10 Things You Can Do NOW to Improve at Smash Ultimate

Smash Ultimate is a complex game with nearly endless matchups and intricacies to learn. In a game like this it can be difficult to improve because oftentimes there is no clear path forward. Without a step by step outline leading to improvement, many players get lost in deciding what to practice and when. Today we will look at 10 things that ANY player of ANY skill level can do NOW to get better at the game.

Pyra/Mythra vs. Steve Matchup Guide

I created this matchup guide in my "Improvement Series" video to demonstrate the process that I use to learn matchups in Smash Ultimate. I am by no means an expert yet at Pyra and Mythra. Don't take this guide as a definitive example of the matchup, but rather as a representation of my learning process and the way I think about learning matchups in general. As I continue to learn more about this matchup I will update the guide with corrections and additions.

DON'T Use Headphones In Bracket.

Recently I conducted a poll on Twitter to see what my followers listened to while in bracket matches at pre-covid majors. About 25% listen to game audio with headphones, 35% listen to music with headphones, and 40% don't use headphones at all. Throughout my time competing in tournaments I've gone back and forth among all three options, but today I am going to make the case that not using headphones at all is the optimal choice. 

How to Overcome Skill Plateaus in Smash (Or Any Other Skill)

It’s the winter of 2007. It's snowing outside, and I'm on winter vacation. Thirteen year old me boots up a clunky Windows XP desktop to enjoy a full day of Runescape. I log in to find myself surrounded by 2,000 other players standing in the middle of Falador Park. This is world 2 - where all Runescape players went to buy or sell items. I take a deep breath and I begin to furiously mash on the keyboard. 

Flash2:Selling nats 200 ea - JJROCKETS

Flash2:Selling nats 200 ea - JJROCKETS.

Flash2:Selling nats 200 ea - JJROCKETS. 

In a crowd of this size, the only way to be heard (seen) is to spam your sale in the chat over and over as fast as possible. If you can’t keep up with the others your message is drowned out in a sea of faster typists. For those that didn’t have the pleasure of experiencing this firsthand growing up this might sound like an exaggeration, but I assure you it is not. It is through this trial of fire that I learned to type as fast as I do today.

That was almost 15 years ago. Since then I’ve written God only knows how many messages  on AIM, IRC, and Facebook chats. I’ve gone through all of high school and college and typed more papers and essays than I can count. I wrote blog posts, matchup notes for every character in Smash 4, embarrassing posts on forums. I’ve done it all. Yet in those 15 years, my typing speed has not improved whatsoever. Why is that? Today we explore what is known as the OK plateau - the reason my typing speed isn’t improving. The reason most people don’t get any better at driving as they grow older. And most importantly - the reason you aren’t getting better at Smash.

Seoul Smash 13 Results (2/22/2020)

Seoul Smash 13 was looking to be a tough, stacked bracket with all of Korea's best in attendance. Unfortunately, just days before the tournament there was a large outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Korea. This caused many would-be attendees to stay home in order to help prevent the spread of this new disease. Despite this, the show must go on, and a handful of players still came to play. Check out the results of this smaller but interesting edition of Seoul Smash:

I wasn't there so I'm reusing a picture from Seoul Smash 12 😂

Liquor Burger Monthly #10 Results (2/15/20)

This weekend was the 10th monthly tournament at Liquor Burger in Incheon! Check out all the results, VODs, and brackets:

Tailgate Tavern 6 Results

After a long hiatus, the Tailgate Tavern tournaments are back! These tournaments are held at an American bar right next to a U.S. Army base, and so most of the entrants come from that base or other nearby bases. Because of that, going to tournaments at Tailgate Tavern almost feels like being back home. It's a bit different vibe than the Seoul Smash series, but it is definitely a good time and worth traveling down to!

Seoul Smash 12 Results

I've been traveling for the past few weeks without a computer, so I haven't been able to post any results recently. However I am back in Korea now so I should be back to regular results posts again! This weekend was Seoul Smash 12, and also the opening of the new Core-A Studios venue that will become the new home of Seoul Smash. Here we have more space, more set ups, a sound proof commentator booth, and the same TOs that we all know and love.

