) I wanted to give the newer duelists some tips that might help on your climb to Mt. Emerald.1. No matter who asks you to duel start by opening the standings and checking their rank. Are they Glass? Are they Sapphire? Are they an Opal or the Diamond? Open the standings and be aware!
2. What's their rank? I don't need to ask you because you went and read tip #1 so you already know! Are they glass? Yes? You're set! No? Ask them to duel at your rank! This is huge! No one wants to duel someone with 2+ mods over them. It's not fun and it's hard to compensate. There's no harm in asking. What's the worst thing that happens, they say no? You tried at least.
3. Avoid the flashy moves on the matrix. Yeah, everyone loves a nice spinkick and uppercut but there's a time and a place for these things. Something I always try to stress to my Mentees is you want to make the threat known. Throw out the spinkick now and then when the time is right but don't do it to do it. My advice is to avoid using: Hook, Legblock, Spinkick and Uppercut. They're flashy moves and most of the time there's a better move available. Stop using these and I bet you'll find yourself winning more.
4. Reach out to people who have done it! It's a great community with a wealth of information. Most people have done this before so if you ask them for some help I'm sure they'd be willing to give it. Hell, feel free to ask me if you see me on Discord.
5. Don't take losses to heart. It's a marathon- not a sprint. No one is going to win 15 straight and call it a day. You're going to lose and everyone does and that's part of the process. You'll lose in regulation and you'll lose in challenges and in the Diamond Quest and IFL. Just take them on the chin and keep going!
6. Almost forgot this one. Know when to duel but more importantly when not to duel. The current system rewards gaining rank by locking you in and making it so you can't fall beneath once you achieve it. Get your rank and then sit on it until standings roll over. Then you can go hard in the paint with your new mods and play with them. But you need to play the system how it is. Play risky and exciting but once you hit your quota go conservative.
I hope these will help anyone looking to rank.
