Apprentice Program - Round Fourty One (Suspect Edition)

Read this entire thread before signing up!

We are ready to begin Round Fourty One of the tutoring program; if you wish to get a tutor for this round all you have to do is post your profile in the format below. Tutors will be an excellent resource for you to learn Pokemon team building and battling strategies, as well as someone who can help "initiate" you into the Smogon Community. We are here for you...so take advantage!

This round is focused on Smogon's SUSPECT LADDER. You will have noticed that Stage 3 of the process is about to begin, and we want as many of you voting as we can! This round will work like a buddy system - if you've ever had trouble qualifying to vote but really want to get your say, then this is the round for you! You and your tutor will buddy up and work with each other to qualify; you can call upon your tutors' experience and bounce ideas off each other in order to maximize your odds of qualifying. Details about this exciting process can be found here.

We are not tutoring OU, UU or Uber this round. If you're not interested in the Suspect Tests, then don't sign up - wait for Round Fourty Two.

This round will last until Stage 3 of the Suspect Test closes. If you're not able to commit to this for the entire process (a minimum of 7 weeks), don't sign up.

Modified Signup Template:
Shoddy Battle nick:
Age:
Time zone:
Regular online hours (Eastern only!):
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?:
A little about myself:
Why I need help:

You don't have to be good...just willing to learn. So, don't be shy; Sign up now!

YOU MUST BE ABLE TO USE SHODDY BATTLE TO PARTICIPATE!

If at any point during this round you encounter a problem (difficulty getting together with your tutor, etc.), let me know and we will work to resolve the issue.

Pairings this round will not necessarily be based on a first come, first serve basis. We will pick our pool of tutees based on their previous participation in the community as to maximize the odds of everyone qualifying. It wouldn't hurt to actually put some time into your application, either. Due to overwhelming demand, sign ups will close at 7:00PM on May 19 (GMT +8).

Round Fourty One Match-Ups
august: Gir!
Limitless: alive
KD24: VelvetEvoker
Vashta: Taxie
Kevin Garrett: Mrobinson587
Dawnbringer: StarmanXL
Ace Matador: Knight of the Wind
SoT: Tanner
Twist of Fate: Fzazz
Stathakis: 13blue101
TAY: Kahuna
Seven Deadly Sins: YoshiThePirate
Calciphoce: Xeorr
Great Sage: ExplorerAce
reachzero: Katherine
Earthworm: Dracul
panamaxis: Erodent
Philip7086: opokemon13
Misaki-chi: Evil Lord
JabbaTheGriffin: adub_banded
Legacy Raider: Tab
LonelyNess: Unholy Calamity

Assigned to August

Shoddy Battle nick: Jaimitovond
Age: 15
Time zone: GMT -6:00
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): Varies, most of the time ranging from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, exceptions are on thursdays, when Im only available from 7:30 PM onwards
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: I cant promise I will reach the rating required, however, I can promise I´ll do my best to be suspect voter and will not let my tutor down
A little about myself: Well, Im a fairly average guys, decent grades, good gamer, avid reader....oh, and, according to my teachers and friends, a funny, yet respectful person
Why I need help: When I was a noobie, I used to watch the tier lists and wonder "why is certain Pokemon Uber" or(and this was my real opinion) "why is flareon so low when he is the best Eveelution). As I got more experience, I learned why certain Ubers were there, and why certain Pokemons were not used, however, I still wondered how certain things, such as Latias, were Uber, when knowing that, without their items, they were just average, yet Pokemons as broken as Garchomp were OU. I expressed my opinion on message boards such as gamefaqs, however, never felt satisfied, because I had no real influence over the vote. Now, I want to let my oppinion have some influence, I want to have a vote, and to let people hear what I think, but I wont be able to, at least not alone, thats why I need a tutor, to improve my game and be able to help the Metagame evolve.

Assigned to Kevin Garrett

Shoddy Battle nick: Mrobinson587
Age: 22
Time zone: Eastern
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): Flexible usually 8pm-3am
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?:Yes
A little about myself: Music student in Fort Wayne,Indiana who is a vocal performance major. I also play trumpet some piano and french horn and I'm picking up guitar this summer. Jack of all trades is a good description for me in general (athletics, video games, etc).
Why I need help: I'm at a breakthrough for competitive Pokemon and I just need some strategy to make sure I'm not wondering off the track. I like to have fun while being competitive. Edit: I've also never tried to qualify for voting as I've been to busy with school but now school is done for the summer

Assigned to Limitless

Shoddy Battle nick: alive, cat, tuff ghost
Age: 16
Time zone: GMT -5
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): 5pm - 1am
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes
A little about myself: I live in Dallas, Texas. I've played piano for about 6 years. Other than that I'm pretty average. I am pretty fascinated with Iceland and plan to live there when I get older, but then again I'm pretty young and naive and things change.
Why I need help: I've been playing Pokemon for about two years, only one year on Smogon though, and I'm just not at the point I would like to be. My biggest issue is team building, I get flustered with this metagame sometimes and my teams usually end up having pretty big holes in them. My actual playing skill could be better too, of course.

