Auteur Sujet: Bilan 2018  (Lu 64131 fois)

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Bilan 2018
« Réponse #105 le: 07 décembre 2018, à 16:19:39 »
I think it's not something that has been said, but maybe (correct me if I'm wrong) it's because there is an important discussion going on in the members section, and since David can't reply in this one he shows up and says hi in another topic related to the CDM :) That's how I understand it.
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« Réponse #106 le: 07 décembre 2018, à 16:41:31 »
I think it's not something that has been said, but maybe (correct me if I'm wrong) it's because there is an important discussion going on in the members section, and since David can't reply in this one he shows up and says hi in another topic related to the CDM :) That's how I understand it.

it's simply because of rumors i presume ::)

i don't want name, in fact i don't care to know "who" especially.. but if someone didn't like Alphen, i think the ffsmk staff has to hear it (to know why and try to correct it, if it can be solved ^^)


I don't have a lot of time to read and answer all the things that have been posted in the last few hours
but please do not regard Gasny as the official main project since it clearly looks there are two (very) different options to take into account.

so please read  the content before.. (even if you need few days to do it it's ok ^^)

because, we discuss longly enought of that since 3 days (maybe i've writing not very good to be understood well.. ? but my opinion didn't have change. and i think all community are on the same ideas)
« Modifié: 07 décembre 2018, à 16:43:22 par Adrien »
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« Réponse #107 le: 07 décembre 2018, à 16:43:18 »
Yeah we talked about the topic of the CDM 2019 on the Discord and how the communication by the president of FFSMK was already leaning towards the Gasny option. I personally didn't realize all of that content was supposed to remain completely classified. In fact I was hinging the other way, being surprised it was even classified to begin with*. Perhaps the report of the FFSMK meeting and the topic of CDM 2019 venue decision should not have been addressed in the same forum thread to avoid confusion. In any case, in my experience being transparent is very rarely a bad thing, so I'd say there's no harm done, right?

*in fact we had already started discussing it on the Discord when we found out not everyone could open the link to Adrien's initial message.  ::)




« Modifié: 07 décembre 2018, à 16:45:58 par KVD »

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« Réponse #108 le: 07 décembre 2018, à 22:24:06 »
how the communication by the president of FFSMK was already leaning towards the Gasny option.

but of course ^^ (if i say the reverse i can't assume proposing Gasny project  ;D)

and assuming each player (and each president) as a preference for a cdm to another ^^

obviously it's more complicated when we had 2 projects. but i think (and because the both project has great quality)
we just have to try to do our best to propose the best cdm with ton's of advantages. and clearly not trying to call each person of the community to try to convince a cdm is better than the other one. I think the community don't has to be ''forced to choose'' they just select what they want ;) (thanks god we are not in politic)

i think we all accord on this. but for the players who ask (even if it's not very the appropriate topic  ;D) the both cdm will be presented in a way Gasny and in an other hand Alphen II (but just difference / improvement) for staying as clear as possible.

Then a vote will be made by the community. as easy as can be ;)

 
I personally didn't realize all of that content was supposed to remain completely classified.

it's not a state secret.. but the document is shared with member only. In other hand some personal data are stored in the document (like address, age, nationality and other stuff like that of the head of ffsmk's team) and (for info) it's an official document that we had to send each year to the french administration.

for the topic associated, i just wanna resume the inside of the official document (generally these document interesting nobody) and almost nobody read it.

In fact I was hinging the other way, being surprised it was even classified to begin with*.

hmm.. i understand well now ^^  >:D ;D

Perhaps the report of the FFSMK meeting and the topic of CDM 2019 venue decision should not have been addressed in the same forum thread to avoid confusion.

unfortunately yes. but the evil was made  :-X (and in the other hand i think it has allow to regulate a lot of things.. so maybe not a so bad idea finally :P)

in my experience being transparent is very rarely a bad thing, so I'd say there's no harm done, right?

sure ;) but in my opinion it's not a transparency question, i think it's better to staying this private because majority of players just want to pass a good moment, and not especially see the internal gear of managing a cdm (that's generally more the case when it's a member)
« Modifié: 07 décembre 2018, à 22:30:30 par Adrien »
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« Réponse #109 le: 10 décembre 2018, à 10:39:21 »
Haha so no harm done then, if I read your above reply.

