So, my controller that was destroyed last week, I got it back! Check it out!
I got it back at the start of the second tourney of the week and didn’t use it because I was use to the other one. It looks so good! They threw in the all black buttons and sticks for free. Onto the recap.
Improvement is not linear. People get better. I’m not the only one trying to improve. I think people like to think they’re the protagonist. I know when I’m angry right after I lose, I fall into that thinking sometimes, but it’s not constructive. The only way to improve is to accurately identify your situation. If I make excuses or fall into this protagonist mentality, I’ll stagnate.
That was a bit different of an introduction. I’m having a rough week, and not just in Smash brothers. In fact, one tourney this week was a real win for me and honestly, the other one wasn’t that bad. My life situation outside of Smash is what has me down and I only mention it because it might affect the weekly blog. I’ll try to not allow that, but I wouldn’t mention it if it wasn’t a real fear of mine.
CSU was my first tourney of the week. It was rather stacked. I was pretty lowly seeded compared to normal and my first match was against RoboCop. RoboCop beat me last time we played at GamesAhoy 2 weeks ago. While I felt off my game then, there’s no doubt RoboCop played well himself and I lost 2-0. So going into this set I was worried, but also thought that might have been a one-off. This has happened before with people. I’ll lose once and then never again and I thought that might be the case. Oh, how wrong I was. RoboCop plays Chrom now and he is so good with him. I lost game 1. I snuck away with game 2 after he SD’ed and then I lost game 3. He fell off the spawn platform and just F-smashed me, killing me at like 70%. I’ve been saying for ages, Chrom is one of the best characters in the game. Now that might not be true, but I think how I play is completely countered by Chrom, and that might be why I think that. He has a sword that beats all of Palutena’s moves, and he’s fast. He has an amazing out of shield option with up B to round it all off. While his recovery is rather exploitable, a good Chrom can work around it. Robo knows the distance you need to start up-B to not get hit by counter, so it’s really hard to edge guard him. So I’m not sure what to do. I’ll get into it more later *spoilers* because this is becoming a theme.
So next I played someone named Armour2000. I have to be honest, I totally forget the set. I won 2-0.
My next set was against a Bowser Jr. named 0K. I did well and 2-0ed him. Lotta nair.
Pibb was next. I beat Pibb the last time we played but he took the win the time before that. Pikachu is always scary but I was ready. Losing so early fueled me. I was overwhelming Pibb and catching his recoveries with Up-Smash. I won 2-0 rather cleanly. I feel like Pibb got discouraged after I gained a decent lead in both games and if he just realizes that he plays Pikachu and can take my stocks at any time, he’ll win a lot more.
Next was Abstract(Robin). We played the last 4 weeks in a row now. I have taken the last 3, and I knew Robin was gunning for me. Game 1 went about the same as the last 2 sets. I won rather solid. The difference going into game 2 was Robin wasn’t discouraged. I was winning but after a few well-placed rollers, I lost. Game 3 was all Robin and I lost in a 2 stock. I think the big difference between game 1 and the rest of the set was my aggression. I started being more risky game 2 and 3, and I didn’t need to. I should have kept up the safe pressure and taken my hits after winning neutral, but I shouldn’t extend it past what is safe. I know catching landing with dash attack against Inkling works well, so I’ll try to do that more.
Here’s the bracket: https://smash.gg/tournament/tuesday-tourney-csu-5/event/ultimate-singles/brackets/1017251/1601978/
Out at 13th. 3-2 That early trip to losers is rough, especially when I’m not seeded to end up there. Really hope that doesn’t happen literally the next day and because of the same person… That would suck and I might kick a bush… I write these at the end of the week or the Monday of the next week. I know what’s gonna happen, but do you? Well, maybe if you read into the ol’ literary trick of foreshadowing, you can find out what’ll happen next… in like 2 paragraphs… or 3. Depends on if I introduce the tourney. I usually do… This joke has gone on way too long. Did you even think this was a joke? Well, comedy is subjective, so do you think I’m funny? Tweet at me if you think I’m funny. https://mobile.twitter.com/ICYoyoDaBlack
Ok, GamesAhoy! This tourney was so different. I shouldn’t spoil it, so let’s get into it.
Tempest, a Zelda, was my first match. I have good Zelda practice with OnetrueNoob and it helped me win 2-0.
RoboCop was next. Oh boy. Off of the loss the day before, I planned to go Steve if I lost game 1 as Palutena. Well, I lost game 1 and went Steve and still lost. Chrom does beat Steve. I know that for sure, but my Steve was warmed up for another person in the bracket, so I thought maybe it would be a good mix-up to throw at him, but no. I lost 2-0. So, my plan for RoboCop next time is to start with Pit. I think Pit’s arrows might really help gimp Chrom. I also have done rather well versus swords with Pit before. So that’s the plan and if that fails, Bayonetta. I love Bayonetta. While she’s a “Maybe this will work” pick like Steve, I think Bayo has a better chance of working. Witch-time will help with the mashing. Bayo can easily edge guard, and she can set up those scenarios very easily. She also does well versus whiffed moves. A missed jab or f-tilt can be an opening for a heel slide. Either way, while I’d like to not lose to RoboCop anymore, I know that this is a hard match-up, if not for Palutena, for me personally. As I get better as a player, I hope to overcome it, but for now, we’ll counter-pick some goofy characters and see what happens.
