Canada [Jul 26, 2014] B.C. Brawl Monthlies - Back in business, now featuring Smash 64! (Burnaby, BC)

[| Big D |]

More characters the better, a lot of reads carry over from character to character.

Fox and ZSS were my projects for last tourney and they seemed to be successful.

Diddy and Sonic are my next projects.

 

[Alphicans]

wow, thanks for the info. I've never fully understood how to get better at brawl and always mindlessly played thinking I would get better over time. :/

Best way to get better (this applies to everything) is to consistently dwell on what you could've done differently/better. This act alone will cause your brain (anterior cingulate cortex) to recognize patterns (your own bad ones and your opponents bad ones) more readily, and will elicit subconscious reactions to said patterns. You may not understand why you get better but you will get better just because your brain is very good at doing things by itself.

Look into the actual legit neuroscience of this and you'll see. Just always focus on what you're doing wrong whether or not you're winning and you'll improve.

EDIT: Furthermore you should let your brain do the work in matches. Conscious deliberation of decisions in game leads to VERY inefficient decision making no matter how smart you are. Go with your gut feeling on the majority of punishes (or any other decisions you need to make) and you'll likely see improvement. Yes I am advocating a certain type of auto pilot.

 

[~Firefly~]

Best way to get better (this applies to everything) is to consistently dwell on what you could've done differently/better. This act alone will cause your brain (anterior cingulate cortex) to recognize patterns (your own bad ones and your opponents bad ones) more readily, and will elicit subconscious reactions to said patterns. You may not understand why you get better but you will get better just because your brain is very good at doing things by itself.

Look into the actual legit neuroscience of this and you'll see. Just always focus on what you're doing wrong whether or not you're winning and you'll improve.

EDIT: Furthermore you should let your brain do the work in matches. Conscious deliberation of decisions in game leads to VERY inefficient decision making no matter how smart you are. Go with your gut feeling on the majority of punishes (or any other decisions you need to make) and you'll likely see improvement. Yes I am advocating a certain type of auto pilot.

So much truth in this. I feel like a big part of the reason I ever improve is because whenever I lose, I don't often think about what my opponent did well; I focus on what I did wrong, because I have more control over that. I berate myself for doing stupid things even in matches where I'm winning comfortably. Also, the subconscious mind is godlike. Whenever I get some kind of ridiculous read or string and people ask me how I pulled it off, my answer is almost always something like: "I felt it", or "I donno, it just kinda happened".

 

[Alacion]

Finally got caught up on Breaking Bad. It's sooo good. Everybody should watch it.

 

[Alphicans]

It's true, the reason so many good players can't really go into serious depth to lesser players about how to play well is because they can't verbalize it, or might not even truly know why they're good. Becoming good is about having the right mindset of losing and improvement and then letting your body do the rest. Of course mastering any technical skill is important because you need to have that in your muscle memory for your brain to be able to make good decisions for you. That type of practice does need deliberate decision making.

 

[Blue Yoshi]

Whenever I play serious matches, I play my character with about 80% autopilot, and occasionally I'll make conscious decisions on what I should do in certain situations. My entire mental focus is on my opponent, watching his movements, predicting his moves, discovering patterns, and letting my autopilot take care of the rest (I've done this enough that my autopilot can adapt to the predictions I am making).

Also, Alphi's first paragraph (edit: of his post before his last one) is exactly what I did when I learned the IC matchup. Went from my most hated matchup (after Olimar) to my favourite matchup in the game.

 

[| Big D |]

Best way to get better (this applies to everything) is to consistently dwell on what you could've done differently/better. This act alone will cause your brain (anterior cingulate cortex) to recognize patterns (your own bad ones and your opponents bad ones) more readily, and will elicit subconscious reactions to said patterns. You may not understand why you get better but you will get better just because your brain is very good at doing things by itself.

Look into the actual legit neuroscience of this and you'll see. Just always focus on what you're doing wrong whether or not you're winning and you'll improve.

EDIT: Furthermore you should let your brain do the work in matches. Conscious deliberation of decisions in game leads to VERY inefficient decision making no matter how smart you are. Go with your gut feeling on the majority of punishes (or any other decisions you need to make) and you'll likely see improvement. Yes I am advocating a certain type of auto pilot.

Great post, I agree a good mentality is necessary to become better. Watching yourself play is what allows you to become conscious of your habits so you can get rid of them. For me it was not falling for dthrow > fsmash from Landon. Also it helps to play with someone who punishes your habits like Rob punishing my rolls after I kill someone.

As for going with your gut feeling, I will agree that in some cases it can help where you just feel a spotdodge coming or something like that, but a lot of the time it's best to be smart. For example dealing with ROB or Diddy and dashing towards them to cover ground and getting punished for it as opposed to walking and shielding to give yourself more options. There are many cases like that.

So much truth in this. I feel like a big part of the reason I ever improve is because whenever I lose, I don't often think about what my opponent did well; I focus on what I did wrong, because I have more control over that. I berate myself for doing stupid things even in matches where I'm winning comfortably. Also, the subconscious mind is godlike. Whenever I get some kind of ridiculous read or string and people ask me how I pulled it off, my answer is almost always something like: "I felt it", or "I donno, it just kinda happened".

