Thoughts on this weekend's tournament

So I haven't been able to make a thorough post explaining my thoughts on this weekend, so here we go.

AWWWW YEAHHHH, it's on. I get to compete in the national tournament next month on the 18th of January. After I qualified, they gave me this huge Willy Wonka ticket looking thing and that's my pass to get in the nationals. Ever since I had the honor of representing the U.S. back in 2004 at SBO, I've always wished to have another chance to compete on that grand stage. Making top 8 at Evolution and winning Evolution West is a difficult challenge, but I think because of the Japanese tournament format and because I strive to do things that other people have yet to do, Japan's huge National tournament brings back an excitement that I don't really feel that much for Evolution. (I love run on sentences)

I think it's undeniable of the fact that most foreigners that compete at SBO, get peaced out first round. There are several exceptions(Justin and Ricky winning the last chance tournament and getting far, Pyrolee,Arlieth, and Frankie3s almost making top 4 at the first SBO, this years 3s team winning first round), but for those exceptions, theres a lot of cases where fools lose first round and get sent packing. So I mean, I think most U.S. players worry about that. You're in another country, playing on their turf, playing in their tournament using their format. And BTW, it's the biggest tournament of the year, if that doesn't affect you, you must be Brock lesnar or something.

At the 2004 SBO, Buktooth and myself lost first round. We were hella in the lead during our matches and due to Campbell's execution skills and bad luck he lost. Due to my inability to control my bad habits, I thus lost as well. You can think what you want, but this is what I think. Of course, if a player outplays me, I own up to it and I recognize it. I'm not perfect player and of course I get outplayed, but I feel just like NEO, that I can control the outcome. If I commit to my gameplan, I can win the match. But like usual, even though everyone has a gameplan, it's natural to stray away from that gameplan. And it has happened to me a billion times in SF4. Controlling my bad habits and learning more about the game is the key IMO for me to do well at the National Tournament.

I believe, thanks to having good teachers and people to play with back in Norcal, I have a solid foundation for Street Fighter. I guess what's most obvious is my ground game and patience. But those are basics, even if you have good basics, you can't apply just only that to a game and expect to win a National Tournament. The key is to fully understand the game. And I understand SF4 to a decent degree, but there's many things I'm unsure about. For example, some setups I have with Bison, and what is the best punish for this specific situation. Actually yesterday I played two Viper players(I think their names were "I N C L U D E" and "IF END") and I got totally destroyed. Granted their are only about 3 or 4 Vipers that hand me my ass like that, I still gotta recognize it and respect it. Theres shit that I don't understand and they totally outclassed me those games we played. Learning more about the game, frame data shit, and what are the most high damaging combos I can do to punish ___, good and safe attacking patterns/angles that put me in a advantageous position, etc. is important. You ain't gonna win any fucking National tournaments being lazy and hoping to win. Being hungry can only take you so far, there'as a whole lot of losing(and beatdowns to hand out) I gotta do if I want to achieve Champion status.

So after I beat the guy I thought I had to beat to win the tournament, they announced even though I won, I have to play another person who won a tournament in a different area. So basically I win the tourney at 4:10pm or so, and then I was told at 5pm I have to play this other guy. As I'm about to leave, some guy looks at the bracket and asks me if I was the winner. I say yeah, and run to an arcade with 16 SF4 machines. I told myself "Dammit Kim, this is the closest you are going to get to qualifying and you better use these last 50 minutes to do whatever you can to win that spot"

So I run to that arcade(the name of the arcade is "HEY") and practice like a madman. I decided to keep my mind and hands constantly moving, so I did a whole lot of attacking. You know when you truly feel something good is about to happen, you become possessed to win, well that was Kim on Sunday. So I finish my quick practice session and walk back to where the tournament was being held. At 5pm, I find out my opponent was the same guy who asked me if I was the one that won the tournament. IRONY AT IT'S BEST.

I win 1st round, I lose 2nd round, and I controlled the 3rd round pretty convincingly, with the exception at the very end. I land some combos and pokes to bring it down to about 70% me, 25% him, suddenly he lands a out of no where uppercut focus cancel combo, and it's fucking even now. I do some hot mashing, and I win eventually in the end. I'm sure I slammed the buttons in unadulterated hypeness.

As you can probably tell, I'm pretty proud of this achievement, but it doesn't end here. I'm actually quite honored to be in the same group as other players I admire, such as Dan, Shiro, Mulder, Mizoteru, and Iyo. But I want to keep moving up, I can keep the admiration for others, but I gotta CEMENT MY LEGACY INTO STREET FIGHTER HISTORY or whatever dramatic ass phrase you want to include here.

I'll write more later, PEACE