TBH11 Pools
Based on the initial seeding of my pool, I was supposed to go 2–2 drown. I ended up going 3–2 instead, so there wasn’t much of a difference results wise, but the key thing is that I could have actually made it out of the pool but quite literally stopped myself from doing so.
Leading up to this tournament, I prepared for a total of… 0 days. I had worked through the evenings to complete a project at work in the week leading up to the event, and finally put the finishing touches on the project from my Doubletree Detroit hotel room after arriving at TBH. Even before this week, I was playing through Ys X: Nordics instead of practicing Melee. Even if I had been practicing, I wouldn’t have known which matchups to practice so I figured it wasn’t really going to help. I was supposed to come to this tournament casually and just play, drown, and have a good time. I guess I did end up doing that, but I regret not taking the alternative.
I ended up playing on fire during my pool. I’ve struggled with the Fox matchup for the past year and a half or so, and yet I utterly destroyed two Foxes and soundly beat the third in my bracket run, with at least two 4-stocks on the way. I remember sliding off a tech chase on setup A20 (plz let there be slippi replays lul) into slideoff shine, which I somehow converted into a zero-to-death combo.
I reached losers finals vs Sheridan, and very solidly beat him game 1 on Battlefield. I thought I played the best Falco-Puff of my whole life that game, taking tons of valuable trades and Amsah teching every single aerial. This continued until the end of game 2 on FoD. I was up 3 stocks to 1, absolutely in position to take the set convincingly in what would have been quite an upset. In this position, the following intrusive thoughts entered my head in this order.
- “Wow, I’m about to beat Sheridan!”
- “Wow, I’m about to get out of pools at this stacked major!”
- “Why the fuck am I about to get out of pools when I’m here as a casual?”
- “Do I even want to get out of pools when it means I have to keep playing later instead of just chilling?”
- “No, I actually don’t. End my run now.”
On the verge of a big win, I defeated myself in what was probably under 2 seconds. The quality of my play fell off a cliff. I remember trying to yolo forward smash Sheridan’s shield, which got me gimped at 0 (deservedly). Sheridan quickly took my next 3 stocks and dominantly took game 3 on Yoshi’s Story. I simply did not have that dog in me. In the moment, losing seemed like the rational choice. I wanted to come to the tournament as a casual, so I simply stuck to that plan. A few hours later, I realized how much I regretted that decision. Maybe I’m not as retired as I thought if I regret losing like this.
Anyways I just wanted to write this down before I forgot any of it. I’ve had a lot of almost-upsets in my time competing in Melee, but this was the first time I so clearly lost to myself instead of my opponent. Perhaps this is the takeaway for next time: Just drop out of the next pool if I make it out lol
