Welcome to the first edition of our Featured Tutor project! We will interview tutors about Battling 101 and theirexperiences with the program. This project will be hosted by Toupip and me, Steve Angello. Today we will be interviewing Steven Snype, Battling101 moderator and long-time tutor.
You are allowed to ask Steven Snype questions (even those that don't pertain to Pokemon) , but make sure that they're serious and not complete jokes.
I'm a third year university student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute studying Computer Science. I've done a lot of stuff and am currently involved with community service.
I joined a long time ago in about 2011 or so and then took a break from Pokemon. I rejoined B101 sometime during last fall.
Yeah. I was first introduced to playing better at the game by StarkGod, but I also went through Battling 101 as a student and learned from HuntoftheLion (who is also responsible for helping produce the terror known as ShakeItUp , but he's not the one that made the pairings so he's not completely to blame for that ;/)
Depends on the generation. In BW / ORAS / ADV, I usually aim for defensive routes to win by scouting out to see what troublesome sets the opponent could have and then adjusting my plan accordingly. DPP is different because I've played it long enough where I could figure it out off of experience, so I usually like to swing the momentum in my favor because each individual turn feels more impactful.
I usually only tutor in DPP OU, but I'll try to speak in generic ideas so you can implement them in other tiers as well. I encourage all my tutees to glean information efficiently about the opponent's teams. The way people tend to play reveals more about their teamsets. For example, if you're worried about Scarf Terrakion , and your opponent has a Terrakion but decides not to Volt Switch into it against your Alakazam, it's probably not Scarf Terrakion. I tell my tutees to look at information to determine what the plan that has the best chances of winning the game are. Once they decide that plan, they execute it.
I focus a lot on how to play and think during the game. Even when the matchup is heavily against you, knowing how you can attempt to win is a lot more important. A lot of people claim matchup is a reason why they lose, when odds are, they really made a key mistake in their play that actually minimized the chance that they would win. If something is consistently a problem for you while you play with your team, then now you know what is actually a bad matchup, and more importantly, why it is a bad matchup. You can then use this information and experience when you build your other teams.
I feel nervous initially because though a lot of stuff makes sense to me, I want to make sure that what I think could improve my tutee actually does improve it. I also want to make sure I get the ideas for improvement across clearly so they understand what I'm trying to say.
I try to analyze tutee replays mostly or I ask them what they're thinking of as they make moves in game to make sure they're on the right train of thought.
I just like heavier offense in DPP. It's easy to maintain momentum with and maintaining momentum often comes with the feeling of outplaying your opponent, which is nice.
Regardless, B101 is a service provided to tutees, so I usually ask early on what they would like improvement on. Different people need different things to improve upon. If they don't give me a clear goal to work with, I'll usually just focus on playing the game with them. At the end, I usually ask for any feedback from my tutees to see what they liked or didn't like and take that into account for the next one
Lecture series. We actually already have these going up anyway, but something to make sure the general Pokemon playing population can play to a certain standard would be really nice to have and helping B101 become a better branch for improving yourself to become a top-tier battler, but a lot of people aren't familiar with non-current-gen-OU metagames at all, so they are usually stuck from starting at the basics. Still though, there's a lot that comes from playing Pokemon that can be applied to any metagame you're playing.
Thanks a lot Steven Snype for the interview! We hope you enjoyed reading it ! Yours Toupip and Steve Angello.
You are allowed to ask Steven Snype questions (even those that don't pertain to Pokemon) , but make sure that they're serious and not complete jokes.
- Can you tell us a bit about your life outside Smogon?
I'm a third year university student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute studying Computer Science. I've done a lot of stuff and am currently involved with community service.
- When did you first join the program?
I joined a long time ago in about 2011 or so and then took a break from Pokemon. I rejoined B101 sometime during last fall.
- Why did you join Battling 101 ?
Pokemon is a pretty straightforward game, but a lot of people don't really see it. Because they don't see it, a lot of games are usually stomps or pretty much just thrown away, so nobody is really challenged to improve themselves. If the average playerbase doesn't improve, then a lot of time, the metagame never reaches to its full potential because compared to the playerbase, only a few people understand the game, so they are the ones that usually introduce the meta-defined sets. If more people understand the game, the faster the metagame can develop.
