In 2006, I met up with a group of friends from online in New York City. We were all there for the Pokémon National Video Game Championships, and these were people I had known through the competitive Pokémon community—in some cases for years. In a time when Smogon had just begun establishing itself as the go-to hub for serious multiplayer and Pokémon Showdown had yet to even exist, I had spent many hours joyfully discussing movesets and testing out teams on older battle simulators.

This was the era of Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, and the National Championships reflected this not just in game choice but also the fact that the official format was Double Battles for the first time. As someone who cut their teeth on the unofficial Singles 6v6 format and preferred it, I had never really tried it, in contrast to everyone else who was there either participate in or spectate the tournament. Back then, those friends I met encouraged me to play Doubles, which they argued was more interesting, had the extra benefit of being officially sanctioned, and wasn’t inundated by the glut of restrictive “clauses” that characterized 6v6.

I didn’t take up their offer, and not long after, I fell off of competitive Pokémon in general. It was a lot of time to dedicate, and it just stopped being a priority for me. I would keep playing the games, and held onto dreams of making at least one competitive team per generation, but it never came to fruition. Meanwhile, a number of those friends would go on to found Nugget Bridge, a now-abandoned site dedicated to the official “VGC” Doubles Format. 

Now, literally two decades later, I’ve been playing Pokémon Champions, the new game that is specifically built to be an official competitive platform. I’ve also devoted myself to playing Doubles primarily for the first time, and I have to apologize to my old friends because it is very fun. Some of that is regardless of format, as it’s bringing up a joy and passion that sat long dormant within me. But Doubles also has a lot going for it in particular—namely the complex interactions that come with having four Pokémon on the field, as well as the speed at which it plays. I don’t know if I have it in me to do 40-minute 6v6 battles anymore.

However, I have a dilemma when it comes to battling again: I feel there is no community for me in Pokémon anymore, and it has become a very solitary hobby when that wasn’t the case in the past. Part of it is that I feel too old to interact with the greater community, and many of the people I did know are old like me and living their lives, but that’s not the only factor. Another issue is that as a player, I am neither wholly devoted to doing everything it takes to win, nor am I someone who thinks all that tryhard number crunching is antithetical to the spirit of Pokémon. 

Instead, my love comes primarily from making goofy teams and trying out unusual Pokémon while knowing that what I’m doing is suboptimal. In other words, how do I win within the parameters I’ve set for myself? The main team I’m running in Champions currently is one that includes all four weather effects—sun, rain, sand, snow—and as such constantly steps on its own toes like a Three Stooges gag. It’s a blast to play, and I’ve somehow reached Master Ball Tier using it. 

I feel that discussion in the competitive scene would primarily be about how my team idea is inherently bad (and it definitely is, IMO), whereas in the non-competitive scene I wouldn’t get the dedicated conversations that would allow me to push my team as far as it can go without betraying its core concept or cordoning it off in weaker tiers of play. Granted, this is also how the scene was 20 years ago, but I knew for sure back then that there would be at least a few like-minded folks who were willing to entertain my silly notions of how to maximize the effectiveness of a Whiscash. 

I understand that nostalgia may be the actual culprit of how I’m feeling, and I might be able to actually find that type of community I want—one that’s not entirely competitive or casual but falls somewhere in the middle. I’m also very pleased to see the biggest names in the VGC, notably Wolfe Glick, leading by example and willing to try out unusual strategies and teams while battling at the highest levels. Ultimately, I think my problem is that I’m having so much fun playing Pokémon Champions but don’t have anyone to share that joy with, who can appreciate battling in a semi-serious way.

That being said, I’m going to leave off on a goofy note: a Ninetales moveset that I’ve been using that has made a huge difference for me. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory, but do with it what you will.

Ninetales (Kanto)

• Ability: Drought (But Flashfire is okay too)
• 252 EVs in speed
• Rest in defenses (I am not good at figuring out EV values, though, so I’m sure someone can figure out something better)
• @Sitrus Berry 
• Overheat
• Power Swap
• Pain Split
• Protect