SuperLovely BlazBlue Tournament Run.

I love fighting games, but I've not been much of a tournament person, my enjoyment of the genre nowadays mainly comes from playing training mode, playing with friends, and watching/reading fighting game related material. Despite the competitive nature of the genre I've never truly been a competitive person myself, I like to win but mainly for self satisfaction, and fun with friends, rather than to be "The Best Player." Joining tournaments nowadays Is exclusively relegated to whenever I'm at an anime convention and think It could be fun to kill a few hours.

When I was younger though, I'd always try to enter a tournament, because I thought I did wanna be the best, rather than be better than all my friends. It's silly, but there was a point in time in my middle school days where I envisioned myself to be a """pro gamer""", and going to like, EVO and stuff. I'm thankful I never went down that path, not to insult the people who do actually wanna become like that, but It just didn't seem like the kind of life I'd be content with. I'm no Daigo Umehara, or Punk.

However, I guess I've been wanting to just, play more, I've mentioned this in my previous post, but as of late I've been making the effort to truly re-acquaint myself with the genre, and that means to play with others, whether I know them or not. I said I'm not a competitive person, but I do have a competitive itch, the itch to improve in fighters.

I have many issues with Discord, and my past experiences in most fighting game spaces Is something I'd rather not think about. But fighting game discussions mainly exist on Discord and social media, so I guess I couldn't avoid that unless I was being really stubborn. So i decided to swallow my pride, hunker down, join a discord server in the first time in a few years, the Training Mode Network, a space meant for beginner/intermediate fighting game players. With the main intent of participating in tournaments and improving my play.

Tournaments aren't everything, and are not the only way to improve in fighting games of course, but I really didn't wanna become another online grinder; It seems so, cold, and impersonal, and I wanted to be playing with people of a similiar skill to mine.

I joined their Blazblue Central Fiction bracket on a whim, I entered under the gamertag SuperLovely as tribute to this one DJMAX song I really like, and also the fact that it has "Love"in the name, and the fact I just think alot of things are "SuperLovely." I treat V as more of a nickname rather than a gamertag.

It had 26 entrants, which is apparently pretty large for their brackets, so It was My Iron Tager and the will to win.

...actually, while winning is the goal, my real goal was to just Improve, fight others, learn, and of course, enjoy myself.

...Tournament nerves are an absolute bitch by the way, despite all my years of not really participating in one, the chills came back to bite me, I was shivering, and my heart was racing. In my mind, I knew a tournament isn't gonna be the biggest deal, but my body sure didnt take the hint.

Match 1: Vs. Es

I lost my first match, that was a shame. I thought I was doing quite well too! But the Es player got my number pretty fast, and I was cooked. This also gave me the realization that my defense was pretty damn bad, I was really churning my stick for 360 inputs but It just led me to getting Counter hit alot.

I was so close to winning the first set, but they made a really good comeback, then really caught onto my play. I didn't know one of Es' projectiles could nullify mine, that really threw me off.

I'm very inexperienced with the matchups in this game, as I either forgot, or just never fought the character before. It's nice to finally play other people again, cause I can actually take not of whats actually messing me up. There are alot of moves I tried to challenge, only to fail cause I messed up my block/instant block.

I was also not aware of how strong/integral Es' Jumping C attack (below) was, but now that I know that, I can read on how to fight it (as dustloop has a section on how to beat It.) The beauty of Fighting games is the learning.

This match taught me to respect Es' range, and how to approach her in neutral, as her long sword normals really screw me over.

My opponent played really well! They also knew my name was a DJMAX reference which makes them extra cool, I hope we play again!

Match 2: Vs. Azrael

I was fully expecting to lose my losers match and drop out of the bracket at 2-0, but thankfully I pulled through.

Azrael is a beast though, to be specific, he's commonly refered to as a Gorilla. Azrael wants to get up in your face and hit you with big damage, scary pressure, and potent mixups.

I'm actually quite familiar with this matchup despite being so long since I've played against Azrael. For me, It's mainly knowing when to take my turn, Azrael's gameplan needs him to get up close to the opponent, which is just what Tager wants. Every oppurtunity Azrael gets is also an oppurtunity for Tager aswell.

This move is still kind of a bane for me, Gustav Buster, an advancing move thats also Safe for Azrael even If the opponent blocks. This move is somewhat infamous for being really busted if your opponent doesn't know how to deal with it. I know how to deal with it, but I failed to apply it to the match, but I still managed despite that. Your supposed to Instant Block the attack, performed by inputting block just as the move hits you, notified by your character flashing white, this makes the move unsafe for Azrael, however, I suck at doing It :p.

Azrael is scary as hell, his character is certainly befitting of his in canon moniker "Mad Dog", but unlike with Es, I was comfortable in the matchup. Unfortunately I couldn't save the replay of the 2nd match, but I hope to play this person again!

Match 3: Vs. Celica

Celica is a character I've never fought before to my knowledge, All I know of her kit is mainly from Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, which plays completely differently. About the only thing I know about her is her "Healing Ability" after certain moves, which heals her "blue life" during a match. I was very interested in what Celica had in store for the match.

From what I gathered from the match, Celica seemed "basic", and I found out that the Dustloop page for her calls her that aswell. Celica, despite her healing factor, and robot partner, Minerva, is actually one of the tamer characters in this game. My opponent knew Celica well, but I think was unfamiliar with alot of Tagers tools and gimmicks. As with everyone, I hope we play again! The Celica color is also very cute.