I came to mod Battling 101 because I participated in Hoenn Cup, playing ADV OU, a metagame that I had not touched for about a year prior to that. I got 2nd place, which shocked me because I really don't know what I'm doing. It made me disappointed because there wasn't enough new blood. I also looked at other tournaments and it just felt like the same old people that were playing a year beforehand. I wondered where the newer players are, and there's not a whole lot of them competing. I looked around even more and there weren't many that were any good. There were people I knew that wanted to get into competitive Pokemon as well and had no idea what they were doing, so I thought I could try to help start some programs to improve the general quality.
I came to mod Battling 101 because I participated in Hoenn Cup, playing ADV OU, a metagame that I had not touched for about a year prior to that. I got 2nd place, which shocked me because I really don't know what I'm doing. It made me disappointed because there wasn't enough new blood. I also looked at other tournaments and it just felt like the same old people that were playing a year beforehand. I wondered where the newer players are, and there's not a whole lot of them competing. I looked around even more and there weren't many that were any good. There were people I knew that wanted to get into competitive Pokemon as well and had no idea what they were doing, so I thought I could try to help start some programs to improve the general quality.
- Did you sign up as a tutee initially?
Yeah. I was first introduced to playing better at the game by StarkGod, but I also went through Battling 101 as a student and learned from HuntoftheLion (who is also responsible for helping produce the terror known as ShakeItUp , but he's not the one that made the pairings so he's not completely to blame for that ;/)
- What's your preferred style of battling?
Depends on the generation. In BW / ORAS / ADV, I usually aim for defensive routes to win by scouting out to see what troublesome sets the opponent could have and then adjusting my plan accordingly. DPP is different because I've played it long enough where I could figure it out off of experience, so I usually like to swing the momentum in my favor because each individual turn feels more impactful.
- What style do you encourage your tutees to follow and why?
I usually only tutor in DPP OU, but I'll try to speak in generic ideas so you can implement them in other tiers as well. I encourage all my tutees to glean information efficiently about the opponent's teams. The way people tend to play reveals more about their teamsets. For example, if you're worried about Scarf Terrakion , and your opponent has a Terrakion but decides not to Volt Switch into it against your Alakazam, it's probably not Scarf Terrakion. I tell my tutees to look at information to determine what the plan that has the best chances of winning the game are. Once they decide that plan, they execute it.
- Are there any patterns in your tutoring style?
I focus a lot on how to play and think during the game. Even when the matchup is heavily against you, knowing how you can attempt to win is a lot more important. A lot of people claim matchup is a reason why they lose, when odds are, they really made a key mistake in their play that actually minimized the chance that they would win. If something is consistently a problem for you while you play with your team, then now you know what is actually a bad matchup, and more importantly, why it is a bad matchup. You can then use this information and experience when you build your other teams.
- How do you feel while tutoring ?
I feel nervous initially because though a lot of stuff makes sense to me, I want to make sure that what I think could improve my tutee actually does improve it. I also want to make sure I get the ideas for improvement across clearly so they understand what I'm trying to say.
- Do you follow a process while tutoring?
I try to analyze tutee replays mostly or I ask them what they're thinking of as they make moves in game to make sure they're on the right train of thought.
- What's your favorite strategy that you've run? This can be from any metagame or time period.
I just like heavier offense in DPP. It's easy to maintain momentum with and maintaining momentum often comes with the feeling of outplaying your opponent, which is nice.
- Do you wish to get specific feedback from your tutee, and not just receive a grade?
Regardless, B101 is a service provided to tutees, so I usually ask early on what they would like improvement on. Different people need different things to improve upon. If they don't give me a clear goal to work with, I'll usually just focus on playing the game with them. At the end, I usually ask for any feedback from my tutees to see what they liked or didn't like and take that into account for the next one
- If you could improve B101, what would you change?
Lecture series. We actually already have these going up anyway, but something to make sure the general Pokemon playing population can play to a certain standard would be really nice to have and helping B101 become a better branch for improving yourself to become a top-tier battler, but a lot of people aren't familiar with non-current-gen-OU metagames at all, so they are usually stuck from starting at the basics. Still though, there's a lot that comes from playing Pokemon that can be applied to any metagame you're playing.
Thanks a lot Steven Snype for the interview! We hope you enjoyed reading it ! Yours Toupip and Steve Angello.
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