Explaining Pokemon's Greatest Ragequit of All Time

[@cjaymeme]

This guy just straight up wrote the speech of a pokemon villain right before they awaken the box legendary.

[@ddd8828]

Damn, I want the next villain’s backstory to be getting flinched in a big tournament and just going postal.

[@asgacc8789]

@@ddd8828 Woah

[@geg708]

_He went full Ghetsis_

[@brunop.8745]

@@ddd8828 I might actually side with such a villain on that one, salt can be a powerful thing

[@Xpwnxage]

"parahaxing motherfuckers!"

[@Fish_-]

I feel like if I lost from triple flinch like that I’d have a completely unhinged conniption as well

[@paulmcf1115]

He didnt even try to avoid it

[@serv4619]

Yeah same

[@Blanktester685]

If I lost to lead Gyarados I'd quit on the spot and admit I'm dogshit

[@sommertraum7473]

​@@Blanktester685I doubt you will or even could be close to being half as good as he was like ever.. but whatever you think lik guy.

[@explorer9049]

@Sommertraum No one is admitting of playing better than him big man. Nor was anyone trying to or want to... bleh. That commenter is just givin an example of how to not handle a big time endrun despite the circumstances. They're at least humble enough to admit defeat without going towards an unhinged shakespearean awkward rant just to spite everyone in a gaming community.

[@ToaArcan]

The fact that it's a _Jirachi_ that flinches is the icing on the cake.

[@obiwancannoli1920]

Ironic

[@FireFox2590]

I don't get it? Why is that signifigant?

[@KeeperofShadows-gd9bb]

@@FireFox2590 Jirachi is notorious for flinch strats because of its ability serene grace. Entire teams can be beaten by a Jirachi with enough luck because of how often Jirachi can cause flinches. It isn't the only Pokemon with serene grace, but it is the best because of how good its stats are compared to others. So to see a Jirachi flinch and cost someone the game is ironic because usually it's the other way around.

[@FireFox2590]

@@KeeperofShadows-gd9bb Oh gotcha, thanks for that.

[@smugsona]

​​​​@@FireFox2590btw, the flinch strats is due to Serene Grace doubling the chance of a move's secondary effect. So a move like Air Slash which can be learned by Shaymin-Sky Forme for example (it has serene grace) now has a 60% chance to flinch instead of the usual 30%. So it can get really annoying. Which is why it makes Lavos' defeat very ironic. Because Gyarados does not have serene grace, while Jirachi does LMAO

[@jplayzow]

This feels like the prime example of "If I had more time I'd have written a shorter letter" he wrote this in the heat of the moment and it was something

[@ENCHANTMEN_]

It reminds me of the sorts of speeches written by people caught cheating in speedrunning, I wonder if there's a common link with being overwhelmed with emotion regarding a community they were fond of?

[@b2s652]

imagine him just saying "I quit" lol

[@jplayzow]

@@ENCHANTMEN_ for what it's worth most of the cheaters who were already good try to just manip the RNG they feel like they've earned in some way they get frustrated and just snap under the pressure of knowing if it just fell into place they could do so much better

[@gairisiuil]

@@ENCHANTMEN_ you humour me greatly with your arrogance and contempt

[@raylast3873]

This is like when they interview sports stars immediately after the game.

[@glumreaper8885]

Someone on Fiver who was hired to read this script: "this is the most epic nerd monologue I've ever had to be paid to read"

[@butteredsalmonella]

Imagine Dean Norris or Patrick Fabian paid on cameo to read this entire thing lol

[@greattitan371]

@Sniper That's because it's not supposed to be serious, but it is hilarious

[@gabeskai]

@Byrdmaniac is this a quote from a stream? This beautiful🤣

[@ZatClaire]

@@gabeskai it's a modified monologue from the show Better Call Saul, from the episode "Chicanery"

[@goomymaster6417]

@Byrdmaniac kid named figy

[@iriszilong1429]

I suppose it's fitting, naming himself after the antagonist of Chrono Trigger and dropping a monologue powerful enough to be a final boss' finale. Competitive game settings are such magical places.

[@doctorcardio1559]

what is a man but a miserable pile of secrets

[@auroradavar1058]

And using the name of a god of hatred from a book series on his heatran. Odium from Stormlight Archives. Wonderful book series if you have your life to sink into it.

[@eravar2831]

@@auroradavar1058his entire team is named after Cosmere characters

[@fortnitesexman]

semi-competitive* with the amount of luck involved it can't be considered anymore competitive than russian roulette

[@justsomeguywithagoatee8337]

Also fitting that the antagonist typically loses a won game due to some bs. McMeghan had the plot armor of a protagonist getting three flinches (odds of it happening at 0.2%)

[@astaldo]

That was honestly a sick way to ragequit, he had a whole Shakespearean soliloquy

[@p0kem0nlvl1]

Queen

[@reddd-77]

It was so cringe bruh.

[@stellarknight04]

@@reddd-77 name checks out

[@RealYoshy64]

To ragequit or not to ragequit? That is the question

[@brunop.8745]

If i saw this being played upon a stage, i would condemn it as improbable fiction.

[@Justpassingby204]

This is me every other night after getting burnt by flame body, crit, and whiffing 500 moves.

[@Skeloperch]

Getting burnt by Flamethrower* Crit 3x in a row by Hurricane in neutral weather* Whiffing Air Slash 3x in a row* The highlight of my day is when both of my Ice checks get frozen twice in a row by Freeze Dry and don't ever unfreeze. RIP Scizor, you were my dude.

[@ricecooker6168]

SAME

[@GoldGuard]

For a while, I was getting hit by more freezes and crits in a single day (in pretty much every battle) than landing burns when I used Scald. And I spammed tf out of Scald.

[@XenonDante]

Whiffing 8 Hydro Pumps in the same game

[@davidshatto7604]

@@Skeloperch I had a scizor remain frozen for 7 turns straight when I just needed it to hit one bullet punch to win the game. Needless to say I was absolutely livid

[@artusdoomer5291]

Today I lost a won game to six paralysis in a row. My heart has never resonated with Lavos this strong before.

[@tysondennis1016]

Does unfortunate even begin to describe your series?

[@artusdoomer5291]

@@tysondennis1016 It does not It does not

[@realyopikechannel]

I don't even touch competitive and replaying Gen 5 sleep mechanics make me want to kill myself. it's stupid inconsistent how the same Pokemon can sleep for 6 turns straight and then wake up every turn for the next 4 times I put him to sleep. if the trainer doesnt use an item, sleeping should have a 1-2 turn minimum.

[@-letspretendidontexist-8479]

if you think thats bad then let me tell you that ive gotten that 3 times

[@calebjohnson9740]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s a ~0.02% likelihood. Damn.

[@cannonmallanon2264]

This is fucking hilarious, he ragequit in Times new Roman, size 12, double spaced

[@jaspermidnight850]

LMAO

[@KimFareseed]

I don't get it.

[@notsocooldude7720]

@@KimFareseed he wrote a whole essay

[@bryangough6424]

@@KimFareseed he did it with good grammar basically LOL

[@BicMars]

@@KimFareseed in american schools that is the most formal way to write an essay

[@Icy-nee-san]

I get tilted after a single flinch but I also only play random with my friends. I cant imagine how stressful that shit would be at a top tier level

[@OMalleyTheMaggot]

It was 3 flinches

[@DJSlippedDisk]

Mans can count lol

[@clement9782]

Touhou check

[@thonk5262]

@@OMalleyTheMaggot and you only 1 flinch to lose the game

[@PlatyRush]

Just,I watch a smogon YT who like to make clickbait videos to show weird strats and strangely, almost all of his opponents often rage quit and joke about him making fake videos. I understand now that they aren't jokes, because hé realy faked it ; strangely, an opponent named lavos said the exact same thing after losing with a Legendary spam team. I was watching because of the strats, but its just outrageous if he Fake videos with the image of a great player. F temp6t or something (Never learnt his name.)

[@Luigicat11]

My man really did the digital equivalent of flipping the table and cussing out the DM after rolling three nat 1s in a row.

[@forgottenetremembered]

Indeed a sad one.

