Banner by @Living So Zambian
Tell us a little bit about your life outside Smogon.
Hi, my name is Youssef and I'm a 17 years old Moroccan and I'll be a medicine student starting next week. Outside of Smogon I'm your typical boring nerd who enjoys watching anime, reading novels, and playing chess and basketball.
What is your main tier? Do you rate teams from any other tiers?
My main tier is LC, I got seriously into it after winning a forums LC tour on PO after I was a random who played every tier horribly haha, I can also play any other tier except Doubles.
However, LC teams are very uncommon and they're usually posted during my sleep time so other people who are eager to get TR rate it and suggest all the possible changes :[ so I started to learn OU so that I get to rate OU teams, and so far I rated 5 OU teams iirc :]
When did you start rating and why?
I started rating around this time last year when people started to post their teams after they got knocked out of the open and people were also trying to get help with their teams since the metagame changed a lot after Misdreavus' ban. The reason why I started rating is that I enjoy helping people out here and in real life too, so I was attracted by the RMT and B101 subforums when I switched to Smogon :)
Are there any raters who you looked up to when you started rating?
Yes, my idols are Corporal Levi and Superpowerdude, they helped me improve my rates which is something I'll always be thankful to them for!
What do you most enjoy about rating?
Like I said earlier I enjoy helping people out, I really love when people thank me when I rate their teams. Another reason is that I'm trying to get more people into LC by improving their teams and also giving them some tips about the metagame in the rates I give.
Do you follow a process with your rates?
Of course, first of all I try to figure out the way how the team was built if the one who put it didn't write about the teambuilding process they took, then I try to find the team's huge weaknesses and try to fix them by maintaining the core behind the team and its playstyle, then lastly I check if there are any moves that can be better to use or better EV spread or ability/item.. I also try to be very friendly when giving my rates because the one who put it will always appreciate a friendly rater's suggestions over a mean one :P
As a current respected team rater, do you have any words of advice for aspiring raters out there?
First of all if you're trying to improve your rates ask an official Team Rater either in the forums or in the PS room, don't be shy we are there to help ;). Also, while rating try not to change a lot of mons because if you do so the team will end up being totally different, also try to maintain the main core that team was built around and the playstyle of the team. Another thing is that you should explain your suggestions, if you give me good explanations to your suggestions the one who post the team will be convinced by them, and don't forget to be friendly :P
Do you like the direction the RMT forum is taking at the moment? If you could change something, what would it be?
I absolutely do, there are a lot of nice projects that are being done by new raters, the RMT mods are being friendly and humble, there are a lot of people who rate very well lately too.. all of this made the RMT community one of the best in Smogon thanks to the great relationship between the RMT leaders, the Team Raters, and the people who post their teams. The RMT room on PS is also a great thing that we got recently!
If I could change something it'd be to force people who post their RMTs to follow the rules, like when they click the "Create Thread" button a box with the team posting rules shows up, that'll lower the amount of the teams that break the rules and the subforum will really benefit of that.
As one of the few LC raters we have, how do you feel about the LC rating community? Do you have any thoughts on how we could potentially expand our activity there?
To be honest the LC rating community is very good but the LC RMTs are very uncommon which is killing it, Levi who is one of the best LC raters got debadged because there weren't a lot of teams he could rate and the same thing was going to happen to me too if I didn't start rating OU teams so atm I'm the only LC TR, however there are is a bunch of good LC raters such as Omastar42, Fiend Hound, and fran17.. who rate very well but the lack of LC RMTs is what's hampering them.
There isn't anything that we can do about that, LC doesn't have a huge playerbase to start with so expanding that playerbase is the only solution.
Do you have an RMT or a team you could share with us?
I don't have one now but I'll post an LC RMT as soon as I'm out of the LC open :P
Lastly, can you give us an example of a rate that exemplifies your particular style?
This rate is mainly just me explaining Fiend Hound's suggestions a little bit more and improving them, I also tried to encourage the guy into using the mon he built his team around because some guys told him to remove it even though he said he doesn't want to and it was the mon he built around which was a crucial mistake, and the guy asked me some few questions about his team which I tried to answer in this post.
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Thanks Yagura for a great interview! Feel free to leave any questions you have for him below. See you all next time