For the record, I don't know how Moll got the idea that posting a bilan is required to be involved in future CDM discussions, that was not something we told him on the Discord.  ;D But maybe Moll was just being Moll and trolling us with some sarcasm? :P Or it was just another misunderstanding to add to the list.  ::) 0:)
« Modifié: 10 décembre 2018, à 10:41:05 par KVD »

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« Réponse #110 le: 10 décembre 2018, à 21:27:04 »
^I'll DM you a screenshot of the part where I was told that.

edit: sent
« Modifié: 10 décembre 2018, à 21:30:00 par Moll »
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« Réponse #111 le: 11 décembre 2018, à 14:23:10 »
That must be the darkest Mario Kart conspiracy ever seen since that moment when Fenner became MKSC #1.
ce que tu penses, je le sors à mes potes à l'apéro pour les faire marrer

What is said in La Suze, stays in La Suze  ;D

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« Réponse #112 le: 16 décembre 2018, à 12:39:52 »
C'était vraiment cool le CDM en Hollande, l'ambiance était vraiment sympa, la ville magnifique mais la prochaine fois les dortoirs ça serra sans moi ! X)

Niveau perf je suis super fier du chemin parcouru en battle mode, vraiment dommage d'avoir craqué contre Sami en 1/4 après avoir mené 2-0 ! A moins que ce soit lui qui a commencé à joué sérieusement?  ;D Pour le TT j'ai bien géré les poules (12eme je crois) mais la loi de murphy est entrée en jeu pour la sélection des 2 courses suivantes : VL2 et GV3 ... ma pire hantise lol bref ca s'est arrêté là. Pour le GP je suis toujours pas à l'aise avec les trajectoires à cette vitesse, le classement s'en est ressenti, va falloir bosser  ::) MR je ne sais plus trop  ???

J'aurai peut être mérité le titre de Champion de la Loose his Personal Effects cette semaine là en oubliant ma sacoche de PC avec TOUTES mes affaires dedans dans un coffee shop... (lien de cause à effet ?  ??? 0:) ) Par pur hasard 2 jours plus tard j'ai re demandé au vendeur, et bim il me sort ma saccoche !  :o je me suis jamais senti aussi heureux et con en même temps ^^
Je voudrai remercier Jey qui à proposé direct à l'asso de lancer un crowdfunding pour moi et merci à ceux qui approuvaient déjà cette idée juste avant que je retrouve mes affaires, je pense que je ne le méritais pas car c'était entièrement ma responsabilité, vous êtes vraiment des gens en or ! Heureusement que tout s'est arrangé  :-[

Voilà mon bilan en retard ^^ biz à tous et rdv au prochain CDM  >:D


 
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« Réponse #113 le: 16 décembre 2018, à 16:37:07 »
Je voudrai remercier Jey qui à proposé direct à l'asso de lancer un crowdfunding pour moi

J'avais jamais entendu parler de ça ???
ce que tu penses, je le sors à mes potes à l'apéro pour les faire marrer

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« Réponse #114 le: 17 décembre 2018, à 18:32:06 »
Je voudrai remercier Jey qui à proposé direct à l'asso de lancer un crowdfunding pour moi

J'avais jamais entendu parler de ça ???

Il a commencé à en parler vite fait à Néo et Jarmou mais j'ai retrouvé ma sacoche avant que ça s'ébruite plus que ça
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« Réponse #115 le: 21 février 2019, à 20:46:12 »
I bet you didn't expect this post to happen. Well, neither did I. I started writing a bilan back in September/October, but never got around to finishing it despite Karel's persistent nagging for me to do so.

As it so happens, today is Karel's PhD thesis defense. I figured it was as good an excuse as any to finish this post, so here it is. I spent all afternoon finishing it, so I hope he'll forgive me for being late to the party tonight.  ;D

Everything up to the end of TT was written back in September/October. The rest is from today.

------------------------------------

After telling myself I'd write a post for the equivalent 2012 and 2016 topics but never getting around to it, it's high time I actually write a bilan. I originally planned to write in French, but since this CDM was in the Netherlands it seems appropriate to write in English.


CDM preparations

For both of the previous CDMs I attended, I was unable to practice at all (well, unless you count TT on emulator with an Xbox 360 controller as practice...). This time was different. Thanks to some fortunate life circumstances (namely, that I've been living in Utrecht since the end of January), I was finally able to get some proper practice for CDM through Project TIMMIE.

