So, I had a really long session with @
False Sense
and it led to this extremely in-depth rambling on how to move from mid-level to high level. It is now here to read:
OK, so, time for a lot of words
[9:33:12 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: some of which have been said before but bear re-stating
[9:33:51 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: First: The reason you started close, but things got farther and farther away the more games that we played, is extremely extremely complex
[9:34:03 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: There are a million mental factors that played into it
[9:34:41 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: One is adaptation. Early on, some of the things that worked well for you, I made efforts to either find counters for, or work around by other means
[9:35:09 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: on the other side of that same coin, as we went I'm subconsciously building this mental list of things I can do to provoke you to make mistakes
[9:35:42 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: This is the hard part, because it's not like I can say "In X situation you do Y" unless I were to painstakingly re-examine every single replay in exasperating detail
[9:35:59 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: most of it is very unconscious, and I try to point out the obvious stuff when I can
[9:36:08 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: A large part of it is in my movement
[9:36:16 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: I short hop and weave a LOT
[9:36:27 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: because doing so makes you want to do something to stop me
[9:36:55 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: a lot of the time I look like I'm taking a risk with my movement, but it's actually a safe movement designed to get you to take an action that I can punish
[9:37:22 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Like if I short-hop at you and provoke you to double-jump, that's a win regardless of if I hit you, because it limits your options on the next time I jump at you
[9:38:05 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Everybody has patterns. The best players are the ones who can recognize and eliminate their own once they start being exploited. And that's not a skill one can exactly teach, so to speak
[9:38:21 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: It requires a lot of perspective to be able to recognize when you're being exploited
[9:38:49 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: I've talked about this before, but in the beginning it was largely a matter of CONSCIOUSLY saying "Ok why did I get hit there?"
[9:39:01 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: if I get hit in the same situation 3 times, I consider that a personal failure
[9:39:18 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Examining those micro-moments is critical, and also very hard to do
[9:39:31 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Eventually it becomes a mostly subconscious thing
[9:39:41 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: And you stop doing things that get you punished
[9:39:52 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: (once you have been punished for them and recognize it)
[9:40:13 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: ALL that pertains to the adaptation side of things
[9:40:24 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: the OTHER side of things is the more direct mental battle
[9:40:28 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: like literally mental battle
[9:40:33 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: the battle of confidence
[9:40:53 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: When a player is winning the mental battle, they can make their opponent look like they have no idea how to play the game
[9:41:02 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: this goes for even top level players
[9:41:19 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: like M2K can really embarrass Ally (or he used to, anyway) back in the Brawl days
[9:41:44 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: But in the process of all that adaptation, I have been deliberately beating the confidence out of you every time I punish you for something
[9:41:53 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: I don't do that to be an asshole, mind you
[9:41:58 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: I do that because that's how you win
[9:42:18 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: If you can make your opponent lose confidence in their own actions, they very often crumble
[9:43:02 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: So when I provoke you into doing something and then it doesn't work, it becomes that much easier to then LATER take a riskier play BECAUSE you're scared of attempting what you did the previous time
[9:43:16 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Like those times where I weave Fairs right in front of your face and then dash-grab you, for example
[9:43:24 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: because I make you scared to leave your shield
[9:43:40 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: All that is just in the mental battle
[9:43:55 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: And that's what separates players on the higher tiers
[9:44:17 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: There's learning to play the game, and learning matchups, mechanical skill, movement, combos, stages, etc,
[9:44:20 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: all of that is important
[9:44:27 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: but that only gets you to mid-level
[9:45:02 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: At the high level you have to fight that mental battle so much more deliberately, because it becomes so much harder to force your opponents to make mistakes
[9:45:22 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Like, when I talked about the 'Smashes by the ledge' thing
[9:45:32 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: That works on a lot of mid-level players
[9:45:45 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: But against patient players, who wait, and react, it doesn't.
[9:46:02 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: I just sit on the ledge, wait for you to go for the read, then get on for free because you committed to something laggy
[9:46:24 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: That then all gets into the 'playing reactively' thing
[9:46:34 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: If your opponent is willing to make mistakes, let them
[9:46:53 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Why force someone to lose, if they're willing to throw themselves at you and lose on their own?
[9:47:02 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: (not saying you do, just talking in abstract)
[9:47:30 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Trying to think if there's anything else really critical that I needed to talk about.
[9:48:10 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: I THINK that's it? This is (obviously) the 'next level' stuff that has to be conquered.
[9:48:33 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: I know that's a literal ****load to take in, so ima run and get some food and let you digest all that for a minute
[9:51:38 PM] False: So, if I understand correctly, you're more or less speaking of analyzing and conditioning the opponent?
[9:52:57 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: That's correct, yes
[9:53:59 PM] False: I understand what you're saying, but naturally, it's one thing to understand something in theory, and another thing entirely to do it in practice.
[9:54:14 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Yeah, and therein lies the rub
[9:54:25 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: because I have no magic answer on how to suddenly start applying all that
[9:54:37 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: I've been playing Smash since 2009
[9:54:42 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: competitively, that is
[9:54:58 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: And I certainly did not have that on the level I do now until even a year ago
[9:55:39 PM] False: Nothing left to do but practice, right?
[9:56:07 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Pretty much. Practice, self-examine. Refine, rinse, repeat.
[9:57:02 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: Unless you have a major objection I am probably going to post that really long uninterrupted monologue in the training thread
[9:57:23 PM] SUGOI | DRB | Raziek: because that's kinda hard to script and just flowed naturally out of me in perhaps the best way I could have hoped for
. And plus, I'd also like to just practice the matchup against Robin with my real mains 
Raziek
? The weekends? I would eventually like to schedule a training session with you (with customs) although I'm in no rush. I also wouldn't want it to be too long, maybe 7ish matches. That way I can just rewatch a few matches (instead of a gajillion) and study them fully, maybe coming up with my own critiques in addition to yours. I may or may not also have additional work over the weekend so that's why I would prefer relatively short sessions.
