OH BOY! PROGRESS AIN’T LINEAR!!! And this week is a prime example.
Namki’s house. A key staple of this blog. This was the last Bi-weekly Namki’s House for the season and it was a great time. I did two Smash-related things before the tourney. I practiced online with a buddy of mine, FunkyPete. He’s a Sepiroth from Mexico and he’s damn good. I love how he pushes me to play better and he’s so tricky to beat. Right after. I had Abstract(Robin) come over to warm up before the tourney. I was doing better than normal against FunkyPete and I was losing about as normal as I do to Robin. This being the last Namki’s house meant there was a 100 dollar pot bonus and mostly everyone from Northern Colorado was there. It was stacked, and I had been losing to people seeded under me for weeks coming into this tourney. I knew this tourney was going to be a hard one.
My first set was against Crones again. That’s 3 weeks in a row fighting Crones round 1. The Min Min was in rare form that night and game 1 was won by the skin of my teeth. I was behind but clutched out a kill. Game 2 was hilarious. Every single time I died was from me going down to edge-guard Min Min and getting hit by the tether leading to my own death. Crones just SDed but then also killed me with the Up B… This almost happened last stock except, I actually landed the nair and didn’t get hit with up b. I won 2-0, but Crones was playing well in game 1. The Min Min is getting really good and becoming a serious threat. To go a little further in time, Crones actually did end up getting 9th from losers round 2 of this big 50 person tourney. 9th is impressive by its self, but it’s important because Namki is hosting a “Summit” event for the top 10 and people who got top 9th in the final 2 tourneys. Crones just qualified. Congrats to him!
Pibb. The Pikachu. So I first fought Pibb like 3 weeks ago I think… I won our first encounter, but I knew Pibb’s drive would make our next meeting much closer and he ended up winning. So going into this tourney we’re 1-1 and I’m worried to fight him again. Pibb took a solid game 1. I was feeling really outmatched but determined. Game 2 starts and I start cooking. I was dancing around him. I hit a sick double-up smash at some point and just really hit all the right reads. The momentum kept up for game 3 and I took the set 2-1. I was playing on fire. Pibb is getting really good, he is easily the best rep of Pikachu in Fort Collins. It’s going to be hard to keep up with him, but it’s good to have someone piloting such a good character to keep us all on our toes and knowledgeable about what is most likely the best character in the game. Good stuff to Pibb.
The next match was against Acid. Acid is my most fought person since I’ve started this blog. Last week was the closest I’ve come to beating ACID. This week was way closer. Game 1 close but Acid took it. I got a sick counter on Shadow Sneak for his first stock and a really good up smash catch stock 2. Game 2 starts and I start to get combo’ed a ton. Acid gets me super high in percent and finds a down smash to kill me. I get his first stock with an explosive flame to keep the stock count even. I start to fall behind again but eventually find more hits and I take his second stock first. Acid then takes mine to even the stocks up once again. On our final stocks, I build up the lead early. Acid brings it back to competitive, but I take his final stock with a ledge roll read with down tilt. I then go into game 3 not banning Unova. Palutena’s worst stage is Unova, but I was ready to bring out my Bayonetta. He picks Unova, my Bayo comes out and we start game 3. My Bayo did really well. It was close the whole game and going into final stock for both of us, it was dead even for a long time. Acid got me off stage and I totally recovered like a scrub. With Bayo, you should normally go to the ledge with side b, but I went to the ledge with up B. Up B doesn’t snap to the ledge, Acid uses Greninja’s counter and kills me. 1-2, to losers I go.
I lost with Bayo, time to fight a Bayo. Next was Hina. Hina didn’t start Bayo, they went Samus. I took out the Samus I think on my last stock. Hina then goes to Bayo and aside from getting killed by suicide on Hina’s last stock, I practically 3 stocked them. I’m telling you, I’m so good at the Bayo match-up now. Any Bayo around my skill level shall be hunted down and defeated. I use to find the match-up hard for Palu, but as time goes on, it’s gotten much easier.
