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Serebii Journal Discussion Thread: December 2014

Discuss the issue of the Serebii Journal here, anything from what you liked the most to what you disliked as well as what you would want to see in the next issue. Updates on the next issue will be posted here such as the number of articles, the theme, and some of the article names.
 
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Kitt Geekazaru

Infernape Trainer
As a first-time reader of the Serebii Journal, I will say this:
It was awesome.

First off, I really didn't follow the Guardian Cup much after my loss in round one like almost every tournament I've been in so far. I think the fact that I was at a really big disadvantage from the start was a huge factor, because as of now I hardly have 6 months of experience competitively. I kinda wish I had played better in my second game especially, and my teambuilding skills... yeaahhh. It comforts me to know that Saph~ did indeed win it all. Reading this has actually energized me more to get back (which may be a bad word to put here as a never was really in) into competitive. The pros and cons section helped quite a bit, and with ORAS OU, I'm going to try to make a wide variety of teams that work.

The interview with Saph~ was also very helpful. I am definitely going to try following some of his tips, especially at the end.
Interview said:
BGP: Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to get better at battling, especially at the start of this new metagame?

Saph~: I’d grind out the ladder as much as possible. Try to play people who you would consider better than you and gain experience like that so you can learn what sets most people might be running. Test and/or build lots of teams.
I would say that I have gained some respect for Saph~ after this and I look forward to the day when I could battle him again.

I like the featured team idea, but mostly as long as it's more gimmicky so that you don't give people free teams. I personally had no interest in it, but it looked like a cool idea. Maybe add an importable next week so people could use it with ease, just for fun.

The two informative stories/posts/entries were pretty good. It covers nearly everything important about the subject, and overall turned out well.

The ORAS OU new megas section is really great. It helps new people (like me) have a stepping stone to a decent team, and I might actually add substitute to my sceptile set. It went really in-depth and I think this was the best article out of this months journal. Kudos to Clone for writing it.

Overall, this thing is awesome. I think mandatory guild wars should be a thing, but they needs to be tiered in some way. For example, (and I mean no offense) my guild would get crushed by Submerged Embassy. More official leagues is something I would support, as each is a new experience (as well as an article :p). Lastly, I would suggest a PM list like some fanfics do, as otherwise I would forget about this awesome thing you guys are doing here. Keep it up!
 

BGP_

Well-Known Member
The interview with Saph~ was also very helpful. I am definitely going to try following some of his tips, especially at the end. I would say that I have gained some respect for Saph~ after this and I look forward to the day when I could battle him again.

Overall, this thing is awesome. I think mandatory guild wars should be a thing, but they needs to be tiered in some way. For example, (and I mean no offense) my guild would get crushed by Submerged Embassy. More official leagues is something I would support, as each is a new experience (as well as an article :p). Lastly, I would suggest a PM list like some fanfics do, as otherwise I would forget about this awesome thing you guys are doing here. Keep it up!
Glad you liked the interview, it was nice to do something with a tournament winner and try to use it as a learning experience for others. I know some of the questions were kinda inspired by the fact that I'm trying to get back into competitive in some way myself :p.

Also, I think what most people mean when they want forced wars is just requiring the guild to go out and find someone within x time span or they face some kind of penalty (which I'm in favor of as long as the punishment isn't ridiculous). At least that's how I always understood it. If not then I see where you're coming.

Something akin to a PM list would be nice to get announcements of new issues out, though I'm not sure if PM's themselves would be the best way. Something to consider though.

I'll also take this time to ask for suggestions regarding the interview segment, such as types of people, things to ask about, etc. Can't make any promises of course, but ideas would be nice :)
 
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Psynergy

Strong Winds
Staff member
Super Mod
A bit later than usual this month, was wondering if you guys had forgotten/got too lazy.

Delibird @ Focus Sash
Ability: Vital Spirit/Hustle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature/Adamant Nature , Lonely Nature/ Hasty Nature (If running Icy Wind)
- Seed Bomb / Icy Wind
- Destiny Bond
- Ice Shard
- Fake Out

Using Delibird as anything other than a Rapid Spinner, 0/10.

