Another week, another “No Denver” admission. I’m sorry, I’m just not in the position to make that trip money and time wise. That said, I actually competed in two tournaments this week!
Frist tourney was what I’ll call “Games Ahoy” from now on. I went to the first one last week. It’s a Fort Collins weekly. I went into this one using a mentality I haven’t used before. I was contemplating that maybe my mentality about feeling like I should win was hurting my gameplay. I thought maybe if I had less of a focus on winning and more of a focus on playing well, I could maybe do better in pressure scenarios. Oh boy, do I not have any faith in that hypothesis anymore. I got 5th, but it was such a weird tournament.
So I start off against Crones. I fought him round 1 last week and this time he decided to go Min min. I beat him 2-0 but I was surprised. Min min is a rough one for me, so I’ll take it.
Next was Big Mac. A Mario. He won game 1. I was getting shmixed on. I buckled down and won game 2. In game 3, he got an early lead. I then proceeded to take 2 stocks before he took my second. I then cooled off but my lead was enough to win me the set 2-1.
Abstract AKA Robin was my next set. Robin is my best friend up here in Foco (Fort Collins). Robin and I have fought a lot. My first real block in tourneys up here was Robin. Robin’s Inkling was so hard for me to beat. Robin then started going more Joker and Ness, and I started to be able to win more, but then towards the end of me playing back before quarantine, Robin started beating me again. Well, it hasn’t stopped.
Before the tourney, Robin came over to my place to warm up and was using a lot of Corrin. I lost a few but felt confident with Palutena. When it came to bracket, I saw that Robin was pulling out Inkling to beat the people they lost a game to with Corrin. I thought in my goofy head of mine “Start Steve”. I did, beat the Corrin and knew the Inkling was on it’s way. I thought Steve would be a good character to try because I’ve had good luck against Robin with Steve and against other Inklings in the past. This was not the same. Robin figured it out and proceeded to win the next two games. I got knocked into losers. I’m not sure how to beat Robin let alone Robin’s Inkling. It’s been the match-up (Character and Player) that I’ve contemplated the most. I think I need to be playing a much better neutral and pushing my advantage state harder.
Next was GSV. I can’t remember the set much. It was 2-1. I have a feeling I went all Steve. My Steve got me the victory last time, so I just did it again. Pretty sure I lost game 1, but I took the set in the end.
The strangest thing happened. My match for 5th was against Crazy, who left for some reason. I won because of a DQ. But after that, I had to fight Pibb the Pikachu again. I fought him last week and won 2-0. This week he was ready and took the set 2-0. I was playing too carefree. I was approaching too much and I think it all stemmed from my mentality switch. I was not caring about being safe because I was too focused on playing a good advantage state. I now know this mentality isn’t the way. I need to play like I want to win.
Out at 5th when I should have gotten 2nd according to seeding… That’s ok. I know I can do better and I will this week.
Namki’s was this week as well. Another Foco tourney but a bi-weekly. No arcadian this time so I actually got to play. Again, I was second seed, lets see how ol’ Yoyo does this time.
I had a round 1 bye so round 2 was my first match and it was against the titular Namki himself. He went Isabell. I won 2-0 but Namki played really well starting off the set. It was rather even the first game all the way through. Game 2 I kinda went nutty and ran away with it. Isabell is a character you can camp out but you can also kinda run her over. Palu can easily do both.
Here’s the set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsnMVUAnq6o
Next was Hina, the Bayonetta. I feel like something changed with me and the Bayo match-up since I played against Purity, one of the best Bayo to ever Witch Twist. He joined my stream once and kicked my ass for a bit, but ever since, other Bayo’s are easy for me to beat. Aslo, the day before I was beating Hina in the Bayo ditto. I love Bayonetta, I wanna play her more, but she’s bad. I won the first game but it was pretty close but I felt like I had no chance of dying. The next game was easily mine. I won the set 2-0.
Next was Puppy. Puppy was playing great and totally beat my ass with Kirby. I lost to Puppy when I first came back but then beat him with Steve 2 weeks after that. He made our record 2-1 him this tourney and won 2-0. I think I need to commit to playing lame as shit against Kirby. Kirby can out-box Palutena and dodge most of my moves by just low profiling. I should just get a few hits and run away. Palu wins that match-up free if you play to win. You shouldn’t fight Kirby. You should just run. I dropped to losers.
I waited like an hour and a half to play my next match and it happened to be Abstract/ Robin again. This time I just went Palutena. I lost game 1 but it was pretty close. Game 2, I sd’ed stock one but I had the lead and barely got hit before that. I somehow brought that whole game back to even and won. I took the game with a cheeky explosive flame from off stage. In game 3 I got destroyed. Robin was playing insane. I sd’ed my last stock and lost by a 2 stock. Robin was playing on fire. Again, I need to work on my advantage state.
Here’s the set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIMDY72IwLc
Again, out at 5th when a second seed. It was a rough week. It’s alright though. It’s a learning experience. I’m again looking at my mentality for this upcoming week. I think I need a goal. I’ve never had a clear goal that I’ve wanted in Smash. I kinda just want to play and do the best I can. No more I say! I want to be the best in Northern Colorado outside of the state-ranked people. I know I was at one point the second-best non-state-ranked person in Northern Colorado, but I can be the best. Miloquinn was the only one ranked above me. Now it’s probably Yeex, Miloquinn, and a bunch of these people coming up. I’ll try my hardest to beat everyone this week. I want it. Let’s see what I can do.
Bernard Lamar Rice 