2017 and My Year of Smash

2017 has been… oddly easy for me, outside of Smash. In the Smash world… it’s been a climb.

Outside of Smash, everything has been going well – not much had happened to be honest. Work as a software engineer has been swell and consistent. I got a new roommate in January through a mutual friend, and we’ve been doing fantastic. Last November, my girlfriend from Hawaii had moved in with me after over 2.5 years of doing long-distance (and having dated for 5.5 years now), and that’s been fantastic as well.

I also became Twitter famous LOL: https://twitter.com/kevinkaywho/status/898622008019124224

I also managed to reach having read 100 (non-fiction) books out of college, something I would have NEVER fathomed to do back in school. It’s become an addiction. The more I read, the less I realize I know, and I just want to keep learning about myself and the world around me. It’s led to my mental health in its prime, something that helps my mental game in Smash SO much – and it sure helps with a stable job and finances. Unfortunate events simply don’t happen to me anymore, as it’s become natural for me to genuinely view everything in a positive light. Even days staying at home are the best – days I can catch up and read even more haha. It’s TRULY a blessing, and I’d love to help as many people as possible reach basically this state of enlightenment.

I’ve also reached maybe 95% on a side project – at least its first version – that I’ve been working on average maybe 5 hours a week for over two years now. I’m planning to hold off on announcing what it actually is until it’s actually done, but the fact that it’s SO CLOSE feels SO freaking great.

NOW to Smash. THAT has been the focus of my year.

I had officially dropped Pikachu at the beginning of the year for Diddy, and it’s helped me so much. Given that, I didn’t have much of a secondary in the first half of the year, but that’s fine. Diddy’s been a much less stressful character overall, not worrying about dying to this. But I needed to give Diddy time, since he is a rather technical character when needing to do things outside of banana + shield lol.

It’s been a humbling experience. I was a valedictorian in high school; I was able to secure some 4.0’s in college with a maximum class load of upper level engineering classes; I have not one but two bachelor’s degrees. Yet despite the equal amount of effort I put into the game, if not more, the results are nowhere near the same. BUT then again, I don’t have a Wii U this year (it crashed at the end of last year and I hadn’t replaced it) so maybe watching VODs could help so much. I’d say that I average about 10 hours a week outside of playing analyzing VODs, whether of specific MUs, DK/Diddy tech, etc. Given that there have been plenty of players who hadn’t put in nearly as much effort, it’s been a humbling experience for me (yet there are definitely other players who devote even more time into studying the game for sure, and their talents are well rewarded for sure). Traveling across the nation for not one but two years, devoting a crazy amount of time and money into improving my game, to still get beaten up by stronger players every day – I NEED to stay humble if I want to even want to HOPE for improvement.

It’s been a year of patience. But I’ve kept my faith in the journey. I know the things I’m doing to become better are right, even if the results don’t immediately show. Heck, even if the results haven’t shown the entire year. There are still some tournaments where I go 0-2, tournaments where I lose to the first-time competitor’s strategy of spot dodge and forward smash (they admitted it was their first time!!!), tournaments where my mind and hands just don’t want to cooperate. It happens.

Thankfully I’ve got a few good wins on my resume to keep my motivation up. Most notably with the game on Ally and the set on Pugwest, I know I can just keep up what I’m doing. I’ll get there. It doesn’t matter how long it takes me, I LOVE this journey. But with this work effort, this mindset, this motivation, this discipline – I’ll get there.

Most importantly, I’ve made SO many friends throughout the year. And so many of you guys have supported me, even genuinely believing “best DK FREE” despite the results at the beginning of the year shown below. But whether I am even the best DK that nobody knows yet, or if I’m much worse, that doesn’t matter. Simply, thanks for believing in me guys. It SERIOUSLY means a ton, whether we’re close, acquaintances, or even if we haven’t met yet. Let’s have a great year, everyone.

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Major/regional tournament placements over the past year:

2GGC Genesis Saga (1/14/17)
257 / 466 (1-2, with a DQ so essentially 0-2)

Genesis (1/20/17)
385 / 1010 (2-2)

2GGC Midwest Mayhem Saga (2/11/17)
129 / 331 (1-2, with a DQ so essentially 0-2… outplacing 200+ other players still lol)

UCSD Photon Quarterlies (3/5/17)
25 / 45 (1-2)

2GGC Civil War (3/24/17)
513 / 753 (0-2)

CEO Dreamland (4/14/17)
257 / 376 (0-2)

DreamHack Austin (4/28/17)
129 / 313 (1-2, facing Lima in loser’s because he showed up late LOL)

2GGC Greninja Saga (5/20/17)
129 / 350 (1-2, taking a game off THE GUY WHO TOOK THE TOURNAMENT LOL (Ally))

No Johns All Payne #1 (5/28/17) (San Diego Regional)
17 / 90 (4-2)

2GGC Nairo Saga (6/10/17)
129 / 485 (3-2)

2GGC ARMS Saga (7/8/17)
49 / 200 (4-2)

EVO 2017 (7/14/17)
193 / 1508 (3-2; pool survivor)

2GGC SCR Saga (8/19/17)
129 / 301 (1-2)

Shine (8/25/17)
65 / 659 (4-2, beating Pugwest and #2 in New Hampshire; pool survivor)

2GGC West Side Saga (9/9/17)
129 / 300 (2-2)

Smash the Record (9/16/17)
9 / 72 (winning all matches in RR pools, then 1-2 in top 32)

GameTyrant Expo (9/29/17)
65 / 332 (3-2)

2GGC Fire Emblem Saga (10/14/17)
65 / 351 (2-2, but with one DQ so 1-2)

DreamHack Denver (10/20/17)
49 / 280 (3-2, was seeded top 32)

2GGC MKLeo Saga (11/4/17)
97 / 313 (3-2)

iBUYPOWER Masters Showdown (11/11/17)
25 / 111 (3-2, but with me showing up late + 1 DQ so 2-1?; a win over #7 in NorCal)

No Johns All Payne #2 (11/19/17)
33 / 57 (1-2)

2GGChampionship – Last Chance Qualifier (12/1/17)
33 / 132 (2-2; a win over #19 in SoCal)