No, variance typically makes you lose unless you have an exceptional level of skill. Like most competitive games, it becomes a meta of around 10-15 pokemon. About Clefable, it has an amazing ability (Magic Guard). You can't damage it unless you actually use an attack. It's invincible to stuff like spikes, toxic, leech seed, etc. (Probably one of the greatest abilities ever). As an example for how ridiculous this ability is. You know the item you can hold, life orb? It damages you every turn but greatly increases your attack. Clefable can use this without taking damage because of that ability. Then it can learn pretty much every power move, such as Ice Beam, Moon Blast, Psychic, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower. And it can easily boost this with Calm Mind. It also learns every single defensive move. So you never know if the clefable is about to stall or rip up your entire team. It's funny because when I started trying to play competitively, I never would have thought Clefable of all things would be the most dominant pokemon.
However watching competitive pokemon is no issue. Most people will make an effort to make it entertaining, which means most youtubers will go in with silly and unique teams. I watch way more than I actually play it.
You could also turn off the EXP share. That'll probably put you on par with the other trainers, or even below them. It was before the EXP share became a mandatory thing.
Yeah radical red is rough. As a warning, I'm pretty sure this game requires EV training. The first half seems doable, but it really seems to ramp up in a heavy way. I just finished Misty, but I've read comments online and watched videos.