Midwest [May 2, 2015] Sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings and KTAR SPAU 4 Project:M and Smash4 (Livonia, MI)

[Gifts]

I'm sorry you probably lost game 1 due to your opponent being either a) a better player than yourself or b) just simply outplayed. So let's just add in walk off's and wall infinates that the character you are using has to try and balance out the factor that my opponent is better than myself. Does it make yourself feel better that you possibly beat a better player than yourself using some jank *** method that your counter pick allows you to do? Damn, it takes so much skill to do that. I hope you loose game 3 because you don't deserve the set win if thats the case.

 

[SoulPech]

I'm sorry you probably lost game 1 due to your opponent being either a) a better player than yourself or b) just simply outplayed. So let's just add in walk off's and wall infinates that the character you are using has to try and balance out the factor that my opponent is better than myself. Does it make yourself feel better that you possibly beat a better player than yourself using some jank *** method that your counter pick allows you to do? Damn, it takes so much skill to do that. I hope you loose game 3 because you don't deserve the set win if thats the case.

The character i use has no infinites...exept jab lock. I'll give you an example of the Puff vs Snake MU. Snake walls Puff very easily. Grenades keep her out, she has difficulty of approaching, and when I get close you can either grab then dthrow me or utilt me or just DACUS to the other side then repeat the process. Now add platforms with you underneath one (like Battlefield). It limits her approach game by either coming from behind or the front. In this case, her best chance to win on a neutral stage is to either go on FD because it's big and no platforms or Smashville because it has a moving platform. It's possible that I can win, but the difficulty is getting in, throwing off stage, then hope for a gimp.

Now add a counterpick, like Delfino. With the constant changes of the stage, as well as the ability to fly underneath it, it increases Puffs approach game. Also, the platforms are far apart and slanted, which means her runaway game is increased too. Sure, it makes it a little difficult for Snake, but that's why it's called a "counterpick".

 

[Gifts]

I wasnt talking to you.

Edit: here soulpeach ill make one for you to.

Game 1 either loose because the opponemt you are facing is either a) better than you are or b) get outplayed. Complain that your character has bad mu's. Counterpick to a jank stage because you hope it will help contribute to you trying to bring the skill gap between you and your opponent. Possinly win because of the jank happening. Loose game 3 because there is nothing jank you can fall back on.

 

[Eddie G]

If you main a bad character or a character with glaring flaws - too bad...work through them or pick someone else with a more feasible chance of performing well.

If you are reliant on stage gimmicks to give your character a boost instead of outplaying your opponent (for the most part) - you may need to reevaluate your outlook on the game if your intention is not only to win, but to convince people that your wins actually matter and weren't excessively aided by jank.

If you main Jigglypuff - what the **** are you doing?

I main Peach, and I acknowledge the fact that a high level/educated Metaknight is an impossible matchup to win. I accept that there are other characters who handle certain stages and situations better than she does. it is the entire reason why I've branched off into other characters just as I've done in previous Smash titles (and other fighters in general), so that I'm not stuck with just one tournament-ready option the whole time. Case in point - I think solo maining a "bad-to-decent" character in a game like Brawl is one of the dumbest things that any player with a shred of competitive drive could possibly do. Furthermore, those who solo main characters don't really have a place in stagelist debates since chances are they will be thinking of things from a single character perspective.

 

[JTsm]

Also, i agree with tutu... derek, i know you are better than that. :/

He dun liek me =/

Just to make things very clear, the SKTAR ruleset for DOUBLES will have the APEX stagelist.
Singles is JP stagelist.

I also want to point out is that if we can't play on a variety of rulesets and can only focus on one, then how are you going to get better? MI is terrible with be adaptable in general. Stop johning so much and just try this ruleset out. We only had TWO tournaments (that I know of) that used JP ruleset.

 

[SoulPech]

If you main a bad character or a character with glaring flaws - too bad...work through them or pick someone else with a more feasible chance of performing well.

If you are reliant on stage gimmicks to give your character a boost instead of outplaying your opponent (for the most part) - you may need to reevaluate your outlook on the game if your intention is not only to win, but to convince people that your wins actually matter and weren't excessively aided by jank.

If you main Jigglypuff - what the **** are you doing?

If I main a character, then my intentions are: a) I dont' think it's a bad character b) I want to improve the meta of the character or c) I'm just a stubborn **** who doesn't want to switch xD

I guess I look at it as "Instead of switching the character (someone whom you love to play), why not try switching stages or using a stage that puts your character more in favor?

