For anyone who might have missed them, longtime SRK community veteran Koop has begun writing an excellent series of tournament survival guides (part 1 and part 2). He explains how to travel for major tournaments in great detail. To complement his efforts, this article will explain why traveling to major tournaments is worthwhile.
First of all, Evo is simply an awesome event for people who care about fighting games. It’s hard to describe the unique atmosphere inside that hall. There’s a constant buzz in the air, like sitting in the stands at a pivotal playoff game, surrounded by other equally passionate fans. There’s always something going on – whether it’s a marquee matchup played on the big screen, or news about a recent upset, or floating rumors about certain underrated characters wrecking shop. There’s always someone to talk to and always something to look forward to.
Setting aside the sheer experience of attending Evo, let’s look at the value of participating in a major tournament on that scale. Being surrounded by competitive players for an entire weekend will improve your game, guaranteed.
There’s no question about it – you’ll walk away a better player. Even focusing solely on preliminary matches within your own entry pool, you’ll see things you’ve never seen before and face opponents you’ve never fought before. Every single victory will build your confidence and every loss will teach you something the hard way.
While local tournaments can certainly give you a taste of real pressure, they’ll always be skewed toward the dominant play style of your hometown. Anyone who’s been around this scene long enough will tell you that every major geographic region has its own characteristic approach to fighting games. For instance if you live in SoCal, the strongest local runaway player is usually nowhere near the strongest runaway player nationwide, simply because that particular style isn’t popular in the area.
At a major tournament, all these different styles collide over thousands of matches. It’s no accident that players who have done some traveling in the past tend to survive deeper into their brackets. From pools to top 8, you’re bound to run into a capable proponent of almost every style. It’s difficult to adapt quickly to gameplans you’ve never had to deal with before.
Now i know some of you are thinking, “I play online against opponents worldwide so I’ve seen every style.†Well, not quite. That statement might be true if there was no network latency. Unfortunately, lag transforms online play into a style of its own. Rushdown with lag is different from rushdown live; and so on. Let’s not forget that playing in your living room is an entirely different atmosphere compared to playing against strangers face-to-face at a tournament.
And yet, traveling outside your comfort zone to attend a major tournament will improve your online game as well. It all boils down to the level of competition you’re facing. The average player at Evo is more dedicated than the average player online. The average player at Evo makes a stronger effort to bring their A-game to the floor than the average player online. Combine these two factors and it becomes obvious why there’s nothing like the majors.
