If you want to break into the scene but you’re not sure how, here’s how to play Smash Ultimate professionally.

Playing any game professionally, especially Smash Ultimate, is tough business. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but can be done if you’re willing to pump a lot of hours into practicing and perfecting your game.

The Smash professional scene’s roots fall majorly to 2001’s Super Smash Bros. Melee. Since then, the competitive Smash scene has seen attention from media outlets such as ESPN, and is a mainstage highlight of the esports fighting game event EVO.

With hot competition from players like MKLeo, Tweek, Leffen and Nairo, playing Smash Ultimate professionally may seem a bit daunting. The top players are known for their precise skills, including type matchups and the exact science of hits and combos.

The first step to entering the Smash scene is to not be intimidated by players that are better than you. Start off by training up your main online into Elite Smash. If this takes a while, then be grateful that you were able to work out most of the kinks from the comfort of your own home. Concentrate on what makes the game fun here, as a lot of playing professional video games can feel like an unpleasant grind if you’ve lost your passion for the game.

Now that you’re in Elite Smash, keep practicing. See if you can maintain your status for multiple battles in a row. If your main is able to keep up with most of the roster (tier lists may help you with that), then you are ready for the real meat of the challenge of playing Smash Ultimate professionally: the studying.

There are those who would say the only way to know how to do something is to indeed do the thing actively. When it comes to Smash, I’d suggest a healthy mix of watching and doing. The best combo I’ve been able to find is of playing for a few hours to sufficiently warm-up, and then watching professional smashers duke it out in grand finals of the most recent tournaments.

This rest portion of playing Smash is crucial. After you’ve played around 30 matches in a row, your mind will start to fall into a sort of trance. You’ll find that you’re habitually committing the same mistakes, and that’s because your brain is fatigued. Playing in this fatigued state isn’t going to gain you much more skill, but watching others do the things that you want to do will.

For professional Smash tournaments, the MVG YouTube channel is the way to go. They consistently update weeklies and major tournaments of top and up-and-coming players, giving you access to more videos than you would ever have the time to watch.

If you find that a certain character or player is catching your interest, follow them more intensely. Learn that player/character’s attributes. What gives them the advantage? How do they react in a disadvantaged state? What is the winning condition? Are there certain throws, normals, or safe on shield aerials that you should be using?

At this point, you can choose whether you feel ready to jump into a weekly tournament scene in your area (here is a handy way of seeing all of the weekly tournament Facebook groups in the world). If you have a couple of characters that you play well as, feel free to study up on them in the same way that you did for your first main. More character matchup knowledge and having alternative characters to pull out to counter is always a good thing.

Weeklies can be a pretty stressful environment. Bring a friend, a water bottle, and some snacks for in between sets. Playing through the opening pool matches, you’ll find that you’re experiencing a lot of moments of spiked adrenaline. It’s exciting to show off the skills that you so carefully honed! Alas, pace yourself. This is the definition of a marathon, and is one that you shouldn’t expect to win the first go around.

Unfortunately, being the fresh meat at the scene, you’ll find that on top of veteran players sizing you up during friendlies, a lot of them will try to play mind games with you. Don’t be surprised if someone comments on how cheap your character or playstyle is. If someone heckles you like this, understand that they are jealous of your skills and practice, and that they wish they could be as talented as you. Stay respectful but stand firm that you know your stuff and that’s why you’re winning.

The rest of playing Smash Ultimate professionally comes down to two things many Hollywood actors are accustomed to: money and luck. If you’re finding consistent success at your weeklies, use this experience to attend a larger competition in your area, such as Frostbite or DreamHack. It costs a LOT of money to fly somewhere and put yourself up. Consider this as a fun pastime as opposed to a job, because you’ll have to keep your day job for a while; that is, if and when you get noticed.

The best way to get noticed and sponsored as a professional Smash player is by having multiple Twitch streams per week. Gain a following on Twitter from your quality Twitch streams, and create some fun gimmicky videos on a YouTube channel. While there is no guarantee that promo companies such as MVG or NRG will notice you, if you keep at the grind, your opportunity to play Smash Ultimate professionally may just one day happen.