RMTs- A Guide on Making Them

[Alakazamaster]

Hullo ladies and gentleman, Kazam here with a very useful guide that will help you all on making RMTs, threads for having your teams rated! Making a good RMT has a solid thought process, so I will help illustrate it so that all of you will be able to excel at making RMTs and thus be more likely to get your teams reviewed by the community! In fact, if your RMT fails to comply with most of these rules you could easily face a closing of your RMT thread.

Lesson 1: The Team

Now, when posting the team it is always necessary to play with the team before you submit your RMT. Simply posting the team you came up with in 20 minutes is not a good idea, since without testing it you may easily miss out on a counter to the entire team that is not obvious at first glance.

Since raising a team on a Pokemon Game can be very tedious, I suggest using a battle simulator such a Shoddy Battle or Pokemon (DISALLOWED) and battling a number of players to truly get the team tested out. That way, you can make needed alterations that will make the team more solid.

Lesson 2: Know About the Competitive Metagame

The RMTs posted here, unless stated otherwise, are all assumed to be for the standard OU competitive metagame that follows standard competitive clauses. So please please please know something about competitive battling before you post your team that is chock-full of HM moves and Cheri Berries.

Those reviewing will not react kindly when the team is not even close to be up to snuff competitive-wise, and worst of all you won't get any reviews. If you want to learn about the competitive metagame, head to websites like www.smogon.com and lurk around the forums and articles, so that you can learn a thing or two.

Lesson 3: Details

I can not stress how important this is. Never post something like,

"D-dance Gyara. Waterfall is to hit Rock-types and STAB, Taunt to stop Skarm from whirlwinding, and stone edge to hit Flyers."

Anyone who has played Pokemon knows what moves do and what Pokemon they hit super-effectively. Instead, answers questions like, "Why do I use x over y?" "Why do I run this set?" as these details are key for raters of teams. It is also a great idea to provide how this Pokemon relates to the team, for example,

"Gyarados works as a great offensive partner to Jolteon. Jolteon gladly takes Electric-moves aimed at Gyarados, and Gyarados takes Earthquakes without a problem. Plus, with Hidden Power Grass, Shadow Ball, and Thunderbolt, Jolteon can take out many Pokemon that threats that can ruin Gyarados, such as Rotom-A, Swampert, and Skarmory."

Small bits like this can be very helpful to a team rater, and will encourage them to respond. Remember that giving as many details as possible is key to getting a good review back, and even if you run a standard set, your logic and and reasoning behind it makes all the difference.

Lesson 4: Aesthetics

It may not be right, and it may not be fair, but whether an RMT looks pretty can make all the difference. Remember that raping people's eyes with color is a bad idea, and so is misusing the size tab. Try to use a more professional style that is visually appealing and well organized, and to use sprites for Pokemon. It never hurts to get creative, but don't go overboard or else things will back fire. Colors can be used in a constructive way, to emphasize certain points, but using too many will result in people ignoring your RMT completely. If you are curious on how most RMTs should look, or need some inspiration just look around for other people's and borrow a few ideas. No one will mind, really. Also, when posting a Pokemon and it's moveset, the following format is typically the easiest for reviewers to read:


Pokemon @Item
Ability
EV Spread
Nature
~Move 1
~Move 2
~Move 3
~Move 4

Description of the Pokemon.

Another good idea is to post the entire team "at a glance" at the start of your RMT, before going into great detail. This way, raters can know what to expect ahead of time. As such, a "final look" can also work for a team at the end of a post.


RMTs can be a tedious process to write, but gathering useful opinions from the community makes it worth it, usually! So if you have a team in mind, take it for a test spin, and then make an RMT of your own!