I like the idea of these "fun" teams based around a Pokemon you'd never expect to see used in a serious environment, especially with replays to show the team in action. I'd like to see those become a regular thing.

Overall it was good stuff like usual. As far as ideas for interview questions, I think it would be good to ask about other tiers the person plays and maybe even their favorite one. Maybe it's just me because I don't get into the guild business, but I don't know a thing about what tiers other people play so hearing a bit about the tiers people play would be nice since it could open up more general discussion on them. Most discussion [when that happens here] pertains to OU and we all know there's a lot more than just OU to talk about.

I also agree with the idea of a PM list since that could definitely help grab and keep attention to this. Clone and I talked a bit before about things that could be done to raise awareness of the Serebii Journal and I definitely think having a PM list would be a great idea. I think it would also help if some of the contributors advertised the Serebii Journal in their sigs but I'm just throwing things out there at this point.
 

BGP_

Well-Known Member
Overall it was good stuff like usual. As far as ideas for interview questions, I think it would be good to ask about other tiers the person plays and maybe even their favorite one. Maybe it's just me because I don't get into the guild business, but I don't know a thing about what tiers other people play so hearing a bit about the tiers people play would be nice since it could open up more general discussion on them. Most discussion [when that happens here] pertains to OU and we all know there's a lot more than just OU to talk about.

I also agree with the idea of a PM list since that could definitely help grab and keep attention to this. Clone and I talked a bit before about things that could be done to raise awareness of the Serebii Journal and I definitely think having a PM list would be a great idea. I think it would also help if some of the contributors advertised the Serebii Journal in their sigs but I'm just throwing things out there at this point.
I do believe that advertisement stuff for signatures is in the works, though I'm not really behind all that so I'm not too sure what's going on with it :p. Asking about other tiers is a pretty good suggestion, as I know that I myself kinda prefer VGC nowadays and some of my friends prefer UU or even lower tiers and have much more experience with them compared to OU. I'll have to mark it down for future reference, would've been something good to ask saph.
 

ger9119

Well-Known Member
A bit later than usual this month, was wondering if you guys had forgotten/got too lazy.



Using Delibird as anything other than a Rapid Spinner, 0/10.

I like the idea of these "fun" teams based around a Pokemon you'd never expect to see used in a serious environment, especially with replays to show the team in action. I'd like to see those become a regular thing.

Overall it was good stuff like usual. As far as ideas for interview questions, I think it would be good to ask about other tiers the person plays and maybe even their favorite one. Maybe it's just me because I don't get into the guild business, but I don't know a thing about what tiers other people play so hearing a bit about the tiers people play would be nice since it could open up more general discussion on them. Most discussion [when that happens here] pertains to OU and we all know there's a lot more than just OU to talk about.

I also agree with the idea of a PM list since that could definitely help grab and keep attention to this. Clone and I talked a bit before about things that could be done to raise awareness of the Serebii Journal and I definitely think having a PM list would be a great idea. I think it would also help if some of the contributors advertised the Serebii Journal in their sigs but I'm just throwing things out there at this point.

I've been VMing and sending the Journal all around as much as I can. I really enjoyed this month's even if it was a bit late :p it seemed like the most balanced entry yet with every article providing quality ideas/material.

At first I wasn't taking that Delibird team seriously but it's actually pretty good for what it is, a low ladder for fun team that can win against some common playstyles. I totally forgot the importable for it though.
 
KITT said:
=]]]]]

Glad you liked my article n_n

---

@BGP: for interviews I think interviewing some of the more well known players (MMS, Ger, Me :$, Gray, etc) would be pretty cool since I'm sure we could give insight to newer players given yu ask the right questions. For example, I do OUs Player of the Week on Smogon and I interview well known players and ask questions like favorite play style, advice for newer players, stuff related to their forte, etc. my signature has a link to my archive on Smogon where all the POTW threads are listed if you wanna take a look.