[@fuckyoutube4398]

Honestly it's fair to flip the table after that.

[@JamUsagi]

@@fuckyoutube4398 Maybe to flip the table (at a stretch), but to curse out the DM? DM didn’t do shit to deserve that, it’s all in the dice. And what Lavos did is basically flipping the table, cursing out the DM, moving onto the game itself, then the other players at the table who were just having fun with it, and then everyone else watching from the sidelines in the games cafe he frequents.

[@Ten_Thousand_Locusts]

​@@JamUsagias was his God-given right

[@jaycobobob]

If I was DM and someone rolled 3 nat 1s back to back to back, they would fail so spectacularly they ultimately end up passing

[@yusuf_ali610]

“unfortunate” doesn’t begin to describe my series

[@obiwancannoli1920]

@CrookFumDaBrook "THAT'S MY LINE"

[@balanthemaestro845]

this game rewards blind luck and nothing else,

[@enigmatic2878]

I am beyond convinced at this point.

[@MarioLuigi0404]

@CrookFumDaBrook I don’t get it what does False Swipe Gaming have to do with this lol

[@hollylucianta6711]

It's a meme, whenever he describes a Pokemon that's terrible he prefaces it with " UNFORTUNATELY..."

[@enricobreveglieri397]

Lavos is literally me every time focus blast misses

[@pokedariel]

You mean everyone when focus blast misses 😔

[@moomer2675]

You might as well just run an OHKO move since it has “better” accuracy

[@Boo-wr8sh]

Focus Blast is so absurd, the REAL accuracy is like 2% this is insane it NEVER HITS

[@mxtoastytoad]

@@Boo-wr8sh It isn't nicknamed "Focus Miss" for nothing.

[@tysondennis1016]

He’s me when my Great Tusk missed Rock Slide on both opponents twice in a row.

[@FrenkTheJoy]

This kind of thing is why tournaments are usually 2 out of 3 to advance and why some tournaments have double elimination brackets, so that people don't get screwed over by being supremely unlucky one time.

[@rosheafan]

He got unlucky TWICE IN A ROW

[@B3Band]

Yeah, and guess what? This wasn't just best of 3, but BEST OF FIVE. He didn't lose to one unlucky streak. He lost two other games to put himself in that situation to begin with. Stop feeling sorry for this little bitch. People get unlucky all the time. Suck it up and move on.

[@MrMonkey2150]

@@rosheafanmore then twice

[@Moleoflands]

It was a best of 5

[@goldenhate6649]

He got absolutely swept twice where rng didn’t really play a roll, and on top of that got outplayed in the last one by an anti-setup. His momentum was crushed from the start in the last fight

[@huntersnider9621]

It's a rare thing to see someone's Joker moment in real time

[@Shyguymask]

He's not necessarily wrong about competitive Pokemon being a RNG mess.

[@kaimanthelizardwizard1248]

The game has RNG. If you choose to play competitively, then you have to accept that, sometimes, RNG will favour you and other times, it will screw you over. However, I can understand the frustration of a top-tier player who has probably sunk 1000s of hours into honing their skills in this game, only to get crushed by RNG.

[@sampletext3944]

flashbacks to the time i won against a guy because water shuriken hit twice

[@JJSSBU]

The same the zombies had in that tournament XD

[@sptflcrw8583]

I mean, no duh?

[@TheSpecialPsycho]

3 layers of Double Team is easier to hit than two layers, I'm not joking

[@christiansell3360]

To be honest, if I worked that hard and climbed my way to that spot then those flinches happened to me, I’d be pretty tilted too.

[@marksantiago9841]

But you wouldn’t rage like a little bitch like this lavos did though. What a freaking child he is, pathetic.

[@ignacioperez5479]

Ask yourself, how many times would he have won before thanks to hax?

[@iferan4166]

@@ignacioperez5479 I mean, how much does anyone win based off of hax? If you looked at his track record he was consistently winning, and hax isn't exactly a consistent strategy, unless you use it as one, and that's different than the odd chance of multiple paralasys or flinch spams, on something that doesn't have serene grace.

[@Nobody_3766]

​​@@ignacioperez5479 does it matter? He's played a long time, EVENTUALLY it will happen simply because thats how pokemon is, there's a difference between winning a a few times due to luck throughout a long career, and getting hit with bs like he did all in just ONE match, 3 flinches off a pokemon that doesn't have serene grace exactly when it would best fuck him over is so statistically unlikely you could pass it off as a miracle and not even be far off, combined with the fact that he literally played the absolute best he could makes it even worse.

[@naotohex]

The copy pasta was great but honestly after watching as the match unfolded I can understand completely where he was coming from. He got flinched each time he tried to counterplay, It could have been stopped but the amount of times he was flinched made the game unwinnable. I think if I put in that much work as well just to be flinch that many times I would quit as well.

[@skinnysnorlax1876]

For as much brutal bullshit it can throw at you, darkest dungeon has a wonderful system to prevent most cheese. Get stunned? You gaing a temporary buff to your stun resistance till you're hit with a non-stunning hit. Same with just about everything. Kinda wish more games had something like that

[@sassas1487]

@@skinnysnorlax1876 YOOOOO a darkest dungeon fan? Let's gooooo

[@skinnysnorlax1876]

@@sassas1487 fan? It's...more like an unhealthy relationship. Lol

[@sassas1487]

@@skinnysnorlax1876 same

[@mhchx3]

If the game was unwinnable because of 2 flinches then his team was not prepared to face the other team so he deserves the loss anyway

[@pokeaimMD]

lavos with that #1 overall looks good but that #4 record looking clean too😏

[@OxidizedNail]

Ooh damn congrats

[@algar6616]

Remember that dude who came in fourth behind Phelps? Either way he’s a fire youtuber now

[@algar6616]

Jk great year boss 🙌

[@deletedTestimony]

No matter how much Smogon tries to diminish it, Pokemon will always be professional gambling

[@iantaakalla8180]

It explains why Pokémon is a popular series, and basically means The Pokémon Company is the house then.

[@ronniepetrino5964]

@@iantaakalla8180And if sales are anything to go by, the house always wins

[@soumaiseu2470]

"professional"

[@renatoramos8834]

Cry harder.

[@funkymachine]

>doesnt run scarfer >swept by gyarados yeah man its just haxx

[@DJPrimeAmvs]

This is a "he's out of line but he's right" moment if I ever did see it.

[@Neremworld]

If he had just stormed off mad, sure. But he stormed off, super enraged, and then posted a long post about how he's not mad, please don't put it in the article that he's mad.

[@shinkamui]

@@Neremworld i mean, hence what the op said

[@Neremworld]

@@shinkamui I'm saying he's wrong. If he had ONLY stormed off, he'd be out of line but right. But the stuff he did after he stormed off is where he became wrong.

[@shinkamui]

@@Neremworld but that is what 'out of line' means, that the way he went about things are wrong. But it doesn't invalidate the criticism of the rng- even though he is gone from the community, and rightfully so because that is toxic behavior, the discussions about the rng went on

[@HyperLuigi37]

@@shinkamui i hate to be that guy but rng is what we sign up for when we play competive pokemon. it's not the best thing in the world but one day you have to accept that you chose to play this game despite it being so RNG heavy. in the end, rng can always go haywire and do bullshit things it never should, because that's how rng is. if this match is what finally made him realize that, then maybe it was for the best.

[@unicornsrdabest]

Honestly, kinda gotta give some respect to the dude because of how well worded this was. Wasn't just a random tweet of saying "I'm done" or a cringe KZbin video with terrible justification or anything. The effort put into the post was not lost on me.

[@ChadBeetle]

he named his mons after stormlight archive characters, he reads at least a little so it would make sense that he can also write well.

[@Doc_Fun]

@@ChadBeetle If I've learned anything from decades of reading godawful fanfiction, it's that reading a lot =/= being able to write well.

[@ChadBeetle]

@@Doc_Fun never underestimate the ability of people to ruin good things

[@Jacob-df5hr]

The words are pretty but the content is aggressively unoriginal, a self-indulgent flailing of a diatribe condescended by someone perched on a pedestal of his own make.