Project TIMMIE is the name Karel and I affectionately gave to the (not-so-)secret plan of training together and (hopefully) leveling up for this CDM. The first step was for me to steal borrow Karel's spare PAL setup and acquire a CRT, which allowed me to practice one-tries. This was necessary because at first I lived on the opposite side of town and our practice sessions were limited to an afternoon and/or evening every (other) week. Eventually, by the end of June, I moved in to the House of Gaming with Karel (and Patrick), which made it much easier to have regular practice. However, I made a significant blunder: I left on vacation for almost a month shortly after moving in. This meant that Project TIMMIE ended up being much more limited in scope than it could have been, but I still felt like my 2P play improved significantly in that time.

Despite Karel's insistence that I would do well at CDM, I wasn't quite sure how our practice would translate at CDM, because I got demolished session after session. Obviously this was in large part due to the significant skill gap between us, but I also had incredibly bad luck that persisted throughout all of Project TIMMIE and somehow managed to get worse as CDM got closer. My goal/dream for this CDM was to get Top 16 in all modes, and hopefully also pull off a Quarterfinal.

All in all, I was extremely excited to not only be attending another CDM, but also to finally have had practice for one.


Day 0

My CDM started before the opening ceremony, or even that day, since Matt Ballard crashed at the HoG after arriving in the country on Sunday. After his two naps and dinner, we played some SMK. I admit I don't remember much of the session, because shortly after we started, Karel arrived and we started drinking to one-try challenges (post-Tanatix wine lecture). That said, the real highlight of the night was the Fenner drinking game (see Karel's tweet).

By Monday afternoon, Matt was already gone, but the excitement was far from over, because Chris Wild and Goomba arrived in the afternoon. It was great to see them again, and Goomba's enormous bag of food was very welcome as well.


Time Trial

This year was the first time that I was in the "strong" TT group, getting paired with Ours at TV 16. (As an aside, in 2016 I was paired with Martin and we both made Top 16, which may be one of the only times a TT pair has qualified.)

As Ours made his way through the 20 tracks, both my nervous anticipation for my turn and my irritation at the photographers' inconsiderate camera flashes got worse and worse. Both were relieved somewhat in the transition between players, as Ours demonstrated his awesome one-try data extraction tool and the photographers seemed to have finally taken enough pictures. Also worth noting that our TV had really shitty audio that blasted out the right side (straight towards Moll at TV 17) while barely being audible to the person sitting in front of it.

By the time I finally got around to starting my one-tries, I was feeling really nervous and struggled a lot to find my rhythm in the first few tracks. My first crash was as early as DP1, where I slammed into the wall at the first hairpin and had to do a 360 to get around it. Despite this, I felt like I managed to keep it together reasonably well all the way through the end of Star Cup (which I expected to be my major stumbling block) with 15/15 startboosts.

Then, disaster struck in Special Cup, where I missed the first three startboosts! I noticed that the volume in my section of the venue seemed to increase a notch as I was going from MC4 to DP3, and it was enough to throw off my timing. I managed to salvage the situation though, with times of 1'25 DP3, 1'02 KB2, and 1'24 GV3. I re-adjusted my timing and finished with 17/20 startboosts.

All in all, I had a solid group stage performance (especially taking into account how nervous I was), with only three times ranked worse than 16th: a 1'08 GV1 where I went way too wide trying to charge boosts, a really sloppy 1'36 MC3, and a catastrophically messy 1'07 VL2. Good enough for 9th in group stage and much less tension than 2016 as I waited for results to be announced.

To my dismay, GV3 is the first track announced for the Top 16. As my nerves explode and I can barely keep my hands steady, I tell myself that the only thing that matters is for me to drive a 5/5 without crashing. Shortly after beginning my race, I distinctly hear ScouB (who is seated to my left at TV 15) fall off the track, which almost causes me to crash. I somehow manage to keep my nerves under just enough control to finish what is probably the slowest 5/5 I've ever driven, just barely sub-1'20.

As I wait for the next track to be announced, I take a quick look around the venue and realize that several other people crashed, like Conor, Champix, and JDR, as well as Sami up on the big screen! I also notice that Aron appears to still be playing GV3 long after everyone else has finished for some reason.

Patrick eventually comes to announce the second track, and it's Vanilla Lake... (please be 1)... 2! This feels like the worst case scenario, both because VL2 was my worst track in group stage and because it has the potential for me to lose so much time that the people who crashed on GV3 catch up to me.

Again, my nerves are killing me. As early as lap 1, I clip the deep water. Lap after lap, I keep getting slowed down but still avoid any major drowning. Finish: 1'02. Pretty bad but there's still a chance.

