Monotype Player of the Week #17: Zarif

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Confluxx [Old]

Banned deucer.
Approved by scpinion
Based off of other potws



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Hey everyone and welcome to the seventeenth installment of Monotype Player of the Week!

This week I have a well known player and Monotype Room Driver; Zarif! Before we get into it, this will be a weekly thing where I interview well known players to try and see into their mind a bit. If anyone has any suggestions on who I should interview, feel free to contact me on PS. Anyway, let's get to it!



Zarif

To start off with, tell us a little bit about yourself.
- My real name is Zarif and I'm 17. I'm from and Bangladesh and hopefully gonna go to college next year. My main interests are Football and Music. I've supported Chelsea as my Football team since I was 6 or 7. I love doing creative stuff and trying to make something look as good as it can be. I've been on PS! for over 3 years now. That's about it really, just a regular kid that likes to play Pokemon.

What is your favorite Pokemon?
- Favorite Pokemon has to be Infernape. I love Fire-types in general and I remember first seeing it in the Pokemon anime and falling in love with it. Chimchar was also my first Pokemon ever, when I started playing Pokemon Diamond. I remember overlevelling it like 30 levels more than my other Pokemon. My other liked Pokemon would be Glaceon, Froslass, and Rowlet.

How did you get your username?
- As already stated, my real name is Zarif and I'm horrible at making nicknames. I've actually gone through a good number of usernames and they've started from Zarif and ended on Zarif. S/o Disbelief.

How did you get into Monotype?
- When I first started, like most people I played OU. But then I left for a few months and when I came back, there was this new hype for Leagues. As I loved playing the Pokemon games, the concept of leagues always seemed cool to me. I went to the Leagues room (yes there used to be a Leagues room) and wanted to challenge different leagues. Seeing as they all used Monotype teams, I too, made a Monotype team and surprise surprise, it was Fire.

What do you feel you're most known for?
- Being that one guy who used the same Fire team for over 2 and a half year probably. Other than that, maybe being room driver in Monotype or being half decent at Fire.

What is the Pokemon you use the most?
- Monotype wise, I'd say its Mega Charizard Y. Its the only ever staple in Fire-type teams and with good reason too, it's fantastic stats and ability make it a huge asset to Fire teams. Close second would be Infernape, as I use it both on Fighting and Fire teams.

What is your favorite type to use in Monotype, and what is your favorite type overall?
- My favorite type to use and in general has and always will be Fire. I love the concept of Fire and the offensive presence of Fire-types. I'd say I'm more of an aggressive person personality wise and Fire teams just give off that same vibe.

What playstyle do you prefer?
- Standard Offense. Any type of offense is my kind of thing. As most Fire-type teams are offensive, I've always stayed with the offensive approach in terms of making teams. I just can't make myself use something bulky other than stall when I'm having fun with my friends.

How do you feel about where you stand in the community right now?
- I honestly think things are going up for me right now. I've definitely changed from the aggressive, stupid, and rash person I was 2 years ago. And, when I first started playing Monotype, my main and only goal ever was to be one of the best Fire users. And hopefully, I think I've reached that(forgive me if I sound arrogant or cocky). I've started to love helping out other people and contributing to Monotype forum and room-wise.

Are there any players you looked up to when you were starting out or still look up to?
- When I first really began to play competitively, everyone had this hype over a guy called "Pk-Kaiser". I had no clue who he was but I still remember when I first saw him, it was a Rock Monothreat Tour in Frost. He had this Weakness Policy Kabutops with Endure and beat his opponent with that. Instantly, I realized how good he was and wanted to know him better. Other peoeple I look up to still today would be Sabella and Arifeen. Them establishing themselves so quickly in the tour community is a huge inspiration to all players.

Any players that you think are underrated and that we will see a lot from in the future?
- TheThorn, Eien, and Attribute are in my opinion heavily underrated players. All of them have excellent metagame knowledge and are stapling themselves in our community very quickly. I know Eien is in council, but a lot of people don't realize how good he is at Monotype. It's going to be interesting to see them in MPL3 and SUMO.

