The GGFan Experience
Part fourteen - the hall of fame
GGFan: Alright, let's talk about your hall of fame. I'll say a name and you tell me whether that person would belong there. You can say as much or as little as you want.
1. Mister Tim
marco: tough one, i would say no
GGFan: 2. Golden Gyarados
marco: it hurts me to say no, but i have to
GGFan: 3. Raish
marco: i have to be consistent with the line i drew
raish is one of my favourite players, but i have to say no again
GGFan: 4. Lutra
marco: yes for rby #1, could've been for rby#2
he stopped...
GGFan: 5. Hipmonlee
marco: honestly, i don't know him enough
GGFan: 6. Crystal
marco: just like lutra
GGFan: 7. Bedschibaer
marco: borderline for rby #2, i told you that my guts say no
can't fault you for allowing him in
GGFan: 8. roudolf
marco: yes, for rby #2
GGFan: 9. GGFan
marco: yes for rby#1, no for rby#2 but it would become a yes with some more tournaments
GGFan: 10. Isa
marco: same as lutra and crystal_
GGFan: 11. Ortheore
marco: argh... no
GGFan: 12. Peasounay
marco: yes, rby#2 obviously
GGFan: 13. M Dragon
marco: mmm tough one
rby#1 yes, 2 no
he has a different case from lutra/crystal_/isa
GGFan: 14. Disaster Area
marco: no
GGFan: 15. Genesis7
marco: no
GGFan: 16. HML Am
marco: no, he has time though
GGFan: 17. Ebola
marco: no
GGFan: 18. Nails
marco: no
GGFan: 19. Metalgross
marco: not yet
GGFan: 20. ALLALA
marco: no, he didn't even play on the tournament scene
GGFan: 21. ErPeris
marco: i wish he had
no
GGFan: 22. Tiba
marco: i only know him in rby#2, yes
GGFan: 23. Floppy/gorgie
marco: hard to tell what he could've done on PP... he's a multigen player, didn't spend much time playing rby#2
i don't know, so no
GGFan: 24. The Chaser
marco: i don't know him enough, no
GGFan: 25. Kaz
marco: tough one, borderline
no
can't fault you for putting yourself, beds and kaz in though
GGFan: 26. Idiot Ninja
marco: no, but it's up to him to become part of the hall of fame
i mean that he could
GGFan: 27. SadisticNarwhal
marco :not yet into the conversation, but he has potential
GGFan: 28. reyscarface
marcoasd: i don't know him enough
just like before, no
GGFan: 29. Friendofmrgolem
marco: same
GGFan:Of the ones that made your hall of fame for RBY #1, rank them from 1-5.
marco: hard to tell: I'd pick you, then crystal_, lutra and isa; not really sure about the order
other members: mdragon, jorgen
GGFan:How about for RBY #2?
marco: so... first of all i don't know tiba enough, and we're leaving myself out(edited
so, something like: troller, peasounay, lusch, roudolf, alexander
GGFan: Now include yourself in both rankings.
How does it look now?
marco: it looks like it's hard to rank myself over these guys
i'm only lucky enough to have a spreadsheet saying that i have stacked up almost 400 points and some interviews from other guys saying i am their number one pick
Part fifteen - final thoughts
GGFan: Can you tell us what your five favorite tournament matches of all time are?
marco: haha
very hard to tell
but i assume they're all from rby#1
against you, lutra, crystal, isa
but there is a specific game that i would put as number 1
it's from rby #1 i guess
i feel that this game made troller look at me in a completely different way
undeservedly too...
so, i was mentoring him: he was just a young guy who was picking up rby
he was well known for being an haxer, he was spamming blizzard even in spots where it didn't make any sense
and he was getting a lot of freezes
so, we're not even talking about troller the well known player
i was using a weird team: starmie lead, golem, victreebel, slowbro... something among those lines
something went wrong in the early game, he played well and we got to a point were we both thought it was game over
argh
GGFan: What year was this?
marco: i think it was from rby #1
well, just a little bit before the incident
so... we were talking about me being doomed, but i looked at my team and i said: "i need to win 7 mindgames and i'll get out of this"
obviously, performing something like that involves luck
somehow, i did and my victreebel swept
the interesting part is that i was able to count the number of mindgames i needed
to this very day, i'm not sure that this game actually took place in reality and not in my dreams
but i am pretty positive that it did, maybe he remembers that one
GGFan: You should ask him.
Do you have any final thoughts or words before we go?
marco: well, you didn't cover the part of the second run of team italy into wcop
GGFan: What year was this?
marco: it was one of the most important tournaments i played in
summer 2018
GGFan: Oh, that's right.
