How to Play Teams: A Breakdown of What it Takes to Win

Since I'm hitting writer's block before I even start this article, I figure I might as well open with the statement that I haven't a clue where to begin. I've been hesistant for months to write something such as this due to what such an endeavor would encompass. There's also the realization that teams is rarely taken anywhere near as seriously as singles competition, and that there are so many variable factors involved with teams that it may be too huge an undertaking to try and write an article about team competitions that covers all the bases. But **** it, I'm gonna try.

The Overview:

I've been playing team matches for as long, if not longer, than I've played singles matches. I spent two years playing this game in 4-player FFA matches every weekend before I even realized this game had any depth to it, subconciously learning getaway tactics, camping strategies and general stage awareness. Once I got into the competitive smash scene and began tweaking and honing my 1vs1 skills though, I would on any given day probably be the person least interested in playing teams. Everything just seemed so random and chaotic about teams, including everything from switching player focus to combos to edgeguarding, that I felt playing teams was just a sideshow event to the main attraction of singles competition. With all the random motion and sometimes complete lack of strategy I was witnessing from so many players, I accepted that teams was nothing more than just for fun.

I couldn't have been more wrong. I've spent the last 2 years competing in and studying the aspects of team competition such as team strategies and specifics, character matchups, pace of play, playstyle synergies and tendencies of players during a teams match to alter their style/movesets/etc. I've come to the conclusion that high-level teams competitions are the most complex exercises of strategy, synergy and mental awareness available in this game.

Loftiness aside though, I'm going to skip to the part where I bluntly and rightfully state that most people actually absolutely suck when playing in teams matches. And I'm not referring only to noobs flailing around in friendlies on the weekend; even great players can be, and in many cases are clueless as to how to be an effective teammate. A lot of the problems in making the transition from singles to teams competition come from the lack of recognition of the skills one needs to be successful in a teams environment. It's not that they can't still perform well in a teams match; on the contrary, put two solid singles players together into a team and more often than not, they'll put up a solid performance. But that's usually just their raw talent destroying their opposition. More times than I can recall, I've seen exceptional groups of singles players taken out of the bracket by players who may not be as good singles-wise, but their team has the strategy, mindset and teamwork to come out on top. So for the rest of this article, I'm going to delve into how to play teams matches, and how to win, ranging from what the best players do that others overlook, to what the downfalls of good players are that makes them perform poorly in teams matches, to how even bad players can become great teammates, and much much more.


TOPIC #1 - THE DIFFERENCE

This ISN'T singles play. You need to throw out everything you know about singles play and reform your game again from scratch; this includs how agressive or defensive you play, what kinds of openings are safe to punish, how to edgeguard, how to protect yourself, how to protect your teammate and stay out of his way at the same time, etc. Teamwork is paramount; you cannot and will not win big matches by yourself by being a hero. Everything you do in a teams match, including pounding an opponent into submission, can have an adverse effect on your team's well-being if you don't properly support your teammate. You may have just finished up a gigantic death combo on one opponent, only to realize once it's over that your other opponent has made quick work of your teammate while you were distracted by your single-mindedness. Where does this get your team? The Loser's Bracket.



TOPIC #2 - THE GAMEPLAN

There is a plethora of strategies and mindsets that a team could adopt and employ. However, many of the different gameplans a team could share are completely wrong from a competitive aspect; many of them are obviously stupid if looked at in retrospect, or if the team would just step back and look at how they operate together. There are a few select mindsets that have what it takes to compete at a high level, but still get ahnillated by best of them. So let's try and break down what makes a great competitive mindset.

As I mentioned earlier, a competitive teams match can be extremely complex. You not only have interactions between yourself and one opponent, but also between yourself and another independant opponent and between yourself and your teammate. You need to play three times as conscious and aware of your surroundings. You need to modify your combos, edgeguards, and movements to compensate for your lack of open space and freedom. All this in addition to everything that goes on in a normal 1vs1 match. However, if everything were given respective percentage totals for how important they are to winning, it is my opinion that 50% of a team match is in knowing your teammate's game, and him knowing yours.

