More things to work on...

I went to a tournament over the weekend and was a bit disappointed with my placement. I placed 5th out of the 21 participants. I've been playing a whole lot, and I wanted to use the tournament as a test to my hard work and practice. I was having an off day to say the least. I was really sick and battling head aches and breathing issues all day. I also played on my lap where I was sitting on a goofy chair that kinda angles downwards...angling my STICK downwards. Basically sitting in a weird position made inputs weird on my stick...additionally starting in the losers bracket didn't help to much either. All excuses aside I managed to take 5th place, losing to Cole my first match (hence why I say started in losers bracket) then to Bokkin later in the tournament.

When the videos came out, I was able to witness how I played, and I must say I was pretty disappointed. Missed combo's, terrible zoning, uncalculated decisions....I was just off my game and I look like an amateur to say the least. After witnessing the monstrosity that I call my play style, I could see I clearly needed more work. So with that, here's the list of things I'd like to start working on and start using more often:

- Throw hadouken's in 2 instances...outside of jump in range OR during footsie situations.

- Use ex hadouken a bit more often in order to reset momentum.

- Anti air, anti air ANTI AIR (See picture for when to anti air)!!!!! Use s.hp anti air more often in conjunction with shoryu's. Most importantly shoryuken's OUT of c.mk pokes! This is pretty crucial...I find myself 9 times out of 10 getting jumped in on during a footsie battle (c.mk's or hadou's). By uppercutt'ing out of c.mk's and hadou's, I'll tighten up anti air'ing quite a bit.

- Stop jumping in the CORNER! Quit thinking your going to get some fancy crossup! Keep your opponent in the corner and PLAY SMART! Why would you intentionally put yourself in the corner if it wasn't an amazing mixup?! Play smart and stop throwing away great positioning!

- Counter jab and throw attempts with ex tatsu. This is something new, but I want to start delving into getting counter hits off of ex tatsu's.

Aright...lets get to work

- Mickey D'

"That was very calculated!"

The ability to play "calculated" is something that takes a LOT of time to get a good grasp on. I see a lot of players lose to brash decisions that weren't calculated out. So many players play without thought, and instead of thinking, they just do things unknowingly without calculation or thought put into their attacks. I personally believe that playing "calculated" means...just playing smart. It's not like you have to know every counter in the book to play smart. All in all, playing calculated at it's core, is the ability to analyze the risk/reward aspect of situations. It can be as simple as "should I throw a fireball right now, or not." I've heard from so many players that they're "always getting jumped in on" when they throw fireballs. This is a result of not throwing fireballs smart. The player didn't calculate the risks of throwing the fireball, and they OBVIOUSLY didn't calculate the rewards of throwing the fireball either. By understanding the risk/reward factor, you play knowing all the possibilities of what your opponent has as well as what YOU have.

Here's a quick situation/example: Say that your up one round against a Sagat. Both health bars are on their last legs and can only withstand one hit. Sagat is throwing tiger shots from a distance keeping you on the other side of the screen. Eventually you manage to get a tiny bit of distance covered, and you can see that if you jump in you'll be able to reach a hit. While this thought occurs, Sagat continues throwing his shots, trying to push you back and make you eat some chip damage. With you being up one round, the possibility to land ONE hit to win the entire match is something to be appreciated with much value. Basically, if Sagat throws another shot, you can make one simple jump, and end the match making you the victor. At the same time, if Sagat thinks your going to jump, he's going to be ready for the anti air, making HIM the victor. So what to do?

By quickly analyzing the situation at hand, you begin understanding the risk to reward factor that comes with the given situation. What can you gain? What will you lose? If the gain is higher then the loss, then 9 times out of 10 I would say that it's worth it to go for the riskier option. In the situation above, I personally would play risky if I felt as if the Sagat didn't respect my option to win with one jump. I'm up one round, if I get the jump in attack, I'll win the match. And if it doesn't go my way...the worst thing that happens is that I play out the next round. In a way I see it as risking the opportunity to take the win, however even if you lose, you still have another round to play out.

From an outsider looking in, many spectators would say that the jump in would be something of impatience or stupidity. However the fact of the matter is that I look at the jump as being very calculated. The player obviously thought out the risks and rewards that came with the situation, so how can the jump be considered dumb? This is what is known as playing calculated.

So if you ever find yourself attacking head on without much thought put into the actual sequence of attacks...start thinking about the risks and rewards that come with the situation. Start analyzing attacks from your opponent, as well as your own attacks...start playing with thought instead of just attacking blindly.

