How do you practice for tourneys? Advice for someone getting back into competative Sm4sh?

[McZaxon]

Hello everyone!

I have decided to get back into my local competitive smash scene. I took a 5 month long hiatus because my ability in the game wasn't what I wanted it to be and I was also really busy with school and life.

My question to you is, because I would like to know how to prep my mind for tourneys again, how/ what do you practice? (Teching, Reading, Special?) How long do you practice? (This one is kind of a doozy because I'm also trying to become a working musician. So I have trouble trying to find time to balance my instrument practice and smash practice at the same time. I try to practice my instrument 4-6 hours daily) and do you consider FG playing practice? Since I've picked up Corrin, I've done my hardest to learn character match ups and how to get the most of her. I've played a lot of FG and casual playing with friends, and I believe I'm better with her currently then I ever was with my old main (second main at this point, which was Luigi. I could never nail the jumpless cyclone, so I abandoned him when Corrin was released. I also found Corrin to be a little more fun to play.) I don't really know anyone here in my local competitive smash scene since I wasn't in it for very long and didn't have the money to go to most tourneys (since I didn't have a job at that time). That being said, I never really have someone competitive to play against on a regular basis, so sometimes I feel I'm never getting the practice I should.

There is a small local tourney that's right down the road here in town on Saturday. I will be attending to see where I stand compared to some of these other smashers. Any and all advice is appreciated! Also, if any one wishes to play against me, I would really appreciate a few matches and some feedback, just send me a message if you're interested!

I'd also love to start competitive melee as well, but that seems like it would be a little too much for me to handle on my plate time wise, because I've never played melee competitively before.

 

[Fatmanonice]

My main advice would be to play a buttload of people. Play friends, play competitors in real life and online, derp around against low level CPU's to practice spacing/basic follow ups, etc. I'd recommend an average of two hours a day for any of this stuff if you're just trying to get back into local tournaments. Just make sure that you don't go long hiatuses without playing at all or trying to cram in practicing just before a tournament. If you're not hyper sensitive to caffeine, I also recommend black coffee or no sugar energy drinks before tournaments just to make sure you're alert and raring to go when it's time for your matches to begin. Just like any other competition, make sure you get enough sleep and eat at least a little something before a tournament so that hunger/tiredness don't distract you either.

 

[McZaxon]

My main advice would be to play a buttload of people. Play friends, play competitors in real life and online, derp around against low level CPU's to practice spacing/basic follow ups, etc. I'd recommend an average of two hours a day for any of this stuff if you're just trying to get back into local tournaments. Just make sure that you don't go long hiatuses without playing at all or trying to cram in practicing just before a tournament. If you're not hyper sensitive to caffeine, I also recommend black coffee or no sugar energy drinks before tournaments just to make sure you're alert and raring to go when it's time for your matches to begin. Just like any other competition, make sure you get enough sleep and eat at least a little something before a tournament so that hunger/tiredness don't distract you either.

Thanks for the helpful advice! I'll make sure to fit in plenty of practice time before my first tourney on Saturday. I don't have a lot of people to play unfortunately because I'm still so new to my local smash community that I really don't know a lot of people there, so I never really get to fight online or have friendlies with anyone. Plus my group of friends don't play competitively at all, so there is no help there. I'll have to start making some new friends and find people on smash boards who would like to play for some practice! I'll also make sure to get plenty of rest and sleep well too! thanks for the feedback!

 

[Fatmanonice]

There's Anther's ladder as well as offering challenges to people in the respective character boards. If you know you have a hard time against a particular character, I'd recommend starting there. Just go into their social threads and ask if anyone would be willing to play against you.