MLG Raleigh Tournament Report Part 3 (shoutouts as well)
If you didn’t read part 1 or 2, I would recommend you do so!
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Riding the high of achieving my goal to break my 17th place barrier, and beating a respectable player like Ally, my next opponent was Atomsk. Me and Trevor have a funny history, you see there’s this thing called the Atomsk Curse, he plays me in National Tournaments and loses. Believe me, it is very much alive. Especially as he came in from beating ADHD (Good stuff Trevor!).
Round 7
He picks Ice Climbers and I pick Meta Knight, our first game takes place on Battlefield. This match up is pretty routine for Meta Knight, as long as your entire move set is placed correctly, Ice Climbers can’t do much. The idea of “don’t get grabbed” isn’t even in the equation because Meta Knight can play in the air the entire game. My whole game plan relies on separating Nana from Popo, make them sign for divorce, fight over the custody of the eskimo babies and annoy each other by being needy for attention. Unfotunately, it happens 3 times throughout the match. That is a terrible relationship, definitely one I wouldn’t want to be in. Meta Knight acts as the evil consultant on Popo’s shoulder to dump his girlfriend and move on in life. I win first game with 1 stock at mid percent. I lost stocks because Popo blamed me for the loss of his lover. Go figure.
I banned Final Destination earlier, Trevor counterpicks Frigate Orpheon. I mention I was staying Meta Knight and I start wondering what character he’s going to pick. Trevor’s cursor starts to circle in a seemingly familiar pattern, Meta Knight! We danced the dance that was similar to out Pound 4 set. He pulls an early lead but I take control of the game, a few grabs and I capitalize on his Air Dodges to maintain a solid lead. The game ends pretty quickly since I keep him offstage with Down Smash and Up B’s. I take down Trevor in 2 straight.
Staying loyal to the Atomsk Curse, I listen carefully to see who I play next since the tournament is winding down. A few minutes later I am called to play against Kel.
Round 8
I contemplate my Snake or Marth but decide to stick to my Meta Knight. He picks Meta Knight as well. I have no idea how Kel plays outside of friendlies so I am completely blindsided by the patience this man has. Any reckless approach ends with a Forward Tilt in his favor. I quickly lose my cool, start chasing offstage and miss the edge with an Up B. Kel wins pretty easily with a stock advantage and his overwhelming patience. I noticed his reliance on Forward Tilt and his reluctance to go offstage… I counterpick Battlefield and we both stay the same character.
2nd game I hold shield, walk, roll behind him and tornado any of his ground approaches forcing him to play an air game, where I hold the advantage. A random Down Air takes the first stock, a fresh Down Smash takes the second and an Up B takes the third. I win with high percent, two stocks. My plan of forcing Kel to play a different game he’s used to is working perfectly…
I ban Rainbow Cruise and I’m waiting for Kel to choose his counterpick. If Kel stays true to what I think he will do, he will either pick Final Destination for his ground game to survive longer or we’ll just replay on a previous stage we used already.
“Norfair.”
What?
I get a tad nervous because I feel like he’s going to try something sneaky like time me out. The game starts and start approaching from underneath, making sure I avoid grounded Up B’s. Kel does… nothing. Nearly every hitbox throw at him is connecting, I mix it up with some Forward tilts and grabs – throwing him into the lava – he loses his stocks quite easily.
We shake hands and I ask about his counterpick. Turns out he was avoiding the edges himself to tim me out because I was going to use them. Smart! It sounds difficult though.
My next round I face my good friend Tyrant and I am planning to play Snake against him.
Round 9
My Snake does well against a Meta Knight that approaches and is grounded, I am still learing to battle the dreaded Down Air camping. Tyrant starts off with a Down Air, baiting an Up Tilt to be able to tornado safely but I just stand still lobbing grenades. He gathers momentum with a grab, racks up damage that ends in a shuttle loop taking my first stock. And he’s still at %30. I manage to get him to high percent last stock. Not looking good, he plays with absolute no risk.
He bans Halberd and I counterpick Final Destination. Keeping his Down Air camping in mind, I start cooking grenades, Up Smashing to pressure him and randomly Neutral Airing. This works out a lot better because it forces him onto the stage much more frequently than before when I was not doing much. A few good reads along with my Down Throws, I manage to keep up with Eric but he mixes his get up options so it is hard to read him consistently. At high percent he stays on the edge looking for an opportunity to gain momentum but he ends up too low on the bottom of the stage so when he is jumping to regrab the edge the blast radius from a grenade stage spikes him and I take the 2nd game! I’ll take it!
Eric counterpicks Smashville and the match starts, all I remember from this game was an early suicide because I couldn’t see the edge because the camera was focused on the characters being so close together in the air. Tyrant wins with a fresh stock. We shake hands and Tyrant continues to play on in losers bracket.
Later on in the night I play Larry for our consolation match and lose.
So I placed 8th!
