First tournament mentality?

[Couth]

Hello,
I am considering going to my first tournament over the summer and I hear everyone saying "don't expect to win!" Which makes sense. But should I be PLAYING to win or playing to learn? I know when I play to win, if I make a mistake, I dismiss it so I can focus on what I need to do, instead of what I should've done. If I'm playing to learn I'll stop for a split second (not literally) and think about what I should've done, but in that split second my mind is off the match at hand. What's the correct way to get the most experience and knowledge out of my first tournament?

 

[SAUS]

I would play to learn, but also to meet people. Don't be afraid to ask people for tips as well. If you are not familiar with your local community, find people there who live near you so you can play with them.

 

[Bizzerk]

I don't have tournament experience, but for me I would play my game and afterward ask whoever beat you for tips or negative tendencies you do when fighting or missed punishment opportunities.

 

[VegiLohrd]

As a fellow newish player my only advice is: play as hard as you can every.single.match. I don't care if you're playing m2k or some dude that thinks Roy is better than Marth because of fire effects. Play as hard as you can every single match and then ask people better than you what you did wrong and what you should do to get better. You'll never really know how good you are until you play your absolute best, and more importantly people can't give you the advice you need unless they see your absolute best

 

[Couth]

You guys are right, I've come to realize that the smash community is nicer and more willing to help than other online communities I've been a part of (cough league of legends)

 

[Overtaken]

or some dude that thinks Roy is better than Marth because of fire effects.

Roy is better than Marth because of the fire effects.

 

[JKJ]

As a fairly new member of the community (will be in it for two years this summer), I can say that I went to my first tournament ready to WIN.

And that was a mistake.

Play your hardest, don't get me wrong, but try to observe what situations you are losing in the most. Is the opponent comboing you ridiculously hard? You may need to work on combo DI. Are you missing combo opportunities or punish opportunities? You may need to spend some time honing techskill and combos. Are you dying early? Work on your survival DI. Are they killing you with gimps? Perhaps your recovery is too predictable and you need to mix it up. Are they predicting your moves in the neutral game? Are you dropping edgeguards? Is your movement slow? Are they shield grabbing you constantly? Are you killing yourself often? These are all questions (and answers) that you should consider from day 1.

If you can, record your matches in some way. Play on a stream setup if possible, and ask where you can find the matches. Have a friend record your match with your phone. It's much easier to improve when you can actually study your mistakes and see where and how you are losing.

Talk. To. Everyone.

The smash community is among the most kind and helpful out there; everyone is willing to help you. Other players are happy to help you improve, teach you things you may not know, and answer your questions. Ask multiple people about any problems you have. Try your best to talk to, and learn from, everyone you can. Receiving multiple perspectives on one issue can really help in the long run. Make friends. Form connections. Exchange numbers, and make plans to train with someone you met who lives near you.

Most of all, have fun, and welcome to the community.

 

[Couth]

As a fairly new member of the community (will be in it for two years this summer), I can say that I went to my first tournament ready to WIN.

And that was a mistake.

Play your hardest, don't get me wrong, but try to observe what situations you are losing in the most. Is the opponent comboing you ridiculously hard? You may need to work on combo DI. Are you missing combo opportunities or punish opportunities? You may need to spend some time honing techskill and combos. Are you dying early? Work on your survival DI. Are they killing you with gimps? Perhaps your recovery is too predictable and you need to mix it up. Are they predicting your moves in the neutral game? Are you dropping edgeguards? Is your movement slow? Are they shield grabbing you constantly? Are you killing yourself often? These are all questions (and answers) that you should consider from day 1.

If you can, record your matches in some way. Play on a stream setup if possible, and ask where you can find the matches. Have a friend record your match with your phone. It's much easier to improve when you can actually study your mistakes and see where and how you are losing.

Talk. To. Everyone.

The smash community is among the most kind and helpful out there; everyone is willing to help you. Other players are happy to help you improve, teach you things you may not know, and answer your questions. Ask multiple people about any problems you have. Try your best to talk to, and learn from, everyone you can. Receiving multiple perspectives on one issue can really help in the long run. Make friends. Form connections. Exchange numbers, and make plans to train with someone you met who lives near you.

Most of all, have fun, and welcome to the community.

Thank you! I'm going to keep this saved on my phone not just for my first tournament, but for future learning endeavors. I find I get into a slump of doing what let's me win, which is sometimes really noobish stuff. Thanks again for the help guys!

 

[BrahmenNoodles]

For what it's worth, I'm going to EVO (go big or go home, right?) to compete this year... it will be my first tournament, but I've already been working on my mind set for some time.

My plan is to go and have fun. If I do well, that's great, if not, I'll get to watch the best players play a game I love.

Fun isn't allowed sometimes in certain other games (I'd like to think that 10k+ hours in semi competitive/competitive FPS gaming qualifies me to speak on matters of fun...) but I'll be damned if I let anything ruin my fun with Smash. So, my advice is simply to focus on having a good time!