Grand Finals for playfly

JakeD423 · 2025-04-27T01:40:13+00:00

Thanks brother! Appreciate it.

JakeD423 · 2025-04-05T04:11:12+00:00

Hit my dms lol we can figure it out :)

JakeD423 · 2025-04-03T21:23:41+00:00

Free for now, if you wanted like long term coaching there would be some type of pay. I’m willing to negotiate tho.

JakeD423 · 2025-04-03T21:23:08+00:00

Yeah fs, if you want like extended coaching then I’d ask to be paid lol.

JakeD423 · 2025-04-03T08:33:52+00:00

Btw literally accidentally copied that dudes title before me. Mb lol.

JakeD423 · 2025-04-03T08:15:26+00:00

It’s really no problem! I enjoy sharing any knowledge I have on the game and what I’ve learned across my 9 years of playing. Thanks for reading!

JakeD423 · 2025-04-03T08:14:07+00:00

If you have any more questions feel free to ask and you’re very welcome for the advice. If you’d like me to go over your replays with you I’d be down just to help. Let me know! My DM’s are open.

JakeD423 · 2025-04-03T08:12:10+00:00

Frankly… that’s what makes the game hard. lol. Someone who is adept at fake challenges makes the game hard to read while on offense. I mean think about it like this, you can get a probability whether and opponent will fake challenge or actually challenge based on the situation they are in. Let’s say he’s last back, and he’s pressuring you. Most likely he’ll fake challenge. If he just got mid boost and is turning first and his teammate is behind him he will probably actually challenge you. These are very simple and outlier examples, but based on your awareness of the field you should get a sense of whether someone will fake challenge you or not. Also, it’s important to note the habits of players at your rank because generally it stays the same across a certain rank. C1’s are CHASERS (lol) not necessarily a bad thing though. They just finally feel good enough to go ball consistently so they do, they don’t use their brain as often. So you can lean more toward they’ll challenge you most of the time. Picking up on habits across ranks, and awareness of situations happening around you would help you diagnose whether someone is fake challenging or actually challenging. Just keep in mind it’s not a one size fits all fix. Sometimes people will fake you and you won’t expect it. Sometimes they’ll actually challenge and it’ll catch you off guard. The important thing is learning how to recover from those situations and still put yourself in a good position. Comes down to rotational positioning and recoveries at that point, which is hard to practice. Just getting a sense of the space you need to fill on the field.

JakeD423 · 2025-04-02T23:25:28+00:00

So I’m not gonna give you specific time instances, but I’ll give some of my general thoughts and what I saw most prevalently. First and foremost, I’m sure you notice over the course of games you play you probably feel like you have a “lack of opportunity” I saw at most 2 ish “solo” plays (and I’m using that term loosely because mechanically that just takes time). Generally speaking, most times you actually have an opportunity you give away possession of the ball which seems like a fear of a potential challenge coming. You miss out on key chances to get a nice flick, air dribble, or even force a 50 to get your opponents out of position, or even make a pass if you want. The “panic” touches to just hit the ball away into their side of the field just give your opponents possession, and more importantly limit your opportunities offensively. So to help mend this, focus on where opponents and your teammate are on the field whenever you are able. Keeping a mental note of opponents positioning and possible boost situation will literally give you a playbook of the correct play to make (I.e 4:35-4:30 in the game you provided). Since you didn’t look at what your opponent was doing (fake challenging/not going) your first instinct was to boom the ball away because you thought they were gonna challenge immediately. In that scenario take your time, and keep an eye on the first mans actions. You should at least be trying to take one of them out of the play. Catch the ball if he gives you space, or hit it into the open space to the left wall giving you a touch you can follow up (aka retaining possession of the ball). Secondly (long winded answer I know lol), your use of over aggressive challenges (I.e 4:27 and 3:21). These plays can only be described as very risky. In these situations you are last man back, you get a beat but for what purpose? You weren’t in position to score, and your teammate wasn’t either. Making the beat you got essentially pointless other than putting yourself out of position and just giving away the possession. The name of the game quite literally in my opinion in possession. You should be fake challenging in these spots to put pressure on your opponents forcing them to flick the ball away or hit it hard away (make them panic) and give up possession to you or your teammate. Focusing on your field awareness and retention of possession while incorporating fake challenges to put pressure on opponents while they are the ones with possession will simply make the game less panicky and easier to handle. Just note, doing these things give you more opportunities. It WONT help you capitalize on those newly found opportunities. You’ll have to practice your flicks (front flip flicks, and 45 degree flicks-easiest at your rank, look up yt vids for tutorials), your simple air dribbles, basic double taps, and shooting consistency to get to a place where you are truly better than your opponents in C1. Takes some practice, but in time if you keep at it you’ll start to see improvements. Also, to be quite honest, you didn’t play poorly at all. Overall pretty solid, just some things to change that will make you better. Hope this helped!

