Fire and Dice Smash Tournamnet 3/17

     Another smash tourney at Fire and Dice today. I really enjoyed the tournament this week, partly because I wasn't taking everything so seriously and it was a super stacked tournament with a ton of great local players. Observe.
      Top 8 w/character usage
      1. K9sbruce (Sheik)
      2. Nicko (Shulk)
      3. Rich Brown (Mewtwo)
      4. SS (Villager/Ness)
      5. Mr. Concon (Luigi)
      5. KY (Yoshi)
      7. Zenyou (Mario)
      7. Angbad (Olimar)

     It was awesome seeing Mr.Concon (Luigi) in action against Aphro (Bayo). That was a fun set. Aprho is probably my favorite local player but I saw so many great pr (power ranking) players today and the skill level was through the roof.  Another great set that I saw was KY (Yoshi) versus Mr.Concon. It seemed that they were even in that set with Concon taking both games with a forward smash after KY missed an attack. Angbad (Olimar/Zss) is another great player that I saw play. He seems to play a small plethora of characters but I thought it was cool seeing him play Zero Suit Samus when nobody else there other than me and him were playing her. 
      The matches on stream were great as well. I really liked seeing Rich Brown (Mewtwo) versus SS (Villager/Ness). At first SS was getting mewtwo'd but once he switched to Ness his true skill shined through. Nicko (Shulk) put in work tonight getting 2nd place. He played amazingly well against SS with all these great Monado sword strikes. I saw a great Shulk for the first time ever. It was pretty cool seeing him play Shulk over his usual Cloud. K9SBruce (Sheik) just stormed through everybody and took the tournament. I barely remember seeing him play Rich Brown but it was an exciting match full of the usual K9 shiekisms. 
     My tournament matches didn't go so hot. Its not like I played poorly or anything but I didn't play great either. First set was against my friend Saladin (Rosalina) and for some reason I decided to go Samus in game one. I ended up sding first stock and didn't play a very good neutral against his aggressive Rosalina style. Second match I went Zero Suit and lost my first stock pretty fast to offstage shenanigans but once I got into the hang of things I ending up spacing really well against him and thinking on my feet more. Thinking of other tactics, sometimes running up to him and not doing anything just to see his reaction. Stuff like that. 
     The other set in losers bracket was against Shinta (Robin/Pikachu). He had an amazing Robin. I went Zss first this time and just went all out aggression without much thought and lost pretty fast. He switched to Pikachu and I switched to Samus, thinking Pikachu was his easier character to beat. I was wrong. I ended up getting combo'd relentlessly by Pikachu's tail whip and electric attacks. It was a good experience playing someone as good as him in bracket though. I feel like I definitely learned a lot more about my play and how to improve. He ended up getting 13th place at a stacked tournament so that shows how good of player he is.
     Overall, this was a great tournament. I'm glad that Fire and Dice is able to draw out this many people and this many skilled players. For the last couple weeks it had seemed that there was a dip in attendance but now it seems like everybody's going to be there again. Some of my friends that weren't there the last couple weeks showed up so it was good to see them again. FAD is also going to be starting Sunday tournaments starting this Sunday, on March 20th. They host great tournaments and its a happy/friendly environment for both pros and intermediate players as well. I'll definitely be back next Thursday for some more action!