Melee Mindset: Staying Humble and Hungry

I've decided to write another blog post as I've been having a tough time dealing with under-performing. This has been causing an adverse affect on my overall mood for the past week or so and also therefore my level of playing. I thought it would be interesting to write about it as it was happening, for several reasons, but the main one being so I have something to look back too; as this isn't the first time my mind has walked down this road.

This brings up another point I would like to discuss before I get into the meat of this. Why are habits we find in-game so different to habits we find outside of it? A Marth gets you into knockdown; he waits, you get up and spot-dodge thinking he's going to grab you - but because he was waiting he waits out the spot-dodge and grabs you anyway. It's a really common habit among newer players, but eventually once you get past that level the habit doesn't appear as much as it previously did and therefore you've grown. But what I don't understand  is when your mind learns there's no reason to be nervous... you still get nervous in very similar situations? The underlying question behind all this is:

 "What is required to keep mindset in check?".

Is it an ever-changing dilemma where you have to constantly be aware of the many factors, or am I overthinking it? Maybe I've just not progressed far enough in my personal mindset journey and what I consider to be habits are far more ingrained in myself; unlike that of a situation in Melee. Anyway, onto the main topic I would like to discuss.

For those of you that aren't aware, last weekend I was in Coventry for a regional called Smashbox, which featured: Melee Singles, Doubles and Project:M Singles. I placed pretty decently: 2nd in PM, Doubles and 5th in Singles. This was pretty much a predicted performance - I even took a set off Overtriforce in PM and almost the whole tournament, but what bothered me was the difference in my play when things got tough.

I 3-1'd the Sheik main Over in our Winner's Finals set pretty convincingly. The first game I was on the verge of being 4 stocked, but I brought it all the way back to last stock last hit, and proceeded to make adaptions that would win me the rest of the set. Yet in our Grand Finals sets, I gave up one of the games to switch characters when I was getting destroyed. I don't know how I went from being so determined to being so desperate.

There was quite a time change between these sets as I had played some close Melee sets where I was also playing incredibly nervously - in match-ups I should be confident in no less. It almost feels like at any random time my nerves can get the better of me, which is what makes it so hard to factorise.

I've had this feeling quite an amount of times, but it didn't hit me as hard as this one. I had under-performed and I couldn't decipher exactly why. It's interesting because it wasn't that it drove me to throwing my controller or something or being super salty, which is the positive thing about it - because it's shown how much my mindset has improved as these were feelings I used to have. 

The tournament had given me a culmination of both overall good and bad feelings to sit in my head for the travel back home to Scotland. I know I could've performed better, but I also didn't so my ego is currently questioning itself. This is where being humble and hungry comes into this.

If I know what I'm capable of realistically, then if this roadblock in mindset is what caused me to under-perform then I shouldn't care if I'm humble - but I'm not. I saw victory give out it's hand for me to take, but I wasn't able to take it; I know I was capable, but I fucked up basically. I won a set against Over whom I respect as very skilled, and saw I was capable of taking the other two sets, I took a game off of Dev and saw I was capable of taking the set. This is what has raised my ego, well one of the main things that has anyway. This has caused a raise in my expectations of myself and also a change in my level of ignorance. Just like the way I don't give emotional reactions to things that happen in game, I shouldn't give emotional reaction to wins or losses; as they don't help me reach my goal.

The goal is to be the best. Being realistic and understanding that I always need to keep working and that a win is not a break will help me reach that goal - I have to be hungry to make it and that's what the losses are there to help with.


Thanks for reading - Fraser "TimeMuffinPhD"

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Melee Mindset: Life and the Game

So this is my first blog post and I would like to begin by saying that none of this is completely objective; this is just theories and experiences I've had when playing Melee that I would like to share, as a way for you to question such concepts yourself.

This blog post will cover how your time outside of the game affects your in-game; and vice-versa. A realisation I've had recently is that pouring all your time into one thing isn't a healthy way to approach something you really enjoy - no matter how much you enjoy it. Sure you might become really adept at said thing, but that's just like going to a casino and putting all your chips on one number; it's all or nothing. To put it into perspective, allocating all your time into practicing Melee with no focus on your career means when you lose, it'll be a horrible loss - all your devotion and hours have been swept away, thus affecting your mindset towards the game. ("Career" is just an example, it could be personal issues you're ignoring as another example.) It's the same the other way around. That's why I want to talk about the idea of balance.

I'm going to refer to 'outside of the game' as 'life' and 'in-game' as 'game' just to simplify things to an extent. The balancing act between life and the game I believe is very crucial in maintaining consistent mindset. What I'm referring too is creating accomplishment and positive feeling for both of these areas. The thing about overcoming a hurdle or achieving something in life for example; is it lifts you up and makes you feel you can do more (think that's called motivation or something), but this then reflects on your game, and vice versa again; they bounce off each other. This can create a repetition of positive mindset from my experience through achieving goals in both your career and your hobby.

I believe this is important because positive mindset is so crucial to performing at your peak. Positive mindset encourages confidence and also brings the best attributes of a person out. 

"Shine spiked by a Fox when under the weather? Maybe you'll tilt after that, or maybe after the tournament you'll start doubting yourself in the Fox match-up?"

 But when you're feeling good - you nod it off. That's that problem instantly gone, and you're also instantly analysing the situation before you - "I shouldn't have jumped that's why I got shine-spiked, I'll watch out for that next time". 

This is just a short post on something I've been thinking about. I'll update if I have anymore thoughts with the topic, this isn't really a complete write-up it's just me trying to get some things down on paper; and maybe get some discussion going.

Thanks for reading - Fraser "TimeMuffinPhD"

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