Little England
Smash Master
ATTN MODS:
(First, I would like to request that you do NOT move this thread into the Poopchat. This topic is extremely important in the aspect of the growth of the midwest smash scene and it would be inevitable that this thread would be overlooked in the Social Forum. Thank you for your understanding.)
Introduction
As most of you may know, I’ve done a whole lot of talk about the Midwest “getting better”. That seems to be a tough concept for me to talk about, as well as many other players to grasp. I believe “getting better” and playing to improve first start in the mind. You may have heard many rich people say “To become a millionaire you must first think like a millionaire”. It’s the same concept. I’ve slowly started to understand that not everybody has the same mindset as me. Not everyone is playing to improve. I didn’t have a problem with that at all until I asked myself, “why?” THIS is the primary focus of this post and of this thread.
Many of the following topics I believe you will understand better if you understand where I’m come from and my story when it comes to the game.I’m not going to go into detail(I tried)…I’ll just touch the important points.
The Story
The beginning of my story sounds similar to most’s. When I first got this game in Christmas of ’01 I was hooked. I was beating everyone I knew with gimmicky combos with Falco like dthrow>dtilt haha. Just like the rest of you, I was obviously the best player in the world. The first time I’ve heard anything about competitive melee was in 8th grade. A friend of mine told called me telling me to turn on my TV to MTV (you guessed right, the KillaOR documentary). He saw the small clip of his Falco and told me “His Falco looks like it could be better than yours.” Of course I shrugged it off because I was the best player in the world. A couple years past now and there was a tournament at my high school. I missed it (I forgot why) and then I asked a friend who won. Long story short a friend of mine told me the person who won was better than me and that scared me. When I asked him, “what makes him better?” he showed me this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bpgGFUi5fw
This was my first exposure ATs, so I was blown away by the speed. (The music of the video added to my emotional effect haha) This video brought me to watch many others, and I soon learned that I was terrible at the game. From that exact day I started learning ATs, and it was then that I began to discover the layers of depth to the game. This is where is started for me. I was inspired to become great and to improve!
Years past after this point. I was moving in the same fashion of the players I’ve watched on youtube, but I was still getting ***** in tournament. Although I loved the thrill of tournaments, I was still going 0-2. I still had an ego though. I’d post videos on the Falco/Fox/Marth/Samus boards to get critiqued, but I would shut down every single critical response and enjoy responses on praise. Somehow, I convinced myself that I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and other players were just “naturally better” and that maybe if I just kept playing I’d become as good as them. Even though I had the desire to improve, I did not have a desire to learn because I thought there was nothing else to learn.
There came a point where I was “done”. I told myself that I HAD to get better or quit and the ladder option was definitely unappealing lol. For a teen without a car in SoCal(you NEED a car to get places in SoCal fyi lol), I was in a pretty desolate place for smash, so I was forced to teach myself the game. I remembered thinking back to when I watched that old Azen video and thinking “I suck” and it was the PERFECT mentality. When I told myself that I sucked, I put a goal in mind, which was of course to not suck anymore. In order to improve, I told myself what I said before. This is when I started making improvement because I completely dropped my ego. I started talking to Adam (some of you may know him as Neighborhood P) on aim a lot, because he was a pretty experienced player who knew a lot about the game, specifically the mental aspect. I also picked a main (Falco of course), got efficient tech skill with him, learned all of Falco’s matchups, learned how to properly tech chase, learned how to edge guard, and started playing floaty CPUs more. I also worked on getting rid of several bad habits such as attacking from defensive positions too often.
I felt significant improvement at this point. I started placing much higher in tournaments, and actually started winning sets. I no longer felt like I was a “chore” to play against for SoCal’s ranked players. I felt like I wasn’t getting ***** anymore and that was a good feeling. People finally started calling me “good” and that felt amazing.
Even so, I was still very hungry. I wasn’t good enough. Several people suggested a position for me on the next SoCal PR, but I wasn’t satisfied. What was a number good to me for? I needed to be great, so now I play every match with a willingness to learn in order to achieve my goal. To me, the sky is the limit so that’s exactly what I’m shooting for. This is where I am now.
You Guys Are Behind
I feel that every smasher should have a goal in mind; otherwise you are playing without purpose. I came from one of, if not THE strongest smash region in the world, so I was naturally very driven by watching many top players play/playing with them. I received many tips and praise which boosted my confidence. I was also surrounded by many people with a similar passion, so it became easy to find practice buddies to play seriously for hours on end (<3 fiction, sherigami, adam, ben..lol ^_^).
