The 12 Man Tournament I'll Never Forget
7-26-10
Wow. I've been waiting to write this post for 2 days now. I'm very excited to share this with everyone. I entered a local tournament with 12 Melee players that I play with consistently. Nothing special right? Wrong. This may be perhaps the most influential tournament of my Smash career.
I came home from my Smash trip early for 2 reasons.
First, there was a tournament 2 days ago on the 24th in which Canada was coming, and I always feel the need to be at tournaments with OOS'ers so I can defend my region. Not to mention, I really love those guys and respect them so much. I wanted a chance to sit down and play with them and chill with them, because I used to get very bitter at tournaments and I want them to know I'm not like that at all, I just used to get frustrated. Second, I wanted a little time to let everything from my journey sink in, and get time to practice it all.
I went to the tournament on the 24th, and not only did Canada not show up, but half of my region's players are OOS for various reasons, so there were only about 12 players. I warmed up for a very long time, practicing all of my characters against a Jigglypuff player who really didn't know a lot, but I feel Jiggs is good practice because I have to be very careful to avoid grabs, meaning I need good spacing and tech skill.
I also played some friendlies with PikaPika!, who I was just warming up against. He said to me, "You haven't gotten better at all from your trip, you're exactly the same."
Now, Neil is very...Odd, and has a weird way of displaying either humor or whatever it was he was trying to convey. But, I didn't even let it get to me. I've been working so hard on my new mindset, I was trying to stay completely focused.
I realized though, and I knew this before I even left for my trip, but everyone was looking to see how much better I'd gotten. There was a lot of pressure from everyone watching me.
So, the tournament started and I won my first match or so. Then I played against a good friend of mine, Vicious.
Remember how I said in tournament I lose all of my tech skill? In my match with Vicious, a good friend of mine who I play with more than anyone, I lost it all. All of it. I lost so much tech skill that not only was I scared to lose the match, I became scared for my Smash career.
The rest of the tournament from here on out, was one of the most mentally challenging events that I'd ever been faced with.
I couldn't chaingrab his fox. I couldn't wavedash 8/10 times, I just full hopped...I couldn't edgeguard, I would get hit by Foxfire when I had an easy Fsmash. I didn't DI anything. No DI on Uthrows, no DI away from combos. And Vicious's combos are good. Every advantage Marth has, I lost it.
The match started and within a few seconds, I missed a wavedash.
"Don't worry about it, stay calm. Focus."
A dropped chaingrab, which resulted in me spotdodging instead of regrabbing.
"It doesn't matter. I will win."
I got death combo'd, and I didn't DI anything.
"Just focus. You can do this."
Another missed wavedash. 2 missed edgeguards in a row.
"Ok, I'm choking. I know it, I feel it. If I don't have access to my tools, I won't use them, or I'll use different ones. Stop chaingrabbing, don't go for risky edgeguards, instead just protect the ledge when he tries to get off. Don't wavedash, don't even dash dance if I don't have to."
The match continued, and he was laser camping me more than I've ever been laser camped. He wasn't approaching at all, he was just camping grabs and uthrow uairs, and aerials leading into other moves.
"This is supposed to be my good friend, why is he playing like this...No, no. Bad mindset. He's doing what he thinks will win, and I appreciate that. I would have nothing less."
We were both at unbelievably high percents, last stock. He SD'd at 130 I think it was. I won the match.
I had absolutely no satisfaction, because I know if I played like that against very high level players, I will get *****. I banned brinstar, something I normally don't do. I never used to ban stages because I never really paid attention to them and wrote them off as gay. Now, I need every advantage I can get. He took me to Rainbow Cruise, and somehow I managed to win.
My next opponent was PikaPika!, whose Sheik is unbelievably smart and quick. He's been playing this game for a very long time, and he has natural Smash smarts like most people wouldn't believe. I was nervous and there was no way I could play Marth right now. I went Fox.
I had a very focused mindset going into the match.
I'll be very quick and to the point with this part. I got *****. I SD'd at least once or twice a match, something I'm known for doing against him. I couldn't finish any of my shine-->wavedash to whatever combos. I always shined him, wavedashed to him, and just sat there or dodged or accidentally rolled.
I lost 3-0. He looked at me and smiled and said, "Really?" I think he knows I can beat him when I'm playing my best very badly, and he only plays against me now for the chance that I might be playing bad, that he can win.
Now, at this point there were only 2 things going on in my head.
The first was a very interesting thought. As soon as I lost, I started thinking of excuses to use in order to save my image and my pride. "I was playing horribly" was the first I thought of. Well, it was the only one really, but yeah that's what I was thinking.
The second thought completely outweighed the first though. The second thought was not really a thought persay, but a mindset. I didn't feel phased one bit. I'm going to come back and win. No emotions, don't let anything get to me.
I sat down and played more friendlies until I had to play my tournament match in loser's finals to Vicious.
It was the same exact situation as before. A mental battle with myself the entire match. I don't know how I won, but I came out on top with the set being either 3-1 or 3-2.
Back to PikaPika!. I had to win 2 sets.
I picked Fox. I didn't want to think about which character to pick, so I just chose him immediately. After I lost to him, in between matches I thought of what I did in the match against him. I got stuck in my shield a lot, made bad recovery decisions, and attempted to lock him down, which I failed at.
I decided to use a different approach. Be very careful, laser him when I could, and go for safe hits that would put me in a good position. Don't force anything.
The first match was Fox vs Sheik on Yoshi's Story. I carefully judged the distance between me and him and whenever he couldn't punish, I lasered. It wasn't even the damage that helped me. It was the fact that he had to approach.
