Can someone please explain to me 'competitive battles' and EVs etc

[bethwhowishes]

Now don't get me wrong. I am NOT a pokemon noob - I have been playing the games (the real ones, not spin offs) since I was 6 years old so I'm not exactly new to pokemon. But one thing I am new to is the whole concept of Competitive Battles and EV's. I understand that this concept doesn't apply to 'in-game' or whatever I just wanted to get a better understanding. I mean, is there an FAQ or something I can look at?

This whole idea of people setting up movesets strategically and so on... It just doesn't make sense to me. I have battled people on wifi and won plenty of times without overly considering the moves and natures and so on of my pokes, so why is it so important that we do? I just need a little explaining to I guess.

 

[imnohero]

It's just like anything else, it depends on how serious you want to take it. Sure you can probably stomp your friends, and do okay on the battle network, but a tournament is another story. You get out what you put in

 

[Sleet]

It's just if you are a perfectionist, or want Pokémon that are excellent, instead of just great. As Mr. Hero said, it depends on how seriously you want to take things. Particularly IV training, which is only suitable for tournaments or completely obsessive-compulsive players.

 

[Pancake-chan]

EVs, IVs and moveset pickiness are the way you can tell if someone has no life or not.
but that's mostly just my opinion.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/925602/48969
is a guide on EV training, and...

http://www.serebii.net/games/ivs.shtml
is an explanation of IVs.

movesets, now... well, those are a little easier to understand. you probably already know that moves have set amounts of PP, power, and accuracy, stuff like that? so different ones have different effects, and certain movesets do different things in turn. like, if you have Sunny Day, Synthesis works a lot better and Fire-type moves do more damage. so putting it in a Pokemon's moveset and using it can alter the way a battle will turn out, as well as its stats.
I can't really explain all too well... but I think you might get the idea. right?

 

[Sleet]

EV's aren't too bad, and natures are even easier, but it's IV's that are absurdly time consuming, in my opinion. They're all I don't do.

 

[Cheesus Is Lord]

The idea is to have the absolute best team possible. If a team with good movesets, items, EVs, IVs and natures faces a team of similarly powered pokemon, that was just sort of thrown together, it will have a much easier time winning. Then the idea becomes to be good enough to beat other people who put time and thought into it.

Winning 'most' battles on Wifi isn't the point. The point is winning most battles on Wifi against other people who know what they're doing and have spent a lot of time working on it. Trust me, this effort does not go to waste.