Going from Showdown to Battle Spot to Live Tournaments (Part 2)

By Prof. Almeida.
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Art by Pyritie

Art by Pyritie.

Going from Online to Live Play

Now you are confident in your team. It did well on both the Showdown and the Battle Spot ladders, maybe it took you above the 1800s (remember that Battle Spot rating starts at 1500, while Showdown rating starts at 1000) in the latest online tournament, and there's a Regional near you that you want to go to. This is the last step of our transition.

But first, a piece of advice: don't put a lot of faith in Showdown ladder results. How a team plays in a BO1 format with players trying a lot of crazy strategies by no means indicates success or failure in a BO3 format, where players tend to go towards safer, standard options. It's not just the difference in format between online laddering and live tournaments, but also in how people play and build teams. If you've ever been crushed on ladder before by something crazy like Smeargle + Palossand or some weird combination of off-meta Pokémon, then you might be falsely led to believe those teams are actual metagame threats and bog down a decent team by adding checks to strategies that very few people seriously run. Catching people off guard and cheesing a win is a viable strategy in BO1, so don't underestimate your skill when that inevitably happens to you on the Showdown ladder. Try to remind yourself that you will win so much more often against cheese strategies in BO3 than in BO1 just by virtue of knowing what's coming and being able to outplay it.

There are five different kinds of live tournaments, and the number of Championship Points (CP) they give is different based on their size. If you click here, you'll be able to see all of them and learn about the CP system.

My first piece of advice would be to find any smaller tournament near you. That's to make sure you get all the butterflies in your stomach out of your system before you head to the big stage. In smaller tournaments, you have fewer people to worry about, you are not overwhelmed by the cameras, microphones, media, and crowd, and you can even make some friends more easily than in bigger events. You can go to the Event Locator to see if there's anything near you coming on.

You can also just go to the big event because it's big, no problem. Either way, the first set of tips here works for both. I'll tackle things specific for big events later on. While you are there, if you hadn't already done so, create an account in the Pokémon website, go to your Play! Pokémon settings, and fill out the form there. Also, make sure you click to opt in the rankings, or you'll have battled for nothing. If you are underage, one of your parents or legal guardians can create an account for themselves and then add you as their child. You will have a unique ID, and you need to take note of that ID (or print it as a card, they have some models there) to take it to the tournament. You can't take part in any official Pokémon tournament without an ID and, even though one can be created for you when you get to the tournament, it takes time and you really don't want to be nervous doing this on the big day.

First and foremost, as soon as your team is perfectly set, put it into one of the Battle Teams on the cartridge. Even the small tournaments today use the QR code box lock, meaning your team will be locked until you cancel your participation in the tournament. By "locked", I mean you won't be able to change anything from the six Pokémon you select to battle with.

The reason why I give you this tip is because we already had players come to events with their team in their Party and, even though you can edit your Battle Boxes to select your team on the spot, you can't do it if the Pokémon are on the Party. You can't go back or cancel your participation after the step before your team registration, meaning you can't play the tournament with the team you selected and, by now, are comfortable with.

Second advice I'd give you would be to print your Team List. You can find the official one here. Don't forget to fill it with the Pokémon and their moves in the exact same order. And please, Protect and Detect are different moves. I give you this advice because it is important that the organizer and judges can understand your team to do the hack check that can happen randomly during the tourney and always happens when you go to Top Cut, and most people's handwriting isn't that good. If there is any doubt regarding your team, or any mistake in a stat number, you won't be able to use that Pokémon in the tournament anymore. And if there are multiple mistakes, you may be disqualified.

The third thing to do is to fully charge your 3DS. Having a charged device is your responsibility as a player, and the rules say that if your battery dies during a battle, you are the loser of that battle. Even though you can go to a charging station between battles of a set, there may not be any available outlets to plug your system into, so bring a power bank if you have one. You can buy a USB cable that connects to your 3DS for less than 10 USD, and in some places, it's less than 5, so there's no excuse not to go there and buy one. If you do take your power bank with you, don't forget to charge it as well, as having the battery flashing red and your power bank not working can be a really stressful situation (I say this from experience).

