My Travel Experience and Everything I Learned.
I recently did the unthinkable and took myself on a road trip for the first time. Unlike other trips out to tournaments, I didn’t have anyone with me. Yet, from Augusta to Doraville — a 2-hour trip — I attended my first monthly Georgia tournament, in several months, at 4o4 Esports.
On the weekend of Smash Ultimate major, Glitch Infinite, many of Georgia’s top players had left their state to pursue a greater calling. Fatality, Mugen, Kola, Vendetta, and Sonido were among our state’s best players who participated. However, greater Georgia’s talent was still ready to throw down on their home turf.
After spending weeks honing my skill online against tough competitors, I felt ready to go up against the best the state had to offer. However, I fell short of my own expectations and realized it all too late. Granted, I feel good having exceeded my goal from last time. Whereas I took 12th at my last tournament, I vowed to take 9th at my next one.
However, if I want to meet my next goal of Top 8, I’ll need to make some serious changes. It’s not just about getting better at home but remembering to keep my top-tier mentality at the tournament while I play. As such, I want to share with you my journey of the tournament and briefly dissect what went wrong, what I noticed, and what I should have done instead.
Winner’s Bracket
I went up against Omega in winner’s, Georgia’s best Joker player. I had initially prepared to fight his Joker. He picked Sephiroth. I forgot he used Sephiroth, so that threw me for a loop. Nonetheless, I could use either Terry or Cloud. I had played enough Sephiroth online to get a gist of the matchup.
Just not good ones. Not those that optimized him. Outside of Ned, next to no one uses Sephiroth in regular competition at majors. Plus I had not kept up with 4o4 weekly streams so I missed a great deal of understanding the matchup.
