I haven't written anything on here in a long while, but I wanted to get back into it. I decided I would start a weekly wrap up series where I cover how I did at every tournament I went to that week and talk about the tournaments for a bit. Hopefully I can stay consistent in writing these! Comment if you like these and want to see more or if you have anything else you'd like to see me write about!
Tuesday at Poplar Creek Bowl – Hoffman Estates, IL:
1st/10 in doubles with Big_Mak
2nd/34 in singles
Doubles at Poplar Creek was
interesting on Tuesday. Originally I had planned on teaming with Dan, but he
decided not to go at the last minute so I had to find another teammate. Luckily
Big_Mak was available so we decided to team for the first time. Our synergy was
surprisingly not bad and we managed to get a lot of follow ups from each other’s
throws. On top of that our individual 1v1 play was better than any of the other
teams, and because of that we won the tournament pretty convincingly.
In singles my bracket was fairly
easy until I made it winner’s semi where I had to play against Big_Mak. This
was our first time playing since the new patch and Sheik nerfs. In our last
encounter he beat me 3-1 after some sloppy play from the both of us. I was
pretty confident that he would struggle because of the nerfs to Sheik and I
think that Diddy now does a lot better in the match up. However, he was playing
on point. Until he got pinappled on Dreamland game 2 that is. Without that SD I
think he would’ve taken the set 2-0, but instead I was able to barely squeak out
a win.
In Winner’s finals I got to play
Ned, who was the first seed of the tournament. He has recently been beating me
solidly with his Cloud, and this time was no exception. I put up a strong first
two games to get an early 2-0 lead, but he eventually caught on to my patterns
and I wasn’t able to close out the set.
Loser’s finals was a rematch
against Big_Mak, but this time he wasn’t playing nearly as well as in our
winner’s bracket match. Because of that I took the set pretty clean 3-0 and
earned a rematch against Ned in grands. Ned’s momentum that he had from the end
of the first set was able to carry over, and unfortunately for me he was able
to take the set 3-0.
Wednesday at Ignition - Chicago, IL:
2nd/58 in singles
Wednesday morning I watched over
all my matches against Big_Mak and Ned and took some notes on the match up to
try to apply this time. I was really hungry for the rematch with Ned because I
thought I could definitely take him this time now that I had a better feeling
for the match up in my head at least. However, Ignition is almost always the hardest
weekly in Chicagoland, and tonight had a ton of great players. I would have to
play hard to earn my rematch against Ned.
Due to some upsets on my side of
the bracket, I was able to breeze through my first 3 rounds of winner’s bracket
all the way to winner’s semi-finals. Here I had to play against my crew mate GGA.NiTe.
Historically NiTe has always been one of my harder match ups. Rosalina does
very well against Diddy and it can be a very frustrating match up to play. Just
a few days ago he beat me 2-0 twice at the GGA weekly. I managed to take the
first game of the set this time, but when NiTe answered back with a solid win
game two on his counter pick we were put into an intense game three scenario.
It was close with both of us on our last stocks at low percents, and he hit me
with an up air string that killed me at only 40%. I had no idea how I ended up
getting hit by it, but after rewatching the set it turns out I accidently did a
neutral air for no reason and fell right into his second up air. Oops.
My next matches in loser’s would
prove to be difficult. First I had to take on Sheen’s Sheik who was playing
pretty well that night. I had a few missed inputs that almost killed me, but I
was luckily able to survive and continue to put pressure on him. I kept being aggressive
as to not let him keep a distance from me and it paid off and I was able to get
the win.
In loser’s semi-finals I was now up
against Naoto, the Lil Mac main who had beaten me in the two previous
encounters. From thinking about those matches I felt like I had just played
them too aggressively, so this time I tried to just stay back and keep my
distance as much as I could. Game one he gave me a scare when he took my first
stock early with a smash attack, but pretty quickly within respawning I found a
grab to throw him offstage and get the down smash to end his stock. It ended up
coming down to a close game three, but since I had a slight lead I was able to
wait with a banana until he made a mistake and finish the set with a banana to
forward smash.
Loser’s finals of this tournament
was very interesting. It’s hard to explain exactly what went down so I’ll just
leave a link to it. It was a rematch against NiTe and we both ended up playing
pretty well and there were a ton of close games and come backs within this set.
I ended up barely clutching it out game 5 when he air dodged to the ground
unsafely on his last stock.
I did it! I was able to get my much
desired rematch! I felt very much prepared for this match, and game one I
proved it. I won with a convincing two stock. The only problem was that after
that he just won the next 3 pretty solidly. I was happy with it though, there
were definitely moments in my gameplay that showed that I was improving in the
match up. I’d just have to go back to the lab even harder next time and try
again.
Saturday at House of Paign X – Champaign, IL:
2nd/15 in doubles with NiTe
2nd/43 in singles
After my disappointing performance
at Outfoxx’d and seeing Tyroy do so well, I wanted to go down to House of Paign
and get a chance to play him in bracket. This tournament had a $100 pot bonus
for singles, so it would make the matches a little bit more interesting despite
the only $5 entry fee here.
