Sign-Up Apprentice Program Signups: Champions VGC

[Yellow Paint]

Welcome to Battling 101! If you're seeking a tutor for Champions VGC, you are in the right place. Please read all the rules carefully and fill out every part of the application.

RULES​

• You must be able to access Discord, or whatever your tutor wants as the primary form of communication.
• You must be willing to use Pokemon Showdown! even if you are being tutored in a cartridge format such as Battle Spot or VGC.
• You, the tutee, should have at least 15 posts before signing up AND your account's age should be a minimum of at least 1 month old before signing up.
  • This is not a strict requirement meaning you may still be paired without satisfying it, so no matter what, DO NOT spam post elsewhere in the forum. That is an infractable offense and we do not encourage such behavior from potential Tutees.
• You must have battled competitively for a decent amount in at least ONE of the Smogon tiers or Battle Spot / VGC to sign up. Playing 10 or so matches on the PS! ladder is not substantial enough, ~70 or so is more reasonable. This experience does not need to be for the format you sign-up for; this is just to weed out people who have never played competitively that can improve themselves simply by using resources already available to them without needing a tutor to hold their hand.
• You, the tutee, are responsible for setting up times with your tutor. When you receive the Smogon notification informing you of the pairing, please take the initiative and post on their VM wall first. Continued scheduling and communication is key to a successful pairing!
• Use the Tutee Talk forum to complain about your tutor (or praise them if they're doing a good job). These are no longer mandatory, but if your tutor is ridiculously inactive or is a complete jackass, COMPLAIN HERE. Nobody can see your tutee talk posts except for you and the Battling 101 Staff; everything is confidential.
• Signups older than 4 months or 1 month since last login will be considered inactive. These will be moved to the Inactive Posts thread, and can be returned back to this thread by request.
• Tutors can and will drop you if sessions go badly, and significant violations may result in a ban from B101. Be active, be enthusiastic, be respectful. Make the best of your time together!

Here is the signup template, and an example sign-up post.

Username:
PS! Username:
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone:
Usual Hours of Availability:
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences):
Are you able to use Discord?:

Username: Shiba
PS! Username: Big Sean
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: EST (GMT -5)
Usual Hours of Availability: weekdays 8 PM - 12 AM, weekends 12 PM - 12 AM
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I started playing competitively in early XY and spammed Baton Pass on the ladder. I was pretty skilled I guess. I then got more involved with Smogon and started to play in various tournaments like UUPL and later on Snake and SPL. I could use a bit more practice in this tier though, so I'm looking to get help
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes

 

[Sholfey]

Username: Masterofdittos
PS! Username: Sholfey
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: CET (GMT -5)
Usual Hours of Availability: weekdays 4p, to 8pm, weekends 10PM-8PM
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I started playing Scarlet and Violet I love competitive pokemon and using niche teams, I tried the smogon VGC major with raichu team and i loved that, overall I love Vgc and wish to learn more
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes

 

[digisoul4]

Username: digisoul4
PS! Username: digisoul4
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT -4
Usual Hours of Availability: 21:00 to 00:00 mondays and tuesdays. 23:00 to 00:00 wednesdays and thursdays. 20:00 to 00:00 fridays. Saturday 16:00 to 00:00 (Less often) OR 22:00 to 00:00 (More often). Sunday unstable (Can confirm during the same day)
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I've never participated on oficial or unoficial tournaments whethere that is online or offline, but have played on Showdown intermitently for years.
500+ games on gen8ou, 100+ games on gen7, 9 and champions OU each. Now I have a new sparkling love for VGC in champions reg-MA with 300+ games reaching 1.5k elo (once).
Been playing on champions now since it released on mobile and only reached 1.7k+ elo on it at best, still trying to climb up.
I consider myself absolute trash at this game in general, but saw very fast improvements in reg-ma VGC. I would like to see if this means I'm either
1) Not as trash as I think I am
2) A potentially fast learning player that could win a major tournament one day or
3) Just got extremely lucky on my first season trying VGC
My short term goal is to just continue to improve and find myself in a spot where I can use more than just 1 team (I have limited myself to only use 1 so I can learn the basics faster)
My mid term goal is to reach top 500 in bo1 and bo3 ladder along with champion tier in Champions
My long term goal is to top cut in 2027's Santiago Regionals (Chile)
My dream would be to WIN that tournament, qualify for 2027 worlds, and win worlds.
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes

