Congrats on reaching Gold 1.

Too bad you lost in the tournament. But as @niallon11 says: practice makes perfect. :0)

I see tournaments as a learning experience: you get a chance to battle players you would never meet in the ranking battles - there's always something new to learn.

Tournament play is also very different from daily play, IMO. In the beginning, I always had a hard time deciding which splinter to use - I often changed my team with only 30 seconds left on the clock. No need to say that's barely enough time to select a team, let alone a good one.

The reason for that was that I was used to playing only to complete the DQs. Basically, the game had always told me which splinter I should use. I had no experience with deciding which splinter was best for which rule.

I can't tell you how many beatings I had to take before I managed to win something in a tournament. But every beating was worth it, because every time I learned. Now, I still lose in 1st rounds - bad decisions, strong opponents - but I also earned 60 Steem in the last 4 days, just from playing tournaments. So don't give up. :0)