Deep soft live tournaments.

After about a 6 month hiatus from live tournaments, (Mainly since I don't have enough luck in them, ironically my $1/2 no limit live game is better) I'm planning to play in a $250 buy in tournament at the casino I frequent.

Format: $150k guarantee, $20k guarantee for 1st.
15k starting stack, 2 day tournament, 6 starting flights (1A-1F).
Day 1 25 min levels. Day 1 ends when 11% of starting flight is left and qualify for Day 2. Day 2 40 min levels, all players cash.

Tournament is pretty soft

I play fairly TAG, do my best to see flops cheaply and in position. Capable of making plays at the pot when I sense weakness in opponents.

One area I struggle in is at middle levels when stack sizes become shallower (smaller M ratio, stack/bb smaller) and becomes push-fold shovefest. This ends up being the case usually because I'm unable to keep up my stack when deep and cant open shove since usually an opponent will push before I act.

How do you go about it in these tournaments?

Maybe work on your push/fold so when it comes to that you feel confident your making the right shoves/calls look around at online blogs or book or pushbot thingy. You need to feel confident you know when to make the right pushes/calls And if you feel your ahead of someones pushing range don't be afraid to call. this might not be true when your on the final table and playing for big money but if your not there you need to get it in any spot you feel you have a slight edge as you are short stack you need to take those gambles.

Play TAG early stages. and then middle stages open up and adjust to the table. 3 bet loose openers, steal from the tight etc etc. Have no fear of busting out. And play with confidence.

I play basically these exact same tourneys every weekend.

Here is my basic strategy:
early game (deepstacked) play basically tight. You can definitely set mine in any position if you stick to a budget, and you can play speculative hands in late position (like 97s). avoid trap hands like KJ

middle tournament: this is where most of the skill lies. above all else, consider your stack size relative to the stack sizes of your opponents. Maintain your fold equity no matter what! If making a certain move, bet, call etc. will kill your fold equity in the future, then either pass on that move, or just go all in. You don't want to be left with a stack that doesn't threaten anybody. If the blinds are going up in a couple of minutes and you know that once that happens your stack won't be able to get anyone to fold then JUST PICK A SPOT to get in in asap.

Do NOT blind down in the middle. THE MIDDLE IS WHERE YOU TAKE SOME RISKS TO BUILD A STACK. for a few reasons: #1 the blinds are finally worth stealing. #2 re-stealing is REALLY valuable to your stack #3 weak players for some reason go tighter at this stage once the blinds are big relative to their stacks; it's opposite of what they should do but they are WEAK and they usually just like to splash around for cheap in pots. They are much less likely to call your bets now that the blinds are big. #4 the middle is what sets you up for the final table. I can't tell you how many times I've seen players build a stack early only to donk it off before the bubble, or to blind it down by the bubble. But when a player builds a stack in the middle, they usually go deep. Don't be an early bird, be a middle man.

my tips for playing the middle effectively: never fold a big draw, play them aggressively. be happy to push it in with 12+ outs on the flop, when you add the fold equity I think monster draws is HOW big stacks are made; this is that part about taking risks to build a stack. re-steal liberally if your image supports it. pressure the nits. be acutely aware of bet sizing and stack sizes. Probably can't fold any monsters, at least never preflop; can't fold QQ, JJ, AK preflop in most cases. You will probably have to win a flip or two in the middle. That's just the way it is.

EXPLOIT THE BUBBLE: Find out who at your table is just trying to hold on for a cash, and raise them relentlessly...but if they fight back at all, back down. they must have a real hand if they're willing to commit chips.

AFTER THE BUBBLE BURSTS: sit back and let the all-in fest happen. stay out of the line of fire unless you're packing heat.