 

[YukiMUA117]

Username YukiMUA117
Showdown YukiMUA117
Signup Pokemon Champions
Timezone GMT +2
Usually available after 4
A little about my competitive vgc. I just started playing the vgc in Pokemon champions. I’ve already reached masterball, but I’ve hit a wall at around 1700 elo. I want to know more about what leads I should go with and the little intricacies of the game so I can make it further along. Thanks in advance.

 

[nofluxgiven]

Username: nofluxgiven
PS! Username: azelflux
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT +5.5
Usual Hours of Availability: 10 AM - 2 PM
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I started playing VGC in SV Reg G, and played through Reg I. That was a blast for me. I really love using BO teams. I want to get a lot better at teambuilding and build game sense.
Are you able to use Discord?: yes -> _nofluxgiven

 

[ZygardeFGC]

Username: ZygardeFGC ( @legendsza on Discord)
PS! Username: ZygardeFGC
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: MDT!
Usual Hours of Availability: 8-11 AM and 2-7 PM Mon-Wed; 10-7 PM Thurs-Sun
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I’m mostly competing in draft league VGC as of late, and I’ve been involved with regular VGC since Gen 6. I’ve competed at regionals and US nationals before, as well as many grassroots tournaments. I do occasionally play some singles, though VGC is where I shine. I’m looking to further improve my skills.
Are you able to use Discord?: Yessir

 

[YukiMUA117]

Username:
PS! Username:
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone:
Usual Hours of Availability:
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences):
Are you able to use Discord?:

Username YukiMUA117
Showdown YukiMUA117
Signup Pokemon Champions
Timezone GMT +2
Usually available after 4
A little about my competitive vgc. I just started playing the vgc in Pokemon champions. I’ve already reached masterball, but I’ve hit a wall at around 1700 elo. I want to know more about what leads I should go with and the little intricacies of the game so I can make it further along. Thanks in advance.

time zone is est I’m sorry about that

 

[FailingCollege]

Username: FailingCollege
PS! Username: TheCalcisRight
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: UTC-5
Usual Hours of Availability: 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): Started playing some VGC in X/Y, generally got to about 70 gxe on showdown. Nowadays, I struggle to reach 65 gxe and the best I could do was top 3000 on the in game ladder last season. I think my team choices are decent for the metagame, but I often struggle with being indecisive in decision making turns both in team preview and in battle. I also still admittably have some confusion about creating ev spreads which holds me back, and I'd like to learn more.
Are you able to use Discord? Yes

 

[toinha]

Username: toinha
PS! Username: toinha
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: -3
Usual Hours of Availability: Monday Tuesday and Thursday nights in general and weekdays during morning
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I'm a bit experienced in RU and played a lot SM OU, ORAS OU and SS OU (SM and SS RU) as well but would like to learn doubles format
Are you able to use Discord?: yes, also toinha

 

[yuji]

Assigned to Darts

Username: yuji
PS! Username: ykhtsu
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT-3
Usual Hours of Availability: Pretty much every weekday between 6-11PM
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences):
Started playing in 2017 and stopped in mid-2019, focusing mainly on SM and ORAS OU, with participation in POWC 2019, OUPL 2019 and some editions of PTPL. I came back in mid-2025, after about a 6-year hiatus, and now I want to focus on VGC, I’m spamming a lot of games and I’d like to have help from more experienced people to improve my games understanding =)
Are you able to use Discord?: yes, ykhtsu

 

[Draconuim]

Username: draconuim
PS! Username: Blue Flare Fusion
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT-7
Usual Hours of Availability: Anytime on the weekends (except like 2 am) and evenings on weekdays
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I had started in 2025 January and played for 4 months just losing every match and i eventually quit and focused on regular battling. Most of my losses came from S/V and now I'm trying Champions but still cant seem to win much.
Are you able to use Discord: unfortunately no /update:yes I figured it out

