Episode 2-7: The Unbreakable Mind ft. Sports Psychologist Steve

AV and Peon are joined by Sports Psychologist Steve in this episode. Sports Psychologist Steve is an industry professional known for his ability to connect his foundations in applied psychology with his gaming domain knowledge. In true BTM fashion, AV and Peon pick his brain to formulate the Ultimate mentality.

Questions
==== '''Discord member pellepingo: How do you work with expanding old combo strings or finding new ones? Both true combos and enemy DI based combos. Especially in a new and unexplored game like ultimate.''' ====

Peon:
"I mean, right now we just saw piranha plant being released, so you know, we are seeing a lot of people doing this process with Piranha Plant."

AV:
"Yeah, I think this is a really interesting question, in the sense that there might be multiple paths down this, as with most things. My path personally would be to first to watch as many pro players of my character as possible. I want to see as many different ways that other people are experimenting with the character because just by raw volume you are can basically ingest a bunch of different play styles way quicker by watching people than by either playing yourself or playing other people with your character, so that’s one thing to look at." "In terms of discovery, if something works once and it works really well I’ll explore it, but outside of that I personally am not someone that will take DK to the training room and start experimenting with a bunch of different combo starters. That’s not necessarily a bad thing and I want to send this back over to Peon to see if this is something you have done in this game."

Peon:
"Yeah, I do a lot of labbing. I’m a lab fiend. I love to try and figure out new combos and stuff. A lot of it is handing a controller over to my buddy if I’m practicing with a real life partner and say:" "“Hey, DI this out and let me see if this is true.”" "Just kind of fiddling around.""So, I would say just pick whatever character you want to practice the combo against and drag your friend, family member, or significant other into training. Just say:" "“Hey look. I’ll bake you a cake, but just give me 10 minutes of your time.”" "And have them do different DIs and have them mash, air dodge, or jump out of your combos and just see if they are true." "I’ll have these, kind of, revelations at times. Ill be at my desk at work and be like:" "“Oh. I wonder if that will work. I’m going to try that when I get home.”" "So, it’s just a lot of experimentation and, like AV said, looking at top players and trying to steal stuff from them as well."

AV:
"Yeah, it’s really funny. Some of the best chess players play chess in their mind. I feel like there’s a small crossover with how Smash players like to play Smash in their mind, which is really funny."

==== '''Discord member Silver: I do have a quick question in regards to matchups. Matchups are something that are brought up a lot during the show, but how can I tell what is a good or a bad matchup for my character (I main Roy) on my own?''' ====

Peon:
"Yeah, so I get pissed off when people say:" "“Yo, matchups just don’t really matter unless you’re at the top level.”" "I hear people say that all the time, even mid-level players and tournament veterans. In what universe is that true?" "So, let me breakdown my theory of matchups real briefly. Matchups are only important if you understand what strengths your character has and how they interact with the weaknesses and strengths of character you’re fighting against." "So, let’s say you’re fighting against Captain Falcon for simplicity sake, who notoriously has a bad recovery. It’s a good sign of a good matchup if your character is awesome at edge guarding, right. Let’s say you never, never, never edge guard the Falcon once. Well, you’re not really utilizing the benefits you have in the matchup. At that point is it really positive or negative?" "So, the argument is that matchups don’t really matter at any level. Well, even low-level players can learn how to edge guard a Falcon. That’s an oversimplification, but find out what strengths and weaknesses your character has. Find out what strengths and weaknesses your opponent’s character has. Think about how those things co-exist." "Let’s say you’re playing as Captain Falcon. You have a bad recovery but you’re awesome at edge guarding. Let’s say you’re playing against a character that has amazing edge guarding and an amazing recovery that can’t really be edge guarded well. Well, suddenly, your weakness has been exposed and your strength has been negated. That’s a bad sign." "Look for examples like what I’ve outlined there."

AV:
"Yeah, I think that it’s something that is explored very personally." "I think that one thing that is very important to understand is that sometimes you can beat one player of one character and then lose really hard to another player of that same character." "So, one thing that is really important is understanding what specific tools of a character are you losing to. What specific playstyles are you losing to. That is usually what better informs your first direct path forward in figuring out a matchup."

==== '''Discord member JMF Supa Smash: I am really bad when the opponent is good at applying pressure. I pick bad options and have a hard time reversing the situation. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on how to practice in this area, and if there are specific things I should be thinking about or looking for when I’m dealing with pressure. I’m thinking mostly about rushdown type characters like Roy/Chrom, Inkling, Fox, etc.''' ====

AV:
"This is an interesting question in the sense that there’s lots of different types of pressure. The most common one is usually very linear. People that play aggressively and that play aggressively linear are usually using the same options over and over again." "Obviously there’s characters like Meta Knight. No matter what, Meta Knight is going to use Dash Attack and Dash Grab. Calling a Meta Knight player linear aggressive in that context would be incorrect. It’s just their options." "But, picking out options that people use over and over again and understanding how people are getting in, especially when they get in, taking note of that, and saying:" "“This is how they got in this percentage of the time.”" "It doesn’t have to be exact, obviously. You’re not a robot. Just see what you’re getting hit by most of the time. There’s usually a very straight-forward counter to it." "If you’re getting Dash Attacked a lot, you shield, or you spot dodge the dash attack if it doesn’t have a lingering hitbox. If you literally just break it down in these friendly environments, it’s usually a good way to start figuring out how to combat these aggressive players." "Obviously I think there’s a whole other realm to it, which I think I want you, Peon, to get into in the sense of how do you think well in situations where you are just getting overwhelmed."

Peon:
"I think it mostly comes down to experience playing against people." "Let’s say you are playing against someone online, or you find someone in the BTM Discord, or maybe a real life training partner. Play against that rushdown speed as often as you can. Eventually, you’ll get used to the pace. It’s as simple as that." "It’s like if you run with a weight vest long enough, eventually you won't even notice that the weight vest is on. That’s kind of one approach I would take for it, but mostly I think it’s a confidence thing." "I think rushdown characters are just inherently scary, because they are inherently overwhelming. If you know what options to choose, how to punish certain characters, and are good at the specific matchups despite playing them alot and understanding them, suddenly the speed won't be as much of  a factor. It will just be a byproduct of something you understand more holistically." "Does that make sense AV?"

AV:
"Yeah, that’s really cool. I think that was exactly what I was looking for."

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