I wanted to share my experiences as a Lucas main in the world of competitive SSBB in hopes that it might help some new players entering their first tournaments.
Your First Tournament
The first time you enter a tournament can be pretty intimidating especially if it's a larger one with lots of good players. Venues are often crowded and uncomfortable. It really helps if you can get a friend to go with you to calm your nerves. But even if you can't, most competitive smash players are really cool people. It's a very relaxed community in reality (even if smashboards can get pretty dramatic.)
The first piece of advice is that you need to be assertive in getting in friendlies before the tournament begins so that you can warm up. Try to show up a half hour early or so if it's possible so you get a chance to do this. There may be a lot of people around each TV but you can get in games by just asking if you can play the next winner. Don't wait around hoping to included. Just stick your controller in one of the ports when there's a chance and wait your turn then.
Friendlies
There are three basic kinds of matches you can play against an opponent: friendlies, money matches and tournament sets. Friendlies are the least competitive of these and unlike the other two, only consist of one round. Friendlies mean nothing as far as how good a player is. Most players use friendlies to warm up, to try new techniques and strategies and to have fun. Beating a player in a friendly does not mean you will beat them in a money match or tournament set. When playing in a friendly, you should always assume that your opponent is sandbagging to some extent.
When the tournament starts, stop your friendlies immediately. Don't keep ******* around or the tourney will never start and you'll piss the Tournament Organizer off.
Wait for your name to be called for your first set. Don't be upset when they mispronounce your name or tag. Correct them and move on. I deal with this a lot lol.
Dealing with Nerves
You will be nervous at your first tournament set. It happens to everyone and you'll learn to deal with it over time. Focus on your match and not the people watching it or your opponent. Utilize things that work well for you and don't repeat things that aren't working. Don't panic when you make mistakes and don't panic when you're getting to high percentages. If you feel yourself starting to get nervous, take a deep breath and collect your thoughts. You always have time to do this between stocks.
Your First Time Counterpicking
Most people don't know what stages to counterpick at their first tournament because before playing competitively they avoided most strange stages. If this is the case for you, just counterpick a stage that you are comfortable with. You may have to deal with strange stages that your opponent picks against you but as long as you win the first round you're probably going to be okay because you can win the third. If you're going to play this game seriously though, it's time to learn some more stages. You need to be prepared to fight any character on any stage and you need to be aware of what stages can help Lucas out.
Brinstar and Norfair are great "go to" stages for Lucas but you need to know how they work. If you have time before your first tournament, I would recomend learning these stages as counterpicks.
Bathroom and Food Breaks
Don't forget that you have regular body functions. If you can, get food before the tournament starts so that you aren't starving half way through. Bringing snacks is a good idea as well. Often, there is time to get food inbetween doubles and singles brackets. If you have to use the bathroom while you're doing brackets, it can never hurt to inform the TO that you're using the restroom so that he doesn't call your match and disqualify you for not showing up.
Double Elimination
Well you just lost your first tournament set. DON'T LEAVE!!
Most tournaments are double elimination which means you aren't out of the tournament after losing one set. You go into a loser's bracket where you can play to make it further into the tournament. Lots of new players leave before they're even out and get disqualified.
Playing to Lose
You're not going to do well in your first tournament. Almost everyone does poorly their first time because it's a new environment, a new level of stress and most often an entirely new level of competitive play. Don't be discouraged because you got last place at your first tournament. Going to tournaments will make you better even if you do poorly. Expect to do poorly and focus on learning from each match.
Hanging Around Afterward
If you can, stay around after the tournament is over. There are a lot of really cool people who may stay a while for friendlies or money matches. Competitive smash players are usually cool people to hang out with anyway even if they just go to a restaurant or something. Making friends means you'll have more people to play against which means you'll get better faster. This is especially true at local tournaments.
Preparing for More Tournaments
Smashboards is a great place to find more tournaments. Try the tournament listings boards or the regional zones to find tournaments near you. There are a few other sites that can help you as well such as allisbrawl.