 

[SunnyCN]

Username: SunnyCN
PS! Username: SunnyCN
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT / BST
Usual Hours of Availability: almost all days with rare exceptions 3pm - 12pm
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences):
My experience in competitive pokemon is limited, I played mainly SV OU and SV rand bats before pokemon champions came out, along with some custom stuff like draft with friends. I also have done a lot of nuzlockeing aswell as making my own ROMs. I got very interested in VGC after champions released and finally decided to learn doubles. I have mainly just been fumbling around masterball on champions and 1350~ on showdown ladder playing various teams. I'm only really working off my non-vgc pokemon knowledge and VGC pastes.
I participated in the "Grand Champions Festival" hosted by skraw (5-4) and also the Smogon Major (5-3). Unfortunately I missed checkin for the second round in the smogon majors, else I might have had a (small) chance at day 2.
I think some mentoring / tutoring from players much better than myself would help me a lot with direction during practice and teambuilding. Thanks for considering my application :)
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes, SunnyCN

 

[Jukebox92]

Username: Jukebox92
PS! Username: Jukebox92
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: CST
Usual Hours of Availability: After 8 is best, once I get kids to bed. I work remotely and may have a bit of flexible time during the day depending on my current project load.
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I've been a fan of pokemon since gen 1, playing every gen as they have released. Till now its been mostly casual, only fully diving into deeper training mechanics for battles with my also casual friends. I've attempted a couple times in the past to really dive into competitive singles, but was never able to fully get it to click, mostly just doing random battles with coworkers while working nights. I started watching VGC tournaments with the 2023 worlds, and have watched every regional/international/worlds since then. Finally taking the plunge again with champions out, and I've been able to make it to master ball rank every season thus far with a team I constructed myself. I feel like I could really benefit from some 1 on 1 coaching, so I appreciate the opportunity!
(I know it mentions the account should be at least a month old with more posts, but apparently my old account was deactivated or under a different email. I used it a while back when looking more at singles, thats how I remembered seeing they had coaching and thought to check if they had it for VGC as well. If this is a problem, let me know, and I can try again later.)
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes!

 

[Burd_VGC]

Username: Burd_VGC
PS! Username: burd_vgc
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT +1 (British)
Usual Hours of Availability: 5pm-9pm local time
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): Experienced player, been playing for almost 3 years. Senior division player with 4 top 64's in the gcs (globally), top 6000 in the warm uo challenge against masters, and over 5 limitless top cuts with 50+ players. I have some prior experience of coaching, being coached by Seville 2025 top 8 Tabs11 for a few months. Want to travel to more events in the coming year such as Gdansk, Birmingham, London and Lisbon, and attempt to qualify for worlds which I am confident I can achieve.
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes

I am aware my smogon account has not been active for long, but my showdown account has been active for a couple of years.

 

[thezekroman]

Username: thezekroman
PS! Username: thezekroman
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: CDT
Usual Hours of Availability: Currently free on weekends or after 7.
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokémon (min. 3 sentences): I started playing competitive singles back in high school with my friend from wrestling. I tried it before, but without other friends to talk about it with, I just never really got enough enjoyment out of it to make the grind worth it. However, with him, I especially loved to play in monotype formats. We even had a league going on a private showdown server. However, the various rule changes kept getting incredibly annoying, so I decided to check out VGC because, I mean, it's the official format, right? The only problem with this decision is I got into it right around 2016 during the height of the Big 6 meta. After that, I just kinda fell out of competitive between exhaustion and starting undergrad, so I was on a bit of a break. However, after a while, I saw some competitive Scarlet and Violet giving me the itch to play again. I got the game late and jumped in around reg E and fell in love with it. I've been playing ever since and have been having a lot of fun.
I'd say my favorite part of VGC is actually the team building. I really love going through the dex and theory crafting what could work and what would be fun to play. The problem is, I struggle going from theory to practice, and I find myself being pretty stagnant in terms of my battling abilities. I consistently make it to Master Ball, but rarely get above top 20k in champions (I think my record placement was about 15 K, but I'm not sure).
I've played a couple of online tournaments and only been to one local so far, but I'd really like to improve. I'd say my goal right now is to get to Champion tier, with my longer-term goal of making day 2 at a regional.
Thanks for taking the time to read my application. I hope to work with you soon!
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes (discord tag is also thezekroman)

Edit: I just made the smogon account, but my Showdown account is several years old now.

