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MLG Smash Quest Update

Blogs > Hot_Bid
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Hot_Bid
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
Braavos36379 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-07 19:40:07
May 07 2014 19:27 GMT
#1
Previously: Part I: Smash and MLG Anaheim

The first part of my blog explains why I am practicing SSBM and what I'm attempting to accomplish at MLG Anaheim: win one (1) match. I'm roughly at the halfway point of practicing before the event in late June.

Before we get into what I've been learning, some positive news. I think I'm pretty good for someone who has "trained" for 3 months. I can often look like a passable player for small portions of matches. I am playing Falco mostly.

However, this game is a textbook example of ignorance being a gatekeeper to accurate skill assessment. I'm almost infinitely better at Smash than a few months ago, but now I can finally accurately see where I am on the spectrum of Smash players, and I can see that I am pretty far away from where I need to be.

I suppose the first question would be, is it even feasible to try to win a match in the MLG open bracket after practicing for only 4-5 months with a moderate amount of non-competitive SSBM experience previously? It appears I may just simply be praying for bracket luck.

What am I doing to practice?

I've never really trained for any competitive video game before. It seems to me, looking at Smash, that the biggest issue for newer players is simply techskill. The knowledge and matchup stuff will come with advice from better players and match play, but techskill is something you can literally just grind yourself in single player. Without a solid base of techskill you can't even do any of the stuff you're supposed to do in matches. I think most new players really need to just get their mechanical ability to a moderate level before even really attempting to form good habits / strategies.

Obviously, Smash isn't my fulltime job, but I try to get as much solo techskill practice in as possible.

[image loading]
Obviously grinding single player for 5 months can make you become Westballz 2.0


Smash is one of those games where in the pressure of a match without time to think or prepare, you're messing up simple shit that you executed perfectly 100x in practice. The answer to that really is to just repeat actions so much that it becomes muscle memory so you don't have to worry about it. And even if you do that, there will be times when you just still fuck up. So that is what a lot of time is spent doing, I'm sitting wavelanding on platforms and shield pressure on a computer and making sure my lasers are the same height.

I've also been playing a good amount on Dolphin netplay. I've found that you simply can't do a lot of stuff reaction and timing wise because of the buffer and input delay, but going from netplay-to-live is far, far more easier than the other way around. After an hour or two I'm fine with the timing of playing on a TV, its almost like Goku taking off the weights. It's incredibly hard the other way around, you feel like you're playing in water after a full day of CRTs.

The skill level in the #dolphin-ssbm channel is mixed. I'm in a weird zone where I beat everyone who is new very easily, and get 3-4 stocked by the actual good people in the channel. The good news is, Smash is fun even when you get owned, and combined with my endless tolerance for grinding 50 losses in a row from StarCraft means I have a pretty mentality for practice and motivation.

The hardest thing it seems is actually applying new stuff I learned to situations in game. Every player seems to have two mental modes, one being where they're trying hard and focusing and the other being this half assed "autopilot." I suppose that's why money matches are cool, they make players try. I try, as much as possible to stay "focused" and treat matches as extended training instead of just trying to win.

Lots of New Players

Lots of people I know who used to play smash for fun before seems to be getting back into it. MrBitter is trash talking me about playing at the Red Bull offices before MLG. I'm getting messages from old college roommates about the game. I even played Liquid Snute who randomly knows how to play Yoshi.

I went to a Dutch local tournament a few weeks ago, where after I was out, I played friendlies for nearly 8 hours straight. It is actually fun to just watch how some of these better players move around the various stages. Everyone was nice and there was a nice atmosphere of everyone cooperating to try to get better. The best player I played in a friendly there was a Marth that casually powershields seven straight lasers on his way to 4-stocking me.

There were a decent number of new players (though I was probably the "newest" since it was my first tournament) and they're all there because of the documentary and because of EVO. I tell them about my quest for an MLG win the reaction is largely mixed, some think I can do it with some luck and some think I have no chance.

There's this prevailing feeling that SoCal is some mythical place where dragons and unicorns exist next to random Luigis who will 4-stock your country's best players, like Korean Brood War circa 2008. That makes it even more exciting.

****
@Hot_Bid on Twitter - ESPORTS life since 2010 - http://i.imgur.com/U2psw.png
Solid Jake
Profile Joined November 2010
United States77 Posts
May 07 2014 19:35 GMT
#2
HotBid played with me a few weeks ago. Confirming he is Westballz 2.0
MLG_Adam
Profile Joined July 2010
United States994 Posts
May 07 2014 19:39 GMT
#3
You're going to get crushed.

Someone please photo shop Hot Bid in a XXXXXXL Terrell Pryor jersey.
Twitter: MrAdamAp
Hot_Bid
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
Braavos36379 Posts
May 07 2014 19:42 GMT
#4
On May 08 2014 04:39 MLG_Adam wrote:
You're going to get crushed.

