How I Got Good in a Completely Different Genre

streamed Jan. 29, 2024
Hint: It's the same process for fighting games
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#FGC #Sajam #TFT

[@jmcrofts]

my first set was 7.0 and it's so funny because everyone was like "wow this set sucks, it's so scrubby, skill doesn't matter anymore" meanwhile i was having the time of my life the cycle continues

[@Graysett]

I've been playing from the start. People complain the same way about every set, and imo with the exception of 4 into 5 (4 was fantastic, 5 was just good), every set is better than the last. I get to Hyper tier in Hyper Roll every set. This set was the easiest by far, after the first patch there were so many strong comps that as long as I played what I hit I'd get top 5 easy. Hyper Roll is extra susceptible to metas where only one or two comps are strong because of how easy it is to force there, it usually takes a lot more patches in a set for a decent balance to settle in.

[@SomeRandomDude821]

League of Legends player "Enjoy something" challenge (impossible)

[@Mene0]

omg it's Krillin

[@BillyBob-bu9wx]

This should be a start of a new series of Sajam just getting good at games of every genre. And we'll call him the King of Games.

[@HeatBlaze02]

Yugioh Master Duel arc when

[@gwen9939]

how to get good at every game: Believe in the heart of the cards.

[@bug-deal]

Sajam: These games aren't as hard as people make them sound. Look, you can learn to play all of them Me: damn he's good

[@CoolRobbit]

If I got to see Sajam pick up Slay the Spire and binge baalorlord vods to learn, I'd die of happiness.

[@threedee5831]

I like how at no point did Sajam mention how his climb or experience was affected by "smurfs". Huge crutch that players latch on to in every game as an excuse for not getting better.

[@Altares_V]

I mean smurfs are genuinely only an issue at LOW ranks. Not something like 3 or 4 ranks before master lol. Starting a new game for a new player and having your first day rank experience be between someone who was already the highest rank in the game absolutely stomping out Timmy on his first rank experience you can see how that would be an issue. After some time those same "smurfs" are just healthy competition

[@SupermanSajam]

There actually was somebody who was a Smurf in my game too. I just ignored it and played normal

[@qwitwa]

The discussion about watching very good players, mentally predicting the next play, checking if that's what they really do, and then thinking about the situation if it differs, trying to find the why, matches exactly to Daigo talking about his few years becoming an exceptionally strong mahjong player in The Will to Keep Winning.

[@Crucile]

this is what i recommend to everyone i talk to who desires serious improvement

[@Goku3001000]

He's really grinding for those Project L points

[@VoidEternal]

The long-game is important.

[@TheFortySeventhPlatoon4700]

His been into regular League tbf

[@SupermanSajam]

I was also master in the card game

[@ConnorGrummer]

So League is the last one left then​

[@kyraxx]

@@SupermanSajamlast season. The game died today.

[@gwen9939]

Really the big thing for me at least and what I think a lot of people who complain appear to lack that Sajam touches on, is insight into your own play and mental. It's just not enough to check off all your boxes in knowledge and execution, that will get you decently far but not very fast, it's understanding what type of playstyle you naturally gravitate towards and then refining that into not just doing the right things, but thinking in the right ways. A lot of the time, if you just play a lot you develop habits not just in the game, but habits in how you think about things and how you reach your decisions, so like the example of looking at pros and thinking about what they're thinking about in those moments, you have to apply that same strategy to your own thinking, for instance when watching replays. When you've driven yourself into a rut it's not enough to go "this thing doesn't work, I shouldn't do that", you have to also examine what leads you to do these things. For a low-level example, noticing you're jumping a lot, instead of saying "I should jump less", think "I'm jumping because I'm uncomfortable on the ground because I don't trust my abilities to respond to my opponent's options in neutral. I should practice reactive play while I'm on the ground so that I don't default to jumping". This can extend to your mindset/emotional state/managing your attention as well, and this is where it gets very difficult and a lot of work, but it's far more productive than grinding games that just reinforce bad habits and then go on twitter and complain about top tiers. That being said, Sajam is some kind of wizard and I don't understand how he's good at shooters, fighting games, and card games all at the same time.

[@DaviddeBergerac]

Nice to see Sajam finally getting back into Team Fortress Two

[@zerdodylan]

Nice to see Sajam finally getting back into Titanfall Two

[@Noko744]

Damn Sajams laddering in WC3 The Frozen Throne

[@kmartrewards1429]

UNI online was so bad we got a tft video first 😭

[@FeyrirCW]

I was actually really struggling in even Blue Rank in Tekken. Found myself getting mashed on by people and my offense never working but after I heard you say the thing about doing a plus move into a mid I realised how much I was overcomplicating shit and just needed to keep it simple. Hopped onto ranked and went on a 15 game winstreak immediately after. Gotta learn to be a scrub first.

