next champions to buy

1. Hi! Who are you and where do you come from?
I'm Arcticblast. duh. I'm from Pittsburgh, PA, USA, in my clearly unbiased view, it is the best city.

2. What is your favourite Pokémon to use in-game and what is your favourite Pokémon to use competitively. Why?
ingame it's probably Simisage and Ampharos.  I had a lot of fun times using them in BW/BW2/XY.  The starters are also cool, and in ORAS I stomped through mid game with a Mega Mawile so that was cool. Competitively it's probably Gyarados.  Intimidate and a whole bunch of cool resistances is great, and both support sets and Choice Band are really good (at least in my opinion).  It ends up on a lot of my teams for that reason heh

3. When did you get into competitive Pokémon, why did you and how did you?
oh boy. so I got really into spriting in late 2012 at some point I realized Smogon was a great resource for sprites and I started using it for that.  As time went on I began reading the analyses rather than just taking the sprites.  I actually joined because I found an error on an analysis; the DPP Articuno analysis said it didn't get any good offensive moves but IT GOT EXTRASENSORY GUYS COME ON

4. Where did you get your username from?
I wanted something vaguely related to Articuno, because that's why I joined. ...I don't really like Articuno any more by the way.

5. As a tier leader you're obviously in charge of the tier, is there anything you think is suspect worthy in the tier, and why?
Surskit because it resists Ice/Ground and hits through Kyurem-B's Sub with Bug Buzz  but in all seriousness, I've been considering a Skymin suspect lately.  While I don't think it's too hard to account for in teambuilding, as it has several good checks, it doesn't have much counterplay, with a >50% chance to flinch and an 80% (!) chance to drop Special Defense on Pokemon that would normally be able to easily weather its attacks.  Stratos actually lost a seasonal match to a Skymin Seed Flare drop on his Cresselia that left it vulnerable to a Keldeo Hydro Pump. It's also the fastest relevant thing in the entire metagame, with really only Mega Gengar being a common pick and other >127 Pokemon generally being poor.  As a result, it sort of makes Landorus-T better, since it's one of the few things around that can outspeed and KO, and brings Lando's usage up, causing a higher degree of centralization in the meta. The only other thing I'd consider right now is a Mega Gengar suspect, for its use in so many different cheese strategies, but hey - it's cheese.  You lose once and usually get over it.

7. What is your favourite tier to play outside of Doubles?
I've been getting into NU lately; I suck but it's really fun!  I'm excited to build some interesting stuff now that Gallade and that broken-ass Sneasel.  Mega Audino is cute  As for metagames off of Smogon, I'm a fan of both VGC and Battle Spot Rotations.  The latter in particular is pretty quirky and enjoyable.  Also OFFSTAT

8. If there's one thing you could do for the Doubles room/forums, what would it be?
I really wish people would actually post on the forums!  Forum discussion is pretty much dead, which is a shame, because it's a much better resource than the chat for newer players, as they can see extended discussion and get a better sense of how good players build and play. [size=6]Also can we stop memeing constantly?  It's awful.[/size]

9. Who are you rooting for this seasonals and why?
in order: kamikaze17, KyleCole, Memoric, Nido-Rus, and the sleeper pick atomicllamas.  I think the first four have the best potential to win, and I just want atomicllamas to win because he is a cute user.  That said, I'd also like to win!

10. What is your favourite playstyle and/or strategy to use in Doubles and why?
I prefer teams that are able to take hits but still keep up momentum, which I guess would be bulky offense.  It's generally a safe pick against anything you throw at it, as long as you have answers to the typical balance-breaking Pokemon like Kyurem-B and Skymin, and is the easiest to overcome a bad matchup with.  That said, Deoxys hyper offense is incredibly fun to play.  I think it's incredibly powerful, but a little bit less consistent.  Even my HO teams often end up with something on the team to soak hits like Suicune...

11. Could you give a team that fits your playstyle well and give a brief explanation on how to use it?
http://hastebin.com/raw/ezacohepoh
This is a Mega Metagross team I built using the framework thread, but with Landorus-I over Landorus-T.  The objective of the team is usually to win with Metagross or Landorus.  Gyarados and Metagross are both capable of switching in against a number of Pokemon and dealing big damage, while Landorus forces its own reactions with its sheer power.  Thundurus and Amoonguss both serve important support roles and can take a few hits before going down, and Bisharp provides a strong priority move and an answer to Intimidate users. It's done pretty well when I used it in the Summer Seasonal, and everyone should learn to love Landorus-I!

12. What is your favourite game to play outside of Pokémon, and why?
SPLATOON
IT'S SO FUN OMG I CAN'T EVEN ACTUALLY EXPLAIN WHY IT'S JUST SO GOOD
Shantae is second place because I never grew out of platformers and I think it's amazing

13. What is the main reason why you're playing Splatoon?
It's just really enjoyable.  The whole game is bright and positive and fun to play, but it still has a competitive aspect to it so it's not a "once and done" thing.