approved by us
banner by Seo.
Welcome to the first edition of SS Monotype player interviews! During this project we will be interviewing a lot of influential players and contributors in today's community. We will also be interviewing some older faces in the Monotype community, since a lot changes over the years, both metagame and player wise. This week, I will continue the series by interviewing one of my CO-TLs, Decem.
Decem
Can you tell us a bit about your life outside of Smogon?
I live in southern California and I’ll be starting my senior year of high school in the fall. I don’t really know what I want to do when I grow up which is why I’ll probably be trying to go to community college, but I’m thinking something along the lines of teaching. I like doodling a lot, hate math, love cats, and run track and field as well as cross country.
What are you most known for?
MonoTL, PS RO, I host resources, tutor and manage C&C too
What made you play Pokemon competitively? What got you into Monotype and made you want to stay?
I saw my friend’s brother playing PS one day and I thought it was cool. Checked it out and played random battles and sometimes OU with weird teams, some of them were Monotype. At the time leagues were pretty huge and I got pmed on main to join one, and I tried out and got in. I started playing Monotype in Summer 2016, eventually getting voice in January 2018 and I’ve been around since.
What is/are your favorite type(s) in SS Monotype?
Water and Dragon. Water's always pretty fun to build and one of the most consistent types out there right now as a result of being able to adapt well depending on what you want to beat while still being consistent against the majority of the metagame. Dragon's nowhere as flexible team structure wise but its consistency puts it as a personal favorite this generation.
What do you think of the SS meta? What is your opinion on it compared to the SM Monotype meta?
It’s weird to look at this metagame now and compare it to way back when Dynamax was allowed. SM was cool because Z-moves in particular were able to make Monotype less matchup based as tech options, with a prime example of Greninja who could run a variety of Z-moves to lure key defensive Pokemon in and break down entire types with its coverage and Protean. I disliked pre DLC SS Monotype because it felt like you had to rely on matchup more as a result of not being able to cover your weaknesses as well through teambuilding, but the metagame will only improve as more Pokemon are added.
How do you think DLC has affected the SS meta?
As the DLCs release balance is going to become more and more prominent in SS. It’s interesting to see how far SS meta has come since Dynamax was present. Monotype was mainly offensive then, but that has shifted slowly and slowly towards balance and bulky offense as a result of Dyanmax getting banned, taking off pressure from defensive Pokemon, Pokemon Home providing a wider distribution of Defog and Toxic, and DLCs dropping more and more Pokemon which allows more types to form competent defensive cores. People were playing with balanced Water with good success more before DLC hit too. Flying will come back full force when it gets an electric immunity that isnt emolga. Otherwise this should go without saying but the DLC release has done a good job of making the metagame more diverse, but at the same time I think I would enjoy it more if it didn’t drop in the middle of MPL as it can be confusing prepping. It also makes tiering more complicated as a result of the shifting metagames and will probably result in more Pokemon getting resuspected down the line.
You’ve seen the Monotype community go through a lot during the years, you yourself have changed a lot over this years (ghost cream ;w;) what are your thoughts on the present state of it?
Monotype is one of the biggest and at the same time tightest communities on Smogon. I see a lot of people that are trying to make a name playing wise and some throughout contributions too, so that’s also good. I would like to help Monotype grow bigger as a community but at the same time, but tight like it is now. I would like to see Monotype get into official tournaments at some point in time, but a lot of people that haven’t tried the tier compare it to “rock paper scissors”, which is blatantly untrue. Impressive how far we’ve come from being an OM though, so I hope this community will continue to grow even bigger. Leadership in general right now is pretty new but we’re getting used to things pretty quickly.
MPL is in full flow! How do you think your team has come along? What areas do you feel like your team needs to improve in? and how is it managing with community villain Perish Song?.
My team is in a pretty good position at the moment especially as the underdogs, so the main thing is keeping up our efforts to perform and make playoffs. Perish Song was busy for the first few weeks but I think he’ll do fine in SS now that he has more free time. I didn’t agree with what he did in the draft which caused a lot of backlash but he didn’t mean any disrespect and isn’t a bad person at all.
Are there any up and coming players that have impressed you or that you think will make a mark in the community?
Yedla and Mateeus on my team are people that I think have potential, and have both been helpful on my team since the tournament started. I'm surprised Mateeus wasn't picked up for previous MPLs considering he has been involved with the community for a long time. Other names include Floss and Dieu Amphibien that are also people I’d watch out for. I also think Roxiee has potential to become a long time contributor as they are trying to contribute to room, C&C and on forums alongside improving playing wise.
