Featured Tutor #7 - Plus

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Plus
  • Can you tell us a bit about your life outside Smogon?
I'm a 20 year old student attending NYU with a major in media studies and advertising, minoring in web development. I'm currently commuting from my home in New Jersey, which takes up a fair chunk of time everyday. When I'm not on Smogon, I like to read manga, watch NBA basketball, get swole at the gym with my friends, and try new foods for them extra gains. I'm the Chinese swagmaster on a budget, you can call me the Asian Macklemore except I don't wear your granddad's clothes. I have a fair amount of cardigans though, so I digress. Hit me up on anything media related, I like to keep myself updated on the latest happenings in fashion, sports, news, etc.
  • When did you join the Battling 101 program?
I joined the program in the early months of 2009.
  • Why did you join Battling 101 ?
I was really impressed by the program back then, there were tons of battlers that I looked up to and I always knew that tutoring would be my first real form of contribution on this site. I had recently won the tutee tournament at the time, and I felt that I was capable enough to teach what I had learned. I had tutor friends such as SoT, Bass, tennisace and Elevator Music who I always considered to be playing at an even level with, so I decided to throw my hat into the ring as well. Blue Kirby accepted me, and the rest is history.
  • Did you sign up as a tutee initially?
Yes, I missed my first signups in Round 33 (for reference, we're currently in Round 96). However, my friend Bass on Doug's CAP Server on Shoddy Battle had an inactive tutee so he asked if he could take me as a tutee instead. I looked up to Bass since he'd always beat my ass in nearly anything we played, so I was pretty psyched for the experience. He helped me become a great battler, and also introduced me to his pokefriends at the time which included Tacho (master of the jira/tar/mence core on every team) and maddog (the OG of Baton Pass, fuck all this modern day bullshit).

Before Shoddy had the Smogon University Server, my peak on the Official Server run by Colin (now Cathy) and bearzly was about #20. Tacho in particular helped me become a much better teambuilder and battler, and it was through his guidance that I was able become a good enough battler to top various DPP leaderboards on the Smogon Server in the day such as the Manaphy Suspect test, DPP UU Suspect with Raikou/Duggy/Moltres, and perform well in WCOP as I played for USA Metro and USA East (before WCOP became a teamstacking competition like their name was the 2010 Miami fucking Heat). I don't play in many tournaments anymore because I don't feel like I have the time or motivation to prepare adequately for them, but don't peg me for a guy whose never played in big situations before!
  • What's your preferred style of battling?
Tacho, who was Bass's tutor, who was my tutor, would always call me a pussy for playing passively. And he was right. I still don't think I play as aggressively as he did, but I think I do play a more 'in your face' kind of game than most players. To quote his wise words: If you aren't attacking, you aren't winning. Even in defensively oriented teams, winning is all about gaining momentum. You gain momentum by outplaying your opponent, forcing them to do things they really don't want to do, and by attacking enough or pulling enough double switches to force residual damage so that his/her options are limited late game. I don't care what kind of team I play, whether it is Stall, Balance, Offense, or any "Semi-Stall Balance With A Hint of Offense" stupid framework you want to call it. As long as you have the opportunity to make significant plays, I'll play it.
  • What style do you encourage your tutees to follow and why?
I don't encourage them to play a particular style like Offense moreso than I do just playing smart and aggressive. Playing smart and aggressive is a little different in the era of team preview than it was back in DPP. It's not as smart to throw out random attacks predicting a switch in ORAS or BW than it was in DPP or a previous generation, and it's a lot easier to guess what your opponent is running since you know all 6 pokemon the instant the match begins. Playing aggressive nowadays means that you are pulling more double switches, making educated predictions on what kinds of sets your opponent is running, and identifying win conditions early so you can play accordingly. I encourage my tutees to play with a sense of long term thinking, while understanding the concepts of risk and reward so that they don't make an unnecessary risk.
  • Are there any patterns in your tutoring style?
I've tutored a bunch of different people, some who didn't need that much tutoring (such as Vader (now v), Scimjara, and TEzeon), while I also had tutees who didn't know diddly squat. There aren't really patterns in my tutoring style, but I try to produce visible results in improvement regardless of skill level.
  • How do you feel while tutoring ?
I feel good. Sometimes when my tutee takes 30 minutes to identify a good teammate to Charizard Y then I'll pull up an incognito tab and take a quick fap. That usually makes me feel even better.
  • Do you follow a process while tutoring?
I make sure I build some teams with my tutee (at least 3 per round, 1 a week), go over battling basics (check out my webseries brah), and some forum integration as well if they don't have many posts. I usually go over to the RMT forum, steal a team, and tell them to identify weaknesses and make revisions. I don't tell them that they're fixing RMTs until the end, and by then it's up to them to make the actual posts in the forum to actually contribute. I feel like forum integration needs more emphasis in our tutoring regimen, hint hint to any prospective tutors in the future. If you don't even know how to apply correctly to be a tutor in PM, how are you going to show your tutee the ropes to Smogon????? o_o
  • What's your favorite strategy that you've run? This can be from any metagame or time period.
Trickscarf Starmie lead during the DS Deoxys-E days in DPP. This was when suicide leads like Azelf, Aerodactyl, Infernape, and Deoxys-E were ridiculously common. Most people expected Life Orb 2 attacks with Recover and Rapid Spin, but I would run Trick over Recover and Scarf. You would trick the suicide leads so they would try to get up rocks or attack, then Rapid Spin the next turn or predict the ghost and go straight to scarf or band ttar to pursuit trap. This would effectively nullify their ability to get rocks up reliably while also hindering their ability to use Explosion willy nilly (if you were an Azelf).

