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Brockbfball1563
Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 3245 Location: Rochester, NH
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:54 am Post subject: |
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I'll post this here as kind of a motivator for those who may think they may not be up to par with some of the "top players." Look at the Galaxy4Gamers tournament I participated in a while back. Look at the players I was personally able to (somehow) beat. marioluigi, schmegery, elScarecrow, TheShadester, and then marioluigi again. Now look at who the players defeated that I beat. ukogmonkey, The-B.O.D., WhYYZ, McSkinny, smokyprogg, Confury, adohuu, flockemokke, acezero, HellAshes, GanonMetroid.
Winners' Bracket
Losers' Bracket
Now tell me, to any normal SH member, am I more skilled at GH, in the traditional sense, than any of the players I just listed. Probably not, and not even close to many of them. I may not be able to squeeze like McSkinny or elScarecrow, I may not be able to FC insane shit like Acezero and TheShadester, and I may not have the incredible consistency of ukog or vVv Acai28, yet I still manage to do well in most tournaments I enter.
I'm going to explain how this is possible for me, a relatively good player but no where near the top, to do this well. You ready? The physical skills of GH only accounts for half of your skill as a tournament player, the other half is mental. Before any given match, I make sure I know my opponent. His best songs, his worst songs, is he a good squeezer, does he choke under pressure, songs I think he'll pick against me, what are songs he'll never expect me to pick, paths I think he will and won't know, if it's online then how will lag affect the match, and possibly most important, do I think he'll know anything about me going into this match?
This is all stuff I do BEFORE actually playing. This may seem like a lot of work, but much of it I already know about many top players, at least in the US. I'm not going to pick a song that I can squeeze the shit out of against smoky or elScarecrow because that would be a waste of a pick since they may beat me, even if I think it's my best song. I've actually picked Chemical Warfare and Speeding, two of my worst songs, in a tournament if I thought my opponent is particularly bad at the skills needed to do well at these songs. Yep, I've picked the songs I'm worst at in tournament play on multiple occasions, and I actually haven't lost when I've done that.
Here are some examples. I played HellAshes at GameUniCon 2009 in RB2 guitar. I obviously knew going in that he was a better FCer than I was but I was a better squeezer and probably knew more paths. He won in Visions, but I tried to think of a song that he would never even consider playing. Anyway You Want It. Easy FC for me and I had a feeling the fast solo parts would catch him off guard, not to mention he'd have no idea what path to use. I ended up winning and then won the tie breaker because I knew the path. In the G4G tournament, I had a feeling Shade probably didn't know any of the songs other than maybe the 4 or 5 most difficult to FC. Bam, I picked Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants and he didn't have a clue what the path was. Neither of us FCed it, but I would have won even if he did just because I knew my opponent.
So if all this stuff goes through my head before even playing, then what goes on during? Even more than that. "Okay, which path will he use? Do I really think he'll FC this? Should I play it safe and use an alternate path? Maybe he doesn't know it and he'll be following my path and I should wait until him following my path will make him overwrite a phrase and screw up the path." And sometimes there's, "Oh, he missed a squeeze. Okay up by 400, don't do anything stupid. Will he try for a double squeeze somewhere? Are they even possible in this song? Should I adjust my path a little?" Then on the other end there's, "Damn, missed a squeeze, down by 400. Okay, where in this song can I get those points back? Should I just wait until after the solo to see if he misses? Think, has he FCed this? What did he write in the comment of the FC? Did he write something like "rererererereFC" or "GOD FINALLY NEVER PLAYING THIS AGAIN" because that could be extremely helpful right now. Play it safe or double squeeze, play it safe or double squeeze, hmm..." And finally there's, "Oh, Acai picked Black Widow. Fuck it, I'm not destroying my hand just to lose by only 100k. Just treat it like a warm up and think about what to pick against him," and then I proceed to think about how he was earlier when he was practicing.
