Project Player Interview #8 : pokemonisfun

[Moutemoute]

Approved by UU moderation & inspired by Feliburn's project​

Welcome guys in the "UU Player Interview", a project where you'll be able to discover or re-discover some well known players of the UU community. Those people may be known thanks to their high-skilled level or their achievements on the strategic scene but also thanks to their dedication into the tier or within the community. Time to gossip !

Hey pif and thanks for being my guest today in "Player Interview". First of all, how are you ?

I am doing good thank you

For those who don't know you, can you talk about a bit about yourself ?

My name is Nathaniel, I recently finished my education. I intern for a politicians. I like to play Pokemon and teach chess in my free time. My favorite food style is probably some Asian or white person food. I'm under 6 feet tall. Is your name moute ? what does moute mean in french ?

Thanks for those details ! Well no, my name isn't Moute lmao, I'm Paul. Moute is some kind of short of for "mouton" which is "sheep" in english. Basically when my hair are too long, they're curly like a sheep so my friends call me "moute" ! You're well known on Smogon as one of the greatest ladder hero UU has ever get ; how did you get here ?

omg I love sheep a lot. That's a funny way to get a nickname. I like sheep so much that I often nickname my cobalion " sheep that sweeps" even though some people argue Cobalion is more like a goat. Thank you for taking the time to do this Paul

My pleasure !

I like laddering a lot. I think it's very fair since anyone can ladder and we all use the same rating system and there isn't really luck after a few hundred or thousand games like I play. I got here by winning a lot but sometimes I'm not at the top, for example you and Anish sometimes are higher than me on the ladder. I started laddering a lot about 10 years ago, started getting good when Smogon left shoddy battle and then I just practice a lot on the ladder, more than most players I'm sure.

Talking about ladder, you recently won the UU Ladder Tournament. Do you have any other goals this year in UU ?

My main goals are for Ramolost to like more of my posts, to see Vivalospride tag me on Smogon more, to see Mengy win UU open (he went undefeated in UU for PSPL in 2018 or something), for the council to continue to improve and be more transparent, for ladder players to be more respected, and for CBU to like me again. I don't consider myself TOO competitive, I mainly play for banter and for my friends' company so I don't have many competitive goals. I hope friends win UUPL but thats in 2021. Oh i want to see Adaam win slam again that would be funny

That's a good program, go friend ! Even though a lot of players see you as a player who likes to play Stall teams, do you consider this archetype to be your favorite one ?

That's a great question. Look at it like this - I play stall more than the average player, I agree with that. But I still don't usually play stall. Even if I play stall in 30 or 40% of my games, that means 60 or 70% of the time I'm not stalling. It only looks like I stall a lot because nobody else really tries to explore the style. I make new stalls every week like people make a new voltturn or bulky offense every day. You know the culture for some reason means we call things "pif stall" or "kg stall" which is so foolish, I make dozens of stall teams. Stall isn't my favorite style. I just treat stall like how everyone else treats their "normal" teams - build a lot, play a lot, experiment a lot. Oh i thought of another goal, for donny p to stop ignoring me and for him to join uu open as a sub

That's a great answer I think ! And what's your favorite Pokemon this generation and the one you have been using the most since SSUU ?

Does that mean my favorite 8th gen Pokemon or my favorite Pokemon out of all 8 gens ? Or my favorite pokemon legal in gen8 right now ?

Favorite mon among the whole pool (available or not) !

I think Flygon is actually my most used Pokemon somehow although none of my sets are physical scarf - I've been using Ramo's special scarf set, Choice Band, and defog sets. uhhh mines is.. I honestly don't have a favorite, bob the bro/yifeng gave me a toy eevee so I like eevee I gues, not really my favorite.. wait it was a ditto pretending to be an eevee so i like ditto and eevee. Whats your favorite mon ?

