Keep 0-2ing in Tourneys. Any helpful adivce?

[McZaxon]

So I just finished my 3rd tourney today after finally getting back into the smash scene. I, again, 0-2ed. Knocked out right away. It's a very frustrating feeling. I can actually confidently say that I'm NOT a bad Smash player. However, I can't seem to win any matches. I come close, but I never win. It's discouraging and after leaving the smash scene once, I don't want to do it again. I have a few things to share and I'd love any feedback whatsoever from anyone. It's much appreciated.

Firstly, I don't really know ANYONE in my local scene. I'm still brand new and a lot of tourneys I can't go to. I work Monday's and Tuesday's, and thats when my local scene has all their weeklies. And I can't do Wednesday's because that's when I always hang out with my non-smash friends (Wednesdays and Sundays are the only days we both have off work and school). So that leaves me to attend two of the Bi-weekly tourneys on every other Thursday and Saturday. So, unless I switch my work schedule around a little, which I can and am tempted to do, I really can't go to any tourneys but those. And since I don't really know anyone in my scene, when I loose and I'm out... I kind of just....go home. I'm a shy person, so it's kind of hard for me to start conversations and ask for friendly games.

Secondly, as I have discovered today, I tend to make bad choices when playing and go on auto-pilot. After my first match, when the person I played went up to the TO to give the result of our matches, he started conversing with the TO and I overheard him say: "Being a Melee player, I was really surprised that he didn't grab me hardly at all." I had realized that I hadn't done that at all during the match and asked my self why? I believe it was because I went into auto pilot during the match and focused on cool techs and "try hard" reading. The next match was a little better and I was more aware of what I was doing, but I still had nasty habits and made a lot of mistakes. Our community has a Facebook page where people can post their NNID's and ask if anyone wants to practice. I use this A LOT since its the only way for me to get friendlies right now. This is how I practice. And I usually don't have a lot of time to dedicate to it, by I always try to get at least two hours in everyday after practicing my instrument.

My main question is basically just asking how can I keep my head in the game and also become more social with the community with the given time I have to attend these tourneys? How did you guys get to know more people within your respective communities and make friends to actually have friendlies with? How did you turn off your auto-pilot switch? How do you practice? I love having competitive smash as a hobby in between my music studies and practicing my instrument for school and don't want to have thoughts about leaving it again. I have fun, even when I'm losing, but want to get better, to open the eyes of some of out local top smashers. And also, make new friends and get more involved. Thanks for taking the time to read this guys. Much appreciated!

 

[Razmord]

You should force yourself to play friendly games with other playes, even if it is hard. If you are super shy and you find yourself unable to do it, you could either go and find an empty setup to practice a little and someone might ask you to play, or you could just watch a few games and maybe that will lead toyou talking to them and all. Another thing you could do is telling your practice partners that you are going to the tourney and that you want to play against them offline (If I understood correctly, you play people from your locals through facebook, right?). Maybe they'll introduce you to some people after playing.

The other thing is, try not to focus too much on results at first, you're there to learn, you're going to place bad at first even if you are good at home, it's ok, just try to not play on autopilot, not only will you play worse, you will not learn anything from the game. Also, you should try to take a look at who you lost against, instead of when. Being a new player in the scene and all, you probably face a top seed player at round 1, someone who probably has a lot more experience than you.

Sorry I can't be of more help, I'm the TO of my local scene so I'm basically forced to interact with everyone. I hope you enjoy more your next tournament. Good luck!

 

[HeavyLobster]

Look at recordings of your games and take note of your habits. Then, in a non-competitive environment, practice mixing things up so you don't get so locked in to the same old habits.

 

[Pixel_]

I wrote about a paragraph but it made no sense, so here's a summary.

Reset to Neutral, space, play keep-away, and while you're doing that, think. You can sort of go into a different kind of autopilot where you're walling out the opponent with your moves, with the purpose of giving yourself space to... recompose yourself, or whatever the word is. Once you get yourself together again, look back at the opponent and remember the Neutral.

This is just what I do (and most of my experience is on For Glory), but you can try it and see how it goes.

 

[Hippieslayer]

your autopilot needs to have all the basics down, you shouldnt need to think in order to not forget grabbing

 

[McZaxon]

Thanks everyone for your all your helpful advice! I'm doing my best now to make more friends in the scene and play as many friendlies as possible. I actually just found a guy who is new to the scene as well and him and I have been playing friendlies regularly.

You should force yourself to play friendly games with other players, even if it is hard.