[@emblemblade9245]

Jacob I mean this in the most unapologetically literal way possible, but… No u

[@Flinchwave]

Ok so fun fact, Blunder and BKCs commentary on this set getting recommended to me is what got me into showdown.

[@InTheDemonsWake]

Very funny cuz I remember it randomly clicking said video cuz Blunder and getting really into BKC's channel because of it

[@speedinturtle00]

@@InTheDemonsWake BKC’s channel? I think you mean solo podcast

[@alejandro9581]

Link vid?

[@Someschmuck238]

Link please

[@AGC_MBC]

Here you are gentlemen kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXO1mX59f5ygg7M

[@QuestionableLogic_]

We joke about this meltdown but tbh I understand; that triple flinch is some BS.

[@mellowords]

What an outstanding vocal performance btw. This guy slayed it

[@lambda6145]

If someone dissed me the way lavos did, id honestly be amazed. But who wouldnt go shakespeare on someone after being dealt such an unlucky battle?

[@deskeede3]

me personally i would not take that but that’s just me tho

[@Uyu8jly]

I would absolutely punch a hole in my wall if I lost that bad to that hax

[@sepg5084]

If someone dissed me like that, i would laugh and cringe at the same time 😂

[@beanburrito4405]

I love these dramatic recreations of historic competitive moments. Great vid as always!

[@charlieb8735]

Honestly, good for him. He doesn’t have to be right about the game to do the right thing for himself. At the end of the day, playing any game isn’t worth it if the losses create that much frustration and the wins don’t mean anywhere near as much.

[@explorer9049]

I know this vid is quite old but you sir, have the best real response towards this situation. Mad respect. So there is hope for humanity afterall...

[@ZaChemas]

Oh boy... If you only knew, he went to play heartstone after this, played quite a while, lost to rng again (idk what he expected in a game with more rng than pokemon) and well

[@hands-ongaming7180]

He had like a 95% win rate. Literally top .1 %. He’s just a big ol baby. A big ol’ baby with mad skills ofc 👍

[@slumgummy]

he went to hearthstone, another game with infuriating rng he didn't learn

[@Pimaster31415]

Triple flinch in the final game is rough. Overall reaction was extreme, but I totally get the frustration of that match.

[@SwoleTommyPickles]

All 3 attempts at counterplay were stolen from him by RNG so he essentially never even got to play the game he prepared for and was forced to watch a mon he brought checks for 6-0 him because luck wasn’t on his side that day. Considering the stakes, I’d say his reaction was justified. He’s human like the rest of us.

[@andrejg4136]

@@SwoleTommyPickles it's the same energy as watching an all-star batter absolutely lose his shit in the dug-out after getting called out on strikes due to bad call.

[@NespeCoaching]

It's literally a 0.8 percent chance of that happening, dude lost a tournament because of a 0.8 percent chance

[@athenaraines]

It was also mentioned he was being exceptionally toxic in the months leading up. It’s more likely that this guy was burning out on the game hard and this was the final ignition point.

[@foemon2345610]

@@SwoleTommyPickles thats being way too generous to Lavos and not to his opponent. The only time he got “robbed” was the flinch on Jirachy Thunderpunch. Other than that, Meghan’s anti lead strategy paid off by having great coverage on Gyarados movepool and item neutering his opposing Gyarados and Breloom’s spore. Hardly would say the other flinches mattered at that point

[@hppern3971]

Funny, the thing I remember Lavos most for was under his old username Lavos Spawn. In early B2W2, he created a team that absolutely took over the ladder. It was an incredibly fun Genesect Sun team, really taking advantage of how broken Genesect & Dugtrio was The RMT he posted of the team is archived, the team name is "Simulation of a Drought", if you want to find it.

[@Chigtology]

“You are less than anything you can conceive” is a crazy line

[@jackclifton5434]

“Why do I do this for a living?” What a guy, what a way to go out, 10/10, I hope he has found peace in other activities

[@B3Band]

Jon Bois hahaha Poker is the perfect example of losing despite doing everything right. You suck it up and move on. You don't quit like a bitch.

[@ThatGuy-uv2br]

For some context for people who haven't played Hearthstone before. The RNG in the game was limited, but eventually more powerful random effects were added to the game that impacted the competitive format, so it makes sense why Lavos would quit from that as well.

[@SpeedyMC14]

I feel like it proves his underlying skill that he got to the top of that too, before quitting for the same reasons.

[@robbylawlor4259]

He should play Teamfight Tactics. Another strategy game similar to Hearthstone or Pokemon, but the RNG is pretty minimal relative to other games of the genre.

[@Monkey_30000]

@@forestcaine Yog funneh

[@TheSquareOnes]

@@forestcaine It's sad that that era is unironically "low RNG" and quite balanced compared to what the game has become. Pirate warrior even still exists, but instead of "start with a free charging 1/1" being its advantage it gets to lob tons of random 2 damage shots while summoning an infinite number of random pirates and weapons (generating up to 18+ random burn out of nowhere on any given turn, for the rest of the game). The autochess side mode where every fight is minions just randomly attacking each other is legitimately more fair and balanced than the constructed formats, it's pretty insane.

[@somedudeok1451]

If he hates RNG so much, why are these the types of games he chooses to play? Why isn't he playing chess? Seems to me like he just likes to rage and RNG gave him a convenient excuse.

[@haydes1285]

Lavos is in the planets core, biding his time until he can burst forth and bring about the end of the world, unless a time traveling palm tree and friends can stop him

[@Aladdindoescubes]

context?

[@haydes1285]

@@Aladdindoescubes chrono trigger

[@jackal0p]

ik it's chrono trigger, but that could honestly be a new pmd game with an eggsecutor protag

[@crenando288]

I'm not even gonna lie, I watched the whole set of events and I think I would rage if I was 6-0'd in the lead slot 😭

[@kelvinsmymiddlename5756]

Well if your team was for some weird reason unprepared to address the lead mon, then that's on you. However, the more justifiable rage would come from if that same lead mon flinched, critted, status'd, etc. every single one of your checks and completely ran the game almost solely due to RNG. And this is why a lot of people don't like to play games with pretty heavy RNG in it, especially at a competitive level when you've prepared for months or even years only for most of that effort to go down the drain due to a few unlucky turns.

[@Meowthix]

@@kelvinsmymiddlename5756 What do you mean more justifiable rage, what you said is basically what happened. You dont run an entire team to beat 1 possible mon, in this case Gyarados, he had checks for it and tried to play around it properly. RNG just fucked him.

[@raismin739]

@@Meowthix isn't he just trying to justify Lavos? he knows that RNG fucked him up, and it's a more justifiable rage compared to lossing because he didn't counter the lead. he had 3 ways to counter that gyara and he lost all those 3 ways for flinches

[@crenando288]

@@raismin739 yeah I couldn't imagine how bad it felt especially getting reverse 3-0'd. that being said his sodium levels transcends description

[@measlesplease1266]

@@kelvinsmymiddlename5756 🤓

[@XenosDB]

"Unfortunate" doesn't begin to describe my series, this game rewards blind luck and nothing else, I am beyond convinced at this point. After getting completely tooled by scheduling with my opponent changing times on me last minute and refusing to provide confirmation prior to the day of the match as to play times, losing this way somehow felt even worse than I had thought possible. My preparation was superior, my play was superior, and I lost, so I don't see a reason to continue engaging in an activity where what is within my control is overwhelmingly outweighed by what is not. I am done with competitive Pokemon, and you won't get a fond farewell. This community is infected to its roots with a degenerative disease that grows stronger over time but stops short of killing its host. Tournaments used to have a competitive spirit at their heart, this has been transplanted and replaced with an artificial organ that feeds on vitriol and mockery from insecure little boys that heckle by the sidelines and tear each other to shreds over scraps of attention. The environment we fostered has trapped us all like this in a vicious cycle, and escaping it requires acceptance of the harshest reality we all scramble to explain away, that none of the countless straining efforts we put ourselves through here will ever amount to one single shining glimmer of significance. I would make this the end, but World Cup is still ongoing, and I would never leave so many great friends out to dry, so I'll suffer through a few more games for them. One last thing before I leave you all to react with disdain, ridicule, and self-righteous fervor, before you do everything in your power to minimize my words and thoughts, box them up and shove them to some cobwebbed corner of your memory, and hope they disappear forever as a stain on your finite time ground to dust. From this moment on, nothing you say matters to me. The foulest insults you hurl with intent to wound will calmly settle at the earth before my feet, and the venom you spit will bring all the pain of a warm summer breeze. You are less than anything you can conceive, while I carry on, brimming with joy distilled from detachment.

