Featured Tutor #10 - Jirachee

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Alkov

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Welcome to the Featured Tutor project! This is a series of interview where I will ask Official Tutors several questions about them, B101 forum and their experience with it. Through this project, I hope that it will bring about entertainment and an insight on how they tutor. The project will be hosted by me. This week, we're honored to have the tournament director, RMT co-leader and the great tutor Jirachee as our interviewee!

  • Can you tell us a little more about your life outside of Smogon/PS?
    I'm 21 years old, I study maths and I like the usual, video games / sports / music / drinking / etc.. I tend to be more private with my real life because I don't like mixing pokemon with it :pirate:

  • What inspired you to name yourself after a Pokemon?
    Back in 2011 I kinda wanted to change my old username but I didn't know what to pick, so I just named myself after a Pokemon I liked using (Jirachi.) The name itself was taken on IRC so I started using Jirachee there instead and eventually the name transitioned on the forums!

  • Can you share with us how and when did you get into competitive battling?
    A friend of mine and I loved playing the co-op frontier in Platinum. I had an account on a random french Pokemon site and learned a bit about competitive movesets there, which I applied to my in-game frontier team. We always tried to improve so we could get further and started discovering stuff here and there... until we found out about shoddy. He never really stuck around after that though, but I kept on playing and switched to PO when I learned about it. I loved scripted server tours and that got me caught up in mons...

  • When and why did you join the B101 program? Which tier do you tutor?
    I started tutoring in the summer of 2012. I really liked the idea of helping others improve in a game I loved. The tutor / tutee interactions make it easier to pass down knowledge. I tutored BW OU back then, it was right after BW2 came out so the tier itself had changed a lot!

  • What are the tiers you tutor and does the difference in tutee affect how you tutor?
    Right now I only tutor BW OU, although I did teach DPP OU and XY OU in the past. I'd still be up to teach those to anyone who wanted but I don't think anyone wants to learn XY anymore :pirate:

    The tutee himself/herself has a really large influence in how I tutor, because not everyone learns the same way or has the same kind of motivation. Usually I work a lot better with people who are really motivated because it's a lot more fun for me! Not everyone wants to learn the same thing either, some people really like teambuilding whereas others only want to battle all the time...

  • As an inspiring tutor, which aspect of the game do you think is the most important and it should be tutored by every other tutor?
    I think knowledge of the metagame is the most important aspect of a player's game. When you know a metagame inside out, you should be able to build solid teams that abuse what's good and you should also be able to analyze your opponent's plays in battle quickly.

    Also everyone should remember that flashy plays and "innovation" aren't how you win games

  • As a tutor, do you think the issue on "match up" is a huge factor to the game or is it just an easy way out for a battle lost?
    Well sure, team matchup is a huge factor in a game like Pokemon because that's what team building is: making the best choices to have an advantage in battle. Now, most of the time it's possible to overcome that advantage and put yourself in a winning position and that's what most games boil down to. If you want to see a good example of that, take a look at my SPL semi-finals game against papai noel. In this game on team preview he has the advantage because I have a slow team without a Hydreigon switch-in, but I was able to put myself in a position where he couldn't kill Skarmory anymore once Hydreigon died. Focus Blast missed and that's unfortunate but overall I think this game demonstrates how team matchup really works and I'm happy with how I played!

    Sometimes you do have an unwinnable matchup and that's why you lose, but then you should probably watch the replays and ask yourself how you could have avoided such a matchup. Making a great team is difficult!

  • Can you briefly describe a concept that you'll always pass down to your tutees with regards to the game? It can be either team-building or battling.
    I'd like to expand on the team matchup issue.

    I think it's important to try and analyze who has the advantage at the beginning of the battle, because that will dictate how you will play during the battle itself. If you do happen to have a bad matchup, it's important not to give up because most of the time there is a way for you to play around it. In that case, you should probably try and play more aggressively than usual, because one well-timed prediction can turn the momentum in your favor. It doesn't have to be reckless but you should calculate your options. I think one very good example of that can be found in the replay I linked earlier. I knew I was fighting a losing battle at that point so I had to do something to turn it around, so on turn 10, I stayed in with Skarmory against his Choice Specs Keldeo and killed it with Brave Bird as it used Hidden Power Ghost. That can look like a reckless move, but I was actually Careful max / max Skarmory which lives anything Keldeo can throw at it, so I knew I was gonna kill it that turn. I could have lost Skarmory but there was a big chance he'd use HP Ghost as my only Keldeo switch in was Jellicent... and it worked out for me.
  • Is there any advice that you would like to give to aspiring tutors?
    Keep the game fun!

  • Lastly, if you can change one thing about B101, what will it be?
    I'd probably make it so people who aren't really motivated to learn couldn't join the program. It's a real drag for a tutor when he gets a tutee who just sits there and barely even responds... But I do understand it's hard to do that because we don't live in a perfect world :pirate:

    ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

    There we have it! Thank you Jirachee for such an insightful interview! Feel free to leave any questions you have for him below.
 
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Who were your favorite tutees ?
Do you know enough the ORAS OU to tutor it ?
What is your favourite mon in : the dpp,the bw,the oras
What is your favourite playstyle ? (all gen)
Predictions for G Slam/ST/OLT ?
Your best video game ?
 
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