t3h Icy
Smash Master
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2009
- Messages
- 4,917
Link to original post: [drupal=4574]Learning and Improving with Sheik[/drupal]
Like many players around the world, I'm a Melee player looking to become the best. Yesterday, I went to my 2nd BC tournament, learned a lot, met some awesome people and had a blast! I like to reflect on how I did and have it in writing somewhere so as I improve further, I can look at my old mindset and ways of seeing the game for comparison. I like to post about it here so that other rising players or anyone generally interested have something to read. I have a few previous blogs for those curious about the rest of my story.
Anyway, at my 1st BC tournament was back in June, I was a bit more skeptical about my performance since I wanted to leave a good first impression, but I was also in the middle of moving and living in a motel, so I couldn't practice too much either. This time around, I had a lot of training with Blunted Object, was able to play at home, and was much more relaxed with however my results would play out. I figured that if I did superbly well, I'd leave a nice mark and my hard work would pay off. If I did rather poor, I would have more motivation to keep playing and continue improving. Well, I didn't do either, but I gained the benefits of both.
I went to the tournament early to try to get as much time playing in as possible, and when I arrived, there were already a few players and went straight to friendlies. I played a lot with players my level and a bit below, and got a few matches against all the top players to make sure I played everyone.
Playing against multi-character players is always plays like a puzzle for me. I main Sheik, so lower-tiered characters are less of a problem for me, compared to mains of other characters, but usually players that use all sorts of characters tend to be really strong in the fundamentals of the game and know how to abuse a character's strong points. One player went through Falcon, Pikachu, Luigi and others, and I wasn't familiar with all the match-ups, so it was a challenge to figure out what I can do to a character based on my basic knowledge of said character, and knowing the abilities of Sheik. Doing this live of course, can be a bit tricky, and it's not always as simple as just grabbing Pikachu to win. A Pikachu player knows to avoid Sheik's grab at almost all costs, and they know how to make it difficult. Watching Axe vs Mew2King shows this really well. So when I try to do all sorts of mix-ups and tricks to get my grabs, but still overall limiting my unpredictability, I lose my stocks and matches, but when I piece more of what works and what I can do with my character to aid me in winning, I win without losing a stock. I really love being forced to think this way and it gives me a better view of learning match-ups. Falco and Fox to me now are just more complex and difficult puzzles, and there's a lot more to breakdown if I want to be successful.
After living in a small city in greater Vancouver with only Blunted Object nearby, it can be a bit rough getting beaten constantly. It's superb for learning the game and really being pushed to use 100% brainpower for each hit, and I'm improving at the game significantly faster with a much higher maximum. It's also tough mentally to constantly be improving and adding in little things to gameplay, only to get adapted to followed by more pummeling. If I can choose, I definitely prefer training with a high caliber player, but playing with others at my own level and below was nice and fun. Between each smashfest and tournament, I try to improve some more and by playing against those that I see regularly, I get to see my effort.
When playing against players a bit below in skill, it sort of gives me a natural feel for the game in what the right decision is and when to do it. I'm an analytical person and it bothers me that I can't pinpoint how I'm able to do this, and repeatedly. It just feels like I'm in complete control. I wonder if this is the way a top player feels and thinks when playing against players below their level, or if there's more to it and that's some sort of barrier I haven't broken yet. Playing against players below is also really motivating because of how much effort they're putting in to just hit you, and how happy they can get when they pull off something amazing, and you just get *****.
Playing against those way better also makes me think a lot. Washington came to the BC tournament, including Silent Wolf, and I got a few friendlies with him. As a Sheik, a super technical Fox is a huge obstacle in a lot of ways, and I haven't gotten to a level where I can overcome this. He's the perfect player to destroy me, and I like the way it makes me think. When I try my moves or grabs, he spaces and punishes really well and it's brutal for Sheik, but when he takes so many options away from me, it forces me to play better. I tried to look for these holes in my gameplay each stock, and do something different each time. On my first stock, I decided to just play how I would against other Foxs and just enjoy getting to play a pro I'm a fan of. I couldn't get anything going for me and got 4% in before getting KO'd, so I tried something a lot different and lost my stock without doing any damage. I got 4-stocked my first match with him and got a few hits in. The next match, I took 2 stocks. I try to look at how I'm succeeding in a big picture sort of way. Let's say I hit him with an Ftilt, but later I try Ftilt again and it doesn't work and I get punished. The reason why it gives different results is because there's a lot more to it than that. Perhaps I gave off the correct pressure, or changed my patterning he wasn't ready for or something, but I got that Ftilt to hit for a reason and it's my job to figure out why and how. I'm fully capable in my technical abilities with Sheik, so if I knew the answer with my Ftilt question, I'd be playing significantly better because I could get more of them and without being punished. So improvement is about discovering things you don't know, and learning how to consistently perform these. It's like a pro player's mind for each match-up is a giant flow chart, while mine is a lot more general, and to become better, I have to break each section down to smaller and smaller individual pieces. Doing this live is hard, but a lot of fun.
And playing against those that are nearly equal in skill are enjoyable too in a different way. If I play a Falco that's roughly at my level in raw skill, then it's more about knowing what I can do, what the opponent can do, and I can leave out analyzing our gaps and focus much more on our patterns and gameplay. It's like playing a good player with a more general flow chart that works, but the opponent is good enough that I'm forced to put in brainpower and can't just rely on my intuition. Playing people like this help me focus much more on what I can do character-to-character. Doing an ineffective combo or move may work on someone that isn't at my skill level, or it could fail against a better player and I'll mistakenly think that the skill gap caused it. Against equal players, none of that gets in the way and I learn what actually works and doesn't. This helps a lot with building up my abilities in each match-up, and it's so exciting to see who will win each match, as opposed to going into the match with an idea of who will win.
For Singles, I had a Marth for my first match. I was pretty happy with getting him first round as I was doing well against him in friendlies earlier and I'm confident and most knowledgeable in that match-up compared to my other match-ups. But, I made sure to stay neutral and emotionless. I believe that being stoic is the best mental mindset to be in for important matches like tournaments, so that's what I do. I 2-0'd him without much trouble, which was unfortunate for him because I feel like he could have done well had he had a nicer first round match. So I moved on to my next opponent, Meta, who is Western Canada's top Jigglypuff. Before the match, I knew that it would be an upset if I beat him and that I would have to be playing nearly perfect for my skill level to do that. But during the matches, I knew that I had to remain absolutely calm and focused, and was very happy that I did that. In our first match on Dreamland, I got the first KO without being in death range, which was exciting, but I didn't let that affect me in the slightest and just continued with the match. I did really well but got 2-stocked. I counterpicked Battlefield since a low ceiling would be helpful for getting KOs. I was tempted to choose Stadium, but Meta also has a good Fox that I'd rather not have faced. However, my error was more in my playstyle against Jigglypuff than stage selection. Against Jigglypuff, I like to play defensively and slowly work up damage, while focusing on avoiding gimps and Rests. While I killed much faster than on Dreamland, I had a lot less space to work with and that wasn't enough to make up for the lower ceiling. I got Rested 3 of my stocks and gimped the other, while still taking 2 stocks, but struggling significantly more. I was really happy with my mindset though, since even down 1 stock to his 3, I remained calm and continued to play. I did change gear on how to play mentally though. When I have stocks to spare, I'm willing to trade 10% if it means I get an extra 20% on my opponent, but on my last stock and down by a lot, I had to play in a way to avoid all damage possible. So just a change of gears, but with the same emotionless play.
In Losers', I was fortunate to be the only player with a Bye after Winners' Round 2, and waited for whoever my opponent would be, planning ahead how I would play, etc. It turned out to be a Falco at my skill level, and I watched the previous set where he 2-0'd another Sheik player. Next up was Terrorbird vs me. Our first match was on Fountain of Dreams and we both went straight to our gameplans. I was willing to let my first stock be an investment to learning how he plays in tournament, and then I would work from there. I got my gimps and techchasing, while he got his combos and quick KOs. It was a good standard match. He SD'd at mid percent on his second stock though, but I didn't allow myself to get excited about it and just focused on the match. It came down to the last stock, last hit, and he got it with over 100% on him. Again, I didn't let it affect my mental game. I took him to Battlefield, we had another excellent game that came down to last stock, last hit, but that match I got it. The third match, I was considering my options character-wise. I do have Jigglypuff as a decent alternative, but twice I've switched characters at what could be my last game of the tournament and both times they've failed. Usually it's just a way to make the opponent more nervous and to hype myself up, but I decided I didn't want that trade and went with Sheik back to Fountain. Another really close match, but I was down 1 stock to his 2, and tried to suddenly change my playstyle to super aggressive and it worked for 1 stock. From there, I played my normal self before I was at over 100% and he was in his low 40s. I went to the edge and shino stalled in hopes that he would do something reckless, but he didn't. I was happy my tech skill didn't give out when the tournament for me was on the line right there. I carefully made my way back onto the stage, got a grab, got my techchases, got a small combo, and brought him up in percents too. From there, we both dodged each others' careful would-be finishing moves until he got a Bair and killed me with him having 120%. GGs.
