Your First Tournament - A Guide to Making the Most of It

[Rocann]

Excellent article. New players, don't do what I have started doing and sleep for half the tournament only having people wake you up for your matches. Meet as many people as possible and play as much as you can. It's the best experience one could have in this community.

 

[SCOTU]

Lol probably DSF used SH lasers so he won't get kicked out =P.

another question, how do you register? Do you register via online and stuff.? Or you just go to the tourney, and you sign up bs? If you do sign up, what do you sign up specifically? Like address, phone number etc etc.

sorry these questions finally come to mind after certain time lol >.>;

People will usually post online in the SWF thread or AiB tourney page to indicate their intent to go, but this usually isn't necessary for registration. Typically you just have to get there before the tourney starts and sign up. Sign up involves simply paying the entry fee (and venue fee if there is one), and giving the name you want to go by in bracket. Most TOs don't want to collect any personal info. Some national level tourneys will require pre-registration/payment, and will often require full names, etc...

 

[Tianxiazhai]

The term money match seems obvious to me, but can anybody give me a full and complete explanation?

 

[petre]

'i bet you $5 i can beat you'

then you play a set as if it were a tourney match, and winner gets the money. of course, you can decide with the other person whatever rules you want. its nothing really 'official'.

EDIT: oh yeah, and not paying out when you lose a money match is the most dishonorable thing ever, you will disgrace your family if you do so.

 

[Rocann]

^ but if you beat someone in friendlies, it doesn't really mean anything. If you beat them in a MM, that's given just about as much weight as a tourney match, except when it comes to like state rankings sometimes.

 

[Bitter Romantic]

I went to my first tourney, got ***** all over the place as expected. Asked the people as to why I lost, what I was doing wrong or what I could do to improve like stated here and got nothing
[as in, nobody bothered responding]

 

[SCOTU]

your wording is a bit ambiguous, but I'm guessing you asked them in person right after playing against them? well, all i can really say is that either they didn't really know what they were doing, or they were just being *******s. If no one'll tell you what you're doing wrong, just make sure to get as many friendlies as you can. If you can get some matches recorded against a human (whether at the tourney or not) you can get some critique by posting them in your character's boards here.

 

[Amazing Ampharos]

Being asked to assess opponents is obnoxious for a lot of people. Don't be too hard on people for not wanting to give good answers to those sort of questions. It's also a big skill to be able to answer those questions yourself so asking is not as helpful as you would think.

 

[Kage Me]

Go to the Tournametns > Regional Zones > <yourregion> and look for tourneys
or go to allisbrawl.com and they have a very good database of tourneys

I tried the Regional Zones thing, but that has nothing for the next few... Well, it has nothing planned at all, actually o_0;

 

[AlphaZealot]

Being asked to assess opponents is obnoxious for a lot of people. Don't be too hard on people for not wanting to give good answers to those sort of questions. It's also a big skill to be able to answer those questions yourself so asking is not as helpful as you would think

Building on this a little: sometimes it is hard to tell people what they are doing wrong or even for the person who is winning to understand what exactly they are doing right.

There are some players who are very good at verbalizing their thought processes for matches and explaining things. I would say these players are, for the most part, in the minority. The rest of people just like to play and play and play.

 

[Rawrness]

this was VERY helpful thanks ^^

 

[Pr0phetic]

Ah good write-up, reminds me of my first (and only) tourney.

 

[Vlade]

Lots of stickies

But I truly think that this might be better off in tournament discussion?

 

[Nybb]

Yeah, like AlphaZealot said, people who don't give you tips aren't necessarily mean, they're probably just shy or genuinely don't have any. Face it, we're talking about video game tournaments. There's going to be a large amount of people who don't quite have top tier social skills. But ask everyone anyway, because you will eventually get advice and it will pay off a lot. Somebody else's objective opinion is way more reliable than your own.

 

[HanAmes]

Unfortunately for me, I lost every match in my first tourney. Anyway, the thread was helpful...!

 

[RenegadeRaven]

This thread = win

Always wondered what pools were.
Thanks for it. I feel a lot better about failing. lol

 

[Shintarru]

Cant wait for my first tourney XD thanks this is a good read. My first tourney is on saturday.

 

[BBoyindo]

I tried the Regional Zones thing, but that has nothing for the next few... Well, it has nothing planned at all, actually o_0;

I know there are no tourneys planned ATM It sucks.

 

[Sorgens]

Thanks for the guide, will be of great help soon.

 

[Nicole]

Unfortunately for me, I lost every match in my first tourney. Anyway, the thread was helpful...!

