Fighting an Uphill Battle

[WritersBlah]

Apologies in advance if this isn't the correct board to post in, but I could really use some help here.

So despite the fact that I make a lot of conjecture on competitive Smash Bros, I'm still relatively new to the tournament scene. Now, I'm aware of what the natural progression for a newbie tournament player is: locals first, then regionals, then state-wide, and so forth. This is a logical progression to ease your way in against progressively more skilled opponents to increase one's own skill.

Here's the one kicker for me though: my LOCAL TOURNAMENTS are home to some of the best Smash 4 players in the world (I mean, good enough to place in APEX 2015 good) including Master Raven, Seibrik, Nick Riddle, and MVD. I imagine most of the rest of the regular tourney-goers are all uber-hardened from playing such good players so often, which leaves me, a nobody by all definitions of the word, in a very difficult situation. How do I improve my skill enough to go from a zero-experience newbie to a player good enough to take on players already used to taking on high-level players?

 

[Jerodak]

Personally, I think you are looking at this the wrong way. If your local scene has the world's best players then that's actually even more of a reason to show up. You probably might not win, but the experience you can gain from that is invaluable. If you decide to skip on the tourney because there are strong players, then you actually hurt yourself in the long run. Not only will the experience not be as good, but you're basically conditioning yourself to believe that you don't have what it takes to compete with the best. It's a pretty dangerous trap to fall into that can drastically stunt your growth as a player. Even if you manage to level up quite a lot, and become a huge threat in your region, if you go into a match vs a pro player thinking that you can't win, you've basically already lost before they've even plugged in their controller. Mindset is just as important as skill, arguably more so.

 

[GhostUrsa]

Short answer: you don't.

Long answer: You are approaching this from the wrong angle. Besides any training that available to everyone (For Glory, Friendlies, etc), the only thing that will give you a chance against an experienced opponent is either experience or raw talent. Instead of going into such scenes hoping to show the vets 'you got what it takes', you should approach it as a learning experience. You will get stomped on by someone, whether or not it's early will depend on if there are other newer players there at the time for you to match up against first. Most veteran players know that they need to help grow their scene to have new challengers and prevent their hobby from going stale, so they'll give you pointers and help assist in your growth so the next time you meet up you'll be a better player.

This won't always be the case, as people being people you'll find a few with issues that make them antagonistic. But if you go in with an open mind, be respectful of your competition but show pride in what you have accomplished then you'll go through what every experienced smasher has done before you, and eventually be the veteran guiding new recruits in yourself.

Also, there isn't really a chain for tourneys from what I've heard. I've scene threads where national tourneys were the posters first tourney, and they had a blast since they could get live critique from vets and find plenty of similar level friendlies to go after. It's more about just getting out there and participating.

 

[Raijinken]

Don't expect to win at all, just go to learn. It will be a long and frustrating process, but short of relocating or commuting to further tourneys to escape those players, you don't have many other choices.

 

[NickRiddle]

Just ask us to play you in some friendlies, and we can give you advice on how you can improve.
Most people would KILL to have high/top level players going to their weeklies.

 

[Ulevo]

Play those players. If some of them are willing to teach you, like NickRiddle suggested, it's even better. You can't have the mentality that attending your local is meaningless because you won't win. Winning shouldn't be your objective until you are a competent player. Just focus on absorbing as much information as you can handle.

 

[Master Raven]

I like helping newer players, so don't be shy to ask me if you see me around. What tag do you go by in tournaments and which weeklies do you go to? I'll be at Versus tonight, so if you catch me before the bracket starts, let me know. (I don't like doing friendlies during tournament). Drop me a private message too if you have any questions in mind.

 

[1FC0]

You need raw talent or a lot of practice. Since you lack raw talent, I guess you should be happy that you can get good practice at your locals.

 

[digiholic]

The best way to improve is to get beat by good players a lot. Go do that at your weeklies and thank the stars you have the chance.

 

[Talazala]

I'd love to be living in a stronger region. Not saying my area is weak though, just that having more great/amazing players around tends to accelerate your own growth.

 

[Scarlet Jile]

Every region has its drawbacks. You could ease your way into the regional scene from Maine's locals, for instance, which don't exist. You must endure harsh winter for 5 months of the year, but it's safe and relaxed and private and nobody's tripping on bath salts and trying to eat your face.

 

[Sleek Media]

You're gonna get trashed. Very lucky. Ask them what you did wrong after the match, and learn from it week after week. I've got to deal with the Xanadu crowd, which includes Boss, Logic, Seagull, GIMR, and other nasty NE players. I'm having trouble breaking into top 4, but every week I fix another mistake and get closer.

 

[Emblem Lord]

lol.

**** winning.

The thrill of battle against a strong opponent is all that is required.

 

[ForteX]

lol.

**** winning.

The thrill of battle against a strong opponent is all that is required.

Someone get this man a medal.

Anyway the best way to get good is to feel awful and tear through that. It's cliche as hell after like ten billion anime series have gone over it, but that's actually one of the most real things you can pull from watching trash like that - when the main character gets stomped and is like "aw man my world is ending" and his friends are all "you can do it man" and the protag clenches his fist and does some situps or beats Freiza or whatever? That's what you have to do. Nothing is keeping you down ever but you.

Competition is a harsh environment, and things can seem pretty tense, but no one wants to be the best forever. It's boring if you just outclass everyone. Unless some really antisocial people go to your local tournaments, deep down they can't deny they want to see you do well, and they want to see you come back stronger from what you've learned.

