Calebyte
Smash Lord
Mario's metagame hasn't really seen much progress for the year or so that I've been involved in the tournament scene. He's rarely represented at tournaments, and when he is, it's often by players who are inexperienced and as low tier as Mario is. That's just a fact.
Now, with that in mind, here are the goals we should strive for in 2011:
That's all I've got. Sorry, a lot of this is just rambling. A lot of it too is just stuff that applies to me personally, but I figured a lot of other people here could relate so I thought I'd share.
Anything you wanna see in 2011?
Now, with that in mind, here are the goals we should strive for in 2011:
- Improve as players:
We must need to strive first to improve as Smashers, not as Mario mains. This is a mistake I feel like I made coming into the scene a year ago. Instead of trying to learn the game as a whole, I focused on Mario and only Mario, and it's gotten me nowhere.
First, it's important to be familiar with the entire cast. Mario is a BAD character. I came into the scene a year behind in the metagame, trying to play catch-up with one of the worst characters in the game, without picking up a secondary or even experimenting with the rest of the cast. And then I wonder why I never do better than 1-2 in bracket. Knowing how each character feels--actually playing that character--gives much greater insight into the matchup. It's a no-brainer really, but it took me a year to realize this.
Secondly, and more importantly, playing smart is imperative. Good spacing, zoning, and mix-ups are what wins matches. With Mario it's more difficult, because he doesn't really have many options, period. It's important to be creative, and condition our opponent and faking him/her out. Don't go on auto-pilot. Don't approach with bair, any player sees that coming from a mile away. Don't spam retreating nair/dair to ssfsmash. Don't throw out attacks arbitrarily. Don't even move if you don't have a reason to. Mix it up. The most successful Marios (and the most successful Smashers) are the ones who have a good understanding of the game in general and who don't fall into auto-pilot during matches. I mean really, those are the basics of the game. But, speaking for myself, I don't have a good grasp of the basics, and I don't think other Marios do either.
- Attend more tournaments: Seriously. I think I can count on one hand the number of active offline Mario players. Wifi doesn't count, sorry. We need to commit to attending tournaments on a monthly basis. Mario's metagame is never going to evolve if it's not tested against other characters, and we as players will never improve without being tested by other players. Simple as that.
Something I'd also like to add: At this point, I don't think people need to worry about going all-Mario. Mario gets no rep as it is. Seeing his face in a results thread, even if it was beside MK, would be a lot better than him being absent entirely. Heck, go all MK and just whip Mario out of your pocket for Diddy or Fox or another even MU. One step at a time.
- Meet up at large tournies: Now wouldn't this be cool? I've only met a fraction of you guys IRL, and it would go a long way towards improving the metagame or at least the community if we could all get together at a national tourney or something. We've got Pound and Clash of Titans coming up. Any others we should keep in mind?
That's all I've got. Sorry, a lot of this is just rambling. A lot of it too is just stuff that applies to me personally, but I figured a lot of other people here could relate so I thought I'd share.
Anything you wanna see in 2011?