When I came to the Midwest, I was expecting to see many other people with a similar passion that I have. I found a good amount of people that were exactly what I was looking for, but sadly, more that were not.
The first thing I noticed was the skill gap. It is enormous! It’s seriously not even funny. I’m not trying to put the Midwest down or anything (or hype up SoCal), but I feel like it’s something people out here don’t understand. You guys make fun of your region a lot, but unless you’ve traveled outside of your region to EC or WC then you truly don’t understand. You guys are BEHIND.
I have to pick on Dart (lol<3). Dart asked me how well he thinks he would do against Silent Spectre. I told him that he’d get ***** with a big excited grin on my face. He looked surprised when I said it, and then soon after posted on the boards asking why I said what I said, hoping that it wasn’t based off of his set with ORLY. This REALLY shocked me. This was a big reality check for me. From this point I took a step back and realized “Not only are they extremely behind, but they think they are better than they are!” Now this sounds very judgmental, but I am convinced that this is a safe assumption to make.
I’d like to say that I’ve performed decently out here. It’s safe to say, that I’m one of the best Falco mains in the MW, and that’s really sad, because I could not hold a candle in a national tournament. Let me give you guys some perspective. You don’t have to watch these but here are some videos of me vs SoCal’s ranked players.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnYwnCWRvRM Me vs Kira (2-0 Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIbGNgiJZLw Me vs Connor (2-0 Connor)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhQj7qRBrFI Me vs Lovage (2-0 Lovage)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOsYuXcTadM Me vs Connor (2-1 Connor)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVGY4pLWux4 Me vs Smoke2jointz (2-0 s2j)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtm6U5uqcBA Me vs Fiction. Fiction is NOT RANKED! (2-0 Fiction)
I sense a recurring theme LOL. And then we have
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EigGatL00P0 Me vs Tink (2-0. 1 stock victories, very similar to these guys^. You do the math.)
This is all not to say that I couldn’t hold a candle to SoCal (I’ve taken a few sets) but this is pretty much the norm when it comes to the comparison. Regardless of what Connor tells me…I GET *****. LOL. This is why I was so taken aback when Dart was surprised by saying SS would **** him back and forth.
The Problems
The MW is bad, but this is not the problem.
Problem #1: Kels is the best active player in the MW and therefore he indirectly sets “the standard”. No offense to Kels, but beating him should NOT be the standard; yet it is. This is probably what saddens me the most about the MW. You guys have set a standard so low that you will never be able to compete on a national level. I know this sounds harsh, but that’s the way it is. This leads me to the next point.
Problem #2: The lack of confidence that emits off of some of you guys is extraordinary! I choose my words carefully. Although I’ve never heard anyone say “I just won’t ever be good enough to beat Kels” it has been inferred in various ways on SEVERAL occasions. I’m sick and tired of “well he can do it because he’s Amsah” or “his shield pressure is perfect because he’s Lucky”. NO! They have gotten where they are through practice. All it takes is practice, BUT INSTEAD all I hear is johns! SIT DOWN. SHUT UP. AND PRACTICE IN YOUR ROOM LIKE PHIL.
Problem #3: This is the worst one of them all. Aside from setting a low standard or making an excuse for yourself, there are those who have essential “givin up” and have found comfort in being “bad”. This saddens me the most. Perhaps they have found solace in their current skill level because it is the proverb of Midwest smash. Perhaps they’ve hit a road block and don’t know where to turn. Or worst of all, perhaps they just don’t believe in themselves. These people are the hardest to gain back and the ones that sadden me the most.
Set a Goal
This is why I feel that setting a goal is important. This is the MAIN REASON why I’ve made this post. Some people will read this, not and still not care about getting better, and that is completely fine because at least you have made that clear to me and the rest of the community. If you just want to play to “have fun” or just play on goofy stages all day, more power to you, but this post is not for you. A lot of you guys just want to improve and be a competitive force in Midwest smash and “beat Kels” which although I think is a problem, it is still a goal. However, if your goal is to improve in the first place, why not just shoot for the stars? That’s what I’m doing because great things are achieved when you set high goals. What I’m getting at is, it is important that you play for something. Play for a reason.