This is where forming a solid team all begins. Before you can work and perform fluidly as a team, you'd best know exactly what to expect from your teammate. You need to know his pace of play inside and out. There should be no suprises, and no confusion as to each other's role in the match (I'll get to this in a bit). If someone were to ask you questions like "How agressive is your teammate's edgeguarding? Does he like to fight out front, or remain protected by his teammate's offense? Is he careful or careless with respect to attacking near your position? Does he like fighting near the edge or near the center of the stage?" The answers to these questions should not evade you, nor should they escape your teammate.

So here you are now. You know your teammate's pace and style of play, and he knows yours. Where do you go from here? This is where you need to step back and analyze your respective styles, and begin assigning roles between each other. Now, roles are not always static, but knowing your role in the match and being able to follow through with it can give your team new levels of confidence and focus you might never have thought possible. Roles also serve as building blocks for creating successful mindsets and strategies. Roles can be divided in such ways as:

-Who will be the agressor in the match and who will be the stock tank
-Which teammate will focus on which respective opponent, determined by such possible factors as advantageous character matchups or abilities to counter certain styles of play.
-When to intervene in a teammate's combo and when to leave them be
-How close a proximity should be kept to each other for defensive purposes
-Goals and complimentary character combos you should aim for whenever possible (such as grabs leading to a teammate's Upsmash/Rest/Jab Infinite, for instance)

In the end, the more accurate roles you can assign between the two of you, the stronger your gameplan will be and the better your chances of victory. Things such as execution and confidence will of course factor into how successful your team will be as well, but for every role divided amongst you, for every goal your team sets out to accomplish in a match, the more prepared and focused your team will be over your adversaries. Remember, the main goal in any team stock match is to take their 8 stock faster than your team loses yours. So sit back, reflect on your character's complimentary traits, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your team's style and pace of play, and arrange roles in the match to best mask your weaknesses and compliment your strengths.




TOPIC #3 - POINTERS ON HOW TO PLAY EFFECTIVELY AS A TEAM

I don't really have a plan for this topic, so I'm just going to list a number of tips, ideas and mindsets I feel are important for playing well in a team match.

Don't be afraid to play "cheap" in a match. Cheap is just a scrub's term for efficiency. You can't pull off half the stuff you can do in a singles match in a teams match, but with help from your teammate, a whole new bag of tricks is available as well. Don't be ashamed to use every dirty little trick in your arsenal.

A great analogy to playing teams successfully would be to imagine you're playing a match as Ice Climbers, only that Team Attack is turned on between them and affects the interaction with Popo and Nana. Your team should flow as if you were Popo and your teammate were Nana; symmetrical trains of thought, both moving with the same goals in mind. Never once for a moment ignore what your opponent is doing (or what your opponent is doing to him). Stay out of his way and do not impede his movements, but always stay close enough and correctly-positioned that you can bail him out of a combo or edgeguard at a moment's notice.

Always watch your back, and remember that no matter what you might think, no combo is sacred in a teams match. No matter how well your combo is going, remember that you cannot complete it if you are dead. If you see an opponent approaching you to break up your combo and punish you for your vunerability, either but your victim in between you and the advancing opponent, or toss your victim aside and place your focus on the approaching enemy. The best combos and punishments in a teams match usually derive from catching an opponent preoccupied or unaware of his surroundings; keep an eye out for these opportunities at all times, and take care not to fall into situations like those yourself.

Everything you do in a teams match is doubly amplified; a mistake will prove twice as costly, and precise executions twice as clutch. For this reason, revenge, arrogance and pride have absolutely no place in a teams match at the highest level. I cannot emphasize this enough. In singles play, a player who rushes into an opponent's defense without analyzing the situation will almost always be punished by a good player. In teams, though, rushing in to exact revenge is completely reckless, not only leaving you prone to getting completely owned when you blindly rush into your opponent's trap, but it also makes you a hazardous burden to your opponent as well. You rushing blindly or aggressively towards your opponent to defend your honor from his last kill on you will:

1.) Put you into a position where your teammate needs to constantly watch and support you more than normal to keep you out of trouble
2.)Throw up the red flag for both of your opponents that you are easy prey, playing on tilt, and will be an easy target of which to take advantage
3.) Effectively cut off your connection of teamwork by abandoning your teammate in order to attempt to exact sole revenge onto your opponent. You sacrifice such opportunities like double-teaming the opponent your teammate was fighting, or leave your teammate hanging out to dry while he gets comboed or edgeguarded simply for your own blind stubborness.



