And I had issues with being nervous too. Especially against this one guy who completely owned me with Wolf. I knew nothing about Wolf to begin with and he started doing all this stuff I didn't know how to deal with. It mixed with my already nervous mindstate and I couldn't concentrate. I just kinda started doing things and hoped they would hit. X_X
Did the guy have long hair, or was he black? Those are the only Wolf players I know of here. =/
If you're unfamiliar with a match-up that you encounter in tournament, use the first round to try and learn all their tricks and habits. You have a shield button for a reason. Hide in it and see how he responds. With Snake, grab and dthrow. Watch how they roll, especially in relevance to edges and platforms. Use the first match to learn what you can punish with what, and just accept that something they do works. Yesterday, I went GaW against Yang. At one point, I dthrew him, read his tech, followed it, and 9'ed him.
Only he didn't just accept that I got a free hit after a successful tech-chase, and he ftilted. It clashed with the 9 (srsly, wtf?) and he went to win the set from it.
When looking for gaps in their ground pressure, just hold jab. Once you see a jab come out, you know where you can exploit openings from there on out. For air, just use jumps/dodges wisely. You can attack, too, but Snake's air attacks require commitment, so I dunno if that's the best idea.
So yeah, just use the first match to learn, especially if you lose. And NEVER accept defeat, even when you feel completely outclassed. There were so many matches at Final Round that I could have just given up on when I was on my last stock, 100+% as Kirby, with my opponent on a fresh stock. Because I wanted the win more, I was able to work past all of them aside from 2, and I lost to one just because I accepted defeat when I shouldn't have.
Clutch play is VERY important for succeeding at high-level play. On our last set yesterday, Yang was down to last stock in what could have been his last match of the tournament . I had already 2-0'ed him. All I needed was one more stock to win the set. He buckled down and won 3 straight matches.
So yeah, don't ever let yourself be overwhelmed, especially with Brawl's slow and defensive nature.
Also, I disagree with Moblin. Playing Melee will not improve your Brawl game, at all. Playing Brawl helps with Melee, because it works on patience, poking, and shield pushing/stabbing for combos. Melee is too complex to downgrade to Brawl and improve. If you want to play another fighter to work on your Brawl game, get into Street Fighter 4. Game teaches you everything you need to know for any fighter ever.
Also, good games to Grand Junction. Crews were too much fun, and all my **** talk isn't meant to be taken seriously.
Individual stuff:
Lance - Thanks for helping me look for my controller, and good job on the tournament. Try to have a pre-reg for the next GJ tournament. It was kinda sad going up to GJ for a 16 man bracket, especially when all this hype happened back in Denver. Still, it was fairly fun, aside from Shea randomly power-trippin'. Good stuff. I think you played Snake v me in crews, right?
Just utilt, seriously. If someone is jumping and they're over 100%, they should eat a juicy utilt.
Missy - I think that's her name, anyway. To whichever girl I played in tournament, good matches. I don't know if you're serious or not, but if you are, stick with one character until you start owning GJ. Be careful about spamming smashes, that's what I caught you for most.
The Olimar player - Dunno your name, mangz. Don't get so disheartened when you lose. Especially in Kirby v Olimar. It's a bad match-up. I know you said you just play for fun, but you didn't seem to have fun after that first match. You should consider either looking into what you need to know with Olimar, or just playing casually. I'd love to see you in tournament again, but if it's just going to frustrate you and waste your money, maybe you should just show up for casual play.
Artos/Link player - GGs.
Sora - GGs. Don't give up so easily. Also, USE YOUR COUNTERPICKS! I should never hear "I don't care" in loser's semi-finals, especially in relevance to counter-picks.
GJ in general - You guys should learn what counterpicks you prefer and start using them. Stop charging smashes and hoping that they'll hit, and start reading your opponent. If need be, I can play each of you next weekend and tell you what habits you have to work on. Hell, I'll play all of you and post your habits up on here so that your friends can see them and help you break them, if you want. It was nice meeting you guys, and I hope you continue to play and improve. I would love to take our next crew battle with you guys seriously. Denver needs competition.
Though you should never do the whole, "I didn't know Denver was so full of nerds" during crews just because you're getting worked. I may have misinterpreted this, but it sounded a lot like you were saying that because we were winning, we had no lives. AZ consoled one of their friends at AZ One Two by saying that "at least he was getting laid" after he lost to Tim. Personal attacks during crews and all that are VERY uncalled for. I've crossed the line on accident before and apologized when it has been brought to my attention.
You're at a game tournament that you paid money to enter. You're not cool. You're a gaming nerd like everyone else there, at least until you leave the building.
Shea - No offense, man, but you really need to tone down that ego of yours. You were incredibly invasive of private space, and disrespectful both to your attendants and the games they played. If you don't like Street Fighter IV, just say that. Don't say it sucks, it's the same game as ST, and that 3s is much better. It just makes you look like an ignorant hater, especially when you get 5-0'ed in 3s and can't even stick to one character.
For the record, SFIV favors defensive options and poking slightly over rushdown. ST (Or SFII, as you referred to it) is MUCH more aggressive, with characters like Honda needing to get in on O. Sagat as quickly as possible or risk getting zoned to death by tigerspam. Meaties, tick throws, and cross-ups are INCREDIBLY important. Backdashing ruins most of those options in SFIV. I could go into more detail, but I doubt you care to hear it.
Demanding that everyone stop their matches at THAT instant is okay, but not if it happens 3-4 times. If you didn't notice when Tim won singles, he didn't really care to get everyone's attention and force them to stop playing friendlies. The people that cared about finals watched them and knew the outcome. There was no need to harass everyone into watching you give him $90.
You did it for announcing things like MvC2 and SC2 results. Again, the people that care will watch finals and pay attention to rewards. Don't bother other people into recognizing them, or you'll just have the attendants resent you and (possibly) the winner. Making people clap instead of just asking for a round of applause is lame, too.
Then you made MikeZ and I quit in the middle of a match so that we could move to another TV. Like... you couldn't wait another 45 seconds for us to finish? Was the restaurant going to explode if we didn't stop playing
that instant?
Seriously, it came across as you just power-trippin' and refusing to respect your attendants.
If the venue is that picky, I'd suggest holding it somewhere else. While it was nice having a room that size (and in a restaurant, no less), we would gladly attend a tournament at someone's house if it meant that we wouldn't have to drop what we're doing to cater to the venue's desires. That and having no food or drink allowed that wasn't an overpriced mediocre Asian dish was extremely lame.
And don't don't DON'T ever touch me and continue to touch me after I said to quit it. No joke, I will knock your *** out if that ever happens again. The first time was whatever. I'm used to people being weird with personal space around me, and can be generally understanding. However, you kept your hands on me after I said to quit it. I let it slide to keep relations good with Denver.
Then I see you doin' it to someone else later, and they tell you to stop, and you don't. To make matters worse, you give us back our doubles entry fee by stuffing it in our shirts. If I wasn't playing a round of teams Melee, I seriously would have just taken the money right out of your hands and distributed it amongst the rest of us appropriately. Learn to respect people's personal space. At least stop trying to cop a feel on our totally sweet hockey bods.
That said, if you can respect my boundaries and be more respectful to your attendants, I'm willing to be civil. Hell, I'll even give you tips on Sonic. I just hate power-trippin', disregard for personal space, and the overly theatrical style that you tried to present everything in. I know it's your first tournament to run, and that I'm being a bit harsh, but these things seriously rubbed me the wrong way, and all contributed to most of Denver not wanting to make the drive back up to GJ again anytime soon. =/
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This concludes another monster Zeal post. :D!