Real talk that's the same advice I gave to Landon after our money match. While it's true we all think during a match (unless you autopilot which is bad) you really should be thinking about what your opponent is doing over what you are doing.

It's true, the reason so many good players can't really go into serious depth to lesser players about how to play well is because they can't verbalize it, or might not even truly know why they're good. Becoming good is about having the right mindset of losing and improvement and then letting your body do the rest. Of course mastering any technical skill is important because you need to have that in your muscle memory for your brain to be able to make good decisions for you. That type of practice does need deliberate decision making.

So much truth here.
Tech skill really does make your punishes better, and allows you to think more while playing. Being smart gives you the opportunity to punish and tech skill allows you to punish harder and makes you harder to punish. A positive mindset goes a long way but the drive to get better needs to come with it. Wanting to improve and having the capacity to accept your own faults will make you that much better. Having a mentality where in your mind everyone plays gay except for you will lead you no where, and will only frustrate you further.

tl;dr Think about what your opponent is doing and have a mindset to make urself better not others worse

 

[Captain L]

the ability to QAL consistently basically turned half my uairs into fsmashes

okay maybe 10% of them I get a lot of uairs

 

[Kantrip]

The ability to glide toss turned 100% of my <4% punishes into guaranteed fairs/grabs/fsmashes/kills at high percent. Sure this was a skill I learned before even coming to tourneys, but hey it works.

 

[| Big D |]

The ability to chain grab turned 100% of my grabs into guaranteed stock loss for my opponent at any percent. sure this was a skill I learned before even coming to tourneys, but hey it works.

 

[StarWaffle]

If anyone was interested about what I did instead of buying pieces.

 

[Kantrip]

Those are so cute. I love the squirtle.

 

[~Firefly~]

The ability to DR turned 100% of my...

Oh wait, Yoshi doesn't get reward for things.

 

[Kantrip]

Pivot grabs all day. Such a great reward.

 

[| Big D |]

Should of done the ability to play MK.

Turns 100% of your bad MUs into positive ones.

 

[T-block]

The ability to DR turned 100% of my...

Oh wait, Yoshi doesn't get reward for things.

gr to dumb stuff on squirtle >=(

 

[Captain L]

the ability to DR turned some of your grab releases into dtilts if you really wanted them to be

 

[Alphicans]

Any idea when the november tournament will be?

 

[| Big D |]

Considering the 27th of October is booked I would imagine fairly early.

 

[_GrapE_]

Ooooh. It should be around the time when we go to Jeremy's for that smashfest and to watch that movie, 'cause that means I'll be able to go.

 

[Captain L]

congrats on having 1234 posts

 

[Blue Yoshi]

NOW NEVER MAKE ANOTHER POST EVER AGAIN.

Your account must remain perfect...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmRYccuXWNA

 

[Alacion]

Aside from Peach's grab release on Wario, Peach really doesn't have any tactics with reward.

All I ever get rewarded with is people running away from me and playing super campy except for MK (I'm not even a threat in tourney!), and playing against MK is punishment enough. Peach can only count on bad DI against her fair...

 

[Captain L]

that uair > uair > uair combo requires practice and is fairly rewarding, turns one uair into multiple.


Also peach has a fairly technical ground lock using the weak hit of her bair and turnips if I recall correctly

 

[Kantrip]

Peach has loads of stuff that involves practice that can get god rewards. I used glide tossing as my diddy example, what excludes Peach from this tech? Float cancels and learning to float in general are harder than casual/entry level, uair strings involve practice, lagless turnip plucking is a thing, and man I actually think Peach is a really cool character and Kev needs to stop being so damn negative.

 

[Captain L]

game and watch is one character who I find has very little technical stuff and relies more on getting heavy hits out of reads.

 

[Kantrip]

Kirby too. Very reaction/read based.

 

[Alacion]

I guess Peach does have those things but the difficulty in pulling her some of her techs makes them not worth doing. The major complaint from all Peach mains is the hard work, small reward playstyle of Peach and that she takes a lot of focus and endurance. Oh yeah, she can't kill either and everybody lives to 200% against Peach. Reads don't benefit Peach as much as the other characters.

Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely love Peach and her playstyle. She can normally play aggressive which is perfect for me.

 

[Kantrip]

That's exactly what we were discussing though! Tech skill and putting work into a character reaping rewards! Peach is probably one of the BEST examples (her being an unfortunately extreme case, though).

She tap dances on faces and stuff, what more can you ask for?

 

[Alacion]

I'd ask for this, honestly.

 

[Kantrip]

That's disgusting.

 

[Alacion]

Well, I'd settle for her Project M down smash too. Having a double jump and an air dodge would be great too.

 

[Captain L]

ICs are probably the most extreme example though of techskill directly producing rewards

 

[Alacion]

Ice Climbers have such little risk but a grab is usually the end of your stock

The first stock of this: http://youtu.be/SK4rQ5nLg3k?t=8m41s

Peach's Down Smash<3

 

[Kantrip]

Yeah a 0-death infinite that just so happens to be the focal point of Ice Climbers gameplay is probably a shoe-in for number one "tech-skill improves punishes" example.