I walk around the room again, and I'm really not sure where I stand. MJ's time is horrendous, but everyone else who didn't crash on GV3 appears to have done better than me. Aron is still playing VL2? Who knows what the people on TVs 2-4 did (no doubts about TV 1, Sami's out!). I'm behind Leyla and Jarmou, this can't be good. But I'm ahead of Sami and ScouB, so there's a chance. Did I make it? Am I the first eliminated? Why won't Patrick announce the results already?

An eternity passes. I feel like I'm about to have a heart attack. I feel comatose. Godmiljaar Patrick, where are the results?

An eternity passes.

Patrick emerges. Results are finally being announced.
1. Neo
2. Mario
3. Leyla :o
4. Jarmou :o
5. Chris
6. Jey
7. Lafungo

:eclair: :eclair: :eclair:
Holy shit! I made it! :fireball:
In the arms of Mario, I raise my fist in the air, ecstatic! Doesn't matter what happens from here on out, my CDM is already a success! :goldcup:
In celebrating I accidentally slammed my hand into Mario's back so hard that I jammed my ring finger, but it barely registered as a problem because the weight had already been lifted off my shoulders. I made a Quarterfinal at CDM! :etoile:

As I came back down to Earth, I realized that Conor (who I knew had missed his startboost on GV3) had qualified as the 8th player in the Quarterfinal. Goes to show how ridiculous this year's Top 16 was, as I can only assume that this is the first time someone has qualified for a TT Quarterfinal despite missing a startboost.

After a short break during which the celebrations continued, I prepared myself mentally for the Quarterfinal, which began with BC2. I had a pretty good time there in group stage (high 1'47) and felt I had a reasonable chance at getting in the Top 4 of this unexpectedly open Quarterfinal, but unfortunately I went wide in the maze on lap 3 and mistimed a recovery jump against the rightmost thwomp which led to me getting full-stopped and finishing in 1'51. With GV1 as the second track, I had no chance of recovery and ended up 7th in the Quarterfinal, ahead of only Jarmou.

With my Time Trial now over, I was able to finally relax and enjoy watching the Top 4 play out. I was sad to witness Chris's horrific BC3 (2'06!), especially after he built a good lead on Neo and Jey with a 55 KB1, but was glad to see him win the bronze with a GV2 driven like only a madman of his caliber could. As for the final, I naïvely thought that VL1 was a good draw for Neo, but Mario was quick to correct me both with his insane driving and in a conversation we had later in the week.

After I played a grand total of maybe 3 practice rounds of Battle Mode with Karel, those of us staying at the HoG (Patrick, Chris, Goomba, Nosey, and me) headed back to Utrecht for the night, with three surprise guests in tow (Mario, Salim, and Ryle). Upon arrival, I attempted to convince Mario to play some Battle Mode with me, in large part because he was the one staying in Karel's room, where the lone SMK setup left in the house was. He refused my advances, but I kept him up anyway by chatting about SMK-/CDM-related topics.


Battle Mode

While the original plan was for everyone staying at the HoG to go to Alphen in Chris's car each morning, that changed due to the extra people who joined the group the night prior. I decided that I would prefer to go to Alphen a bit earlier to practice, so I ended up giving my car spot to Salim and traveling with Mario and Ryle to Alphen by train (a pattern that would repeat itself for the remainder of CDM).

By the start of BM, I was reasonably warmed up but still a bit nervous about my first 2P match of the CDM. My first match was against Côme, who I was meeting for the first time. I had no idea how good he was at SMK, because I had never seen him play before, but I had heard he was one of the latest 2P up-and-comers. This led to a shaky start for me, as I had to come from behind twice to pull out a draw. Not an ideal start.

My second match was against Salim, and boy was I not ready. I expected to be an underdog, but I thought I had a reasonable shot at beating him. This notion was quickly shut down by Salim's impressive and seemingly effortless defensive play. I felt incapable of touching him for the first three rounds. After securing his win, he essentially rolled over and let me get three quick hits in on map 4 to end the match.

If you're familiar with the French expression jamais deux sans trois, you can guess what happened in my third match. After two underwhelming performances to start my BM group stage, I cemented my bad start by getting caught off-guard by FF and drawing another match I thought I should have won. I hadn't even played a first seed yet, and I was already down two draws and a loss.

