Pikachu Tournament Results (UPDATED!: 4/24/11)

[Phoenix Lord']

As I always say; no money, no problems.

 

[Luckay4Lyphe]

shoulda been top 3 stealth, i am dissappoint. Who did you beat?

 

[Stealth Raptor]

noone that really matters. i lost to fino and mjg, and delux also finished above me

 

[Syko_Lemming]

Nah, it's even. His punishes are equally as huge as ours and he is heavier + fart.

Why do you think it is in our favor? Curious.

Pika's fair beats everything he has in the air, beats his spot-dodge a lot of the time, and just seems like a really useful wall. D-throw > nair works til like 60%. Uair seems to beat wario's dair, as does utilt.
Dtilt outspaces him on the ground.

The biggest thing is I don't get frustrated. It always feels like I have an option I can do safely.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

His bear beats our fair. Uair/utilt do beat his dair, but he could just...not approach like that, or not approach at all. Bite is also godlike, If you keep throwing out moves as anti-airs, you will just get punished by an air dodge through grab.

 

[Cassio]

Forward facing uair >> fair imo. Ive just started doing this in the past few monthsish against him. Fair is better in some situations, but uair does outrange all his moves including bair, has a slightly better disjoint, has significantly less commitment, and leaves you much more mobile. Wario can still airdodge through you, but because the move ends so quick you have a lot of room to maneuver or even bait the airdodge and punish with something else because theres less commitment. Also that part of uair knocks wario into you so it combos into pretty much anything else depending on the percent, I usually nair. Normally I space uairs outside his range and am able to exert some control on his movement kinda like spacing fairs/uairs with marth. This is more for a wario in the air though, have to do different stuff for close ground game.

btw ESAM I heard reflex used pokemon trainer vs you mostly and went to last game. Curious how the set went and what characters were used on what stages and who won.

 

[Nordal]

It's on youtube. His squirtle got off one game.

 

[*Cam*]

Actually, he won two games with PT in Winner's finals but lost both the ones where he used PT in Grand Finals.

Here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLABD75782C0C6039B&feature=mh_lolz

 

[Cassio]

Saw your matches ESAM. I was remembering when I used to be critical of how mechanical and obvious your pika appeared, it looks so smooth and intuitive now. Even in the last six months it seems like its significantly improved. Im also glad youre using QA a bit more too, lol.

Me and Z were at a big tournament in socal last weekend. Z did very well, placed 5th and beat tyrant and got 4th in teams. I made it out of pools but didnt place very well. I might write something more detailed later, but Ill wait for the bracket + results + vids.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Yeah, playing ICs that much really helped me get the kinks out of my Pikachu. I'm not using ICs as much anymore because I don't really NEED to (and I'm only using him for the target MUs:diddy/olimar/ics), so I feel my Pika has significantly improved. I have to learn how to camp again xD

 

[AtneyB]

I am so jealous right now

 

[Cassio]

E4U
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=319047

Ok so I actually made it to a tournament and for the first time in awhile prepared beforehand, i.e. practiced a few techniques and played friendlies on wifi the day before and at the tournament so I wouldnt be rusty, slept early, ate well, etc. I didnt improve on anything but I dont have any johns either.

Friendlies:
I was doing well in most friendlies beforehand, except when I had to play zekeys diddy and he was beating me worse than I usually do against diddys. So I was hoping I wouldnt have to play many diddys that day.

Pools:
Doyle 2-0; a newby falco player. I didnt do CGs on him bc I felt bad, but told him about them after the set. He knew what he was doing with falco but didnt seem to know how to play correctly, I gave him some tips and encouraged him to go to more events and play more to get better

Lycan 2-1; probably the toughest player in my pool. Hes PRd 4th in Vegas and is familiar vs pika because of Z. He mains wolf but goes MK for pika. I actually had him in my pool at Genesis 2 and lost to him in a last hit set which prevented me from advancing. This set went last game last hit too, lost first game then won the next two. I was fortunate that he had some habits I took advantage of or I mightve not made it.

SteveO 1-2; This guy caught me off guard. Apparently hes ranked 7th in AZ and co-mains DK/Mario and is kiraflaxs brother. First game he destroyed my first stock with DK barely taking any damage, but then I remembered DKs bad and brought it back winning last hit with a soft hit nair offstage, lol. Games 2 and 3 I was up just maintaining a lead, but he gimped my second stock each game. Went into super mode and brought it back each game but it wasnt enough . I didnt care too much since I thought Id at least get second seed anyways but it was a legit win, Ill need to improve on edgeguarding and recovering vs mario so I dont get gimped next time.

N-gage 2-0; a new fairly decent pika player in socal. Had some good games that I won 2-0.

Bracket: So for some reason I ended up third seed from a three way tie even though we each beat each other, won the same amount of sets, but I had a 7-3 record while SteveO had a 6-3 record >_> maybe Im missing something. Anyways, I ended up as third seed vs a first seed first round.