In doubles I was teaming with NiTe
for the first time at a big event. We didn’t have too much synergy to begin
with but as the day went on we definitely were improving in that department. In
winner’s finals of doubles we brought Tyroy and Moniker to a very close game 5
where I ended up dying early to a Bayonetta combo on my last stock. RIP. In
grands we changed up our plan a little bit to try to minimize the risk of being
carried to the top by Bayonetta, and it worked for a while and we were able to
get the bracket reset. In the first game of the second set, I died from a
Bayonetta combo literally from 0%, and that kind of set the tone for the rest
of the match. We went on a tilt a little bit after being killed so early so many
times and they ended up with the win.
Singles bracket I was seeded third
behind NiTe, but I requested to be the fourth seed to be on the other side of
the bracket. This way I wouldn’t have to play my teammate and I would get a
chance to fight Tyroy. In winner’s semi-finals we finally met for the first
time since he picked up Bayonetta. My game plan was simple: play as lame as
possible to avoid getting death combo’d. It worked fairly well and game one was
really close but he clutched it out. The second game he went Sheik for some
reason and I was able to win, but the third game he switched back to Bayonetta.
This paid off for him and he won convincingly.
After that loss I was talking to
Zinoto a bit about the match up because he was able to beat Tyroy the weekend
before. After getting a few pointers, I really wanted to try them out but I had
to get through loser’s finals and NiTe to do so. This actually ended up being
easy because NiTe pretty much just conceded the match to me because he didn’t
want to deal with Bayonetta gain. Thanks, NiTe.
Grands ended up being actually not
that interesting. I won the first game using Zinoto’s tips, but I wasn’t able
to keep my composure after he continually comboed me for ridiculous percents.
He won 3-1 and I was kind of salty. I really hate Bayonetta as a character and
I do honestly think she is going to start killing the game. Driving home that
night I kept debating about whether or not I should just pick her up myself to
get some easier wins, but decided I would just focus my efforts on improving in
the game with Diddy against the other characters. I’m going to play with the
assumption that she will either be banned or nerfed in the near future, and in
that case investing any time into her would be a waste in the long run.
Sunday at Galloping Ghost Arcade’s Sunday Smash –
Brookfield, IL:
2nd/6 in doubles with Demitus
1st/35 in singles
The best part about the smash scene
right now is that if you get salty after an event, you don’t have to wait until
the tourney next month to try again. You get to play the next day half the time
LOL. So at this GGA the big names in bracket would once again be me, NiTe, and
Ned. I was on NiTe’s side of the bracket, and we met in winner’s semis for the
third time this week. I suppose that’s what happens when seeding is pretty much
static.
Since reviewing my long five game
set against NiTe at Ignition, I felt very comfortable fighting Rosalina for the
first time in a while. I felt like I knew what I needed to do, and I was able
to execute it pretty well. This was my most convincing win on NiTe in a long
time, taking the set 2-0.
In winner’s finals I expected to play Ned, but he actually
ended up losing earlier in the bracket to Bushi’s Bayonetta, so it looks like I’d
get a second chance at this match up for the week. I played the same way I did against
Tyroy, but probably even more patient this time. I noticed early in the set
that he was having trouble chasing my upward DI when I was getting comboed and
that he liked to shield a lot. I was able to capitalize on those things and win
the set 3-1.
The upsets didn’t continue in loser’s
finals, and I got the expected rematch against Ned. This set ended up being
probably the sloppiest that either of us had played in a while. We both SDed a
few too many times this set and flubbed way too many punishes. He got the
bracket reset on me, and then got an early 2-1 lead on me in the second set.
For my counterpick I didn’t want to go to Smashville which I had just lost on,
so I asked if he would agree to play on Town and City, even though I had won
game one of the set there (had he said no I would have gone to Duck Hunt). He agreed
and it worked a lot better for me. It was very close but I barely won it. His
counterpick for the fifth and final game of the set was to Duck Hunt, which I
was okay with since it is kind of like Final Destination for most of the time.
I got an early lead in percent but he got the first kill with a limit break. I
was able to run it all the way back after that though, and when we were both at
kill percents last stock he went for a limit side B and I somehow beat it out
with my falling fair and quickly found an up smash after that to end the set.
Despite how sloppy that entire set was for the two of us, I was really happy I
managed to get a win against Ned’s Cloud under my belt. He had been very
consistent against me recently and it was time I finally got him back.
Overall this week went very well
for me. I started beating NiTe consistently again, and I won against Ned again.
Between doing well at all these tournaments and watching Pound 2016 on stream I
have renewed a drive to improve at this game. I’ve been putting in many more
hours of practice this week than I normally do, and it already was showing in
my results. I want to increase my training regimen soon and see how far I can
go. I don’t want to stop at winning tournaments in Chicago. I’ve set my sights
higher. I want to start winning out of state tournaments and be known as one of
the best Diddy players. It’s going to be a long and difficult road but I know
that I can do it, one step at a time.
Next week I’ll be attending We Livin’ 8 in Davenport, IA and
Galloping Ghost Arcade’s Sunday Smash in Brookfield, IL.
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