Frickin Wolf man… I use to like fighting Wolf, but now one is beating me… consistently. Well… Progress isn’t linear, and this week was a good example of progress for myself but also others I fight. It was a good week overall and all my losses weren’t horrible and I got another upset… kinda. Let’s get into the week.
CSU was missing our number 1 player this week, and after his amazing performance at Port Priority, it’s a damn shame. Congrats Chronos. 13th and a win on Kola, a top 10 North American player and maybe a top 10 player in the world, are so amazing and it shows that Chronos is a global threat which is awesome. He’s worked hard and he deserves it. With Chronos missing, I was seeded for 5th place as opposed to 7th if he was there. Let’s hope I can do that!
My first match was really wild. It was against Silverback who played Incineroar game 1. Before the set, he said, “I’m new to this.” and that made me pretty confident, but then he starts kicking my ass. He was really good and aggressive. I was keeping it even the whole game but at the end, there was a scramble situation where he mashed neutral B out of and killed me. I stuck with Palu game 2. I wasn’t gonna let him touch me because he had some damn good advantage. I eventually catch him with a Nair on his first stock and notice he’s not di’ing it correctly. He was holding in. Don’t do that. So then It was an easy 60 or so percent. I’d then get the kill, rinse and repeat. I took game 2 without even losing a stock I believe. I might have lost 1. He switches to Lucario for game 3 and honestly, that is scarier. He already showed a clutch factor and Lucario is a clutch factor the character. Luckily, I’m Palutena. It was closer than game 2, but I believe I won it on a 2 stock. Palu can kill with almost every move after a certain point, and so while Lucario would be really scary, he had to be scared of me too. Also Up Smash at the ledge. I won 2-1. After the set, I learned he was Acid’s brother… Whole family mains Pokemon apparently. He was damn good and I hope he comes back. We need a good Incineroar.
The next match was more standard. TinkleBinkle, a Mario. The second week fighting a Mario… Oh boy. TinkleBinkle was playing pretty scared honestly. I won the set in a solid 2-0. He got me to my last stock game 2, but I didn’t take a percent after that.
The next one was crazy. Yeex beat me last week with his Wolf and this week he decided to go Sephiroth. I’ve played a lot of Seph’s recently and I’ve had a good record on them. So Game 1, Yeex takes it. It was close but I was panicking and rolling right into Ftilts the whole time. Game 2 was wild. Yeex pretty much gave up. I got a kill with only 20 percent and then didn’t take anymore percent and took his other 2 stocks, even though he basically just gave up and didn’t recover after getting knocked off the stage. Game 3 was looking a lot like game 1. I was losing for the majority of the game. We’re both on our last stocks, Yeex at around 60% and myself around 120%. I hit Yeex off stage, he jumps and I read it with an UpAir. I get the kill and win the set 2-1. An upset!… Technically… I’ll take it though. I popped off and I was really happy about the win. Obviously, Yeex plays Wolf and Falco but it was a hard fight against his Seph. I barely got the win, so it felt good to me. Don’t worry, he got me back. Spoiler alert!
I played Acid next and he messed me up from “go”. He went Greninja and I started pretty strong, but he took game 1 with a 2 stock. I switched to Pit in game 2 and it didn’t do well at all. I guess my Pit will only ever get the win on Acid once. Lost 2-0.
Rose, formally Abstract and my good friend, Robin, was my first match in losers. Loser gets 5th. I lost to Robin last time we played and I gave a lot of thought on how to approach the matchup this time. It paid off. I caught a lot of Robin’s Inkling’s empty jumps with Nairs and dash attacks. I took the set 2-0. I won game 2 by countering a charged forward smash. It was honestly kinda dumb. Why does Palutena counter last that long?
So, in losers semis… who do I find? Yeex. After winning that first set, I knew I’d be seeing the Wolf. Yeex had my number like last week when I fought the Wolf twice… I lost 2-0. What can I do better? Well, I’m still really not sure. I know I need to optimize my neutral and my punish game. Yeex has one of the best neutrals in Fort Collins and his punish game is amazing. I feel like I’m getting better, but I’m not there yet. One thing I really don’t have down is bait punishing. Yeex does it very well and it gets me. I’ve been working on not falling for baits and overextending to get the hit, but I can’t do the baits myself. I need to start to work on that and I will try. I promise.
Out at 4th. Not bad. Got above my seed and got an upset… Kinda… Second CSU in a row where I get 4th though and I hope I can keep it up. Maybe even do better!? I’m getting better, I feel it.
Here’s the bracket: https://smash.gg/tournament/tuesday-tourney-csu-7/event/ultimate-singles/brackets/1025432/1613357
Games Ahoy the next day was more stacked than normal. While Acid was there, as he is normally, Robin was there too. Robin usually doesn’t go to this tourney so that’s another hard match-up. Let’s get into the bracket.
I played Stoph first. Stoph went with Marth again game 1. I won and he switched to Lucario. I beat Lucario too winning the set 2-0. That matchup is so good for Palutena. I love it.