[@edgyanole9705]

I love this

[@lydiavalentino]

Historic copypasta

[@chugdotpng5120]

ok and?

[@gymfamily]

May I say this is some beautiful vocabulary and imagery. Like this is some phd level writing. I’ve never read something and really feel the hate boiling in his blood.

[@TheKitty699]

"Unfortunate" doesn't begin to describe my series, this game rewards blind luck and nothing else, I am beyond convinced at this point. After getting completely tooled by scheduling with my opponent changing times on me last minute and refusing to provide confirmation prior to the day of the match as to play times, losing this way somehow felt even worse than I had thought possible. My preparation was superior, my play was superior, and I lost, so I don't see a reason to continue engaging in an activity where what is within my control is overwhelmingly outweighed by what is not. I am done with competitive Pokemon, and you won't get a fond farewell. This community is infected to its roots with a degenerative disease that grows stronger over time but stops short of killing its host. Tournaments used to have a competitive spirit at their heart, this has been transplanted and replaced with an artificial organ that feeds on vitriol and mockery from insecure little boys that heckle by the sidelines and tear each other to shreds over scraps of attention. The environment we fostered has trapped us all like this in a vicious cycle, and escaping it requires acceptance of the harshest reality we all scramble to explain away, that none of the countless straining efforts we put ourselves through here will ever amount to one single shining glimmer of significance. I would make this the end, but World Cup is still ongoing, and I would never leave so many great friends out to dry, so I'll suffer through a few more games for them. One last thing before I leave you all to react with disdain, ridicule, and self-righteous fervor, before you do everything in your power to minimize my words and thoughts, box them up and shove them to some cobwebbed corner of your memory, and hope they disappear forever as a stain on your finite time ground to dust. From this moment on, nothing you say matters to me. The foulest insults you hurl with intent to wound will calmly settle at the earth before my feet, and the venom you spit will bring all the pain of a warm summer breeze. You are less than anything you can conceive, while I carry on, brimming with joy distilled from detachment.

[@SissypheanCatboy]

I fully understand him though. Ash Greninja critical'd me and I sighed in relief as I saw I survived with a sliver of health. and then, by the same hit, was frozen. That was the last match of competitive Pokémon I have ever played. I do not have the patience to get deep into a match and then just get put on my knees because the random number generator gave me an unfavorable output.

[@tysondennis1016]

The true villain of Pokémon is the RNG.

[@B3Band]

Then you're a bitch too. Bad beats happen all the time. You probably ignore all the times you got lucky and won when you should have lost. Pokemon players are so used to reloading their save until they finally win, that they can't imagine any situation where they get beat. Sad.

[@kirkfogg8366]

Thing is any "competitive" game these days in any franchise has a large population of cheaters who pay for hacks off third party sites that are sold to them by the devs of that same game, which leads me to my point - gotta pay to play.

[@conscripthornet4430]

@@sarahy.2442 League of legends is like this what do you mean, did you not see the 1 shot neeko hack? The drifting sion hack? The auto-dodge all skillshots hack? The auto-kite with adcs hack? League of Legends has plenty of hacks, I can literally find a free one right now that'd almost automatically play the game for me if I wanted to.

[@avaluggglazer445]

​@@kirkfogg8366Not really though? Hacks in pokemon (or hacks that matter at least, such as putting unusable moves on pokemon that normally couldn't learn them for example dark void electrode or Regieleki) aren't used AT ALL in competitive tourneys since even if you wanted to it would be so easy to notice.

[@Poo_Brain_Horse]

I mean, he wasn't completely wrong lmao. Please cover the infamous Energy Ball Jellicent incident!

[@tysondennis1016]

Yeah

[@johnlienhart2717]

Odium: You can't carry this burden. Please, give it to me. _I_ drove you this. _It wasn't your fault._ Give me your pain. Lavos: Okay.

[@Veilure]

THIS MADE ME SPIT OUT MY DRINK

[@tomasapud8240]

For a Stormlight fan he didn't understand that the journey is more important than the destination

[@awesomejumpkick9081]

Journey before destination.

[@Escaldor]

Came to the comments just to find this. Life before Death my dudes

[@fuecocomaster5463]

Strength before weakness, he had the clear strength of will to move on from Pokémon.

[@NespeCoaching]

I can understand the anger. He literally made every play as perfectly as he possibly could and lost just because the game decided he will lose. There was actually nothing he could have done at all

[@pdpgb]

He literally lead with sash Heatran that had explosion but switched it out turn one. If he just exploded turn 1 it was a KO on the dragon dance. It's also just team building. You might simply have an unwinnable matchup and it is what it is. I'm sure some scarfed electric type could have forced the Gyarados out.

[@indeeeed]

@@pdpgb why would you explosion first when you have the jirachi

[@roxlife8173]

@@pdpgb This guy has the brain of a goldfish.

[@lucasgreer1736]

He could have won if he had switched in jirachi earlier I I think, it would have been riskier but I think he would have outsped and kod if gyarados was only at +1 speed when he brought jirachi in He mostly played very well but the gyarados switch was a mistake and it was what let him lose to that bad rng in the first place

[@pdpgb]

@@indeeeed To avoid dragon dance into waterfall flinch? I mean it's 20% chance, that's not something to ignore. I'm not saying he made bad plays but people are saying it was unwinnable as if there was literally nothing else he could have done to avoid the flinches.

[@pantslesswrock]

Lavos was right though. Pokemon is a game of both luck and skill, and in such games, luck can always outweigh skill. Therefore, if your luck breaks bad, it will feel like the game rewards blind luck over all else. OHKO moves are banned in almost every format for a reason, and they were also put in the game by the developers for a reason. Where Lavos went wrong was not meeting the game as it is, and projecting wrongheaded expectations of the game onto others. I believe there is a silent majority of comp players who enjoy winning more than they enjoy winning consistently.

[@selfloathinggameing]

Booo let me Sheer Cold to victory

[@tjdasdada3786]

Wrong

[@angelwings9549]

yeah, he's right in the sense that it sucks that you can lose a game like this. like imagine if in a fighting game there was a random chance to eat your inputs. but obviously he was exaggerating like crazy and being a dick.

[@birdcar7808]

I completely agree. If you want a game that doesn’t reward luck, don’t play Pokémon.

[@toonlink1723]

Idk what to tell someone who thinks that you can’t have a game without luck based elements in Pokémon

[@Silulaya]

I remember watching bkc and blunder narrate this, you know someone got completely robbed when the only thing bkc of all people has to say at the end was "well that was not good for him"

[@fiendish9474]

That has got to be the most bullshit luck I've seen on a high level competitive event. Wasn't even a serene grace pokemon that did it

[@joaogomes9405]

Aaron Zhang missed three will o wisps in a row, got two full paras on his cresselia, and hit himself in swagger boosted confusion, all back to back in the last match he needed to win to qualify for the world championship finals. It was so bad that in the following generation, pokemon boosted will o wisp's accuracy from 75 to 85, lowered paralyzis' speed drop from 75% to 50%, and lowered swagger's accuracy from 90 to 85.