Assigned to Twist of Fate

Shoddy Battle nick: Fzazz
Age: 23
Time zone: GMT -3
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): Most of the day, proper time can be arranged. Mostly between 10 AM - 11 PM. I work, but it's just 1-2 hours per day, so time isn't really an issue. Saturday all night.
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: I'll do my best to fit the requeriments.
A little about myself: I'm pretty dedicated to anything that I do, so learning and commitment (sp?) will not be a problem.
Why I need help: I need help because I want to improve my playing and teambuilding skills. I have some practice on OU and NU, if that matters.

Assigned to DawnBringer

Shoddy Battle nick: StarmanXL
Age: 18
Time zone: EST
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): Pretty much whenever now that school's done. Thursday afternoon, Friday, and Saturdays are no gos, however.
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: While I doubt I'll make requirements given I'm rather mediocre, I will give it my best shot.
A little about myself: Well, I just got outta high school and have a full tuition scholarship for college, so I'm pretty content. I enjoy writing and it is my only talent, really. I usually play doubles almost exclusively. I've been in the tutoring program a coupe of times before but pretty much every time I didn't really get any help, either through being unable to meet up with my tutor through circumstances beyond the control of either of us or, in one instance, my tutor ditching me completely, so I'm hoping this time around things go better.
Why I need help: To be quite honest, I've always been bad at singles, despite playing since D/P came out. My team building is mediocre--I often cannot find that happy balance between efficiency and creativity--and my predictions subpar. I have never advanced past I think a 1500 rating on ladder even when I tried. The last suspect test I tried to qualify for--Latias--I could not come close to reaching rating requirements even though I played constantly.

Assigned to Philip7086

Shoddy Battle nick: OMG so many alts...Boats and Hoes is my main but i have plenty

Age:17

Time zone:PST

Regular online hours (Eastern only!): 7pm-1pm (weeks) pretty much any time on the weekends

Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?:yes

A little about myself: I'm a pretty experienced battler who just needs that extra boost to take things to the next level. I've lurked here for awhile and want to make a name for myself. In addition, I have some shoddy accomplishments (leaderboard, tours etc). My biggest accomplishment is winning the site wide Team Uber Official Tour this past month.

Why I need help:Teambuilding, Teambuilding, Teambuilding. I can't repeat that enough. I have decent battling skills but my prediction needs work.

I would like to request phillip as my tutor as we already pre-arranged this and we've been talking a lot on the Game Faqs Xat. So if I could get him, it would be ideal. Thank you for considering me.

Assigned to Stathakis

Nick: keep it simple with 13blue101
Age: 15
Time Zone: Eastern Standard (-5 hours iirc)
Online Hours: Weekdays are from 7 pm - 10 pm; Weekends vary.
Am I Committted?: Indeed I am, as it is the reason for my post.
Little About Myself: Just a small town lad, Born and raised in northeastern Maryland, Took his family car going to the anywhere. Anyways, just your average teenager, hanging with friends, etc, etc. Nothing much more to tell tbh.
Areas Needed: Team Building and some battle strategies

I would like to request Stathakis again, if its not too much of an inconvience to anyone.

Assigned to KD24

Shoddy Battle nick: VelvetEvoker
Age: 19
Time zone: MST
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): 2:00 PM - 6:00 AM
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes! I intend to battle a lot due to school being over and me not getting a lot of work hours until July.
A little about myself: I used to play on NetBattle and then dropped competitive Pokemon for a while, regretting it now. I've lurked for quite a while (since a bit before the release of D/P) and really want to get involved now, mostly due to CAP. I am online for quite a bit of the day and am a bit of a night owl. I play singles pretty much exclusively, but will do doubles if requested.
Why I need help: Team building is a big one. I'm good at choosing moves, EV spreads, etc. for individual Pokemon but I need a lesson in team synergy! I'd also like to learn more about tiers and why certain pokemon are in what tier, and the mathematical aspects in general so I can be more involved in the non-artistic aspects of CAP. I miss competitive battling and would like to get back into the swing of things.

