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View Full Version : When did you get into competitive battling?



Mindblown94
07-29-2011, 08:13 PM
Hey guys, I noticed there is no thread for this. And after noticing a new member who doesn't know anything about competitive battling I decided to make a thread pertaining to when you started competitive battling and why?

So for me I think it was when I first got pokemon black about a few months ago because I hadn't played pokemon in years since then. I started looking up stuff online and noticed a FAQ about competitive battling. I thought it seemed interesting so after googling competitive pokemon I ended up on the smogon site reading up things I needed to know.

I also watched famous youtubers, most notably shofu and BT who were the first people I watched playing. I really think they were the ones who taught me more because I learn a lot better by example than by reading.

So my question to you is when did you learn about competitive battling and how did you get into it?

DudeMewCanFly
07-29-2011, 08:22 PM
I was trying to figure out how to beat Red in SS so I Youtubed what people had used and as I was watching I started straying into the competative area and watched a couple of "The Flaming Spade's" videos and I've been hooked ever since. So for me its been like .... a little under a year and a half that I've been into it.

[MaNiAc]
07-29-2011, 09:01 PM
Well I got into the Pokémon games back in 1998, and just casually played every Pokémon game up until a few years ago when I dedicated hours to finding a Feebas in Pokémon Ruby. In my search for techniques to catching the elusive fish, I found out about EV training and IV breeding online. Once I caught that Feebas, I tried out IV breeding and EV training. I was hooked to spending those countless hours of breeding and EV training.

Then I started looking up Pokémon Youtube videos of all these competitive battlers, and I was hooked to that ever since.

I took what I had learned from Ruby and started breeding teams in Platinum. The rest was history.

So I guess I have been into competitive battling for around 2 years.

PKMNbattleSchemes
07-30-2011, 01:07 PM
about the end of the 4th gen
i always liked pokemon but i never really did get competitive until the 5th gen

xXTansXx
07-31-2011, 11:26 PM
about the end of the 4th gen
i always liked pokemon but i never really did get competitive until the 5th gen

Same here...Thats wehn I got into battling too...I watched youtube videos of pokemon...Mainly from shofu and I got better and competitive during that time:)

PokemonHunter
07-31-2011, 11:33 PM
I really only got started when hg/ss came out when i was wondering how a friend used a poke to defeat my poke and it really looked like my poke was gonna win. I checked online to find smogon and looked at it. then i found haydunn and was really hooked into competitive battling. Really only got into it myself when 5th gen came out though...

FallenVanguard
08-03-2011, 10:49 PM
Well, I always had a small interest in it ever since Gen III due to my love of Pokemon, but I stuck with fan battles. As I grew, I began to appreciate awesome strategies and started envisioning some of my own. With WiFi available in Gen IV, I dabbled a tiny bit in competetive battling but didn't like how much work was necessary without an AR or Pokesav, so I quit for a few years.

Then I got into EV training again just so my friends and I could have an epic tourney (came in second to someone who actually competetively battled, he 4-0ed me o.O) and he taught me about a lot of stuff. Then, while looking up something entirely different that I can't even remember anymore, I stumbled across a shofu vid and got hooked. I then started watching some BlameTruth, some Flaming Spade, and a lot of AngeloftheNight091 battles. I kinda fell in love with it all, and started seriously working at it.

So, I guess I've REALLY been into it for...about two months, lol. I've done a lot on Pokemon Online in those two months, but I've only had two actual battles (1 win, 1 loss...but the loss was only 2-0, so I was very content).

Leobreacker
08-04-2011, 03:18 AM
Exactly 2 months ago, And I am loving it ♥_♥

Aura Master
08-06-2011, 09:45 PM
I would say going into 4th gen, I finally learned a whole lot about competitive battling. And I am still learning stuff like new attacks/sets!

DucksGoMooful
08-06-2011, 10:45 PM
I'm still not very far into it, but I got into it near the end of the HGSS era and a few months before BW came out. I still have a lot to learn though.

[MuSiCa]
08-06-2011, 11:11 PM
I'm a fast learner. I've been into it for 9 months so far, and I've got most of it down. I'm still no genius though.

dameenmachine
08-07-2011, 04:17 AM
i got into compettive battling in 5th gen when i saw youtubers like shofu and ever since then iv been battling

G0dPower
08-08-2011, 02:50 AM
i started playing it back in the 1st gen, but i only played in-game. I got into competitive battling by watching youtubers like most people above me and also i came here looking for people to trade with and then spoofy challenged me to a battle. It all went uphill from then.

PSN_xBlackthornWolfx
08-08-2011, 12:52 PM
I came across Xenon's videos probably about 3 years ago by now and I've loved watching wifi battlers ever since. I didn't actually get into myself until this year though really when I finally decided to try out pokesav. :3

Blue Dragon
08-10-2011, 10:58 PM
Well I started to get into competitive battling when I kept losing battles with friends from Gen 2. I have played Pokemon and grew up with it since Gen 1, but didn't fully realise the full potential of my Pokemon until I discovered there was a lot more to Pokemon than just how powerful they are.

