In post 2334, Nero Cain wrote:So you haven't played with Pine in over two years and you just remember everything about his play?
Yes. I talked about this in EXTENSIVE detail. I don't remember if I talked about it in extensive detail in THIS game or not, but basically, it boils down to this:
Pine's play has not evolved in the six years he's been around. Mine has.
When we first met each other, Pine was basically as good as he is now. He used basically the same strategies he does now. He hasn't changed much if at all in all that time. Pine siteflaked from the site at some point, and then over a year later he came back. When he came back, though, I recognized his play. It was still the same as ever. Then he left again. And he's back now a third time. And once more, his play is virtually identical to what it was before.
When I first met Pine, he was able to fool me more than once, because I was in my infancy, and he was a strong player who was a blind spot. But then I deliberately went about trying to improve myself.
I got better
. He didn't. I've kept playing, ever since he joined. With maybe one or two brief breaks, I've been playing continuously these last six years, playing literally hundreds of games. I keep the mindset, consistently, constantly, that I could always do better. That I need to be better each game than I was in the last game. I'm not happy with my growth as a player. Consistently, constantly, I am left wishing I was better than I was, and so, I try my damnedest to do exactly that and improve.
I read my past games--including games Pine was in--almost constantly. There are players I can neglect playing for, for years, and still have vivid memories of them. You, for instance. PeregrineV would be another. And this is in part because in a sense, I never did stop playing with them. I kept myself reading our past games. And I kept reading some current games even if I wasn't in them.
And you know what? It worked. I improved. I went from someone atrociously bad to someone at least halfway decently respectable. I went from being someone nobody listened to and for good reason, to being someone that people listened to and with good reason, that reason being I knew what I was talking about. I've still got a long way to go yet. Still got a lot of growth to make as a player. But I am GOOD. And I know how to fucking read Pine.
So stop fucking disrespecting me by implying I don't. Pine is a player who I pay attention to more than any other player in the game. More than AngryPidgeon. More than zMuffinman. I pay attention to Pine first and foremost. And I get a read on him as a result. That. simple.