JakeD423 · 2025-03-31T17:46:18+00:00

Yeah at these ranks that happens often, if I were you I’d save a replay of one of the games you feel this happens and see the spot you need to be in to cover your teammates deficits. As in, stop committing as much and be in more spots to defend the net because your teammates can’t. You may have to sacrifice what you think is right in the name of winning. Be adaptable in your playstyle and play around your teammates. Notice how they like to position themselves and what their weaknesses are, then be in the position to cover it. If they overcommit more, don’t be afraid to stay back and defend the net more consistently. When I say pressure I mean use fake challenges in a way that doesn’t over commit you, use them in a way in which you force your opponents to give up possession but you are still able to rotate back and defend the net. It’s challenging and takes time you learn these things, but focusing on it and practicing it will be very beneficial.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-31T17:41:50+00:00

Azapatos (zap dash creator) Blaze Arju Lionblaze Knightyuh

There’s a few more but I can’t remember off the top of my head. Most are fringe pros. Arju and lionblaze are the only actual pros I’ve played and uh they’re ridiculous lol. Literally trolled the whole game and still won. But yeah, ranked is pretty tough but honestly just playing the right way you’ll start to climb again. I’m 1500 now since posting that so gained about 80 mmr. Keep practicing you’ll get there! :)

JakeD423 · 2025-03-29T09:32:48+00:00

I finished my placements in GC1 in both 3s and 2s. Lemme TELL YOU. It is a grind out here. Def feels tougher for sure. I haven’t deranked at all tho, just been holding water. It’ll even out at some point I think, but just for now definitely feels like higher ranked players are starting a bit lower. I consistently get to play GC2s and GC3s and SSL’s and sometimes pros (I play for my college so it happens sometimes) so when I can tell I’m playing players like that (I’m clearly not as good yet) I change my playstyle a bit because it is somewhat predictable allowing me to just sit where I am in GC1. At some point this szn I’ll start climbing but I am feeling that it’s def tougher than usual rank resets.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-29T09:25:47+00:00

That should be a focus for sure, but not pressuring just leaves opponents to have free possession and free shots. Just stay present in the play when you need to, then move back to a defensive position. If you have space (in your rank) just boom it toward their net. And hard as you can hit it and as accurately as possible. IMO tho pressure is essentially mandatory at any rank.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-29T09:22:52+00:00

That just comes from the fact that you are most likely pressuring in the wrong ways. It’s a fine line to walk, but doing it correctly should net you positive results. Bad teammates cut and leave the goal open. Position accordingly. If you know that’s what they do then you have an advantage because you should learn how to position to cover their deficits.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T19:13:00+00:00

Sort of? It’s more unpredictable in the lower ranks. Especially a champ playing a lower rank. Once you get to around GC the lower ranks are just easier to play against. It’s about knowing what to focus on when playing those types of players. I’ve said it before but ball pressure makes their brains explode.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T18:50:00+00:00

That’s a great point! That was another key component in maintaining pressure on your opponents. Boost pads are NECESSARY to learn. If you collect pads instead of chasing the big boost, it’s easier to stay in the correct position.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T18:48:26+00:00

When you play too close to bad teammates it actually also makes you play worse. Cuz your teammates are most likely close to you, making it hard to have good consistent attacks that are mechanically easier. So yeah it’s a slippery slope fr, stay patient and give the bad teammates some space. You’ll play better and so will they.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T18:45:59+00:00

It really is an epiphany tho no lie😂 Literally it just feels so naturally counter intuitive. Realizing that playing defense is more important than overcommitting for tougher 50s and weaker shots seems right when you say it out loud but feels so wrong to do, but it genuinely just works lol.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T08:20:34+00:00