That also gives me an idea that you could make your interviews into the player of the month. Just a thought.
 
A bit later than usual this month, was wondering if you guys had forgotten/got too lazy.

I also agree with the idea of a PM list since that could definitely help grab and keep attention to this. Clone and I talked a bit before about things that could be done to raise awareness of the Serebii Journal and I definitely think having a PM list would be a great idea. I think it would also help if some of the contributors advertised the Serebii Journal in their sigs but I'm just throwing things out there at this point.

Alot of irl stuff was popping up in many of the journalists so we postponed the articles and from now on they will appear halfway through the month.

Banners are in the works once my artist returns from being on leave.

A pm list is a great idea!
 

Snorby

Snorby
For example, (and I mean no offense) my guild would get crushed by Submerged Embassy.

Don't worry, we don't bite! :] Too hard

Good stuff this month, and I fully agree with a PM list.
 

Aeon™

Rock Ultimate
I like the featured team idea, but mostly as long as it's more gimmicky so that you don't give people free teams. I personally had no interest in it, but it looked like a cool idea. Maybe add an importable next week so people could use it with ease, just for fun.

I actually completely disagree other than that featured teams are a good idea. I think that an actual, well built, successful team would be more beneficial than a gimmicky team. While yes, we would be "giving" people a team, it would allow people to use a well built team to gain a better understanding of how it works. Additionally, the writer would likely include an in depth teambuilding process, specifying why each teammate was chosen, what role it fills and threats it covers, win conditions, etc. This would help show newer or not as advanced player the process by which to build their own teams, as well as give them one to practice with.
 

ger9119

Well-Known Member
I put the team to feature Delibird in a positive role as well as fit the theme, I feel any time we put a team in the journal it should relate to some sort of theme.
 

Kitt Geekazaru

Infernape Trainer
I actually completely disagree other than that featured teams are a good idea. I think that an actual, well built, successful team would be more beneficial than a gimmicky team. While yes, we would be "giving" people a team, it would allow people to use a well built team to gain a better understanding of how it works. Additionally, the writer would likely include an in depth teambuilding process, specifying why each teammate was chosen, what role it fills and threats it covers, win conditions, etc. This would help show newer or not as advanced player the process by which to build their own teams, as well as give them one to practice with.

I think it should be the author's choice what to do. Teambuilding, IMO, should be discussed in a separate article like they did with Spikes and Toxic Spikes.
 

Eaglehawk

Banned
7.8/10 too much water

In my honest opinion, I think we need more fun articles (or articles related to game theory and not talking about the history of X). Those help players understand the math and logic behind actual battling.

x implies a substitutable variable topic.
 

Moonclawz

Aura Trainer
I think all the articles were good. I especially liked the new ORAS megas which was really useful to get to know new OU threats quickly, and Guardians Cup coverage (it's always fun to read about other people commenting on your playing).
 
Is there anyone interested in becoming a member of the journal? If so respond here or pm me please

Note you must have a large ammount of competative experiance in whatever tier you wish to write on. And will have to go through an approval process
 
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Mye

Someone has to win..
I'd be willing to join in on it, even though I've barely touched the OU metagame.
 

ger9119

Well-Known Member
I'd be willing to join in on it, even though I've barely touched the OU metagame.

We are looking for anyone willing to contribute on a monthly basis. Especially people playing other metagames.
 

Mye

Someone has to win..
That'd be doable. I actually have a few ideas for "articles" I've been wanting to push for a while (like the "most useful hold item" and "how dugtrio changed the pkmn landscape" ). As long as I have full creative control over what I write and don't have to focus too much on OU/Ubers I'd be more than willing to do a decent share.
 
Due to circumstances the Serebii Journal as most of you have probably noticed has been placed on hold, the ammount of time is currently unknown. However it will be back and hopefully prior to the summer :)

- Eliteknight, Head of the Serebii Journal
 
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