My expectations continued to be shattered in my fourth match, where I knew I was supposed to play a first seed. As it turns out, I got a touch of luck and was drawn against Karel! During Project TIMMIE, results had been heavily in Karel's favor, but I still felt like he was the first seed I had the best chance of getting an upset against. Expecting my second loss of the day, I surprised myself by going up 2-0! At that point it seemed like Karel woke up a bit, and despite my best efforts I couldn't close out the win and had to settle with a draw. A bit bitter-sweet, but I was nevertheless very happy to walk away with a point (and some fuel to needle Karel with, to add to the TT result the day prior).

I finally managed to get a win in the penultimate round of Shakedown, but it wasn't a particularly noteworthy one, as I beat BigMountain. My last match before the break was more eventful though, as I was hoping to get a second win by beating Banana, but he put me on edge by taking map 1. After winning close maps 2 and 3, I declined his request to play on map 1 again because the outcome of the match wasn't yet decided. This led to a marathon map 4, despite neither of us actively trying to hide from the other. I realized partway through the map that every other match had already finished. We were the only people still sitting at a TV, everyone else had gone to get food. In the end, I managed to squeeze out the map and match win, much to my relief. My final Shakedown results were a still underwhelming 2W/3D/1L.

After the break however, I immediately started playing much better and went on a tear. I beat Chris, Aron, and Jarmou in the first three matches after the break, all of whom I considered rivals for the overall ranking. On day 10, I had to play Kyle on TV 4! I didn't expect to play on one of the TVs in the stands (TVs 1-4) after how my Shakedown went, and even less so against Kyle. My streak continued, and I managed to beat Kyle in yet another 3-1 (my fifth consecutive one).

After 10 matches, my results were a now astonishing 6W/3D/1L. At this point, I figured that I had flown too close to the sun, and that it was time for a spanking by one (or more) of the top players. And just as predicted, I had to play Sami. And just as predicted, I got spanked (I didn't take a single balloon in the entire match). This cycle repeated itself the match after, this time against ScouB (although I did manage to take a grand total of one balloon against him, from a rogue green, naturally).

I wasn't quite sure if these two spankings would be enough to send me back to a beatable opponent, but as it turns out, it wasn't: my penultimate group stage match was against Neo. I naturally expected a similar result to the previous two, but from the get-go things seemed a bit different. For what felt like five full minutes, all either of us got on map 1 was greens and bananas. Neo ate a couple stray greens, but finally managed to find a red shell (accompanied by a star), and swiftly comboed me to map 2.

Map 2 was a different story. In fact, map 2 was the exact opposite of map 1. Map starts, we both grab a green from the center. Neo fires immediately and his green goes off into the distance. We circle around each other a bit, I fire my green, I hit him. He immediately gets comboed by his own green that came back from who knows where. In the meantime, I picked up a banana. I react to the second hit and drop the banana right in front of his face just as he starts moving again. He can't avoid it, score is 1-1. No stars. No reds. Fastest round of Battle Mode I've ever won.

Map 3 was a return to the grind of map 1. The round went on for a while, with a couple stray greens dealing the only hits. Another stray green takes Neo's second balloon right at the entry of one of the outer lanes just as I'm in the latter portion of a star activation. I do my best to swing into the lane and crash into Neo, but I'm quite bad at star driving and I have little confidence in my ability to pull off the move. Just as the star is ending, I smash into the wall right behind him and figure I missed my chance. To my surprise, I rebound off the wall just enough to improbably clip the back wheel of Neo's kart and take the round. I'm up 2-1! I was bewildered (and I think Neo was too), but map 4 was a return to normality and Neo swiftly equalized for a draw.

My last match of group stage was against Drew, who I did surprisingly well against but ended up losing to 3-1. I really couldn't tell how seriously he was playing, so I wasn't sure what to make of my performance against him. At the very least I was glad I didn't get spanked again.

Thus ended group stage, and with a 6W/4D/4L record, including two draws against first seeds, I was confident I was in the Top 16 and figured there was a decent chance I didn't even have to play a barrage. Not much tension for me in the results announcement this time around, but I was happy to hear I finished 10th (and made my first 2P knockout stage!). I was also a bit surprised to finish behind Kyle (who I beat) but ahead of Salim (who I lost to), but these things happen all the time in round robin/Swiss/Belgian formats.

My Top 16 draw was against Conor, which I wasn't happy about. He seemed like the strongest opponent in the range above me, and I would have preferred to play against Karel or Kyle (after my group stage results), but also Champix or even Jey. Regardless, I tried my best against him and fell short, losing 5-1. No surprises there, he's a much better BM player than me.