Your final tournament on Smogon.
Alright, let's talk about it. The pool was stacked.
Who did you play in the first round?
marco: i don't remember very well the opposition, but i went 3-0
GGFan: Who did you play in the second round?
marco: the fact about this tournament is that team italy was considered a contender at this point
GGFan: Oh, you played Oceania in the second round.
marco: we were considered a joke until 2016, got to the semifinals in 2017 and we were considered a contender in 2018
GGFan: You went up against Hipmonlee. How did the games go, and what did you think of his play?
So you were on this journey to finally win it.
marco: i don't remember his plays very well: overall, it looked like he was doing pre 2015 stuff in 2018
he was competent, but i was more into it
it was not easy to beat him
still, we were all looking for the final stages of the tournament
GGFan: So you barely edged out Oceania and made it into the semi finals for the first time.
marco: my victories were almost taken for granted...
GGFan: But things did not go well against US East.
marco: we made it to the semi finals the year before too, i guess
but this time the semi finals felt like the finals because US East were like a death sentence
GGFan: No, you were knocked out in the second round.
marco: by germany?
GGFan: Yes, US East was stacked.
No, by Spain.
How was team morale during the semi finals
I guess the chat was exploding?
Everybody was trying to help each other?
marco: mmm we lost to spain the first time we made it to the playoffs, then to germany and after to US east
when we lost to spain, there was no rby
GGFan: But tell me about the environment during the semi finals against US East.
marco: so... i went first against teal6, and beat him
after that, we fell down to 1-6
GGFan: How was the chat? I guess it was super active, right?
marco: that was pretty bad, and it was a very hard wakeup from a dream
well, i was working so i was limited
GGFan: Was this the most heartbreaking loss you ever experienced?
marco: the turning point of the series was an XY game between tricking and ABR
i should check this up, but i think it's correct
he was winning the game, but he didn't put the final dagger and got lucked
after that, it was very hard to come back
yes, it was
all in all, i feel like US East was the best team ever in the game
it's ok to lose against them, but in a best of 12 matches anything can happen
i felt like we lacked some competitive spirit and experience, that they had instead
i was pretty disappointed about that and i let them know, but at the end of the day i still love TI and i am still in contact with many of them
so, at the end of the interview we're coming back to a point i stated before: not only US east had a great team, i feel like they also had the culture
GGFan: Do you think Team Italy will ever win it?
marco: i don't know, everything changed
i don't know much about the team either: i just can't help them anymore
GGFan: It looks like the team did not do well last year
They failed to make it out of the first round.
marco: RBY OU won't be part of the tournament anymore, and yeah the team did not do well
GGFan: So that ends that chapter.
marco: it looks like we're back to 2015
nobody considers us a contender
GGFan: OK, do you have any other final thoughts or words before we end this?
marco: well, my final thought is that TI is the most important experience i have made thanks to my RBY skills, however I feel like I never was the best pokemon player in any team i have ever been in and i can be proud of having been one of the leaders of TI
for me to help us to become a contender, i had to do much more than just clicking buttons
most of all, the guys around me knew that i cared and i stepped into my games prepared and i expected them to do the same
it's not easy for a relatively small playerbase like ours to get that far, we can be ok with everything we have done
GGFan: Yes, you had a great run that year.
That's all you can hope for in the end.
It's not always about winning and losing.
marco: final thought number two: good luck capitalizing and proofreading all the shit i have spread all over
GGFan: I'm not editing the way you write.
No way.
It's going to take long enough to put this on the website.
marco: oh well, i feel like the readers are going to enjoy the content
GGFan: Definitely.
marco: at least, there won't be any hating since you don't allow comments haha!
GGFan: Alright, thanks a lot for your time, and see you on the ladder, caco adosso.
Yeah, all trolling is happily deleted.
marco: thanks for having me
well, it would be nice to know who you are
so that i could try to focus a bit more when i play you
GGFan: I'll tell you after I peak.
marco: maybe i won't make you wait and i will always say gg!
GGFan: I want to see how high I can get.
marco: I have peaked at almost 1700
GGFan: I noticed.
marco: i get up and down
GGFan: I won't get THAT high.
I'd be happy with 1600-1650.
marco: i just can't get focused enough in the long run
GGFan: But it'll be difficult.
marco: and obviously, when you get super high something bad with luck happens
GGFan: Yeah, that's ladder for you.
marco: and then you go on a bad streak, falling off the radar
that's how it works with mtg arena as well... that's just laddering
interview publication date - 4/27/2020