[@ferst262]

@@joaogomes9405and he didn’t cry like a pathetic baby, unlike Lavos. Proving you don’t have to be mad at bad luck, it’s prt of the game

[@SorenRoberts]

I’m not a close follower of his situation, I interpret his soliloquy monologue as a final farewell more than complaints. It gives me George Washington farewell address vibes more than anything

[@hindelsoft4650]

It's honestly hilarious people think this is unlucky. This is genuinely a casual pokemon experience and it's not even "flinch is broken" like it is "dragon dance and buffs are deadly in pokemon, if you don't have an answer for them you could easily lose". If we count the only flinches that matter that's just 2 flinches (on Jirachi and Heatran), and I'll even be nice and count hitting stone edge as being lucky. Without the stone edge that's not even lucky, with stone edge this is by no means unheard of luck. This is just normal. And it's not like he was making good calls or wasn't getting played the entire time. (pulling out Jirachi isn't good play, it's a normal play and relies on his team building which also evidently isn't that great if he didn't bring any mon fast enough to keep up with Gyarados. And using Heatran is a last ditch effort which is always risky.) Dude thought he could deal with a Gyarados with two slower unscarfed tanky mons, got surprised by dragon dance and Gyarados opening, and lost to some casual bad luck and his own team building skills and predictions. Worst of all, even if he took out Gyarados with Heatran he'd be down to 3 pokemon one of which is a half-dead Breloom against the opponent's other 5. He was already losing badly by the time he got a single flinch. Oh, and also Smogon isn't official pokemon competitive play, and singles being poorly balanced due to a well timed buff making a massive advantage is exactly why VGC moved to doubles so playing old formats in singles and complaining about RNG balance being a mess is just kinda... Yeah, no wonder?

[@ferst262]

@@SorenRoberts it’s a tantrum. It’s not a farewell cause all he does is cry and complain. It gives a 10 year old vibes when they say they are going to leave the house after you don’t buy them a toy

[@a.j.kimball1240]

Lmfao the voice actor nailed it with the reading lmao

[@cygnusterminal]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXO1mX59f5ygg7M

[@cygnusterminal]

Watch the first min of blunders vid for the most perfect rendition

[@pikminman13]

@@cygnusterminal yea you cant top that one

[@danielalorbi]

@@pikminman13 Just watched it because of these two comments... And now I'm confused since it doesn't even come close to the fiverr voice actor. Maybe I got the wrong video? "Hoes mad... by blunder" right? Average mic quality, friend on vc giggling, not clearly enunciating some words?

[@serenolopez-darwin1975]

Every time someone on r/stunfisk or the forums or the sim says something like "you can play around RNG, just git gud, top players don't complain about hax because they're too good to care" I'm always reminded of this. As ridiculous as Lavos' reaction was, fuck hax.

[@karyoplasma]

If Lavos would just have stopped typing after the first paragraph, there would have been no, as he puts it, fuel for the vitriol.

[@1stCallipostle]

@@karyoplasma I largely disagree If you say less, they'll yell at you for not having your thoughts together If you say more, you're going to be immediately thrown out as overdramatic. There's no winning when people want a target

[@lodakras]

@@1stCallipostle big fax, same as when you talk about something that needs balancing or a nerf, if you don't go in depth people will think you're just saying it without no basis, if you do ellaborate suddenly you're obsessed and need to git gud

[@inapostle8th]

@@1stCallipostle That's kinda true with everything when it comes to internet, there's no winning an argument if the person you're talking to doesn't want to see things from where you stand and it's really rarely the case. (Also, hey there colleague !)

[@funkymachine]

Usually, most likely, you play to guaranteed wins. You don't play to a point you can win if you don't get paralyzed by body slam unless that's your only hope left. Play AROUND being forced to not be gimped by luck, don't just play with luck.

[@banana9494]

I died laughing at the speech the first time but once you explained it, i was filled with pity for him. Bless his heart

[@usedpidemo]

That dramatic reenactment made me cackle a solid 5 minutes, extra props to the VA lol Also the fact that Lavos was the best player even when blunder and joey were also eating too in SPL is kinda wild lol

[@blablablabla3878]

joey never was very top level though

[@wispyone3702]

I've always related to Lavos's story a lot. I feel its a shame that I think he goes down as a problem when I think he was just troubled. Feeling like you don't fit in with your community even though you love what its around so much, it puts you on the edge every second you want to enjoy it, especially when you're expected to do good at it. From personal experience, It leads to a lot of toxicity. Now whether you spread that toxicity or not is up to you! Personally I bottled it up and got depressed, but either way, it tears you down that I think he began to have this design for a community that he just can't control the chaos of, and that just yeah. Not good.

[@blablablabla3878]

Lavos had mental issues. This ragequit is only the very tip of the iceberg.

[@raytong9144]

you're a kind one

[@scrubbingdoubles8585]

Jesus loves you

[@neodymus]

Personnally i just quitted Pokemon and only played ladder. Recently though i joined a draft league with amazing people, so i'm glad i can finally play pokemon with such lads !

[@Mrlorop]

or you could look at the bigger picture and realise its just a game. no real cash prizes worth losing sleep over. no real recognition worth throwing a tantrum for. It's a game you're meant to enjoy and have fun in. if you dont have fun dont play it. Personally when i was younger i played the games with the most toxic fanbases. CSGO, league of legends, call of duty. None of the "toxicity" ever mattered unless you were having a bad day or something was wrong to begin with. no happy people go into a video game and end the game throwing their keyboard.

[@IkEisawesome7]

Okay but three waterfall flinches? Can you even blame him?

[@HaloLvl43Legit]

nope

[@lordinfernape4753]

I mean, you cant blame him, the way he lost was pretty unfair, rng just hated him that day

[@teewertz]

You can certainly blame him. He acted like a fucking child lol

[@fledbeast5783]

I’d be fucking pissed honestly lmao

[@firewall5189]

@@fledbeast5783 anyone would be fucking pissed after something like that. its funny looking back at it, but also kinda sad. partly sad in a "its a bit upsetting that lavos quit because of that" way, but more so in a "damn that *really* sucks bro" way.

[@damp8277]

he had a Jirachi, so it's fine -s

[@DJFracus]

@@damp8277 nearly everybody has Jirachi in high level Gen 4, it's the best Pokemon in the tier and using it on some teams is inevitable if you are trying to be a top player

[@joshbotofborg2577]

Watching a Jirachi getting flinched with out doing anything is simply beautiful.

[@tysondennis1016]

Revenge

[@dashingclasher]

The turns have tabled.

[@thecringeprophet]

@@dashingclashercwince

[@VirtuesOfSin]

You've got to be shitting me... Imagine losing to a triple flinch from a 10% flinch chance... Ouch

[@cale0176]

As a relative outsider (competitive, not Pokemon as a whole) this really seems like a guy who put in enough work and study to know the game across several generations, enough so to sweep the singles tournament and then even after getting banned still help his team with teambuilding advice, get... too good? Like, you know the point in League where you've played 1000 hours and you're not a pro by any means but you load up into yet another team running all teleports and just KNOW you're in for a bad time? Past a certain point of understanding, you start just focusing on the flaws in a game's system. Things that no matter how much you practice, you will have no control over due to game balance or RNG. The more practice you put into a game, the more frustrating luck based mechanics or stupid design choices stick out as a reason not to bother with putting so much time in. I do feel where he's coming from there. But my man didn't have to skid his tires and blow exhaust fumes on the way out, damn.

[@hoanganphanle8679]

IIRC he was under quite a pressure, because of some issue in personality, people were making him out to be the villain, disregarding the sheer amount of contribution that he's done to Smogon as a whole. So it kinda explained his attitude in this match: He felt like he needed to win to shut them up, but instead got screwed by RNG so bad it's not funny. The fact that most veterans at that time predicted that he was indeed the superior player to McMeghan prior to the match rubs more salt to the wound. Even McMeghan himself admitted that the last 2 games were very unlucky on Lavos' side. Losing that way can be tilting. It also explained the part where he complained about the good old days when competitive had a certain "spirit" to it, but now it's a lot more toxic. Was he a perfect man ? Nah. But I think I can understand where is anger come from

[@陳嘉宇-y4q]

@@hoanganphanle8679 Missing 6 hurricanes in a row got paralyzed every time you want to counter play got freeze by ice beam, switches into the another Pokémon, only to be freeze AGAIN ! I only 3 months into Smogon, and I can relate to Lavos to the very core

[@Deadflower019]

Yeah, this has happened to me with several games. Minecraft, the Binding of Isaac, Don't Starve, singleplayer Pokémon, I hear there's a chart that was turned into a meme about this.