Mine would be something like Whimsicott or Mareep.. all fluffy Pokemon are dope ! By the way, we just got a bunch of changes in UU with DLC and the metagame is going to change a lot in less than 2 weeks.. Do you have any expectation or any wish on what we could get ?

I also like fluffy mons, fluffy puffy is a good go to nickname for any fluff mon. I don't play OU except an occasional blitz game with samples so I have no expectations, for hopes, not much, if something drops and triggers a screen suspect test I'll be happy, so whatever makes a screen suspect more likely I support dropping.

Aight..! Outside of Pokemon, is there any video games you like ?

speed chess online sort of counts as a videogame that's it

Why did you opted for the name "pokemonisfun" ? Is this because Pokemon is literally fun for you or is this a joke or a form of irony because you "often" play Stalls and people don't like to face those kind of teams ?

I originally had "hilarious" as a username because I thought it would be hilarious to beat people with hilarious, yeah i think your reasons are good explanations why I choose pokemon is fun, both are true.

Yeah I think I do remember meeting you a few times with that other name back in the day. Would you mind to share on of your recent team in SSU with our audience ?

uh ok let me take off speed creep.. airslash mantine was only because lily crushed me on the ladder with a machamp and roserade, haze is probably better for cm keldeo. It's a pretty nice stall team, not weak to much in the meta right now except maybe some necrozma sets depending on what they run. obviously normal stallbreakers like pangoro work but at least rk9 outspeeds and tangela chews a hit

Oh yeah you stomped me with it yesterday lmao ! Last but not least, are you more a burger guy or a pizza guy ?

my boyfriend and I used to order pizzas a lot but rarely burgers, i think we eat healthier now, I'll still say pizza, cucumber is a nice topping on pizza btw

I'm way too addict to pizza with a lot of meat to give my opinion on that unfortunately.. Well that's all, thanks for your answers and your time ! Feel free to highlights some friends if you want to !

thanks moutex2, i dont want to shoutout all my friends, just the one's i talk to recently: Adaam, vivalospride, Ramolost and Anish

Feel free to ask to pokemonisfun any questions you want !
If you have some recommendations for an interview, feel free to DM me !​

 

[Anish]

why is 1. d4 the best move?

why is mengy the goat mon player?

why is chansey not broken?

also whats ur favorite color?

 

[Lily]

Some mons questions:

• How did you start off with Pokemon? Which game was your first, and which was your favourite?
• Are there any Pokemon you really want to see the return of in the next DLC?
• This isn't a question but I'd like to issue a formal apology for all the Machamp I've been spamming, and I'd also like to complain about all the times I Facaded your Corsolas.
• You've recently topped more ladders than just UU. Do you think there are any notable up-and-comers on these ladders? You can answer for UU too, of course.
• What's your favourite shiny Pokemon? This kinda ties into anish's favourite colour question

And some personal questions:

• How long have you been together with your boyfriend? Has he ever played Pokemon? Will we one day see the combination of pif, pokemonisfun, and pif's bf on the top of the ladder?
• How many languages do you speak? Are there any you'd like to learn, but haven't gotten the opportunity?
• Can you describe vivalospride in three words? "Viva los pride" doesn't count.
• I know you said you don't actively play any other video games, but are there any you've played in the past and really enjoyed?
• What's your favourite movie? Favourite book too, if you're into reading.

Finally:
Thoughts on Him

 

[Adaam]

As a member of the LADDER MATTERS UU trio team, what inspired to make this team? As someone who was considered a "ladder hero," why do you think ladder has such a negative connotation?

What was your major and how are you applying it with your current internship?

Which pokemon do you see, if any, as potentially over the top as of now? Besides Chansey that is

How does playing Pokemon compare to chess? Obviously the game tree of chess is much more complex, but do any core concepts apply to both, and does playing one help you play another?