Do you have any advice for players new to Monotype or trying to improve and get more involved in the community?
For improving just try to keep your chin up and find mistakes in you as a player you can fix. It does take a long time, but you’ll get there eventually if you keep the hard work up. As for getting involved in the community, there are a lot of ways you can do so. Having success in tournaments is one, but there are other ways like helping others throughout various contributions that people will eventually come to respect you for. Generally if you keep a good attitude and continue the hard work, you’ll eventually become involved in the community assuming you’re a good person. BLT is a good tournament that is particularly nice for getting newer guys involved in the monotype tournament scene, despite many people looking down on it. I can always help if you're trying to get more involved with the community so just PM me if you have any questions.
Can you show us a team you've been liking in SS and provide us an explanation as to what the team is about and how to use it?
https://pokepast.es/3f63d8299d356769
Been liking Dragon a lot because of Dragalge. Dragalge patches up the Psychic and Fairy matchups well because of Toxic Spikes and Flip Turn allows it to avoid being a momentum sap. You can get t spikes up against the types they threaten very well, especially fairy and psychic where you can 1v1 hatterene. Protect is to scout for choice locked pokemon like indeedee, gardevoir, and to get back passive recovery. Rest of the team is pretty standard, fat duraludon helps repeatedly switch into jirachi against psychic and cripples a lot of things nicely with twave. Choice scarf noivern is nice since u can switcheroo hazard pokemon and defog them away after locking them into one attack, and mess up setup like corviknight, jirachi, and snorlax. Dragons a pretty consistent type that is easy to pilot so id recommend it if you’re starting out and trying to get into mono
Favorite People on PS? Top 3-5 players in mono?
Favorite people on PS would probably be just mono people I talk to on a daily basis which includes Ticken, Top 3-5 right now would probably be Chaitanya, 1 True Lycan, Zukushiku, Sabella, Leru
Any last words you want to leave us with?
FUCK THE PR GO MILOTICS. Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye everyone!
Feel free to ask any Decem any questions in this thread, and expect another interview next week!
banner by Seo.
Welcome to the first edition of SS Monotype player interviews! During this project we will be interviewing a lot of influential players and contributors in today's community. We will also be interviewing some older faces in the Monotype community, since a lot changes over the years, both metagame and player wise. This week, I will continue the series by interviewing one of my CO-TLs, Decem.
Decem
Can you tell us a bit about your life outside of Smogon?
I live in southern California and I’ll be starting my senior year of high school in the fall. I don’t really know what I want to do when I grow up which is why I’ll probably be trying to go to community college, but I’m thinking something along the lines of teaching. I like doodling a lot, hate math, love cats, and run track and field as well as cross country.
What are you most known for?
MonoTL, PS RO, I host resources, tutor and manage C&C too
What made you play Pokemon competitively? What got you into Monotype and made you want to stay?
I saw my friend’s brother playing PS one day and I thought it was cool. Checked it out and played random battles and sometimes OU with weird teams, some of them were Monotype. At the time leagues were pretty huge and I got pmed on main to join one, and I tried out and got in. I started playing Monotype in Summer 2016, eventually getting voice in January 2018 and I’ve been around since.
What is/are your favorite type(s) in SS Monotype?
Water and Dragon. Water's always pretty fun to build and one of the most consistent types out there right now as a result of being able to adapt well depending on what you want to beat while still being consistent against the majority of the metagame. Dragon's nowhere as flexible team structure wise but its consistency puts it as a personal favorite this generation.
What do you think of the SS meta? What is your opinion on it compared to the SM Monotype meta?
It’s weird to look at this metagame now and compare it to way back when Dynamax was allowed. SM was cool because Z-moves in particular were able to make Monotype less matchup based as tech options, with a prime example of Greninja who could run a variety of Z-moves to lure key defensive Pokemon in and break down entire types with its coverage and Protean. I disliked pre DLC SS Monotype because it felt like you had to rely on matchup more as a result of not being able to cover your weaknesses as well through teambuilding, but the metagame will only improve as more Pokemon are added.
How do you think DLC has affected the SS meta?
