Project RU Player of the Week #5: Arifeen

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Arifeen

Hi guys! Welcome to the fifth player of the week, this week we have Arifeen; a room driver in the RU PS! room, a well known contributor in the RU forums, and player in RUPL. Arifeen contains knowledge and interest in the tier and is a very renowned player, let's hop into the interview!
How did you start playing competitively and when was your first RU battle?

I played OU back in like late 2013 when I was introduced to PS! I drifted to Monotype after that and stayed there for around a year. I first played RU when RU was suspecting Pangoro and Moltres, and I started to like the tier.

How did you choose the name Arifeen?

It's my irl name lol I wasn't that creative and stuck to it

What is your currently your favourite play style in RU and what do you think is the best play style right now?

My favorite playstyle is bulky offense, especially using some hard hitting Pokemon backed by a Pokemon that can absorb hits. This can be seen on a number of teams having Sawk / Medicham / Venusaur backed by Registeel / Mega Steelix. The best playstyle is no doubt balance. Alomomola + Mega Steelix / Registeel + Weezing walls like 90% of the tier anyways.

What is your opinion on the Mega Steelix and Tyrantrum suspect recently announced?

About time. I've been vouching for suspecting both of them, because Mega Steelix is centralising, its checks are all worn down / has no reliable recovery and it seriously makes the tier not fun. You know it's not okay when you see like 30% usage of Lix on ladder and SPL, and unlike Flygon it literally has one set lol. Tyrantrum is a nightmare for offense and Choice Band set is just insane lol

How does your experience differ in the RU Ladder and Tournament battles?

RU Ladder is just straight up painful. You gotta prep for stuff like Jolteon, Exploud, and Clawitzer. Not saying they are bad (they obviously aren't), but they are still dangerous on ladder. So I usually just build or usesome balance or stall team on ladder to get easy points. Tournament battles I tend to run creative stuff because my thought process focuses on a certain Pokemon and running lures to that Pokemon's checks. I'm building a lot of teams for my RUPL team, and I'm quite satisfied to be building teams of almost every playstyles.
As for playing, I just make obvious plays in ladder without thinking usually, unless it's high ladder. As for tours, I try to make safe plays and sometimes weigh the risk vs reward balance to check if it's worth making a risky play. Sometimes they work and others they don't.


What RU players do you look up to the most, any players that you feel are new and upcoming?

One of the first RU players who I look up to and still respect a lot is Scythe. He's a fantastic builder, great player, and one of my closest friends on this site. He has been the guy who helped me get introduced to RU, helped me in builds when I was still new to the tier, and he also helped me get invigorated into the forums. Another great player I look up to is Kushalos, who also makes very creative, yet amazing teams and is usually my sparring partner for tests. Good new players I'd have to say Laurens (Solidsweeps), is also pretty good and his builds are very interesting.

How has your experience been so far in RUPL?

It has been great so far, I feel like I got to know the team even more, having better friendship with DTC , Lord Death Man, TonyFlygon, Zamrock, and EonX. The chat is very active and helpful, and the team is good as well. I had a solid start in the first 2 weeks but I choked 3rd week and game 4 was bad luck. Hopefully I'll bounce back from the losing streak and get us some wins. We have a good chance of making to playoffs so let's hope we get there and win.

What are some underrated pokemon that you really like using?

I feel like Gurdurr is pretty underrated in RU atm. It can really soft check a lot of threats such as Vizion and Flygon and is a great setup sweeper overall. It also beats Fletchinder 1v1 if it has a +1 boost :o

Any advice for new players getting into RU?

Try to lurk and see what more esteemed users post. Don't hesitate to discuss things on RU room on PS!, but make sure you bring up quality discussions on the forums, as they describe your characteristics.

Finally is there a team you can post with your interview and give a brief explanation of how it works?

Togetic @ Eviolite
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Baton Pass
- Roost
- Fire Blast

Delphox @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower

Flygon @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 188 HP / 68 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Defog

Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect
- Seismic Toss

Spiritomb @ Dread Plate
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 184 HP / 252 Atk / 72 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pursuit
- Foul Play
- Sucker Punch

Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Flash Cannon
- Heat Wave
- Roost


Here's a pretty dogshit team that relies on Baton Pass to secure win. Delphox is the wincon, Registeel, Flygon, and Spiritomb are there to check things while the latter two provide sort of offensive pressure. Togetic passes Nasty Plot boosts to Sigilyph and Delphox. Flash Cannon Sigilyph is nice because it deals with Diancie, giving one less check for Delphox.

Thanks again to Arifeen for taking the time to this interview, ask him any questions you have below, also leave recommendations for future users for POTW! :toast:
 
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lax

cloutimus maximus
is a Community Leader Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnuswon the 10th Official Ladder Tournamentis a Past SPL Championis a Past WCoP Champion
RBTT Champion
what's your favorite RU mon with explosion? is explosion effective in the ru metagame
 

Shadestep

volition immanent
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
how did you find out about Smogon and PS?
what do you do outside of workhorsing here? any cool hobbies?
 
what's your favorite mon on offense in ru atm? when will you swing through the jungles with me?
 

feen

control
is a Top Tiering Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
what's your favorite RU mon with explosion? is explosion effective in the ru metagame
I think I only used lead explosion qwilfish once. Explosion's not much effective cuz its a staple on HO and we all know ttrum rapes that
What do you see rising the most in vr if thrum and/or lix are banned?
If lix gets the boot, I can see an increase in Jolteon usage oo. Also Mega Camerupt might be used more.
how did you find out about Smogon and PS?
what do you do outside of workhorsing here? any cool hobbies?
I was chilling with this friend and he introduced me to PO. From there I joined a Pokemon facebook group for Bangladeshis and found out about PS!. I made Smogon after like 6 months after I joined PS because I wanted to tell the monotype community that rain teams are broken.
Other than staying on PS, I chill with friends in uni, smoke cigs and tutor students
what's your favorite mon on offense in ru atm? when will you swing through the jungles with me?
Good question. I really like using Medicham + Pursuit atm. It's really good esp in the current meta.
Google Bangladesh and tell me where u find jungles -_-
is it stressful being a workhorse
no .-.
apart from consistently rating every month @_@
Thoughts on webs?
matchup dependant, great against offensive builds
 

feen

control
is a Top Tiering Contributoris a Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Top 3 curry flavors?
Not an Indian so idk
what is the greatest bollywood movie of all time?

Discounting sholay ofc
I'M NOT INDIAN I DONT WATCH BOLLYWOOD
What mon from UU do you want?
Give Milotic pls
Most overrated and underrated Pokemon in RU?
Good question. Most overrated Pokemon I feel is Seismitoad atm. It's current rank in vr makes no sense and there are tons of better waters to use over it. For underrated I'm going Braviary. It's gonna be a huge player once lix and ttrum gets the boot. Sub BU is amazing as hell and destroys many teams.
Why are people sleeping on Registeel?
Also double status is gross xp
REGISTEEL IS GOD
why did you change your ps name to ari?
Using irl name on a live chat is really annoying
 
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