Project Player Interview V3.2 #11: Shiba

justdrew

is an official Team Rateris a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a defending SCL Champion
PUPL Champion

Approved by UU Moderation / Amazing Art by Moutemoute

Hello and welcome to.. "Player Interview"! This project will allow you to discover or re-discover some well known players of the UU community. Those people may be known thanks to their high-skilled level, their achievements on the strategic scene, or thanks to their dedication to the tier or within the community. Let me first say that I am honored to be following in the footsteps of an esteemed and accomplished list of interviewers: Moutemoute, Feliburn, Kink, and Cynde (also Pokemonisfun and Aqua Jet). Thank you are very much for your work!

Hold on there just a second! You are reading the second ever author's note for these interviews. Huzzah! I've taken a break from the normal list of interviewees to interview another very special person. I have, and will continue to do this periodically throughout this project. Note that these interviews will be conducted in a different format for more humorous purposes. Here we have Shiba, who is far less problematic than Chris Wanka, so reader discretion isn't advised this time. Please do not be foolish... go grab some snacks for this one.


Hi Shiba, huge fan. How's it going (at the gym)? Tell the community about yourself!


Hi Drew, thanks you too. It’s going well (leg day sucks ass tho), wbu? Anyways, my name is Ryan and I’m a 24 y/o accountant from Arizona. I’m predominately a UU player that likes to play all the gens outside of 1 and 2, but I’ve dabbled in some other tiers we well. Outside of mons, I like to work out, watch sports (Yankees/Ravens), watch shows/movies and play FPS games (mostly Valorant or Warzone now but previously have been big on competitive Apex, GoW4, Halo 3, H1Z1, Fortnite).


I'm doing pretty well. Must be a hard life as a Ravens fan. I mean to be in a division with two of the historically worst franchises and still manage to get last. That speaks volumes.

Anyway... How did a young, beefy-legged accountant from Arizona like you get started on Showdown?


Tell me I won’t…
IMG_2121.jpg

Anyways, I actually got started on Showdown in early XY when me and my friend got the cartridge games and wanted to battle. He’d always spout some dumb shit about “smogon rules” so I gave it a look. After that I spammed XY UU ladder with BP Celebi and the rest is history.


More money, more problems - Abraham Lincoln (1699). Place the bet.

Of all the ways you've contributed to Smogon/PS (B101, UU Room Owner, etc.), which is your favorite?


Leading B101 was probably my favorite contribution to the site. We went through a huge overhaul at the end of my tenure and I was glad to see it through. B101 is probably one of the most important subforums on the site; as an outlet for newer players it can keep said users on the site and promote growth. Smogon has a big inclusivity problem with its big team tournaments and the vibe of it all can turn away promising users, but at least the tutoring section can help those newer users have a chance at improving and get into those tours eventually if they keep working.


That's a great answer. You accepted my tutor application, over three years ago at this point, and tutoring players is some of the most fun I've had on the site. So thank you! If you find someone really willing to learn it's a great way to make a friend and involve them in the community. And I agree with your comment on Smogon's inclusivity problem, which is why UUFPL has done our community a lot of good. The more chances you give to people, the better this community will become.

Shifting gears: Is me beating you in Monotype Seasonal the low-point of your career, or is there worse?


Yeah exactly; the hate on lower tiers doesn't exactly help either but I digress.

LOL you'd be surprised how many low points I've had... too many to name, but that's probably one. EQing a Gastly in LC Open Semifinals with a 100% win to get into playoffs is one, getting stalled by Accel in UUPL, missing Ice Fang in UUPL Finals tiebreak, going undrafted in a few tours when my UU activity was super high, etc to name a few.

Caring less about mons has definitely been the move though; for me putting less pressure on myself has made me play better as well as lessened the steepness of the low points... aka losing to THE itsjustdrew.


Yeah, the less you care when you lose, the easier it is to win strangely.

You're a good Pokemon player, I'll admit. You've played a fair amount of generations of UU, and yet it seems ADV might be your best. How are you so good at it? And why do you continue to let yourself suffer?


ADV is a very interaction based metagame, once you get the interactions down between the 2 big dogs Kanga and Oma, it's one of the best UU metas by far. A lot of zoomers have the opinion that first Kanga crit wins and that's why it's bad, but that's just inexperience smh; It's def the goat UU gen right now, and I'm glad to be working on new ways to make it better with NFE/Armaldo tests.


It's almost like I planned this interview! Can you give us a little snippet of your thoughts on changes to ADV tiering? Are you happy with what's happening? Anything else soon to change?


I'm honestly a fan of the direction it's going. Maybe we won't get any BLs unbanned but at least we'll get to free NFEs. I feel like Haunter and Metang will be great additions to the tier. I haven't seen enough of Armaldo to form a good opinion yet but I know people are worried about paraspam + the SD set. As for other BLs, I feel like Arcanine has a good chance to be freed if we cross that bridge.