Not shabby for a unfavorable bracket! Now, I will not have another bracket like that, I am 11th overall in the MLG standings and I get a $200 stipend for travel money. Thank god! Traveling to East Coast is awesome but leaves a big gaping hole in my wallet, especially since I try to pay my own tuition. To think I was not even going to MLG Raleigh!
Hard work pays off!
I would like to thank my friends from SoCal that convinced me to come to East Coast to play:
Tyrant, Larry, Rich Brown, Terry, and Mike!
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Shoutouts! :
Keith for housing me.
Hunger… West Coasttttt!! And Hunger!
Allied for being too cool “THE CHIBOOOO”
Inui for being a good sport later on in the tournament.
Atomsk for being a cool cat, always a pleasure to see you.
Lee Martin for placing 2nd and giving me the funniest congratulatory gesture of all time <3
ADHD I want to see you do well! Snap for the ride (lifesaver!).
Foxy and Ben for picking me up.
Seibrik for helping me with my Snake.
Kadaj for being a cool dude.
Felix for stepping ti up for West Coast! Good job!!
Co18 for being a chill guy.
vVv for being a great community that I can count on.
Jerry LordJerith Prochazka and Jordan Doomhammer Kahn for hanging out with the Brawl community.
Esam and Nick for placing consistently.
Izumi for telling me I am bad vs Toon Link.
Ally for being a inspiration.
chibo and cheese for being there and supporting.
Fatal for being too good.
Zex for that crazy finish against Inui!
Sean for coming out to the East Coast!
Sky for making me realize we all make our own decisions.
And Sorry Jason for what I did to you, I didn’t mean anything. You’re probably not reading this anyways.
See you guys at D.C.
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THE END.
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Categorised as: Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Pretty good blog. There are a few grammar errors, but nothing major.
Good job at the tournament, however; I was very impressed when I saw that you beat Ally in the Liveblog.
Grammar is my weakest point. Let me know what you saw!
Riding the high of achieving my goal to break my 17th place barrier, and beating a respectable player like Ally, my next opponent was Atomsk. Me and Trevor (Should be Trevor and I) have a funny history,(should be a semi-colon, I think) you see there’s this thing called the Atomsk Curse, he plays me in National Tournaments and loses. Believe me, it is very much alive. Especially as he came in from beating ADHD (Good stuff Trevor!).
We danced the dance that was similar to out(should be “our”) Pound 4 set. He pulls an early lead(should be a comma here) but I take control of the game,(Semi-colon or period instead) a few grabs and I capitalize on his Air Dodges to maintain a solid lead.
I contemplate my Snake or Marth(comma) but decide to stick to my Meta Knight. He picks Meta Knight as well. I have no idea how Kel plays outside of friendlies(comma) so I am completely blindsided by the patience this man has.
I get a tad nervous because I feel like he’s going to try something sneaky like time me out. The game starts and (I) start approaching from underneath, making sure I avoid grounded Up B’s. Kel does… nothing. Nearly every hitbox (I) throw at him is connecting,(period would be more appropriate I think) I mix it up with some Forward tilts and grabs – throwing him into the lava – he loses his stocks quite easily.
We shake hands and I ask about his counterpick. Turns out he was avoiding the edges himself to tim(I assume that it is supposed to be “time”) me out because I was going to use them. Smart! It sounds difficult though.
(Start with something like “Although my”)My Snake does well against a Meta Knight that approaches and is grounded, I am still learing(learning) to battle the dreaded Down Air camping. Tyrant starts off with a Down Air, baiting an Up Tilt to be able to tornado safely(comma) but I just stand still lobbing grenades. He gathers momentum with a grab,(replace comma with “and”) racks up damage that ends in a shuttle loop taking my first stock. And he’s still at %30(30%). I manage to get him to high percent(comma) last stock. Not looking good, he plays with absolute(absolutely) no risk.
At high percent he stays on the edge looking for an opportunity to gain momentum(comma) but he ends up too low on the bottom of the stage(semi-colon) so when he is jumping to regrab the edge(comma) the blast radius from a grenade stage spikes him and I take the 2nd game! I’ll take it!
Overall, it wasn’t bad, but these are just a few minor corrections that I could spot from reading over it.
Good read Bro, see you at DC
nice one, get payed
LMFAO THE CHIBOOO
You’re set with kel sounded intense @_@ I did’nt know he was that good.
Kel made some upsets at MLG orlando if I recall correctly. Its makes me mad when people lose on their own lame CPs though. If you’re going to pick a stage like Norfair, you should at least know how to abuse it correctly.
It happens all the time Stridez, when you choose your counterpick, you’re burdened with a loss while thinking about your choice. So psychologically you’re already in a set back, while it is not always the case, I for one have felt it at times.
Kel actually told me at a smashfest afterwards that while he felt you adapted his focus was severely disturbed by Mike’s cheering. Kel is particularly weak against outside factors like that, even within our own region
Psychologically he’s faced the situation many times before, I’m not certain that that burden was a large factor.
Yea, MLG takes a toll on people. I don’t doubt Kel was affected by it.
Good read man. keep these coming!