Trying to get in the competitive scene in my town and i have a question...

[Anonymous]

When in a tourney, should i show all i got to keep my opponents on their toes or try to show as little as possible in earlier matches to catch them offguard?

English is not my first language so please dont hate on me

[arctus32]

Since no one here's posting anything.

It's all basically up to you with how you start the match, everyone has their own game plan and each and every one of those have it's pros and cons.

Also learning the matchup of different characters to yours is important

[Skye]

Showcasing it is obvious, but be sure to talk about the game as well, teach people about and get them to understand what kind of game it is, talk about the characters, show off some youtube videos, etc etc.

[iora]

When in a tourney, should i show all i got to keep my opponents on their toes or try to show as little as possible in earlier matches to catch them offguard?

English is not my first language so please dont hate on me

Taking this question as 'If i enter a tourney, do I go balls deep right away, or hide gimmicks just in case?'

To get wins? Hide as much of your shit as you can without losing matches because of it. If you have a sick reset that only you have.... using it 6 times in the first match means they might figure it out by game 2 or 3. Thats bad if you are there just to win 100%.

To learn? Balls deep right away. If theres something wrong with your play, give them every chance to expose you. You will learn faster that way. If your just entering tourneys, learning faster is a better investment.

To make friends? Do your shit, but if they eat it, explain it. Teach and be nice, dont just have shit that works then laugh at them for not knowing about it. They might have a similiar trick they could explain to you as well, making being nice a good investment on your part.

Side note being that this shouldnt be a question honestly. Most good players are solid. They dont rely on hidden information to get them the win, they would prefer solid play to random lucky shit. You can be solid every solid match, you cant be random and lucky without getting blown up every match. Thats why most people who are really good would probably prefer a best of 7, 2 of 3 rounds to best of 1, 1 of 1 round every day of the week.

Hope that helps.

[Lucien]

Tournament Rule #1

Make sure that you sandbag during casuals before the tournament

[SpartasSKiLiZ]

Tournament Rule #1

Make sure that you sandbag during casuals before the tournament

^ This. Just because you have people that actually look for who uses what and how they use them to get the upper hand in the fight. I say just use one of your subs until the tournament starts. thats what i usually do. so no one can pull a complete counterpick.

[HyalS]

People already answered this well enough, but I wanted to point something.

If you go to learn as someone said above, and you found yourself winning, I think is good to be humble. Be nice and when it's over, try to help others. It helps to know more people, because that means more experience for you.

Probably a little off-topic, sorry about that. I thought it was important.

[nemo]

Wow, this thread is actually helpful. I'm a tournie newb, but I play online a lot, so I didn't think about if the opponent would read me, since I can't read others easily. lol

[BURI]

When in a tourney, should i show all i got to keep my opponents on their toes or try to show as little as possible in earlier matches to catch them offguard?

English is not my first language so please dont hate on me

If you are talking about real "money matches" and not just casuals, I say play with all you got, but be conservative on the first matches. You want your opponent to read you on the first couple matchs so you can punish him for it on the next matches. Usually people are inclined to pay more attention to your gameplay in the beginning because they do not know what to expect from you, so it's harder to pull crazy stuff.

[LiquidMadness]

"Sandbag" as in slack off, but make sure you don't lose? I'm confused on that usage. I understand the whole idea of not showing your opponent what you have to offer, but you don't wanna "suck".

[nemo]

Short and sweet combos instead of the full length combos are a good way, I imagine. In-and-out is a decent way to sandbag. I think you should refrain from RC combos to make them think you're a bit of a scrub, but you can hold your own.

[iora]

Short and sweet combos instead of the full length combos are a good way, I imagine. In-and-out is a decent way to sandbag. I think you should refrain from RC combos to make them think you're a bit of a scrub, but you can hold your own.

Nah... combos arent a thing to sandbag.

Because if you got the hit.... thats the end of your opponents interaction.

Ideal things to sandbag to 'hide' some tricks:

-Resets

(hide your sweet corner resets for 4k unless you need them.... less exposure gives them less chances to figure it out)

-Your common tick throws

(if you have 1 tick throw setup, and you do it 8 times in a row in the first match, i'd hafta be braindead to not pick up on it)

-Gimmicks

(doing dumb pressure/stupid pokes/dumb shit that might work once and only once.... hide it until you need it)

-A unusually strong combo off a unusual starter

(everyone knows the common pokes to respect, but if you got a nice combo off something weird, hide it so they think that less-used poke isnt a threat)

-A punish to certain habits

(example being that if you have a good setup to punish a 6a AA, you might wanna hide your punish early, so your opponents thinks the AA attempt has less risk than it actually does. goes hand in hand with training people to react a certain way to certain actions)

-Doing certain less than ideal actions to provoke certain responses.

(example being jumping in as oki over and over, until they AA you. once you habit them to AA, certain other actions are stronger. same as doing unsafe to get them to DP you more often, you can bait and punish later)

Its less of a 'i look like a scrub, play worse vs me!' because tournament players won't. It's more of a 'think i play this way, so i can get in dat ass when i change it up'

I guess...

Hard to explain.

Same logic that you won't walk into the tournament bragging 'I got this reset.... you can only escape it with xxx move at yyy time.'

Give them minimal chance to figure your tricks out, but don't lose matches to hide shit.

Edited February 13, 2012 by iora

[Skye]

I approve of the above post.

[nemo]

As well as I. *curly moustache* Well played...or not?

[RuroniHS]

Well, I only play casuals, but what works for me is doing things that give me a few options. I'll consistently pick one option until I think they see the pattern, then completely change the pattern. I find this especially useful against Hakumen, because I can bait out his counter with this strategy.