my first combobreaker was this last weekend so naturally it's time for a writeup

(photo credit to akai, akaistring on twitter)

first off holy shit I see why this is the fighting game event in NA. the vibes were incredible the whole way through, gamers taking over a fancy hotel lobby and putting setups on literally every flat surface with a power outlet nearby is perfect. I loved it. 100% coming back next year. but onto the performance stuff.

tl;dr:

CASUALS TAUGHT ME MORE ABOUT MY GROWTH THAN THE BRACKET

so like, I'm really new to all this. I've been playing fighting games generally and xrd in particular for a little over a year. people have been saying "you should enter tournaments for experience but not evaluate your growth by results" basically the entire time. I'm going to be honest I knew this but I didn't feel it until this weekend, some part of me was just... suspicious of the sentiment I guess. is it the catholic upbringing or the fact that my parents only valued my achievements as a child? take your pick.

now I just need the sword and hair like 3 feet longer messy enough to contain woodland creatures and i'll be able to ascend

• 1 game where they get a feel for how good you are
• 6 consecutive games of the better player committing unspeakable violence
• 1 single question you ask them between games turning into a 5 minute discussion that starts with them sighing deeply and saying "it depends"
• 1 game of the exact previous unspeakable violence to see if you learned anything
• 10 games of NEW AND EXCITING unspeakable violence
• 1 game of the new violence with the old violence sprinkled in to see if you remember

(it's actually much more than this but any time someone good gets in my lobby this is all I have space for in my brain)