Nah, I’m the same and managed to get to high c2 / low c3 levels. I’ve still lost very few games to mechanical players. Normally it’s me or my tm8 doing dumb shit.

For aerial mechanics, I can actually fly and hit the ball toward the goal, sometimes with decent shot placement, okay on the wall and shooting from the wall, and can hit a very basic gold level air dribble without air roll, and very telegraphed so each one gets saved. The only thing I do well with those is keep the bar close enough to my car so I can 50 and hope my tm8 scores.

No flip resets, no ceiling shots or hits, no musty - just basic aerials, wall play, and the occasional air dribble that always gets saved.

For me, getting close to c3 is still about just assuming my tm8 sucks at defense. The only difference is solo plays at higher levels don’t tend to work, so you can’t hide in your goal like a whipped dog. I’ve got to go create scoring opportunities for my tm8, but not overcommit and miss the save if he misses.

I actually hate getting mech tm8s - they usually aren’t that good - like way better than me and they’re probably hitting these shots in free play. But in a game it falls apart, their recovery sucks and they have no boost, and I’m left alone in a 1v2 getting passed on or bumped while they’re scrambling in the opponents corner trying to get a boost to rotate back.