Match 4: Vs. Hakumen

I was fighting for my life.

Hakumen and Tager walk a similiar beat, their both slow, defensive characters, who can do massive damage, the difference is that Hakumen has actual range, thanks to his huge sword. Hakumen is one of the few characters that matches Tagers damage output, if he gets going, he can make Tager look like a pixie.

Like with Azrael, I was quite familiar with this matchup, I just play It slow, and calculated (though i kinda fumbled on the "calculated" part in the match.) Hakumen has alot of "Counter" moves, but Tagers grabs completely bypass them, so that's a layer of gameplay I didn't have to worry about as much as other characters do. Tager can also armor through many of Hakumens common pokes.

I'm still surprised I manged this matchup though, the Hakumen player really knew his stuff. there were moments where he really got me into his pressure.

Of all the matches though, I was the proudest of this one, was really on point with my command grabs and instant blocks, aswell as my own offense. I really hope to play them again!

Match 5: Vs. Lambda-11

This was the classic Grappler Vs. Zoner matchup, so I was really fighting for my life here. technically, Lambda is not a true zoner, but my opponent had no reason to not zone against me.

I was fumbling alot, and my opponent played really well, I'm surprised this was a 2-1 game and not a 2-0. But I did manage to steal some round with some correct guesses, and Lambda is a particularly low health character, so she can really succumb to Tagers damage.

Lambda has alot of tools that really fuck me up, like the barrage of projectiles, her overhead projectile, and her gravity field, just to name a few.

What really gave me trouble is her reversal special, Exiga Nail It fucked me up so many times when I was trying to set my offense, It counter hit me alot to, which gave Lambda a full combo, with big damage, yeesh.

Also, my opponent called me the FUCK out with this play, saw my Sledgehammer, an armored, advancing move, and said fuck that, and I took 4k damage raw, Jesus. That was the kinda play that made me think about my life choices, I applauded them.

The most damning clip though, was that I was really close to stealing the round the last match we had, but I made the wrong decision, and they made the right one. I beat myself up over this a bit, lol.

I immediately looked up Lambda counter strategies and was very enlightened, alot of stuff I just didn't know I could challenge. I really have to polish up my defense next time I enter. I hope I get to fight this opponent again! I'd love to see what I could do differently against this character. They really kicked my ass.

and thus, that was the end of my Tournament run, where I placed 9th out of 26th entrants, not bad at all! While I did (jokingly) beat myself over this placement, I was content. Plus, I exited this tournament with my goals fulfilled, to Improve, fight others, learn, and of course, enjoy myself.

I did end up making a little bit of a checklist of things I can improve on with my play, though.

Of course, all of this is all stuff to be learned overtime, I might not even apply these next time I play! But I'll try to be conscious.

I did also write down things I think I did well! I wanna try to pat myself on the back, It oculdn't hurt.

Honestly, the worst part of this tournament was simply the thought of waiting for the next one, but then again, it'll be a bunch of time to practice, and play aganst others outside of a tournament setting, I hope next time, I'll make top 8, and write about It the same way I did here. ^^

A trait I'm grateful for developing outside of games is my patience, and ability to control emotions. I don't blame anyone for being mad or upset at fighting game stuff, In the realm of Fighting games, all emotions feel valid, what you want to avoid is harming others with them. I'm glad I can lose a match, and feel content.

That said, I feel like, I need to keep playing, whether I win or lose, I mean, I never stopped playing, but I feel the urge to keep playing others, and get better. Not an uncommon feeling at all, but I guess this urge feels like a hunger, where I really need to be satiated. It's a feeling I haven't experienced in years, I do not know if this is a good thing or not, but I think a competitive urge is completely healthy as long as you temper it.

My emotions were definitely heightened during this all, on one hand i was here to have fun! enjoy myself! and meet new people! and play one of my favorite fighting games! on the other hand, I feel like:

This "hunger" feeling to be a bit of a clash of traits. I do remember having that feeling when I was younger, where I was alot more "hardy", and headstrong, and could hop on fighting game ranked all day. But with my current disposition, which is a relatively calm, and modest individual, It feels as if my body and mind were not meant for this kind of energy, though I guess It's now my challenge to satiate this feeling without changing my character. Wow, that all sounded really edgy, lol.

At the very least, It makes me eager to play more, I wanna enter tourneys for more games, such as Blazblue Cross Tag Battle,Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, DNF Duel, Under Night, and Melty Blood. But I think I should hold my horses and commit to Blazblue Central Fiction, but we'll see :p.

A question I kept thinking about after my tournamenet run is Why do I play fighting games? The answer is just "I think their fun." Which is true, but I wonder If theres any deeper meaning, I know alot of people play Fighters for various reasons, such a Zen, Drive, Competition, Even expression. Maybe my definition of "Fun" is all of that and more combined, or It might mean nothing at all, and I'm just over thinking. Who knows...

If you read til the end, I very much thank you, I know this is all quite alot. But I hope this inspires you to play some good ass fighting games, (maybe pick up Blazblue Central Fiction? It goes on sale alot!) Would also like to thank the Training Mode Network for being a cool space.

Also, since I guess I can't ever beat the crowd, my Discord tag is: "superlovery". I still hate discord though.

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