I learnt very well the art of strategies and dark tactics, as well as focused stat distribution from replicating the foe's methods. Since Gen 2 I have kept learning and still learn, as I now have powerful teams that I use in Pokemon Black and White that compliment each others weaknesses.

With each battle I can see what holes to fix in my teams and whom to replace. So since Gen 2 I guess ^^

Sambo
09-28-2011, 01:44 AM
I've never been that much of a... Battler, but I've grown up playing it, and 2 years ago I learned about people like shofu and then I reached Smogon awhile after. However, up until this point I was more of the kind of person you go to for help, and I am currently ever so carefully crafting my first team. It's been a bit frustrating, but I'm proud to say that I have collected 4 of the 6 pokemon on my first team and the last two are coming along great. People can say whatever they want about the in-game stuff, but when it comes to playing on a competitive level it's not as dumb as those people think. You have to do a lot of quick thinking, and you'll need the ability to change your stradegy multiple times in a row, among other things.

Samatar
09-28-2011, 03:49 PM
Watched a bit of Marriland back in 2007, and saw his ultimate tekkers.
Basically everyone was talking about it, so I played some Shoddy/PO and got into it. I run really cheap, overused teams though.

PSN_tainers14
09-28-2011, 07:24 PM
Back in like... late 08. Found a video of probably the most intense wifi battle I have ever seen. A guy was down 6-2 with a togekiss and a clefable left, and basically paraflinched his whole team to make the sore 2-2, and they decided to stop the battle cause it was getting long and one of them had to go. But yeah, that got me really into battle, and sooner or later, made my first team on shoddy in like March of 09, and practiced for a few months before I actually got a team on my ds in Platinum.

Shucklulz
09-28-2011, 10:04 PM
I started asking around forums for team advice because I wanted to beat the Masters Battles in Pokemon Battle Revolution in 2007.
Never did beat Set 8... :T

But I guess I got sucked into competitive battling around the same time. Met some friends, joined a wifi clan and played horribly until 2010 where I finally got reasonably decent. Took a break to focus on school and now I have no clue what I'm doing (again) because of the new generation. Yay.

Murray
09-29-2011, 01:28 AM
I got in to Competitive Pokemon Battling when I began watching The Pikawu on Youtube.He showed me how Awesome it is to battle tons of People I know and don't know and the thrills of other Pokemon battle related stuff.

IkkiMustang
09-30-2011, 03:16 PM
I started to play the competitive side of pokemon when my friend said some people go "hard" when they play each other and looked it up on youtube then the next day I bought a DS and SS and here I am.

MikeDecIsHere
10-04-2011, 04:48 PM
I've been around since like....late 07 or early 08. I was subscribed to MTGxerxes s real long time ago, and basically learned alot from his vids.

Sephira
10-04-2011, 07:16 PM
I got into into competative battling back in 09 when i heard of shoddy and messed around smogon for a few months getting the hang of things. i didnt start playing seriously untill i joined a tournament TU was hosting (which is also how i joined) and then after that i proceded to kick everyone elses *** for the next 2 years and well here i am today, kinda washed up but im going to try and get back in the swing of things

Catalyst
10-04-2011, 07:21 PM
I think I signed up for a tutoring program at another forum, I didn't expect to get anywhere with it, but then I entered a few tours at said forum and then battled a bit at Mysidia, and ended up having a ton of fun with battling, developing a passion for it along the way.

Darklink5222
11-07-2011, 03:48 AM
I got into it around the time D/P were out for a while but we hadn't heard a word about HG/SS yet. I had know about smogon for years and finally decided to look into it, I downloaded Shoddy and went to the first or second coolest sounding server that didn't have a ton of people, which was Silver Plateau, I played for a bit off and on, it died, I went over to TeamUber for a bit, then I went to Pokemon Online, went to Mysidia for a while which got me into a completely different community which is another story. then I quit again and now here I am.

TL;DR: I've been lots of places and have played off and on.

Midnite
11-11-2011, 06:28 AM
Well, I've been EV-training and PBR battling ever since I got PBR. However, I never got into true competitive battling until a little before the beginning of the HG/SS era, where a group of Pokemon fans from the other main site I go to formed a competitive Pokemon community (which was actually stronger than its SSBB community, which is odd, since the site is focused on Smash Bros. >_>). Sadly, that community (and my interest in competitive Pokemon) started to dwindle after Chandelure's ban in 5th gen, and unfortunately, it died out due to multiple reasons (cough, drama, cough). :/ I want to get back into competitive Pokemon, but no matter how hard I try, I just can't...

Meh, I probably rambled a bit and answered "why" along with "when".

(And before anyone asks: No, Chandelure's ban is not the reason why I lost interest. I just got bored of the metagame, and I started picking up League of Legends at the time.)