Assigned to SoT

Shoddy Battle nick: TannerS
Age: 18
Time zone: CST
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): On and off between 2 pm EST and 3 am EST, available at any time between those
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: I made a shot at the Latios and Manaphy voting rights but fell short. I'm willing to put in the time and effort to make my mark.
A little about myself: I'm a college freshman currently on summer break, I'm majoring in nothing and trying to figure out what to do with myself. I'm currently working on a Kingdra Battle Hall streak that I believe has the potential to last forever barring bad luck. I'm going to Hawaii on Thursday and won't get back for seven days (The start of the test hasn't been announced yet but I assume I won't miss much). I've been camping Battling 101 for three rounds now and keep missing the deadlines (somehow I always missed the "next round starts on X" part. I played competitive ADV at what I consider a high level and have been lurking around Smogon for longer than I can remember. I also play competitive Guild Wars and dabble in Rock Band/Guitar Hero.
Why I need help: I need help because I'm terrible. I start out fairly well when I grab a new team but at a certain point I can never match up to my opponents. I'm not sure what exactly I'm doing wrong or where to go from here.

If I don't get accepted into the suspect round I WOULD like to be tutored in OU or UU but I think I'll wait to PM you until I'm rejected.

Assigned to Misaki-chi

Shoddy Battle Nick:Coronis
Age:14
Timezone:GMT +10
Regular Online Hours: Afternoon/Night here during weekdays, also during the day on weekends.
Are you committed to qualifying for stage 3 voting? Yes, I've always wanted to, but could never get the rating.
A little about myself: Im just getting into a tough part of school and am still unsure of what I want to do in life...
Why you need help: Im a fairly decent player, even gave BK a run for is money at one stage(he won't remember), but my team building is abysmal, to put it nicely. My only successful teams have been one persons team I tweaked a bit, and mono-cap...

I'd like to request Earthworm or Misaki-Chi as my tutor if possible.

Assigned to Earthworm

Shoddy Battle nick: Ossatueur
Age: 17
Time zone: AEST (Australian Eastern)
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): Irregular, but am usually on when Earthworm, panamaxis, Blue Kirby, shiki misaki, SoT or MS are on
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes, I've been itching to get voting rights for suspects for sometime, but have been hindered by external stuff, such as migrating :)
A little about myself: I'm a Sri Lankan living in Australia (Melbourne), and I've played pokemon competitively for about a year now. I'm pretty good but by no means great.
Why I need help: Prediction is sort of a weak point for me, as is efficient team building. Any help with those (and the suspects!) is much appreciated.

Assigned to Vashta

Shoddy Battle nick: Taxie, Silva Velzquez
Age: 14
Time zone: GMT + 1:00(For now due to circumstances)
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): Completely flexible.
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes, I've been trying to get into the list for a good amount of time, never managed it, so i think good guidance could help me.
A little about myself: Someone bored in his holidays.
Why I need help: Basically i have problems with Team building and breaking stall, so i need a lot of help in there.

Assigned to TAY

Shoddy Battle nick: KahunaWave
Age: 15
Time zone: Central
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): 5 PM-10PM
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes. I've always tried to be able to vote, but I never made it past the requirements. I actually fulfilled the requirements for UU voting, but complications arise so I was never able to fulfill my paragraphs.
A little about myself: I'm your typical asian nerd, just messing around with Pokemon. Actually, I've been lurking Smogon since '05, and I just made an account. Highschool freshman, yadda yadda, so I'm bound to have alot more time to try to fulfill the requirements as its near the end of year, so I have time to just relax and stuff.
Why I need help: I'm never a good teambuilder. It's just something I struggle with. My battle skills aren't that bad though, but some improvement can't hurt.

Assigned to Ace Matador

Shoddy Battle nick: KnightoftheWind
Age: 15
Time zone: GMT+10
Regular online hours: Well let's see. My online hours in EST are 3:00 AM-7:00AM. The exception is on Fridays and Saturdays, where I'm available most of the day. Well it said Eastern only!
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes, I'm really concerned about the tiering of Pokemon. I'll try my best to get to Stage 3.
A little bit about myself: I live in Australia, I like video games and reading and I suck at physical fitness.
Why I need help: I'm OK at battling, but I haven't reached my full potential yet. Some tutoring can help me acheive my goal.