 

[StarGirl686]

Username: StarGirl686
PS! Username: StyxStarz
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: PST (GMT-7)
Usual Hours of Availability: 7-11 pm weekdays, 11 am -11 pm weekends
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I've been playing Showdown since 2018, mostly playing singles casually through randbats and OU with sample teams. When Champions released on mobile last month, I tried out VGC for the first time and have really enjoyed learning the format, becoming interested in playing more seriously. I've been able to get to Masterball 2 so far, but I still struggle with teambuilding and understanding decision-making in the doubles format, since most of my previous experience was with prebuilt singles teams, and I feel like I've reached a point where I’m improving less efficiently on my own. I think I’d really benefit from being able to get direct advice from a more experienced player about teambuilding and meta analysis, as well as just having someone to talk through my game decisions with. I’d like to improve enough to eventually be able to play in both online and in-person tournaments.
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes :D

 

[Aguyy__]

Username: Aguyy_
PS! Username: dim_chandelure
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your Timezone: GMT-6 until August, then GMT-4
Usual Hours of Availability: 6 PM - 12AM weekdays, 10 AM to 2 AM weekends
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min 3. sentences): Most of my experience is in singles draft. I started playing that when I was 10 at the start of Su/Mo but I was never all that good. I played that for a few years and then I dropped out closer to when I started high school. I tried getting into VGC in early Sw/Sh, but since I felt I wouldn't have the time to teambuild on the cartridge, I dropped that as well. I pretty much didn't play competitive after that until a few weeks ago when Champions came out on mobile. I haven't played doubles there yet (hit masterball twice in singles), but I've been consistenly playing on showdown on ladder and in VGC room tournaments to get some reps in. Now that I'm in college and tentatively have a job locked down, I feel I finally have the time to put into improving and attending in-person tournaments. BTW, this showdown account is very new because I have made many accounts and forgotten all their passwords.
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes- aguy_

 

[DarkwlfVGC]

Username: DarkwlfVGC
PS! Username: DarkwlfVGC
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT -4
Usual Hours of Availability: Monday through Thursday from 2100 to midnight
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I watch a lot of competitive battles and learned how to make simple predictions. I still struggle with teambuilding and team preview, but I can pilot a team relatively well. My hope is to be good enough to win the Milwaukee Regionals in 2027 or NAIC that same year (assuming I can afford to go to either).
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes, under the same username

 

[Nephtyrix]

Username: Nephtyrix
PS! Username: Nephtyrix
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT +2 (Paris)
Usual Hours of Availability: All days 21:00 - 23:00 and 12:00-14:00 week days.
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences):
I've been playing Showdown since 2014, playing Single, then Doubles since 2019 and starting VGC in 2023. I've done some regionals, Lille (2023, 2024, 2025), Dortmund (2024), Stuttgart (2024). My best is a 5/3 in Reg H (I lose the win and in).
I would like to compete more in Smogon VGC / VR / Regionals
Are you able to use Discord? Yes, I can speak English and I understand perfectly Portuguese too if needed.

 

[airhawk]

Username: Airhawk
PS! Username: Codenical
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: EST (GMT -4)
Usual Hours of Availability: weekdays 6 PM - 12 AM, weekends 12 PM - 12 AM
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I started playing competitively in sword and shield, fell off for quite a few years and rejoined recently. I don't know what my goals are, i just wish to not feel so frustrated lost confused and angry when playing the game due to not understanding why i am losing or what i can do better about it. I don't have any faith in myself or think i can reach tournies, but I would love to be able to find them, meet others make friends and just enjoy the game from a healthy standpoint. i want to be able to play ladder and enjoy it
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes, same as PS!