This is what I could come up with for playing teams effectively. I know that a lot of material is probably escaping me at the moment, and if anything else comes up I'll be sure to edit it in. Since teams play is one of my favorite subjects in smash, if you have any questions you might want answered, feel free to ask and I'll try to give as best a response as I can. Thanks for taking the time to read this; I hope it helps, and hopefully many of these concepts will transfer over to competitive teams play in Brawl.

King Out

Good stuff!

Very nice read.

this is just what i needed.

you, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

It would be nice to see some of the team strategy tenets for a two versus one situation:

The solo player cannot rely on smashes even a tenth as often, while the double team can use them more because of a simple analysis of lag punishment.

Edgeguarding is simplified by using a fairly easy method of one edgehogger and one stage defender.

Attempting to recover from every situation possible can be both important and distracting; sometimes it's better to lose the stock then try everything you can to get back, simply because it leaves your teammate in a disadvantageous two versus one situation. But it's also necessary to remember that your teammate can save you from "guaranteed" edgeguards, so sometimes it's necessary to play tenaciously. It's largely based on your teammate's situation; if he is in between the edgeguarder and the opposing team's other player, it's usually better to try and return. If he is on the other side of both opponents, it's often better to let yourself die quickly so you can help him--assuming you are at the extreme limit of your recovery, of course.

Other things that are very important:

The importance of threats in a team's match; merely by being nearby you exert pressure on an opponent.

How deadly grabs are. Seriously. But also how they can be a double edged sword.

Shields are vicious weapons, and why.

Basic rolling and teching principles. My favorite one was invented by my friend, and is "never tech towards the cluster****."

Usually, you shouldn't hit A when you have people in a grab; it creates a hitbox and can often screw up your teammate's attempt to help combo.

The most important thing, however, has already been mentioned, which is having a game plan. A lot of common situations occur repeatedly throughout a match, and both teammates need to understand the roles the other plays, and I've seen pretty good players botch a necessary team combo horribly because they failed to communicate prior to the match or during. Will you throw the opponent to your teammate, or let your teammate hit him out of the grab?

Those are just some of my thoughts/suggestions on it. 2v2 is fun and very involved, and I like it lots :D

King for President!

Wait, what?use

I have found... that Fox's upsmash is granted electric powers similar to Falcon's knee in teams. Intelligent Cstick abuse is the key to VICTOLY!

That being said. Nice thread King. I definitely had that mindset about teams for a while, but I'm gradually getting more into it.

Chemistry is such a huge portion of any team game, and basic communication between yourself and your partner can swing a game entirely. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you're getting your ish handed to you. More than likely your partner will be able to at least lend you a hand, switch up, etc.

I would like to think that I have a fairly decent insight in what makes a good team. While me and green mario did not place very high at FC and only mediocre at Pound2, at both tournaments we had a great teams showing, which I think goes to show that teams is far more than just 2 really good singles players.

I dont quite have the eloquence or the solid grip on the english language that King or Wobbles have, but I can elaborate on their points with my own personal experience. Maybe it can help shed light on how their suggestions are applied.

For me and green mario, from the beginning we knew each other inside and out, as it was I who introduced him to smashboards and competitions. Knowing each other styles was never a problem but I can tell you that the best way to go about it is just play your teammate until you get sick of it. Practicing teams isnt exclusively practicing your team versus another. Its also the 1 vs 1 between your teammate to get to know exactly what to expect.

We have never really tried to go for exactly what is expected or smart, but what is comfortable. If that werent the case we wouldnt be a Peach-Mario team. Our team personally has my peach being the aggressor with green taking a hold of stocks, which surprises some people because of how good peach can be as a stock holder. But my style of play isnt to hold stocks, its to fight. Green Mario can go either way but since i'm aggresive he generally stays back. I'm comfortable being in the thick of it. Thats what I'm good at. Dont try to force yourself into something that isnt what you do because you think its smarter. If you and your team partner know each other well enough and have the team work everything generally falls into place.

You should look at your partner just as much as your opponent. You main your character and play all the time, you know what you do. Concentrate instead on opportunities. King is absolutely right, self absorption in a teams match is a sure way to lose. Stopping a combo early to help your team mate finish off his own combo isnt a bad thing. stopping a combo early still leaves your opponent in the position where HE is the one needing to turn the tables back again. If you're occupied with one opponent, and you see your partner doing a combo, any good teams player should and will know how far that combo will go, when the combo will end, how the other opponent will be sent flying, and be able to completely concentrate on their current opponent and be able to break away instantly in order to finish them off, perhaps often time begin a juggle between you fighting one opponent, and the back and forth of you and your partner attacking the other.