Midwest Power Rankings
One of the other things that inspired me when I first started playing competitively was SoCal’s Power Rankings. Although, it may sound “corny” to some of you guys, a region’s PR is in a way a regions pride and glory. It basically says, “here’s what we have to show for” or “come get some”(lol). Some of you might be thinking “He just told us that we suck, what do we have to show for!?” Everybody has something to show for, and you have to start somewhere. As I’ve said in past posts, a PR is a catalyst for competitiveness and a great way to draw in new faces to the scene. We want to embrace that little 15 year old kid who’s desire is to beat Kels in Grand Finals. That’s is how the MW will make its next best players.
Furthermore, I believe a PR would also give the MW a sense of “togetherness”. Although you guys are already a very close bunch of friends, I feel like it would become a strong central unit if you will for Midwest smash. This might also sound “corny” but the Midwest needs something to keep your heads held high, like I said “something to show for”. Like I said, improving is a mindset, and although it is ok to admit the MW is a “bad” region it is NOT ok to become content with that.
In case you hadn’t guessed it, this is my proposal to make an official Midwest PR.
This comes with a problem. The MW is a BIG region. It will be hard to rank players accurately because not everyone gets to play each other that often. We’d have to decide on making one big PR or two PRs(MidNorth and MidSouth). I’ll leave that one up for you guys to discuss.
Sign Here
If you have set a goal to improve, I will help you as best I can. Although I am not a top level player in melee, I understand what it takes to get better and I will help you do so. If I don’t know an answer to a question, I can direct you to the answer. I’ve had quite a few good talks with Anthony (CKit) and I’m sure he is willing to help as well.
If you have made it this far, and you have a goal of improvement, please add “playing to improve” at the end of your post so I can add it to my list. I’ll be glad if I can get at least 25 people to make a pledge to get better.
I’ll start…
“Playing to Improve”
1. Little England
2. Sveet
3. Dart
4. Jayford
5. Quaz
6. Red Ryu
7. Lanceinthepants
8. ORLY
9. Bees
10. Oro?!
11. Mars-
12. Ripple
13. Technical Chase
14. Faithkeeper
15. Mooose
16. Juggleguy
17. GooeyBanana
18. Hore
19. john!
20. Derpington
21. Griffard
22.
23.
24.
25.
Now I go to sleep...(yes Lance I stayed up until 8am brainstorming/writing.
)
And lastly
<333 Midwest
(First, I would like to request that you do NOT move this thread into the Poopchat. This topic is extremely important in the aspect of the growth of the midwest smash scene and it would be inevitable that this thread would be overlooked in the Social Forum. Thank you for your understanding.)
Introduction
As most of you may know, I’ve done a whole lot of talk about the Midwest “getting better”. That seems to be a tough concept for me to talk about, as well as many other players to grasp. I believe “getting better” and playing to improve first start in the mind. You may have heard many rich people say “To become a millionaire you must first think like a millionaire”. It’s the same concept. I’ve slowly started to understand that not everybody has the same mindset as me. Not everyone is playing to improve. I didn’t have a problem with that at all until I asked myself, “why?” THIS is the primary focus of this post and of this thread.
Many of the following topics I believe you will understand better if you understand where I’m come from and my story when it comes to the game.
The Story
The beginning of my story sounds similar to most’s. When I first got this game in Christmas of ’01 I was hooked. I was beating everyone I knew with gimmicky combos with Falco like dthrow>dtilt haha. Just like the rest of you, I was obviously the best player in the world. The first time I’ve heard anything about competitive melee was in 8th grade. A friend of mine told called me telling me to turn on my TV to MTV (you guessed right, the KillaOR documentary). He saw the small clip of his Falco and told me “His Falco looks like it could be better than yours.” Of course I shrugged it off because I was the best player in the world. A couple years past now and there was a tournament at my high school. I missed it (I forgot why) and then I asked a friend who won. Long story short a friend of mine told me the person who won was better than me and that scared me. When I asked him, “what makes him better?” he showed me this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bpgGFUi5fw
This was my first exposure ATs, so I was blown away by the speed. (The music of the video added to my emotional effect haha) This video brought me to watch many others, and I soon learned that I was terrible at the game. From that exact day I started learning ATs, and it was then that I began to discover the layers of depth to the game. This is where is started for me. I was inspired to become great and to improve!