[@leafyisnthere9396]

I used to put most of my time into playing Destiny 2(obviously why my pfp is my titan from there), and I just recently quit playing it, after 2500+ hours. All of the garbage(imo) development in balancing and the extremely obnoxious/toxic playerbase finally caused me to snap. While I never had the stress/prestige he had, I completely understand why he would react to his rng loss as "excessively" as he did.

[@kek13223]

"But my man didn't have to skid his tires and blow exhaust fumes on the way out, damn" Easily the greatest metaphor of all time

[@GenericUser860]

What a beautiful monologue, holy shit. Hope he picked up writing or theater because that was magnificent

[@Veilure]

All of his pokemon are named after some DEEP CUT characters from large fantasy novels. This guy reads.

[@GenericUser860]

@@BlueAizu_ Nah legit I hope he put that talent to use. Presumably, he just whipped that up while he was still pissed. I'd imagine he'd write better when level-headed.

[@JazzyDK5000]

I don’t fucking blame him. That many Waterfall flinches is a load of bs.

[@jeremiahgreen5632]

I would've never went battling again if that ever happened to me

[@tysondennis1016]

Tropius flinching me with Air Slash makes me feel that way.

[@normanmai7865]

@@jeremiahgreen5632 So basically, you're Lavos (joke).

[@nicholasschmidt2864]

I am BEGGING you Freezai please talk about the wonderful day that was Energy Ball Jellicent.

[@imSoCalamari]

This video made me kind of sad. He sounds like an absolute beast when it comes to learning a game and being the best at it. I wish he was a fighting game player or something, some game where luck is much less of a factor than Pokémon or Hearthstone. He probably wouldnt have suffered so much.

[@benbaylis3977]

this really was competitive Pokémon's "one bad day" episode

[@RDKirbyN]

I love hidden layers of lore of games, like 2b2t and stuff in that same vein. It's incredibly fascinating sub culture stuff

[@jaredwhite7285]

Greatest pokemon copypasta ever To be fair, pokemon is often complete bs. This is the only competitive video game I can think of where if I played 1000 games vs a pro I would win more than 1. No matter how good Wolfey, PokeAim, Freezai or anyone else is, i have a chance of winning with crits, paralyze/freeze hax, burns/poisons, misses and 50/50s. Not to say the reaction was justified. You should know this going into pokemon, but he does have a valid point. Thats a reason a lot of people dont try to take pokemon competitively or recognize it as an esport in the same way Starcraft, CS:GO, Dota, League etc. Are seen

[@kelvinsmymiddlename5756]

Absolutely 100% agree. This is something that I've noticed regarding why Pokemon is not an E-sport at the same level as Dota, LOL, Fortnite, etc. While those games aren't completely RNG-free, it feels balanced such that most of the time, skill wins the matches. With Pokemon, there are simply way too many mechanics that rely on luck and sometimes even guesswork. Critical hits, status, accuracy/evasion (in non-Smogon formats for the latter), damage rolls, multi-hit moves not boosted by Skill Link, all of these factors are influenced by RNG and can swing advantageous positions far too quickly. This is not to mention the guesswork involved at every turn, such as what Pokemon moves the opponent has, or whether they'll go for this move or that one (i.e., Shedinja spamming/threatening to use Ally Switch in Doubles like nobody's business). And the recent gimmicks don't help in this guesswork department either. Z-Moves can basically invalidate too many checks and make some Pokemon such as Kartana and Heatran nearly unstoppable. Dynamax is the only mechanic so far to be banned from even Ubers since any Pokemon can in the main games. And I fear that Terastalizing in Scarlet and Violet may head in that same direction since it more or less is Hidden Power and Libero combined into one but cracked, and just like Dynamax any Pokemon can use it. Fortunately, there have been some attempts by Gamefreak to scale back on the RNG such as reducing the viability of certain problematic moves and introducing new items and abilities that limit variance such as Misty Surge's Misty Terrain preventing status and the recently revealed Covert Cloak that prevents the secondary effects of moves like Scald, Rock Slide, and Hurricane. But to say it's enough to fully address the RNG issue is overstating the fact.

[@jacobesterson]

As someone who's played mobas for many *many* years, they do have an element of luck as does any game with 2 or more players VS 2 or more players. It's called matchmaking and sometimes it wins you the game, sometimes it destroys your soul. Sometimes the enemy team has three players who outrank your own team by several levels, and sometimes you're on that very team yourself. I do generally agree with everything you said, but any team game will always have at least *some* element of luck. You can't help but taste a little sodium when you end up with the guy who intentionally feeds kills to the enemy team just because they weren't given enough attention as a kid or something.

[@jacobesterson]

@@kelvinsmymiddlename5756 If you're talking E-sports and only E-sports LOL only has crit chance as an RNG factor as far as I'm aware. Other than that it's just matchmaking and that isn't even an issue for LCS, only for plebs like you and I.

[@Meowthix]

@@kelvinsmymiddlename5756 BR's inherintly have a large amount of RNG in them, granted it's the RNG in those games that often show the skill difference between players and how they react to them, but that doesn't make the fact that on a more casual level RNG is often a defining factor as to how successul a player is.

[@Meowthix]

@@jacobesterson Matchmaking doesn't mean luck unfortunately. As a long time MOBA player. Most MOBA's dont have more RNG than a crit system which is best treated as, if it's not 100 it's 0. Hence why many marksmen in LoL run crit builds.

[@iseafools1559]

I cant blame him for feeling the way he did, and I respect his decision to quit. I hope he's doing well.

[@johnlienhart2717]

Hey! Stormlight Archive Nicknames! Not relevant, but now I want to write them down. Lift for Starmie: Certainly a speedy troublemaker Honor for Raikou: Sure, I guess. Renarin for Swampert: I don't see it Odium for Heatran: Immaculate and hilarious given that this is the one that set him off Zahel for Exxegutor: I mean, you could argue for a regional variant Wyndle for Breloom: He is a grass type. Syl for Jirachi: Yeah, lucky little fairy Nohadon for Latios: Uh, sure. Psychic seems appropriate for wisdom, and the dragon legendary gives a connection to the divine Shalash for Raikou: This is the third nickname for Raikou. I wonder if they correspond to different sets, or EV spreads Kaladin for Kingdra: Swiftswim is appropriate for the Stromblessed. And something about how a dragon evolution was added later feels right for his character Gavilar Kohlin for Metagross: Hard as steel, but more intelligent that they first appear. That tracks Cultivation for Celebi: Legendary Grass type, who has knowledge of the future. Nail, head. (though they have that knowledge differently) Nightblood for Magnezone: Lethal against certain foes, but reauires high skill to wield. Or maybe a living piece of metal Frost for B!Kyurem: Dragon, yep. Plus the name and the type fit. Jezrien for Dragonite: Patron of the Windrunners, and a psuedo god/legendary Dai-Gonarthis for Gyarados: The Black Fisher certainly lends a connection to the sea, even if it's more likely thematic than literal. It did probably destroy an island nation, so that fits with Gyarados's terrible reputation.

[@ashamanrich6286]

I was looking to see if someone else noticed!

[@jacobf9485]

It storming flinched!

[@Nvel09]

outstanding coverage-the rendition of his monologue was fucking legendary, and i loved all the context you provided. it was really interesting to hear that he advised the US-West team for the world cup, i had no idea he was involved with that. thanks for all the research and work you put into this video :D i hope you do more tournament content-it's such a cool way to document this community's history!

[@TheUKNutter]

I mean, I don’t blame the guy. It’s why I refuse to play this competitively. I only touch games that have close to zero RNG in them.

[@dr.c2195]

Too bad Lavos was not as smart.

[@TheUKNutter]

@@dr.c2195 More like he was already invested in it, and was already high up, so quitting probably took much more effort

[@dr.c2195]

@@TheUKNutter So then who forced him to get invested into Pokemon in the first place?

[@hands-ongaming7180]

@@dr.c2195he was a top 1% player why would he quit if he was on of the best?

[@dr.c2195]

@@hands-ongaming7180 Why are you asking me?