[@gorcshurut4934]

Sajam is just so Zen, and not obsessed with victory, he just remains calm and actually do learn from his mistakes. Super inspiring, ngl.

[@MortdogTFT]

Love to see it! Now make more WILL IT KILL videos :P

[@SupermanSajam]

Thanks for working on a dope video game. I stayed away for years because I was afraid to get addicted, and now it’s over. I’ve becoming the fighting games and TFT guy

[@Googlrr]

Learning how to learn is definitely a skill of its own. I was always 'pretty ok' at video games but struggled making it to the next level. I was maybe slightly better than average at most games. Honestly what really helped me get into an improvement mindset, was fighting games primarily, and then World of Warcraft. Learning how to log in wow and analyze logs to fix mistakes was like a little light switch in my head that helped me apply to other games. I'm still not a god gamer or anything but it does feel like a lot of these skills transfer between genres even when it feels like they wouldn't

[@SmollPanda]

yo same. I'm not sure why fighting games was the one genre that taught me how to learn. probably the constant learning of new things such as playing different characters, playing different fighting games, might have helped a lot on this. Or maybe because its a 1v1 game so you have only yourself to blame when you lose

[@isakferm7674]

oh yeah I’d argue that being skilled at learning is 95% of how people get good at games, or most other aspects of life. If you take a low elo guy with the same amount of games as another dude thats high elo, almost the only seperating factor is the ability to learn effectively. Unless you don’t have arms or something. This is why people that are really good at one game usually are really good at other games too, even in completely seperate genres. Skill of learning still applies. When people talk about ”talent” it’s usually how effective you are at taking in information and figuring things out. The sick thing is that if you improve at this you can take it into the real world as well. I started doing better academically I think in part because competitive video games made me a smarter learner

[@richardjohnson8991]

I've recently been grinding away at Armored Core 6 pc ranked and a lot of my improvements have come from applying a lot of the thought processes and problem solving I learned from fighting games

[@Achallon]

That's cool there's ranked in that game

[@aquacustom.]

I love this vid, I have been getting back into league recently after arena last month and my experiences learning in fighting games have been helping me improve as I pick up a new role (jung > top)

[@OurJuno]

Thank you Sajam! It's so hard to recognize your personal strengths and how to utilize them. I always felt like I had to just copy whoever is the best, even if their primary skill set is completely different from mine. Keep up the great work!

[@ukulelechicken4814]

I went for masters a couple sets ago and had a great time and finally hit it after a few months of learning the game! I also learned fighting games from scratch with SF6 and your channel has helped immensely :) Cool to see you enjoy tft and experience the same things I did while I was learning!

[@integratedfrost435]

Been playing Go for a couple of years and hit another plateau, and this is exactly what I needed to hear!

[@DesiringANewDawn]

Hype to see ya playing tft, one of my favorite games

[@hotdog5927]

I feel like I hit a plateau and get stuck forever until eventually I lose the drive to challenge it anymore.

[@kongogaming]

Usually the focal mechanic of the set is what determines the overall hype level. Set 9.5 had the issue of Legends - a way to make pretty much all comps force-able (ex. 9 Demacia) in a game where there is suppose to be a healthy degree of randomness. The attitude for the set plummeted earlier than usual because everyone knew we still had to deal with Legends, even with mid-set changes. Set 10 (current) was getting hyped up because it had the return of an older mechanic (chosen mechanic, from set 4) that was well-received in the past (set 4 is highly praised). But in the past, we didn't have augments at the time, nor the current ruleset (being able to level to 10, portals, etc.). So now it's a bit on the unbalanced side, with strategies like 'full open loss-streaking' and 'Heartsteel 2-1' providing too much strength (recently nerfed I believe). But that being said, it is hard for a set to be considered 'balanced' in the first place, and TFT has an amazing dev team that is always working on changes/fixes. Set 10 is a great set though, one of the better ones in a while. I love the musical inspiration and the theme mixing. Lots of interesting units too. Congrats on Master!

[@rinkujoka232]

Set 3.5 is the peak set..... Yes they made a fck up on patches that time (looking at you j4 patch aka patch 10.14) but it is fun as fck.... Now it is back as a game mode... We go back to me mech, me no pivot mode

[@deepseaminingsyndicate]

Write a book on game theory!! Edit: not like the official math stuff but basically the Sajam book to gaming with your own spin!