Knowing when you are needed and when you are not is also extremely important. Getting in the way of your partner can be worse than attacking him. Knowing when he can finish combos, when he can edgeguard, when he needs help, etc is always extremely important. Even if it means staying back and doing nothing while your partner takes on the entire team, sometimes thats the most effective thing.

When it is you and your partner versus one player, the temptation to jump him is great, but remember, keeping the both of you alive and keep percent low is the absolute priority. Jumping the opponent only gives him the opportunity to seperate you and make matters worse. I dont want to insult any specific team or sound too cocky but there is one personal example which exemplifies this best. In second round of teams pools at FC I was stuck in a 2 vs 1 myself versus a sheik/falco. The second green mario died, they decided to come at my at once, which is the exact situation I look for. The second they do that they get in each other's way and if they dont hit each other they're so close together i can throw out an attack, seperate, and follow up on one player alone. This is exactly what happened, one was at a low percent and one was at a high percent (I was in the 100's) and every time they both came at me and everytime i seperated and was able to fight the falco more comfortably.------------(I'd like to note here that King's Ice Climber analogy is especially applicable. You want to seperate them but dont put yourself in a position where by concentrating on one you leave yourself vulnerable to the other. Just like in an IC match it applies here)--------------- In the end because of their poor decisions I was able to win the match.

So if a rush is no good, then what? Like I said, keeping the two of you alive is critical. While I dont know how other teams work but I know exactly what me and green do. He stays on the ground fighting whoever happens to be left, and I float and spam down airs right above their battles. Its uses are twofold in that firstly if he happens to start racking up damage and somewhere in his combo he comes into my downair I can simply nair him out and set up for an edgeguard. The other use is that if my partner happens to get hit off at high percent, my dair will end up saving him. Now I realize that this is just one character but it is this thinking that lets you win.

.........thats all I really have to share, I'll let the much better King elaborate more.

Another important aspect of that d-air technique that XIF mentioned is space control. When your teammate is fighting, you can hem in the opponent by creating something of a threat force field around them. Imagine trying to fight an opponent when suddenly the wall of the stage is up against your back and coming closer.

By floating over your teammate's opponent with d-airs, you aren't hitting him, but you aren't allowing him to move. His options for fighting your teammate become limited, and limited options ='s greater predictability.

But it's important to know when to leave your teammate alone, as well. Don't interrupt a Marth's CG on a space animal if he's busy ZTD'ing him. Focus on creating a wall between them and the other opponent, and let your teammate work his magic. Sometimes teamwork is knowing when not to help.

Personally, I think you should also include common character team matchups and their advantages/disadvantages, general tactics used during team matches like how to help your partner in a certain way that wouldn't hinder him/her such as if your partner is a Jiggs and misses a rest, are you going to help them or let your opponents get a free hit on your partner. Also spacing. Spacing is very important during team matches because you also have to watch for your partner. If your playing as Marth, you don't want to recklessly fsmash to hit your opponent but at the same time, hit your partner with a tipper. Also take into account where projectile characters like Samus and Link should use their projectiles wisely more in favor of them and not the opponents. It could help a lot of people if this stuff was even mentioned once.

I've been trying to look into teams more deeply before these last few tournaments before brawls release. This was definitely a good read.

What the hell XIF? Your grasp of English is great. :S

probably why i'm not so great in teams cause i tend to be the killer, i always steal my friend's kills...so i'm looking for a partner...one that'll give damage and sort of be like a tank

Wow, so many good players interested in teams, this is some really amazing stuff. Personally I like teams more than singles, I dont know that I am neccesarily better at them but they are a more fun to me.

I usually play Fox or ICs in teams and I am usually pretty defensive, I like to grab when its safe because its so easy to grab and get hit for more damage than you are going to give by your opponents team mate. I also like to punish my opponents lag with smash attacks for early edgeguards. For example my team mate does a dash attack that I know is easily punishable, so I run away from my opponent towards him and get there right after he is hit by a smash and then I smash they so they cant follow up, the most common thing I usually see here is them throwing my partner up because he usually plays fox and I get a nice safe hit while my partner DIs behind me to protect me from the other guy.