[@Claudiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Honestly I don't even blame him, there are times everyone gets shitted on so hard by RNG. And when the stakes are that high it makes sense he lost his shit. Plus the fact the he is one of the greatest showdown players of his time as well makes this even better lol.

[@hoanganphanle8679]

A lot of veterans were predicting that he would win rubs more salt to the wound. McMeghan himself even admitted that the last 2 games were very unlucky on Lavos' side.

[@mattsterh7740]

All in da game

[@danyg0000]

True but when playing Pokémon you have to understand that RNG can screw you over and throwing a tantrum because of this is just bad sportsmanship

[@_stealth_313]

@@danyg0000 When the community is rooting against you, you make the statistically best plays, and you still lose to a less than 1% chance when the stakes are that high? I think it all just came together at once and broke him

[@mewhenyourmom1964]

His ego was probably very high due to his streak

[@xythera]

Can't even blame him, that DPP round was absolutely tragic.

[@Reynnan123]

"why are you booing me im right"

[@jayplay8869]

I understand his pain. To lose to flinch. When that’s what they had to play for… is beyond painful .

[@WhiteOwlet]

Beautifully written monologue, I loved it! Poetic and eloquently emotional. Honestly, as a writing teacher, I think this is well done.

[@connormcgee4711]

Yeah, it should be noted that his pokemon were all named characters from the Stormlight Archive series as well. This guy is clearly well read.

[@josiebianchi3481]

@@connormcgee4711 man really said "no destination is worth this journey"

[@handoverthestromboli6715]

it was well written untill the final line "brimming with joy distilled from detachment" i know what it means but its the weirdest way of saying "ill be happy without this shit in my life" ever written

[@ItsB3enLikeThis]

Are you serious? The entire copypasta reads like a pretentious high school theater kid wrote it

[@chaosplayer9903]

​@melonsue start reading books and maybe you will enjoy his essay.

[@dr.c2195]

Lavos probably had this coming. You cannot play many competitive Pokemon matches without ever getting very unlucky unless you are very lucky. RNG gets all of us sometimes. I am glad that he took it well, though. How well people take losses due to RNG shows their real emotional strength. Lavos remained brimming with joy. He was like a rock. Good for him! Next time I get screwed over by RNG I will think of Lavos and his strength to stay brimming with joy in the face of bad luck.

[@ruthkatz1998]

what

[@kittenfan7664]

He didn't take it well. He says he's brimming with happiness, but that message reads salt.

[@thevictor123]

I need more smogon history and more voice actors (or bring this guy back again), this video was so good

[@iss2075]

Trust me, don't go too far down the rabbit hole with Smogon... It seems nice on the surface, and I do enjoy the community, but some pretty disgusting things have happened there. Freezai likely doesn't even know about it tbh.

[@GrungeJeans]

@@iss2075 Can you give examples of those things? I'd love to read more about it.

[@kevinizzarelli417]

@@GrungeJeans Yeah me too

[@matthewsnic]

The Vivaldi as the music choice for the opening absolutely SENT me Thanks so much for the great content, Freezai 😊 You always provide informative and well-explained videos that are a pleasure to watch

[@antoniacorrales9148]

Fr

[@lol0999]

Please tell me what the actual musical piece is called, I can't find it anywhere.

[@matthewsnic]

@@lol0999 it's the first movement of Winter from The Four Seasons by Vivalid :)

[@quetzalthegamer]

Lavos should have heard some advice from Captain Picard. "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life."

[@anirudhviswanathan3986]

And like, it's not that the flinches entirely won the match. That gyarados was 1v5-ing him like crazy. We didn't even see the rest of Mcmeghan's team. That gyarados could've died at the jirachi thunder punch or heatran explosion moment, and he still might've lost.

[@cooldud7071]

Real life has less bullshit RNG than competitive pokemon.

[@Jfrost9101]

@@anirudhviswanathan3986 In complete reality there was probably only one flinch that mattered there, the one on Jirachi that forced it out (the first one). The flinch on Breloom effectively meant nothing because even a spore on its first turn gets healed off by Lum and then it was eating a Taunt, and it wouldn't have been able to kill with two Seed Bombs while Gyarados does kill with two more Waterfalls. The flinch on Heatran stopped an Explosion to keep the game going, but at that point you've lost three Pokémon and your Jirachi is pretty much dead in the water, against an entire team of five unknowns (which will also likely have some major threats to play around your effective two remaining Pokémon), so as soon as Jirachi flinched, Lavos had lost. It's been mentioned before as well but the decision to switch Heatran into Gyarados instead of Jirachi was also an unfortunate misplay by Lavos because he was probably expecting Choice Band and not DDance Lum.

[@SnoFitzroy]

Honestly his frustration (ha) seems warranted because that's a shitty way to lose .Sure, his attitude was a bit over-the-top, but he's technically not wrong. Especially with his point about "disdain, ridicule, and self-righteous fervor," because that's all over the place on Smogon, especially Smogon itself. You either use what's most popular to use or people act like you're stupid. I've noticed a lot of misplaced elitism on Showdown over the years and it gets so tiring so fast I can't be bothered to use the site for more than a week at a time.

[@stetsonherrick8090]

There should not be any harm in trying different approaches and getting creative. There's more to a given match than Entry Hazard pissing matches and Weather abuse.

[@SnoFitzroy]

@@stetsonherrick8090 Then *why is that literally all you see in high ladders?*

[@joelsieben3596]

@@SnoFitzroy High ladder and tournament play are differnt you cant afford to do off meta stuff in high ladder as climbing requires consistency but in a tournament where all you need is one win something off meta can work as you dont need it to work consistently you just need it to work this one time right now

[@1stCallipostle]

@@joelsieben3596 I think the rigidity of the meta is a fault that could've been avoided How many times have we seen "it's an issue, but we won't do anything about it because it would change the meta too much" When you're seeing 60%+ usage rates and doing nothing, it's kinda no wonder it gets stagnant

[@stetsonherrick8090]

@@1stCallipostle You would honestly think that after a point, it would be fascinating to try making a meta *WITHOUT* entry hazards. (That chip out huge chunks of damage at a time, not Sticky Web. That can actually be toyed and tinkered with.) Weather can still be stalled and toyed with until it peters out by comparison to being long lingering like entry hazards. Heck, in some cases you can wind up with your own Weather being violently turned against you. With so many possibilities that could come to head without the 3 constant chip outs outside Sand, Hail, Rocky Helmet, etc. there would be so many brilliant ideas that could get a fair chance.

[@atlasnext4144]

I actually feel this guy on a spiritual level I was on my way to top 500 in nat dex ou with a decent team with some incredible plays But then my bad luck started showing it self When I was 2 games away from getting into top 500 my seripiror missed SIX LEAF STORMS

[@asgacc8789]

What the fffff

[@atlasnext4144]

@@asgacc8789 it wasn't in a row I missed 4 in a row Then 2 in a row later in the game

[@idr121]

Had the same thing when playing ranked doubles on my Switch last time. I was on a total roll, in the top 100 and then faced rank 9 player who had insane amounts of luck and it just went downhill from there in one day. :D

[@asgacc8789]

@@idr121 Ah somehow that kind of luck is very common :0 That one match loss, that brings us spiralling down almost infinitely

[@asgacc8789]

@@atlasnext4144 Darn, must have also felt bad. But 6 in a row would have made it even worse

[@zer0name720]

Lavos reminds me of that evil villain kid from Sharkboy & Lavagirl *"MR ELECTRIC, SEND HIM TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE AND HAVE HIM EXPELLED!"*

[@chriscanway4247]

Can we talk about how good this VA is though?

[@antoniacorrales9148]

Fr

[@LazarusIsBackBaby]

Aw man, all of Lavos' pokemon are named after cosmere characters! That makes it all the sadder. I can't clown on this guy, he's a Sanderfan!