 

[Ori_bro]

Since you guys are talking stagelists, I think I'll bring something to the table that DeLux and I discussed once. On skype a while back DeLux and I got onto the stagelist topic. We then discussed what would a really fair stagelist look like?

In my honest opinion, a fair stagelist would be one where there were no gimmicky stages and the counterpicks were stages that have near neutral qualities but offer enough of a difference when compared to the starters they are not considered neutral. This is something we came up with (don't quote me on this but I believe this was what we came up with). It is essentially an APEX2012xJPN stagelist.

[COLLAPSE="APEXanese stagelist"]
Starter
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Pokemon Stadium
- Smashville
- Yoshi's Island

Counterpicks
- Castle Siege
- Lylat Cruise
- Delfino Plaza



Stages removed; Halberd, Frigate
[/COLLAPSE]

I would love to test this stagelist out. It is completely unique and I can say I've never seen this used before. It gives more room for people to take certain Top/High Tiers to stages they have a much easier time on and it removes the reliance of gimmicks (Stage flips of Frigate and the Claw/Bomb/Laser of Halberd.)


just my $0.02

Also the Ruleset needs to stay with APEX. The only thing about the JPN ruleset i like is the scrooging rule, but timeouts don't happen much in MI especially when involving our s they don't camp. The only thing that camps in MI is

 

[JTsm]

In my honest opinion, a fair stagelist would be one where there were no gimmicky stages and the counterpicks were stages that have near neutral qualities but offer enough of a difference when compared to the starters they are not considered neutral. This is something we came up with (don't quote me on this but I believe this was what we came up with). It is essentially an APEX2012xJPN stagelist.

By your logic, JP has that. 3 Neutrals SV, BF and FD. Then you have the CPs that are neutrals, but they are a little bit different than usual. YI (Slants on the base, platform moves side to side slowly and random ghost appearing on the sides), PS1 (Stage changes often; Fire,Water,Grass, and Ground stage + the stage you start off with), and finally Lylat(The stage itself tilts one side to the other). So I already have that. But lets see your CP's.

[COLLAPSE="APEXanese stagelist"]
Starter
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Pokemon Stadium
- Smashville
- Yoshi's Island

Counterpicks
- Castle Siege
- Lylat Cruise
- Delfino Plaza



Stages removed; Halberd, Frigate
[/COLLAPSE]

I like that you removed Halberd and Frigate, but then again you have two stages that have walkoffs and both are huge for potential camping and can be GREAT for top tiers.

I would love to test this stagelist out. It is completely unique and I can say I've never seen this used before. It gives more room for people to take certain Top/High Tiers to stages they have a much easier time on and it removes the reliance of gimmicks (Stage flips of Frigate and the Claw/Bomb/Laser of Halberd.)

If that's what you like as a TO, then do it. It all just comes down to a matter of preference. With the APEX stagelist, you still have top tiers being able to manipulate better than the lower tiers. With JP stagelist your are essentially making it less campy. With APEX you are coddling lower tiers and giving them some loophole.


Also the Ruleset needs to stay with APEX. The only thing about the JPN ruleset i like is the scrooging rule, but timeouts don't happen much in MI especially when involving our s they don't camp. The only thing that camps in MI is

How could you forget ??????

All my responses in bold.

 

[Revolution6 aka alterego]

how does JP ruleset stop camping i want to know this? cus campy players are gonna camp no matter the ruleset

 

[JTsm]

I should probably rephrase and say that there are less opportunities to camp.

 

[Revolution6 aka alterego]

i still don't see it, i actually camp more on neutrals than i do on CPs. then again.... i'm wierd like that. camping is not gonna stop or get limited cus the most played stages are neutrals anyway

 

[Ori_bro]

Uhhh lemme figure out how to respond to your responses haha.

"By your logic, JP has that. 3 Neutrals SV, BF and FD. Then you have the CPs that are neutrals, but they are a little bit different than usual. YI (Slants on the base, platform moves side to side slowly and random ghost appearing on the sides), PS1 (Stage changes often; Fire,Water,Grass, and Ground stage + the stage you start off with), and finally Lylat(The stage itself tilts one side to the other). So I already have that. But lets see your CP's."

Those have been the Midwest starters since like I can remember. IMO a 5 stage starter is stronger and better than a 3. PS1 is much more neutral when compared to Lylat, thats why it is a starter.

