Need help on being consistent

[hype machine]

This is more of a rant rather than a request for help lol

Anyways about two weeks ago I was very good at the game I could 4 stock lvl 9 CPUs while playing autopilot. And I could 2-3 stock my friend by going easy on him and 4 stock him In try hard mode. And my friend is really good at the game he's the third best player at my local tourney, which has other really good players like Boss (ranked 20th). Anyways I went to the local tourney myself to compete.this was the first time I entered in a tournoment. Surprisingly I got destroyed and was knocked out in 3 matches. It felt like I was playing the game for the first time and I was missing All My fast falls and l cancels. My friend was watching me the whole time and told me what was I doing? And said I could do way better than that. When I got back home after the tournoment I started practicing my techskill for about an hour then when I went to play against lvl 9 CPUs. I started struggling against them and could only win about half the time, I was very fustrated so I put the game down for a week hoping it isn't permanent. My friend comes over to my house today, and we started playing project m and he beat me consistently even when I was trying my hardest. After he left I went to go play against some lvl 9 CPUs and still struggled against them. I don't understand how I was so good 2 weeks ago but now I'm playing worse then I was when I first played the Game, even when my tech skill improved over the last 2 weeks. This is really frustrating for me and was wondering if anyone had some similar experiences.

 

[Foo]

Sounds like you are having a mental block from having your skills put into check. Not sure how exactly to get around that, but I struggled from the same thing. At my local, I would always get 4th because I choked before I could get into the top 3. One time I thought I was an absolute shoo-in in even knocked out a sonic player I was terrified of playing against, but then choked against a player I 3 stocked in winners bracket and lost in losers semis. After that, I had a mental block too and started losing skill and almost wanted to quick. Eventually though, I got over it and came back strong. What helped me was actually the release of 3.5. It made me hate zss for a bit, so I switched characters and that complete change of pace helped me get out of it.

As for the first part, it's very normal for newer tournament players to mess up a lot of tech skill when they first enter. There is no faster way to get better than to just keep playing in tournament against good players. Other than that, only solutions I can give you is to stay hydrated, eat good food throughout the day, and try listening to music as you play.

 

[GabPR]

Cpus create bad habits due to their lack of mind games / are really predictable. Try harding against them is even worse since like you said, you go autopilot against them, then you will start going autopilot against real players (which a smart player can really exploit).

I would suggest to practice your movement more (wave dashing, wavelanding, long amd short dash dances) and stop playing cpus as much. Just use them for practicing DI, or techs, posibly tech chases as well. Also if you are able play against people more, if no one is around you could always try wifi (much better to go against a thinking opponent with lag than a CPU mindles one.)

 

[hype machine]

Cpus create bad habits due to their lack of mind games / are really predictable. Try harding against them is even worse since like you said, you go autopilot against them, then you will start going autopilot against real players (which a smart player can really exploit)

I would suggest to practice your movement more (wave dashing, wavelanding, long amd short dash dances) and stop playing cpus as much. Just use them for practicing DI, or techs, posibly tech chases as well. Also if you are able play against people more, if no one is around you could always try wifi (much better to go against a thinking opponent with lag than a CPU mindles one.)

I don't practice CPUs for mind games, I practice on them to improve my punish game, I find it harder to punish a moving target rather than a standing target. I also can wavedash on command about 95% of the time but haven't had enough practice against real people to apply it.
Also about the wifi thing, does it lag? Because I feel like it will mess up my timing on l cancels and fast falls and possibly wavedashing

 

[Royal-X]

I don't practice CPUs for mind games, I practice on them to improve my punish game, I find it harder to punish a moving target rather than a standing target. I also can wavedash on command about 95% of the time but haven't had enough practice against real people to apply it.
Also about the wifi thing, does it lag? Because I feel like it will mess up my timing on l cancels and fast falls and possibly wavedashing

Depending on the connection between you and your opponent. It might lag but it might run smoothly. There's a lot of factors involved in it. As a person who plays both wifi and local people offline I feel as it only takes a few games to adapt to the differences.
Anywho, first time tournament experiences can throw anyone off who's not used to it. I think if you start going to the tournament regularly and play better players you'll find your skill and tech come back.

 

[Binary Clone]

Also about the wifi thing, does it lag? Because I feel like it will mess up my timing on l cancels and fast falls and possibly wavedashing[/quote]
Spend time just practicing movement instead of practicing against CPUs. Set time to infinite and play by yourself on various stages, just practicing dashdancing, wavedashing, and wavelanding around the stage. That'll help more than you might think.

Wi-Fi does lag, by it's nature. It's not as bad as Brawl's Wi-Fi lag, if I recall correctly, but I believe playing Wi-Fi will always introduce several frames of lag - more than enough to make a difference. Though it can still be nice, netplay is better if you can run it, since it's less laggy, and you have better matchmaking through Smashladder. Even better, though, is always going to be playing real people.