My goal was 9th, and I got 13th, which wasn't terrible with how stacked the bracket was, but I didn't quite accomplish what I wanted to. It was close though, but a loss is a loss, whether it was like the set that went down or if I was 4-stocked twice instead. However, I was very happy with my gameplay, both in tournament and in friendlies. I was playing super consistently, my technical skill was flawless for my level, and I made only a few mistakes throughout the whole day. That makes my next step towards improvement on getting my overall skill up and not on any major aspect of the game.
I put a lot of effort and work into getting better because becoming a top player in Melee is one of my major goals right now. The day before the tournament, I went for a 5 hour walk as exercise for keeping my body in check to help my tech skill, and to give me a lot of time to think about the game. It also helped exhaust me to get a good night's sleep. I also got tested well on my mental game four days before in RBY, as I went against my rival in Winners' Semis. I lost the first two games, but stayed calm and stoic, won the following two, but lost the fifth. It also helped freed up my time to focus on Melee like I wanted to, as I've semi-retired from RBY, but was still busy with a tournament.
What's next for me is improving my overall game including making sure I consistently punish to KO, techchase correctly, and abuse what I can in each match-up. I also want to discover and learn how to predict higher level opponents than those I can already do that to, and let what I can do already become natural. Ultimately, I want to techchase like Tope, use platforms like Kirbykaze, gimp and abuse match-ups like Mew2King and play grounded like Amsah.
Like many players around the world, I'm a Melee player looking to become the best. Yesterday, I went to my 2nd BC tournament, learned a lot, met some awesome people and had a blast! I like to reflect on how I did and have it in writing somewhere so as I improve further, I can look at my old mindset and ways of seeing the game for comparison. I like to post about it here so that other rising players or anyone generally interested have something to read. I have a few previous blogs for those curious about the rest of my story.
Anyway, at my 1st BC tournament was back in June, I was a bit more skeptical about my performance since I wanted to leave a good first impression, but I was also in the middle of moving and living in a motel, so I couldn't practice too much either. This time around, I had a lot of training with Blunted Object, was able to play at home, and was much more relaxed with however my results would play out. I figured that if I did superbly well, I'd leave a nice mark and my hard work would pay off. If I did rather poor, I would have more motivation to keep playing and continue improving. Well, I didn't do either, but I gained the benefits of both.
I went to the tournament early to try to get as much time playing in as possible, and when I arrived, there were already a few players and went straight to friendlies. I played a lot with players my level and a bit below, and got a few matches against all the top players to make sure I played everyone.
Playing against multi-character players is always plays like a puzzle for me. I main Sheik, so lower-tiered characters are less of a problem for me, compared to mains of other characters, but usually players that use all sorts of characters tend to be really strong in the fundamentals of the game and know how to abuse a character's strong points. One player went through Falcon, Pikachu, Luigi and others, and I wasn't familiar with all the match-ups, so it was a challenge to figure out what I can do to a character based on my basic knowledge of said character, and knowing the abilities of Sheik. Doing this live of course, can be a bit tricky, and it's not always as simple as just grabbing Pikachu to win. A Pikachu player knows to avoid Sheik's grab at almost all costs, and they know how to make it difficult. Watching Axe vs Mew2King shows this really well. So when I try to do all sorts of mix-ups and tricks to get my grabs, but still overall limiting my unpredictability, I lose my stocks and matches, but when I piece more of what works and what I can do with my character to aid me in winning, I win without losing a stock. I really love being forced to think this way and it gives me a better view of learning match-ups. Falco and Fox to me now are just more complex and difficult puzzles, and there's a lot more to breakdown if I want to be successful.