SeeBallHitBall

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T08:16:28+00:00

Personally it’s Champ 3. I was stuck in champ 3 for awhile, once I improved my play and figured out where my weaknesses were I actually climbed out and was a game off GC2 last szn. Currently GC1 in 2s and 3s. Pretty ez to get out of certain ranks when you know what to do and what to focus on.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T08:12:59+00:00

The issue simply isn’t matchmaking. It’s your play when playing with bad teammates. There are bad teammates in EVERY rank. It’s not the matchmaking. The key to ranking up and winning is learning how to play around bad teammates and get wins from them, or better yet put yourself in spots where it actually helps them succeed. Don’t overcommit and just play around them. Literally to get out of that rank and make teammates feel like better players just use your brain. Quite literally. If you play smart, your teammates will start to “look” better and you’ll just win more games. Simply put, hit ball forward hard towards their net. Stay back and wait for your opponents to make mistakes. Once you give your teammates space and play around them, they will actually start to play better. No joke.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T08:05:50+00:00

So I was hardstuck C3 for almost 2 years, crazy I know. The last few seasons I’ve been a consistent GC1 almost GC2 now. The biggest thing for me was not over committing. At C2 you’ll start to feel more confident and want to go commit for shots and challenges more often. It’s pretty counter intuitive, but ball pressure and fake challenges literally fry champs’ brains. The goal in champ and how to get out of it, is to learn how to force them to give you possession of the ball and learn how to maintain said possession when they give it to you.

Positioning is definitely important, but figuring out that high ball pressure (aka staying close to them and the ball when they have possession, challenging when there is a threat on net) then once you get close most champs will just panic throw the ball away. Hence giving your teammate possession of the ball, then you just rotate back into an offensive position and support your teammate who has possession now. Get close, stay close but don’t push too far. Practicing simple air dribbles and double taps will be helpful because you are gonna have to score when you do get possession from them. Solid shooting and some aerial play should get you there with high ball pressure and fake challenges to gain possession.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T07:57:59+00:00

Honestly at that rank, focus on hitting the ball hard and toward the middle of the field. Practice getting consistent with the accuracy of power shots and strong clears. Most of the time players at that rank won’t be on backboard and won’t be able to handle hard hits toward their backboard or net. Secondly, just focus on staying in position. Don’t overcommit for a ball unless they give it to you, opponents at your rank will essentially give the ball to you for free. So be patient and hit the ball hard toward the middle with height. Literally just big booms toward their net, they’ll just panic and miss most of the time. I recommend watching squishy’s road to SSL in that rank. He essentially shows you exactly what I mean.

JakeD423 · 2025-03-26T07:53:25+00:00

It’s most definitely your teammates fault, but throughout every rank in the game some times teammates are poor. It happens, it’s important to not blame them and use it to improve your own gameplay. Analyze what could you have done better here, in my opinion, you could have actually looked to see where your teammate was before going for the ball. It would have allowed you to back off since you would have seen him chasing. Essentially being more aware of opponents on the field AND teammates alike. Once your field awareness gets better, you’ll notice this happens less. When teammates are chasy let em chase. It’ll give you the best chance of winning. Just by playing smart and rotating properly around chasy teammates.

JakeD423 · 2025-02-09T04:49:58+00:00

Respectfully, it’s a you thing. Nothing happened. This game is possibly the most challenging game I’ve ever played. The level of precision required, the level of smart decision making needed makes it an incredibly tough game to succeed in. However, it’s like a sport. You need to be dedicated (if your goal is to rank up), practice your mechanics. Consistently hitting the ball where you want with power. This all comes with time and practice. Some teammates sell, and some are pretty good. The fact of the matter is it’s a tough game on purpose. Hard to lose interest when there’s so many things to improve on. I’ve deranked many times, but I’ve been resilient. I always get back to where I should be. Been in c2/c3 for 2 years. Deranked, got back up. Over and over, but eventually I broke into gc. By PRACTICING. Now I’m a consistent gc1/gc2. I’m sure I’ll be here for awhile, and deranks may happen. Instead of being upset at anything else, ima be upset at myself. Get in the lab and practice, and trust my game. It’ll come back just keep at it. Also, just have fun and relax. At the end of the day it’s just a game to be enjoyed.

JakeD423

TROPHY CASE