At the end of Day 2, I was once again very happy with my overall performance. I also noticed that I was still in the provisional overall Top 10. A dream began to take shape...

Upon returning to the HoG, this time I managed to convince Mario to play some SMK with me, and we agreed to do a 20-track MR match in preparation for the next day. I proceeded to demolish him 13-7 in a match with some amusing symmetry: he only won the last track of Mushroom/Flower/Special cups, whereas I only won the first track of Star cup. A good sign for the next day.


Match Race

As with the day prior, I arrived at the venue early and got some practice rounds in. I mostly practiced the startboost timing because my success rate was terrible and I was hoping to improve it. I ended up getting a lesson by Narnet himself on how to time the startboost, and to my great surprise my success rate immediately went up tremendously! That day ended up being by far my best day ever in terms of MR startboost successrate, so thank you Narnet!  :-*

My first match of the day was nerve-wracking. I played against Tif on the French stream with a very unforgiving track list: BC2/VL1/BC3/GV1. After a comfy win on BC2, I won a close VL1 to make it 2-0 going into BC3. While I'm leading once again, Tif finds a lightning which immediately gives me fear of a draw (since the last track was the very item-dependent GV1). He makes what I perceive as a mistake by using the lightning going into lap 3, which lets me pick up a feather. I botch the feather attempt on lap 4 without firing it, but Tif's driving is also erratic and I manage to catch up to him and close out a win without using the feather. I am relieved to have secured the win going into GV1, and my earlier fears are confirmed as Tif gets a red on lap 5 to make it 3-1.

After a disappointing 4-0 loss to Leyla where I wasn't able to threaten anything, and a 4-0 sweep of Le Came, it was time for my first seed Shakedown match again. Lo and behold, I had to play Karel again (and this time on the English stream)! As with BM, Project TIMMIE results were quite lopsided, but I figured that Karel was still one of the better first seeds I could have been matched against. The tracklist was also pretty good for me with GV3/MC2/GV2/BC1, so I felt like I could repeat or improve the result from the day prior. GV3 gave me a good start, as Karel missed his zoomstart and I managed to maintain my lead throughout the race. But that was all I would get, as a Fenner on MC2, bad RNG on GV2 (I got two ghosts after Karel overtook me with a ghost in hand on lap 3), and two Fenners + uncharacteristic Karel trolling on BC1 left me with no chance of grabbing another point.

The last two matches of the Shakedown were fairly uneventful, with a walkover against Helios (she told me she didn't want to play anymore before we sat down) and a draw against Champix in a match with a tricky tracklist (CI1/DP3/BC3/DP2). At the break, my results were 3W/1D/2L, which seemed marginally better than my results in BM.

After the break, I went on another win streak, beating Moll 3-1, Chollet 4-0 (which, if I recall correctly, featured some uncharacteristically good RNG on my end), and Drew 3-1. I was particularly nervous going into my match against Drew, because I was scared of his BM-style antics on a tracklist that lent itself to them quite nicely (RR/KB1/GV1/MC3). Thanks to missed starboosts and unforced errors by Drew on RR/KB1, as well as capitalizing on my favorable items on GV1, I was able to once again go into the final track with the win secured. As with the Tif match at the start of the day, this proved to be crucial, because Drew immediately sniped me with a banana drop on lap 1 and I wasn't able to catch up.

I wasn't able to stretch the win streak as long as in BM, as I lost somewhat disappointingly to Jey 3-1 in matchday 10. I was able to redeem myself immediately after though by dispatching Mario 4-0 in a match of which I remember nothing but the scoreline and Mario's disgust.

Next was Sami, to whom I unsurprisingly lost again, although it was much closer than in BM, with a final score of 3-1. For the penultimate match of the group stage, I played against Conor. Seeking revenge for the Top 16 match the previous day, we traded blows through skank tactics, culminating in a move on the final lap of the final track (VL1), where I cut him off by landing with a feather right in front him at the last group of ice blocks to win the match 3-1. Mission accomplished.

After getting crushed by ScouB 4-0 in the final match of group stage, I finished with a 8W/1D/5L record. I had a similar feeling as in BM while waiting for results to be announced, and it wasn't much of a surprise to hear my name at 11th place. I was once again happy with my group stage result, until I realized to my great annoyance that I had to play Conor in Top 16 again. While I didn't feel quite as apprehensive about his skill level relative to my other potential opponents at that stage, I was a bit irritated that I had to play against the same person I had lost to the day prior in the same stage of the tournament.

