In Sudden I can get sub 2 minutes at the start of level 300. I died at level 495 with a time of 03:20:18 in my best game. In Death I think I got Gold ST in the first section for the first time yesterday. I'll play more this weekend.
congrats because this gold st medal is by far the hardest to get, others sections are easy in comparison.
I had the stack on the bottom at levels 500-940, started choking at level 950... In the end, I am grand master! Gm, 999 @ 6:29 flat. Estimated 13 or 14 tetrises (2-3 in the 500-999 stretch). Would have been a time record had I not freaking choked at 950. I was about 3 pieces from dying when I made Gm.
Ai TAP T.A. Death Mode Level 549 at 03:41:93 At long last Death m! I believe this is my 6th time reaching level 500. I was able to stack cleanly most of the game. After breaking the torikan I didn't survive very long. Yet the stack was almost at floor level. I was just too happy with the m and didn't care much about what happened next. On some days I can survive more than 200 levels at level 500 speed, which is a good sign for the future. There was no manual locking after level 300. I practiced manual locking in the 300-400 section earlier this weekend and felt quite comfortable at times. However it's still too soon to use it in a real game. This is the first time in a long time that I made some solid progress in a TGM game. It took me a little more than 2 months after I decided to play this more seriously. My confidence has received a boost and I'm looking forward to the next challenge.
Congratulations! Good game! It looks like Death 500 got a little away from you, but I did see strings of good decisions along the way. It's too bad they didn't lead to any significant downstacking! :<
Congrats! Watching you play is fun because I sometimes think of placements that you didn't think of, but at the same time you definitely sometimes think of placements that I wouldn't think of. Keeping the stack low as you approach 500 feels great! It somehow gives me a lot of confidence when I got M, like "oh, well it doesn't matter what my time is, I'm near the bottom of the stack so I know I will do it". Impressive how relaxed 400-500 was for the most part; usually my concentration isn't to the level where I can avoid making a frantic placement or two. However, I did see one or two placements that were a bit tricky and had me worried for a split second. 300-400 also seemed very relaxed--perhaps since you know how to manlock it it feels that much easier now. It seems that you're much better at recovering and downstacking than I am--I think I play comfortably when I maintain a clean stack on the left but then once things start falling apart I don't know how to intelligently handle it. Now go race me to GM =)
Agreed! There were one or two times where I liked Ai's placement better than mine. It's always cool to see things you like that aren't part of your typical style.
Excellent and congrats on the m! You're a bit more than halfway there, but the last 500 levels are mind-crushing. But not spirit-crushing; with a little drive and a little more luck Gm is within your reach. I think your play is an excellent example of how to approach the speed increase: if your 0-300 is good, you can take it relatively easy through 300-500 and still make m.
Thank you everyone! When the background music stopped playing I knew this was my best chance to get m. I was still very surprised. The moment I realized I got m, the eruption of happiness made the level 500 speed completely overwhelm me. In my case thinking too much is very bad for my play. I totally lost it with nothing but m in my mind. This was indeed a great opportunity to reach level 600. It doesn't matter though, I obtained the master grade and a top 20 spot on the ranking which is more than I would have hoped for a little while ago. In each of my previous games where I reached level 500, I was struggling at the top near the end. Some good advice from DDRKirby(ISQ) made me realize that I needed a low stack not only at 300 and 400 but even near 500 for m without manual locking after level 300. The way I placed the I-piece at level 491 gave me a little scare. For a split second I thought I would be denied m again because of a stupid mistake. Looking at it afterwards it's difficult to understand how I was able to keep my cool and correct the situation so efficiently. And the manlock practice definitely gave me a sense of more time to stack cleaner. I wouldn't really say I'm so much better at recovering and downstacking. In this game things went better than expected, but in the hundreds of other games I played these past few weeks my play was nowhere this level except for a few games. I noticed that most of my good games are at the start of a game session. The longer I play, the less effective I am at handling speed increases and difficult situations. The m run was the second game of my afternoon session. Next serious attempt at improving my record will be during the Death carnival. Until then I'll practice manual locking and 500 speed. Important now is to break the torikan more frequently. I'll try my best to keep up with you, but don't expect too much. When I watch other player's videos I only see how bad certain aspects of my play are. It's nice to hear from others that there are things that I'm doing right. I'd rather not think about Gm yet. It's very far away. Maybe 2012 if I keep playing regularly. New objective for the year is to get m more comfortably with less mental fatigue. Around level 750 would already be a great achievement in my eyes. For a player of my level I had little choice but to play the way I did. Good luck improving everyone. Caithness, steadshot and the other players near m, keep pushing!
998 @ 6:20:36. Ouch. Lost because a piece didn't clear a line that I thought it would... Ai, you do have pretty good placements. I think everyone who can make it to Lv 500 does. Don't discount your own skill.
