A choke is the exact opposite of a clutch. It is to lose despite being so ever close to winning. It is losing when winning seems almost guaranteed. Getting reverse 3-0’d is the act of losing to someone in a best of five after winning the first 2 games. This is a basic example of what a choke is.

LACS Rivals was mainly a Rivals of Aether II invitational, but it also had a Melee & Ultimate invitational hosted on November 23rd in Los Angeles, California. The eight players invited for Ultimate were Light, Miya, Sparg0, Glutonny, MKLeo, Marss, Tweek, & SHADIC, however, MKLeo had to drop out due to sickness and was replaced by Lui$, who went on to get last with Marss, followed by SHADIC getting 5th. Now in the winners’ side of bracket, there was Tweek, who had just beaten Lui$ 3-1, and Miya, the Japanese invader who was also seed one, who had just beaten SHADIC 3-1. This is winners semis, the winner of this set would fight Glutonny in winners finals, and the loser would fight Light for 5th in losers quarters.

To start off the set on Small Battlefield, Tweek’s Diddy Kong takes game one with a banana into down tilt up smash, killing Mr. Game and Watch at 101%, being a lightweight character. This ended up being a two stock due to Tweek’s impeccable DI in order to survive at 142%. In game two, now switching the stage to Battlefield, Miya ended up taking the first stock with a back air to catch Tweek’s high recovery, Tweek takes some time but answers back with a down tilt back air to even it up. A zero to death (0TD) is the act of taking a stock without getting hit once, Tweek then goes on to 0TD Miya with a down tilt forward air at the ledge at 128%. After going back and forth with disadvantage, Tweek is hanging on the ledge with banana, Miya tries to cover his getup option but Tweek rolls and Miya whiffs the grab, this allows Tweek to throw banana into forward smash to close out another two stock with game two, with Miya being at only 93%.

This is match point, another game and Miya will soon be fighting Light in losers, but he isn’t done yet. Starting off game three back on Small Battlefield, Tweek does take Miya’s first stock with a down tilt up smash, but Miya answers back with a dash attack to two frame Tweek all the way at 168%. Later in the second stock, Tweek just can’t seem to get out of disadvantage, so Miya catches him hanging on ledge again with a ledge trump back air to be up in stocks for the first time since game one. Tweek plays it safe with another banana into a down tilt up smash to even it out on the last stock. It’s looking like Miya can’t get Tweek off of him, but after taking 103% he ends up forward tilting Tweek off stage which then forces him to do an unsafe monkey flip which is caught by Miya’s down smash. Tweek lost game three.

Now on the board, Miya starts off game four with an early kill using forward tilt, only taking 33%. Again, Tweek just can’t seem to find a way out of disadvantage, when he’s hit offstage with a back air, he messes up his recovery, hitting straight into the stage which kills him at only 95%, Miya is now up 2 stocks, and still only at 48%. Miya, yet again, just keeps Tweek in disadvantage, utilizing bucket a lot more than he originally was, so Tweek was unable to profit from banana, Tweek finds himself cornered and his jump is caught by a back air, Miya follows up with two more back airs for the edge guard, giving Miya game four with a three stock.

Miya has brought it to 2-2, with the next game determines the set, starting it off now on Hollow Bastion, Tweek gets the first hit, leading to a long string getting Miya to a high percent, but Miya answers back with his own string. Both players at kill percents, Tweek sends Miya far offstage with a monkey flip, this gives him time to place banana, Miya, knowing Tweek would likely pick up banana, tries to cover his landing with a forward air, but Tweek forward tilts to beat it out and take the first stock. Being at 126%, he has to play this next stock safe, he does, Miya throws out a dash attack on Tweek’s shield, which he punishes with an up smash, even though Miya’s at 102%, Mr. Game and Watch is still tied for the third lightest character in the game, so it ends up killing. Tweek is now up two stocks at 163%, Tweek tries to hit Miya with banana to start up a combo, but it is jumped over and punished with a back air, taking Tweek’s first stock, Miya now has the banana. When Tweek respawned, he couldn’t touch Miya at all, only hitting him with his up b and a forward tilt, but Miya hit him up with an up b, and caught his landing with a forward air, killing at 147%. Now the stocks are even with Miya at 20%, they share a combo but Tweek trips on his own banana % Miya gets him from 46% to 92% in a matter of two moves. Keeping Tweek in the air, Miya forces him across the stage to the other ledge, he gets banana but he has to roll from ledge to grab it, Miya, knowing this, uses down smash to cover his roll, it buries him and he gets a free forward smash which kills Tweeek at 139% across the stage to reverse three stock Tweek.

Tweek lost the set and got sent to losers to fight Light’s Fox, which he also lost 2-3, placing 5th along with SHADIC. Miya ended up winning the entire tournament after beating Glutonny. Glutonny fought Light in losers finals, despite beating Sparg0 in losers semis, Light would be double eliminated by Glutonny, this would allow him to have the runback on Miya in grand finals. He did win 3-2, but lost 1-3 on the reset, allowing Miya to take the whole bracket.

Tweek’s choke worked amazingly for Miya, he was playing too aggressively, giving Miya opportunities to exploit his overextensions. This is a repeat of what happened in winners top 16 of Cirque Du CFL 4, Tweek was reverse 3-0’d there too. Mr. Game and Watch is actually Tweek’s third worst matchup, only having a 55% win rate against him, which for a top player, is kind of bad, he also has a 1-5 record against Miya, beating him only at Litvitational 3 with a 3-1. Miya, however, actually has a 94% win rate on Diddy Kong, so it’s quite surprising that Tweek kept it as close as it was, but they are in fact both top players.