Good read. Kudos to King, XIF, and Wobbles for the advice and such.

I always preferred Teams to Singles as well, probably because I tend to do better in Teams....

Wobbles the Phoenix said:

Basic rolling and teching principles. My favorite one was invented by my friend, and is "never tech towards the cluster****."

Usually, you shouldn't hit people while they're in grabs; it creates a hitbox and can often screw up your teammate's attempt to help you.

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I completely disagree the first comment. Teching towards chaos can halt the opponent from attacking for their own fear of running into it or fear of hurting their partner. AND the good opponents know that people prefer to tech away. During our smashfests we coined a phrase "[Mathos] techs into the action."

I think you should clarify that you mean if you have someone grabbed not to hit them. At first I thought you meant not to combo on people in grabs.

Great thread!

I suck at teams. This is cool. Perhaps I can improve at teams.

mathos said:

I completely disagree the first comment. Teching towards chaos can halt the opponent from attacking for their own fear of running into it or fear of hurting their partner. AND the good opponents know that people prefer to tech away. During our smashfests we coined a phrase "[Mathos] techs into the action."

I think you should clarify that you mean if you have someone grabbed not to hit them. At first I thought you meant not to combo on people in grabs.

Great thread!

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I think in teams its safer to not tech more than in singles cause you can just not tech and get up with an attack and it tends to be more confusing than people are used to, of course your opponent can take advantage of this but I havent seen it happen.

As for the comment on grabs I think its saying if your ICs you shouldnt headbutt or if your Marth you shouldnt knee, the extra 3 damage in teams isnt really worth the chance you will hit your partner while he is trying to usmash.

thanks wobbles, I meant to put something in there about that but I forgot to, so thanks for catching that.

I think somewhere in my wall of text I mention that not helping is sometimes the best help. But wobbles made that point more apparent and it really does deserve reiteration. I cant even begin to count the amount of times where a match can be completely botched because a partner feels forced to help and ruins the momentum going of his partner.

u mean u cant just relentlessly attack and spam moves?

****

I love playing tank when it comes to teams since I usually camp the ledge while I try to make a decent offense or enough to cover my teammate.

Yay, nice overview on teams. :3

Funnily enough, I was told once to be a better teamplayer than singles player. My other friend who also uses peach, is told to be sucky in teams and I can see that, he doesn't normaly do well in teams, attacks his team partner and everything. But when teamed with me, the syenergy we have flows overboard and the fact that we've been playing ssbm ever since it was released and ssb before that really seems to show in our game. He's still not much of a team player, he doesn't save me that much and other stuff, but 2 peaches attacking at once from both airborne and ground is fearsome combination. Usually I've been staying back, having my partner on the fray and me dealing damage, but this was funnily enough reversed when I attended RoS4 and teamed with Ngcxx, another peach player who also used fox and jiggs on teams. His fox and jiggs didn't fair too well, but our double peach got us quite far and I was on the front attacking and he was on the backstage. I also do well with my other buddy, who plays fox along with other top tiers and such, been playing with him a bit too long. He's very good at taking advantage of the invulnerability frames and when they least expect it, he goes and kills them with one hit or combo. He's like a predator in teams, seeking out the wounded and finishing them off.

But hey, what about taking stocks from your teampartner? Recognicing when and when not take a stock can also be a deciding factor in teams play. Say, I wouldn't leave my peach buddy to fight some fox/falco team alone for instance, but I could definitely leave my fox playing buddy to deal with anything if he so wishes. I'm not really good in 1vs2 situations myself, 2 opponents usually overwhelm me, so I'd rather let my team partner have the last stock.

And rolling, shielding and sidestepping on the fray ftw. If one gets caught on the middle against the opponent players, simple dodging and shielding can get them hit each other a lot more. Gotta love opposing Marth players fsmashing trough your shield, only to hit their partner who happened to be too close. ^^ But I also like to shield or evade when I know my Marth team partner will try to fsmash my opponent who's next to me. ^^

Nice Read, Thank you king ^__^

Mathos: "Don't tech towards the action" basically means when you have a fight going on, particularly between your teammate and an opponent, you don't want to keep rolling in there while you're vulnerable; it makes it very likely that you'll incur massive amounts of damage from clashing attacks. An opponent will be too glad to hit you with an attack he was already throwing out, and it makes your teammate nervous about fighting because you're suddenly in the middle of everything, helpless. Getting bounced between multiple attacks can also make it VERY hard to DI correctly, and you might lose almost an entire stock for a badly placed tech roll.

