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The most important thing to top players - in one word

JmanJ

JmanJ

Smash Cadet
Joined
Apr 9, 2012
Messages
48
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Sportswriter Bill Simmons once wrote an article taking the greatest basketball players of all time, and pinpointing what was most important to them in a single word or phrase. This exercise, although seemingly limited, actually ends up being very interesting. Why do they think the way they do? What is the correlation between their mindsets and how they place in tournament?

Here are a few of mine, with a bit of commentary when I feel it's necessary. Feel free to add your own!

Hungrybox - Community. By being a top player, Hbox can place himself within the narrative of the larger smash community.
PPMD - Improvement/Self Discovery.
Mango - Greatness. Mango wants to win and have everyone know he is the best, but isn't necessarily hell-bent on winning every single stock/game/tournament.
Mew2King - Accumulation. Earlier in his career I would have said perfection, but M2K seems to have loosened up in that regard. Now it just seems like he wants to go to every tourney he can, and earn as much money and as many trophies as he can.
Armada - Winning. He wants to win every tournament and do it dominating fashion. His desire is what kept him at the top in 2012-2013 despite living in a weak region.
Leffen - Winning.
Hax - Perfection. 20XX.
Axe - Love of the Game.
 
Sybronx

Sybronx

Smash Cadet
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
63
Location
California
3DS FC
1392-6718-2632
I like this. Cool topic and posts.

Here's my contribution, to my most recent knowledge of said players..

Ken: Fun

Although I don't know him personally, or any of these top players for that matter lol, it seems to be his strongest motivation. If it doesn't seem enjoyable or fun, more than likely he won't want to play.

Isai: Friendship

He's a nice guy who doesn't take much pleasure in making others feel or look bad. But when he's got someone on the line to fight for, he gives his all, for sure.

Azen: Innovation

He really seems to come up with ideas for characters that even the developers themselves did not see coming, and he uses his ability to discern minute details to create some pretty incredible styles and techniques, doing this consistently with every game he is passionate about, leading to continued dominance as he ceaselessly continues to evolve and grow stronger.

Mew2King: Mastery

I believe he wants to know as much about smash brothers as he can, even from the inside out. He's persistent and seemingly disciplined enough in smash to pull that off.

KoreanDJ: Creativity

He's a great example of creativity and adaptability, molding himself to adjust to difficult situations quickly. This trait helped him become a high level player in quite a short period of time, as well as succeed in other avenues of life such as leading a musical orchestra despite not yet being able to read music.

Of course, these people are so very complex, as everyone is.
 
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HM04

HM04

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jun 4, 2014
Messages
16
Location
Hopewell Junction, New York
Sybronx said:
I like this. Cool topic and posts.

Here's my contribution, to my most recent knowledge of said players..

Ken: Fun

Although I don't know him personally, or any of these top players for that matter lol, it seems to be his strongest motivation. If it doesn't seem enjoyable or fun, more than likely he won't want to play.

Isai: Friendship

He's a nice guy who doesn't take much pleasure in making others feel or look bad. But when he's got someone on the line to fight for, he gives his all, for sure.

Azen: Innovation

He really seems to come up with ideas for characters that even the developers themselves did not see coming, and he uses his ability to discern minute details to create some pretty incredible styles and techniques, doing this consistently with every game he is passionate about, leading to continued dominance as he ceaselessly continues to evolve and grow stronger.

Mew2King: Mastery

I believe he wants to know as much about smash brothers as he can, even from the inside out. He's persistent and seemingly disciplined enough in smash to pull that off.

KoreanDJ: Creativity

He's a great example of creativity and adaptability, molding himself to adjust to difficult situations quickly. This trait helped him become a high level player in quite a short period of time, as well as succeed in other avenues of life such as leading a musical orchestra despite not yet being able to read music.

Of course, these people are so very complex, as everyone is.
Click to expand...
You seem to have watched the Smash Brothers Documentary and picked everything up word for word.
 
Sybronx

Sybronx

Smash Cadet
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
63
Location
California
3DS FC
1392-6718-2632
HM04 said:
You seem to have watched the Smash Brothers Documentary and picked everything up word for word.
Click to expand...
Yeah I did watch it and loved it! I used my own words though. Couldn't really comment on the players I didn't understand so well.. (Mango, PC Chris)
 
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theMagnumDragon

theMagnumDragon

Smash Cadet
Joined
Aug 3, 2014
Messages
36
Location
Bethlehem, Pa
Mang0 - Versatility: you never know his option selection, has the best 5 characters for 1 player, strong on open stages and tight stages.
Mew2King - Ledgeguards
Hbox - Zoning
Armada - The best punish game ever
PPMD - Strategist
Leffen - Fire
Westballz - Combo game
Hax - Speed
Axe - Ledge guards and recovery
Ken - Spacing
Wobbles - Creativity
ChuDat - Patience
 
Crawfiish

Crawfiish

Smash Cadet
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
61
Location
Richmond, VA
Sybronx said:
Yeah I did watch it and loved it! I used my own words though. Couldn't really comment on the players I didn't understand so well.. (Mango, PC Chris)
Click to expand...
You should probably watch a lot of matches on your own first. Documentary is good and has great production values, but it leaves a lot of info out and is a bit biased at many times, like how it never mentions PC Chris's Fox or how it pretends Brawl never was a big competitive game.
 
Sybronx

Sybronx

Smash Cadet
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
63
Location
California
3DS FC
1392-6718-2632
Crawfiish said:
You should probably watch a lot of matches on your own first. Documentary is good and has great production values, but it leaves a lot of info out and is a bit biased at many times, like how it never mentions PC Chris's Fox or how it pretends Brawl never was a big competitive game.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I could see that, and yes indeed every documentary will have it's blind spots and biases. I don't think I'd be able to have jumped into the smash community so easily if it weren't for the doc, but now I'm having a blast looking through all the tournament footage and interviews I can find!
 
Liam_Butler

Liam_Butler

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
75
Location
Macomb, Michigan
victra♥ said:
Falcon Mains - Do cool stuff with no regard of winning or losing
Click to expand...
If a Captain Falcon can't combo knee into knee into knee into a self destruct, then that Falcon Player has failed Captain Falcon and themselves. God knows that's the only reason I play Smash competitively, is to show off.
 
Sumtime

Sumtime

Smash Cadet
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
30
Mango - Goat
Leffen - Drama (srsly: Fundamentals)
Armada - Consistency (dis ***** a stonefaced killah)
Hbox - Mango (****** got a man crush) or: 2nd place
PPMD - Holistic (he works on mind body and soul, on top of ingame tec skills, psychological profiling ect, approaches the game on all fronts, in game and out)
Wes - DAT KNOWLEDGE
M2K - Mentality (dictating how well he preforms)
Westballz - Dazzle (gotta kill err thang, including himself, M-M-M-M-MULLLTI-SHINNNNE)
Hax - TAS
Axe - Fun!
Scar - ELLLLEECCCTRIFFFYING!!
Silent Spectre - Combo. "I don't know, I just combo." (Silent Spectre, "Smash Podcast featuring Silentspectre")
Wobbles - wobbles
Chillin - Up Air or: SD
Chu - Troll
KDJ - A SYMPHONY OF BLADES
Ken - Ken Combo
Azen - Adaption
PC Chris - *******.
Plup - herp.
Colbol - tryhard

Who'd I miss?
 
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