@Rude
I have some time, so here's some context...
I'm someone that gives props to anyone I can't beat. Then, I'll add them. I don't get mad at them, at the game, or even at myself. If I can learn and improve, I will always see if they're up for more games. People who are better than me at the game know stuff I don't - or approach the game in ways that I'm unaware of. I like the challenge, so - as long as they don't think I'm wasting their time - I'm always down to play.
Now, this doesn't mean that I stink. 80% of players play me once or twice - and never want to play again. About the same amount of players - although not necessarily all the same ones - have zero chance of beating me. So, I'm not the worst player either. I'm certainly not the best, but I'm not bad either. I've learned from the tech here and the guys here.
So, I played this random. He switched characters a few times and I kept beating him handily. A few double flawless matches later and he picked The Predator.
So, we played 5 matches relatively lag free and I continued pounding him. He was playing lame, but he didn't know combo or punish tech - so I was hitting him with 40 to 50 consistently and his damage was no where near that. Eventually, we played 2 games in completely awful lag - and he won those. I use Kotal and timing on his combos and punishment on block is kind of strict, so he was able to win when the damage was more even. So, after the match he messaged me with, "I'm better than you." He was better than me at playing through lag.
It got me thinking though. I had seen Sonic Fox doing damage on par with the damage I do with Kotal Khan - so I have some tech to get there. In addition, The Predator has way more tools to work with. So, I start practicing with him. HQT looked like the easiest one, so I started with that one. I practiced for a good and very focused hour. I had the tech written down and I worked on combo execution and punishing. After that, I hit my friends up. The ones I couldn't beat before, I challenged. After a few hours of games, my win percentage was way up. I was winning 4 out of 5 matches - when I was struggling to win 1 out of 5 before. So, I went to bed. The next morning, I practiced with his Hunter variation for another good hour. Then, I put out the challenges again. Now, I was playing different guys - but I had even less success in the past verses these guys. I was consistently winning 8 or 9 in a row before taking a loss.
Now, I'm still nowhere near as good as the guys on my friends list are. I'm good at execution, but I fall into predictable patterns. I just do dumb stuff a lot and against really good players, that gets you beat consistently ... unless you're The Predator - because he is broken.