In order to conserve the battery of your system, I always advise players to do some things. One: turn the system off after battle lock or don't turn it on before the tournament starts. Between rounds, you may also want to turn it off for the same reason. Putting it to sleep consumes only a little battery, but the sum of these "littles" can accumulate over time. Another thing to do is to turn your brightness to at least 3. If you can play with less brightness, then do it. The screen consumes most of the battery, so the less bright it is, the longer the battery will last, and the old 3DS systems really can't survive a full day of battling without a charge.

The fourth thing to do on your preparation is to have a good night's sleep. Don't leave the training, efforting, or whatnot to the last minute. This is even more important when we are talking about big tournaments. You won't want the extra pressure. What's more important, if you are sleepy, you will end up making mistakes. And as a tournament can drag on for a long day (I've already been a judge on a tournament that was over 13 hours), you'll need plenty of stamina to be able to think properly for the whole day. Remember, the end of the day is where you'll need your brain the most, and if you are well rested, you will have an edge over your opponents.

Next thing to do is being sure you have plenty of water and food for the day or that you have enough money to buy them. Most tournaments, even big ones, don't have a lunch break, so you'll have to have small snacks during the day, things that are light but will keep you fed. Playing hungry is really bad for your health and your brain. And the water is important because you really don't want to dehydrate as the day goes by. Several venues, specially for small tournaments, don't have appropriate ventilation, and you can imagine what happens when many people spend a full day in a small place with poor ventilation.

Also, because of that, for the love of everything that's sacred to you, don't forget to take a shower and use deodorant. That seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people forget something as simple as that, and after eight hours in a crowded, hot place, their body odor starts to become a distraction at best and something disgusting at worst.

The last thing to do before leaving home is to have a good breakfast. Someone has probably said once (or more than once, like my grandmother) that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And that is true. During the day you'll be eating mostly snacks (and most of the time, unhealthy ones), so having a healthy breakfast with fruits and whatnot will give you improved performance and concentration. People just don't realize how much of a physical burden it is to sit for hours to play, and as your body gets tired, your brain will become fuzzy, and we don't want that to happen to you.

Now that you've left your house, you had a good breakfast, you have plenty of water and snacks for the day, your console and power pack are fully charged, you have your team sheet with you, and your deodorant is good enough for people to be fawning on you, it is time to go to the venue. If you did it right, you left home with a good amount of spare time, so that if you get stuck in traffic or if public transportation is slow (like it is in Brazil on the weekends), you won't have another thing to stress you out. Did you notice how much we stress the need to reduce your stress? It is to help you perform better at all levels. Aim to arrive at the tournament venue one hour before its starting time. It'll probably start a little later than what's scheduled, but you don't want to be late, and by arriving earlier you make sure your registration goes well, and you can spend some time getting to know people (if you are new to the scene) or talking to your friends.

During the tournament, there are also some things to know.

First of all, be a good sport. Really. I can't stress this enough times. About good sportsmanship, there are some do's and don't's.

DO:

DON'T:

Some of these bullet points can be obvious, but you'd be surprised at how many times things like these have happened.

You don't need to say "GG" and shake hands between battles of a set, since it is a time when your opponent might have something in their heads they need to take note of, and you also could use the time to do the same.

Never start your battle with your opponent before the Head Judge announces it's time to start the round. You may be asked to stop the battle midway and restart it, because everyone has a set time to play.

The set time is 50 minutes for each round, i.e., each set of best-of-three battles. If the time is over and there isn't a clear winner, a judge will sit near you and announce you have three turns to go. After these three turns, the judge will then use the tie-breaker criteria to determine the winner. The tiebreaker order is as follows:

  1. Number of Pokémon remaining
  2. Total remaining HP / Total max HP. Higher number wins. Total max HP includes the max HP of fainted Pokémon.
  3. Total remaining HP. Higher number wins.

Some people gets confused on the order of tiebreakers 2 and 3. They believe that, because their Pokémon have higher total HP, they should be the winners. That's not true. The reasoning for that is that, the bulkier a Pokémon is, the hardest you have to hit it to decrease its HP, meaning more effort. Because of that, the HP ratio is the one taken into consideration. The Judge will generally take a picture of each opponent's screen and do the math in a sheet of paper we have that's called "Tie-Breaker Resolution".

In the extremely unlikely scenario where all three tiebreakers are the same, the game is a tie.