Interesting. I might pick up the tier, who knows! How did you win the UU ribbon and then get knocked out of UU Open round 1?


You should, it's super skill intensive and definitely worth it.

LOL I don't want to answer that but all I can say is anyone can beat anyone in Pokemon. I'm not one to really make excuses anymore but I just thought I could bring old shit and win, that's all it was. I can still flex the ribbon for like 9 months though so I'm still the real winner in my heart..


Flex away gym boy. And yeah I, of course, have lost UU Open round 1 and have no ribbon. However, I have no shame and will roast you about anything under the sun.

Do you have any role models on this site? I'm flattered, but you can't choose me.


Of course, I get roasted often so it's no big deal.

As for role models, I don't really have any; I just try to play my own game in a unique way and be my own person when it comes to mons. I do have a ton of people that I have respect for though if it matters, which may or may not include you, who knows?


That's admirable. And who knows? Ryan... I know.

Hypothetical: Dodmen comes back and sees all the times you tagged him. What do you do?


LOL I'm a man... I stand up to the guy of course... for all the people that don't know, we weren't ever really on the best terms ever since I started Smogon so there's that.


Awww that's cute! I'll be right with you bud. I got your back.

What are your thoughts on circle jerks?


LOL thanks dude... knew I could count on you.

I can't tell if you're asking about actual circlejerks or like friend jerks but regardless if you're not jerking it with your friends then is there really a point to jerking it at all?


That's a sufficient answer. But I was asking about the latter lol.

Fun fact, I ran into Yung Gravy in Grand Rapids the other day. Who is your celebrity crush? And why is it Big Sean?


Damn I'm jealous, Yung Gravy is in the top echelon of white rappers, big respect. As for my crush obviously Big Sean (the mf GOAT) is at the top, but other than that I'm more of a Jhene Aiko, Hailee Steinfeld, Saweetie kinda guy.


Yeah I told him I like his music then blared all of Gasanova and Snow Cougar on the ride home. I back Hailee Steinfeld. Pitch Perfect was pretty sick.

Can you give a concrete reason why you get 0 bitches?


I think you're mixing her up with Anna Kendricks bro.. but yeah LOL

I get 0 bitches because I'm still on this site. Once I'm done with this site I'll be swimming in them 100% no doubt. I'll still always be shitposting about you and others getting no bitches tho..


Pitch Perfect 2 and 3 homie. Google it. And you're welcome to lmao!

Do you have any final remarks?


Damn. I've never seen those wtf I didn't even know they existed.

Nothing much else to say, just shoutouts to all of my friends in the UU comm/Barclay/Monotype/etc, they're the ones that make this site bearable. Also thanks for the interview, always cool talking in this type of setting.


Thank you for taking the time out of your day to do this. And also thank you for tolerating my shenanigans!


Feel free to ask Shiba any questions you want!
 
What do you think went wrong with the Yankees since 2009 and do you agree with Brian Cashman that it was all the Astros fault?

Who is more important to you, Ray Lewis or Lamar Jackson?

When can you play for ADV SW tour?
 
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STANDING ON BUSINESS
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnusis a Past WCoP Championis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
A little late to these but yeah better late than never

Can you tell us about your successful run to UU Championship last year?
I actually didn't really have any motivation for like the whole year and a half before that run and was debating not even opting in for UU champs. After I won the first round I figured I could win the whole thing if I really tried even with little to no experience in SS UU before that point. Needless to say I just innovated the Chansey offense metagame and won the whole thing after. Really proud of it considering I never had an individual trophy/ribbon up until that point.

Did you expect it?
100%, I believe in myself and think I can put the beatdown on anyone (except you) as long as I try enough.

Did you have fun?
Yeah I mean I can say I had fun. As I said before the big part for me was motivation at that point, but it was fun building myself and testing every team I used.

How did you overcome any challenges?
Most of my challenges came in the builder, but I had a really good support group (as advertised in my win post) that helped me with the win. Without them, I wouldn't have had any team advice/testing partners to get to where I was.

Anything remarkable about it you want to discuss?
God mami Chan carried me

Ideal meal?
I love a nice steak with brown rice and broccoli, the greatest meal of all time.

What do you think went wrong with the Yankees since 2009 and do you agree with Brian Cashman that it was all the Astros fault?
I think it's just the lack of pure hitters, we have a bunch of home run or bust guys and it's been like that for the better part of 10 years. This year has a cool feel to it though, we're in 1st and I think they're only going up from here. On a side note, I do think Aaron Judge is leaving at the end of the year since he really didn't accept that more-than-fair offer though so I 100% want to kill myself.


Who is more important to you, Ray Lewis or Lamar Jackson?
I'm actually an Ed Reed guy, easily my favorite player of all time. If I had to choose between Ray or Lamar, it'd be Ray 100%; Lamar hasn't brought a Super Bowl yet but I believe he will.

When can you play for ADV SW tour?
rfn

SigmaMaleGrindset, the goat.
ALWAYS
 

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