Assigned to Legacy Raider

Shoddy Battle nick: Tab
Age: 17
Time zone: GMT (EST+5)
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): I can usually be on around 10 AM to 4 PM EST on weekdays, and I'm on pretty sporadically on weekends.
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes.
A little about myself: I'm and English male who is starting work as a maths undergraduate next year. I've been playing competetive pokemon on and off for a few years, with minimal experience in RSE and early-DP, althought it's only over the last few months that I've really got into it and gained any real experience.
Why I need help: I've taken part in both the Latios and Manaphy tests so far. During the Latias test, I did pretty badly, and didn't really come close to qualifying. During the Manaphy test, I just about scraped into the lower requirement, but my paragraph was rejected.
On the standard ladder, I've been able to maintain a fairly decent rating, with a ladder rank of 40-50 or so, but on the suspect ladder, the increased activity of the best players makes it really hard for me to reach the voting requirement, which I think may be in part due to my team building skills, which are pretty lacking.
Now that we're onto the most important part of the test, I want to give qualifying to vote my best shot, so I really need help both in building a more solid team to hold up the the other good teams on the suspect ladder, and improving my battling skills so that I can compete better.

Assigned to JabbaTheGriffin

Shoddy Battle nick: adub_banded
Age: 15
Time zone: EST
Regular Online Hours (Eastern only!): I’m on pretty randomly between 4-9 on weekdays and all day weekends. School ends June 4 so I will be on very frequently after that.
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Absolutely. I'm very excited for Stage 3 and would love to vote.
A little about myself: I am an honor student with a 4 point, so I may not be able to get on all the time when homework catches up with me. I play on the soccer team. I listen to rock music and play the saxophone. I want to be an engineer when I grow up. I lurk around the forums a lot. That’s about it.
Why I need help: I think that this test is going to create an entirely new metagame, and to get my requierments I would like someone who can help me figure it out. It would also be great if I had someone to tell me if my essay was good enough, it got rejected in the Manaphy vote. I'm a decent battler, but would love to get my overall battling skills higher for the upcoming Smogon Tour.

Assigned to Great Sage

Shoddy Battle nick: ExplorerAce
Age: 14
Time zone: EST -5
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): 7-9 Sunday-Thursday, 7-11 Friday, 7-10 Saturday (More time will open up after the first week of June)
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes.
A little about myself: I've been in the tutoring program before (under Olie,) and now I'm back because I need help again. I'm an avid suspect tester, even if I do not make requirements (the highest I've gotten was a rating of ~1500 and a dev. of ~50.) I also play OU and UU when there is no suspect to test. I am open to (and use) a variety of strategies, and I prefer to play with balanced offense/bulky offense teams.
Why I need help: As I have stated before, I have tried laddering on the Suspect ladder previously. I have never met the Lower requirement, nor the Hidden Requirement. I have played some of smogon's well known battlers, Including Reachzero and Kevin Garret, but I often lose to them. I am hoping that I will be able to make the requirements for the suspect ladder and make a decision in this community. Stage 3 also seems as if it is going to be one of the hardest suspect tests yet, due to the fact 5/6 of the suspects were voted Uber in Stage 2. This metagame has no real "experts," and everyone is going to have to begin from the ground-up. I just don't want to be the one caught doing too little too late. Lastly, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared for Smogon Tour Season 8. Even though we're playing with suspects, most of the skills applicable to the Suspect Test apply with regular OU battling.

Assigned to reachzero

I'll make this look better later.

Shoddybattle nick: Colloquy
Age: 15
Time Zone: EST
Regular Online Hours: 3-11 PM weekdays, 7 AM - 12 PM weekends.
Stage 3 Voting Commitment: Sure! I've always wanted to do suspect voting, but I've never gotten a good enough rating for even the lower requirements.
Experience Level: Good at OU, bad at making teams for Suspect. Especially in stage 3, I'll have trouble.

A little about myself:

I'm a regular teenager, and contrary to my (soon to be changed name) I'm a boy. I'm an active forums member, and frequent IRC and Shoddybattle. On Shoddybattle, I consider myself a good player, capable of holding my own against quite a few of the certified tutors. For personal stuff, I play a bunch of sports, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and more; I do decently in school.

Why I Need Help:

I am awful at Suspect laddering, I just can't seem to make a solid team for them until it's too late. This also seems like a really cool idea to ladder along with my tutor.