After some banter between us and a short break, we sat down to play and the result was the same: 5-1 loss. This one was a lot harder to swallow than the BM one. In BM I had felt outclassed and the outcome seemed perfectly sensible, but in MR I felt almost cheated by the game, mostly due to item distribution that seemed heavily skewed in Conor's favor. I wasn't a stranger to this feeling, since it's practically a constant in Project TIMMIE sessions, but it stung quite a bit more in a knockout match at CDM.

Regardless, I was still happy with my performance, having achieved my goal of qualifying for Top 16 yet again, and doing so without having to play a barrage match. I was also still Top 10 in the provisional overall ranking, so the dream materialized itself into a goal: maintain Top 10 the following day in GP. I did some point calculations and determined that I was essentially guaranteed to reach the goal as long as I made Top 16 (and none of my direct rivals had a crazy bracket run).

I think Mario and I might have played some GP after getting back to the HoG that night (which may or may not have ended 3-1 for Mario), but who cares about that anyway. The only result that matters is the MR thrashing the night before.


Grand Prix

My Grand Prix Shakedown was far less eventful than the others, with a comfortable win on Champix preceding a narrow 39-36 Flower win on Leyla as revenge for the day prior. The remaining matches went as expected: win on Ours, loss to Chris (foreshadowing...), win on local newcomer Sjors (who surprised me by landing the feather on BC3 with Mario!), and finally a walkover win (LOSER). Shakedown results: 5W/1L. Nice.

My first match after the break was against Drew (which meant that I played against Drew in all three 2P group stages). Once again, I was scared of his skank tactics, especially considering the match was to be played on Mushroom Cup. I was right to be afraid, as we were tied 30-30 going into MC2, and he was ahead going into lap 5. But the kart gods decided it wasn't meant to be for Drew, and I got what was probably my luckiest break of the whole CDM: Koopa sniped him just as he was approaching the final zipper jump, which allowed me to overtake him and steal the cup 39-36. I can't say I wasn't glad to have a situation like that go in my favor for once.

With such a positive record (6W/1L), it came as no surprise that I had to play a brute next. I had to play Neo, and this time he left nothing to chance, sweeping me 45-30 on Flower. Next up was Aron, who I beat 39-30 on Special with, if I recall correctly, a lightning-assisted win + Ranked Out on VL2.

In matchday 10 I got to play another match on the French stream, facing off against Jarmou on Flower in an important match for the Top 10 race. After body-slamming her into the wall right after the first set of CI1 bumpers, I kept the red I picked up on lap 1 and landed one of my most satisfactory coups de pute by lapping her at the start of lap 5 and pressuring her to pass me just to eat my red and finish 4th. After winning DP2 and BC2, the cup win was secured before MC3.

Immediately afterwards followed a disappointing loss to MJ on Star, which was definitely the worst cup I could have drawn for that matchup (both in terms of preference and NBT vs. Non-NBT). It was made up for somewhat by a solid win over JDR on Mushroom despite some tense moments.

My penultimate match of group stage was against Matt, who I was playing against for the first time that CDM. I was nervous once again because I knew this match was crucial for getting into Top 16 and especially Top 12 (and thus avoiding barrages). This was added to the fact that we had to play on Star again, which I was not looking forward to at all, especially after my loss to MJ just two matches prior. My nerves were calmed somewhat by taking an early and comfortable lead on KB1, until...

Disaster struck. I still cannot conceive why I did this, but that race I committed by far my biggest blunder of CDM: I assumed the race was over at the end of lap 4, and drove straight past the finish line and went for a swim, before realizing what an idiot I was when Lakitu started picking me up. Instead of finishing 1st and having a 3-point lead, I barely scraped 4th and had an 8-pont deficit. I did my best to keep my head in the game, and managed to retaliate on CI2 by capitalizing on some poor driving on his part through a combination of body blocks and a red shell to knock him down to 4th and tie the score up. Unfortunately, the bane of my existence, VL1, knocked me right back down. After some terrible driving, I ranked out and so was 9 points behind going into BC3. I tried my best to knock Matt down on BC3 and then MC4, but I couldn't pull it off, and despite winning the last two tracks, I lost the cup with the ignoble score of 31-28.

This was by far my worst moment of CDM (and possibly any competition ever). I felt completely defeated, knowing this loss was entirely due to one gigantic, stupid blunder and may well have cost me a spot in the GP Top 16 as well as in the overall Top 10. I was devastated, and for the only time that entire CDM, I felt the need to step outside. I walked a slow lap around the block in an attempt to reset my mental state before the remaining group stage match. I had to hold back tears and tell myself it wasn't over, that I still had a fighting chance as long as I got my head back in the game. By the time I got back into the venue, I felt better, but still not in a proper state to compete.

