Ask me about competitive Smash Bros

**Mzzkc** · 10-08-2016 11:43 PM

Hey gais, I've been gone for a super long time now. That's mostly cause I've been pouring all of my time and energy outside of basic life stuffs into gitting gud at a children's party game. Priorities, amirite?

Anyways, I thought this thread might give me a chance to reconnect with some folks. Even if you could care less about esports or smash in particular, it's sorta become my life over the past year, and it'd be cool if you humored me a bit as I think you might be able to learn something valuable from my experience in this other community.

A bit of background: esports as a whole has been growing like crazy recently with major sponsorship monies, huge tournaments, and coverage from the likes of ESPN. And with Nintendo's blessing a little over a year or two ago, Smash as a whole has been riding that esports wave into wider relevancy. I personally started playing Smash 4 competitively under a year ago and am now considered the best Pikachu player in my state (second in my region). It's been a crazy journey, travelling around the country, meeting people from all over the world, making a name for myself, forging new friendships, founding a crew that's grown quickly into regional threat...

But it hasn't been easy. I am not naturally good at fighting games and even with all the progress I've made in such a short time, I'm up against players with 8+ years of experience who are still themselves growing and improving. To me, smash so far has been a hard lesson in failure and pushing forwards regardless.

Sooo yeah, ask me anything. <3

**HansiElneff** · 10-09-2016 12:22 AM

Wait, Super Smash Bros? Are you serious? I had no idea that game was being played competitively! I loved that game when I was younger. I bet I could take you on as Marth, haha

Questions!
1. How come you chose Smash, instead of more popular games like CS:GO or Dota perhaps?
2. Do you play other games competitively? And do you play other games in your free time at all?

3. Why Pikachu? Ash has 3 pokémons to switch between!
4. Can I ask how old you are? And are you making a living solely out of this?
5. If one decided that they wanted to start playing Smash competitively, how would they go about doing it? Are there any specific websites one should know of?

**Mzzkc** · 10-10-2016 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by HansiElneff

Wait, Super Smash Bros? Are you serious? I had no idea that game was being played competitively! I loved that game when I was younger. I bet I could take you on as Marth, haha

Questions!
1. How come you chose Smash, instead of more popular games like CS:GO or Dota perhaps?
2. Do you play other games competitively? And do you play other games in your free time at all?

3. Why Pikachu? Ash has 3 pokémons to switch between!
4. Can I ask how old you are? And are you making a living solely out of this?
5. If one decided that they wanted to start playing Smash competitively, how would they go about doing it? Are there any specific websites one should know of?

1. Most competitive games out there these days are team-based games. One of the things I love about smash (and fighting games as a whole) is that your success or failure rests entirely on your shoulders and yours alone. I come primarily from a shooter background, and one of the things that always bugged me was that it was possible to lose games despite performing better than anyone else in the match simply because your team couldn't keep up or carry their own weight.

Fighting games are also one the few competitive genres where offline play is more or less a necessity, so Smash also provides plenty of social interaction. Which is nice. =)

2. Before smash, I played Reach Grifball and HvZ at a top level. I considered getting into competitive Overwatch, but time constraints and my stubborn choice to use a controller on PC puts a hard limit on what I can accomplish in that game, plus it's more fun to play OW casually anyways. I do dabble in a bunch of other games casually, mostly because I find it's healthy to take a break from the grind every once in awhile.

3. I've been maining Pika casually since the 64 days, so it was only natural picking him up in Smash 4. It was just luck that Pika was considered a top tier character in the early meta. Since then his viability as a character that can consistently win has diminished as people have figured out his tricks. Which kinda sucks because now I've been forced to pick up a secondary to stay competitive.

Pika and I have had our fair share of struggles for sure, but he'll always be top tier in my heart (and in cuteness).

4. I'm 25. I've won money playing smash, but not enough to put me even close to the positive, especially given how much I poured into getting better, lol. Making a living off smash in particular is extremely difficult. You gotta rely on sponsors and content creation on twitch and youtube if you want to stand a chance. Even then, you aren't going to be making much more than what you need to get by from year to year. Smash is definitely a passion for me, but I don't think it'll ever be more than that.

5. If you want to git gud, you gotta grind tournaments. Start by finding the "goto" weekly tournaments in your region (through facebook, reddit, or smashboards) and just show up (with a controller, lol). Read the rules before you go, but don't be afraid to ask the tournament organizer any questions you might have on match procedure. Just keep in mind that in all likelihood you will get completely destroyed and go 0-2 your first tournament. And your second. And probably even your third. But be sure to stick around for friendlies and to ask questions, even if they seem stupid. Most folks in the smash community are super helpful and if you show the drive, they'll be more than happy to teach you what you're doing wring, and what you can do better.

You can supplement tournament experience by studying high level play on youtube, watching tutorials, and practicing on your own in the training room. At this point, I would recommend against any sort of netplay besides lobbying with friends. You're likely to pick up bad habits playing randoms online which will only hurt you in tournament play.