Someone please photo shop Hot Bid in a XXXXXXL Terrell Pryor jersey.

I agree, Terrell Pryor is probably the best, most accurate representative of Ohio football.
@Hot_Bid on Twitter - ESPORTS life since 2010 - http://i.imgur.com/U2psw.png
MrBitter
Profile Joined January 2008
United States2940 Posts
May 07 2014 19:42 GMT
#5
Can't wait to see you 4 stocked by Luigi.
MLG_Adam
Profile Joined July 2010
United States994 Posts
May 07 2014 19:44 GMT
#6
On May 08 2014 04:42 Hot_Bid wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 08 2014 04:39 MLG_Adam wrote:
You're going to get crushed.

Someone please photo shop Hot Bid in a XXXXXXL Terrell Pryor jersey.

I agree, Terrell Pryor is probably the best, most accurate representative of Ohio football.



Better yet, someone photo shop him with half of a Michigan Denard Robinson Jersey and half Appalachian state.
Twitter: MrAdamAp
Zorkmid
Profile Joined November 2008
4410 Posts
May 07 2014 19:54 GMT
#7
Best of luck! Get in on that ground floor!
Complete
Profile Joined October 2009
United States1864 Posts
May 07 2014 20:14 GMT
#8
you got dis homie
a9arnn
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States1537 Posts
May 07 2014 20:19 GMT
#9
Hoping for Hotbid vs d3_crescentia MLG round 1, the match of the century !
VOD finder guy for sc2ratings.com/ ! aka: ogndrahcir, a9azn2 | Go ZerO, Stork, Sea, and KawaiiRice :D | nesc2league.com/forum/index.php | youtube.com/watch?v=oaGtjWL5mZo
Belano
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Sweden657 Posts
May 07 2014 20:54 GMT
#10
Just what I wanted to read! I wish you all the best of luck, man. I've been techskill grinding a bit too. Shit is insanely hard. Like, I can't even short hop. Been wave dashing for hours but am not close to doing it in an actual match yet. Guess I'll have to keep practicing.

Did you know Akke plays btw? You should challenge him .
Bring back 1 supply roaches.
chaosTheory_14cc
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Canada1270 Posts
May 07 2014 21:32 GMT
#11
I believe in you.
TheEmulator
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
28092 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-07 23:11:52
May 07 2014 23:10 GMT
#12
On May 08 2014 04:39 MLG_Adam wrote:
You're going to get crushed.

Someone please photo shop Hot Bid in a XXXXXXL Terrell Pryor jersey.

"You're going to get crushed"

you must know something we don't. I see through your shenanigans

(bracket rigging ofc)
Administrator
KadaverBB
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Germany25657 Posts
May 08 2014 00:06 GMT
#13
Snute knows how to play Yoshi.
I approve of this 100% !
AdministratorLaws change depending on who's making them, but justice is justice
GhandiEAGLE
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States20754 Posts
May 08 2014 00:16 GMT
#14
You're dead sir. If you're lucky you might meet a newbie such as yourself in the first match though
Oh, my achin' hands, from rakin' in grands, and breakin' in mic stands
TheEmulator
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
28092 Posts
May 08 2014 00:18 GMT
#15
tbh shouldn't there be a ton of new players there? The game has been growing I bet the participant pool will be big.
Administrator
Archas
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States6531 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-08 00:24:44
May 08 2014 00:24 GMT
#16
In term of my connection to the TL community, I want Hot_Bid to win the entire goddamned Smash tournament and leave Adam weeping in the back alley of the venue over how embarrassingly wrong he was.

But in terms of entertainment, nothing would make me happier than to see Hot_Bid get absolutely crushed and eliminated from the tournament in sixty seconds flat, and to see him droop his shoulders in soul-shattering defeat and anguish as he shambles out of the venue for his flight back home.

Life is tough, man.
The room is ripe with the stench of bitches!
DarkPlasmaBall
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States44980 Posts
May 08 2014 00:32 GMT
#17
Best of luck! We need an interview of you before/ after you play!

Is there any way you can clone yourself so that you can troll-interview you?
"There is nothing more satisfying than looking at a crowd of people and helping them get what I love." ~Day[9] Daily #100
TheEmulator
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
28092 Posts
May 08 2014 00:37 GMT
#18
someone needs to video tape this and make a documentary

Liquid`Ken...Chen
Administrator
Aveng3r
Profile Joined February 2012
United States2411 Posts
May 08 2014 00:38 GMT
#19
kadaver is snute in disguise
I carve marble busts of assassinated world leaders - PM for a quote
itsjustatank
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Hong Kong9157 Posts
May 08 2014 00:47 GMT
#20
On May 08 2014 09:37 TheEmulator wrote:
someone needs to video tape this and make a documentary

Liquid`Ken...Chen


this can be arranged
Photographer"nosotros estamos backamos" - setsuko
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