Honestly, my first match wasn't that bad. I was up against JJ Payday in my first round, who, if I remember correctly, used Hell Salamander 0 Bump Atomic. He seemed as nervous as I was, but I ended up winning with Cho-Z Achilles 00 Proof Destroy. The next battle shook me up a lot more. I went up against LazerBeamz, who was organizing the tournament. I was sure I would lose, but I tried to win anyway. We both pulled out Cho-Z Spriggans in Left-Spin, his on 10S.Xt+ and mine on 0B.Br, and duked it out. It all went down to the last possible point, in which I outspin his combo. My next matchup was against NateDogPhilly, who had judged my match against LazerBeamz. He used pP.Ω.Xt+ while I brought my out Cho-Z Achilles combo again. To sum it up, I Destroyed him. Pun intended. He's still trying to exact revenge on me. Anyway, with my nerves almost completely gone, I waited in Freeplay until the Loser's Bracket was finished so I could battle once more. People thought I would win, but I said that I definitely won't. After people hyping me up in Freeplay for a while, LazerBeamz announced that the Finals were about to go underway and read out the Deck Format rules. I had read those rules several times already, so I was prepared. I put czA.00P.Ds, czS.St.Br, and pP.0M.At in my pockets to use them for the Deck battles. My first battle in the Finals was against NewRocChampion1, who was borrowing my Dragon Winder and a spare Atomic I had. We were both talking smack before the match, and then I beat his Deck 5-0 with just my Cho-Z Spriggan combo. Sure, I was being cocky because of my win record, but it didn't matter. Next, I went up against supremeboss57 with the same strategy and same result. I was surprised I made it this far in the tournament, but I guess that's how beginner's luck goes. I went up against Ardmore Bladers for the final match. My Cho-Z Achilles got KOd immediately by his Hell Salamander, so I got scared and swapped into Spriggan for the next round. We exchanged points until the score was 4-4. I was so close to winning first place, but then Spriggan got KOd. It was just settling in that I almost got first place in my first tournament, which felt like a dream. I said the most heart-felt "GG" I've ever said, and then I went to watch the match for third place. Trust me, it felt really good. Some people even asked me if I was the "undefeated person" in the Beigoma Blues tournament Wombat just hosted, in which I said "almost." Honestly, even if I didn't win first in ECSB and got 7th in Beigoma Blues, it feels amazing to be around so many people that understand you.

TL;DR
Even rookies can do really well. Just look at Valt! They didn't call him a "Dark Horse" for nothing! You might even get a couple weeks of acknowledgement from other Bladers for your tournament record. And even if you don't win, it's definitely still a lot of fun to be in a tournament.