My next match was spicy. I had to fight Speedy. Speedy is a Joker and the last time we fought, he beat me. Game 1, it’s Palutena and Joker. Speedy had a good lead for the majority of the game and while we’re on our last stocks, the countdown starts. Speedy has the lead and starts to run away and I lose in a time out. I didn’t even know that was what he was going for. In retrospect, he was going for a lot of gun. He was keeping me at an annoying distance and barely approaching, which is fine. Also says something about me that I was totally fine playing that. Well, until I lost in a damn time out. I figure if he wants to camp and time me out, I’ll at least do it better. I picked Steve. It went just as I planned. I got my Diamond and just ran over him. Speedy picks Shiek for game 3. I was wondering “Why Shiek?”, and after the first 30 seconds of the match, I learned why. Speedy hit me for 30%, and then… goes to the Kalos Platform… I eventually stop mining and try to hit him… and he jumps away to the platform on the other side. I eventually learn what he’s doing. He’s not going to try to hit me again, he’s just going to run away with the lead. I’m Steve… I have no mobility. So I try to be smart. I set up a TnT on one platform and then chase him. Obviously, he can’t go near the TnT, so it limits his options. It didn’t work… So I then just start up tilting/up airing. I have Diamond and I only have to do 30%. One or two hits will do it, especially if I can string up tilts together. Eventually, I get a few hits and get the lead. Now he has to approach me. I set up my wall and he literally just jumps over, making it really easy to hit him with upsmash. Eventually, I kill him with one of these up smashes, and one of the most satisfying things that has ever happened to me in bracket happens. He rage quits. The whole Start button into L-R-A-START combo. After timing me out in game 1 and pulling that run-away shit game 3, making HIM rage quit was amazing. I popped off hard. I didn’t just win that set, I made the camper rage quit. I’ll take it. What a set. I win 2-1.
I had to fight Acid next. He went Ken game 1. I won. Typical Acid at Games Ahoy. “Let’s mess with Yoyo.” He then picks Greninja. Game 2 was very much in his favor. Game 3, I was playing much better. I had Acid at kill percent on his second stock when he takes my own second stock. He then gets me off stage, hydro pump’s me, I get pushed towards the ledge and I try to teleport. Because I was close to the ledge, it bounces me off and I die. I lost 2-1 but I was happy with how I played. I was doing much better with my neutral and hitting Acid way more than normal. I think I’m getting better at neutral and it’s showing in our matches. They’re getting closer and maybe one day I’ll get him.
I’m in losers’ quarters and I have to play Tempest. Tempest is a Zelda that I fought a few weeks before in round 1. I was surprised to see him this far in the bracket but once game 1 started, I saw why. He was damn good. He takes the first game. While it was close, I got hit by a strong forward air and died rather early. Game 2 was again, very close. On our final stocks, I was stuck on the ledge and Tempest charged a Phantom. With Phantom coming, I held shield. Tempest does a teleport towards me, ending up behind me and falling off the ledge without hitting the teleport cancel. I won the game but barely. Game 3 for our first 2 stocks was very close again. We both start our 3rd stocks at 0 but I ended up hitting Tempest until he died without taking a single percent. My advantage was crazy. I won the game and took the set 2-1. Good stuff to Tempest, what a damn good Zelda.
In losers Semis, I find Rose/Robin. After our match yesterday, I knew that this would be a hard set and boy was I right. Game 1, Inkling against Palutena and it starts out similar to our set from the day before. I have a lead and Robin is playing in the passive way she was yesterday. Robin then starts going for more grabs. All of a sudden, the pressure was just insane. I was getting all my defensive options caught and I lost game 1. Game 2 was the same as the latter half of game 2 and I didn’t have the answers. I lost 0-2. I was getting overwhelmed and grabbed a ton. In retrospect, if I see this aggression, I can just start attacking more. I mean the grabs were just destroying me. I think I need to recognize that a playstyle isn’t exclusive to a set or even a game. I can also change up my style to respond to the change in style. I need to get better at recognizing the change and when to change myself.
Out at 4th, just like the day before. Not bad losses at all, but going into the tourney, which wasn’t properly seeded, I should have been seeded 2nd. Getting 4th is an upset. And on the topic of seeding, I feel the need to explain how it was seeded incorrectly. While seeding isn’t the biggest deal and obviously my self-appointed “2nd seed” wasn’t correct for the final bracket, I still feel like I should have been seeded 2nd. I like to try to look at the game from an unbiased standpoint and so while I say I’m second seed and while it was proven wrong, my record and the record of the other top seeds at the tournament would show that recently, I’m the second strongest player there. Now, a single win on someone does not put you above them, obviously. For example, I beat Puppy last week. That doesn’t make me above him in rankings. If it becomes a trend that I start to outplace him, then that would put me above him in rankings/seeding. That has only happened twice now and is not enough to rank me above him compared to all the times he has outplaced myself. Also for another example, I lost 3 times in a row to RoboCop. Robo did outplace me a few times, but I still usually outplace him. So while a win on myself is good for him and will make him rise in seeding, it doesn’t mean he’s above me. I rant and say all of this because I know some people that feel like a single win on a single person means they should be ranked above them in seeding/rankings. It’s not a single, one-and-done thing. It’s about trends. I think placing above my seed 2 weeks in a row at CSU is a good sign, but it’s too early to seed me much higher than I already am. Alrighty. Good games to all and to all a good night… or day. Thanks for reading!
Here’s the bracket to Games Ahoy: https://smash.gg/tournament/foco-weekly-wednesday-203/event/ultimate-singles/brackets/1025986/1614176/
Bernard Lamar Rice 