It’s not often when you can tell, without a doubt, that someone is equal skill to yourself.
Sure, you can tell when someone’s better.
Sure, you can tell when someone’s worse.
But equal? That’s a rare thing. I got to experience this in a recent OMFG romp with a few friends, and so I’ve got a little story to share…
When this person first started PvPing (over a year ago now), he had originally come from WvW. He was a little smug, but had no illusions about his skill level: He knew that PvPers were on-average better fighters than WvWers and he knew that he couldn’t match the skill of someone who spent as much time in PvP as he had in WvW. Ontop of that, he was still relatively new to the build he had created (and gave that obscenely obnoxious name to.)
So when we dueled, it was less of a fight and more of an asskicking.
Fast forward a year later, this WvWer is now indoctrinated into the world of PvP. He stuck with his build and has evolved along with it. He is now a force to be reckoned with, but what about me? In that time, I ended up playing less (half because of life, half because of dat Xbox) and found myself getting a bit sloppy. While not bad by any definition, I hadn’t taken the time to improve from where I had left off.
… And then we fought eachother, again, after a year had passed.
Our first fight is at the beginning of the video. AlphaTheWhite smacks us around a bit, and then our next fight is at 14:38. I went into the fight confident, remembering well what had happened the last time we fought. Remembering well how I had beat the snot out of one Ross Biddle.
… Oh, so much had changed!
This time he fought me with a confidence born of experience. This time his reflexes were sharp, he knew how to maneuver, he instinctively knew how to react, and his rotations were on point. I was overwhelmed quickly, and found myself scrambling just to keep up with Ross’s insanely oppressive offense! Phantrupt Asskicker had definitely earned it’s atrocious name, and in both matches he had beat me.
Which, of course, lit a fire in my soul.
How could I lose to Ross?! Had he become better than me in such a short time?! This could not be! I am the prince of all saiyans! I was both surprised and extremely happy for Ross’s progression, but I still did not see him as an equal. Surely I was careless, maybe I went a bit easy on him at first to test out his strength… But I soon came to realize something after our next few fights.
If you watch nothing else. Please watch that final fight. I was determined this time. I fought Ross on a level I usually reserved for Rylock or Supcutie. A level that I don’t consciously unlock, but gets pushed out of me during intense competition. I found myself fighting… beyond myself. There was little planning, little conscious thought to how I played:
- I watched and reacted.
- I predicted his movements by remembering the cooldowns of the skills he used.
- I went offensive on his greatsword and defensive to his pistol, constantly matching his weaponset.
It was a level of focus at it’s most pure. Where all other thought is pushed out besides one single goal: win. I wasn’t reckless, I wasn’t overconfident, and I wasn’t nervous or unsure…
I just fought.
But even thought I won our “Best of 5” set, there was no doubt in my mind when we were done.. As an opponent, Ross Biddle is my equal in skill and a worthwhile rival to overcome. He pushed me to a level I wish I could normally achieve, and the only reason I feel I won was because of luck moreso than experience.
If you’ve yet to find someone who is your equal, keep looking. The things you can learn from dueling someone who matches your skill can’t be put into words: It has to be experienced.