[@brycemiller831]

Sajam, your an absolute beast. I play TFT every set, I often grind, and end up around the middle of diamond every set I try. Really awesome insight.

[@adnips]

Hey that's cool I met you early in like plat or something and you had a rough roll down after winstreaking into a loss. Nice to see the commitment to learning most long term TFT players will just blame the game all the way to the top challenger

[@trajantrevino1673]

Damn he’s good. Fr tho are we getting more TFT streams?

[@valkyrieKNIGH7]

He mentioned this on chat the other day but didn't want chat to backseat him the whole time , so he wants to get to a higher rank before he does it again.

[@SupermanSajam]

@@valkyrieKNIGH7That rank was master, I’m ready

[@dilly2760]

Damn I gotta put some respect on the name. Good shit Mr. Jam

[@eliholland1365]

Ah reminds me of online poker except online poker it was significantly easier to plug leaks and determine whether you were running hot or cold with poker analytics software and less wild rules than video games.

[@shadowmaksim]

Must be nice being competent.

[@Weebfox]

Sajam really just is a really smart fella

[@Venomousplaysgames]

Congrats on the rank gamer

[@shmooters5599]

1:34 this exactly, I have a bad habit of religiously absorbing information on games I’m interested in. Only to then play and not be able to execute any of it because the practice isn’t there yet. It’s rough sometimes knowing roughly what to do and where you went wrong, and know tht the only way to improve is to play more

[@destructiveoutlet]

Since you're in to strategy and card games.. have you ever checked out any of the fighting card games/turn based fighting games out there? Its a small sub genre but there's stuff like Yomi 2, Hitstun, Mega Knockdown..and of course Yomi Hustle, which I think you did check out before

[@Younghoon15]

The reality is every game is like this. Getting better at any game is a grind and requires practice, routine, rest, and self evaluation. It requires you to have a self improvement mentality

[@deadfr0g]

I am a fighting game player. Mentally but not in life. My phone is preventing me from reaching my peak

[@hotdog5927]

what does that even mean

[@erurice1797]

⁠​⁠@@hotdog5927I believe a copy pasta from the ky guy on twitter. Something about being mentally in the heaven floor but not being able to reach it in reality.

[@thisistherun4015]

What a champ.

[@joshuaevenson250]

Lol I've been playing TFT for years but I just discovered you playing Tekken 8

[@shraakx2]

I'm plateauing in grandmaster and I feel the "my hands are stupid" more than ever. It feels like my brain has to be on 3x speed to play like top players.

[@Vernafveik]

Love TFT Got into it as a joke, stayed because it’s fun watching yourself improve, even if I’m nowhere near Master level ^_^

[@theogrist2348]

I know it's not related but it's bugging me so much. Which character is it on the right that he pasted a PNG over? It looks like an SF6 character, but idk which one and it's really killing me with curiosity and it's niggling at my brain going "I've seen this character before I know I have I know it".

[@ThatRedHusky]

Bros gonna pick up MMX Any% and in a week he'd be like "So guys, here's my 31:15 run."

[@demiurge2501]

I’m in a pretty similar boat with magic the gathering, I just won a weekly last week!

[@DrewBearYT]

"How I used critical-thinking skills"

[@onescenewonder8904]

I like what you said about finding a playstyle that someone is using well, that you can vibe with, whether its fighting games or TFT or whatever. I think as a beginner FGC member, I often struggle to even identify what playstyle the people playing the video game are using! "is this rushdown? would you consider that zoning? why is he using that grappler character that way?" Coming from card games, it feels so much harder to distinguish these playstyles in other games. In Magic: the gathering, I know pretty instantly what archetype an individual card slots in to. I might not know what exactly it does, or if its the best thing you can do, but I can identify its strength and weaknesses. It would be similar to going "oh this guy is a shoto? he probably has a dp i gotta watch out for and punish, even if i don't know the animation or anything" like, "oh, this guy is playing blue? he probably has a conditional 2 cost counterspell i gotta watch out for, even if i don't know its affects or anything." I think going forward, for me, it'll be a lot easier to just map things one-to-one with card games until I have that same intuition. Side note: your thought about how everyone goes "oh i could beat this guy in this tournament, just low then mid, then low, then checkmate" and then they crumble when its time to put your hands to use in the game... I think that doesn't really apply as universally as it seems. I mean, the feeling of being able to make the right decisions, if only you were in the shoes of the professional player, seems pretty universal. However, the feeling of "ok, i went to do the damn thing, and i just really can't, my fingers are just too slow" just doesn't apply to most other games for me. Mechanical execution probably makes up, maybe, 5-10% of a card game? Just pure speculation, but I mean, the physical act of holding the cards, shuffling the deck, etc, is much less important than the mastery of game knowledge, skill, luck, etc. That doesn't mean just anyone can stroll up and play the card game to an extremely high degree of skill, but the barrier to entry is incredibly low - the ability to read and that's about it. In fighting games, I feel its a much more even split of mechanical mastery and game mastery. If you know motion inputs, even without touching a fighting game, you are at a distinct advantage. Being able to do those motion inputs quickly? Seen as necessary to play the video game. To the point where some content creators will blithely say "oh thats reactable" when something is literally faster than we have time to blink.

