You know that feeling of butterflies in your stomach? I used to get that before every tournament I entered. In 2005, I was still 11 years old and could only go to a few tournaments every year, so each one was a big deal. In the last few years, however, I found myself going to multiple tournaments a month, and so that feeling mostly faded.

I’m feeling it again for Pound.

Pound will always be a special tournament for me. I never traveled out of region until EVO 2015, and so the only access I had to national-scale tournament was Pound. I was at Pound 2, 3, 4, and 5 (though I didn’t enter 5), so the last Pound I entered was over six years ago. Insane. Pound 4 was one of my favorite tournament experiences.

I’m excited for Pound 2016 for all the same reasons, and more. I want this to be my break-out performance. I’ve been working extremely hard over the past year – innovating, practicing execution, studying matchups, developing my mental game, and so forth. I want to solidify myself as a top-level threat and remind people that you can’t sleep on MD/VA’s players. The goal is 1st place, because there’s no point in aiming for anything less.

So yeah, that’s a big part of it. I’m entering Melee singles, doubles, and Sm4sh singles. I also am part of the Marth crew for the mono-character crew battle (along with Pewpewu, The Moon, and Druggedfox), and will be playing in an exhibition against Hungrybox.

Let me briefly touch on sm4sh, first. After Glitch, I decided to take a competitive break from sm4sh, because I don’t have a competitive drive for that game. I like playing it in front of crowds and making upsets and doing cool stuff with Kirby… but I can do that stuff without practicing. So I haven’t touched the game since Glitch, and lloD and I decided to drop sm4sh doubles at Pound. I will not be going HAM in pools tomorrow; I will be playing to have fun, and I’ll see where that goes. I apologize to anyone that might disappoint… but my passion for Melee is strong right now, so I’ve been putting all my time into that (and Pokken… heheh).

I want to meet as many smashers as I can (so if you’re reading this and we haven’t met, please introduce yourself to me!), and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone that I probably haven’t seen since EVO last year. For those of you who have never been to a national before, I highly recommend you take advantage of this. There are very few opportunities to collect people from so many different cultures and backgrounds in one place, united by a single passion (especially when that passion is a 15-year old Nintendo game that somehow shines in the eSports spotlight).

I know this event is going to be awesome because three of my good friends – Scott (TheTantalus), Mike (Nintendude), and Jon (Plank) – are organizing it, and because it’s freakin’ *POUND*! Anyways. Yeah. I’m pumped. I want to play and perform my very best this weekend, and I want to soak in the atmosphere, and I want to see everybody, because the smash community is awesome.

Also I want to play with as many people as I can! I’ll play friendlies or money matches or whatever… But I’ve been having some exhaustion issues with my left hand so I will probably be taking breaks here and there. But I still want to meet you.

Anyways, I’ll be at the venue later tonight, and I’ll be there bright and early tomorrow!

*pound*