The last time I had local FGC tournament experience was SF4 a decade ago. Time has gone and so I decided to try my first local tournament at the local FGC.
One thing I forgot was just how nerves impact your play such an incredible amount. And having not played in a tournament or even at the local group, I was definitely shaking at each match.
My last double-elimination match, I had a lot of mistakes on combos that I know I am consistent on in ranked matches. I sensed my opponent was in the same situation and dropping his combos too. On Game 3 Round 3, both in CA stage, he dropped a combo that would have finished me and I then dropped the punish combo that would have finished him. He deserved that win.
I still had a great time. If you haven't looked up your local FGC yet, they're starting to come back up again after the pandemic and I would encourage you check them out. The only thing that will calm tournament nerves is more local practice.
As much as I've been trying to avoid fb, this makes sense so I'll take a look.