In the cup

01Nerves in a cup

Box breathing

When you notice you are getting nervous, use box breathing. How it works is in the picture above.

• In the lobby, while you wait for your next game.
• During a game, for example in the bus, or when you are boxed up in the midgame.
• In the endgame, when there is a chance, when you get a short moment to chill.

Panic in your box

Someone has the wall on you and you have to get out. Do not panic and run out the back without looking. Go out the top or forward, to where the zone pulls.

Fights that make you nervous

If you fight well and do not panic, land midmap, go early and claim deep. If you get nervous in a lot of fights, storm play suits you better. How to play it is in Storm and deadside.

02During the cup

A cup is not the place to try things out. If you change your spot, your loot route or suddenly play more passively after one bad game, you end up with neither the old plan nor a new one.

• Keep your spot: No new spot mid cup, and none for the finals either.
• When the spot is the problem: If the same spot ends your game in offspawn again and again, it is the spot and not bad luck. That is the one reason to switch spots mid cup, see Gameplan and spot.
• When keying is the problem: If you keep keying in the midgame and keep dying to it, change that, even mid cup.
• Points, not kills: A game without kills is not a game without points, see Endgame.

03After a bad game

Mid cup you keep your spot, your loot route and your playstyle. Change them after one bad game and you have neither the old plan nor a new one. The two exceptions are above.

Bad luck or a mistake

Judge the decision, not the result. If your decision was right with what you knew at that moment, a bad result is bad luck and not a mistake. How to tell the two apart is in How to review.

Dying offspawn

Everyone dies offspawn sometimes, and offspawn is often a 50/50. If you die offspawn in every game, it is not the 50/50 anymore. Then there are mistakes in your play, see Offspawn.

No prize money

In a final where only the win pays, second place earns the same as last. You still did a lot more right than most of the lobby, so judge yourself against the lobby, not against the money.