[@azarel7]

That 1:37 is so on point. You can see what another player should do...but when you're actually playing it's like your natural less optimal habits take over and you're like oops, maybe I'm not that good after all... All that being said from watching this vid and his vids in general I still believe Sajam 1) Has a high IQ 2) Is very logical 3) Has a strong sense of personal identity 4) Hence doesn't take losses in any game personally or is rather detached 5) Therefore Is able to sit back objectively, look at errors without getting emotional and calmly come up with solutions 6) Takes responsibility for whatever he does in game. Most of us don't do that, so we blame the game or worse, just grind and grind without sitting back and saying "Ya know what, I'm doing something wrong"... I think some of us tie the game too closely to our identities sometimes so people get super salty or rage quit when they lose...but realistically...there are much, much worst things that can happen than losing an online match. If you lose...all it means is that you can do something better the next time.

[@SophistictaedDevil]

I'll just have to accept I'm not as dedicated or as smart as Sajuan

[@user-cc3ef7qh1x]

It's more like you started getting good

[@arisonaicedout4357]

fighting games are not my first genre and don't come naturally to me - but there's something good about having to work for the dub.

[@Sorrelhas]

The first step to getting good at new games is understanding if you like them or not I tried getting into LoR when it came out and the only joy I got in that game was winning and watching the little rank thing go up

[@FriedBacon88]

but how many star in hunt

[@SupermanSajam]

My lobbies are 5-6 star solos or duos vs trios

[@FriedBacon88]

hell yeah waitin for that content you know used as a parallel for discussion

[@microfiber]

g a m i n g

[@daiceyy]

FPS game next

[@davidadkins8648]

Yeah since set 6 the game has felt pretty bad from a competitive stand point, but it's still a fun game early on in new sets.

[@OmnipotentO]

I think good fighting game players that have gone through the grind in 1 fighting game have the perfect mentality for improving at any genre if they put their mind to it. (good StarCraft players too). Having the patience and knowledge to break it all down and go one step at a time and persevere. Don't really see it as often in other genre players or it's not as common. Coincidentally that's why CoD players look like whiny b*tches to us.

[@graveaxel3607]

If RNG was truely holding you back in a game, then other players wouldn't be able to be consistent. Desision making (combined with patience) is an undervalued skill in a lot of games. You can beat someone who is more mechanically skilled than you if you put them in an unfavorable position. Doesn't how good someone's aim is if you out play them lol.

[@Bober909]

"Is Akuma a weak character?" If you know this you know the answer on how to get good at any game. Just pick a top tier.

[@uiripriest298]

Ill be honest, TFT is a very easy game to get high rank. I got grandmaster within a month of playing. Most games ive played ive put so much work in to only get hardstuck gold/plat. Im pretty ass at games, but abusing the meta in TFT makes it very easy not to mention the fact most TFT players are casuals who dont even look a single tip up about the game. Ive gotten at least masters in any season ive played, am i a god at TFT? def not, the playerbase is just bad at the game lol

[@User-pu3lc]

TFT is not a game it’s a gambling simulator. Each set has an optimal flows based on game state you just brainlessly follow and spin the wheel for units.

[@pazortegaFGC]

damn its almost like every set has a finite amount of comps and some of them are better than others and some of them complement each other while others dont..... pretty crazy...

[@User-pu3lc]

@@pazortegaFGC Yea. Its a closed, solved game within weeks so there is little to no skill involved.

[@pairofrooks]

"TFT"???

[@romzen]

TFT is a joke. Noone cares.

[@belgo527]

imagine being such a trog that you see someone teaching people how to learn and say that.

[@colonelpopcorn7702]

You cared enough to comment 🤔

[@deeli3518]

You’re a joke if you think “no one” is one word 😂😂😂

[@cameronsmith9562]

Who is Noone and why do they care so much?

[@EXBraver]

I care :)