I hit my first milestone of ranking up to platinum 2! Playing mostly casual matches and limiting the amount of ranked matches I play while generally only queuing ranked if my inputs don't feel terrible has paid off. It helped me keep a fairly high win rate going into plat 2, and made sure I was still working on actual things.
That being said, in the past couple days when I was close to plat 2 and right after getting into plat 2, I've eschewed that strategy and have been playing more ranked with less warm up. I can definitely notice the difference in play. Winning in ranked and seeing number go up feels good but my goal is to actually improve at the game and not just move a number. I need to re-align and go back to my original queuing strategy.
Goals and weaknesses
Quick recap on my list from last post:
- I have been using less un-safe buttons in close range
- I have been correctly anti-airing or at least trying to rather that DIing a jump in
- I still do this occasionally, breaking this habit has been hard
- I have been using the training mode routines
- I still need to learn to use parry and drive rush more
Things I'm working on:
- use more buttons in my combos on hit confirm
- using supers for damage to finish combos
- I have been reaction testing people with DI early in game to get a feel for their reactions
- This has been successful but people who react I don't fully adjust accordingly to
- my anti-airs have been decent but I still miss-input moves when unsure of which to use
- I've picked up a bad habit of booming rather than flash-kicking when charged
- not fixating on a messed up wake up options
- delayed tech throw practice has paid off but my timing in actual games is still rough
Things I need to start working on:
- using more of the training mode routines
- learning some standard combos for certain situations and practicing them
- learning meaty options for wake up
- using heavy kicks to apply corner pressure and mix up my options
Generally I feel like I have been playing above the level I'm currently at and recognize dumb shit and play patterns from opponents. Practice in combination with taking time to think about the game in forms like this has been very helpful.
Perfect!