Do you guys feel that winning the first round puts you in a better state of mind to pull out a victory? Whenever I lose the first round, I get doubtful and anxious, which leads me to lose probably.
In fact, I think 95% of my ranked wins are straight wins.
It really depends on a lot of things (who you're playing, how good both of you are, how shitty or good of a day you're having, etc). For me, there is often no real consistency when concerning first round momentum (or lack thereof).
Like for instance, I decided to pick up Naoto again after I completed her 28th Challenge on a whim (after literal days of trying to complete it awhile ago). I fight a Mitsuru player on ranked who legitimately knows his shit; he knows proper combos, he knows more than 5A spam, and he played a mean pressure and mixup game. Hell, that first round was close to a perfect for him.
I got a little anxious, but thought to myself "Okay... I need to change tactics, because trying to match him blow for blow isn't working." So the next two rounds, I decided to play defensively; set-up traps, and try baiting him into bullets by mixing up shot angles and delaying shots. If he got close, use Naoto's defensive action to keep him out, or try to use j.5C into an alpha pistol combo to continue to keep him out. Won the next two rounds simply because I uncharacteristically kept my cool.
On that same coin, there have definitely been matches where I body the first round, feel confident, but end up letting the match slip due to silly mistakes. So basically, I at least try for the "It's not over until it's over" state of mind as much as I can.