This worked even better with stall teams due to the element of surprise, since most stall teams led with shit like Forry, Hippowdon, Blissey (if you were like IPL), and Heatran. If they led with anything other than Blissey, they would usually switch right away to Blissey fearing a LO Hydro Pump. But instead, they get hit with a Scarfed Blissey which makes your life easier when you pair it with something like offensive Heatran, Zapdos, etc.
  • Do you wish to get specific feedback from your tutee, and not just receive a grade?
I've been on Smogon long enough to not care about the grade, the badge, or the evaluation. I used to be a badgewhore but frankly I don't care anymore. I genuinely like to see my tutees succeed in whatever they put their minds to, so I could care less about my evaluation or grade right now. Battling 101 has given me a group of friends, new and old, that I still talk to on a regular basis - and that's the best thing that Smogon has ever given me. It's not about the pixels, but the relationships you build. I still talk to many of my past tutees because I enjoy talking to them. They're some of the best relationships I've built on this site.
  • If you could improve B101, what would you change?
I hear tons of old guys saying stuff like "old b101 used to be better!!", but I'm probably even more of an old fart and I don't really buy that, nostalgia glasses can really cloud one's perception. I could go on a rant and show evidence against that, but we can save that for another day. Lots of people are clamoring about getting good players to tutor, but there's only so much I can do to motivate them to help out. It's not B101's fault that you don't want to tutor.
There's really not much I can do other than beg and grovel for amazing players to tutor, and if I have to do that then I really doubt they'd be great tutors in the first place. I've noticed that the best tutors aren't always the best battlers, but the ones who put in the most effort into their work. You obviously need to be good in order to tutor, but if you have some sort of superiority complex that makes you look down on every other battler who isn't in your posse, then get the hell out of this program.

I'd like to change the signup system so that we can weed out terrible tutees instantly and allow for players that we ideally want in our program to be selected first. The program has expanded so much since I came into power that signups close an hour after they are posted, which is insane. I'd like to figure out a system where we can fairly choose tutees based on their merits as a person and battler as opposed to signing up first in a thread.