"I like that you removed Halberd and Frigate, but then again you have two stages that have walkoffs and both are huge for potential camping and can be GREAT for top tiers."

Those stages can be CP stages I have no problem with them being legal but with this list its better they arent legal. Getting on point, certain parts of a stage transformation can be gimmicky but by that logic we should remove PS1 even as a CP stage because it has walls on 2 transformations and a mini cave of life with the windmill all of which help characters especially top tiers. CS and DP aren't neutral by nature, but have redeeming qualities of neutral/counterpick stages. Also any stage can promote camping. If I was to bust out the MLG stats from the 2010 Circuit a VERY large percentage of timeouts happened on Smashville when compared to stages like Brinstar, Rainbow Cruise, and the other stages in question.

"If that's what you like as a TO, then do it. It all just comes down to a matter of preference. With the APEX stagelist, you still have top tiers being able to manipulate better than the lower tiers. With JP stagelist your are essentially making it less campy. With APEX you are coddling lower tiers and giving them some loophole."

I may try it at my next tourney or even do it at a smashfest because it would be nice to test it out. Whatever stagelist you look at, a Top Tier will always beat a Low Tier because Top Tier characters are better by nature. Mario will lose to Dedede on any starter/cp stage. Ness will lose to falco on any legal stage. Its the way it works. Better characters will do better.

"How could you forget ??????"

Yooooooooooooooo I'm so foolish xD

 

[Damittom]

You are missing the point.

Static stages themselvs don't hinder characters. It's just that top tier characters have a huge advantage on static stages, and since they pretty much beat the majority of the cast, other characters like do poor. Having a stagelist with just static stages gives those characters a huge disadvantage.

I feel that the Apex stagelist just balances the game overall, because the cast in this game is s unbalanced that some chars actually NEED CPs.

top tier characters have a huge advantage on static stages because they are top tier characters. All counterpick stages do is give bad characters a false sense of being good by giving them some gimick to abuse.

That is the point. Top tiers have a huge advantage on neutral stages because they are top tiers, not because of the stage.

 

[Sparta Kick]

Ban MK, bring back Brinstar and RC.

 

[Revolution6 aka alterego]

Ban MK, bring back Brinstar and RC.

i agree with this

 

[clowsui]

The more starters you have, the more accurate striking becomes in determining the fairest stage. Starters should always be 7-9 in size for that reason.

And when the hell did everyone get backwards? Top tiers are top tiers because they are good on many stages.

 

[Zinoto]

[COLLAPSE="APEXanese stagelist"]
Starter
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Pokemon Stadium
- Smashville
- Yoshi's Island

Counterpicks
- Castle Siege
- Lylat Cruise
- Delfino Plaza



Stages removed; Halberd, Frigate
[/collapse]

I would do a few changes, but I kinda like that ruleset. Lylat should replace PS1 as a neutral (Lylat is much more static than PS1) and if there's gonna be a jank stage like Delfino or CS, there should only be 2 CPs. This way we can opt out of bathe more jankier ones. I think it should look like:

Starter
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Lylat Cruise
- Smashville
- Yoshi's Island

Counterpicks
- Pokemon Stadium
- Delfino Plaza/Castle/Frigate

Frigate is less janky than Delfino IMO.

 

[Ori_bro]

Why do Dan's posts always make me laugh haha

I think I'm stuck in my '08/'09 Midwest ways of having PS1 > Lylat haha. I think both stages are equally janky and could be starter/cp

 

[What's The Point]

Frigate is less janky than Delfino and Seige. Halberd is about as janky. Depends on how you value stage attacks against ****ty stage layouts.


For the most part, bad characters don't do good on bad stages. Top tiers generally.do better on CPs than most characters. The only top tiers that really have stage issues are IC and Falco. People just pick the CP stages because they personally like the stage or they hope it will mess up their oppenent more than them.

 

[Apasher]

I'm sorry you probably lost game 1 due to your opponent being either a) a better player than yourself or b) just simply outplayed. So let's just add in walk off's and wall infinates that the character you are using has to try and balance out the factor that my opponent is better than myself. Does it make yourself feel better that you possibly beat a better player than yourself using some jank *** method that your counter pick allows you to do? Damn, it takes so much skill to do that. I hope you loose game 3 because you don't deserve the set win if thats the case.

This post would actually make sense if this game actually had a balanced cast of chars.

