Mentors

Along the way I have adopted I guess what you would call "mentors". I don't mean like they took me under thair wing, but just certain people that affected my growth as a smasher more than everyone else, directly or indirectly.

Firstly would obviously be the person who introduced me to the game in the first place, my friend Patrick. He never got into the competitive scene, but even before I did, he showed me that I had the "competitive gene". I had somewhat of a rival.

The Paty Guys. Theres a dorm here called Paty, and my freshman year, they would play smash bros, every single night until around 5 a.m.. They gave me a lot of practice, and it was during this time that I realized I was good with Marth. (I originally played Ness). It was here that I first got a taste of competition. It was a "scrub" tournament, but it was a tournament nonetheless. I had something play for. I came in, I believe 7th out of around 25, leading me to believe (as most scrubs believe) that I was good at the game.

Ken Hoang. Well I've never met him personally, but I stumbled upon his Wikipedia Entry
one day, and I was amazed. This guy was making thousands of dollars playing the same game I loved. I watched some of videos and was blown away, he and his opponents were moving so fast, it was crazyness.

MLG. The forums, that is. That's where I first learned more about the competitive scene, I learned about wavedashing, L-canceling and the who she-bang. I watched lots of videos, I asked for tips. I got better.

Thief. Organized the first "competitive style" tournament, I ever attended. He was the first "good" person I'd ever seen in person, also the first person to completely destroy me in a battle. and He lived down the street. He showed me that you don't have to be an asian from SoCal to be a great player.

After lots of individual practice, i met:

mslano. Possibly THEE most significant factor in my smash growth was the summer I met mslano. He was another good player that lived close. I got a lot of good practice playing against him, but even better, he drove me up to Hunstville a few times, where I met:

The Huntsville Guys. They provided me with competition on par with the likes of people like Thief (in fact Thief himself showed up a couple times). They destroyed me though, but the practice was good. One hunstville guys helped me even more significantly, that is:

moogle. He offered me lots of advice, and to this day lets me bother him on aim with questions. He's the one that showed me a lot of the things I use today when playing Melee.

Iori. I first met Iori when they visited Huntsville one weekend. He is, to date, the best person I've ever played this game with. He taught me that you have to be patient in this game or you will be killed. He showed me what it truly means to get your ass kicked at a game. He was like Clubber Lang, except smarter. He showed that if you don't know what you're doing, you'll get massacred. I have yet to be Rocky and defeat him, but maybe one day.

munkus & anomaly. gave me some much needed practice in tuscaloosa, where there's hardly anyone to play. I learned that I wanted to play more than just one character during this time.

InTACT, my brother. During christmas break, i played exclusively with my brother pretty much. and while he's not very good...he helped me practice lots of different characters. Also it is almost completely because of my matches with him that I implemented DI and tech chasing into my repertoire.

Torg. a Guy i fought at G4s4, that plays a pretty decent Marth. It doesn't really have much to do with him, but it just so happens that during my matches with him, I finally understood what "Don't Get Hit" meant.

NES_Noob. A guy i seem to play with at every tournament, who continually rapes me. He offers advice every time, and the major advice he's given me is to pay attention to spacing, which is something I'm still working on.

More recently, IH, and Smooth Criminal. No offense to them but these are two guys I played at G4s5 that I lost too, that I shouldn't have. Anyway my matches with them shed light on the fact that I play differently in tourney matches than in friendlies, and its something that I need to work on.

So, with Brawl on the way (comes out tomorrow!), I wonder who will affect me the most in the future?

G4S5 and the Daniel-Zaman Problem

So Get 4 Stocked 5 was yesterday. It's looking like it'll be the last big melee tournament in the Mid-South. Well I think people will still have Melee tournaments, but Brawl is probably going to take over.

I had probably the easiest pool of them all, and I didn't do well as I know I could have.

This brings me to the daniel-zaman problem. It has nothing to do with him really. daniel-zaman is rated as one of GA's best smashers, and he's better than me, although not by much. I've played friendlies with him at almost every tourney I've attended. At this particular tournament, and at G4s4, I was keeping up with him in friendlies, generally getting him down to one stock, which would lead me to believe that our skill levels aren't THAT far apart. The "problem" is that daniel-zaman always makes it out of pools, and I always fail hard in pools. Which leads me to conclude that I must get nervous or anxious or slow when I play in tournament matches. It's weird though because I can't really tell that I'm playing worse besides the fact that I'm losing. I'll have to work on that.

It's probably time to start focusing on Brawl. and as I predicted, I think my Melee practice will benefit me in that aspect. Plus I have high hopes because I'm starting on an even playing field (for the most part) as everyone else, and not 3 years behind like I did with Melee.

Improvement Thoughts
I'm better than I was, I'm tech chasing and DIing better, and I think I know the next step, and this will translate in to Brawl. I need to learn how to read my opponents. I need to pay attention to what they do, how they do it, and when they do it. What do they do around the edge? What do they do to get up from the edge? What do they do in the air? Things like that.