CAP Player of the Week #2: Sparktrain

SHSP

is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top CAP Contributor
Moderator
(Inspired by threads in OU and other forums, co-hosted by SHSP and Airwind, Banner by Centinela)

Hello and welcome to the CAP player of the week! In this project, Airwind and I will interview some of our metagame’s best innovators, builders, and players! This week's interviewee is Sparktrain, CAPtain of the Naughty Necturnas among many other accomplishments! If you have anyone who you would like to be interviewed, please PM either Airwind or me!


Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I'm a 22 year old guy from Michigan. I studied mathematics in college and just graduated with my bachelor's degree. I'm starting work as a computer systems analyst next month.

What are you most known for on Smogon?

At this point, I'm probably known most for being a frequent CAP poster and player, though I used to be known as the guy who wrote way too many LC analyses.

What is your favorite Pokemon, and why?

Seel. It's objectively better than every other Pokemon.

What is your favorite CAP?

That's a tough one... I like a lot of them, but I'd say Necturna is my favorite. Great design, cool concept, and just an all-around versatile and unpredictable threat.

What was your favorite CAP process?

My favorite process was CAP 21, Crucibelle. It was my first time serving in a leadership role during a CAP process (I was the stats leader), and being a part of the process of creating our first Mega Pokemon made it even more exciting. There were lots of people I really enjoyed participating with that time around, and overall, I thought it was a pretty great process.

What is your most used Pokemon?

Tomohawk. Boring, but it fits onto a huge variety of teams, and it fills several critical roles in this metagame.

What brought you to Smogon and competitive Pokemon in general?

I started playing mons on PS in high school. The battling component of Pokemon is what made the game interesting to me, and PS makes it really easy and convenient to make teams and battle with them right away. I finally joined Smogon in 2013. I was a Little Cup main at the time, and I got my start in the community by playing and posting about XY LC.

How were you introduced to the CAP project?

I noticed it on Smogon one day, and I just started reading about it and voting in the polls. I started getting involved in the community around 2014, and since then I've been playing the metagame and posting on the forums. Not much else to it!

What is the best part of the creation of a CAPmon in your opinion?

Concept assessment. Easily. I'd argue it's the most important stage of the process, since it's essentially where we decide how we'd like to tackle the process. There's plenty of important in-depth discussion that occurs in later stages, but there are often times where the preferable choice is clear from the start, and the CAP sort of just falls into place.

What is your favorite CAP OM? (like cap lc, monotype, doubles)

I haven't played any of them very much, but I'd say CAP LC. You get to use smaller, cuter versions of CAP mons, and you can't say that about dubs or monotype.

What made you choose your name?

In high school, my nickname was Sparky, and that's what most of my friends and teachers called me. One day, my boisterous AP Chem teacher yelled "WHAT'S UP, SPARKTRAIN" as I walked into class, and that name stuck for a while, lol. Like most of the other students in the class, I used my computer to "take notes", and of course I decided to use sparktrain as my alt on PS. To this day, it's my main account.

What is your favorite Generation of Pokemon and why?

My favorite would have to be Gen 3. I'm fairly certain I've logged more hours playing R/S/E than games from every other generation combined. Gen 3 OU is pretty great, too!

Thoughts on the SM CAP metagame so far?

I like SM way more than ORAS. Gen 6 was getting pretty stale, and I like the faster-paced nature of this metagame. It does feel like we've hit a bit of a slump, though; post-update hype died down rather quickly and people don't seem to be laddering as much. CAPTT will do wonders to spur metagame development though.

Thoughts on the CAP TT? some predictions?

I think this is going to be the most competitive CAPTT yet. Our playerbase has grown and there are a lot of talented people eager to prove themselves. I don't really want to spoil my draft plan, but I will say that there's definitely some underrated players out there that I think will perform well if given a chance.

What is your favorite playstyle?
My favorite playstyle is bulky offense. I can play at my best with it, knowing I have good checks to most of the metagame. If things aren't going my way, I have enough offensive firepower to play aggressively and still pull off a win.

What is your favorite CAP Old Gen?

Probably Gen 5. Didn't play very much of it but I enjoyed it more than Gen 6.

You are one of the best players in this gen, even a captain for the CAPTT. Is there any advice you would give to newer players in terms of playing and building, competing in tournaments, etc?

The best advice I can give is to regularly reach out to other players and battle them. The ladder is a decent tool, but don't use that as your only method of testing teams or observing the metagame. Battle with other CAP meta players, co-build teams with each other, talk to each other! You'll grow as a player in the process, newbies and grizzled veterans alike.

Who are some of your favorite people in the Smogon Community?

Honestly, I could list off a bunch of people. There are so many genuinely nice people I've talked to on this site over the years, and you guys are the reason I've stuck around. I'll give a shout out to both the LC and CAP communities, they've been my home on Smogon, and I'm really happy with how they've evolved and grown over the years. And a special shout out to cbrevan for constantly putting up with me and always being a friend.

Finally can you provide for us a team that you think reflects your current playstyle with a brief explanation of how it works?

Toast (Kitsunoh) @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 248 HP / 12 Def / 108 SpD / 136 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Strike
- Will-O-Wisp
- Wish
- Protect

Oil (Skarmory) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Defog
- Stealth Rock
- Counter
- Roost

FR E SH A VOCA DO (Chansey) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Aromatherapy
- Soft-Boiled

Lemon (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 12 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Defog
- Roost

Pepper (Arghonaut) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Roar
- Recover

Salt (Dugtrio) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Memento
- Pursuit


I've been laddering quite a bit with this stall team that utilizes some of the new CAP updates, namely Wish Kitsunoh and Spikes Arghonaut. The main motivation behind this team was to pinpoint common stallbreaking techniques and create a stall team that fares well against them. LO+Taunt Tomohawk, Shed Shell Tapu Lele, and others are non-issues.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top