I was so focused this match. It was a slow match at first. I punished his approaches and ended my combos quickly. I went back to lasering whenever I could. I was trying not to do anything stupid like miss an aerial in front of him, or get trapped in my shield.
This is where the story gets interesting and fun.
As the match went on, I didn't feel as nervous. It was a very slow event, but I was slowly gaining confidence and playing better. By the end of the match, I had 2 stock and ended with a very good combo into a bair.
Wow, that wasn't so hard.
I forgot the order of the matches from here, but he played Sheik again. I did the same thing, but this time, I could get inside of him easier when I had an opening, without risking getting CC'd because of bad tech skill. I didn't make any bad decisions. I started feeling good. I started feeling really good. I wasn't playing my best, but I was so immersed in the match, so absolutely focused, I couldn't hear anything, and I wasn't thinking about how well I was playing. All I wanted to do was destroy him. Not him personally, but just my opponent on the screen.
At some point he switched to Marth. Now I was playing good. Satisfactory level in tournament for me, since I normally don't even play this good. I was thinking of situations now, and predicting him. He was in my world now, being controlled, playing my game.
I threw him off with an Fthrow at low percent near the edge, and baited his double jump Fair back. Dash dance away, shine. Ledgehog.
More confidence. I won. 3-0. It took me 3 games but I was feeling very solid now. My fundamental playstyle hadn't changed. I was still lasering and forcing him to approach, and staying very safe. But my combos were better, I wasn't SD'ing, and I was quicker and I was punishing more of his mistakes.
He counterpicked Jigglypuff vs me on Dreamland. Again, so focused. I played very well, and managed to avoid all of his grabs. (I think, or at least most of them.)
At one point, I had double jumped and the only place I could land was in front of his shield. Most people would aerial and begin pressure. I didn't risk it. Waveland away, he whiffs his grab. If I was playing my best I would have punished, but instead I chose the safe option and kept lasering.
When he missed that grab something clicked in my head. I thought, "No, you will not grab me. You can't. I don't fall for that, and you humor me for even trying." Laser laser laser.
Last match he picked Sheik and took me to Battlefield. At this point I felt "in" the game. Now, I was thinking at close to the highest level I can think. I wasn't holding back. I ***** his first two stocks like they were nothing.
"That's right, you can't ****ing touch me. No one here can and soon no one will be able to."
He came back after he lost his second stock and I saw walk up to me slowly and Ftilt twice in a row. He was either trying to stay calm and play safe, or he had mentally given up. Although that thought briefly flashed in my head, it was only for a split second, and I didn't care which one of those was correct.
I dash danced in and baited the Ftilt. Whiff, punish with waveshines across the screen. He didn't bother recovering, he let himself die. To him, it was over. There was nothing he could do. To me, I had one more life to obliterate.
He came back and walked off the edge in his invincibility to suicide. I ran and grabbed the ledge. I think I actually missed and ended up foxfiring incorrectly. It didn't matter, when he Up B'd to his death, I dropped down and Shinespiked him.
"That's right, get ****ing *****. Now it's over."
And that was it. I won the tournament in Grand Finals 6-0. I went to shake his hand and he said "**** yourself." which he normally says. What he thought didn't matter at all to me though. I had taken 1st, the only placing in any tournament that I will ever be satisfied with.
RECAP AND AFTERTHOUGHTS
Well I had finally done it. I overcame my technical inconsistencies, although it took me a few matches. As you can imagine, for the next hour or two, I just tried to analyze every possible reason why I could have started playing better.
The first reason I came up with was because I felt safe with Fox. I made him play my game and I controlled him by lasering, covering his approach options and predicting what he was going to do, and punishing accordingly. I didn't play offensive at all. I thought about Forward telling me the more you attack, the more chance you have of messing up.
The next reason that I believe led me to overcoming my technical inconsistencies, and this is a big reason, was my mindset. Yes, I stayed calm and focused even when I lost, which to many of you, you may not understand how hard that was for me...I had just come back from a trip playing some of the best Melee players the world has to offer, including Mango...And I came back to a 12 person tournament and lost. But, I did stay focused.
However, that's not what I truly believe helped me win. I think that aided the process and prevented any negative emotions from ruining my chances, which is good. But, I started getting a very dominant, killer mindset. I became...Vicious and spiteful. I literally had the mindset of,
"Please come try and dash attack me as I dd away. Please do it so I can ****ing **** you and make you feel like a ****ing loser for even trying."
And then when he caught on I would think,
"I see what you're doing. I know what you're thinking. Try to mix it up, see what happens."
I know many of you are probably like...Wtf Jesse, and I agree in one way that, that mindset is not me. That makes me out to be very "*******-ish" when I'm really not. But after thinking about it, that mindset is the healthiest, most effective way for me to think. It's a direct reflection of how I feel about Me and Melee. I've been playing the game for 3 1/2 years, constantly striving to improve. I feel I should be able to outthink nearly anyone, and punish harder than anyone. I feel I truly DESERVE to win, always. I try to suppress my ego as much as possible, in Smash and in real life.
Maybe in-game Smash is a way for me to express my extremely competitive mindset, and my urge to be the best at whatever it is I do in life.
I'm going to try and tap into that mindset more. We'll see what happens. Oh, I have another post to make about that tournament as well, but I'll save it for a bit later.
I can def remember doing this after crossing up your Marth. Save Falco, their dtilts are relatively slow (and like Falco, Peach risks getting OOS'd because of her limited range). With proper spacing, Fox's range can limit the opponent more. Shield pressure into poke exploits are phenomenal. I think they deserve more attention.