 

[AstroGroundz]

Username:AstroGroundz
PS! Username:AstroGroundz
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone:CST
Usual Hours of Availability:anytime in the week
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences):started playing in SV,played Ou duobles until getting into vgc in reg G which has brought me to using either meta pkmn with weird sets or just make really weird non meta teams,through playing on showdown and watching Vgc ive got the play of thing,but after almost 1 year of vgc and still being, not bad, but not too good, ive come here to try and learn to get better
Are you able to use Discord?:No

 

[NextGenKarma]

Username: NextGenKarma
PS! Username: NextGenKarma
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT+5
Usual Hours of Availability: Usually throughout the day for now
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): Been playing VGC competitively for the past few months and have gotten really into it, reached rank 2 Masterball tier on Pokemon Champions and made it quite high on the Randubs ladder too. However, I still think I have many flaws in my gameplay that I'd like to improve especially when it comes to switching pokemon out and fighting stall teams. Teambuilding, I believe, is also one of my weaker skills.
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes

 

[pokemonpengu]

Username: pokemonpengu
PS! Username: pokemonpengu
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: NY (UTC -4)
Usual Hours of Availability: before august 7 & august 25-31 pretty much all day, after aug 31, 8pm to 9pm but can talk at pretty much any time
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): pretty new, started in oct 2024. Was gonna go to NAIC 2026, but shit came up. I have plans to go to Baltimore 2027. My peak on ladder is 1400, but i don't play it much. In m-a I was mostly using Floette sand.
Are you able to use Discord?: yes

 

[2BStellar]

Username: 2BStellar
PS! Username: 2BStellar
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your Timezone: GMT-4
Usual Hours of Availability: 6 PM - 10 PM on weekdays, 9 AM - 9 PM on weekends
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min 3. sentences):
I started playing showdown during SV Reg H staying around the 1100-1200 range while learning the basics. After Champions released, I dedicated myself more in Reg M-A, although because of my inexperience, I ran a Tailroom team with Mega Crabombinable and Mega Greninja (which went 3-4 in the GC Festival and top 1k in Grand Challenge) before thinking I could go to NAIC with Mega Greninja/Glimmora. Needless to say, I got killed, 1-7, not just because of the team, but becaues of bad play (setting up AV with Vanilluxe as Charizard Mega-Evolved was probably my worst one).

Since then, I've been trying to use more common teams (for now I'm using TailRoom AeroZard) to improve my playing skill without being crippled by bad teams. I really want to improve my game state analysis, making of middle ground plays, thinking in the long-term, and really anything else in the gameplay department that I lack. I am likely able to attend more in-person tournaments such as Baltimore, with my goal for next season is to qualify for Worlds in the Senior Division. I know this is a big dream, but I think with a solid team, dedication to studying/learning, and a healthy dose of luck, I can do it.

Unfortunately, I don't have many Smogon Forums posts, since I only created an account a short-time ago.

Are you able to use Discord?: Yes, Username = TheQuickBrick

 

[polis massa]

Username: polis massa
PS! Username: polis massa
Signup Format: Champions VGC
Your timezone: GMT+1 (British summer time)
Usual Hours of Availability: 8AM-10PM
Tell us a little about your experience in competitive Pokemon (min. 3 sentences): I started playing champions as soon as it released for IOS after watching a lot of VGC online and getting very enthused. I'd never played pokemon before then but I must have played over a thousand games on champions plus however many on showdown. I made it to masterball last season and masterball 3 this season (peaked briefly at 23k), but I'm hitting a wall and I really want to significantly improve, my goal is to get into masterball 2 and maybe even 1 although I recognise that could take a lot of work. I also want to attend in person tournaments and meet people, which is another reason to improve, and I have a lot of free time at the moment! Since I'm such a newbie my account is brand new but I thought I'd ask anyway since I think I'm at the right place to get a lot out of this. Thanks for reading!
Are you able to use Discord?: Yes