Willyo (Diddy) 1-2; Had to play a diddy right off the bat . First game we start on BF, I walk a few steps and QA towards the edge and SD in the first 10 seconds of the game. Sorta just gave up the game after that. Game 2 I got back to BF and beat him pretty solid. Game 3 we go to SV and it goes to last hit and land kill moves that dont kill, and he clutches it out and I lose in a clincher. This match was saved so Ill put it up sometime. Post game thoughts: I think I like SV less than FD vs diddy and maybe shouldve banned it.

The Virus (ROB) 2-1; apparently he got first seed in his pool and is from norcal but I hadnt heard of him. I was scared of ROB so I went hard game 1 and 2 stock his ROB first game, second game he camps more though im usually ahead, but when I tried to stage spike him from the ledge with an nair last stock I fast fall it and die. Third game he camps again and its last hit, although I didnt really think I was going to lose and ended up winning so its all good :D

Vato Break (Diddy/MK) 1-2; at this point I realized the bracket was a bit weird if vato was in losers so early. We actually play on occasion so we know each others tricks, and he usually does better vs me with diddy so I had to play diddy again >_>. First game its even and I get a fortunate early kill fsmashing his getup attack second stock. I didnt realize till afterwards but I almost let the game go from a comeback. Second game its diddy on SV. I get an early lead but somehow lose it, and his second stock/my last stock I try to go for a gimp, but it backfires and I die early. Last game I pick CS and forget he has an MK, so he goes MK. Usually I can do pretty well vs his MK, but he just outplayed me this time.

My three matches with vato are here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wNREcuTZ5Y&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpf-ArNtdI&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UzaTDDW-co&hd=1

My first recorded tournament set ever. Feel free to critique, although now that I look at them I realize my playstyle is really ugly from very apparent shortcomings.

Future important improvements:
Execution: I tend to not care when I screw up in friendlies but now that I have videos I see that it seeps in everywhere. Shouldnt be upsmashing when I mean to uair, doing QAs that send me no where or to the wrong place, etc. and I dont have any johns since I was prepared to play to the best of my skill and atm my best is not close to good.

Mindset: I shouldnt be waiting till Im scared of losing to start trying to win. Other people have criticized me for this as well.

Lots of other stuff too, but I think these two especially held me back the most from otherwise capable wins and almost contributed to a few extra losses

Teams:
Teamed with emily aka doll6. We played two rounds going double pika, but lost both . Twas lots of fun though, and Im going to help her out with her pika in the future.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

You need to weave more. Going straight on for ****, especially when you start half-screen, is really easy for diddy to hit. Also, use more SH instant fair to pick up bananas. It kinda messes with Diddy's pressure as well, but don't forget to retreat. You should never actually throw bananas without glide toss short of trying to hit their recovery (barrels only) with them. Otherwise, Z drop. Z drop is SO much better than throwing down in pretty much every way. The speed is a little slower, but you can do ANYTHING out of it with no lag.

 

[Cassio]

I see what you mean. Diddy with a banana in his hand scares me, I guess against bad diddy players Im used to them just throwing it at me if I run at them. Ive also been trying to work on being more assertive since I used to be really bad at knowing how, but its probably time to mix in passive and defensive play.

Ill have to remember Z drop. But yeah I think the only time I didnt try to glide toss was when I did an instant throw after a QA, I was just screwing up a lot .

Diddy is my worst MU along with GW and ROB. Ive gotten some experience in the last two months so I dont get destroyed like I used to, but I dont feel close to proficient at it and feel theres signficant room for improvement. I feel like its pikas most complex MU too, technically and as a result mentally, which I believe contributed to my poor execution. Anyways, its a MU I have to get good at because theres seems to be a ton of above average or better diddys in socal now.

btw Z was the only person besides havok to take a game from anuar, and beat his whole pool with Samus and 2 stocked SteveOs DK with Samus in one of his matches from bracket, lol. Match looked like a highlight reel. This tournament was incredibly fun and all the matches I saw were so good, lol.

 

[Pikabunz]

Are there vids of Z vs Anuar? He seems good in the MU.

 

[vato_break]

me and truth played at around 10-11pm or so because singles bracket started extremely late(i was really tired and ended up losing to people who i 2-0d last champion which put me in losers early but no johns i guess). i feel like we both could of played a lot better had the tournament not ran so late(like we usually do)

 

[~automatic]

Who delayed matches this time?

 

[vato_break]

no one. there was only like 9 setups because there was not enough room and melee was also an event that took up a lot of space.

 

[~automatic]

Was this the 1st time they had Melee at that anime shop?

 

[vato_break]

this was the first time they had so many people there in general. melee had like 30-40 people and brawl had eighty and all of the space wasn't used effiecently enough.

 

[Cassio]

Yeah this was almost double last E4, plus pools just takes awhile.

And thanks vato, although I had been rested so I think I was doing ok in terms of rest. I just need to improve because when I play better people and tough characters I think they pressure into more errors because I have to think more and work harder.

Prime he didnt record anything, although I saw a bit of the set. I think its mostly that hes a great player. His set vs leepuff i on the stream though.