Yes, this is true. There is another smaller friendlier tourney on Saturday at a game shop nearby. I'll be bringing my own setup so I can have an excuse to talk to the other guys there and ask to play friendlies. It will also keep me from leaving early!

Look at recordings of your games and take note of your habits. Then, in a non-competitive environment, practice mixing things up so you don't get so locked in to the same old habits.

I wrote about a paragraph but it made no sense, so here's a summary.

Reset to Neutral, space, play keep-away, and while you're doing that, think. You can sort of go into a different kind of autopilot where you're walling out the opponent with your moves, with the purpose of giving yourself space to... recompose yourself, or whatever the word is. Once you get yourself together again, look back at the opponent and remember the Neutral.

This is just what I do (and most of my experience is on For Glory), but you can try it and see how it goes.

I will start recording myself to see what I do wrong and right in a competitive mindset! And I've never thought of that before Pixel, that sounds like a really good idea! Especially since I tend to freak out when things aren't going my way in a match.

your autopilot needs to have all the basics down, you shouldnt need to think in order to not forget grabbing

Usually I tend to grab a lot in auto pilot (which I should control) so it was really surprising to me that I didn't grab at all. But yes, you are correct!

I apologize that it took a week to respond to everyone who gave feedback. I've been so busy with school lately I barely had time to play Smash, let a lone use a computer. But thanks again for your advise everyone! I will use everything I've learned to help myself become a better competitive player.

 

[Synchronize]

Not sure if this is too late, but I've also had the problem where I keep getting 0-2ed in tournaments alot (And i mean I couldn't take a single match).
The list of things i did included:

Regularly playing friendlies with other players.
When i mean playing with other players, I MEAN PLAYING WITH OTHER PLAYERS. Most of the time I go to tournaments, I always try to ditch the friends i go with to play friendlies with strangers. You're exposed to different play styles. I've played against the most campy Duck Hunt and Megaman main and eventually after playing enough with him, I could figure out how to counter his play style. Of course you won't get the luxury of playing matches over and over in a tournament game but the most friendly matches i play with new players, it speeds up my ability to adapt to their play style and it helps tremendously when you're in an actual tournament game and only get like 10 minutes to get familiar with their play style.

Don't stick with one character.
Although I do have my main (Corrin) who i play regularly, I try to avoid playing her as much as possible when playing friendlies or online. The more characters you familiarize with, the more exposed you are to how they can be played, the general strategy to find them, the safest and most unsafe moves/approaches, and you can easily find their weakness this way. Some characters even have similarities with eachother that you can carry over to your own characters so you can open up new ways to play. You can also easily find out which characters you want to avoid playing against (screw you mario mains...)

CPU DI Practice
What i do alot when I'm bored with nothing to do is i often open up a game with Lvl 9 CPUs and let myself get bodied. It sounds strange, but the more you get knocked around the more important DI becomes (obviously). Simply letting myself get thrown around and finding a good way to DI to survive the hits can let my stall a game further or find the safest way to recover from the hit. It does also help that they are CPUs and can be unpredictable at times... Its easy to throw out hits but its hard to take hits.

Don't get cocky.
This was my biggest problem when i went to tournaments. I would practice for hours to go to play in a tournament and end up toying with my opponent basically dropping my guard. It's easy to go into a game with your autopilot off, but turning your autopilot on during the match is as easy as blinking. The moment i get a lead in a tournament match, I capitalize on it. It allows for me to throw out more high risk high reward moves, go for more offstage hits/KOs, and if you really do main Corrin like your profile says, getting cocky is your ultimate downfall. Corrin can capitalize on a small lead so well, don't let your cockiness get the better of you, from my observation, its why a lot of players lose matches.

 

[McZaxon]

Not sure if this is too late, but I've also had the problem where I keep getting 0-2ed in tournaments alot (And i mean I couldn't take a single match).
The list of things i did included:

Regularly playing friendlies with other players.
When i mean playing with other players, I MEAN PLAYING WITH OTHER PLAYERS. Most of the time I go to tournaments, I always try to ditch the friends i go with to play friendlies with strangers. You're exposed to different play styles. I've played against the most campy Duck Hunt and Megaman main and eventually after playing enough with him, I could figure out how to counter his play style. Of course you won't get the luxury of playing matches over and over in a tournament game but the most friendly matches i play with new players, it speeds up my ability to adapt to their play style and it helps tremendously when you're in an actual tournament game and only get like 10 minutes to get familiar with their play style.