Years past after this point. I was moving in the same fashion of the players I’ve watched on youtube, but I was still getting ***** in tournament. Although I loved the thrill of tournaments, I was still going 0-2. I still had an ego though. I’d post videos on the Falco/Fox/Marth/Samus boards to get critiqued, but I would shut down every single critical response and enjoy responses on praise. Somehow, I convinced myself that I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and other players were just “naturally better” and that maybe if I just kept playing I’d become as good as them. Even though I had the desire to improve, I did not have a desire to learn because I thought there was nothing else to learn.
There came a point where I was “done”. I told myself that I HAD to get better or quit and the ladder option was definitely unappealing lol. For a teen without a car in SoCal(you NEED a car to get places in SoCal fyi lol), I was in a pretty desolate place for smash, so I was forced to teach myself the game. I remembered thinking back to when I watched that old Azen video and thinking “I suck” and it was the PERFECT mentality. When I told myself that I sucked, I put a goal in mind, which was of course to not suck anymore. In order to improve, I told myself what I said before. This is when I started making improvement because I completely dropped my ego. I started talking to Adam (some of you may know him as Neighborhood P) on aim a lot, because he was a pretty experienced player who knew a lot about the game, specifically the mental aspect. I also picked a main (Falco of course), got efficient tech skill with him, learned all of Falco’s matchups, learned how to properly tech chase, learned how to edge guard, and started playing floaty CPUs more. I also worked on getting rid of several bad habits such as attacking from defensive positions too often.
I felt significant improvement at this point. I started placing much higher in tournaments, and actually started winning sets. I no longer felt like I was a “chore” to play against for SoCal’s ranked players. I felt like I wasn’t getting ***** anymore and that was a good feeling. People finally started calling me “good” and that felt amazing.
Even so, I was still very hungry. I wasn’t good enough. Several people suggested a position for me on the next SoCal PR, but I wasn’t satisfied. What was a number good to me for? I needed to be great, so now I play every match with a willingness to learn in order to achieve my goal. To me, the sky is the limit so that’s exactly what I’m shooting for. This is where I am now.
You Guys Are Behind
I feel that every smasher should have a goal in mind; otherwise you are playing without purpose. I came from one of, if not THE strongest smash region in the world, so I was naturally very driven by watching many top players play/playing with them. I received many tips and praise which boosted my confidence. I was also surrounded by many people with a similar passion, so it became easy to find practice buddies to play seriously for hours on end (<3 fiction, sherigami, adam, ben..lol ^_^).
When I came to the Midwest, I was expecting to see many other people with a similar passion that I have. I found a good amount of people that were exactly what I was looking for, but sadly, more that were not.
The first thing I noticed was the skill gap. It is enormous! It’s seriously not even funny. I’m not trying to put the Midwest down or anything (or hype up SoCal), but I feel like it’s something people out here don’t understand. You guys make fun of your region a lot, but unless you’ve traveled outside of your region to EC or WC then you truly don’t understand. You guys are BEHIND.
I have to pick on Dart (lol<3). Dart asked me how well he thinks he would do against Silent Spectre. I told him that he’d get ***** with a big excited grin on my face. He looked surprised when I said it, and then soon after posted on the boards asking why I said what I said, hoping that it wasn’t based off of his set with ORLY. This REALLY shocked me. This was a big reality check for me. From this point I took a step back and realized “Not only are they extremely behind, but they think they are better than they are!” Now this sounds very judgmental, but I am convinced that this is a safe assumption to make.
I’d like to say that I’ve performed decently out here. It’s safe to say, that I’m one of the best Falco mains in the MW, and that’s really sad, because I could not hold a candle in a national tournament. Let me give you guys some perspective. You don’t have to watch these but here are some videos of me vs SoCal’s ranked players.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnYwnCWRvRM Me vs Kira (2-0 Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIbGNgiJZLw Me vs Connor (2-0 Connor)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhQj7qRBrFI Me vs Lovage (2-0 Lovage)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOsYuXcTadM Me vs Connor (2-1 Connor)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVGY4pLWux4 Me vs Smoke2jointz (2-0 s2j)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtm6U5uqcBA Me vs Fiction. Fiction is NOT RANKED! (2-0 Fiction)
I sense a recurring theme LOL. And then we have
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EigGatL00P0 Me vs Tink (2-0. 1 stock victories, very similar to these guys^. You do the math.)
This is all not to say that I couldn’t hold a candle to SoCal (I’ve taken a few sets) but this is pretty much the norm when it comes to the comparison. Regardless of what Connor tells me…I GET *****. LOL. This is why I was so taken aback when Dart was surprised by saying SS would **** him back and forth.
