I would like to begin this with a disclaimer. This does not apply to many people. It just applies to a lot of them. This isn't meant to be a criticism, but rather a simple observation which I believe the acceptance of will facilitate the improvement of game play. I'm exaggerating a lot of this. But that's because I'm concerned.
To begin, there have been many threads about what constitutes a good team. Most of the time, you hear something like, have 2-4 sweepers, some walls, and some support. But that alone can't constitute good play, or every random 6 Standards with good type coverage would win. After lurking for 5-6 months, while playing quite a bit with people in between, I've made a conclusion regarding the play of the average Smogoner. Spending time reading RMT's, some a year old, most people lack strategy. Now, given the fact that not everyone will fully understand the difference between strategy and tactics, here it is: tactics are the play that give you an immediate advantage, while strategy is the play that coordinates your tactical achievements. I'd like to point out the difference between the average stall team and Obi's team, and why one of them works much better than the other. This is sort of the difference between some random guy on Shoddy playing the same team Obi is.
We have all seen this team. And felt a little surge of disappointment as we realise, "Wow, I have to battle this again." At least from my experience, it's not a hard team to beat when someone not Obi plays it (in general). Good prediction, a Clefable, and some clever counter-stalling can bring it down, slowly and tediously. That isn't fun. At all. Pokemon is an intellectual exercise, not a repetitive Obi-team beating fest. Now, I would never beat this team if someone at Obi's level used it. For a good reason. See, when you're battling, it's similar to chess, in that you have to maintain some constant strategy. Too many battlers just say, look, my team has the required numbers of sweepers, walls, and support; it must be good. Then they get into a battle, and just constantly respond to what the opponent does. That does not make a good game. It is necessary to adapt in a situation that calls for it, but if you are setting the pace of the battle, then there should be no need to constantly play off of what the opponent does. Obi, for example. Stall teams really feel the brunt of this problem, because it is sometimes hard to see what a stall team should be doing. The team above is a good example, it isn't hard to set the pace of the battle with it. There is a fixed agenda: Begin by setting up passive damage, ensure they cannot remove it, and actively scout and predict sweepers while using the constant threat of getting swept by any of the pokemon when they can hurt Alakazam more than he hurts them. Many people simply use switching to counter whatever sweeper they see in front of them, using an attack, and just trying to use switching to go back and forth absorbing attacks.
This is the problem with the 2-2-2 teams (2 sweepers, 2 walls, 2 other, usually support, annoyers, or wall breakers). If the first thing you see is a Weavile, many people respond by sending out their physical wall. By letting your actions be dictated by someone else, you are greatly weakened in the long run. Instead, you be the one to dictate the course of the battle. Start a battle with a Forretress, for example, and start setting up Spikes. Make sure your team can counter the common Rapid Spinners and has a ghost. When you get the Spikes up, don't let them get the chance to take them away. Do something like Gyarados, the only Rapid Spinner that particularly enjoys Gyarados (outside of Forretess and Zap Cannon) is Starmie. When you set the pace, you aren't going to be destroyed quite as easily.
To simplify, let's say you have a team that you think is great, you can counter every pokemon in the game (shut up. It's an example), you have a Rapid Spinner in case they Spike, WishPasser in case they attack you and a cleric for when they status you. Then let's say the first turn they have a Sashed Rampardos which Rock Polishes in your face and OHKO's your team. What did you do wrong? Simple, you planned to counter everything they did. But what did you do? First turn if you get out there and you're sticking to your strategy, it doesn't matter if you have an offensive or defensive team, but your chances go way up.
Thanks for reading this little rant.
To begin, there have been many threads about what constitutes a good team. Most of the time, you hear something like, have 2-4 sweepers, some walls, and some support. But that alone can't constitute good play, or every random 6 Standards with good type coverage would win. After lurking for 5-6 months, while playing quite a bit with people in between, I've made a conclusion regarding the play of the average Smogoner. Spending time reading RMT's, some a year old, most people lack strategy. Now, given the fact that not everyone will fully understand the difference between strategy and tactics, here it is: tactics are the play that give you an immediate advantage, while strategy is the play that coordinates your tactical achievements. I'd like to point out the difference between the average stall team and Obi's team, and why one of them works much better than the other. This is sort of the difference between some random guy on Shoddy playing the same team Obi is.
We have all seen this team. And felt a little surge of disappointment as we realise, "Wow, I have to battle this again." At least from my experience, it's not a hard team to beat when someone not Obi plays it (in general). Good prediction, a Clefable, and some clever counter-stalling can bring it down, slowly and tediously. That isn't fun. At all. Pokemon is an intellectual exercise, not a repetitive Obi-team beating fest. Now, I would never beat this team if someone at Obi's level used it. For a good reason. See, when you're battling, it's similar to chess, in that you have to maintain some constant strategy. Too many battlers just say, look, my team has the required numbers of sweepers, walls, and support; it must be good. Then they get into a battle, and just constantly respond to what the opponent does. That does not make a good game. It is necessary to adapt in a situation that calls for it, but if you are setting the pace of the battle, then there should be no need to constantly play off of what the opponent does. Obi, for example. Stall teams really feel the brunt of this problem, because it is sometimes hard to see what a stall team should be doing. The team above is a good example, it isn't hard to set the pace of the battle with it. There is a fixed agenda: Begin by setting up passive damage, ensure they cannot remove it, and actively scout and predict sweepers while using the constant threat of getting swept by any of the pokemon when they can hurt Alakazam more than he hurts them. Many people simply use switching to counter whatever sweeper they see in front of them, using an attack, and just trying to use switching to go back and forth absorbing attacks.
This is the problem with the 2-2-2 teams (2 sweepers, 2 walls, 2 other, usually support, annoyers, or wall breakers). If the first thing you see is a Weavile, many people respond by sending out their physical wall. By letting your actions be dictated by someone else, you are greatly weakened in the long run. Instead, you be the one to dictate the course of the battle. Start a battle with a Forretress, for example, and start setting up Spikes. Make sure your team can counter the common Rapid Spinners and has a ghost. When you get the Spikes up, don't let them get the chance to take them away. Do something like Gyarados, the only Rapid Spinner that particularly enjoys Gyarados (outside of Forretess and Zap Cannon) is Starmie. When you set the pace, you aren't going to be destroyed quite as easily.
To simplify, let's say you have a team that you think is great, you can counter every pokemon in the game (shut up. It's an example), you have a Rapid Spinner in case they Spike, WishPasser in case they attack you and a cleric for when they status you. Then let's say the first turn they have a Sashed Rampardos which Rock Polishes in your face and OHKO's your team. What did you do wrong? Simple, you planned to counter everything they did. But what did you do? First turn if you get out there and you're sticking to your strategy, it doesn't matter if you have an offensive or defensive team, but your chances go way up.
Thanks for reading this little rant.