---

Also, Kevin Garrett agreed to tutor me in Suspect (and has been from the start of stage 3), so if you could pair me up with him, that'd be swell. (Jimboedit: I gave away Kevin before I got to your post ... sorry! But reachzero is better, kevin smells)

Assigned to panamaxis

Shoddy Battle nick: Ping Pong Player
Age: 15<x<18
Time zone: +8
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Sure.
A little about myself: I started competitive battling in June '08, starting off on Wifi; I began to ladder competitively in April '09 (a month ago!). My skill level is very average as I'm just getting the hang of Shoddy battling. My highest score in Standard was 1570ish :( I believe I need a reasonable amount of additional guidance to improve at this game. I tend to be impatient when I'm in a difficult position during a battle, especially against stall teams. That's why I feel that I have an affinity for wallbreaking teams. However, I am always willing to learn as I haven't figured out a smooth playing style yet :) I suck at team building, but if there is an element of battling of mine that I'm proud of, it's definitely double switching repeatedly (luring) to put myself at an advantageous position. Also, I love acting like a fool, making early mistakes in the game deliberately (sometimes, lol) to lull my opponent into a false sense of security, and after I have done enough scouting to their team, I decide to raise my game a bit and often come back to win these matches. In real life, I'm a high schooler with a very decent vocabulary and writing ability. I play tennis competitively as well.
Why I need help: Suspect testing seems to be a very interesting issue and I was afraid to participate in them because of my lack of knowledge and my very limited understanding about them. However, with a tutor to guide me along the way I am sure that I will eventually come to enjoy this exciting process.

Assigned to LonelyNess

Shoddy Battle Nick: Unholy Calamity.
Age: 18
Time Zone: GMT +1
Regular Hours Online (Eastern Only): Between 11:30am - 2:30pm (it varies).
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes
Experience level: I have been playing Pokemon since it came out, then started playing competitively in 2006, I played during the Latios suspect test. I consider myself be decent but I feel I can do better.
Why I need help: I have been losing a lot lately and because of that I couldn't meet the requirements on the last suspect test I entered (Latios).
Little about myself: I am a college student that likes skating, playing games and hanging out with friend.

Assigned to Seven Deadly Sins

Shoddy Battle nick: YoshiThePirate
Age: 15
Time zone: EST
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): 4-8
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes
A little about myself: I've been playing pokes for over a year
Why I need help: I can't make a good team to get me to qualify. I also need to work on prediction a bit.

I'd like to request Philip7086 as my tutor. He has already agreed :)

Assigned to Calciphoce

Shoddy Battle nick: xeorr
Age: 13
Time zone: EST
Regular online hours (Eastern only!): weekdays 3-9, weekends all day unless i have something to attend to
Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Of course, ive always wanted to learn more about the metagame and suspect voring has got to be the best way that i can learn.
A little about myself: Ive been playing all forms of pokemon since i immigrated to canada over 6 years ago. Since then ive got attatched to competitive battling and need more help. which is why im signing up here. Im also very talkative and youll often find me saying '...' Most of the time, youll find me on the cap server playing little cup, because its so fast paced. Thats the style that i like to play.
Why I need help: I need help because i cant build a team to save my life and i really need help learning more about how our metagame functions. Team building has never been one of my strong points and i know that smogon can surely help me aieve this.

Shoddy Battle nick:Lorerer

Age:15

Time zone:GMT +1h (Barcelona)

Regular Online Hours (Eastern only!):If eastern is GMT -7, I play usually between 12h-14h in the week, and from 8h to 14h, this is my online time (I usually spend that with friends, but I can sacrifice for the tutoring program). Please check me this.

Are you committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: Yes, I am.

A little about myself:Well, I live in Sabadell, a city near Barcelona and my favourite music is the hip-hop. I started playing competitive pokemon since a friend told me to do a battle of pokemon, but my wi-fi was broken and we decided to do the battle in a on-line simulator, and I enjoyed the battle so much i decided to continue. I tryed to do a lot fo teams, but they all were bad and I played with copied teams so I said myself: I want to play with my own teams! And here you got me. Also, my favourtie pokes are Empoleon and Metagross.

Why I need help: I have a lot of problems making teams that work (win %), I think only one of my teams can be saved. That, and becouse I need tips about improving my prediction skills and I want to take part on the suspect test too with a good team, becouse I want to be able to decide the future of the suspects.

Shoddy Battle Nick: Kaxtar2

Age: 15

Time Zone: EST

Regular online hours (Eastern only!): 4-9 weekdays (off and on), 12-5 on weekends. I can also plan seperate meetings if needed, as I have a very flexible schedule.

Are You committed to qualifying for Stage 3 voting?: I will try my best to reach the voting requirements, but weather I make it or not I can't know for sure.

A Little bit about myself: Been playing Pokemon for most of my life, got into compettive batteling about 1 year ago, been doing well, want to get even better. I do a few sports (suck at them, though), get mostly A+'s in school, always try hard. You normal nerd. I also like the CAP project, where I spend a lot of my time.

Why I need help: I have been in quite a slump recently, and I really want to get better. I want to become better at prediction, and much better at team building. Hope the tutoring program will help. I also have always wanted to reach voting requirements, but never have been able to.

If possible, I would like to request someone that is involved in the CAP project.