i had a gap of years out of the POKEMANZ (as our parents would say) cus life, relationships, family, blahzay blah, and kinda needed a crash course [mostly through my own "research" i like to do since i retain it most that way] and used some of the guidelines for ideas for gen 6-7 to catch up to 8 i missed [at that point - hell still def behind for even 9 cus life/and gaming ADD lol].
obviously like any true fan tested myself with favs too for better or worse but even then it helped refresh me of like "okay so that vs this" lol.
im only competitive with local friends cus admittedly i mainly "play pokemon when im playing it" so wont act like ppl that are ON IT < me to any extent cus i mainly now being a lil older just enjoy the game side since the free time is limited. but smogon def helped fall back in (got back in when my dad was sick to help distract my brain as i play) so thank you smogon.
i dont got the time to do all the extra training and etx anymore sadly, i loved it when younger, - like to say i was alright, but yeah, free time? dead now.
mostly use it for honestly stat info and "i rather that ability than this, if i gotta catch 20 ill catch em" lmao