Welcome to the first edition of our new project, Featured Tutor Interviews! We will interview tutors about Battling101 and their experiences with the program. This project will be hosted by Leftiez and me, Steve Angello. Today we will be interviewing Zamrock, Battling101 tutor.
- Can you tell us a bit about your life outside Smogon?
~ Right now, I'm currently in college, even though I dont act my agea lot of the time. If I'm not studying, I am usually either on here, playing basketball or training in the weightroom. I don'tknowwhat i want to do with my life yet.
- When did you join the Battling 101 program?
~ I joined around a few months ago. I think it was around the time POCL ended.
- Why did you join Battling101 ?
~ I'll be honest, back when I was toxic and trashtalking pretty much everyone, I finally realized my mistakes and decided to use the knowledge I have to try to improve the community instead of just bashing it. After a while, I started developing a new set of principles to start being this role model to new players, showing them how fun this game can be and how far you can get into the community assuming you have a strong enough passion to aim to greater heights. Even though tutoring is time consuming, it's always a pleasure to expand my knowledge to new tutees to make them better.
- Did you sign up as a tutee initially?
~ No, I was too cocky at the time to even consider it. However I do want to learn ADV OU soon, assuming we still have tutors for that tier.
- What's your preferred style of battling?
~ I prefer bulky offense or balance teams. I am usually comfortable with anything that doesn't run Smeargle and Espeon on the same team...
- What style do you encourage your tutees to follow and why?
~ That's something you can't really encourage. Every player is different in their own playstyle. What I do is teach all the styles being offense, balance, and stall. Usually, they are the ones to decide what style is most comfortable for them. If they still don't have a clue, bulky offense or balance is what I would recommend in terms of reliability.
- Are there any patterns in your tutoring style?
~ It changes in different sessions. I'm not the most organized tutor in the world, but I just have a small list of things tocover when I tutor, which I divide into the ongoing weeks. For example, Week 1 I would first teach the meaning of Team Analysis, Predictions, and Long-Term Thinking. During Week 2, I would teach Hyper and Bulky Offense. I cover balance during Week 3. Week 4 is Stall. I always test my tutees before AND after the cycles to see any improvement.
- How do you feel while tutoring ?
~ It's time consuming. But it's enjoyable.
- Do you follow a process while tutoring?
~ I'm not organized. I just go with the flow during the weeks that I mentioned earlier.
- What's your favorite strategy that you've run? This can be from any metagame or time period.
~ There is one thing a friend and I thought about during the 1st week of the Smogon Tour. Everyone is now running venusaur + 4-5 mons weak to gyarados. So we thought of a strategy to run gyarados + lure celebi. This celebi is a 3-Attack Life Orb set with Leaf Storm, Psychic, and Hidden PowerFire. Psychic is to beat Venusaur and Hidden Power Fire is for Ferrothorn. Celebis usually pass boosts, and usually can't do much back to the opposing mon with just a single attack, that's what makes the set cool as a lure. I love luring strategies and this was just a minor example of one. Get a strong win condition (Gyarados), know its checks (Venusaur, Ferro), get something that they usually switchinto (Celebi, Slowbro), pop them with a nice surprise to either kill or weaken them enough for your win condition to power through them (Fire Blast Slowbro or HP Fire Celebi)
- Do you wish to get specific feedback from your tutee, and not just receive a grade?
~ I would rather not know for personal reasons. I just like to know if I'm doing a good job. Judging from my past success I would assume I'm doing ok.
- If you could improve B101, what would you change?
~ I was getting kind of pissed when I kept getting 2 tutees per cycle after everyone ditched for SPL. I managed to convince a handful of new OU tutors to join, but more knowledgeable tutors are still encouraged to apply and join.
Thanks Zamrock for spending his time doing our interview, and feel free to ask him questions.
~ Steve Angello and Leftiez
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