- Mickey D'

Training log

I'm going to be participating in some major tournaments coming up, and I really want to up my game in order to do well in them. Daigo said he played 5 hours a day in order to train for Evo...Justin says he plays 8 hours a day...It's obvious that it takes dedication and time in order to be looked at as one of the best. My personal goal is to play about 2 to 3 hours a day, though I want to play more, work and real life take in priority over SF.

With practicing more, I also decided to couple it up with having a "training log" where I record everything that I've learned from matches and such. I personally only play player matches as I can actually get a complete set in with the person (rather then in championship mode where I only get 1 game). After the session with the person I write about who I played (character), how I tried to win the match, what I learned from the match itself, as well as the estimated time of the session (I want to figure out how many hours a day I can play). The goal is to be able to take something away from EVERY session. I was talking to my buddy and brought up that Daigo had trained 5 hours a day...my buddy brought up a good point. He said that though Daigo was playing for 5 hours a day, he also played great competition, and that he most likely took something from each session EVERY session.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to have this log, but I'll try to record every time I play at home. Obviously I'll take breaks, or have sessions at people's houses, but I'll still record what I learned at other "in person" sessions. It's important to consistently update the log. Without consistency, I won't put myself into the habit.

So that's primarily the goal...to get myself in the habit of trying to take something away from every match/session. By doing this, I'll be able to learn the most from my sessions even though I don't have as much time as the others. I personally suggest that if you feel that you are in a rutt or plateau, you should look into holding a training log as well, as it might help you understand how to better learn from matches.

- Mickey D'

My Ryu: Progress and New things to work on

August 26th, I made a post regarding what my overall game plan was concerning Ryu. Additionally I jotted down some aspects I needed to improve on as well. With that, this is the follow up towards my progress towards those goals.

- Using c.mk, hadou, sadc, hurricane or sweep in footsie battles. I've been doing fairly well with this. My execution and hit confirming are on point, however I need to start remembering to do this in all my matches. Basically what I need to work on is doing it more often in matches.

- Use more empty jump, crouch short combo's after untechable knockdown's. I've been using this technique a lot more often. It seems very strong however when playing against mashers (on wakeup) it'll lose. At the same time, it's not as if I should throw out the tactic at all...using it can get me a free ultra setup after a throw. Great tactic, and I use it pretty often, however knowing when to use it (not against throw spammer's) is the more important part.

- Make it a goal to hit F+Hp every match. I've found that I often times forget to use this move, and still need to remind myself to use it more often. I also think that against certain opponents, this move is almost never going to be thrown out. Characters like: Gief, Vega, Fuerte, Viper...these characters seem fairly "null" as far as this move is concerned because of their mobility (or in Gief's case his options on block). All in all, I still need to remember to use this move more often.

- Start using: FA, absorb hit, Dash in. This is something that I've been using a lot more often. It's actually vital to certain matchups in my opinion, most notably Dhalsim. I've been using it a lot more often, and I think I'm okay as to the amount I use it. Knowing when to use it is vital as well obviously, and it's best used when trying to punish opponents who are trying to use high priority pokes that beat Ryu's c.mk.

- Start jumping over fireballs on REACTION instead of guessing. This has been the most vital part of my game plan as of recently. I've practically MADE it my play style, to throw fireballs, and see if my opponent reaction jumps or not. Depending on their reaction, I'll know one of 2 things...if I can abuse fireballs from up close, or if they psychic jump. Knowing these options, I also know the benefits and disadvantages to both. All in all, I think I've officially trained myself to jump over fireballs on reaction, however it IS important to sometimes psychic jump as well. I have a specific tactic, where I psychic jump, but don't throw out an aerial attack (in case they didn't throw a fireball...anti air'ing will be harder because of a smaller hit box). By doing this, I gain ground and I can POSSIBLY gain a combo...how? If they throw a fireball during my psychic jump, I simply react by pressing a button to begin an aerial attack (mostly j.hk). In this case, I'll either hit the opponent, or they block, all the while granting me momentum.

- Start using walk forward shoryu when not in distance to anti air normally. I haven't really been using this tactic mainly because I don't throw fireballs where reaction jumpers jump so my anti air will whiff. Basically, I haven't needed to use this tactic much. I'm beginning to think it's not that great essential of a tool to bring out.

Conclusion: The things I'd like to begin working on are: using f+hp more often as well as c.mk, hadou, sadc, sweep/hurricane more often. I also want to hone my fireball zoning. Understanding when an opponent is going to jump at me is vital (free ultra anyone?). Lastly, I want to build my anti-air skills. I don't want my opponents getting free jumps on me any more.