Getting Hype for S3 launch and the new rank grind

I went back in to ranked last night and played a few matches with characters I don’t normally use in ranked. I noticed the other killers were not all that skilled (although I still went 1:3 - I’m sure I would have done better if it was best of 5!). But even losing, damn this game is fun. I had gotten out of the habit of playing tough competitive matches and got a bit spoiled beating up on new players that flooded exhibition in January. I’m really stoked to get going with the new characters following the ranked reset tomorrow. As someone who prefers “learning by doing” to labbing up new characters I’m really interested to get back into the game, fight folks, see what they are doing with the new and old characters and just play the game.

I don’t know if this really merits a thread, but here it is.

Heck yeah man. I spend most of my time in Shadows mode, but when I go into Ranked every so often I usually have like a 50% W/L ratio. It is fun to play good comp. Raises you blood pressure, lol!

I’m the same way, and sometimes it feels like you’re wearing a serious weight around your neck, doesn’t it? Sometimes I see a “lab” player or tournament player do something and find myself scratching my head trying to figure out what I just saw.

Sometimes it feels that way. Mostly I just feel like I’m a guy playing amateur ball who sometimes watches the pros. More than with any other game, though, I can watch KI matches and say “ah, okay. That’s how people deal with that.” The part that gets me with KI is usually not the tech, but just the standard “how did he react to that?!?!” kind of stuff. One of the other things that’s great about KI is that I rarely feel like I don’t have any chance at all (I’m looking at you MvC), so I never feel completely out of it. In the best 2 of 3 matches, even if I get spanked the first round my goal is always to just do better in the second round. I don’t know, I just find this game so much more compelling from a competitive standpoint than anything else.

I will say that this is the first game where I’ve really spent a lot of time “studying” pro match footage. I just do this for fun, mostly, but you do pick up some stuff by osmosis. I remember during season 1 @infilament responded to a thread about somebody having trouble with the Sadira matchup playing as Jago and he linked a video “what would Grimmmmz do?” showing how a high level Shago won a Sadira match. Some of the stuff involved good reactions and reads that I might never make (hitting a DP on the opposite side as Sadira crosses you up, for example), but just the basics of staying calm and on the ground, waiting for good opportunities etc. anyone can learn. With KI’s low execution barrier you really can keep up at a competitive level pretty far - even if you have the reflexes of a sloth, a TV with input lag and kids running around your ankles like I do.

I am hyped for season 3! U I cannot wait to use new Aganos & go green with recycling.

The reset is on 04/01.