Next was Abstract(Robin). We practiced before the tourney and Robin was doing very good against me. She was using Cloud mostly and it was really hard for me to keep up. In the tourney, Robin starts with the Inkling. At the start, I’m getting messed up, as usual. I find that match-up really hard. I remember Robin being on 2 stocks around 50% while I enter my last stock. I got a crazy kill with a reflected splatter bomb to even the stocks and then kinda pop off, getting an explosive flame kill while Robin tried to throw another Splatter bomb off the stage. Robin then goes to Cloud for game 2. I start up the match really explosively and kept up the momentum the whole game. I win 2-0 against Robin, someone I’ve always struggled against and haven’t beaten at all post-Covid.
Puppy was up next and oof. Puppy has surpassed me. He’s a damn good player. He plays so aggressively with Kirby, a character I can barely hit, so similar to Inkling, I’m struggling. I opened up game 1 really strong but I didn’t play my lead well enough, I let him come back. I switch to Steve game 2 and that was a mistake. I love Steve but I need to play him more before bringing him out again. I think I need to play with the lead better. I shouldn’t go for the time-out like I tried last time, but I should camp more.
Out at 5th, but I played amazing. The number of hard matches I won, the match against Acid… I felt great. Also, a bit outside of smash, I’ve been trying to be a lot more healthy. I think that’s helping a lot with Smash. I was wondering if it was hurting at first. Around the time when I started avoiding a lot of sugar is when I started getting upset in tournaments more. I’m wondering if my body finally started to settle with less sugar and now I can perform better. Idk, total, speculation, but hey, if being healthier helps with Smash, that’s a win-win.
ESF was my other tournament that week. I hadn’t been to Denver in a while, so I was excited to go down again. It was a low entrance tourney compared to normal. Lots of the top-tier talent went to Low Tide City so they weren’t at ESF. I lose to a lot of people in Denver, but getting rid of the top-tier talent helps still.
My first match was against a Samus. Idk if I’ve played him before but I think I have. I think I beat him at the first ESF back. Either way, I won the set 2-0.
My next match was against Kawetta. Kawetta is from Boulder and is pretty good apparently. Coming in hot from Namki’s the night before, I was ready. He went Toon Link first game. I’ve only ever fought a Toon Link in Denver and it was one of the better players, Fabian. Kawetta was pretty good, but I found the win somehow with an explosive flame to up air kill. I’ve never seen explosive flame true combo into up air for a kill… but it happened. They then switched to Chrom. I hate fighting Chrom. I seriously think Chrom is one of the best characters in the whole game. Obviously, he’s easier for Palutena than Roy, but he still out-boxes her similarly. Luckily, it was Chrom, because while I did alright most of the game, Kawetta was coming back and in a last hit, last stock scenario, I got a counter on Chrom up b and won the game. 2-0. Apparently an upset too, so I’ll take it.
Next was Robber, one of the people I drove to the tourney from Fort Collins. Robber was revealed to be 6th in the state before the tourney. There’s not much hope for me against Robber at the moment. I’m so bad against Young Link and Robber is so good with him. I lost 2-0. I went Bayonetta game 2 to see if I could do anything, I couldn’t. I think I need to really refine my play to have a shot against Robber. Watching him later in the tourney, he struggles in scramble situations against people more on his level, so I think I need to work on my up close pressure.
Oh boy, the next set was rough. It was against a King De De De (DDD). DDD is Palu’s best match-up, but it has been a while since I’ve played one. To be fair this guy was really good too. I lost game 1. Theoretically, Auto-reticle shuts down gordo but, this guy used the Pokemon stadium 2 platforms to make Gordo go above auto-reticle. He also brought out the inhale pressure, something I’ve never dealt with before. Game 2, I picked Final Destination. It was way easier. He couldn’t get gordo’s around my auto-reticle and I just kinda ran over him. Game 3 was on Small Battlefield. The platforms came into play again. I was doing better but he found some ways to kill me. He ended with a gordo up smash and I lost. 1-2. 2-2 in Denver, what a surprise… I know I can beat the DDD next time, but this is this time. I just need to avoid low platforms.
It was a good week. While I got knocked out by a DDD in Denver, it still was alright. I still got an upset. I think I’m playing much better. I hope I keep it up next week. I think I’ll be going to CSU here in Fort Collins and maybe the mid-weekly, BOW in Denver. We’ll see how I do. Thanks for reading.
Bernard Lamar Rice 