GETTING INTO COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

So you think just because you beat the Elite Four you're the champion of the Pokémon world now? Yeah, so are millions of others. If you truly want to prove yourself to the entire Pokémon community take on competitive battling – where real men and women battle it out with tamed creatures. 

Competitive Pokémon is a lot like chess, where you'll need to think a few steps ahead if you really want to reach the top. As for the complex mechanics, leave that to me. I'll try to give you as much information as I can. First of all, remember all the things you used to do while playing a Pokémon game? All attacking moves, no switching Pokémons; pick all those up and put them in your cat's litter box. Now, let's start.

Where to Play Competitive Pokémon?
One of the best places to play is at Pokémon Showdown. It's a simulator which lets you pick any six Pokémons of your choice and maximise their stats along with full freedom to choose items, abilities and moves for them. This means that you don't need to waste your time training them. In other words, everyone battles with perfect genetically engineered Pokémons.

Stats: Kind of self-explanatory. Stats determine how hard your Pokémon hits, how much beating it can take and how fast it moves. Let's get technical.
* HP: The amount of damage it can take.
* Attack: Determines the power of physical attacks (only used for physical moves).
* Defence: How well it can shield physical attacks.
* Special Attack: Determines the power of special attacks (Only used for special moves).
* Special Defence: How well it can shield special attacks.
* Speed: A Pokémon with a higher speed stat will attack first.
Speaking of stats…

IVs: Some people are ugly, others are more gifted; that's exactly what this is. IVs are like genetic points for Pokémons. They are completely random and range from 0-31 for each stat. You can't change them no matter how hard you train them. But you don't need to worry about this since we'll be battling with perfect Pokémons that have 31 IVs in all of their stats.

EVs: This one's even more complicated. EVs are the reason your Pokémons get stronger. Whenever you defeat a Pokémon, it gives you a variable amount EV points. When you get 4 EV points for a particular stat, that stat will increase by 1 point. Different Pokémons give different amounts and EVs corresponding to different stats. A Pokémon can get a maximum of 510 EVs. In competitive Pokémon, people usually divide their EVs into two of the stats to maximise them. Maximise the stats which are already high. Advanced players experiment with this EV thing but I'm a noob.

Natures: Natures modify specific stats by increasing or decreasing them. Every Pokémon has a nature.

Abilities: Every Pokémon has abilities it can use during a battle. Abilities range from utterly useless to game-winning. They're so important that certain abilities determine the viability of a Pokémon.

Items: Using items (potions, antidotes) are not allowed in competitive Pokémon. Items you give Pokémons to hold are essential. Do a little research on the different items used in competitive battling, things like Choice Bands, Life Orbs and Leftovers.

Moves: Moves are divided into physical and special. Don't give a physical move to a Pokémon whose attack stat is abysmal. Same goes for the other way around.

Advice: When your Pokémon is in danger, switch, no shame in switching. Sometimes you need to predict what the other player will do in order to get an edge. There are a lot of essential non-attacking moves. For all information regarding competitive Pokémon, including tier lists, visit smogon.com. If you want to learn from and battle with local players, have a look at the Facebook group: Bangladeshi Pokémon Battlers. Also, check out the Pokémon World Championships on the official Pokémon Youtube channel.

Shoaib Ahmed Sayam doesn't need coffee because he stays up all night anyway, doing the things he should be doing during the day. Send him John Cena memes at facebook.com/ooribabamama