Focus on fundamentals
Watching a tournament and seeing your favorite character pull off some flashy combos can easily inspire and build hype. Those combos (most of the time) are a heavy gamble that you need to know when to abort and stop midway to brace yourself in case the opponent has the opportunity to retaliate. The most important tool in your arsenal will be your own intuition. Know what each button on the controller does. Learn what moves come out the fastest (typically a poke like a crouching light punch or command grab like Zangief’s Spinning Piledriver). If an opponent jumps in towards you, what move can knock them out of the air? Which moves cause a juggle or some form of light stun so that you can continue your combo with little risk? These are all things to keep in the back of your mind and with enough training will just become muscle memory that you can pull off on reaction