[@Veilure]

came here to say this should have used adonalsium 😔

[@benjaminh.5690]

Was going to comment this lmao

[@TsukiStuffs]

and a chrono trigger fan

[@no-zk6ls]

that’s so cool

[@014adonis]

Lets be real 2 flinches in a row is horrendously unlucky,dude got robbed,straight up lost to rng

[@moralessanchezoscarelias6412]

I hope he’s in a healthier place emotionally now. GGs

[@Giggi2222]

You can dislike a game without being In a bad place emotionally

[@zillowzest5199]

@@Giggi2222 He was absolutely in a bad place emotionally. Most if not everyone in the audience was hating on him for his history of toxicity, and even after his infamous monologue an overwhelming majority of responses were audience members making fun of him and trashtalking. Whether or not he had himself to blame for that is up in the air, but you can’t deny that this kind of thing will take a toll on someone’s mental health. To him, winning that game would make all the haters shut up, but he lost. And nobody would acknowledge the fact that it wasn’t because of his own ineptitude but rather, bad luck. The world was simply content to see him lose. That was the salt in the wound.

[@senny-]

@@zillowzest5199 He just needed to work on having a more likeable personality. He didn't need to win the entire thing.

[@hailthequeenFM]

​or you know they could not attack and make fun of him.@@senny-

[@ImplodingChicken]

Your content style is getting better every day. Really love watching you find your footing and perfect your formula like this.

[@byzantine5761]

I can understand being pissed over luck, especially in such volume, but it’s fairly ironic how his Gen 4 team has a Jirachi, the infamous flinch hax mon

[@patroka]

Love Lavos’ Cosmere name references, lol

[@gliscorpropagandaaccount1764]

he gets points for that

[@crushingon]

As the best Jojo put it, "Luck is also one of my best skills"

[@Clonekiller66]

How truly ironic that he vents his frustration with RNG in Pokemon. Then proceeds to start playing the most RNG card game ever made.

[@Factorial95]

For some reason the most surprising thing about this video to me is that Lavos is a Brandon Sanderson fan. A decent chunk of these teams are named after Stormlight Archive characters. I guess people being angry about bad RNG is fairly tame after all the showdown I've played, even if he took it to new heights.

[@noxtol8778]

I don't play pókemon at all but i like to watch competitive stuf every now and then. I did notice all of the Sanderson references in his pokemon and kinda made me root for him

[@whitebeans7292]

I recently started reading random brandon Sanderson books and I think I'm a fan too. He's pretty good at making creative worlds and not having super explicit content that I don't want to read but is shoved into every other adult series.

[@vitovitovito4927]

I think Energy Ball Jellicent is still more iconic :}

[@tarunyadav3567]

it definitely is

[@eastonfields]

I mean given how much time and effort he probably put in, for his teams, match ups, all that whole shabang, it's easy to just call him a baby, but imagine being dedicated to the grind, just to get it taken by sheer luck of the draw

[@enolopanr9820]

i imagine that he is off on a mountain somewhere training for the day that he returns

[@carlodechosa4219]

No matter how you look at it, for better or worse, that's just how pokemon battles operate. I guess the higher the stakes, the easier it is to forget since you've done all you could and still lose to something you can't control.

[@pmnt_]

> uses Jirachi > complains about flinches

[@HaloLvl43Legit]

Spends thousands of hours trying to be the best to lose to 0.2% bs. You'd be crying like a b*tch too.

[@AdaptiveReasoning]

I remember when that happened. I looked into it and came away thinking "His reaction was over the top but hmm. He ain't wrong." But he went to Hearthstone?!? That game can be even worse with random chance.

[@SwoleTommyPickles]

Hearthstone has random cards that generate more random cards creating an infinite feedback loop of RNG. I have no idea how he decided that would be his next competitive game after what happened here.

[@dendifikriyansyah7028]

@@SwoleTommyPickles he grinding his luck stats in that game

[@dendifikriyansyah7028]

@@loudwhispre9406 all card games are like that. But you can have those cards for free if you play long enough since you can farm ingame currency in OCG unlike TCG that need you to buy every single cards to even play the game.

[@ryphereon1153]

he probably played Hearthstone in the early days, where the RNG was much less extreme.

[@spindash64]

Maybe he’s trying to use it to hone his anger to achieve Nerdvana

[@flocecotti4993]

Quitting like this, insulting a community because you've been flinched 3 times while playing Jirachi, a pokemon which was essentially used for it's ability to flinch non stop. Yeah.

[@fuckyoutube4398]

Yeah. Love people who haven't spent countless hours trying to reach the zenith only to get robbed by a 0.2% weigh in like they'd shrug that off. Not condoning what he did, but that was total bs and you have no idea what he felt so your attempt to act superior sadly falls flat. Sorry.

[@HaloLvl43Legit]

Spends thousands of hours trying to be the best to lose to 0.2% bs. You'd be crying like a b*tch too.

[@GFCOLCQuote]

Though not nearly as toxic, this does remind me of the tourney in the locals we had that made me truly quit. It was at the height of Para-flinch Togekiss, and it outsped with a T-Wave. Every pokemon I had used a move that would be able to reliably take it down, but not once did I get a turn. Every first turn was a paralyze, and every turn after was a flinch or paralyze. I never got a move, the guy called it skill, and walked off smug. Fast forward his next match, the other guy literally never got had a single turn where he was affected by a paralysis, or from a flinch and I watched on with a smug smile as the guy fucking lost his shit when the other dude got a crit that mattered, and a freeze in the same fight. It was... just the best, but I do have to say the feeling is similar. Yes, you can have the better strategy and play but sometimes the cards just aren't in your hands. Pokemon is a game of mad skill, and it shouldn't be underestimated, but the small luck that spills through ruins it for me as a player. As a viewer, I can understand why it exists and enjoy it all the more, but I couldn't enjoy it as a player.

[@hands-ongaming7180]

It reminds me of when a lag spike happens fighting games or fps

[@Bluzlbee]

I under stand where Lavos is coming from, I ain't toxic at all when it comes to playing, but it was depressing seeing focus blast miss or play rough miss to clutch a game or you raise yours stats and get crit'd and insta die or you have to deal with stallers pp wasting tactics I quit pokemon playing too, and haven't looked back

[@scootermcpeanuts6699]

As someone who’s also had some pretty awful run ins with RNG (namely losing a shiny because the game decided to crash at that very specific moment) I can see where he’s coming from.

[@saigesmart4167]

I get it though, you put in that much work and effort for an entire season or maybe a year and then it all vanishes from what feels like an unlucky roll. Not saying toxicity is ok, but tbh rng and the like is part of why I don't even play these types of games in the first place, I know that sort of thing bothers me too much lol. Like the part about what being in his control is outweighed by what is isn't in his control.... well its untrue overall for Pokémon, but in those moments it happens it is tilting af and makes me not wanna play it either. I just watch and enjoy hearing about the strats as a spectator instead

[@pyromaniac000000]

I mean i feel him. 3 flinches as well as stone edge connecting. Those odds to all happen in a row are kinda disgusting, thats not ok by any means, but damn if it aint funny

[@henriquealves3086]

You guys can laugh at him, but he deserves all of my respect, i know his pain, i already felt his pain, and i bet most of the competitive players that are reading this also felt it, this guy shoudn't be blammed for leaving such unfair game that competitive pokemon is. Have a nice day.

[@gscsilvavaladares7065]

I fell an imense pay by RNG in the normal game already , to me this guy is a machine.

[@beanburrito4405]

Man, this guy was so salty that I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a copypasta like the Navy Seals copypasta or the right-click NFT copypasta Edit: Aaaaand yup it’s a copypasta lmao

[@twobadour]

It’s been a copypasta on Smogon since this game

[@iron2684]

Ye, it is

[@classonbread5757]

I mean rightfully so, he got robbed.

[@zad_rasera]

I think McMegan played skilfully, too, though. His Gyarados anti-lead predict worked well, and that Lum Berry + Stone Edge was good prep.

[@firewall5189]

@@zad_rasera oh i dont think anyone wants to take anything away from the #5 seed that tournament: he absolutely did prepare very well. its just that lavos actually did have answers to almost everything that that gyarados could have thrown at him, but then got utterly cucked by rng at the worst possible times.

[@reketsuq2794]

I tought LowTierGod delivering a homoerotic novel as a way of roasting some troll was one of the most elaborated flames ever, but this is on the same level, lol