Don't stick with one character.
Although I do have my main (Corrin) who i play regularly, I try to avoid playing her as much as possible when playing friendlies or online. The more characters you familiarize with, the more exposed you are to how they can be played, the general strategy to find them, the safest and most unsafe moves/approaches, and you can easily find their weakness this way. Some characters even have similarities with eachother that you can carry over to your own characters so you can open up new ways to play. You can also easily find out which characters you want to avoid playing against (screw you mario mains...)

CPU DI Practice
What i do alot when I'm bored with nothing to do is i often open up a game with Lvl 9 CPUs and let myself get bodied. It sounds strange, but the more you get knocked around the more important DI becomes (obviously). Simply letting myself get thrown around and finding a good way to DI to survive the hits can let my stall a game further or find the safest way to recover from the hit. It does also help that they are CPUs and can be unpredictable at times... Its easy to throw out hits but its hard to take hits.

Don't get cocky.
This was my biggest problem when i went to tournaments. I would practice for hours to go to play in a tournament and end up toying with my opponent basically dropping my guard. It's easy to go into a game with your autopilot off, but turning your autopilot on during the match is as easy as blinking. The moment i get a lead in a tournament match, I capitalize on it. It allows for me to throw out more high risk high reward moves, go for more offstage hits/KOs, and if you really do main Corrin like your profile says, getting cocky is your ultimate downfall. Corrin can capitalize on a small lead so well, don't let your cockiness get the better of you, from my observation, its why a lot of players lose matches.

Nah! Its never too late! Ill take ANY sort of advice any day of the week!

To start off, yes I do need to branch out and play stranger friendlies. Especially ones that are sponsored. As i'm still new to my local scene, I haven't met a lot of people yet. In fact, today was the first day I actually befriended someone in the community, so today's tourney was A LOT more fun. I had someone to actually play friendlies with afterwords! But I do need to put myself out there more, no matter difficult it may be.

I'm trying to learn the entire Fire Emblem cast + Palutena to have several different options to choose from when it comes to certain match ups. Whenever I do play friendlies, I try to use these characters more then I actually use Corrin. I have a lot of fun using the FE cast, so I have no problem with learning new characters!

The CPU DI practice is something I actually never have herd of before and actually want to give it shot. It sounds VERY beneficial. And as for being cocky, I go into each of my match ups eager to learn new information against the player I'm facing. I'm always humble, and only use certain moves when they are needed.

Thanks so much for the advice. I can use all I can get in order to better my smash game.

By the way, if I may ask. How long do you spend a day practicing? I always try to fit in a few hours, but with everything else I have on my plate along with playing other games and hanging out with friends, its hard to do sometimes.

 

[Wasabi Gin]

I'm not too knowledgeable about solo practice in Sm4sh, so I'll offer some general advice that I've used to improve in Melee.

I know how hard it is to build up the confidence to talk to a stranger, but I seriously suggest you try to ask for more friendlies. They're the best way to get direct feedback on what you're doing wrong. Try to remember that everyone in that venue is there for the same reason and you're all on equal ground.

Since you say you're not a bad player, you should be able to pick out the mistakes you've made.

I suggest taking notes on what you noticed yourself mess up. I noticed significant improvement after taking note of my mistakes and things that have worked well for me. Write down questions you have about certain situations you find yourself unprepared for and go home and read up on how to deal with them.

Instead of focusing on tournament results, try to get good games in against people in a pressure-free environment. It'll take the focus off of winning and allow you to apply the notes you've taken.

 

[Synchronize]

Nah! Its never too late! Ill take ANY sort of advice any day of the week!

To start off, yes I do need to branch out and play stranger friendlies. Especially ones that are sponsored. As i'm still new to my local scene, I haven't met a lot of people yet. In fact, today was the first day I actually befriended someone in the community, so today's tourney was A LOT more fun. I had someone to actually play friendlies with afterwords! But I do need to put myself out there more, no matter difficult it may be.

I'm trying to learn the entire Fire Emblem cast + Palutena to have several different options to choose from when it comes to certain match ups. Whenever I do play friendlies, I try to use these characters more then I actually use Corrin. I have a lot of fun using the FE cast, so I have no problem with learning new characters!

The CPU DI practice is something I actually never have herd of before and actually want to give it shot. It sounds VERY beneficial. And as for being cocky, I go into each of my match ups eager to learn new information against the player I'm facing. I'm always humble, and only use certain moves when they are needed.

Thanks so much for the advice. I can use all I can get in order to better my smash game.