 

[Ori_bro]

I almost forgot this was a tourney thread :x

 

[clowsui]

If the opponent gets messed up more than the other dude, then that's why game 3 the other dude is just gonna get bodied lol

Brawl, theoretically speaking, could be a very character diverse game in the sense that everybody would try to learn a character that's strong on all the counterpicks their main character is weak on or learn character(s) for counterpick(s). That was one of the biggest reasons why pro-banners wanted MK banned - because with a large stage list, MK ruined character diversity by being too good on every single stage.

edit: look all the questions have been very loaded and one-sided so far, so in the interest of continuing that trend I ask this:

As the stage list has shrunk, D3 and GW have become less and less viable. This is because these two characters are overwhelmingly strong on a HUGE variety of counterpick stages but face uphill battles on starter stages.

As the stage list has shrunk, Falco and IC have become stronger and stronger. This is because these two characters possess strengths that are hindered by aspects of counterpick stages.

Why should we arbitrarily be able to decide that D3 and GW deserve to be nerfed more than Falco and IC? Why do we call tactics that D3 and GW use "gimmicks" on counterpicks yet we call the dumb **** that Falco and IC do on starters "skilled"?

Edit 2:

I don't care which ruleset anyone uses. I like playing Brawl because of the community and because I like its cast and mechanics. But if you are running a ruleset backed by preference and not logic, be honest and up front about it. There is nothing wrong with preference, except that people pass it off as truth. I'm aware of the potential hypocrisy of that statement, but I'm willing to defend the objectivity of my statements.

 

[Rabbi Nevins]

Apasher youre just copying what tech said. You haven't give any good arguments aside from you want to gimmick your way into a victory. Sorry your character isn't as good as others, but that's the game. You can't force balance on a game that isn't balanced, you're just going to cause issues. The Japanese make it work so obviously it's not that terrible.

How convenient their average player skill is also leaps and bounds ahead of us. Youd think emulating them would be the first step in improving. Apasher have jank stages been saving you in the past? No. Why are you of all people not willing to try something new more?

If you play a bad character: sorry. But that's the game. Tutu plays the lowest tier character of all of you, except Soulpech, and he is for this stagelist. The fact of the matter is this game is not balanced, the low tiers are very much worse than others, but you all know that. That's the game, you can't beat around the bush and try to give your bad character a chance to win. D3 isn't that bad of a character even, he shouldn't need to rely on weird stages.

 

[Ori_bro]

If you play a bad character: sorry. But that's the game. Tutu plays the lowest tier character of all of you, except Soulpech, and he is for this stagelist. The fact of the matter is this game is not balanced, the low tiers are very much worse than others, but you all know that. That's the game, you can't beat around the bush and try to give your bad character a chance to win. D3 isn't that bad of a character even, he shouldn't need to rely on weird stages.

Sheik also gets a HUGE buff in the Japanese Stagelist.

I mean look at her on the Japanese Tier List She is C-Tier in Japan compared to E-Tier in the US.

I'm just saiyan

 

[Roller]

Marco, pointing to Tutu wasn't the best direction for your finger.

Aim it closer to where you and your bro are standing, imo.


Also. The vast majority of you are being complete idiots.

 

[Gifts]

@clowsui icies for example have to master a cg that is practically different for every songle character. And even then they still can possibly mess is up. How much skill does it take to grab a character and d throw hem into a wall or walk off? None, my 8 year old sister could do that. This is why it's gimmicky.

 

[clowsui]

How convenient their average player skill is also leaps and bounds ahead of us. Youd think emulating them would be the first step in improving. Apasher have jank stages been saving you in the past? No. Why are you of all people not willing to try something new more?

Marco you and I will always be friends but I'm going to have to call you out on this one.

Japanese skill levels are likely to have far, far far less to do with ruleset and more to do with population density, strength of internet w/ respect to national size, and organization.

1. Population density - Japan is extremely population dense. As such they have convenient methods of public transportation that allow them to host and travel to smashfests very easily.
2. Strength of internet + national size - Japan is a small island nation that has extremely broken internet. Their connection doesn't get worse than yellow. As such, even with no players nearby, a player can become very strong by playing online. A lot of their killers are Wifi Warriors. RAIN, for example, is in the S tier of online warriors. People have to ascend from G rank to S rank to reach RAIN and his club of players (which include SLS, Masha, Kakera, Otori and a few others).
3. Organization - Japanese people all use the same smash website online, Smacom. All of them can connect to each other very easily. America doesn't have anything close to this.

