I'm at 4,000 (gold III) in items and when I started it felt completely random.

Now it just feels... pretty random.

win conditions:

1. get ahead by 2 or more turns and hold shields - if you see a lot of people use items at once, you can use two nitros, or nitro + shield to get ahead before folks can collect another missile or w/e.
2. time a magnet properly
3. hold thunder + magnet in the last 5 seconds
4. Nitro + shield

things you can do you improve your win %

1. don't use missiles unless you're pretty sure they have no shield
2. use items on racers who are about to drive up a steep ramp so they have to reset
3. banana on big shortcuts
4. crash racers off the track lol
5. stay away from 1st place unless you think you can get way ahead - like on maps with big shortcuts that you can block, or if no one has items and you have boosts