By the way, if I may ask. How long do you spend a day practicing? I always try to fit in a few hours, but with everything else I have on my plate along with playing other games and hanging out with friends, its hard to do sometimes.

Hmm, I don't practice as long as I used to since I've learned all the technical work for Corrin thats important for me atm, I spend around an hour and some free time so i can polish them. I don't really see myself practicing as much as big players like Zero, Nairo, or Day but I would say i spend a moderate amount of time practicing. I am still a high school student and spend a large amount of time with friends so usually for practice, I'll bring out my 3DS and play a few matches with some CPUs just to keep myself from getting rusty.

Also about CPU DI practice, its actually VERY beneficial. In tournaments even when i play poorly, I usually don't get KOed until I'm in the 150%+ mark because of my positioning, DI, and defensive playstyle.

Actually, reading back on what i just typed out, if you're playing Corrin i think keeping with the new Corrin tech is also very important. Simple things like perfect pivot F-Smash is what i find to be the most reliable way to get a KO and even simple things like going into a match and using only F/B-Special. Sweet spotting your attacks is what i believe to be the most important part of playing Corrin. It leads to early KOs, her F-Air attacks at safe distances, and impaling someone who is trying to recover offstage is so damn satisfying. You can choose how to kill them when you impale them. Catch them off guard and just jump and try to grab ledge, fast fall, footstool. Kick them towards the stage to try to get a stage spike. Kick away from the stage to go for a stylish KO. I honestly love playing Corrin not because shes a high tier, but because how have satisfying each hit is which her noodle string arms. What I'm currently trying to learn is my D-Air during knock back. You dont go straight down and still keep some momentum moving forward and backwards so I'm trying to optimize it so i can start using it in tournament.

If you need any help with Corrin then you can come ask me or if you want to play a friendly set online I'd be glad to.

 

[McZaxon]

Hmm, I don't practice as long as I used to since I've learned all the technical work for Corrin thats important for me atm, I spend around an hour and some free time so i can polish them. I don't really see myself practicing as much as big players like Zero, Nairo, or Day but I would say i spend a moderate amount of time practicing. I am still a high school student and spend a large amount of time with friends so usually for practice, I'll bring out my 3DS and play a few matches with some CPUs just to keep myself from getting rusty.

Also about CPU DI practice, its actually VERY beneficial. In tournaments even when i play poorly, I usually don't get KOed until I'm in the 150%+ mark because of my positioning, DI, and defensive playstyle.

Actually, reading back on what i just typed out, if you're playing Corrin i think keeping with the new Corrin tech is also very important. Simple things like perfect pivot F-Smash is what i find to be the most reliable way to get a KO and even simple things like going into a match and using only F/B-Special. Sweet spotting your attacks is what i believe to be the most important part of playing Corrin. It leads to early KOs, her F-Air attacks at safe distances, and impaling someone who is trying to recover offstage is so damn satisfying. You can choose how to kill them when you impale them. Catch them off guard and just jump and try to grab ledge, fast fall, footstool. Kick them towards the stage to try to get a stage spike. Kick away from the stage to go for a stylish KO. I honestly love playing Corrin not because shes a high tier, but because how have satisfying each hit is which her noodle string arms. What I'm currently trying to learn is my D-Air during knock back. You dont go straight down and still keep some momentum moving forward and backwards so I'm trying to optimize it so i can start using it in tournament.

If you need any help with Corrin then you can come ask me or if you want to play a friendly set online I'd be glad to.

I might have to take you up on playing a friendly or two sometime. I love getting new feedback on everything I do from anyone I can.

I'll have to try more off-stage gimping. I don't use it a whole lot because I'm afraid of SDing. But I think I should really start practicing that more often. I also will definitely start doing CPU practice as well!

 

[Simperheve]

If you go to tournaments, try and play as many friendlies as possible. Smash players are (generally speaking) very accommodating people and will be up for friendlies. In particular, try and play the more experienced people who will be able to give you useful advice. If you're too scared to ask someone to play friendlies, just sit down at a console and someone will ask you.

 

[McZaxon]

If you go to tournaments, try and play as many friendlies as possible. Smash players are (generally speaking) very accommodating people and will be up for friendlies. In particular, try and play the more experienced people who will be able to give you useful advice. If you're too scared to ask someone to play friendlies, just sit down at a console and someone will ask you.

Yeah, this has actually worked several times now. I've gotten better at asking for sure, but I always bring my own set up now for that very reason.

By the way, that is a ****ing brutal profile picture! (hint hint) xD