Practicing at Home
Your first tourney probably gave you some perspective. Maybe you even got to play a fellow Lucas main and have some techniques to try to learn from them. Spend time on counterpick stages to get better at fighting on them. Play as other characters to learn their movesets and spacing. Watch videos on youtube of professionals and watch how they fight and deal with certain situations. Check out the Lucas video thread and Lucas guides to learn some things you can work on.
Smashfests
The Regional Zones boards usually have threads for smashfests near you. Try to get to these as often as possible. It's a great way to meet fellow smashers and to get better in a less competitive arena than tournaments. Don't be afraid to ask questions like:
"How do you keep beating me?"
"How can I get past that strategy?"
"Am I being predictable?"
People are almost always willing to help.
Your Next Tournament
You're stronger, smarter and faster this time. No more johns. It's time to start taking names. Your Lucas is ready to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies.
Sandbagging
Sandbagging in friendlies can be a good thing for you. It lets you warm up without showing all your tricks. Sometimes it's a good thing to keep back some of your ability in friendlies since they don't matter. Let someone think they can beat you and then trash them when you get to play them in brackets or pools. Everyone sandbags and it's an okay thing to do. It conserves mental energy and helps you to recognize opponents' patterns without giving up many of your own.
Pools and Brackets
You know your tools by now and you just need to use them. Most people underestimate Lucas and you can use this to your advantage. Destroy everyone who stands in your way. You should be aware of what each character can do to you by now. Don't be afraid of your bad matchups but be aware of what you can do against them. Hopefully you have some more matchup experience by now and can deal with the individual issues you have to face as a low tier main with ****ty matchups. Do your best and play to learn as much as you did in your first tournament. It may take time before you can get high placings.
Sportsmanship
Start each set by wishing your opponent good luck. This is common courtesy and it just makes things more friendly. When you win a match you are allowed some celebration but be sure to shake your opponent's hand and tell him good game before you go too crazy. Similarly, if you lose, don't be a **** just because you feel like you played poorly or the opponent played "gay." Shake their hand and say good game. Don't throw your controller to the ground and be a douche.
Everyone johns to some extent. Try to avoid it though. We all have excuses for why we lost but limit it as much as possible. You lost because your opponent played better than you. This is always the case.
Money Matches
Money matches are sets on which an amount of money is bet on the winner. These are often for just $1 and are intended to prevent your opponent from sandbagging like they might in a friendly. As an up and coming player, you want to challenge better players than you to money matches so that you can get better. Losing a few bucks usually isn't that big of a deal. As you get better and your name gets out there, other people will come to you for money matches so that they can get better. Although these are more competitive than friendlies, they are less competitive than tournament sets because (most often) there is significantly less money on the line. Always bring extra cash for money matches. They're a great way to get better.
Your Smash Career
You're an established SSBB competitive player. You know plenty of other players and play at tournaments relatively consistently.
Building a Reputation
People will start to recognize your name once you go to enough tournaments. If you start placing well, people will seek you out for money matches or just friendlies. To me, this is the best part about tournaments. You meet a lot of cool people and get to play a lot. Enjoy mild notoriety and try not to let it get to your head. IT'S JUST A GAME.
Dealing with Failure as a Low Tier Main
It is hard to be a low tier main. You will lose a lot. Your character is not as good as most of the other characters in this game. You may feel like you have to work ten times harder than everyone else to win. A lot of playing a low tier character has to do with pride. You want to beat people with your character regardless of how bad he is. It's going to be hard to win a lot of tournaments with Lucas. You may consider picking up a secondary character to deal with bad matchups. If you're really out to win money at large tournaments, you may consider picking a new main altogether. No one will hate you for it. If you're not having fun, then there is no point in doing it.
Monetary Issues
Going to tournaments costs money unless you win every time. Gas money, food, entry and venue fees all come into play. You may want to try to bring a set up to avoid paying venue fees and carpooling to split gas money with friends. Winning some smaller local tournaments can help fund larger ones.
Taking Breaks
When you're not playing well, sometimes it helps to just take some time off. If playing smash ever becomes too stressful, you need to just take a break from it. Playing a video game shouldn't feel like a job to you. Just relax and things will get better with time.
Hope this helps someone! I wanted to write it to eventually link to my guide.
Your First Tournament
The first time you enter a tournament can be pretty intimidating especially if it's a larger one with lots of good players. Venues are often crowded and uncomfortable. It really helps if you can get a friend to go with you to calm your nerves. But even if you can't, most competitive smash players are really cool people. It's a very relaxed community in reality (even if smashboards can get pretty dramatic.)
The first piece of advice is that you need to be assertive in getting in friendlies before the tournament begins so that you can warm up. Try to show up a half hour early or so if it's possible so you get a chance to do this. There may be a lot of people around each TV but you can get in games by just asking if you can play the next winner. Don't wait around hoping to included. Just stick your controller in one of the ports when there's a chance and wait your turn then.
Friendlies
There are three basic kinds of matches you can play against an opponent: friendlies, money matches and tournament sets. Friendlies are the least competitive of these and unlike the other two, only consist of one round. Friendlies mean nothing as far as how good a player is. Most players use friendlies to warm up, to try new techniques and strategies and to have fun. Beating a player in a friendly does not mean you will beat them in a money match or tournament set. When playing in a friendly, you should always assume that your opponent is sandbagging to some extent.
When the tournament starts, stop your friendlies immediately. Don't keep ******* around or the tourney will never start and you'll piss the Tournament Organizer off.
Wait for your name to be called for your first set. Don't be upset when they mispronounce your name or tag. Correct them and move on. I deal with this a lot lol.
Dealing with Nerves
You will be nervous at your first tournament set. It happens to everyone and you'll learn to deal with it over time. Focus on your match and not the people watching it or your opponent. Utilize things that work well for you and don't repeat things that aren't working. Don't panic when you make mistakes and don't panic when you're getting to high percentages. If you feel yourself starting to get nervous, take a deep breath and collect your thoughts. You always have time to do this between stocks.
Your First Time Counterpicking
Most people don't know what stages to counterpick at their first tournament because before playing competitively they avoided most strange stages. If this is the case for you, just counterpick a stage that you are comfortable with. You may have to deal with strange stages that your opponent picks against you but as long as you win the first round you're probably going to be okay because you can win the third. If you're going to play this game seriously though, it's time to learn some more stages. You need to be prepared to fight any character on any stage and you need to be aware of what stages can help Lucas out.
Brinstar and Norfair are great "go to" stages for Lucas but you need to know how they work. If you have time before your first tournament, I would recomend learning these stages as counterpicks.
Bathroom and Food Breaks
Don't forget that you have regular body functions. If you can, get food before the tournament starts so that you aren't starving half way through. Bringing snacks is a good idea as well. Often, there is time to get food inbetween doubles and singles brackets. If you have to use the bathroom while you're doing brackets, it can never hurt to inform the TO that you're using the restroom so that he doesn't call your match and disqualify you for not showing up.
Double Elimination
Well you just lost your first tournament set. DON'T LEAVE!!
Most tournaments are double elimination which means you aren't out of the tournament after losing one set. You go into a loser's bracket where you can play to make it further into the tournament. Lots of new players leave before they're even out and get disqualified.
Playing to Lose
You're not going to do well in your first tournament. Almost everyone does poorly their first time because it's a new environment, a new level of stress and most often an entirely new level of competitive play. Don't be discouraged because you got last place at your first tournament. Going to tournaments will make you better even if you do poorly. Expect to do poorly and focus on learning from each match.
Hanging Around Afterward
If you can, stay around after the tournament is over. There are a lot of really cool people who may stay a while for friendlies or money matches. Competitive smash players are usually cool people to hang out with anyway even if they just go to a restaurant or something. Making friends means you'll have more people to play against which means you'll get better faster. This is especially true at local tournaments.
Preparing for More Tournaments
Smashboards is a great place to find more tournaments. Try the tournament listings boards or the regional zones to find tournaments near you. There are a few other sites that can help you as well such as allisbrawl.
Practicing at Home
Your first tourney probably gave you some perspective. Maybe you even got to play a fellow Lucas main and have some techniques to try to learn from them. Spend time on counterpick stages to get better at fighting on them. Play as other characters to learn their movesets and spacing. Watch videos on youtube of professionals and watch how they fight and deal with certain situations. Check out the Lucas video thread and Lucas guides to learn some things you can work on.
Smashfests
The Regional Zones boards usually have threads for smashfests near you. Try to get to these as often as possible. It's a great way to meet fellow smashers and to get better in a less competitive arena than tournaments. Don't be afraid to ask questions like:
"How do you keep beating me?"
"How can I get past that strategy?"
"Am I being predictable?"
People are almost always willing to help.
Your Next Tournament
You're stronger, smarter and faster this time. No more johns. It's time to start taking names. Your Lucas is ready to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies.
Sandbagging
Sandbagging in friendlies can be a good thing for you. It lets you warm up without showing all your tricks. Sometimes it's a good thing to keep back some of your ability in friendlies since they don't matter. Let someone think they can beat you and then trash them when you get to play them in brackets or pools. Everyone sandbags and it's an okay thing to do. It conserves mental energy and helps you to recognize opponents' patterns without giving up many of your own.
Pools and Brackets
You know your tools by now and you just need to use them. Most people underestimate Lucas and you can use this to your advantage. Destroy everyone who stands in your way. You should be aware of what each character can do to you by now. Don't be afraid of your bad matchups but be aware of what you can do against them. Hopefully you have some more matchup experience by now and can deal with the individual issues you have to face as a low tier main with ****ty matchups. Do your best and play to learn as much as you did in your first tournament. It may take time before you can get high placings.
Sportsmanship
Start each set by wishing your opponent good luck. This is common courtesy and it just makes things more friendly. When you win a match you are allowed some celebration but be sure to shake your opponent's hand and tell him good game before you go too crazy. Similarly, if you lose, don't be a **** just because you feel like you played poorly or the opponent played "gay." Shake their hand and say good game. Don't throw your controller to the ground and be a douche.
Everyone johns to some extent. Try to avoid it though. We all have excuses for why we lost but limit it as much as possible. You lost because your opponent played better than you. This is always the case.
Money Matches
Money matches are sets on which an amount of money is bet on the winner. These are often for just $1 and are intended to prevent your opponent from sandbagging like they might in a friendly. As an up and coming player, you want to challenge better players than you to money matches so that you can get better. Losing a few bucks usually isn't that big of a deal. As you get better and your name gets out there, other people will come to you for money matches so that they can get better. Although these are more competitive than friendlies, they are less competitive than tournament sets because (most often) there is significantly less money on the line. Always bring extra cash for money matches. They're a great way to get better.
Your Smash Career
You're an established SSBB competitive player. You know plenty of other players and play at tournaments relatively consistently.
Building a Reputation
People will start to recognize your name once you go to enough tournaments. If you start placing well, people will seek you out for money matches or just friendlies. To me, this is the best part about tournaments. You meet a lot of cool people and get to play a lot. Enjoy mild notoriety and try not to let it get to your head. IT'S JUST A GAME.
Dealing with Failure as a Low Tier Main
It is hard to be a low tier main. You will lose a lot. Your character is not as good as most of the other characters in this game. You may feel like you have to work ten times harder than everyone else to win. A lot of playing a low tier character has to do with pride. You want to beat people with your character regardless of how bad he is. It's going to be hard to win a lot of tournaments with Lucas. You may consider picking up a secondary character to deal with bad matchups. If you're really out to win money at large tournaments, you may consider picking a new main altogether. No one will hate you for it. If you're not having fun, then there is no point in doing it.
Monetary Issues
Going to tournaments costs money unless you win every time. Gas money, food, entry and venue fees all come into play. You may want to try to bring a set up to avoid paying venue fees and carpooling to split gas money with friends. Winning some smaller local tournaments can help fund larger ones.
Taking Breaks
When you're not playing well, sometimes it helps to just take some time off. If playing smash ever becomes too stressful, you need to just take a break from it. Playing a video game shouldn't feel like a job to you. Just relax and things will get better with time.
Hope this helps someone! I wanted to write it to eventually link to my guide.
. 
It's funny because pretty much all of this is true. Good read, Tyr.
