Return to Denver! That picture is from a really cool alley next to the Denver Local I went to this week. I’m no photographer, but I love this area. This alley with all the neat graffiti is a nice place to ponder your life after you lose to a Krool. I miss the city. Being from Buffalo New York, I was used to living in an urban area, and going to Denver peaks my homesickness. Fort Collins is beautiful in its own way, but I’m a city boy at heart.
My first tournament of the week was IPA. I went to Denver again! As I’ve talked about before, IPA is chill compared to the other Denver locals. That doesn’t mean the competition is worse, but people are less focused on being sweaty gamers so it’s a good tourney to get to know some of the players. It was a fun time even if my results weren’t to my liking.
My first match was against a King Krool. He was really good. In game 1, I got messed up for my first two stocks. I then clutched up and brought it down to a last-hit last-stock scenario where I made a goofy decision and neutral got up into Krool’s blunder bust. Not my proudest moment. Game 2 went even worse and I got 3 stocked. I guess he realized that I got really close to winning the last one and didn’t want to give me an inch. I lost 0-2. This set got me to think about my mentality. I feel like a combination of not wanting the win enough in the first game and then frustration in the second game led to me losing as bad as I did. There’s also an aspect of not knowing how to fight against a decent Krool. Either way, I need to do better next time. I can oppress Krool, and I will next time.
My next opponent was a Roy. Despite the match-up not being great for Palutena, I won 2-0.
My next opponent was a Cloud. I’ve been getting a lot of Cloud practice recently and this Cloud was not on the same level. I won game 1 pretty solid and they switched to Wario game 2. The Wario did much better and brought us to a last-hit last-stock scenario. I clutched it out by running over to him and up tilting. It’s a good option when you’re sure someone is going to jump. I won 2-0.
My next opponent played my favorite character to fight… Chrom. That’s a lie. I hate Chrom. I need work on this match-up. I went Palutena game 1 and lost in a 2 stock I believe. I went Bayonetta game 2 to better results, but I still lost. This match-up is becoming a real problem for me. I don’t know why I can’t seem to beat Chrom, but I need to grind it out. I’m going to try to play more passive and see how that works.
I went 2-2. Not horrendous but not what I wanted of course. After my horrendous performance at Games Ahoy last week, I was hoping to do better here. It is Denver though. Denver is much harder than here in Fort Collins. Luckily, CSU was the day after and I have a streak to uphold.
So going into CSU this week, I had a 3-week streak of 4th. I’ve been performing very well at CSU and wanted to keep that up.
My first match was against a Falcon player named Krunk. I won 2-0. Thanks for the Falcon practice Giden.
My next match was against a Steve main who I actually played friendlies with before the tournament. Blanc was his tag and he was doing damn well against my own Steve in friendlies. In bracket, I went Palutena and it was very much in my favor. I won the first game in a solid fashion. He then counter-picked Lylat and stayed Steve. I would never do that myself, so it boggled my mind why he would. Lylat makes your only building material Iron. This is a problem because you can only have so much iron and it’s also what you use for your attacks. It went as I predicted, he ended up not having many materials and I won because of it. I won the set 2-0.
Pibb was next. Pibb is normally on the Pikachu but this week it’s was Wario. Game 1 went well, and I got a sick edge guard on one of his bike recoveries. Game 2 was closer but after a waft whiff from Pibb, I was more comfortable and able to finish off his final stock. I won 2-0.
This next match was a first for the Blog and a first for myself since the pandemic. I had to fight number 1 in the state, Chronos. Chronos and I play a lot in friendlies, but I’ve avoided fighting him in bracket until now. Chronos is a top-tier Snake main who beat Kola nearly a month ago, so it surprised me when I took game 1. I actually ended it in a sick clip.
So I got game 1, but game 2 and 3 while close, weren’t in my favor. I took a game but couldn’t take the set. Not bad for my first time against Chonos since that pandemic. Tips? Not sure. I need to play better. I know that’s not much to go off, but I think it really comes down to playing neutral better and making sure my advantage state is on point when I do get the hits. It’s not concrete things I need to change rather just general personal improvements as a player. I lost 1-2 and off to losers.
In losers quarters I met Super/Ryo. Ryo is the Diddy I actually talked about last week. He got 3 -top 10 in state- wins last week. I talked about how while I might have a winning record on him, I can’t in good faith rank myself above him in my personal assessment of my skill. I also said I didn’t think I had a chance against him… Well… Game 1 I went Plautena. I usually go Steve against him, but I wanted to make my Palutena work. It did! I won. It was close, but I got a banana toss on him and then landed a down tilt to take game 1. I was so happy I beat him with Palutena, but I also knew it was close and I didn’t want to change the momentum of the set so I went Steve game 2. I started off with a huge lead. He allowed me to mine to my heart’s content, so I got double diamond and all the iron I could want. Ryo plays in a way in which to time you out, which means Steve has a great time. He brought the match much closer towards the end, but I won. I won the set 2-0. Ryo’s very good at playing patient and even with Palutena, I seem to be able to get around his defenses. I was thrilled. I got to at least 4th once again and got an upset on my way.
In losers semis, I find a familiar face. Acid. His Greninja opened up game 1, and I kept up all game until the end where Acid found the final hit before me. Game 2, Acid switched to Kazuya. His Kazuya has been much better against me. He 2 stocked me I believe. I need to play that match-up as a game of keep away. Kazuya is slow. If I keep away and pepper him down with projectiles, I can win that match-up, but I didn’t this time, and I lost 0-2.
Out at 4th. Another 4th, 4 weeks in a row. This requires some new goals. While I still believe there are some people above me in Northern Colorado, I lose to state-ranked players a lot. Both Acid and Chronos are state-ranked and a lot of other people I’ve lost to recently in Fort Collins are just under-state ranked players. My goal of being number 1 in Northern Colorado aside from the state-ranked players is still something I want to accomplish and I think my new goal will help with that. I want some State PR wins. It looks like I’ll be going to Denver once a week again, so that’s an opportunity for these wins, and people like Acid, Robber, and Chronos go to most Fort Collin’s tournaments anyways. I’m going to aim for one of these wins. At least one soon. Who knows, maybe one will come this week.
Here’s a list of the current state rankings.
This next week, I’m planning on going to IPA again and CSU the day after. I started a new job and they’ve made Games Ahoy impossible to go to. That limits my potential tournaments to IPA, CSU, and Wednesday BOW (the Denver mid-weekly). I hope I get one of those state-ranked wins.
Bernard Lamar Rice 