Tips for my first tournament?

[Nox_SSBM]

Hey guys, I'm going to my first tournament on saturday. I've been playing melee/grinding tech for a couple mounths now, and i'm pretty confident with tech. one thing i'm not confident with is 1: Mindgames, and 2: nerves. What is the best way to get prepared and in the right mindset? Thanks for the help all!

 

[FE_Hector]

Hey guys, I'm going to my first tournament on saturday. I've been playing melee/grinding tech for a couple mounths now, and i'm pretty confident with tech. one thing i'm not confident with is 1: Mindgames, and 2: nerves. What is the best way to get prepared and in the right mindset? Thanks for the help all!

I don't want to discourage you or anything, but both of those are really just things that come naturally to you. When I attended my first tournament, I could barely SH properly on account of nerves and my playstyle was really jumpy. Just try to get in as much practice as you can against whoever you can and try to pretend that it's just another friendly that you intend to win. It's weird to describe, but you've just gotta get practice and work through it.

 

[Flippy Flippersen]

Unless you live in a pretty garbo region despite your preperations you will get destroyed by the majority of the people attending the tourney you're going to. Ideally you should try to find and play people slightly or a lot better than you and ask smart questions. Questions like I did a bad nair here what were some other options I could have gone for and how would that have worked out rather than generic questions like what are my bad habits. Asking people for your bad habits doesn't work against people significantly better than you since they can just autopilot free punish you.

A thing I personally do against players who just go to their first tournament when I don't really feel like it and just want to move on to my next round is just dash dance in place for like 2 seconds and after that my opponent will have done something unsafe which I will then react to and punish. Try not to be the guy that does that unsafe thing. (this obviously only works against newer players who don't know how to approach or how to stay safe defensively)

 

[`Rival]

Hey guys, I'm going to my first tournament on saturday. I've been playing melee/grinding tech for a couple mounths now, and i'm pretty confident with tech. one thing i'm not confident with is 1: Mindgames, and 2: nerves. What is the best way to get prepared and in the right mindset? Thanks for the help all!

-when you sit down to face your opponent, stick to your game plan, but be flexible and try to make adjustments to your strategy when things are consistently not working out. (if you are getting caught in a particular spot, take note of it, and consider taking measures to deal with the situation next time. if you keep missing your opponent when on the offense, try to change up how you approach)

-when you sit down, take a few deep breaths. sometimes i like to think that my opponent is just a cpu, but smarter; i won't flub vs a cpu!

-remember, even though your region may have a group of great players, they are still human; there is no reason for them to lose either. they can still get flustered, they can still make mistakes, they still have patterns.
-don't let someone else's status intimidate you before the match or during the match.
-if someone is "styling" on you, or if the crowd is making noise, laughing (or whatever, really) just focus on what you should be doing in game to defeat your opponent.
-the match/set isn't over till it's over. this is melee, anything crazy can happen. i've made some crazy comebacks against players who are "better" than me in my region. i've been in situations where it looks like i have no chance of winning but i pull it out of my ass somehow. don't be afraid of losing, and don't play like you're scared!
-lastly, do your best!

 

[dbot]

YO, where's the tournament? I'm also going to my first tournament Saturday in CNY.

From what I have read, and has already been said, is you have to get used to playing in tournament. Just go to have fun and learn.

 

[ChrisWithAk]

Number one dont get discouraged if you cant do stuff that was simple during your grinding. It wasnt till game three of my first match in tournament till I was comfortable wavedashing and using my dashdances properly.

Second if you are worried about mindset set goals that dont have anything to do with winning. Focus on openings and punishing opponents mistakes then figuring out why you get hit when you did.

 

[BlueX]

When you enter your first tournament. Don't expect to win.

Since you are still learning the game you should take this chance to play friendlies, learn and receive feedback on what you should improve on your gameplay. To deal with nerves you could try listening to some music as that can help you relax and calm down... listen to some while you are playing. Playing with better players will help you learn the game as you keep playing.

The best type of mindset to have is that you should play to learn as of right now instead of focusing winning games as you are still new the game and having a play to win mindset will not help you and will possibly make you play at your least best or potential. Ask really detailed questions on specific situations and you will get really good advice for your question. You can also more likely to learn new tech in the tournament if you ask...

 

[Nox_SSBM]

Thanks so much everybody!

 

[pipN]

I'll emphasize what BlueX said: take the chance to play as many friendlies as you can! If you're relatively new to the scene, chances are that you may get knocked out early (it happens to everyone). Don't just leave, though. Take the opportunity to get on an unused set-up and just play as many matches against good players as you can.

 

[FE_Hector]

Get VERY used to learning. Don't get salty. I can't count the number of times I've gotten my butt handed to me, even in friendlies.