Edit: @Gifts ESAM categorizes characters when it comes to memorizing CGs. Also difficulty of performance shouldn't be a consideration, as every maneuver in the long run should be equally consistent. Just because it takes less practice to master CG'ing w D3 does not make it any less competitively legitimate than IC CG

 

[What's The Point]

D3 and GW do great on starter stages. D3 can use Delfino for chain grabbable characters and Halberd for lights, but besides that he should pick starters. I can't really think of a good reason for GW to take anyone to a CP besides the "hope my opponent ****s up" factor.

 

[Damittom]

GW just doesn't get hurt by any counter picks. For GW you cp to your opponent's character, not to what stage GW is the best on. So against Olimar go to Frigate against Wario go to FD, that sort of thing.

 

[What's The Point]

More readon why the winner shouldn't be able to change characters. We let people opt out of getting counterpicked. That was fine when RC and Brinstar were legal but stages are fine now.

 

[Gifts]

Chi i was more reffering to stage specifics (walk off's and walls) rather than character specifics. My post may have been a bit misleading since i was comparing two characters cg's.

Appologies, my phone is frustrating to use atmbecause its been locking up and not lettimg me post half the time. That post alone i had to type up like 4 times and it got shorter and shorter each time.

 

[Rabbi Nevins]

Marco you and I will always be friends but I'm going to have to call you out on this one.

Japanese skill levels are likely to have far, far far less to do with ruleset and more to do with population density, strength of internet w/ respect to national size, and organization.

1. Population density - Japan is extremely population dense. As such they have convenient methods of public transportation that allow them to host and travel to smashfests very easily.
2. Strength of internet + national size - Japan is a small island nation that has extremely broken internet. Their connection doesn't get worse than yellow. As such, even with no players nearby, a player can become very strong by playing online. A lot of their killers are Wifi Warriors. RAIN, for example, is in the S tier of online warriors. People have to ascend from G rank to S rank to reach RAIN and his club of players (which include SLS, Masha, Kakera, Otori and a few others).
3. Organization - Japanese people all use the same smash website online, Smacom. All of them can connect to each other very easily. America doesn't have anything close to this.

Edit: @Gifts ESAM categorizes characters when it comes to memorizing CGs. Also difficulty of performance shouldn't be a consideration, as every maneuver in the long run should be equally consistent. Just because it takes less practice to master CG'ing w D3 does not make it any less competitively legitimate than IC CG

I wasn't at all meaning to attribute all Japanese skill with stages, because stages shouldn't make or break the game anyways. I was only saying if it works for them the clearly it's a working system. I mean in the end it really doesn't matter, keep all the jank stages desired and you're right back where you started.

Whatever stage you all choose I'm gonna **** you up. So it's all good

 

[Ori_bro]

Whatever stage you all choose I'm gonna **** you up. So it's all good

this is why i liek you marco

 

[Apasher]

D3 isn't that bad of a character even

D3 is just bad in tourney. He's an okay character in general, but since Brawl is basically a CP game, a lot of people simply CP him, because his numerous amount of bad MUs.... and those chars are commonly used in tourney.

I actually think it is better to just use him as a pocket char, but I feel more comfortable maining him.

 

[JTsm]

Wow, you guys are taking this too seriously. SKTAR ruleset is final. And like I said before and I will say it again, it all comes down to preferences. There are so many ways to look at things, but I like to keep this simple. lol.

 

[Ori_bro]

I don't think anyone was telling you to change the Ruleset. I think it just turned into a ruleset debate haha.

 

[Roller]

EDIT: I KNOW THIS POST IS LONG. BUT. I am not trolling in it, and sincerely feel many of you would greatly benefit from reading it in it's entirety.


If you can't beat someone's jankass pocket olimar, then you quite frankly need to get better at the game.

Or just cp them yourself if that strategy seems so good to you (you being anyone with that mindset, not targeting Apasher in this instance)

I'm tired of people blaming others'/there own success or lack there of respectively on their characters.



YOU CHOSE TO PLAY THE DAMN CHARACTER. Why the hell are you *****ing about it? If you hate more about the character than you like.. MAIN SOMEONE ELSE. I have no sympathy for someone who chooses to main a **** character then *****es about how the rules don't cater to them. If you are picking a **** character, and acknowledge that they are not as good as other characters, then you are inherently and necessarily sabotaging your success in tourneys.

People who play these characters often have other reasons, like SoulPech listed. The thing is, most of those reasons are not reasoning that someone with a truly competitive, play to win mindset uses. If you truly want to do your best in tournaments, choose the character you believe gives you the best shot at doing so.

