Introduction to the Competitive Tutoring Room

Competitive Tutoring Room by SailorCosmos

Introduction

The Competitive Tutoring room is the place to be to get and give advice on competitive battling. Whether you wish to have your team broken down and improved or impart your infinite wisdom onto others, there's no better place. Simply put, the room is a place where players can improve their teambuilding ability and general knowledge of the competitive scene by asking questions. The staff of the room all excel at their respective tiers and metagames. From AM, our glorious Room Owner who excels at OU, to our Asian Room Moderator DaAwesomeDude1, who apparently excels at anime and getting haxed, Competitive Tutoring has staff that are knowledgeable about many metagames.

How the room works

If you're new to the room, you should first check out Competitive Tutoring's room rules to familiarize yourself with some general guidelines when interacting there. If you're on Pokémon Showdown!, this can be done by looking at the roomintro, which has buttons that lead to different sections of the room site, or by typing /rules into the Competitive Tutoring chat window, which will give links to both the global PS! and room rules. The premise of Competitive Tutoring generally relates to answering questions people may have about competitive Pokémon battling, team rating, and team testing. If you have any queries about competitive Pokémon in general, feel free to ask. Whether it's asking how a certain game mechanic works or simply wanting opinions on certain strategies, we're here to answer your questions; it's a good learning experience for those that aren't familiar with what you've asked as well.

If you want to have your team rated, the first thing you should do is make a Pastebin or a Hastebin of it and post the link in the chat for others to take a look at. Instructions for those unfamiliar with this can also be found in the room site. If you don't have the full team built, you should at least have a general idea of what you want it to be like and a couple of team members to support that idea. While we will help polish your team (this includes suggesting one or two more members for your team), we won't build one for you. Make sure to specify the metagame that the team is built for while you're at it. Once this is done, be patient and give other users some time to respond. Not everyone is familiar with the metagame you're asking for help in, and, even if they are, it's likely that it'll take more than a minute for someone to look through your team thoroughly enough to rate it properly. The main aim of us rating a team is to suggest changes, such as movesets, items, EV spreads, and Pokémon choices, that can make the team more effective while not affecting how the team is supposed to function as a whole. If we point out that a certain set, idea, or Pokémon is not good, it is usually for valid reasons unless you can justify that your choice works or has a niche that isn't outclassed by something better (and no, stating the wins you've gotten over people on the ladder isn't a valid reason, and neither is getting a sweep with it in the lower parts of the ladder). "Standard" sets are standard for a reason, after all. Running something with no viability whatsoever and remaining adamant about your choice is a surefire way to make everyone shy away from assisting you. The room's very name gives away the fact that it is a room dedicated towards the competitive aspect of Pokémon. Not everyone is going to be keen to help you on your journey to make a NastyPass Ambipom-centric "squad" while you whine about the overuse of certain Pokémon in OverUsed. You are, however, allowed to build that team on your own, and nobody can stop you from doing so. Once you receive rates from other users, try to be receptive to them. There will always be both good and bad rates, and you're not obliged to follow any of the advice given, but at least consider them and test them out before dismissing them. There's no point in asking for help if you won't consider the help given to you.

Many members of the room staff and the general userbase are also fully capable of testing teams with you and can offer opinions on them afterwards, should you want to do so off-ladder. Be sure to specify the metagame/tier of choice, as always, when asking for a test battle.

Finally, the Competitive Tutoring room can give advice regarding the decisions you make in battle, so feel free to ask for that. This could be done by simply showing the userbase and room staff a battle replay of yours and getting some input about turns you could have done better. Alternatively, you could try to get a tutor battle with a staff member where they'll point out mistakes as the game is being played. The room has recently started on a Battle Analysis project, where during each session, two members of the Competitive Tutoring room staff (and several other people involved) will take part in an exhibition battle, varying the tiers played each time. The userbase of the room will be invited to a groupchat on Pokémon Showdown! to discuss the battle while it is going on. Following this, the players will pen down some of their thoughts of the battle, such as during team preview or specific key turns. Several other games (such as from tournaments, etc) featuring our room staff will also be analyzed from time to time. Through this project, the staff hopes to offer the userbase with greater insight on how competitive battles are played out, and the thought process involved. Feel free to take a look at this analysis to get a better idea of how this is carried out.