My last group stage match was against DertyHarry on Mushroom. Still in a haze, I lost in a frustrating 42-33 where I couldn't seem to get anything going.

Results roll in and confirm my disappointment: with a 8W/5L record, I'm 16th. That means I have to pull it together enough to win a barrage to get into Top 16 and the overall Top 10.

And then I realize who I have to play in my barrage: the winner of Sumner vs. Chris. I cannot believe this. The kart gods have turned on me. Why am I playing a barrage against someone who got 4th in his last participation? Is this my punishment for stealing that cup against Drew? Is it for being inconceivably idiotic against Matt? Who knows, but suddenly my dream is shattered. Despair is ingraining itself before I even have to play.

Despite this, I take a seat up on stage near the French stream so I can watch all the action for the first round of barrages. I manage to enjoy watching these matches despite the feeling of impending doom. Sumner actually comes very closing to upsetting Chris, and I allow myself to believe for a short while that I may get to play Sumner instead. I would even be fine missing out on my final CDM goals if it meant Sumner qualifying for his first Top 16.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Sumner wasn't able to make the upset, and I offered little to no resistance against Chris in our one-cup match. The dream was dead. I grabbed a beer and drowned my sorrows for (probably) the first time in my life, leading to this iconic picture.

Thankfully, CDM is too good of a time for my foul mood to last too long. Eventually I settled in and enjoyed the show, watching the remainder of GP up to its spectacular conclusion.

The after-party was also fantastic, and very fun all around. A great reminder of what CDM is all about, despite what the contents of this post may lead you to think otherwise.


Ceremony + Extras

This bilan is already far too long, so I'll cut this part a bit short.

Despite the ending, I was extremely happy with my CDM performance overall. It was a wonderful experience seeing my training with Karel pay off, and I hope to reach greater heights next CDM. It was also an honor for me to receive the Prix du Mérite. It's not an award I'm likely to forget anytime soon.

There are so many things for me to be thankful for when it comes to CDM. Here are a few of them:
- Thank you to all the organizers, past and present, for all the work you've put in to make sure this wonderful, one-of-a-kind event happens year after year.
- Thank you to all members of the community, for being such great people and fostering such a fantastic environment to be a part of.
- Thank you to Karel for agreeing to Project TIMMIE. Thank you as well, and Patrick (and Yvonne), for welcoming me into the House of Gaming and dealing with my blatant disrespect of everything Dutch.
- Thank you to Team Plug & Play for introducing me to a variety of ridiculous games, including this year's Shin-chan game (that was only ever released in Japanese and Spanish). Thank you also for including me in the team's international expansion.
- Thank you to Sargoth for dedicating so much of your time to quality stream commentary, but even more so for introducing me to Circuit Breakers.
- Thank you to Mario for being my partner-in-crime all CDM long.
- Thank you to Nosey and Goomba for taking the plunge and attending CDM despite not playing SMK. I know many other players were in this situation and attended a day or two, but I'm thanking these two in particular because I talked them into it.
- Thank you to everyone else I interacted with at CDM, and please pardon my omissions. There's plenty more I could say, but this is already the longest forum post I've ever written.
- Hey Chris. Fuck you.

See you all next time!

Hors ligne Antistar

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Bilan 2018
« Réponse #116 le: 21 février 2019, à 21:06:45 »
Upon arrival, I attempted to convince Mario to play some Battle Mode with me, in large part because he was the one staying in Karel's room, where the lone SMK setup left in the house was. He refused my advances, but I kept him up anyway by chatting about SMK-/CDM-related topics.

That must have been one of my best AND worst memories of all CDM history ever.
ce que tu penses, je le sors à mes potes à l'apéro pour les faire marrer

What is said in La Suze, stays in La Suze  ;D

Hors ligne Neo, the Daenerys Targaryen of SMK

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Bilan 2018
« Réponse #117 le: 21 février 2019, à 23:07:41 »
Bilan de Lafungo

Et dire que je pensais faire de longs bilans... ::)
Mais surtout, je dois faire un très, très gros aparté, où je ne vais pas y aller avec le dos de la cuillère, sur la partie "SMK = eSport", aspect sur lequel certains se fourrent le doigt dans l'œil jusque dans des zones inexplorées de leur anatomie