I love you by the way

 

[pdt]

when will Ramolost win a major tournament?
have you ever woken up in Clefable 's body?
do you plan on reaching 2000 elo on the gen 8 uu ladder?
if you could only play pokemon or chess for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
what is some advice you would give ladder players that are looking to break into the tour scene? i was there once, and so were many tour players, i know you don't play many tours but as the ladder GOAT im sure you can provide some insight.

 

[War Incarnate]

What is your least favorite pokemon? (competitively and casually)

What has been your favorite generation of UU?

If you had to choose between playing Pokemon and Minecraft for one whole month, which would you choose?

What has been your least favorite archetype to play? (and your favorite)

i like you, even though i never really knew you.

 

[ramolost]

how do you actually win chess games pif i dont get it

thats my only question please let me know.
ily

edit : totally forgot but how would you nick a slowpoke? and a porygon?

 

[Clefable]

No questions for you pif, you're the best! I hope you achieve all of your goals, especially me winning UU Open.

 

[vivalospride]

Will you sign up for uupl next year?

why is c5 the best move? fuck Anish

Do you feel under appreciated within the community?

When're you coming to LA to meet up with meng (not mengy) and I?

What's your favorite UU meta of all time?

What's your favorite non uu meta of all time?

Who's builds do you like piloting the most other than your own?

 

[MTB'er Ben]

What's your first initial instinct or "go-to" decision when it comes to building a team?

What's your number one tip on team building?

Twitch chess has exploded in popularity recently...whose your favorite player to watch, if any? Non-twitch player?

What do you think mega Flygon wouldve been?

What's your opinion of the item eject pack?

 

[pokemonisfun]

Will you sign up for uupl next year?

why is c5 the best move? fuck Anish

Do you feel under appreciated within the community?

When're you coming to LA to meet up with meng (not mengy) and I?

What's your favorite UU meta of all time?

What's your favorite non uu meta of all time?

Who's builds do you like piloting the most other than your own?

I plan to sign up as a player. I think people who are in leader roles even like UUPL managers should step down eventually so I don't think I'll sign up to manage unless there's a lack of sign ups.

1. c5 is only legal as a black move and it depends on what White does if it's good or not. You're not actually disagreeing with Anish, who proposed a

I don't feel under appreciated, I feel contributors like Cake and Viv are underappreciated and a lot of people who write analysis regularly should get paid. I don't contribute as much as them. There's only so much you can be rewarded with in UU Subforums and I've been offered council and given my community badge and given a chance to manage a UUPL team among other things. It's not like I expect people to bow down to me or pay me. Not much more you can do in Chaos' corrupt system where everyone on Smogon slaves for badges.

I don't know if I'll go to LA I like the East Coast a lot more.

I like gen8uu a lot right now, before the DLC stuff happened. HDB to nerf Rocks, very few regen mons, no broken Pursuit trapping, the "top" mon is Noivern (I'm sure plenty would disagree with me) which obviously isn't nearly as overbearing as something like Scizor in gen7uu which could sweep well prepared teams if given just a little leeway.

I use only my teams plus Ramo and yours unless I'm in a team tour, then I'll let other people give me teams if i think it's a good idea. I like both yours and Ramo's teams, I have more experience with you though.

No questions for you pif, you're the best! I hope you achieve all of your goals, especially me winning UU Open.

㋛

how do you actually win chess games pif i dont get it

thats my only question please let me know.
ily

I've never tried to pretend I'm good at chess. I'm okay and I enjoy playing it. People need to stop putting chess on an intellectual pedestal, it's just a game. You can win in a few ways, checkmate (surrounding opponent's King and attacking it), time (opponent runs out of time), and most commonly if your opponent forfeits in a hopeless position. I can tutor you for free if you want.

What is your least favorite pokemon? (competitively and casually)

What has been your favorite generation of UU?

If you had to choose between playing Pokemon and Minecraft for one whole month, which would you choose?

What has been your least favorite archetype to play? (and your favorite)

i like you, even though i never really knew you.