The honest truth is that most people who pick bad/subpar characters are scared. Scared that they can't succeed, even if they were to use mk/diddy/ics/oli/etc.

So they give themselves an out.

"Yeah, you won. Congrats on winning that +3 matchup with one of the best characters in the game."

"Wow. You beat a jigglypuff. You should be proud."

What the people who say those things are really doing is putting themselves in no lose scenarios.

If you win with a **** character.

"OH ****. You just lost to a Dedede with Diddy! GET BODDIEDDDDD."
"You got 3 stocked by Sheik while using ICs? o."

If you lose... Same type of things I said above.

"Good job winning against my bad character."
"You only win because you use high tiers."


I've had people try to tell me it takes/shows character, or courage, or loyalty to use a bad character.

No. It shows cowardice and fear.

You want to show courage? Play metaknight.

Seriously. Hold yourself, and have the entire rest of the community hold you accountable for your wins and losses. Enter a tournament without being able to john. Try your best with your best option. Stop holding yourself back.

The worst part is that these scared individuals seek each other out (in their ****ty character boards) and reinforce each other with their own non-competitive ideals. They think by supporting each other's viewpoints and justifications for using the ****ty character in question they are helping each other out.

What they are actually doing is perpetuating a mindset of fear, non-competitiveness, and oftentimes a prejudice against those who ARE playing to win, and who ARE using a competitive mindset.

Actually, you know what? I misspoke. (mistyped?) That isn't the worst part. There is something worse about these players.

THEY USUALLY DON'T EVEN REALIZE THEY'RE DOING THIS.



They truly, honestly believe that they ARE being courageous, or loyal, or whatever other justifying virtue they choose to tell themselves.

These people who claim to be competitive and play to win, and yet complain about their characters not being good enough to give them a realistic shot at performing as well as they possibly can; or complaining about those who DO use those characters are delusional.

That is the most accurate word I can think of to describe them.

DELUSIONAL.

Yeah. It's harsh. This whole post is. But this is a serious problem in the community. It needs to be addressed as such. And NOBODY is doing so. At least not publicly.

Anyone who can't see the truth to what I'm saying...

You need a stronger prescription.



Don't pick a bad character (and by so doing making a noncompetitive choice); then demand rule changes in the spirit of "competitiveness" which take away from the ACTUAL competitive players' tests of skill, just so that you get your little extra handicap. (As though always having an excuse when you lose wasn't enough of a handicap to begin with...)

I'm going to end this with something most of you have probably seen or heard at some point before.

But many of you NEED this to sink in.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”


Stop being afraid.

 

[What's The Point]

Roller, pay attention to the professor.

 

[Eddie G]

Excellent post, Roller. Perfectly conveyed the message I've been trying to give to these "happy-go-lucky" types for a while now, and not an ounce of remorse within those words. Well done.

If you main a bad character (ESPECIALLY solo main) and refuse to expand your options for the sake of a better competitive chance while still "wanting" to win, the LAST thing you need to concern yourselves with is the stage selection. If your fundamentals, knowledge, tech, and consistency aren't all up to par as a result of actual practice...you're most likely going to lose to the better player anyway, jank or not. Getting that extra, what...maybe .5% chance of winning on account of jank assistance is an absolute waste of time and effort. Watch vids, practice your **** until it's like riding a bike, and if all else fails...play a better character or shut up about all of the losing to better characters, or boasting about how your character MAY have beaten such and such, etc. It's astonishing just how much money people are willing to throw towards a futile effort on a monthly/bi-monthly basis. At least give yourself a feasible chance to break even, if that.

There's a reason why a good majority of the Japanese players can consistently pull off important maneuvers/techs for their characters to a scary degree...because it's obvious they don't concern themselves with having an easy way out of anything. Sure there's that instance with Masha getting M2K DQ'd for any of you smartasses who want to reference it - but that's also M2K's fault for not educating himself and/or having such a "play on the border of legality" mentality built into his play, the risk is clearly there.

And to those who might say: "Oh but they have constant interaction with one another in such a small country, so that's why they can practice so much!", I say "so what?". Look at Salem...wifi monster, had little to no interaction with any players in person for who knows how long. Got to where he is strictly off of wifi and perhaps practice sessions alone. It can be done. However, the independent variable in this being that his character isn't complete ****ing sewer waste.

 

[Damittom]

^^^ I'm so gonna break that out next time someone starts an MK banned discussion.