I don't think you're in the minority dude, just don't get discouraged and keep going to tournies.

This was a good read even though I'm not a first-timer. I still need to be reminded to be a bit more vocal about playing friendlies. Also, you should definitely be making friends at these tournaments - I've met alot of awesome people who I always catch up with and play against. It makes your entry fee more worthwhile if you're having fun.

 

[Fuggles]

This guide is hella helpful! I might be going to my first tourney soon (COT4, lmao) and I fully expect to get *****, and doubt that I'll make it past the pools. Couple questions tho
1. If i dont make it past the pools, is it wierd to show up the next day and do friendlies? Would those competing rather help people who are also competing?
2. For example, My opponent and I are baning CP stages and we both ban the same stage. Does someone get to ban another stage? If so, who?

 

[GwJ]

Wow, that's quite a choice you've got for your first tourney.

 

[Fuggles]

I know, but I think it's the only one coming up soon I can get to easily. I just wanna smash, I dont care how I place. If I did, I'd stay the heck away lmao XD

 

[DemonFart]

wow. nice guide....man i got to get to a tourney.

 

[SCOTU]

This guide is hella helpful! I might be going to my first tourney soon (COT4, lmao) and I fully expect to get *****, and doubt that I'll make it past the pools. Couple questions tho
1. If i dont make it past the pools, is it wierd to show up the next day and do friendlies? Would those competing rather help people who are also competing?
2. For example, My opponent and I are baning CP stages and we both ban the same stage. Does someone get to ban another stage? If so, who?

1. I guess i'm not sure on the being weird to show up the next day for friendlies. I don't think anyone would care unless they charged a venue fee per day (in which case only you would care then)

2. In brawl this doesn't happen because you ban stages at different times (right before the other player counterpicks). In melee, typically you just choose some arbitrary order to go in because you usually either obviously ban a stage, or it doesn't matter all that much.

 

[Fuggles]

Ahhh...thanks!

 

[OmegaXF]

Be yourself and don't get toooo nervous. Besides show captain falcon your moves xD

 

[hippiedude92]

Wow, it got stickied? Thank you so much.

And Scotu thanks so much for this guide it's again helped me by far for whoever the hell knows it lol.

Well yesterday I went to my first tourney (idr the name or where it was or how many ppl were there; i found out @ last minute) and placed in first place :D!! I give total credit to this thread and guide. It definitely helped me.

I find the socializing part and commentary hilarious parts are the best out of a the tourney and worth while XD!

 

[Cactuarz]

Nice guide, I would have loved to read it before your last tourney, I almost didn't make pools cause I didn't know what was going on =p.

 

[LinIsKorean]

Great read, thankfully I picked up on most of this stuff at my first tourney since everyone was nice. ^_^

 

[Melomaniacal]

This guide is hella helpful! I might be going to my first tourney soon (COT4, lmao) and I fully expect to get *****, and doubt that I'll make it past the pools. Couple questions tho
1. If i dont make it past the pools, is it wierd to show up the next day and do friendlies? Would those competing rather help people who are also competing?
2. For example, My opponent and I are baning CP stages and we both ban the same stage. Does someone get to ban another stage? If so, who?

1. It's not weird. Every tournament I have been to has had at least one or two people who just pay the venue fee, and don't enter in singles in doubles. Coming just for friendlies is fine. The people competing will usually friendly with whoever is waiting by the TV, unless they're waiting on MMs.

2. SCOTU got it.

 

[Darkzeroking]

Hehe ur right about getting ***** in ur 1srt torny,but I learned alot thx foe the advice.

 

[Lunatic]

Thank You

This is quite a good helpful thread. I'm actually going to participate in a tourney next month for the first time.

 

[Zook]

I have a question about 'Brawl Tags.' How do players put their nicknames into the Wii before a match starts?

 

[SCOTU]

same way as any other time. They just do it when selecting their character. If that player uses different controls, they typically do that then too.

 

[kukki]

Good stuff, I still can't really find a tournament where I'm at atm.

 

[MyCurse4Life]

A tourny!!! AWESOME.

 

[Marauder]

I actually have a tourney to go to soon so this is really helpful. Thanks.

 

[Llumys]

I'm going to my first large regional/national in March. I've been going to our bi-weeklies for months and I'm excited. Thanks for posting this, I learned a few things that could be helpful.

 

[:mad:]

I wish I had known this sooner.
I started finally going to a monthly tournament for awhile, and played in it for the first time, not knowing what I was doing.
I actually placed 15 out of 32, but only because I fought an Ike and two Pikachus that didn't know much.
The other competition was too intense. This helped.