Canada's premier fighting game tournament, GOML, had hearts of fans pumping with excitement from start to finish. It had a wide array of high-level matches spanning the whole weekend that have had fans rewatching sets ever since. With it's electrifying top eight and high praises from spectators worldwide, GOML looks to be a fan favourite tournament for years to come. Lucky placed within the top sixteen and gives his thoughts on the tournament, his competition and how he looks to improve and prepare for 2019's summer of Smash.

GOML 2019 was an insanely stacked tournament! What were your thoughts on the event as a whole?

Lucky: I would say that I went into GOML pretty much with as little on my mind as possible. I just wanted to play well, do well, sleep well, and eat well. I just wanted to not worry about anything, just compete and see what I can do if I just take my mind off of all the things that make me and other players nervous.

In top 64, you defeated Poop, Shroomed and BIG KID. What advantages did you have on these players in terms of mentality, practice regime and experience?

Lucky: It’s always hard to say as I’m not entirely sure what their thoughts were, how they practice, their experiences but for me, I was really focused, being in the losers bracket, since I beat all of them in the loser’s bracket. It was more so that I had a very strong will to want to win, no matter what; compared to how I was in winner’s bracket.

Moky was an unexpected top 8 placer, defeating the likes of Plup, KJH and yourself. It was a very close set; it went to game five! What was your thought process during the final match with Moky?

Lucky: All things considered, I was pretty happy with my set with him. Especially making it to game five. I think he’s one of those Fox players that you can tell is really on point in that matchup. When I played him, I was really worried that he was just going to run me over and once we got to game five, I was pretty much just hoping to keep it up, keep doing what I was doing. Hopefully pull off the win; unfortunately I didn’t. In the long run, I was happy to keep up with the kid because that guy looks like he’s going places.

What do you feel you could have done better in this particular matchup and how will you implement this in your forthcoming tournaments in the summer?

Lucky: Honestly, I think I need to slow down a tiny bit. I was out-speeding myself a little bit with my hands and my movement. I was trying to go a little too fast and I ended up buffering a lot of get-up attacks. In Fox dittos, if you give away a free opening with something like a get up attack over and over again, and you give your opponent a free grab that many times, you’re going to just lose. In game five, I must have done around nine get-up attacks. I had no chance of winning with those. Next time I play, in a fast-paced Fox ditto like that, just make sure I take my time whenever I get a hit and whenever I get hit, I need to not give away those free grabs like that.

Ginger was the second defeat. Falco tends to be a matchup you are familiar with, as you regularly practice with Mang0. Watching the set back, what would you have done differently and should it be a different game plan when fighting other Falcos with different playstyles?

Lucky: First of all, no matter what, I think about that set, I know for sure, I got really stubborn and I got into my own head about how I wanted to play the matchup. I pretty much refused to change my gameplan and I’m really bummed about that because I’ve been trying to avoid doing stuff like that. Obviously when you’re in a tournament, you need to adapt, every stock, every match, every set you play. I just went into it super stubborn. There’s a lot I can say about it but there’s a lot of different things I want to do the next time I play against him specifically or any other Falco specifically. This is because I have a really solid game plan against Falco in general, due to playing Mang0 and Squid in SoCal. Obviously, you have to change that gameplan up. I want say exactly what I’ll do next time but I have a lot of ideas on how to beat him or anyone else who has that kind of playstyle. I won’t give away too much but I have ideas.

On social media, GOML’s top 8 was deemed the best in years. What was your favourite moment from this event?

Lucky: Definitely Axe versus SFAT. Axe is obviously a fantastic player; a player that I’ve downplayed in my head because he plays Pikachu. I thought Pikachu was lame and gimmicky. Over the years, seeing him consistently stay in the top ten spot, getting closer a top five spot; he’s always been really impressive to me. Then watching SFAT look like he was destroying him the entire set was ridiculous to me because I have a lot of respect for Axe. Watching SFAT shut him down was just inspiring to me as a Fox player. Sure enough, it gets to game four, Axe completely turns the set around and takes game five. It was great to watch a player look like he was getting shut down so hard in the matchup and then in the middle of a set, make the right adaptations that he needed. It was solid top tier high level play. It was a fun one for me to watch as a Fox player, seeing SFAT play. Seeing Axe, who’s getting close to top five, get pushed that hard and make a comeback to win.

What have you learned from this event and will you be watching your own and other players’ matches back for education purposes? If yes, whose?

Lucky: I think SFAT and Leffen are usually the ones I try to watch a lot. They usually have solid gameplans that I can learn stuff from. Their punish games hit a little harder than my own. Adding my neutral, which I think is my strong point compared to other Fox players, with little things they do in certain matchups or the way they extend their combos. I think just watching them always helps me out a lot. Finally, Zain, because I’m lowkey trying to pick up that Marth really quick.

GOML held a multitude of events at the venue. Both Melee and Ultimate were present but you only entered Melee. Do you feel it affects your performance when you enter both games?

Lucky: No, I don't think it would affect my performance too much. The games are different enough, as long as I don’t play Fox in that game, I think I would be fine entering both. I just chose not to for a couple of reasons.

Are you focusing on Melee for good or will there be times you feel you might enter the Ultimate bracket?

Lucky: Honestly, I enjoy Ultimate. I think I would enjoy competing in Ultimate since there are very different characters in Ultimate that are different enough from Melee, it wouldn’t distract me from playing Melee at all. The problem is that Ultimate is so bad online. That’s the main way for me to practice. Even for Melee, I practice almost solely online. I play netplay non-stop every day. I barely go to Mang0’s to play and he lives just down the block from me. It’s okay with Melee, it’s not bad at all because the netplay has gotten so much better, thanks to Dolphin and Faster Melee. If I have only had online practice for Ultimate, I literally don’t feel like I’m learning how to play that game. Online compared to LAN; it makes no sense how different that game feels. Until I can make time to play people in person, for both Ultimate or Melee, I just don’t see myself entering Ultimate until I get more consistent LAN practice.

What would you like to see yourself most improve on?

Lucky: I think staying relaxed. I’ve been talking to some people about my performance recently; coaches, mentality coaches, health coaches, people like that. Without them even being my own personal coach, a lot of them tell me I tend to tense up really badly, in terms of body posture. They’ve noticed I hold my breath a lot too. That’s just them glimpsing at me for a set or two. I think really learning to stay calm and relaxed, not tensing my shoulders or holding my breath. That way I can make more composed decisions, my tech skill probably won’t be affected as much. Right now, I feel like I’m at one of the best peaks of my career, but if I can’t get that peak to come out because I’m too stressed during a set, then it’s all for nothing. I’m definitely just trying to improve on myself and the aspects outside of the game as they are just as important as the game itself.

For more updates on his daily adventures and his upcoming tournaments, you can follow Lucky on Twitch or Twitter