As the DLCs release balance is going to become more and more prominent in SS. It’s interesting to see how far SS meta has come since Dynamax was present. Monotype was mainly offensive then, but that has shifted slowly and slowly towards balance and bulky offense as a result of Dyanmax getting banned, taking off pressure from defensive Pokemon, Pokemon Home providing a wider distribution of Defog and Toxic, and DLCs dropping more and more Pokemon which allows more types to form competent defensive cores. People were playing with balanced Water with good success more before DLC hit too. Flying will come back full force when it gets an electric immunity that isnt emolga. Otherwise this should go without saying but the DLC release has done a good job of making the metagame more diverse, but at the same time I think I would enjoy it more if it didn’t drop in the middle of MPL as it can be confusing prepping. It also makes tiering more complicated as a result of the shifting metagames and will probably result in more Pokemon getting resuspected down the line.
You’ve seen the Monotype community go through a lot during the years, you yourself have changed a lot over this years (ghost cream ;w;) what are your thoughts on the present state of it?
Monotype is one of the biggest and at the same time tightest communities on Smogon. I see a lot of people that are trying to make a name playing wise and some throughout contributions too, so that’s also good. I would like to help Monotype grow bigger as a community but at the same time, but tight like it is now. I would like to see Monotype get into official tournaments at some point in time, but a lot of people that haven’t tried the tier compare it to “rock paper scissors”, which is blatantly untrue. Impressive how far we’ve come from being an OM though, so I hope this community will continue to grow even bigger. Leadership in general right now is pretty new but we’re getting used to things pretty quickly.
MPL is in full flow! How do you think your team has come along? What areas do you feel like your team needs to improve in? and how is it managing with community villain Perish Song?.
My team is in a pretty good position at the moment especially as the underdogs, so the main thing is keeping up our efforts to perform and make playoffs. Perish Song was busy for the first few weeks but I think he’ll do fine in SS now that he has more free time. I didn’t agree with what he did in the draft which caused a lot of backlash but he didn’t mean any disrespect and isn’t a bad person at all.
Are there any up and coming players that have impressed you or that you think will make a mark in the community?
Yedla and Mateeus on my team are people that I think have potential, and have both been helpful on my team since the tournament started. I'm surprised Mateeus wasn't picked up for previous MPLs considering he has been involved with the community for a long time. Other names include Floss and Dieu Amphibien that are also people I’d watch out for. I also think Roxiee has potential to become a long time contributor as they are trying to contribute to room, C&C and on forums alongside improving playing wise.
Do you have any advice for players new to Monotype or trying to improve and get more involved in the community?
For improving just try to keep your chin up and find mistakes in you as a player you can fix. It does take a long time, but you’ll get there eventually if you keep the hard work up. As for getting involved in the community, there are a lot of ways you can do so. Having success in tournaments is one, but there are other ways like helping others throughout various contributions that people will eventually come to respect you for. Generally if you keep a good attitude and continue the hard work, you’ll eventually become involved in the community assuming you’re a good person. BLT is a good tournament that is particularly nice for getting newer guys involved in the monotype tournament scene, despite many people looking down on it. I can always help if you're trying to get more involved with the community so just PM me if you have any questions.
Can you show us a team you've been liking in SS and provide us an explanation as to what the team is about and how to use it?
https://pokepast.es/3f63d8299d356769
Been liking Dragon a lot because of Dragalge. Dragalge patches up the Psychic and Fairy matchups well because of Toxic Spikes and Flip Turn allows it to avoid being a momentum sap. You can get t spikes up against the types they threaten very well, especially fairy and psychic where you can 1v1 hatterene. Protect is to scout for choice locked pokemon like indeedee, gardevoir, and to get back passive recovery. Rest of the team is pretty standard, fat duraludon helps repeatedly switch into jirachi against psychic and cripples a lot of things nicely with twave. Choice scarf noivern is nice since u can switcheroo hazard pokemon and defog them away after locking them into one attack, and mess up setup like corviknight, jirachi, and snorlax. Dragons a pretty consistent type that is easy to pilot so id recommend it if you’re starting out and trying to get into mono
Favorite People on PS? Top 3-5 players in mono?
Favorite people on PS would probably be just mono people I talk to on a daily basis which includes Ticken, Top 3-5 right now would probably be Chaitanya, 1 True Lycan, Zukushiku, Sabella, Leru
Any last words you want to leave us with?
FUCK THE PR GO MILOTICS. Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye everyone!
Feel free to ask any Decem any questions in this thread, and expect another interview next week!
Last edited:
(don't leak regardless though)
