AntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAnther
Preview of what is quite probably the PR list by my guess
1. Anther
2. LOE1
3. Zinoto
4. Super
5. Lordy
6. Benji
7. fZk
8. Blake
My thoughts on what it should be
1. Anther
2. LOE1
3. Super
4. Benji/Zinoto
5. Benji/Zinoto/Lordy
6. Lordy/Zinoto
7. L_Cancel
8. Daddy's Kisses
I have no idea where Zinoto falls, but I'm confident in my abilities to overcome him, and honestly confident that Lordy could as well, but Benji would have a harder time because of character pride more than anything. Having played all but Zinoto, I can only say I'm a bit shaky on the last spot, and of course 4-6. We've always had difficulty in this region simply because there are a lot of traded wins, and a lot of growing between tournaments. Can I beat Benji now? I don't know, the most recent match against him was Charizard vs. DK in Crews with a 2 stock deficit. Are sets against Anther and myself going to devolve into blind picks Game 1? Probably. Am I finally going to calm down against LOE1 and not run into every Side B ever? We'll see.
Benji is often beating out Lordy in their sets, but he has a more difficult time dealing with unique characteristics, such as Squirtle's movement or Pikachu's QAC. Lordy stays the most consistent against his state, with very few upsets appearing against him as the rest of the state improves. LMT is taking great strides in the state, proving that he is the best Link in the state and likely will be showing up strong in the next PR. TBird's greatest problem is running into roadblocks against his own housemate or Melee vets with plenty of Falcon experience, and yet he deserves a steady eye as a real threat in MI. I always hear the same words from every middle-ground player who has run against TBird - they lose, and they talk about that randy Falcon. L_Cancel's Mario is heavy on solid fundamentals, but is he gonna work even harder on developing PM tech and picking up his speed? He's already taken on and even beat a few of the nation's strongest players in Brawl, so his transition to PM is all that's holding him back. LOE1 has more recently defeated Zinoto in nearly all their recent tournaments, and soundly took two sets from me(after this season was over). But he has certain weaknesses to certain characters, and most of them seem mental, so the question of how good he is outside of MI is questionable, however his victory against Carls was a step in the right direction, and if he could start bringing Anther down a set, or even a few games, and I'd feel more comfortable with our minor Smasher leading PM. Especially if he downloaded the blasted game.
The thing holding back our game on a national level though is likely the fact that our top PM-focused players, which are Anther, Lordy, and Myself, live a good distance from each other, and there is not a strong Netplay presence in our state at all. If Emukiller proved anything at SKTAR, Netplay experience translates greatly into offline play. It does take a mildly impressive rig to run Netplay, though, so I don't actually blame anyone on this, but if does greatly hold MI back.
What's worse, though, is what is holding back our game on a regional level. Outside of Anther's level, which is built from three solid games worth of learning his character, none of us stack up to Chicago, and other Midwest power areas are teeming with talent. I think this comes from a lack of play between the two sides of the state. I have never seen IC or Nom come out to a West MI tournament, and honestly it's rare to see some interplay between East MI in general - Daddy's Kisses is an amazing Mewtwo, but I've only seen that's he's rarely entered a tournament out east, instead coming out to, I believe three? Three separate West MI events. This is someone who I could see handily taking on the known PR and taking names right away. Does East MI even known him as a threat? Does East MI know of Robjoe, who almost always is taken out early by a high ranking player? Not to mention that A2 is starting to clean house in Muskegon, now consistently getting stronger wins over the local scene, defeating the usual gatekeepers of skill, Storm/Smalls, ManaX, and Sophy. I think Tech_Chase will be happy that his favorite Smasher now has some burgeoning skill to back up his crazier style. I know I don't know many players in East MI outside Tech, Nom, IC(barely), and some Brawl players who play PM with some consistancy(Ori, Xatic, etc.).
Next season I am predicting a bloodbath in skill. There are a lot of good players chomping at the bit to claim sets from the foreseeable PR, such as Daddy's Kisses, Tech_Chase, Nom, Jawsome, IC and Robjoe. Some have even already taken said sets from shoe-in PR players. If they push themselves that extra distance, I doubt that 'the players will even out and settle' as what some people claimed. In fact, I would say no one's position is even close to safe.
AntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAntherAnther