Tournament experiences

[~Pink Fresh~]

Similar to the tournament experiences thread, This thread is dedicated to show how one did in a tournament. Not by results, but by experience. What have you gained from the tournament? To whom did you lose, and why did you lose to that person? Was he Just a better player, or was his char doing something that you didn't know to get past? How will you get past them in the future? On what stages did you fail, and what stages did you succeed?

these are the type of things we will be discussin here I need a detailed report of what happened each match. How did you rack up damage? any combos, juggles, traps that you continuously exploited. Maybe, you found something new about a matchup that you would like to share. What matchups were tough for you? why were they tough? a certain move or range on moves. give a really detailed report of what happened each match and we'll talk about it.


Format being:

Round (can be friendlies, MMs, first round of tourney, semis, grand finals; whatever.)
opponent and his char
stage
detailed description of what happened. pretty much what was stated above.

do that for each round and maybe we'll find ways past things.

 

[soccerdude7200]

Well
I went to a tournament at my local library
it was kind of a joke
they had all items on on very high, 3 stocks, tournament mode, and only on FD
I lost to some super bad kid who was ROB because he got a smash ball and i had no clue that i couldnt hit him while he was using
i also got killed by a warp star...
but at least it was free...

 

[Chuee]

LOL soccerdude come on all characters are invincible while using their final smash.

 

[Levitas]

cool idea. most of my lucas usage in past tournaments has been in friendlies, but I'll see if I can contribute and stuff.

 

[heytallman]

Tournament: HOBO 10
I got knocked out by two Marths D:

lololol that sucked bad. But I like the idea of this thread, and I'll be putting up my experience from the next tournament I go to (which is on Saturday)

 

[Irsic]

HTM, I think you need a Marth counter.

 

[heytallman]

That was before I had ROB as a solid secondary D:

But even with ROB, I still have trouble against Marth, even though it's a better matchup, albeit even.

 

[ZMan]

i went to tourny today and got like, 5th or 7th and got 4th in teams with a lvl 9 cpu (lolwut?), ill edit later.

 

[Neon Ness]

One thing I can say is... be aware of character selection shenanigans.

A few months ago at a tournament in Jacksonville, I "let" someone counterpick me. I chose Ness the first round (loss), then Lucas the 2nd round(win). Before the third match, my opponent asked "Are you staying with Lucas?" Without thinking anything of it I said "Yeah". He then proceeded to choose Marth. I almost won but at the time I just didn't have enough experience to pull through.

Make no mistake-- I'm not tryna give any excuses or whine, "I lost because he picked Marth". I'm just sayin'... if there's one thing I learned from that tournament, it's that you should never reveal your hand to the opponent too early. If you can, agree to simultaneous character selection or something. Because even if you feel like you can handle any matchup, at the same time, you don't know how well your opponent knows the matchup against your selected character. Coupled with the advantages that Marth has over Lucas, I was in for an impossible fight.

Something else is friendlies. Hopefully most people know not to make this mistake but I'll mention it anyway. Sandbag. Always sandbag at least a little in friendlies. If you play your hardest, your opponent is gonna read you like a book and start composing strategies on how to trump your playstyle. I made that mistake and paid for it during the actual tournament matches. Whether it be playing light or using characters that are not your main, hold back in friendlies. Remember, they're just to warm up.

That's all I have for now. That and, if you see someone notable at a tournament, definitely ask for friendlies...

 

[heytallman]

Neon Ness, the counterpicking system in Brawl goes like the winner has to announce his character before the match. So because you won, you had to announce which character you were going to play. That's how it goes. It goes stage selection, winner of last match's character, loser's character.

 

[Irsic]

I made both of those mistakes at my previous tournament, Neon. I know not to make them now, though. I should have been sandbagging much more than I was, and I let someone counterpick me when it was my counterpick (character wise) loss on the second match, and it was definitely why I didn't make it out of pools.

 

[Neon Ness]

Neon Ness, the counterpicking system in Brawl goes like the winner has to announce his character before the match. So because you won, you had to announce which character you were going to play. That's how it goes. It goes stage selection, winner of last match's character, loser's character.

Wait, really? Because no one else did. He didn't when he won the first match... Must be a Texas thing.

Never seen anyone do that at any other tournament, either...

That's a shame, Irsic. At least I'm not the only one who's done it, though.

Oh yeah, more stuff. Knowing your limits. We all main/second Lucas here, so naturally one of our goals is entering a tournament and using only Lucas. But the thing is, I'd rather a Lucas player get to the semifinals with the help of Dedede than go pure Lucas and not get out of pools. It's alright to use outside help from other characters. Secondaries are there for matchups we don't know well or haven't mastered quite yet. I've tried going all Ness or all Lucas before but it just doesn't work because I'm not good yet. One day I'll get the point where I can, but doing so now is pointless. If you don't feel confident go with a secondary with a better chance. Build matchup experience in friendlies. But when a tournament victory is at stake, play it safe. If you don't have a secondary, get one. They don't need to be someone like Meta Knight or Diddy, just someone different from Lucas who can handle different matchups.

...Needless to say, I learned a lot from this one tournament.

 

[heytallman]

Set format (In Order of Procedure):
1. Opponents choose their characters for the first match *
2. Opponents start the stage striking procedure
3. Each player may announce one stage to be banned for counterpicks of the set
4. The first game is played, using the stage chosen during step 2
5. The loser of the previous match announces the next match's stage from either the Starter Stage List or the Counter Stage List
6. The winner of the previous match chooses their character
7. The loser of the previous match chooses their character
8. Repeat steps 5-7 for all proceeding matches
*Double blind character selection may be called for the first match

He/everyone should have. I believe this was on the first rule list too. Important stuff is bolded for emphasis.

 

[Irsic]

Yep, after my last tournament I'm officially maining Lucas/Diddy now, I'm not going to not switch characters when I know I should just so I can say I played just Lucas. Not worth it anymore.

 

[Neon Ness]

Ah, yezzz. I see. Shoulda read that more carefully, I guess.

Hope someone mentions Lucas doubles stories/advice soon. Because I just can't stop killing my partner for some reason.

 

[heytallman]

Hope someone mentions Lucas doubles stories/advice soon. Because I just can't stop killing my partner for some reason.

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=227712

It's nowhere near complete, and don't know if you've seen it yet or not, but at least check it out. There's a few good things in there.

As for killing your partner.....idk I don't really have this problem lol. But check the thread. There's a few videos for teams with various characters and the like......yeah.

 

[~Nasty~]

I just went to a tourney on Saturday and got 7th in singles, 4 in doubles and 2nd in Low tier singles... i went all lucas for each tourney w/ the exception of one match (not one set). i went mk against this falco which helped me win and move on and not get knocked out early.

As for my story: i faced a sonic in grand finals of the low tier tourney and he just grab released me most of the time it was grab realease to down tilt. is there any way around this? i tried to buffer a side step and also tried to DI away from the grab release but nothing helped. What i'm trying to say is be aware of the grab releases that certain characters have over lucas (namely MK, Marth, and Sonic). When i went into this match i didn't know about it but i prevailed and won the first set (3-0) but since i was in losers, i had to beat him in another set of 5.. which he beat me (3-0) XD lol

 

[Levitas]

Do testing on your own to find out what grab releases to watch for, because there are a lot of them and we can't really do anything about them (aside from forcing a jump release against certain characters.


Neon, I've never had anyone NOT insist on correct order for character selection on counterpicks before.

 

[c3gill]

Watch out for Yoshi on Distant Planet.

I got chained off the left side of the map...... all 3 kills I assumed I incorrectly DIed the first time, wrong. I realized my mistake on the 2nd, and the 3rd was him punishing a mistimed D-Smash. **** Yoshi.

its not a perfect CG, but its kinda a release chase. HERE!!!! , around 3:40, if you dont know what Im talking about.

 

[soccerdude7200]

LOL soccerdude come on all characters are invincible while using their final smash.

woopsies...
lol
now i feel like a failure

 

[~Pink Fresh~]

I'll have a pretty detailed report of this online tourney in which i participated. I'm sure to come in at least top 4.

 

[ZMan]

unm tourny (sat)

first round: ike/lucas scrub named orca. i two stocked his ike then two stocked his lucas w/my sonic on japes.
second round- jt!'s ****** ***. i beat his rob easily with lucas round one on smashville then two stocked his rob with my ****ty ddd on delfino. what a scrub
thrid round- overgames, lost to his luigi, beat his luigi on brinstar, got two stocked on battlefield against his marth with ddd
fourth round- goyf. he two sotcked my lucas with ic's cause i killed my self at 0 first stock. beat his gaw on brinstar then again on smashville.
fifth round- alphabravo, got jv-3stocked first round, beat his mk on brinstar, then nearly lost to his mk again on battlefield. got 4th place

 

[Chuee]

Going to tourney in 2 weeks.
Report then.

 

[prOAPC]

I Torneo de Cartagena
grand finals
Snes with Snake
Snake devensive game is better than Lucas'. I get desesperated so i start to attack. I'm always behind with stocks or %, so i'm the one approaching. I forgot where are the mines and c4s. One of my approaches is short hop+airdodge+jab or ftilt, but there's always a granade waiting for my attack. He can shield grab between my nair and utilt after he shields my dair.
I got frustrated after losing 0-6 in grand finals (with Lucas and MK)

 

[Chuee]

Bad matchups are bad what can ya say (except mk vs snake). ehhh you'll get that sneaky ****er next time.

 

[shinrama]

Going to my first tourney tomorrow (well, today now), so I'll report here then.

May as well try to contribute something to the community.

 

[ZMan]

im going to a tournament today after my job audition

 

[heytallman]

Tallman will also be packing lunch at a tournament today.

 

[~Pink Fresh~]

I finally have one. Of course it's an online tournament.
I came in third or fourth out of 32. It was single elimination and I made it to Semis. It wasn't seeded so I got stuck against the number one seed. I'll prob number two next time. anywhoo.

First round.
I got a bye. The guy never showed. One of the few problems with online tournies.

2nd round. 8bitman.
he uses R.O.B
i 2-0'ed him.
The matchup is pretty straight forward. First Match was on FD When the match started I PK freeze to stop the gyro from charging. I wasn't exactly sure on how to approach the match, but i knew one thing had to be done: i had to take control of his Gyro. Without his Gyro, R.O.B is pretty bad. his only projectile is the laser, which is mega predictable and absorbable. I fsmashed it and took it on the ground. He wasn't aware that i controlled it while it was just spinning. He always tried to me between the Gyro and him. fair can be shieldgrabbed. he has almost no approach options once you take the gyro, so you can sit there and camp. I camped my a** off. he tried to fair and i shieldgrabbed. dthrow utilt worked wonders. I could utilt over and over again, because he had no options. he eventually learned to jump away. his aerial mobility sucked, so i follwed and continued juggling. utilt, uair after predicting airdodges, pivot grabs and the like. This is the match where I learned that dash attack is good for setting up edgeguarding and juggling. Bad DI and you can follow with uair or fair. I also started to fair -> utilt to start juggle traps. I figured since fair ftilt/jab worked. fair utilt would as well since utilt comes out just as fast as ftilt. match up was pretty basic. bunch of juggling. dair utilt. dair utilt nair utilt. basic juggling.

second match i learned about Lucas' insane platform game.
His CP was BF. Lucas has so many options when a Rob is above him it's insane. you can FH nair, uair, tilt, usmash, FH fair, and FH dair. So many mixups. the combos were ridiculous. I still can't edge ROB. IDK wtf you're supposed to do. the best was reflecting his gyro when they're recovering low then spiking, PKT edgeuarding or something. I could use a bit more experience in the matchup with lucas, but it really isn't that hard. the only problem is getting in close, but you can force RO.B to approach if you take His gyro.

Third round
Zen1 2-0'ed him.
first stage was uh... smashville. I think. well anyway. Kirby is a weird matchup. I honestly think it's in our favor. not just from playing him, but just from playing others. (Choknater, some other guy i forgot, Kawaii bunny) You can camp the F*** out of them and there is pretty much nothing they can do about it. I just camped, frustrated him, and forced him to approach. Kirby's approach optinos are non-existant. It was a pretty straightforward fight.
second match was different. It went to... I think BF against Pika.

Now, i honestly have no matchup experience against pika. I forgot he was on the game tbh. I only beat him because i was a better player. I didn't know how to stop appraoches, I couldn't camp. I couldn't approach, because he is too small. I just punished alot of things with my ground game. Somebody help


Fourth Match
Aryman... He 2-0'ed me
I have never beaten this guys snake. I've played it like three times and I've lost every time. Apparently this matchup is harder than i thought. Usually Lucas can win, because he kills at low percents, but snake takes forever to die. Not, only that, but I get hit like once and take 20%. one stock i was getting edged and got like 70%.

I have absolutely no clue on what to do. I juggled him a couple of times and got like 40%-50% percent of that, but that's it. I only got kills from dsmash.

HTF do you deal with this Char?

Discuss hopefully? >_>

 

[heytallman]

So I got 33rd of 73 at this tournament.

1st round - I got a bye

2nd round - I played a random DDD player, and 2-0'd him. The first match was almost a 3 stock, second match was a 1 stock. He counterpicked me to Japes, where I just kinda sat back and mad him approach. He played very sloppily. I recovered about 40% from a Waddle Doo as well lol.

3rd round - I played against Jerm, Houston's best TL player. I went ROB and lost, so lets just move on.

4th round (loser's) - I played against PhantomX, a Wario player from Austin. He 2-0'd me, he was really good. Wario can do tasty stuff to Lucas if he grabs him. He ended up getting 3rd place overall.

In doubles I teamed with Magitek Knight, and we didn't do too well. We got beat by an Ike/Marth team and then a G&W/Snake team. I was DI'ing like crazy against G&W and Snake, living to about 200% on Japes. Fun stuff.

Then there was low tier doubles, where we got knocked out by Espy (beastly Sonic player) and PhantomX after losing once and beating two others.

 

[~Pink Fresh~]

So I got 33rd of 73 at this tournament.

1st round - I got a bye

2nd round - I played a random DDD player, and 2-0'd him. The first match was almost a 3 stock, second match was a 1 stock. He counterpicked me to Japes, where I just kinda sat back and mad him approach. He played very sloppily. I recovered about 40% from a Waddle Doo as well lol.

3rd round - I played against Jerm, Houston's best TL player. I went ROB and lost, so lets just move on.

4th round (loser's) - I played against PhantomX, a Wario player from Austin. He 2-0'd me, he was really good. Wario can do tasty stuff to Lucas if he grabs him. He ended up getting 3rd place overall.

In doubles I teamed with Magitek Knight, and we didn't do too well. We got beat by an Ike/Marth team and then a G&W/Snake team. I was DI'ing like crazy against G&W and Snake, living to about 200% on Japes. Fun stuff.

Then there was low tier doubles, where we got knocked out by Espy (beastly Sonic player) and PhantomX after losing once and beating two others.

You know you can Dsmash every SH approach by wario, because of his lack of range. It forces retreat. can't punish it either. It's kinda like brickwalling with marth, but on the ground.

 

[Neon Ness]

A'ight! I got a few new stories to tell. Gather round. (If you care.)

Stage counterpicking is almost as important as the effort you put into your character. I kid you not, and I can't stress enough that you shouldn't underestimate the importance of the setting. Yesterday, my first match was against a Meta Knight, I SD'd the first stock on Smashville (), and he 2-stocked me there. No momentum to speak of, I thought the set was lost. But I counterpicked Norfair, and things changed. He SD'd his first stock this time, and the momentum began to shift. I stuck to my game plan, stayed under him and juggled the heck out of Meta Knight with up tilt/up air/up smash. I pretty much controlled the stage the entire time, and it payed off. He CP'd Lylat Cruise and I won with 2 stocks left. Not a bad Meta Knight at all, I think maybe he just hadn't had as much experience against Lucas as I have against Meta Knight. He also didn't seem familiar with playing on Norfair, which was a plus. Even if the fight looks tough, knowing your stages can save your hide. Memorize which are best for you/Lucas, and which are bad for all matchups.

2nd match I had to fight Lambchops, ranked #9 in Florida, one of the best Snakes in the state. Unlucky seeding :embarrass... Anyway, this was my first time fighting a top 10 in a tournament, so I knew the fight was already lost. 2-stocked my Ness on Final Destination, nothing special there. CP'd Lucas on Brinstar and actually managed to take a match off of him. Much thanks to Tyr here, I think he mentioned the up smash traps possible on this stage in one of his threads. Coupled with lingering hitbox shenanigans, and him mistakenly hurting himself with explosives on occasion, I managed to take the fight. I ended up losing the set (Snake + Smashville = bad for me , yet another 2-stock), but that Brinstar match was still important because it proved that the possibility to win is always there. Sometimes your best is all you can do, and that's fine. But never sell yourself short and lose confidence, that won't do any good.

Taking a deep breath also relieves stress. If you feel jittery I'd recommend trying it. You have to have calmed nerves to be able to play at max potential.

Lucas loves crazy Metroid stages. I'd suggest becoming familiar with them if they're legal in your region.

 

[~Pink Fresh~]

3rd match?

 

[Neon Ness]

3rd match I lost to a Pit player. It was a close one, and to be honest I shoulda won the set, but I let it slip away at the last second.

I didn't think it was that important/interesting so I didn't mention it... All I can say is absorb those arrows and don't let them chip away at your health...

 

[Dxt XXII]

First Round
Opponent 1: ? (Was last year, so I don't really remember)
Opponent 2: see above
FD and Battlefield
I got knocked out by a G&W and a DK. I was so looking forward to these matchups.

What I learned: Don't try this at home.

 

[Xeedoc]

Tourney Experiences:

First one I got ***** in pools due to that being my first time playing against skilled people NOT on wifi.
Second tourney was kinda recent. Took place in LA, it was called LasT Smash 3. It was really fun, my first Oos (out of state) tourney [I demand you all to go oos and you will learn alot more]. In pools it was as the following.

1st match: Almost MK until he realized I picked Lucas, then he chose Marth. He played the first match without grab release and I [I think] 2 stocked him with a spike at the end. I felt amazing and was very proud of myself, as he was a well-known Marth player [RickyB]. The last two matches he grab released.

2nd match: Marth. Nuff said.

3rd match: TL player, decent but I knew I was better. He beat me the first round, I CP'd Brinstar, but was so excited I could CP that, that I picked Ness. I know, I'm good.

That was it for my pools, it was Swiss Style and turned out not so great due to the TO and everyone else's lack of experience running it.

Even though my past experiences with Lucas in singles tournies were bad, I still enjoy playing as him and hope to get better. I know I have a problem with not being able to beat players I know I'm better than. I heard I just need to record matches and analyze why I get hit and what I need to fix. I'm a tech ***** who picks up other characters for one week just to learn the tech. If anyone has any any suggestions: HALP

 

[~Pink Fresh~]

Got any vids?

 

[orange/xd]

I haven't been to one yet. D: I hope to go to a PnT tourney this Sunday, however.

 

[Xeedoc]

Got any vids?

Negative, though I realized that during the match with RickyB I was doing something weird. Approaching with bair. It worked well and it looked like he was amazed, all that said, I still haven't gotten out of pools.

 

[Rachmaninav89]

I'm going to my first tournament this sunday, I'll write on it! Thanks for all the stories, I think they'll help alot!