokemon for longer than some people on this site have been alive (cough zoe cough). Underneath the appearance of a harmless nerd, however, lies an unquenchable thirst for power. In the past this has taken Arctic to the heights of being OM/DOU Leader and Super Moderator, though now he prefers a slightly more laidback role where he can rule more from the shadows.
The most well-known work of Arcticblast's doing is the infamous 'Skymin Incident', where one Shaymin-Sky was unfairly banned from DOU in generation 6. Instead of correctly requiring a 60% supermajority for a ban for to go through, Arctic fooled the so-called "free thinkers" of the doubles community into accepting a ban based on a 51% majority requirement instead. Arctic's hatred for his mortal enemy, an actually good Grass-type, was so much that he nefariously rigged the deck against it, ironically enough, without flinching. Thankfully, this injustice has since been reversed, but Arctic has still shown no signs of remorse for his serious misuse of power.
Arcticblast's influence can also been seen elsewhere, more subtly, such as in DPL. For starters, he has managed in 5/9 editions including the current one, second only to Memoric's 6 seasons in charge. Unlike Memoric, however, Arctic is one of the 8 managers to win DPL thus far, but is also behind the only case of the same franchise winning multiple trophies, with his Santalune Storms also winning under fespy's tutelage. In DPL IX, Arctic has his fingers in as many pies as possible to ensure he comes out on top yet again: despite managing the Cratermakers, Arctic's old franchise of the Santalune Storms are still running, his username connects him thematically to the Cold Crew, his profile picture is literally the Sp_ndas' mascot, and there is a suspected link between Arctic and the Church as well. Like a bad smell spreading across the room, fartic has gone too far and must be replaced with someone fresh.
Like the bad Grass-types he is known for loving, Arcticblast used to have a plethora of weaknesses, but he has now adapted to a point where the community can no longer reliably check him. Arctic is a former League of Legends player, but has since reformed with no signs of relapsing anytime soon, improving his mental wellbeing. Arctic has also recently shown that he is not just a Crusty Old Player, currently being in losers finals of seasonals. Despite being an avid card game player, Arctic also actually washes himself, removing hygiene as another would-be counter. This leaves the primary form of counterplay as calling him variations on 'Arcticblast' (fartic, atticblorst, artic, arcticblastmyass, etc.) or 'u', though overuse means even these are no longer fully effective.
As payback for wrongfully banning Shaymin-Sky, 51% of the vote must be in favor to ban Arcticblast, as opposed to the usual 60%.
Important: For this suspect, there will be three ways to qualify. The first is the typical laddering period, where players must reach the minimum GXE. The second is by winning a live suspect tournament, to be held in the Smogon Doubles Room. You may compete in the suspect tournament on any account, and will need to post proof of you winning the suspect tournament on the voter ID thread. The third is by beating Arcticblast in battle, either on ladder, in DPL, or in a Seasonals set. All three will result in instant qualification, simply post the respective replays in the voter ID thread as proof.
There will be three live suspect tournaments:
Suspect Tournament Times
Saturday, April 1st at 12:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
Sunday, April 2nd at 4:00 PM Eastern time (GMT -4)
Saturday, April 9th at 12:00 PM Eastern time (GMT -4)
The laddering period will last for a total of eight days.
Laddering Period
Start: Saturday, April 1st at 8:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
End: Sunday, April 9th at 8:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
All games must be played on the Pokemon Showdown! Doubles OU ladder on a fresh alt with a prefix of the form “DOUWANNAKNOW [Name]”. For example, I might use the account "DOUWANNAKNOW Yoda" to ladder.
To qualify to vote, you must achieve a minimum GXE of 80 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may subtract 1 game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 80 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 84. As always, needing more than 50 games to reach 80 GXE is fine.
GXE | minimum games |
80 | 50 |
80.2 | 49 |
80.4 | 48 |
80.6 | 47 |
80.8 | 46 |
81 | 45 |
81.2 | 44 |
81.4 | 43 |
81.6 | 42 |
81.8 | 41 |
82 | 40 |
82.2 | 39 |
82.4 | 38 |
82.6 | 37 |
82.8 | 36 |
83 | 35 |
83.2 | 34 |
83.4 | 33 |
83.6 | 32 |
83.8 | 31 |
84 | 30 |
Arcticblast will be legal during this suspect.