 

[1FC0]

lol.

**** winning.

The thrill of battle against a strong opponent is all that is required.

**** battling against strong opponents.

the thrill of winning is all that I require.

 

[Emblem Lord]

hey man, do your thing. Whatever motivates ya.

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

Well, if some of the best players of the world are there, you should use your skill to go there and at least try. When you lose, you must not only see that the other player won. You must see what you've done right and wrong! And, try to get some hints with them. When I got rekt by a epic Pikachu here in Brazil, he did tell me that I should grab more my opponent, and I've actually did grab more my opponent at Losers Bracket!

 

[1FC0]

Well, if some of the best players of the world are there, you should use your skill to go there and at least try. When you lose, you must not only see that the other player won. You must see what you've done right and wrong! And, try to get some hints with them. When I got rekt by a epic Pikachu here in Brazil, he did tell me that I should grab more my opponent, and I've actually did grab more my opponent at Losers Bracket!

Sometimes when I win a game then I say to my opponent that I want to give him advice and then I tell him that he has a weakness for skill and advice him to get used to losing.

 

[NickRiddle]

Sometimes when I win a game then I say to my opponent that I want to give him advice and then I tell him that he has a weakness for skill and advice him to get used to losing.

If you really do this, you're probably the worst person.

 

[1FC0]

If you really do this, you're probably the worst person.

Flattery will get you nowhere.

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

Sometimes when I win a game then I say to my opponent that I want to give him advice and then I tell him that he has a weakness for skill and advice him to get used to losing.

PS: A wall of letters is coming!
Despite giving a Like to your comment, I didn't like it entirely! We must get used for losing (because we are not perfect and we really start not knowing many things), but weakness for skill? What the heck?! Skill ceiling is not this. There are people who can be outplayed by me, but I also get very outplayed by other opponents. This means I am bad? No, this means that I am in the middle of the road, doing well or bad depending on the other guy's skill. The same applies to every other player in the whole world, because everyone can lose. "Flattery" may get somebody nowhere, but "doucheness" (New word by Purin a.k.a. José) makes you a bad person. Instead of putting salt on their ears, I prefer to help them and expect them to come back next time as a better person.

 

[LightLV]

Apologies in advance if this isn't the correct board to post in, but I could really use some help here.

So despite the fact that I make a lot of conjecture on competitive Smash Bros, I'm still relatively new to the tournament scene. Now, I'm aware of what the natural progression for a newbie tournament player is: locals first, then regionals, then state-wide, and so forth. This is a logical progression to ease your way in against progressively more skilled opponents to increase one's own skill.

Here's the one kicker for me though: my LOCAL TOURNAMENTS are home to some of the best Smash 4 players in the world (I mean, good enough to place in APEX 2015 good) including Master Raven, Seibrik, Nick Riddle, and MVD. I imagine most of the rest of the regular tourney-goers are all uber-hardened from playing such good players so often, which leaves me, a nobody by all definitions of the word, in a very difficult situation. How do I improve my skill enough to go from a zero-experience newbie to a player good enough to take on players already used to taking on high-level players?

Oh, this is easy. Show up and get your ass kicked on a regular basis. That's not a problem, it's a blessing; you don't get better playing people worse than you. You just get better at beating bad players.

You may not think you're getting better, but you are. Switch back to playing people with less solid skills, and you'll notice.

 

[1FC0]

PS: A wall of letters is coming!
Despite giving a Like to your comment, I didn't like it entirely! We must get used for losing (because we are not perfect and we really start not knowing many things), but weakness for skill? What the heck?! Skill ceiling is not this. There are people who can be outplayed by me, but I also get very outplayed by other opponents. This means I am bad? No, this means that I am in the middle of the road, doing well or bad depending on the other guy's skill. The same applies to every other player in the whole world, because everyone can lose. "Flattery" may get somebody nowhere, but "doucheness" (New word by Purin a.k.a. José) makes you a bad person. Instead of putting salt on their ears, I prefer to help them and expect them to come back next time as a better person.

I prefer to to torment them and expect them to come back next time as an angrier person. But I guess that we cannot all be as cool as me.

Oh, this is easy. Show up and get your *** kicked on a regular basis. That's not a problem, it's a blessing; you don't get better playing people worse than you. You just get better at beating bad players.

You may not think you're getting better, but you are. Switch back to playing people with less solid skills, and you'll notice.

Losing is a blessing? Are you telling yourself that because you are so "blessed"?

 

[LightLV]

I prefer to to torment them and expect them to come back next time as an angrier person. But I guess that we cannot all be as cool as me.

Losing is a blessing? Are you telling yourself that because you are so "blessed"?

No, playing people who don't suck is a blessing.

**** battling against strong opponents.

the thrill of winning is all that I require.

Probably wouldn't have much fun playing you. It's usually the people who think they're good who are the easiest to exploit.

Although I must say, trolling in Smash 4 is probably the most fun anyone can get out of it. Nothing like winning off some BS

 

[1FC0]

No, playing people who don't suck is a blessing.

Suck is relative. People who are unbeatavle from your point of view are easily owned scrubs in my point of view. It is all relative to your own skills. But if your point is that sucking is a blessing so that you have a challenge against other sucky players instead of owning them with the greatest ease like I own them, then I disagree. Being the best and owning the rest is really fun, and I can know it. I have experience with doing that.