New to competitions...where do I start?

[Derangedblue]

Hey forums, I've been playing casually since Red/Blue, but this is the first time I've wanted to try competitive battling. Where should I start? Some questions I have:

1) Why is OU the preferred metagame? If I want to use gimmicky Pokemon, do they have a place in a lower tier?

2) I have an idea for a team, well really two Pokemon that I really want to use, but I don't know how to build around them. I want to use Serperior and Blastoise, since they are my all time favorite starters. The idea is to open with a fast Serperior to ParaShuffle and then have Mega Blastoise be the primary special sweeper (forgive me these don't include EVs, haven't quite figure those out yet)

Serperior
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Bold
Item: Leftovers
Glare
Taunt (If their lead is an Entry Hazard user)
Dragon Tail
Giga Drain

Blastoise
Ability: Torrent (Mega Launcher)
Nature: Modest
Item: Blastoisinite
Hydro Pump (still better than Water Pulse, even as a Mega)
Rapid Spin (In case of Spikes)
{Aura Sphere
Dark Pulse
Dragon Pulse}
(Which 2 of these 3 I'm not certain)

3) Can someone explain the 3-Pokemon coverage "core"? If they're designed to switch in and cover Blastoise's weaknesses, those are just Grass and Electric. Why would I need 3? Can I get a bulky Fire and Ground sweeper, and call it a day?

4) Does this team need some Defense? Like someone that can setup my own Stealth Rock and Dual Screens, maybe Bronzong? Should I get a Hazer for Baton Pass teams?

5) Should I have an alternate strategy in case Serperior gets shot down, maybe Trick Room user or a Venomoth Quiver Dance/Baton Pass?

Again, if this is in the wrong forum, really apologize. Just wasn't sure where to go for "newb" help.

 

[Soul Fly]

Well this is not the right forum per-se, but let me help you out anyways. :)

Hey forums, I've been playing casually since Red/Blue, but this is the first time I've wanted to try competitive battling. Where should I start? Some questions I have:

1) Why is OU the preferred metagame? If I want to use gimmicky Pokemon, do they have a place in a lower tier?

There is no reason really. OU is just a kind of a central benchmark which we use to achieve an optimum competitive environment for competitive pokemon. Pokemon deemed too powerful or 'broken' over here are banished to the Uber tier (where all pokemon are allowed) and pokemon which don't quite make the cut are sorted into lower tiers according to their usage. While OU is the central metagame, you don't need to abide by it, you can always have fun in the Lower tiers (UU, RU, NU) etc where you can use your favourite pokemon/gimmick, even if it doesn't have a place in OU. It's viability may depend on the metagame and your skill in using it.

2) I have an idea for a team, well really two Pokemon that I really want to use, but I don't know how to build around them. I want to use Serperior and Blastoise, since they are my all time favorite starters. The idea is to open with a fast Serperior to ParaShuffle and then have Mega Blastoise be the primary special sweeper (forgive me these don't include EVs, haven't quite figure those out yet)

Serperior
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Bold
Item: Leftovers
Glare
Taunt (If their lead is an Entry Hazard user)
Dragon Tail
Giga Drain

Blastoise
Ability: Torrent (Mega Launcher)
Nature: Modest
Item: Blastoisinite
Hydro Pump (still better than Water Pulse, even as a Mega)
Rapid Spin (In case of Spikes)
{Aura Sphere
Dark Pulse
Dragon Pulse}
(Which 2 of these 3 I'm not certain)

Okay no, this is all over the place, let's forget team building for now. You need some basic info first. Same goes for the following part

3) Can someone explain the 3-Pokemon coverage "core"? If they're designed to switch in and cover Blastoise's weaknesses, those are just Grass and Electric. Why would I need 3? Can I get a bulky Fire and Ground sweeper, and call it a day?

4) Does this team need some Defense? Like someone that can setup my own Stealth Rock and Dual Screens, maybe Bronzong? Should I get a Hazer for Baton Pass teams?

5) Should I have an alternate strategy in case Serperior gets shot down, maybe Trick Room user or a Venomoth Quiver Dance/Baton Pass?

Again, if this is in the wrong forum, really apologize. Just wasn't sure where to go for "newb" help.

Before you indulge into any of that, you need to know some basic mechanics which are involved in onine pokemon play.

These being:
EVs and IVs

Simulator Battling (Smogon uses pokemonshowdown.com)
This is the main medium which we use to battle competitively. It basically allows us to 'skip' the training phase of pokemon and allows us to specify the exact team with the pokemon and moves we want and batte immediately over online. With anyone! getting involved in the community here and watching battle replays available will help you understand what all this greek stuff we talk here is about. It's easy to join and start interacting.

'The Standard Metagame' (lurk around the competitive forums. Watch Pokemon Replays). If you want to get a fair idea about teambuilding you can even head over the Rate My Team Forum
--

If you want some personalized guidance feel free to contact any of the Forum Mentors (click link) to ask of their assistance, they will only be too glad to help, just message them on their profiles.

If you are looking to learn the art of competitive pokemon from ground up, you can head to the Battling 101 subforum, where you can sign u for any of the ongoing tutor rounds and get one-on-one guidance from the best competitive battlers out there.

That's about all. I hope you have been even marginally clued in. Prepare to be confused a lot, but you'll also enjoy it a lot I'm sure!

Welcome to Smogon! Hope you stick around.

 

[swaggy]

If you want to get into competetive battling you gotta know the basics first. I suggeest you watch this video on youtube it's what got me into competetive battling: