I was told once that one of the greatest drummers from the best orchestra in the world would just do straight eighth notes to warm up. Regardless of whether or not it's true, it makes you think about why one would choose to do that.
At a tournament or concert, you're relying on the techniques that you've already practiced. When precise techniques must be executed in the one exact moment that it will be successful, just like in music, you have to fall back on your preparation. No crazy hyper warmup is going to prepare you for the one big moment (among many sequential big moments) that you have to come through.
Thus, he clearly figured that playing through the complex music of the night was either unnecessary or a waste of energy - he trusted his prior practice. If asked why he didn't give the hardest stuff that he had to play that evening a run-through, perhaps he would answer that focusing on the hardest parts now would negatively impact his ability to live in the moment throughout the night and remain focused during the rest of the music. Especially if he then made a mistake on the hard part he'd just practiced, it might lead to him reacting more negatively and impacting his own performance further.
Switching it to Smash, whenever I've done a heavy tech skill practice session, I'm always terrible if someone walks up and starts playing with me. I'm so focused on the tech skill that I'm not dividing my attention between tech and opponent correctly. I finally decided that light, fun matches were the best way for me to warm up. I got the fundamental restructuring of my brain, the l-cancel timings, the combo sequencing, etc., in order by doing that, but I didn't focus on any one thing that messed with my balance. I rely on the practice that I'd done to this point, and that seemed to work for me. Don't try to learn anything new, don't try to work out any problems that you haven't been able to fix, etc. If you haven't gotten it by now, it's not going to magically work today, and your effort is better spent ensuring that you do what you do know to the best of your ability.