After living in a small city in greater Vancouver with only Blunted Object nearby, it can be a bit rough getting beaten constantly. It's superb for learning the game and really being pushed to use 100% brainpower for each hit, and I'm improving at the game significantly faster with a much higher maximum. It's also tough mentally to constantly be improving and adding in little things to gameplay, only to get adapted to followed by more pummeling. If I can choose, I definitely prefer training with a high caliber player, but playing with others at my own level and below was nice and fun. Between each smashfest and tournament, I try to improve some more and by playing against those that I see regularly, I get to see my effort.
When playing against players a bit below in skill, it sort of gives me a natural feel for the game in what the right decision is and when to do it. I'm an analytical person and it bothers me that I can't pinpoint how I'm able to do this, and repeatedly. It just feels like I'm in complete control. I wonder if this is the way a top player feels and thinks when playing against players below their level, or if there's more to it and that's some sort of barrier I haven't broken yet. Playing against players below is also really motivating because of how much effort they're putting in to just hit you, and how happy they can get when they pull off something amazing, and you just get *****.
Playing against those way better also makes me think a lot. Washington came to the BC tournament, including Silent Wolf, and I got a few friendlies with him. As a Sheik, a super technical Fox is a huge obstacle in a lot of ways, and I haven't gotten to a level where I can overcome this. He's the perfect player to destroy me, and I like the way it makes me think. When I try my moves or grabs, he spaces and punishes really well and it's brutal for Sheik, but when he takes so many options away from me, it forces me to play better. I tried to look for these holes in my gameplay each stock, and do something different each time. On my first stock, I decided to just play how I would against other Foxs and just enjoy getting to play a pro I'm a fan of. I couldn't get anything going for me and got 4% in before getting KO'd, so I tried something a lot different and lost my stock without doing any damage. I got 4-stocked my first match with him and got a few hits in. The next match, I took 2 stocks. I try to look at how I'm succeeding in a big picture sort of way. Let's say I hit him with an Ftilt, but later I try Ftilt again and it doesn't work and I get punished. The reason why it gives different results is because there's a lot more to it than that. Perhaps I gave off the correct pressure, or changed my patterning he wasn't ready for or something, but I got that Ftilt to hit for a reason and it's my job to figure out why and how. I'm fully capable in my technical abilities with Sheik, so if I knew the answer with my Ftilt question, I'd be playing significantly better because I could get more of them and without being punished. So improvement is about discovering things you don't know, and learning how to consistently perform these. It's like a pro player's mind for each match-up is a giant flow chart, while mine is a lot more general, and to become better, I have to break each section down to smaller and smaller individual pieces. Doing this live is hard, but a lot of fun.
And playing against those that are nearly equal in skill are enjoyable too in a different way. If I play a Falco that's roughly at my level in raw skill, then it's more about knowing what I can do, what the opponent can do, and I can leave out analyzing our gaps and focus much more on our patterns and gameplay. It's like playing a good player with a more general flow chart that works, but the opponent is good enough that I'm forced to put in brainpower and can't just rely on my intuition. Playing people like this help me focus much more on what I can do character-to-character. Doing an ineffective combo or move may work on someone that isn't at my skill level, or it could fail against a better player and I'll mistakenly think that the skill gap caused it. Against equal players, none of that gets in the way and I learn what actually works and doesn't. This helps a lot with building up my abilities in each match-up, and it's so exciting to see who will win each match, as opposed to going into the match with an idea of who will win.