I was super mad. I went outside and took a walk. That’s 3 times in a row I’ve lost to RoboCop. Good stuff to him honestly, but I feel like I shouldn’t be losing. I was the most physical I’ve ever been after losing. I ended up kicking a bush. Luckily, my match-up with the bush is overwhelmingly in my favor, and I won. So with my anger released, I was ready for some Smash Brothers. I enter back into the venue and checked my next match.
Scorch, an Inkling, was my next match. I don’t know what compelled me to do so, but I went Dark Pit. This was my first time going Dark Pit in tourney ever. I’ve gone Pit, but never Dark Pit and honestly, I can’t tell you why. I had been using Dark Pit for fun recently. And I just felt like this was a good idea. It was. I won 2-0. Lotta side b’s to catch get-up options and it worked.
Next was Namki the Isabell/Villager main. He went Isabell and I went Palutena first game. I won and then switched to Steve. Why? I don’t know. I was feeling myself and it didn’t work. I got 2 stocked in fact. I was getting my minecart pocketed and the fishing rod surprisingly did very well to get over walls. I went back to Palutena and pulled out a game 3 victory. I know Namki is gunning for me. He took a game this time and did rather well in game 3. He’s getting closer and I’ll have to keep my guard up. Maybe no more Steve against Isabell and if I do play that match-up, I’ll have to stay in my minecart when I use it. I’ll also have to box more.
Next was Glitch, the Bowser. Glitch is really good. He’s gotten close to beating me multiple times. I wasn’t taking any chance this time and I just started nairing. I overwhelmed him and won game 1. He switched to Yoshi for game 2 and I won again. I feel like he started panicking once behind, so then it was easy to get grabs, more combos, and bait-out defensive options for hard punishes. I won 2-0 and we’re in the top 8 baby.
Stoph was next. Stoph is our Lucario main. I swear Plautena versus Lucario isn’t fair. While Palutena doesn’t kill early like some other characters, Plautena does kill easily after a certain threshold. That coupled with Lucario being a floaty jumper, which makes him easy to nair, makes it very easy for Palutena. The most amazing thing against him is that Palutena’s up Smash destroys his Up B. It’s really easy to hit. So you get your damage, put them off stage and up smash. I won 2-0. Stoph had a great run and I felt bad for ending it, but I needed to keep going.
My next match was one I was preparing for the whole week up to this, Ryo. Ryo and his Diddy beat me in losers finals last week and I didn’t want to lose to them again. I prepped Steve for this. I getting my combos more, making it scary for Ryo to box me. Even with that said, Ryo was doing well in boxing scenarios. I clutched out game 1 with a banana to Diamond Sword F smash. I won game 2 a bit more convincingly and won the set 2-0. I was happy about winning that one. After last week I was hyper-focused on winning that match-up and I did it. I was very happy.
Losers semis. Solax, the best player in Wyoming, and a damn good Pokemon Trainer main. I lost to him nearly a month or two ago and I was ready to see if I could do better this time. Solax took game 1. His advantage state is damn strong and he was definitely getting more off his neutral wins. I noticed that, and for game 2, I started pushing my advantage more. I took game 2 pretty solid and felt like I had a really good read on how he was playing. Game 3 starts, and it feels the same as game 2. I was keeping him on the ropes for most of the game and by the time I’m on my last stock, he is around like 70%. He sticks with Charizard and wins neutral once, up airs me like 3 times, nair’s me, I land on the ground and don’t tech and he throws out a flare blitz. I died… oof. It was a rough way to go out, but he played that final stock very well. I feel like I have him down. I know he likes to up smash approaches in high % scenarios and he likes to jump in disadvantage. I was also finding a lot of use for dash attack. I think I can do it next time. Hope I get the rematch soon.
Here’s the bracket: https://smash.gg/tournament/foco-weekly-wednesday-201/event/ultimate-singles/brackets/1017779/1602707
Out at 4th. 4th though!!! I went from what was effectively losers round 2, to 4th. It was a run. I got some good wins too. Hell, I almost got 3rd… I’m happy with how I played. I need to figure out RoboCop, but it felt good to not lose to anyone else who was ranked below me. I may have been seeded higher than Solax, but he has the record on me. I made a super long run and played one less set than the winner of the tourney. I’m content.
It was a weird week but it ended well… at least with Smash. I’m having a rough time otherwise. I hope I can make it to both locals this week, but I might not be able to. If you like what I do, thanks. I really hope I can keep it going for a while. Thanks for reading.
Bernard Lamar Rice 