Going to my First Locals and Major

[Gilbz]

Hi,

As of right now I have only gone to a single local tournament. I got bopped. Needless to say, that made me want to get better and go to more tournaments and I am planning on that. I've decided that I want to go to Big House 5 in October. It would be my first major and I'm not really sure how I would approach it. Would you just suggest going to more locals to practice? How would should I go about practicing on my own? Tech skill with lvl 1 cpus? Netplay? I have heard that going to locals and playing friendlies is a definite way of getting better. My only issue with that is the fact that I'm 16 and in NJ, we can't get our license till we are 17, so transportation is an issue. I turn 17 in December, so that isn't really gonna help me as of right now.

Basically what I'm asking is what should I do to prepare for my first major to maybe at least get a game off of somebody. Btw, how helpful is watching videos on youtube? I tend to watch a lot of falcon matches (the character I play) to try to see how they go about taking stocks, is that helpful? Or should I spend more time making sure that my tech skill is on point? Also, advanced tech skill (Moonwalking, haxdash, shield drops, pivots, etc.), should I learn that?

I feel like I didn't word this thread very well, but hopefully you guys understand what I mean. Thanks for reading.

 

[Flippy Flippersen]

Just have fun improving with other people. Go to locals practice movement till it becomes smooth enough that your matches aren't you trying to move around but rather you trying to stop your opponent from moving. I don't know your exact travel situation but public transport might be able to get you to other nj smashers. Get as many matches in with people. (Netplay is very region dependent on how good is it based on connection and the amount of people taking it serious but rule of thumb is it's good to work around base strategies of some characters but not much better after you have that basic strategy.

As for what tech you should learn. First learn how to move fluently. (this is nothing outstanding just basic dash dancing wave dashing/landing shffl aerials) After that fight some players better than you/around your level, see what you want to be able to do outside of basic things and work on that.

Watching sets is only as good as the viewer. If you go into a set just to look at the hype of player x vs player y it won't benefit your gameplay a lot. If you go in to see the game play by play and figure out why the players chose what they did you'll prolly benefit.

 

[Gilbz]

Just have fun improving with other people. Go to locals practice movement till it becomes smooth enough that your matches aren't you trying to move around but rather you trying to stop your opponent from moving. I don't know your exact travel situation but public transport might be able to get you to other nj smashers. Get as many matches in with people. (Netplay is very region dependent on how good is it based on connection and the amount of people taking it serious but rule of thumb is it's good to work around base strategies of some characters but not much better after you have that basic strategy.

As for what tech you should learn. First learn how to move fluently. (this is nothing outstanding just basic dash dancing wave dashing/landing shffl aerials) After that fight some players better than you/around your level, see what you want to be able to do outside of basic things and work on that.

Watching sets is only as good as the viewer. If you go into a set just to look at the hype of player x vs player y it won't benefit your gameplay a lot. If you go in to see the game play by play and figure out why the players chose what they did you'll prolly benefit.

Thanks! Yeah I have to look into the whereabouts of local tournaments to see if I could take a train/bus somewhere.

 

[GhettoNinja]

Well to expand on Flippy's statement, you dont need to go to a insane amount of Locals to get good. What you will need to do is apply a modified version of the PPMD method of training. First find a opponent that is competent enough in competitive melee, second record as many matches as possible. Now even if you have to record on a phone or just record on a DVD or anything, Do It! Then go home and watch the matches. Over and over. Tear apart your play style, find your habbit, optimize certain things, do this until you've patched things up (go to locals whenever possible) after you've fixed these problems play that opponent (or another one, its up to you) and repeat this process til you play as optimally as possible. To develop mind games and just a strong mental game in general you can use a limited amount of netplay(use only when necessary) and go to locals and play friendlies.

 

[Gilbz]

Well to expand on Flippy's statement, you dont need to go to a insane amount of Locals to get good. What you will need to do is apply a modified version of the PPMD method of training. First find a opponent that is competent enough in competitive melee, second record as many matches as possible. Now even if you have to record on a phone or just record on a DVD or anything, Do It! Then go home and watch the matches. Over and over. Tear apart your play style, find your habbit, optimize certain things, do this until you've patched things up (go to locals whenever possible) after you've fixed these problems play that opponent (or another one, its up to you) and repeat this process til you play as optimally as possible. To develop mind games and just a strong mental game in general you can use a limited amount of netplay(use only when necessary) and go to locals and play friendlies.

Yeah thanks I do that! I've actually got a capture card that I use to stream when I play my friends. I watch those matches back as much as possible. I appreciate the input!

 

[ThirdDay]

Yeah thanks I do that! I've actually got a capture card that I use to stream when I play my friends. I watch those matches back as much as possible. I appreciate the input!

Just a quick question: what kind of capture card do you use? I've been looking all over for a capture card that's not ridiculously expensive!

And my answer to your question:

I think your best option is to watch as many YouTube matches as you can. Then look at your own matches. See what's different. Compare your match to one of Hax's or M2K's falcons. Then look up the techniques that they are using that you haven't learned yet. Moonwalking, shield drops, pivots, etc. Like what Flippy said, you should learn by going to locals too. Find some Falcon mains and see what they do. That's all the advice that I have!

 

[ThirdDay]

Also check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4NaF8dSk0c Leffen's C. Falcon is really good here, you might want to watch! Good luck at the tournament!

 

[Gilbz]

Just a quick question: what kind of capture card do you use? I've been looking all over for a capture card that's not ridiculously expensive!

And my answer to your question:

I think your best option is to watch as many YouTube matches as you can. Then look at your own matches. See what's different. Compare your match to one of Hax's or M2K's falcons. Then look up the techniques that they are using that you haven't learned yet. Moonwalking, shield drops, pivots, etc. Like what Flippy said, you should learn by going to locals too. Find some Falcon mains and see what they do. That's all the advice that I have!

I use a blackmagic intensity shuttle usb 3.0 capture card. Thanks for the input!

 

[ThirdDay]

I use a blackmagic intensity shuttle usb 3.0 capture card. Thanks for the input!

Alright, thanks! And no problem!