How should I prepare?

Don-Quixote

Don-Quixote

[08] Mercenary
Ive been thinking on joining a tournament and I'm not sure how to prepare as this will be my first. I mean, I guess there's online but its pretty different from offline play.

Any tips on getting ready for tournament play? What can I expect?
 
Honestly? You can probably expect to lose. I'm not talking as some badass player here, I'm talking as somebody who also went to his first tourney back in October. Without regular offline play against tourney-level players, the odds of being able to compete are slim in my opinion.

So here is my advice

Before the tournament, make sure you know your combos and what moves are safe and unsafe.

However, and I think this is far more important, try to network while at the tournament. Find people who host regular practice sessions and ask if you can join in. If you live in an area where nobody is throwing them and you aren't willing to travel long distances just for practice sessions, you may have to do what I did and offer to host and form your own playgroup.

It took me a while, as I started looking to form a playgroup in october and didn't get anybody willing to come until around early December/late November and even then it started very small, with only three or four other players coming, but now I session at my place twice a week and usually have at *least* 6 other people show up. That's done more for my game than any amount of solo prep ever could.
 
If I may add something to that: Expect to lose, but also expect to improve your game significantly. Tournaments offer you more insight into your game than anything else will.
 
I went into my first tournament with absolutely no offline practice against anyone other than my friend and the computer on edge master, lol, so the best I can tell you is just that you absolutely must know your character inside and out. Also, know your play-style inside and out. Compare how you fight, to what your character is capable of and what he or she can deal with.


Lets say your offence for instance, having trouble getting your taki in on a kilik user? Go into training mode, set the computer to edge master and find a way to avoid getting poked at from a distance and learn how to move in on a kilik quickly, do your damage and get out of there. A lot of people disagree with fighting the computer, but the computer is almost 90% of the time going to read your controller and GI or avoid most of the things you're trying to do before you actually even know you're going to do it good. In that aspect, if you can do a reasonable amount of damage to the computer against those odds you'll be fine against human opponents.

No defense? Do the same thing, edge master. Practice on guarding against characters you know that you should be wary against.

But always keep in mind whats reality and what is not. Obviously a xianghua player isn't going to out-muscle an astaroth user and trying to do so is asking to get whooped. So, they have to make astaroth play their game, speed and mix-ups. You do the same. Never play the opponents game, ever! Because they will win 99% of the time. Only do so when you feel safe with letting yourself stand right in the middle of their storm and its dire to winning the match. (Daigo vs J.Wong anyone?)


One last thing, GET-ON-YOUTUBE. Nothing better than studying the shit out of tournament matches against well-known, well-respected and strong players. You can learn a lot! I owe my abilities with Setsuka to Cheeseoftheday's videos.

Edit: Don't go in there with a losing attitude. If you "expect to lose" then you may as well stay your ass home. In my own personal experience, absolutely nothing is "impossible" with fighting games. You didn't go to the tournament to waste your time, did you? No, you came to win. Even if you lose, you came there to win.
 
1) Have fun. It's your first tournament, go enjoy yourself and keep your eyes open to see how other people approach the game.

2) If you really want to win the match against this particular person, then exploit the living hell out of the weaknesses you find in their game. Don't give people too much credit, especially in the early rounds of a tournament, that they will be able to deal with your traps. Just run your game on them and keep what works against that person, discard what isn't working.

3) You're not going to be able to fix all the problems you're having against your opponent in one 2 out of 3 match. Identify what's killing you the most, and work on fixing that 1 most important issue for this match.

4) Just set a realistic goal so you can keep your motivation and confidence that you can actually do something. My first goal when I started playing tournaments was just "beat one person", and I did. Then my goal was not to lose to people I've already beaten. Now my goal is not to lose to people I've already beaten AND beat people who I lose to.
 
Well, I would try to play the players you are about to face as much as possible before the tournament, and try to learn as much as possible.

The first serious/national tournament I went to was a SC3-tournament January 2006. When I arrived, I was okay, not great, but not bad. I then played for almost 48 hours straight against the best players and discussed my/their characters and tried out different tactics/traps, and because of that, I was one round away from finishing first.

So:

*Don't worry about the results. It's your first tourney.
*Try to arrive early and play as much offline as you can before the tournament.
*It's like most things you try out: In the beginning you will improve your game ALOT, and the the progression will slow down.
*Try different tactics and so on against your competition before the tournament begins.
*Remember, offline you can get punished/punish/do things you can't do online.

Good luck man ;)
 
Its sound advice that I shouldve asked for before my first tourney. Went there totally ignorant cause I was dominating online, Was nervous sitting down to my very first match. They guy snickered when he saw that I picked maxi.

I won 1 round. Happened to be the first round. That got my head big and I got my ass handed to me the rest of the time. I was absolutly humiliated. I went home with my tail between my legs. Got home and practiced, got offline matches in, and settled down and focused. Now I have a better understanding of what a tourney is really about.

Go into your tourney humbled. Set a low goal for yourself (such as laswagga said) and accomplish that goal. Expect to lose and you will be less dissapointed when you do. Good luck boss!!
 
Yeah, as Hot_Rod_Dave stated, be "humble" when you enter the tournament. Don't think you can win offline because you're good online (but of course, this DOESN'T mean that you aren't good offline. You might suprise people).

But to summarize: Offline =/= Online!
 
Thanks for all the great advice. I know I probably wont win but I can see my game improving dramatically.

More tips are always welcome though.
 
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