Late Christmas Smash n' Bash Results

This Sunday we had a tournament on a very late notice. Despite being announced only on Thursday, we still had a strong showing with a lot of Korea's best players as well as a few new faces! What originally was supposed to be a small smashfest with a side tournament ended up becoming nearly the size of our normal monthlies. Come check out how the last tournament of the year in Korea went down!

Korea Smash Weekend of 12/21/2019 Results

This weekend we had two tournaments on the same day: The Vs Tournament top 8 finale in Seoul, and the regular Liquor Burger monthly in Incheon. At the Vs Tournament finals, players were competing for the grand prize of 1,000,000₩, or about $856 USD.

Seoul Smash #11 Tournament Results (11/30/19)

For the first time ever, the Seoul Smash monthly hit the player cap of 64 entrants! This tournament also proved to be the most stacked tournament we've ever had in terms of the amount of local talent. Almost the entire PR was in attendance, as well as a ton of up and coming players that are looking to prove themselves as contenders for the next PR season. Check out all the results to see how it went down!

Vs Tournament 8 Results (11/23/2019)

Vs Tournament is a series of nine tournaments. The first eight tournaments are qualifying rounds; the final tournament will feature the eight winners in one bracket for a 1,000,000₩ ($847.23 USD) prize. This weekend was the eight and final qualifying round! Who got the last spot? Check the results page to find out!

Liquor Burger Monthly #8 Results

It's been a while since I last posted a results thread as I've been really busy with a lot of traveling during the weekends. But I should be back to being consistent with these again! This weekend we had the 8th monthly tournament at Liquor Burger in Incheon!

Vs Tournament 6 Results (9/21/2019)

It's been a while since a weekend results post; there has been a lull in tournaments in Korea since Uprising 2019, Korea's PGR major event. However, we finally had another monthly tournament this weekend! Come see the results from Vs Tournament 6 in Seoul!

Korea Smash Weekend of 8/10/2019 Results

In addition to the regular Seoul Smash monthly this weekend, we also saw Daegu having a tournament as well. Seoul Smash was sure to be interesting this week, as none of the top 3 players were in attendance. With a wide open tournament, who would end up rising to the top? Check out the full results to find out:

Blackout #3 Results (7/27/19)

I think it's really cool how diverse the Korean Smash scene is. We have a lot of expats from many different countries living here, people studying abroad, and people that are just traveling through. It's great for the scene to get practice against a larger player pool. However, this also means that we eventually have to say goodbye to our temporary visitors. Blackout #3 was the last tournament for Deggshot, who has been in Korea since the start of Ultimate and has attended almost all of the big Ultimate tournaments in Korea. He will be returning home to the U.S. next week. Have safe travels, and good luck your future endeavors. We will all miss you in Korea!

Check out all the results from Blackout #3 here:

Korea Smash Weekend of 7/20/19 Tournament Results

We had two tournaments this weekend while I was away for the weekend in Taiwan. Since I wasn't attending these tournaments, I unfortunately do not have a picture to put here this week, and I also don't have as many characters listed as normal. Please let me know in the comments or on Twitter if you can help me to fill in the rest of this tournament results post!

Seoul Smash #6 Results (7/13/2019)

For the first time ever, we had to place a limit on the number of preregistered players for Seoul Smash! Despite nearly reaching the cap of 75 players, some players that registered didn't show up. However, we still had a bracket of 62 players, which is more than any of our monthlies has ever had. Most of our top players were in attendance, so the competition was fiercer than ever! Check out all the results:

Blackout #2 Results (6/29/19)

Blackout is back! It was in the same venue as in May, but this time they fixed the power issues! This meant there were no blackouts at Blackout. We had another strong showing with over 60 entrants in singles and 25 teams for doubles. With most of Korea's top players in attendance, and with many other visitors to Korea, we had one of our toughest brackets yet. Check out all the results here:

VS Tournament 3 Results (6/23/19)

The VS Tournament series is a monthly tournament that takes place in Gangnam, Seoul. This was the third of eight qualifier tournaments: the first place winner of each gets invited to an eight player Best of the Best tournament in December which will boast a 1,000,000₩ (≈ $864.87) prize pot. VS Tournaments are organized and advertised by a Korean team, and therefore tend to have a much higher percentage of Korean players compared to the tournaments we have organized by foreigners. If you are interested in seeing who some of the best Korean players are, you will definitely want to look at these results!