Article by Slow Homie, posted by me for bbcode and editing purposes.
Smogon VGC 101 - Team Preview
Imagine this: you’re walking down the street and you get challenged to a Pokemon battle – for $1,000,000 – by Wolfe Glick. But you only have 90 seconds to prepare. How would you use that time? I know I’m being dramatic here but the 90 seconds of “Team Preview” the game gives you is extremely valuable prep time. In this article we will teach you how to get the most out of those 90 seconds and have an advantage before the game even starts!Smogon VGC 101 - Team Preview
Welcome back to VGC 101! The series is specially designed to take you from beginner to competing with and beating the best of the best! I’m SlowHomie and today we are going to talk about Team Preview!
How Team Preview Works
In addition to being the time to select which Pokemon you will bring, it’s also an important time for information gathering.
In OTS events (which is how in person events will be played in Champions) team preview is when you exchange team sheets with the opponent and you can see the opponents Pokemon, Items, Moves, Abilities, and Stat Alignments. You can use this information to help you select your Mons and strategize how you want to play the game!
The Value of Team Preview
Understanding your opponent's team and strategizing a game plan are both important steps for playing well. And even on the highest level of competition some players don’t take advantage of team preview. So making the most of those 90 seconds can give you a competitive edge
On the extreme end of things, failing to properly read a team sheet in team preview can cause you to miss important information about your opponents team - like a coverage move that OHKOs one of your mons, a stat alignment that guarantees an opposing mon moves before yours, or an item like Safety Goggles that makes a mon immune to your Spore.
You might also end up playing around a move the opponent doesn’t even have! You can double check the team sheet during the game, but you have to split that time with move selection so team preview is the best time to do it!
Now that we know why team preview is so important, let’s talk about how to manage team preview.
How to Make the Most of Team Preview
You have 3 main goals out of team preview:
- Gather information about your opponents team
- Think about the matchup between the two teams
- Select your leads and back Pokemon
So let’s breakdown how to effectively do that:
1. Gather Information on the Opponent’s Team
What type of information should you be gathering about your opponent's team? Things you will want to learn about your opponent’s team include:
- What 6 Pokemon they have
- Their Moves
- Their Items
- Their Abilities
- Their Stat alignments
If you are playing on ladder, you will only know their 6 Pokemon - but you can make lots of educated guesses about their team! You can look at the Battle Data on Pokemon Champions to learn what the most common Moves, Items, Abilities, and Stat Alignments are on every Pokemon!
Another good way to make educated guesses about what Moves, Items, Abilities, and Stat Alignments your opponent might have is to review the top teams from recent tournaments on Victory Road.
But if you are playing in an official tournament you will have all of this information about your opponent’s team from their teamsheet! Pay extra attention to things that are outside of the ordinary like a surprise move they have, or a common move that’s missing from their moveset! I have won games in Day 2 of Regional tournaments simply because my opponent didn’t see what item I had!
You can also start to make educated guesses about how Pokemon may be trained based off of the team structure or past experience. For example, a Focus Sash Kingambit will probably be faster and less bulky than an SD Black Glasses Kingambit. Don’t worry too much about that for now, but as you gain more experience it can be valuable to make those guesses.
2. Think About the Matchup Between Your Two Teams
Here are some really useful questions you can ask yourself to help analyze the matchup:
- What is their team’s central strategy?
- How can you stop it?
- What is your central strategy?
- How might your opponent try and stop it?
- What do you need to do to win the game?
Later articles and videos will do a deeper dive into this sort of thinking and game planning, but these are some good starter questions to help you do some meaningful thinking before the last stage.
VGC 101 Team Preview Video!
Speaking of videos make sure to check out our first video! We were lucky enough to have YouTube and competitive Pokemon legend PokeAim breakdown how he thinks about team preview! Make sure to give it a watch and subscribe to both PokeAim and SnoozeVGC!
3. Select your Leads and Back Pokemon
Now you select the two Pokemon you want to lead with and the two Pokemon you want in the back. There are several different methods for selecting leads which we’ll cover in a future video, but for now the simplest method for selecting leads is this:
1. Select the strongest mon on your team
2. Select the Pokemon that best supports it against what your opponent has
3. And then you bring two other Pokemon that best fill out your gameplan
If you dedicate 30 seconds to gathering information, 30 seconds to thinking about the matchup and 15 seconds to selecting your Pokemon that should leave you with 15 seconds to spare!
And if you have leftover time after selecting your mons you can always go back and review their teamsheet, strategize some more, or use the time to get into the right headspace!
If you practice this and get good at utilizing team preview I promise you’ll improve at the game! Speaking of practice, I will include a “Homework” section to give you ideas on how to practice specific skills. If you focus on learning individual skills as a player it will help you improve faster and reach new heights!
Homework
So today’s homework is to play 3-5 games, and for each game try and use your full time purposefully in team preview. Try the following:
- 30 seconds to review the opponents team sheet
- 30 seconds to strategize
- 15 seconds to select your mons
Review
In conclusion, Team Preview is a key part of VGC. It’s your chance to gather information, strategize, and select your Pokemon. It’s easy to get lazy and not utilize team preview, but with practice you'll be able to start things off right! So hopefully we’ve helped you understand how team preview works, why it’s important, and how to get the most out of those 90 seconds!
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