For Singles, I had a Marth for my first match. I was pretty happy with getting him first round as I was doing well against him in friendlies earlier and I'm confident and most knowledgeable in that match-up compared to my other match-ups. But, I made sure to stay neutral and emotionless. I believe that being stoic is the best mental mindset to be in for important matches like tournaments, so that's what I do. I 2-0'd him without much trouble, which was unfortunate for him because I feel like he could have done well had he had a nicer first round match. So I moved on to my next opponent, Meta, who is Western Canada's top Jigglypuff. Before the match, I knew that it would be an upset if I beat him and that I would have to be playing nearly perfect for my skill level to do that. But during the matches, I knew that I had to remain absolutely calm and focused, and was very happy that I did that. In our first match on Dreamland, I got the first KO without being in death range, which was exciting, but I didn't let that affect me in the slightest and just continued with the match. I did really well but got 2-stocked. I counterpicked Battlefield since a low ceiling would be helpful for getting KOs. I was tempted to choose Stadium, but Meta also has a good Fox that I'd rather not have faced. However, my error was more in my playstyle against Jigglypuff than stage selection. Against Jigglypuff, I like to play defensively and slowly work up damage, while focusing on avoiding gimps and Rests. While I killed much faster than on Dreamland, I had a lot less space to work with and that wasn't enough to make up for the lower ceiling. I got Rested 3 of my stocks and gimped the other, while still taking 2 stocks, but struggling significantly more. I was really happy with my mindset though, since even down 1 stock to his 3, I remained calm and continued to play. I did change gear on how to play mentally though. When I have stocks to spare, I'm willing to trade 10% if it means I get an extra 20% on my opponent, but on my last stock and down by a lot, I had to play in a way to avoid all damage possible. So just a change of gears, but with the same emotionless play.
In Losers', I was fortunate to be the only player with a Bye after Winners' Round 2, and waited for whoever my opponent would be, planning ahead how I would play, etc. It turned out to be a Falco at my skill level, and I watched the previous set where he 2-0'd another Sheik player. Next up was Terrorbird vs me. Our first match was on Fountain of Dreams and we both went straight to our gameplans. I was willing to let my first stock be an investment to learning how he plays in tournament, and then I would work from there. I got my gimps and techchasing, while he got his combos and quick KOs. It was a good standard match. He SD'd at mid percent on his second stock though, but I didn't allow myself to get excited about it and just focused on the match. It came down to the last stock, last hit, and he got it with over 100% on him. Again, I didn't let it affect my mental game. I took him to Battlefield, we had another excellent game that came down to last stock, last hit, but that match I got it. The third match, I was considering my options character-wise. I do have Jigglypuff as a decent alternative, but twice I've switched characters at what could be my last game of the tournament and both times they've failed. Usually it's just a way to make the opponent more nervous and to hype myself up, but I decided I didn't want that trade and went with Sheik back to Fountain. Another really close match, but I was down 1 stock to his 2, and tried to suddenly change my playstyle to super aggressive and it worked for 1 stock. From there, I played my normal self before I was at over 100% and he was in his low 40s. I went to the edge and shino stalled in hopes that he would do something reckless, but he didn't. I was happy my tech skill didn't give out when the tournament for me was on the line right there. I carefully made my way back onto the stage, got a grab, got my techchases, got a small combo, and brought him up in percents too. From there, we both dodged each others' careful would-be finishing moves until he got a Bair and killed me with him having 120%. GGs.
My goal was 9th, and I got 13th, which wasn't terrible with how stacked the bracket was, but I didn't quite accomplish what I wanted to. It was close though, but a loss is a loss, whether it was like the set that went down or if I was 4-stocked twice instead. However, I was very happy with my gameplay, both in tournament and in friendlies. I was playing super consistently, my technical skill was flawless for my level, and I made only a few mistakes throughout the whole day. That makes my next step towards improvement on getting my overall skill up and not on any major aspect of the game.
I put a lot of effort and work into getting better because becoming a top player in Melee is one of my major goals right now. The day before the tournament, I went for a 5 hour walk as exercise for keeping my body in check to help my tech skill, and to give me a lot of time to think about the game. It also helped exhaust me to get a good night's sleep. I also got tested well on my mental game four days before in RBY, as I went against my rival in Winners' Semis. I lost the first two games, but stayed calm and stoic, won the following two, but lost the fifth. It also helped freed up my time to focus on Melee like I wanted to, as I've semi-retired from RBY, but was still busy with a tournament.
What's next for me is improving my overall game including making sure I consistently punish to KO, techchase correctly, and abuse what I can in each match-up. I also want to discover and learn how to predict higher level opponents than those I can already do that to, and let what I can do already become natural. Ultimately, I want to techchase like Tope, use platforms like Kirbykaze, gimp and abuse match-ups like Mew2King and play grounded like Amsah.
