This is mostly done. Though if anyone can come up with more tips, I'd love to add some more (i'll add more anyway, but i don't feel like coming up on them on my own!). I'm just mentally dry after pumping this out. Also would it be funnier in battling strategy??
Everyone on Smogon knows a team tournament has never been won without the aid of ghosting. For those of you new to the competitive Pokemon scene, ghosting is when a better player (or in some rare cases a worse player who thinks they’re better) tells a worse player what to do on a turn-by-turn basis. While this type of behavior is typically frowned upon by the Tournament Directors, there’s absolutely nothing they can do about it. Unless, of course, you completely fuck shit up. Since I hate to see players suffer tourney bans just because they’re terrible ghosters, I’ve decided to compile a list of tips and tricks to make sure your wrongdoing never sees the light of day. I’ve also asked other, more experienced ghosters for help on this list. Happy ghosting!
Tip #1: Don’t leave any evidence of the ghosting. Who knows how your player will react when you ghost him to a loss. IRC is a terrible place to ghost for this reason. Nothing is more damning than logs of the deed.
·Sub-tip: If logs DO get out. There’s nothing you can do but claim they’re fake. Try faking your own logs in response. If it comes down to he said/she said, you may have a chance of avoiding Aldaron’s wrath.
*Stone_Cold notes that Skype is generally the best method for ghosting until someone from the NSA becomes a Tournament Director
*Brazilian counterpoint: just travel to your teammate’s house and do it in person!
Tip #2: Don’t have too many cooks in the kitchen. Hey guys, when your player takes 3 minutes per move we know that he has 7 people in his ear telling him what to do at all times. More than being annoying to the opposing player and everyone watching, this just wastes precious timer. Matches have been lost because the 7 ghosters can’t decide on what move to go with. Have one or two main ghosters, with the remaining people only chiming in if they have a really good idea. This takes some real discipline though, so good luck with that, France.
Tip #3: Don’t ghost the obvious moves. If you do run into a timer problem, precious minutes can be made up by letting your player take charge when he has an obvious move. And I mean honestly, do you even want a player on your team who needs to ask you before he switches Latios out of Jirachi on Turn 1?
*MoP counterpoint: Everyone except me sucks; they can’t go one turn without my guidance before they completely shit the bed
Now for those of you that already knew those simple tricks, I don’t want this article to be useless for you. Even the experts can never be too safe. Therefore I’ve come up with some advanced tricks that will make sure that even if you do get caught, someone else will go down.
Advanced Trick #1: Create a buffer in one-on-one ghosting situations. This trick requires you to have a sub on your team that you trust. And this is where it gets complicated. Normally in one-on-one ghosting situations you’ll have a private message or a Skype chat open where you’re telling the player what to do. Instead of doing so directly, though, you should tell that sub that you trust what to tell the player (without the player knowing that it’s actually you doing the ghosting). That way, when your player loses and cries ghosting, they’re going to blame it all on the sub and you get off scot-free. Trust me, Bloo is nowhere near smart enough to see through this one.
*Kevin_Garrett note: What do you think Limitless was for?
Advanced Trick #2: Field a team of players that are all good enough to play on their own. This is the most advanced trick I know of to avoid getting caught ghosting. It’s not for everyone, (sorry Central) but I’d highly recommend it.
So there you have it, my fellow ghosters. You have all the skills you need to ghost to your heart’s content while the TDs are all none the wiser. Sure, there may be suspicions, but suspicions aren’t enough to pry that blue trophy out of your cold hands. So go out there and show those team tournaments what the best player on your team’s got!
Everyone on Smogon knows a team tournament has never been won without the aid of ghosting. For those of you new to the competitive Pokemon scene, ghosting is when a better player (or in some rare cases a worse player who thinks they’re better) tells a worse player what to do on a turn-by-turn basis. While this type of behavior is typically frowned upon by the Tournament Directors, there’s absolutely nothing they can do about it. Unless, of course, you completely fuck shit up. Since I hate to see players suffer tourney bans just because they’re terrible ghosters, I’ve decided to compile a list of tips and tricks to make sure your wrongdoing never sees the light of day. I’ve also asked other, more experienced ghosters for help on this list. Happy ghosting!
Tip #1: Don’t leave any evidence of the ghosting. Who knows how your player will react when you ghost him to a loss. IRC is a terrible place to ghost for this reason. Nothing is more damning than logs of the deed.
·Sub-tip: If logs DO get out. There’s nothing you can do but claim they’re fake. Try faking your own logs in response. If it comes down to he said/she said, you may have a chance of avoiding Aldaron’s wrath.
*Stone_Cold notes that Skype is generally the best method for ghosting until someone from the NSA becomes a Tournament Director
*Brazilian counterpoint: just travel to your teammate’s house and do it in person!
Tip #2: Don’t have too many cooks in the kitchen. Hey guys, when your player takes 3 minutes per move we know that he has 7 people in his ear telling him what to do at all times. More than being annoying to the opposing player and everyone watching, this just wastes precious timer. Matches have been lost because the 7 ghosters can’t decide on what move to go with. Have one or two main ghosters, with the remaining people only chiming in if they have a really good idea. This takes some real discipline though, so good luck with that, France.
Tip #3: Don’t ghost the obvious moves. If you do run into a timer problem, precious minutes can be made up by letting your player take charge when he has an obvious move. And I mean honestly, do you even want a player on your team who needs to ask you before he switches Latios out of Jirachi on Turn 1?
*MoP counterpoint: Everyone except me sucks; they can’t go one turn without my guidance before they completely shit the bed
Now for those of you that already knew those simple tricks, I don’t want this article to be useless for you. Even the experts can never be too safe. Therefore I’ve come up with some advanced tricks that will make sure that even if you do get caught, someone else will go down.
Advanced Trick #1: Create a buffer in one-on-one ghosting situations. This trick requires you to have a sub on your team that you trust. And this is where it gets complicated. Normally in one-on-one ghosting situations you’ll have a private message or a Skype chat open where you’re telling the player what to do. Instead of doing so directly, though, you should tell that sub that you trust what to tell the player (without the player knowing that it’s actually you doing the ghosting). That way, when your player loses and cries ghosting, they’re going to blame it all on the sub and you get off scot-free. Trust me, Bloo is nowhere near smart enough to see through this one.
*Kevin_Garrett note: What do you think Limitless was for?
Advanced Trick #2: Field a team of players that are all good enough to play on their own. This is the most advanced trick I know of to avoid getting caught ghosting. It’s not for everyone, (sorry Central) but I’d highly recommend it.
So there you have it, my fellow ghosters. You have all the skills you need to ghost to your heart’s content while the TDs are all none the wiser. Sure, there may be suspicions, but suspicions aren’t enough to pry that blue trophy out of your cold hands. So go out there and show those team tournaments what the best player on your team’s got!
