Honestly it was mostly just meeting people with specific interests, and then learning from them.
I think I first started sparring because of Haze. This was like 2014, got mad inspired with all the Ninja Warrior events. Flash was there to coach me too, they were real tight together. Somewhere along the timeline I started some bad ukebashing, dig hard and you'll find the replays. I really didn't come back to sparring until some time around 2022, mainly because of the TANG clanmates. Since then and now is a huge difference, basically years of playing made me better understand how joints work and how to gain momentum to really be the spinny boy I am. Honestly nowadays the person that pushes me the most is Xioi, he's always around to give some solid pointers and will always find the time to spar (sorry I ghosted you last time). Shoutout RC, best replay reviewer ever fr.
Around 2015 I started duelling a lot, was blessed with guidance from Swaves and Dragon. When (Cheat) was made I was appreciated enough to be invited, and back then it was basically the real definer of being a real dueller (until a month or so later when clanmates duelling one another got out of hand lmao). I remember spending days watching duels, make fun of boxshu_mushu_v2 being a real mess with easy dq if you launched too close to the point between the wall and the floor, or even worse when you'd get stuck on the roof. I mean back then the duels were like an arcade version of what it is now, people would literally only clash and it was all about having the right counter for what someone made beforehand. ABD? Lenshu? JF? Yeah sometimes, but it was all about BM. Oh yeah, I mean I wasn't as around for a few years, but would always come back for the summer, and check on the scene by getting punished by not keeping up. I think my real peak was a few years later, around the start of the pandemic. Got too much time at home and somehow ended up being one of the better duellers around 2020, still would never compare myself to the legends, but I'd say I was still pretty decent. All the fl0w vs AS drama, the whole insanity of 2020 WC, spending days grinding out duels to even get a taste of who I'd be facing against in the WC.
As for a better way to learn. Honestly I started out when there was no real tutorial and the only way was to get bullied by alts in beginner rooms. I still feel like joining the game with somebody is the best way, or even just meeting someone on a similar level. I guess if I had to learn everything again I'd spend more time in singleplayer just figuring out how joints work, because I really only learned it properly a few years after starting out, by analysing replays from duels.
I think duelling and bet servers were the real enabler, the excitement that came with it, as well as the raised stakes were enough to make me spend extra time learning the minute details of the tori body, and how to adjust to the meta and learn even how some players played at that time (Loxun was the real G, we'd spend far too much time duelling, me getting scammed was another thing though...)
this isn't my first account though B)
Last edited by melrose; May 16, 2023 at 09:31 AM.