That's what goes on in my head, and really that's what goes on in the head of any great competitor or whatever they play. Linebackers in football are visualizing every possible play before the snap and what they would do in each situation. Shortstops in baseball are constantly thinking about what they will do depending on where the ball will be hit. Golfers are thinking one shot ahead, players in pool think several shots ahead, and I can't even imagine what goes through the head of the best chess players in the world. Think about the greatest Starcraft players. Are the best players always the ones with the fastest fingers and best hand-eye coordination? Usually not. It's the strategy of their game that allows them to win. Know the opponent, the game, etc. GH is just as much of a mind game as anything else. Especially at this level, simply picking a song you think you're good at isn't going to guarantee victory. In many cases, not even close.
In the past, I've always been annoyed by the fact that my knowledge of the game exceeded my actual skill (I know HOW to do stuff, just can't actually do it), but that knowledge ended up really helping me in tournament play. This isn't you just sitting in a chair and playing the same song over and over again for 3 hours until you FC it while not giving a crap about score. You get one shot to do as well as you can against a particular player, and most people have no idea the stress that builds up during a song with everything there is to consider in any given match. This is equivalent to someone kicking field goals at an empty football stadium for hours on end until they manage to make one from really far away, maybe 70 yards or so. Take that kicker and put him in with 3 seconds to go in an NFL game. All of a sudden, that kicker isn't so good anymore. It's tough, but even "lesser skilled" kickers can make them from 50+ yards out if they keep their composure and are always thinking about what to do.
Anyway, I guess that's my little pep talk before this tournament starts. Remember, I'm the guy that couldn't 5* Six on hard until after I got the Log on GH2. I've only gotten 750 on TtFaF (GH3) I think 4 times total. I can't get to the break in The Way It Ends without my arm dying and me breaking out in a sweat. My best FC across all games is Institutionalized, which I got over three years ago. I fail Guitars Suck within the first 30 seconds every time. One of my biggest achievements was FCing the first half of solo b in Jordan one time, after playing for hours that day and practicing the section for months. This is me, yet I'm also somehow one of the more successful tournament players in the country. Most of the players in this tournament are far more skilled than I am, so I'm expecting some great things to come out of this tournament.
Good luck to everyone, and have fun! _________________
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Deschain
Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 2137 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:02 am Post subject: |
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Davers wrote: | As far as people who get picked, I was just curious. I'd never enter one myself because I'm no where near the level these guys are. But there are A LOT of insane players out there and wondered if they got the invite and then it was a first come first serve type of thing until the slots filled up. |
The impetus behind the tournament is to bring competitive GH back to the spotlight in time for the rumored new game. To that end, vertiggo/Paradise went after known, highly visible names (not necessarily the absolute best). Some answered, some did not, and he trickled down from there...which kind of makes me sound cocky, since I am neither a household name, nor an incredibly, fantastically amazing player, I just happened to know Paradise when he was filling out the roster. _________________
Fraggle Rock
Lars Ulrich said, not wrote: | It's only 7 1/2 minutes! F***, we gotta put some more riffs in there. |
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smokyprogg
Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 2418
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:50 am Post subject: |
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god damn it _________________
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tormentedbyu
Joined: 25 Feb 2007 Posts: 3090 Location: Katy, TX
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:05 am Post subject: |
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Just when I start thinking about coming out of imaginary retirement. _________________
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marioluigi1994
Joined: 25 May 2009 Posts: 427 Location: SCS, Michigan
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:26 pm Post subject: |
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I was only there for the losers bracket lol, completely missed the 1st round. _________________
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Brockbfball1563
Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 3245 Location: Rochester, NH
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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marioluigi1994 wrote: | I was only there for the losers bracket lol, completely missed the 1st round. |
Oh that's right, but I still managed to beat you in losers' finals despite not having the traditional skill to beat you. _________________
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elScarecrow
Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 1404 Location: Raleigh
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newuser1234
Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 1273
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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so where can we place bets? _________________
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Brockbfball1563
Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 3245 Location: Rochester, NH
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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newuser1234 wrote: | so where can we place bets? |
In time... _________________
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Vertiggo
Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Posts: 758 Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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Brockbfball1563 wrote: | newuser1234 wrote: | so where can we place bets? |
In time... |
This! Brackets will be released in just a few days. We will be taking predictions and the person with the closest prediction will win a prize _________________
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Sintherius
Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Posts: 27
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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Vertiggo wrote: | Brockbfball1563 wrote: | newuser1234 wrote: | so where can we place bets? |
In time... |
This! Brackets will be released in just a few days. We will be taking predictions and the person with the closest prediction will win a prize |
Can players in the tournament partake in this as well? ;)
And to Lee: That seriously motivated the shit outta me, since I'm definitely not near the level of Acai. And don't forget, Jason's run in Devastation to the grand finals against Acai. Obviously I'll be practicing a shitton up to the day of March 10th, but you just simply threw it all out there and gave me the biggest motivation for this thing. I'm not joking either. <3 |
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Vertiggo
Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Posts: 758 Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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Sintherius wrote: | Vertiggo wrote: | Brockbfball1563 wrote: | newuser1234 wrote: | so where can we place bets? |
In time... |
This! Brackets will be released in just a few days. We will be taking predictions and the person with the closest prediction will win a prize |
Can players in the tournament partake in this as well? ;)
And to Lee: That seriously motivated the shit outta me, since I'm definitely not near the level of Acai. And don't forget, Jason's run in Devastation to the grand finals against Acai. Obviously I'll be practicing a shitton up to the day of March 10th, but you just simply threw it all out there and gave me the biggest motivation for this thing. I'm not joking either. <3 |
Trust me... Brock doesn't forget that. My 3-0 victory over him in Loser Finals haunts him nightly. ;)
Sintherius and Brock have a great point though. Anyone can win this tournament... which makes it even more exciting. If I can pull a miracle run through the losers bracket of a tournament and take the reigning WCG world champion to a tiebreaker in a best of five series, anything can happen! So stoked to cast these matches... this should be a total blast.
Additionally, I don't see the harm in predictions being open to players. I'll talk it over with Lee and see what he thinks as well. _________________
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Brockbfball1563
Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 3245 Location: Rochester, NH
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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Vertiggo wrote: | Trust me... Brock doesn't forget that. My 3-0 victory over him in Loser Finals haunts him nightly. ;) |
http://www.vvv-gaming.com/forum/videos/view-168-devastation-2011-vvv-brock-vs-vvv-paradise-song-23-losers-bracket-finals-setting-fire-to-sleeping-giants/
SERIOUSLY HOW DOES THAT FIRST MISS HAPPEN!?!?!
It sucks, but it's part of the game. Too often when you're just playing at home and make a stupid mistake early in the song you just restart and try again. Not in tournament play . I had to hope I did well enough in Verse 3b and how Paradise missed somewhere to give me enough to get back in the game, and he almost did . Still a great tournament.
And glad to hear that my post helped, Sintherius. I've actually been meaning to post something similar to that for a while now, one that really highlights the extreme differences between just playing a home and playing in a tournament setting. And as for letting competitors submit predictions, I was originally against it. It depends on other things that are happening behind the scenes, but I didn't want some prediction to affect the way that the competitors approached their matches. I'll talk more about it with Jason, but we're hoping to get a lot of people talking about predictions. We'll keep you all updated. _________________
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WhYYZ
Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 3150 Location: The netherlands, Amsterdam
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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Brockbfball1563 wrote: | ukogmonkey, The-B.O.D., WhYYZ, McSkinny, smokyprogg, Confury, adohuu, flockemokke, acezero, HellAshes, GanonMetroid.
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I'm honored to be in this list BTW.
Next time global invitational? _________________
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Kubuh
Joined: 17 Feb 2007 Posts: 1765 Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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WhYYZ wrote: | Brockbfball1563 wrote: | ukogmonkey, The-B.O.D., WhYYZ, McSkinny, smokyprogg, Confury, adohuu, flockemokke, acezero, HellAshes, GanonMetroid.
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I'm honored to be in this list BTW.
Next time global invitational? |
Brock has promised me he will be thinking about a PS3 only, Sweden only one for next time! _________________
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