I'm back from my first regional tourney. Don't get me wrong, this is actually my third tourney overall (First was CEO, then Paragon LA.) What an interesting and long day. I had a blast meeting a lot of local players and made some friends. I played as Sheik for almost all of my tournament games, and also played Kirby and a couple other random characters in some friendly matches before the tourney started. I won a game or two in friendlies, and got to test the waters with the local community. I also impressed a lot of people with my Paragon and CEO experiences. #humblebrag.
DOUBLES:
After meeting FuTureRockz, a Ness main who was looking for a partner for Doubles, I decided to enter with him. It was my first experience ever playing 2v2, and honestly, considering that, it went pretty well. We didn't get a chance to practice and work with each others' playstyle, so our first Doubles match was the first time we found out how we played. We actually won the first set, which was against a team of Shulk and Megaman/Fox called "Apple Tree." (The score went: them 1, us 1, us 1.) FuTure really pulled his weight in the second game, saving us from falling into Losers' by taking on and beating both of them at once after I got knocked out.
Then, in a somewhat unfortunate turn of events, we were up against a team comprised of A Stray Cat (a Bowser main who is currently ranked as the #6 best Smasher in Norcal) and a really good Shulk player with the tag Soronie. We lost to them fairly solidly (them 1, us 1, them 1.) I actually returned the favor in the second game of this set, winning it 2v1 after FuTure's Ness was KO'd. I didn't know this was an impressive feat until I found out just how good those guys were. That Bowser/Shulk team (named A Stray Grill) went on to win Doubles in a clean sweep, earning $22.50.
In the Losers' bracket, we faced Mudomo (Fox) and Jehtt (Yoshi), which went pretty poorly. Fox and Yoshi are each characters I struggle with versing, and I SD'd a couple of times. FuTure and I decided I should try switching to Roy after the first loss, but it didn't really help. This team, bearing the title of JehttDomo, took second place. Overall, for being my first Doubles tourney, it went well enough -- especially since we played against the top 2 victors. FuTure commented that I actually had a really good Sheik and Roy game, and we both agreed that we should try teaming up for Doubles in the future. No pun intended.
Final Standings (Doubles) ~ 2-way tie for 7th place (of 9)
SINGLES:
Although I did get a bye in Singles, I got immediately pitted against A Stray Cat. All things considered, I didn't do too terribly against him the first game (which I lost,) but the second game took him about 30 seconds to win. I was glad to be able to play against him, though, since he's a really good challenge. In Losers' bracket, I faced Nothost, a Yoshi who also made short work of me -- couldn't even take a stock off. Once again, however, I learned quite a bit about matchups, spacing, etc. participating at this local scene. Even more so than at the nationals, I daresay. The 1st place winner, 1UP | X, earned $111.
Final Standings (Singles) ~ 8-way tie for 25th place (of 38)
I was planning on asking Trevonte (a Sheik main, ranked #2 in Norcal) for some friendlies/protips, but everyone ended up getting kicked out of the building the TOs were renting before I got the opportunity. Everyone who was still participating in the tournament had to hunt around the campus for another building in which to finish their bracket; it took until midnight for the whole thing to wrap up. I left at about 8:30, when they closed the main building. It's all good though, because I'll probably be going to these regionals frequently, and Trevonte + the rest of the gang generally attends most of them. Really awesome tight-knit community, awesome matches, awesome day!
Here's the Singles bracket:
http://challonge.com/Teke7
And the Doubles bracket:
http://challonge.com/teke7DD Note that the "A Stray Grill" bout is mislabeled -- it was actually 2-1.
And this is the event page on Facebook. You'll notice a discussion regarding my bracket seeding vs. Chris Ho (A Stray Cat) if you scroll down a bit:
https://www.facebook.com/events/952640911469977/
Definitely gonna try to make it to some more of these smaller group-gatherings. It only cost 5 bucks each for venue admission, Singles, and Doubles entries.
Sorry if this is TL;DR, basically I entered my first regional, did okay in tourney, had a great time meeting everyone in the local scene, and got myself my first Doubles partner. Also got destroyed by arguably the best Bowser in Norcal, which was actually a lot of fun.
@a stray cat