I definitely don't have a least favorite Pokemon. But I do hate cheesey styles, which I define as playstyles that rely on match ups more than usual. So I really hate mons that set up Screens right now, mainly Espeon and Xatu, not because they are bad, but I think they make the tier worse. Things like Poltegeist and other Shell Smashers just go in vs so many teams.

I don't have a favorite generation really, competitively I think gen8 is pretty nice. For UU, I think gen8>gen6=gen3>gen4>gen2=gen7=gen5. Still I like to play all of them.

I have never played Minecraft so I guess I pick Minecraft to learn something new? Although realistically I'd play both since I like Mons.

My least favorite archetypes are anything that tries to MU fish like Screens especially. I don't have a favorite but I've most recently been building Volt-Turn with Flip Turn Barraskewda and that's pretty fun.

I don't know you either but I may like you too. Feel free to tell me about yourself too...no pressure though

when will Ramolost win a major tournament?
have you ever woken up in Clefable 's body?
do you plan on reaching 2000 elo on the gen 8 uu ladder?
if you could only play pokemon or chess for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
what is some advice you would give ladder players that are looking to break into the tour scene? i was there once, and so were many tour players, i know you don't play many tours but as the ladder GOAT im sure you can provide some insight.

Ramolost is one of my top 5 contenders for UU Open. Anyways idk what counts as major tournament, I don't really put a pedestal on this, I would rather just see him play exceptionally well.

That sounds wrong.

I don't focus on the Elo, I focus on doing my best and constantly challenging myself. If I reach 2000 it will almost certainly because some type of suspect test or project surges the ladder and increases the player base

I don't have much advice, for open tournaments just do your best and make sure you have good teams. If you're looking to get drafted for something, I could use advice on that myself. It's not purely meritocratic and I don't think anyone believes that...The ladder though is a pure meritocracy so you have to adjust. As in, there are factors besides your skill level that matter in getting drafted as opposed to ladder, which is purely skill based. I'm not saying that's always bad by the way...being nice and friendly is a good life trait that will also help you get drafted I guess.

As a member of the LADDER MATTERS UU trio team, what inspired to make this team? As someone who was considered a "ladder hero," why do you think ladder has such a negative connotation?

What was your major and how are you applying it with your current internship?

Which pokemon do you see, if any, as potentially over the top as of now? Besides Chansey that is

How does playing Pokemon compare to chess? Obviously the game tree of chess is much more complex, but do any core concepts apply to both, and does playing one help you play another?

I love you by the way

Actually you thought of the name "ladder or die" or something similar and I just wanted to make it rhyme. I wanted to make this team to win this tour and have fun with my friends which is why I asked my friends who are exceptional UU players to join and carry me.

The ladder probably has a bad connotation because a lot of Smogon and PS players have fragile egos and want to put down people who beat them on the ladder. It's hard to admit some random outplayed or outprepped or outcheesed you on the ladder when you spend a bunch of time as an "elite" Smogon player. Anyways the ladder is pure fairness - anyone can join and we all abide by the same rating system and you have practically unlimited games to play. It's not something for you if you want to be in an exclusive cool club.

I studied poli sci in undergraduate and a branch of poli sci for graduate school...it's pretty applicable since I intern for a politician I guess. For example, a class on Chinese politics might give you helpful background to take notes on an issue that relates the US and China. Politics is pretty awful though, serving the people should be the most important thing.

I think Shell Smash users and Light Clay/Screens are stupid and cheesey mons. Necrozma I've wanted tested since Sun. Keldeo is very suspect, it beats a lot of so called counters and checks with Rest Talk CM and max SpDef.

Pokemon and Chess are both turn based games, pretty strategic, lots more luck and guessing and incomplete information in Pokemon. I guess there aren't too many core concepts. For example, you cannot set up SR in chess. You can do lots of psychological things though. For example, in Pokemon I like to turn on timer after I make a prediction or hax my opponent. In over the board chess, I might randomly "adjust" a piece on my opponent's side of the board to annoy them or make it look weak. Nothing serious!