How to contribute to the room

Contributing to the room is elementary but unfortunately isn't idiot-proof. Answering any competitive Pokémon-related questions regarding things ranging from movesets to clauses is a good start. If you're familiar with certain tiers and metagames, go ahead and use your knowledge to help inexperienced players and give input on their teams. However, you shouldn't be echoing things said by more experienced players without a proper understanding of why such advice was given. Otherwise, it would just be a case of the blind leading the blind, making both users equally confused. Teambuilding-wise, help should always be practical for the specific team being rated, instead of generalizations that make it weaker to metagame threats. Remember, we value specifics over generalizations and quality over quantity.

Should you have a lack of knowledge and experience in the tier of discussion, simply lurking and reading what others say is a good way to learn from them. On the other hand, refrain from giving bad advice and trying to prove others wrong when you yourself are wrong. Poor advice resulting from the lack of knowledge wouldn't help an inexperienced player but instead could have just the opposite effect. Knowledge aside, there's also the aspect of presence. You should try not to represent yourself as a complete ass, as you would come off as unapproachable, and your contributions to the room could be taken with bias unless you're our "friendly" Room Owner Truth.

Introducing the Room Owners

AM

AM is not only one of the active Room Owners of the Competitive Tutoring room but also a retired Global Moderator on Pokémon Showdown!. Known as "the guy who got Room Moderator in three weeks because all the other auth were half dead", he is heavily involved in the room policy as well as any decisions made by the room. However, between Pokémon Showdown! and posting in the OU subforum on Smogon, AM still finds the time to constantly amaze the userbase with his "dank" team innovation and ability to be unapologetically lucky and bad. Even in test games, the real effectiveness of either player's team is overshadowed by his ability to luck his way through any obstacle, to the point that fellow Room Owner Trinitrotoluene said he was "done with his shit".

Trinitrotoluene

Enter Trinitrotoluene, who used to be an integral part of Smogon, being a badged Tutor for Battling 101, an RMT Moderator, and a member of the OU Quality Control team. As explosive as his name implies, Trinitrotoluene is a hyper offense enthusiast and drum 'n' bass head, as exemplified by many of his fancy RMTs. Despite all this, he still can't help being a frequent victim of AM's hax shenanigans, as well as missing more moves than people complain about Talonflame. Recently he's dedicated a large part of his time inking the world and splattering squids.

Eyan

Eyan is the most active Room Owner policy-wise. He is also the writer of this satirically informative article, so be sure to thank him for devoting enough time to do this before he becomes an inevitable slave to his country and serves his time in the army. Eyan also happens to be the one person who dabbles in all parts of the room, ranging from tutoring to the Battle Analysis project. While he is a Global Moderator on Pokémon Showdown!, he seems to be moderating more than room owning, as you can often see him in other rooms instead of the one currently being written about; good job Eyan. Anyhow, if you're wondering about his Pokémon skill, he's got some knowledge of every official tier and the luck of a living four-leaf clover, so he's as solid as a Golem.

MrAldoPls

Ah, Aldo, the wise man of Competitive Tutoring. One of the most sensible and level-headed people in the room staff, he was only recently promoted to the position of Room Owner along with Truth. While he mainly plays RU, he spends his time being our resident jack-of-all-trades when he's not busy meditating. From the land of the primals, Ubers, to the bottom of the usage, PU, he knows everything, sees everything, and is pretty average at everything.

Truth

Many have questioned how Truth got Room Owner, but it only serves to prove that miracles do exist and that anything is possible. Is it his everlasting sarcastic nature? Probably. How about his dislike for literally everything? Likely. That said, during policy discussions, Truth is usually the one to point out interesting points of view that others don't really take notice of, making his input invaluable to the room. Regarding his skill in Pokémon, it looks to be a combination of his fellow Room Owners, featuring the teambuilding innovation of AM and the horrible luck of Trinitrotoluene.

Conclusion

That's pretty much it! If you feel like you can help others or require help yourself, don't be afraid to join us in Competitive Tutoring. Just don't recommend Assault Vest Blissey or your amazing Choice Band Alakazam to others—trust me, you don't want to do that. Anyway, just relax and take heed of the advice people give to each other, and you'll have a good time in Competitive Tutoring!

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