It's almost impossible to say what you should do in any given situation, but it doesn't make sense just to throw yourself into a dangerous situation with no benefit. If you think the opponent will break off from the action to chase down your tech, then yeah, but don't go straight into a group of aerials and smashes when you can't do anything to protect yourself.

Perhaps I should rephrase it and say "don't tech into the middle of the cluster****."

It's all about pretending you're focusing on one of the opponents...

THEN GOING TO THE OTHER ONE WITH AN UP-SMASH!!!
YEAHHHHH!

Peach owns in teams.

Don't tech in the downsmash!!!

lolz

The worst singles player in my crew happens to be the best doubles partner because he can tell when to stay out of the way and when to jump in and save my ***.

The King said:

Never once for a moment ignore what your opponent is doing (or what your opponent is doing to him). Stay out of his way and do not impede his movements,

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Did you mean what your "teammate" is doing?

also: King + Isai = way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way way too good. good sht at 0c3.

A lot of this stuff I read is what me and my team mate use in our game. At first you don't think about not 2 vs 1ing your opponent and try to help you partner out but we learned that fast. I'm falco the aggressive part of the team while hiroshi is sheik saving the stocks. He know's exactly when to let me combo the other person and when to come in and fair for the kill. We make a pretty good team

I'm going to try teaming with another person in my crew at a tourney this weekend and see how that works out

From what I have read very efficient teams seem to be the ones that stay out of each others way. But perhaps this is so because the style most players employ involve doling out damage as quickly as possible *(a generalization with obvious problems, of course, the details of which I don't understand except intuitively), which makes sense of course in singles matches. But in doubles matches, it seems concentrating coordinated quick and weaker attacks into a specific area might be a strategy to try, especially for ranged characters. I'll go so far as to suggest that teammates may want to try attacking and holding a certain position using a flurry of such attacks or other threatening gestures (spamming projectiles or position shifts).
To me it seems that team matches are very different from singles, where great skill in singles does not at all translate to a similar ability in doubles.
I'm curious as to what characters compliment each other best in experience so far. I'm sure doubles has a lot of trail blazing yet to come.^^

Me and my friend were once talking about team tactics and he came up with the weirdest idea. It would be a Ganon/Mario team and his idea was that Ganon could charge the warlock punch and at the last second, the Mario would cape him hitting anyone behind him by surprise. Even though it was original, I don't think it would work out. Though it would be awesome if you actually did that during a match.

kenny10 said:

Me and my friend were once talking about team tactics and he came up with the weirdest idea. It would be a Ganon/Mario team and his idea was that Ganon could charge the warlock punch and at the last second, the Mario would cape him hitting anyone behind him by surprise. Even though it was original, I don't think it would work out. Though it would be awesome if you actually did that during a match.

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<____________<;;;

im glad this king fellow lives down the street from me.

SMASH ON FRIDAY NIGHT. and btw.. i cant get a hold of you anymore due to ****ty work schedules.. give me a call when you get home or when ever you see this.

That was a very nice read. Props, lots of 'em.

I have a great strategy thats basically unstoppable. First off get a pretty decent fox and get really good at upsmashing. Next find a peach who can live a long time and is very good at downsmashing( or vice versa u can be the peach). i swear i suck at teams but this works.
Proof: 1st place teams pound 2 me and m2k we went double fox vs someteams but in the finals i went mostly peach
FC-D 1st place , yeah me and cort basically ***** lol
OC3 5th place, with milktea !

So your strategy is just.. smash?

Amen .

You kind of have to have a brain too.

>_<

bleh, Peach/Fox is ridiculous

Amen Indeed

Zackular said:

So your strategy is just.. smash?

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PC only uses the C-stick in teams. When he wants to move he C-sticks forward. Peach players have a slightly harder time, since none of her smashes let her move forward at all, however, fox's forward smash provides her with enough mobiliity so that anyone who doesn't get sucked into her downsmash surely will as she is pushed accross the stage by fox.