Some mons questions:

• How did you start off with Pokemon? Which game was your first, and which was your favourite?
• Are there any Pokemon you really want to see the return of in the next DLC?
• This isn't a question but I'd like to issue a formal apology for all the Machamp I've been spamming, and I'd also like to complain about all the times I Facaded your Corsolas.
• You've recently topped more ladders than just UU. Do you think there are any notable up-and-comers on these ladders? You can answer for UU too, of course.
• What's your favourite shiny Pokemon? This kinda ties into anish's favourite colour question

And some personal questions:

• How long have you been together with your boyfriend? Has he ever played Pokemon? Will we one day see the combination of pif, pokemonisfun, and pif's bf on the top of the ladder?
• How many languages do you speak? Are there any you'd like to learn, but haven't gotten the opportunity?
• Can you describe vivalospride in three words? "Viva los pride" doesn't count.
• I know you said you don't actively play any other video games, but are there any you've played in the past and really enjoyed?
• What's your favourite movie? Favourite book too, if you're into reading.

Finally:
Thoughts on Him

My first game was Silver, no real favorites, haven't played cartridge since Diamond, I don't really follow that stuff anymore unless it's competitively relevant like DLC.

I don't have any large desire for a return

I haven't paid too much attention to the ladder outside of UU, There are plenty of good ladder players but I don't know if they have a desire to do anything besides ladder, haffling for example is good and innovated SubCM Sylveon.

I do like Shina Corsola Galar, idk if I have a favorite, I don't pay too much attention. Shiny Latias is cute too.

Been with boyfriend for about 18 months, he doesn't play mons. He speaks Chinese, English, Japanese, Arabic fluently and French and German pretty fluently. He also knows a few more modern languages not fluently and several ancient languages too. As for me, I speak English fluently and know a bit of some other languages but not too much.

Thirsty, not elitist, full of potential (but only if he properly uses it)

I used to play tetris a lot, I enjoy it, especially when it was around on Facebook

I don't have a favorite movie but I like Attack on Titan as a TV show. I don't read too much, something that informed a lot of my thinking is "The Logic of Political Survival." Basically the authors try to argue that you can think of government leaders as gang bosses and they try to stay in power by distributing political/economic goodies. The more people they have to distribute to, the less stable their coalition is because it's harder to maintain a big network. It's applicable to so called democracies as well if you read their arguments.

I name him nuzzle fuzzle

why is 1. d4 the best move?

why is mengy the goat mon player?

why is chansey not broken?

also whats ur favorite color?

I am not big into openings, 1. d4 is good but there are other perfectly good openings, especially if you're a casual like me

Mengy is another beast in Pokemon, he does not follow the trajectory of any typical respected player of going from ladder --> Smogon tournaments ---> moderate success/sucking off people to get drafted in random tier PL. Instead, he plays random OMs with friends and on half dead ladders so his approach to the game is probably a little different, although idk how. Also mons is sort of overrated, if you're of slightly above average intelligence and spend a lot of time, anyone can be good at Pokemon.

Let me post a poem about Chansey I wrote on Discord

Yes it's super fat and impossible to OHKO outside of boosted STAB physical Fighting moves. But you don't need to OHKO it to beat it and it's still fodder for Spikes Roserade and the Future Sight + Fighting Mon combo is better than ever now at getting free KOs vs fat teams. We have dumbass stuff like Poltergeist which sweeps 95% of this tier if it gets a free turn, bar the 2 dark types we use (Panda, Incin) and 3 if you count Umbreon but he's only proven on stall which nobody but me uses anyways - pretty sure all of UUPL and UULT only my stall teams were used. I would be fine if we banned other stupid cheesey stuff like random Shell Smash users and Screens user but if we aren't even willing to hold a suspect let alone a quick vote on these mons, yet we quick ban Chansey which is far less cheesey imo...idk bro it doesn't sit well with me

I don't really have a favorite color.