The Problems
The MW is bad, but this is not the problem.
Problem #1: Kels is the best active player in the MW and therefore he indirectly sets “the standard”. No offense to Kels, but beating him should NOT be the standard; yet it is. This is probably what saddens me the most about the MW. You guys have set a standard so low that you will never be able to compete on a national level. I know this sounds harsh, but that’s the way it is. This leads me to the next point.
Problem #2: The lack of confidence that emits off of some of you guys is extraordinary! I choose my words carefully. Although I’ve never heard anyone say “I just won’t ever be good enough to beat Kels” it has been inferred in various ways on SEVERAL occasions. I’m sick and tired of “well he can do it because he’s Amsah” or “his shield pressure is perfect because he’s Lucky”. NO! They have gotten where they are through practice. All it takes is practice, BUT INSTEAD all I hear is johns! SIT DOWN. SHUT UP. AND PRACTICE IN YOUR ROOM LIKE PHIL.
Problem #3: This is the worst one of them all. Aside from setting a low standard or making an excuse for yourself, there are those who have essential “givin up” and have found comfort in being “bad”. This saddens me the most. Perhaps they have found solace in their current skill level because it is the proverb of Midwest smash. Perhaps they’ve hit a road block and don’t know where to turn. Or worst of all, perhaps they just don’t believe in themselves. These people are the hardest to gain back and the ones that sadden me the most.
Set a Goal
This is why I feel that setting a goal is important. This is the MAIN REASON why I’ve made this post. Some people will read this, not and still not care about getting better, and that is completely fine because at least you have made that clear to me and the rest of the community. If you just want to play to “have fun” or just play on goofy stages all day, more power to you, but this post is not for you. A lot of you guys just want to improve and be a competitive force in Midwest smash and “beat Kels” which although I think is a problem, it is still a goal. However, if your goal is to improve in the first place, why not just shoot for the stars? That’s what I’m doing because great things are achieved when you set high goals. What I’m getting at is, it is important that you play for something. Play for a reason.
Midwest Power Rankings
One of the other things that inspired me when I first started playing competitively was SoCal’s Power Rankings. Although, it may sound “corny” to some of you guys, a region’s PR is in a way a regions pride and glory. It basically says, “here’s what we have to show for” or “come get some”(lol). Some of you might be thinking “He just told us that we suck, what do we have to show for!?” Everybody has something to show for, and you have to start somewhere. As I’ve said in past posts, a PR is a catalyst for competitiveness and a great way to draw in new faces to the scene. We want to embrace that little 15 year old kid who’s desire is to beat Kels in Grand Finals. That’s is how the MW will make its next best players.
Furthermore, I believe a PR would also give the MW a sense of “togetherness”. Although you guys are already a very close bunch of friends, I feel like it would become a strong central unit if you will for Midwest smash. This might also sound “corny” but the Midwest needs something to keep your heads held high, like I said “something to show for”. Like I said, improving is a mindset, and although it is ok to admit the MW is a “bad” region it is NOT ok to become content with that.
In case you hadn’t guessed it, this is my proposal to make an official Midwest PR.
This comes with a problem. The MW is a BIG region. It will be hard to rank players accurately because not everyone gets to play each other that often. We’d have to decide on making one big PR or two PRs(MidNorth and MidSouth). I’ll leave that one up for you guys to discuss.
Sign Here
If you have set a goal to improve, I will help you as best I can. Although I am not a top level player in melee, I understand what it takes to get better and I will help you do so. If I don’t know an answer to a question, I can direct you to the answer. I’ve had quite a few good talks with Anthony (CKit) and I’m sure he is willing to help as well.
If you have made it this far, and you have a goal of improvement, please add “playing to improve” at the end of your post so I can add it to my list. I’ll be glad if I can get at least 25 people to make a pledge to get better.
I’ll start…
“Playing to Improve”
1. Little England
2. Sveet
3. Dart
4. Jayford
5. Quaz
6. Red Ryu
7. Lanceinthepants
8. ORLY
9. Bees
10. Oro?!
11. Mars-
12. Ripple
13. Technical Chase
14. Faithkeeper
15. Mooose
16. Juggleguy
17. GooeyBanana
18. Hore
19. john!
20. Derpington
21. Griffard
22.
23.
24.
25.
Now I go to sleep...(yes Lance I stayed up until 8am brainstorming/writing.
)And lastly
<333 Midwest
