Read part 1, here!

Zenith, part 2

In a fast paced game like Melee, even the smallest of a split second of doubting yourself can ruin your whole approach, or anything for that matter. So I had to play Shiz first. I didn’t think I was playing too great, and normally when I play bad, I just get down on myself and give up. It’s hard to put in the effort to come back and sometimes I’m lazy. But in these sets I powered through it because I was so pissed that M2K gimped me so many times in winners. You can only get gimped so many times, you gotta draw a line somewhere LOL. I wasn’t lazy about it and I noticed that I started playing better.

Going into my set with PP I had a lot to prove. After dropping those 2 sets at Kings of Cali, and watching people say “PP figured out Mango,” things along those lines, I knew it was time to put in some work. Prior to our set I thought a bit on who I would want to use. I knew I wanted to prove something and PP always told me that I would never beat him with Fox, so that made my decision a lot easier.

First match was pretty close, but I clutched it my last stock. He picks FD (of course) and whenever someone takes me to FD I always think for a second that I should go Puff, but I decided not to throw off my Fox momentum. I got a little upset over all the FD shenanigans and it cost me a few stocks in the Dreamland match, but I was able to compose myself by my last stock to clutch another win. After taking those last 2 stocks, my confidence skyrocketed and the momentum was all in my favor. Confidence + Momentum = Best thing for me.

I beat PP 3-1 and then it was time to play M2K. I think that if M2K can’t gimp me he usually doesn’t win. If I don’t get gimped more than 1.5 times in a game then I can win (.5 is a mean death combo LOL). He did gimp me game 1 and game 4, and a baby gimp in game 3, but always less than 1.5 times. So we had a good set but in the end M2K got pro spanked and I moved on to grand finals.

Now it’s time for me to get my revenge on HBox, and by this point in the bracket I was playing AMAZING. I destroy him first game, and I see myself wanting to start slacking and just assume I’ll win. Then I got 4 stocked the next game, which was actually perfect. Exactly what I needed to get my shit together. Then the rest of the set was just me swagging on puff.

I’d like to point out one part set 2 game 3 on Dreamland. First stock I SD then I go on to get rested which puts me at 2 stocks to his 4 on Dreamland. And normally I give up and just get myself ready for the next game, but I told myself to try because I knew I could come back. I ended up falling a little short, but I was ok with that because I didn’t give up and at least tried. So I beat HBox 6-2 and won Zenith in pretty dominating fashion. Now it was time to prep myself for the big stage!

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Next, we’ll hear MaNg0 talk about training for Evo! Check out part 3 here!