 

[| Big D |]

Alright, a topic in which I can contribute to.

[COLLAPSE="A long read on my views on tech skill and brawl"]Tech skill not only increases your punishes but gives you more options to deal and apply in various match ups. Many characters have their own tools that they gain from mastering various techniques while other various things are universal to each character. Using these techniques gives a player a vast array of options and becomes that much harder to read and to hit.

Being able to read a move is one thing, but brawl is a game of pokes as well and tech skill allows you to deal with those pokes. Having tech skill means you can utilize the tools available and being able to use them on reaction and being able to think about the match and not about the inputs. I can't stress this enough, brawl is a mental game and you better be thinking of the match.

Take Meta Knight for example. His nado is a great move for poking shields and getting you into the air. To many players, they will get hit by nado almost every time even if they shield, because they lack the ability to tilt their shield up on reaction, or at all. Tilting your shield up gives you the ability to punish, similarly learning to auto cancel your nados makes them harder to punish. While the ability to pivot grab nado is just another counter in which a read just won't do.

While tech skill can allow you to deal with various approaches, it can also create new ways to approach and give you options. By utilizing a characters movement tools, it makes you harder to punish as well as creating more openings. This is a great example of how tech skill does not only increase the level of your punish but more importantly making you harder to hit. I'll go over some of the major cases.

I'd like to start off with Peach. Peach has a great damage output, long strings, shield pressure, quick moves with almost no lag. Struggles with juggling, projectiles, killing, and is light. Peach's main movement tool is her ability to cancel her jump into a float and use her aerials. Utilizing this Peach gains the ability for extremely safe shield pressure as well as creating more options to retreat/approach with fair. Using her floats she can use any aerial while holding an item, couple this in with the ability to glide toss gives her safe pokes with range to them. The sheer ability to glide toss creates new approaches that she didn't have before. Utilizing her movement tools makes her harder to hit as well as increases the percent done on her punishes. With her large damage output, the risk/reward becomes much higher. She can also interrupt strings and cancel momentum with her nair/jab. Her speed alone and the ability to cancel her aerials into other ones makes getting in or getting a combo that much more difficult, hence why most characters have to zone her out or approach carefully.

Item users have a whole other move set available to them. They are given new out of shield options, approaches, pokes, defensive options, movement techniques, punishes, combos, etc. Item play is just another side of brawl that is sometimes overlooked as it doesn't always come into play, but is important to succeed vs characters with items as well as to succeed with those same characters. I'd like to explain tires but then you would all know my secrets.

Ice Climbers are an interesting character no doubt. I'm sure almost all of you hate the duo at this point but I'm going to explain some of my thought process and what I think is important while playing the character. First off Ice climbers are all about precision. Playing against them or playing as them. As Ice Climbers one hit can mean separation and separation is basically death. A match up of precision means there is going to be a lot of pokes. When every movement counts, ICs can be mentally exhausting, both to play and against. ICs have a lot of options available to them thanks to the movement tool of desyncing. It's a double edged sword as flimsy desyncs will get you separated much more easily than if you're synced and can cost you the match. The risk of desyncing vs any good player is a large one and top ICs tend to avoid it except in niche scenarios. However desyncing with precision and being able to react as opposed to prethought out options adds a layer of depth to their game. Desyncing creates approaches, defensive options, frame traps, pokes, zoning tools, it does everything. The ability to 0 death anyone with one grab combined with the use of desyncs and traps makes the character very scary when used appropriately. I'd also like to talk about chaingrabbing. Where do you go when you can chaingrab every character in the game? Being able to chaingrab consecutively and converting grabs are two different skills. Converting grabs means being able to continue a grab in any awkward scenario and then proceeding to chaingrab them afterwards. Every grab is an important one and can be the difference in a stock or not. Ice Climbers have a very high ceiling for and will reward you for the work you put in. They also require extreme focus and precision. If you can't fully control them and think about what you're opponent is doing ICs won't help you.[/COLLAPSE]

 

[`dazrin]

If anyone was interested about what I did instead of buying pieces.

Starwaffle is amazing at modeling both on the computer AND irl.

Anyways, I just wanted to let people know that the next Melee/ProjectM tournament will be held on Oct.27!
I implore you all to come (for PM at least) and support your BC smash community Confirm yourselves in the tournament thread found here! We're going to need a ton of set-ups for this one, (as WA is already confirmed to come) so any help in bringing any and all equipment is really appreciated! It'd be great if we had Alberta come and represent as well! Thanks guys! :D

The whole thing will be streamed at http://twitch.tv/dazee_ so if you're unable to come, keep up with all the action right here! Thanks again guys!

 

[Acute.Anthrax]

You can move your shield? o.o

 

[| Big D |]

Ya mostly used to defend against nado and to not get poked when on platforms.

 

[Jason!]

Considering the 27th of October is booked I would imagine fairly early.

That's sad because a tourney on my birthday would be sorta legit =.=