Thanks Plus for accepting and feel free to ask him questions.
~ Leftiez and Steve Angello
 

dhelmise

everything is embarrassing
is a Site Content Manageris a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Social Media Head
why is ur badgeset so pretty owo

What's your favorite part about B101?
 

Plus

中国风暴 trademark
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis an Artist Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Researcher Alumnusis a Top CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
i love you plus
really
no homo <3
anche ti voglio bene! =)

why is ur badgeset so pretty owo

What's your favorite part about B101?
My favorite part about Battling 101 is the fact that a ton of people who joined Battling 101 as a tutee are still on this site today, whether they are currently contributing or not. Building a group of friends on this site through Battling 101 is probably the best part, regardless if you no longer battle. Smogon has a reputation for clique culture, and I think Battling 101 helps remedy the situation by erasing boundaries between these "cliques" through the love of battling. At the same time, if you're a new user with no prior connections, joining this "clique culture" is probably one of the best ways to get involved with Smogon. I've found that the best tutors are the ones who introduce their tutees to their group of Smogon friends since it fosters more of a community, as long as your Smogon friends aren't a bunch of assholish elitist dipshits. On a positive note, there haven't been many instances of that happening, so we're good.
 

Plus

中国风暴 trademark
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis an Artist Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Researcher Alumnusis a Top CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Do you have any advice for users looking to become tutors?
brace yourselves for a wall of text:

Make a name for yourself in the Smogon Tournaments section, that's probably the best way to do it. Success in official tournaments is really what we're looking for, as opposed to some other unofficial tournaments. I don't have much of a problem with SPL spinoffs, but stuff like RODAN cup or lv 47. blue pokemon only cup are not accurate measures of skill. Tutors should also be able to read the Tutor Profiles thread on a middle school level so they know how to apply in order to become a tutor. It's mind boggling how many people are clueless when it comes to applying.

Breaking down the application for any prospective tutors:

Username:
Timezone:
Regular Online Hours (in EST):
References:
Tier(s):
Accomplishments in the respective tier (tournament, ladder, or voting success):
Username, self explanatory. Timezone and regular online hours, also self explanatory. References are people that are well known and established players in the tier that you are applying for, not some random GP/Artist/SmogPlayerCompetitorCrapperWhatever writer who hasn't played in over two years. If you have to ask whether a person is well known enough in the tier, then it's probably not a good enough reference.

People should only include tiers that we are currently offering in their applications. Again, this goes back to middle school level reading: if you don't see any tutor listing RBY UU in their profile, chances are that we aren't tutoring. Furthermore, if you don't see your specified tier in the requested tiers in the thread title, don't apply.

As for accomplishments, here's where the grey area begins. Honestly, I don't consider myself strict at all when it comes to accepting people to tutor, but people need to look at things in perspective from time to time. People tell me all the time that PS laddering isn't an accurate measure of skill anymore - and to an extent, I agree. But if you're not going to give me any substantial tournament success and tell me that you're too lazy to ladder to the top, what credentials are there for your application? People can bash the ladder all they want, but if they don't have the tournament reputation to back those claims up, then they shouldn't bother applying in the first place.

In regards to actually being a tutor, my best advice is to get off your high horse. The problem with a lot of great players when it comes to tutoring is that their ego usually gets the best of them. They're too good to be teaching a total scrub, they're too busy with their friends to be talking to a lowly pleb, they're too engrossed in earning a heart underneath their username that they miss the entire point of Battling 101 - to foster relationships between vets and the up and coming players of the game through battling.

Lastly, stay away from Smogon drama, don't be a pedophile/creep/batshit crazy person, and for the love of god, DON'T CHANGE YOUR SMOGON USERNAME. Holy shit, you have no idea how annoying it is when tutors change their fucking usernames every week like their name was Ron Artest AKA Metta World Peace AKA Pandas Friend AKA World B fuckin Free.

 
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