What advice would you give to newer players?
- Lurk more. I can't stress this enough. If you ever want to make your mark in PS! or anywhere, you first need basic knowledge about something. No one likes a new random guy who thinks they're a hotshot(trust me I know from personal experience). Rather, lurking in forums and talking in the PS! room is definitely the best way to get used to the tier. If you ever have a problem, remember to ask someone in the PS! room or if you're completely new, remember to check out the Monotype sub-forum. The team archive in the Monotype room is another fantastic place for Monotype teams.

What are you looking forward to in Gen 7?
- I'll be honest, the new Generation seems pretty lackluster. The unveiled Pokemon really don't excite me. The ultra beast and Z-moves look pretty stupid. However, I am very excited to start abusing the broken Pokemon that will be unbanned for the start of generation 7. And of course, Rowlet's evolution is something I'm looking forward to.

To finish things off, could you share a team with your favorite type and playstyle and give a short explanation for it?
Torkoal @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Yawn
- Lava Plume

Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Blue Flare
- Bolt Strike
- Psyshock
- Glaciate

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Roost
- Focus Blast
- Solar Beam

Rotom-Heat @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Light Screen
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch
- Reflect

Infernape @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- U-turn

Entei @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge

I rmt'd this team a few weeks ago. It's my favorite Fire team. I'll give a brief explanation:
This team was built around Mega Charizard Y and Choice Band Infernape breaking teams to let Choice Scarf Victini or Entei with Extreme Speed clean up late-game. I used an interesting Rotom-H set with Screens support to improve the bulk of a rather frail team. Torkoal was my Stealth Rock user and entry hazard remover. Like I said, just use Entei, Infernape, and Mega Charizard Y to break teams and then let Victini clean up late-game. Remember to keep away any type of hazard off your side of the field at all times.

Well that concludes this interview. Feel free to post your questions below.
 
Last edited:

dusk raimon

Banned deucer.
what made you want to use fire first instead of other hyper offensive types which also give off an 'aggressive vibe'?
 
How does it feel to constantly lose to Quick Claw Skarm

On a scale of 9-10 with 10 being the highest, how much do you like the name "Sandel Maker"

Why do you like Kim Jon Un so much
Screen Shot 2016-10-04 at 10.18.34 AM.png
Screen Shot 2016-10-04 at 10.19.30 AM.png


Do you think that Talonflame should be unbanned + would you get rid of type bans if you could
 
What are some -not so obvious- good matchups Fire has? (this is more for a general audience interest)

In your opinion, what is the weakest type right now?
 
Is there anything you wish could be done while we're still in the ORAS metagame before we transition into SuMo? Leaving this completely open-ended, so this could be metagame-related or even related to some kind of forum project or tournament.
 

Zar

What a time
is a Contributor Alumnus
what made you want to use fire first instead of other hyper offensive types which also give off an 'aggressive vibe'?
I just love the concept of Fire. Yep, that's all thats to it. I guess Fighting is the only other type that give off an "aggressive vibe" anyway and I've started using that a bit too.

How does it feel to constantly lose to Quick Claw Skarm

On a scale of 9-10 with 10 being the highest, how much do you like the name "Sandel Maker"

Why do you like Kim Jon Un so much




Do you think that Talonflame should be unbanned + would you get rid of type bans if you could
How does it feel to get 6-0'd by the Mono Queen?

-10

STOP calling it Kim Jon Un...It's literally a young Oliver Queen.

If we ever re-introduced type bans then yes, I'd say Talonflame should be unbanned. And honestly, I'm in the middle with type bans. I'd be fine with both.

What's Ur favorite Side server emote
armyentei

How did you come up with the name "Disbelief"?
You know when your REALLY bored and start registering random words for nicknames? Yeah...

What are some -not so obvious- good matchups Fire has? (this is more for a general audience interest)

In your opinion, what is the weakest type right now?
I've always seen Fighting, Psychic, and Fairy to be tougher matchups than Ground for Fire.
Definitely Ghost in ORAS. But with SUMO unbans, I'd say its Ice.

Is there anything you wish could be done while we're still in the ORAS metagame before we transition into SuMo? Leaving this completely open-ended, so this could be metagame-related or even related to some kind of forum project or tournament.
Honestly, I think we've done a great job with Monotype both forum-wise and competitive-wise. I guess a thread with the more knowledgeable players giving their 2 cents on how they used a type in ORAS would be cool. A huge ORAS tour would be great too but sadly we don't have enough time for that.
 
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