7th Official Tournament (D3)
Posted on: July 10, 2012, at 11:06:50pm

Round 1 - Infinity

I'm adding this entry a bit late as I've already completed the first round, but I did want to share my thoughts, and I'll try to keep this updated as long as I can last.

First, there are a lot of really good players in this division, and there are already 28 AAA scores in the first round on Tuesday night (myself included). I did manage to get the AAA on the second try - the song (Infinity) is great and it really plays to my strengths as I seem to do well on the triples/symmetrical type of files.

I don't know what to expect for next round, but I'm sure the difficulty will be a significant increase as there are so many players who have AAA'd this song compared to other divisions.

Good luck to everyone!

Round 2 - CS Custom Gun Sounds

When I read the song and title on the front page I was initially worried as the song this one is based on has a ton of jacking that I often struggle with. But much to my surprise this one wasn't nearly as challenging (although the hands were often scary) and I was able to get the AAA before the clock even struck midnight on Saturday night (I live out west.)

I'm feeling a lot more confident in my ability to actually place well in this tournament after this round. Dare I say it, but thoughts of winning my division have started to creep their way into my consciousness. Still, I refuse to get ahead of myself!

Most songs with difficulty < 52 or so I can probably AAA within a week as long as I don't mindblock. This is why I never play the same song more than a few times in a row. It's the best strategy to avoid mindblocking in the long term. I'll play the song a few tries and if I don't get the AAA I will go play other songs for awhile and come back to it.

Let's hope this AAA streak continues at least into next week.

Round 3 - Baby Still Too Fat

This was going to be a tough week for me no matter what, as I have been taking a crazy vacation all over the east coast and have barely had any time to play, let alone play well. My first run on this much more difficult song was 8-0-0-1. I figured that would not be enough, so the next day or so I tried one more time, in a room with dim lighting and a bad internet connection somewhere in Virginia.

This time I got the score I have now, 2-1-0-0. I think this will hold to next week, though I am now ranked 21st with 4 whole days left. If I get down to around 25th or 26th and it is only Thursday or Friday left I'm going to need time to play again. I think I can AAA this song, but it will take more than a few plays to do.

I'm not coming back from my trip until near the end of next week, so surviving these two rounds will be hard. After that - only 16 players will remain so I'm going to have to fight anyway... if I can get that far!

EDIT: I have had only a couple more chances to play - my second run I was AAAing and then I hit a bizarre out-of-nowhere miss with literally 4 arrows left in the song! I know I can AAA this song but I don't have time before the round ends. I'm still 22nd so I think 2-1-0-0 will hold to round 4.

Round 4 - Iced Innocence

Wow - this is a really cool song but plays to a lot of my weaknesses. I really think this might be the end of the road for me this tournament, as I'm at 13-0-0-3 right now but haven't had a chance to play much this week. I need to get at least 7-0-0-0 (and that may change).

I think I can get there but it will take a lot of work/time. It's going to be close!

EDIT: Well, I think I'm out this round. I'm very happy with how I did in my first tournament, making it to Round 4 and look forward to doing it again next time.

The problem with this song is that there are just too many areas where I am mindblocked (strangely, the first 60 notes or so are the worst!) and I can't run through the whole song in any kind of clean fashion. The burst section near the middle I have never gotten through without a boo or a couple goods. I could see myself getting to maybe 10-0-0-1 or so with a LOT of work, but this isn't good enough.

Well, that was a lot of fun!

1. 1: ohsosilly
   Posted at 12:39am on July 11th, 2012

   Yup, last year's difficulty went from a 44 to a 51 evidently, so should be quite a jump! Nice job on the AAA and gl in our division ;D
2. 2: Zyphoror
   Posted at 1:27am on July 15th, 2012

   Good luck, fellow USA Southwest player :')