If time in the round was called in Game 2, and, after the Tie-Breaker, you and your opponent are 1-1, Game 3 will be played as Sudden Death. That doesn't mean "the first to KO a Pokémon wins", but "who has more Pokémon after the turn is over". It's an important distinction, and one you must bear in mind if this unlikely scenario happens to you.

If you are in a big tournament, there are some extra things you need to pay attention to.

You acknowledge, when you sign up for the tournament, that your image will be used by the Pokémon Company International in all their promotional materials. That means you want to look good. Choose nice clothes, get a T-Shirt full of swag to show off something you want to and get a haircut. You will want to look good while hoisting that champion trophy.

Another thing to bear in mind is that, if you keep winning, you'll eventually end up on stream. And you can't say no when you are selected to do it. It's part of the deal of big tournaments. That means everyone will be watching your team, and that your opponents will know your strategies when you battle them. It means that, if you can win your battles without showing something special you reserved for the day, try not to use it while on stream. Otherwise, ignore the attention you will be getting and just do your best.

While on stream, remember you are being watched by the whole world. Don't pick your nose or do anything else you wouldn't want people to see. On the other hand, if you have something special, that's the time to rock it. Be it a plush, your country's flag, or a pineapple, this is your time to shine. And if you win, you'll also get to be interviewed by the stream crew, so more time to show off your swag. Because of that, you'll also want to prepare yourself at home, preferably in front of a mirror, to explain some of the choices you made about your team. Practicing in front of the mirror is good because it allows you to see how people will see you while talking.

Remember when I said everything about your team will be shown to everyone? That means your opponent's teams as well. If you're at a larger event and you make it to day two, you won't have enough time to rewatch everything that went on stream during the day, because you'll want to have another good night's sleep. Have a friend that's not playing watch and you can talk to them later (please, don't do this during the tournament) about the strategies you'll need to know for day two. Also, TPCi generally publishes all teams that advanced to day two, and almost always publishes the Top Cut teams soon after the day is over, so you can head online to the Pokémon.com website to look for your opponents' teams, the ones you'll have to be careful around, and the ones you have a good matchup against. Your opponents will do this too, so don't be left behind.

I've already said it on the sportsmanship part, but I will say it again, because this is even more relevant in a big tournament: be a good sport. Be graceful both in victory and in defeat. You may need to step away from the venue for a while to blow off some steam if you were unlucky or something like that, but in front of everyone, try to control yourself. There are video cameras around, lots of photographers, and you won't want the world to see the worst side of you.

The part of shaking hands is paramount if you are on stream. Don't leave your opponent hanging. Even if you are furious, shake hands and go away.

One thing that I'd like to add doesn't have to do with anything competitive per se, but rather something I believe is important to have in mind. Don't be sorry for winning "by luck". At the same time, don't be angry at your opponent for winning "by luck". Pokémon, like poker, is a game where ability and preparation are only 75% of the equation. Luck does the rest. You may have bad rolls, misses, or lose because of critical hits, but that comes with the package. You signed up for it when you decided to play Pokémon. If you don't want luck involved, play chess instead.

With that in mind, worry only about what you can control. What you can control are the EVs, moves, abilities, and everything related to your Pokémon. What you can control are your decisions and how you react to your opponent's decisions. What you can't control is how the damage rolls will go. You may lose from time to time, but you will also win from time to time. Luck is an integral part of the experience, and if you can't deal with it, you are playing the wrong game. The sooner you really accept and internalize it, the better your experience as a player will be.

This pair of articles is really long, but it contains everything I believe is essential to be known related to the transition process of going from Showdown to cartridge play, and from that to Live Tournaments. As a judge, I've seen the best and worst of players, and the tips contained here are to make sure you have everything in place to be prepared for anything.

Last, but surely not least, remember to have fun. That's why each and every one of us started playing Pokémon, be it 20 years ago, be it last year. My longest-tenured friendships have been made in Pokémon tournaments, and this community is the best there is in all gaming communities. People are almost always friendly, engaging, receptive, and family friendly. The sportsmanship tips here are to ensure that you help to keep the community like this. We want our younger siblings and cousins to play Pokémon. We want them to have fun. So have fun, enjoy yourself and please, when you get yourself that sweet tournament trophy, come back and show us, we'll be proud of you.

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