Chat gave me the OK to post, but you had better get around to Abra too!
So, there's this "Remix" movement going on where me take bad movesets and make them better. Hmmmm, this sounds like a great idea! I know just the set to improve!
...wait for it...
SPADEFOX REMIX
MWAHAHAHAH! *Thunder and lightning*
Here,
take a gander at the original moveset so you can better appreciate how this new one has more going for it than headers and extras. And use that see his backstory and whatnot, I don't feel like typing it out and nobody cares about my OC's story anyways besides myself (h).
To get us on the same page,
Spadefox actually DOES wield his scythe normally in this new moveset. In fact, it's perhaps the most vital tool in his arsenal this time around...
STATS
No more stupid /10 stats. No more paragraphs mashed with the intro. Wheeee
Movement Speed: Good. Dash is comparable to the speed of Fox Mcloud (totally not on purpose, nope nope)
Traction: Excellent
First Jump: Good. Comparable to Yoshi
Midar Jump: Short. Comparable to Meta Knight. Total of 3 midair jumps and an easily controlled glide.
Aerial Control: Good
Fall Speed: Above average.
Size: Similar height to Ganondorf but notably thinner. Wings and tentacles do not have hurtboxes normally.
Weight: Detestable. Barely heavier than Jigglypuff.
Special Feature: Tentacle Priority [TV ad voice]As seen in the original moveset![/TV ad voice]
When Spadefox uses his tentacles in an attack, they can be destroyed by any other hitbox but this will not damage Spade himself. He will simply sprout a new one (isn’t being made of shadows fun?) to take its place. This does end the attack but Spade experiences hardly any lag besides a pitifully low amount of hitstun.
SPECIALS
Wizzerd: The specials are first this time! #liquidblast
Neutral Special: Scythe Mind
Spadefox holds out his left hand as he lets go of his scythe. The scythe then begins to spin around while lying horizontally in the air, floating. Spade continues to hold out his hand as you direct his scythe through the air with the control stick (stopping in place is possible). It moves at a somewhat sluggish pace and cannot go through solid walls. The scythe is a naturally disjointed hitbox that deals
2% with flinching knockback, hitting 5 times in a second. Each time an enemy is hit with the scythe their DI increases temporarily so this cannot infinite, though by tracking the enemy with the scythe you can still rack up some nice damage. Spade spreads his wings if he performs this move in the air, halving his fall speed. There is below average lag to start the move.
While the scythe is moving around, you can press the Special Attack Button to teleport the scythe back into Spade’s hand with average lag. This is also what happens if he is interrupted performing this move, though the scythe returns to him during his hurt animation. Pressing the Attack Button will have Spade teleport to the scythe over .3 seconds. Once he reappears he will instantly perform a horizontal slash with the scythe that deals
14% and horizontal knockback on a low trajectory that KOs at 90%. This has average end lag, but when Spade swings his scythe with such force that it causes a burst of wind to emit along the ground on both sides, quickly shoving enemies back as far as 1 Battlefield drop-through. The wind disappears at the edge of platforms so it can't be used for an easy gimp.
Finally, you may press the Shield Button for Spade to point downwards as the scythe points straight up and plummets straight down into the ground. This has below average end lag, and deals
10% with a moderate spike. The scythe remains sticking into the ground upon landing, giving the move low end lag as Spade is controllable even without his scythe in his possession.
All of Spade’s other moves that use the scythe are changed when the scythe is stuck to the ground, though if he performs this move again the scythe will lift off the ground and be controllable from that point. If the scythe ends up falling into a pit, it will teleport back into Spade’s hand 5 seconds later, during which time some moves are unusable that require the scythe. If you want to get Spade's scythe back, you can also stand next to it and press down+grab, which will have him pluck the scythe off the ground with below average lag. In training mode there will be little icons over the scythe which tell you how to pick it up like this.
Side Special: Mitternacht
Spadefox clenches his hands into fists and grits his teeth as shadowy energy begins to build up on his back over .5 seconds. After this, we can hear the sound of glass shattering, and the energy on his back as changed to a thin layer of black smoke. Oh dear, according to the original moveset, Spadefox’s tentacles could go into portals of darkness and reappear elsewhere, and this smoke is on his back…so where are the tentacles?
You won’t have to look any further once an opponent takes high knockback that might KO them, as the camera zooming out will reveal that there are innumerable tentacles wriggling about around the edges of the screen. If an opponent is hit into them, the tentacles will immediately grab them and pull them into the darkness, instantly KOing them, so
this move essentially shrinks the blast zones of the stage. If Spadefox is hit into the tentacles, they will catch him and gently toss him back towards the stage, resetting his midair jumps in the process. This makes it impossible to KO Spade without some sort of instant KO move like The Count’s grab, but the opponent isn’t KO’d terribly earlier, the tentacles only just barely reach onto the screen…
…at least when the move is initiated. Once Spade has the tentacles implanted on the stage boundaries, they are left there permanently until he retracts them by inputting for this move as a smash input.
While the tentacles are implanted his other tentacle-based moves are replaced with pretty simple melee attacks that will be mentioned in due time. What you CAN do with the tentacles during this time, is perform this move again and hold the Special Attack Button for Spade to concentrate as the tentacles begin to creep closer and closer to the center of the stage. It takes 10 seconds for the tentacles to cover 75% of the stage, and while Spade’s appendages consume the stage what’s still visible starts to be covered in a grainy, murky graphical effect that becomes more pronounced as the opponents have less room to escape. 75% of the stage is covered, Spade must concentrate for 4 seconds without interruption for the tentacles to suddenly close over the remainder of the stage, which naturally KOs the opponents with no hope of escape.
While you might think you should always be using this move every chance you get to have huge blast-zones with no chance of being KOd yourself, it isn’t quite so one-sided. You see, in order Spadefox uses his own essence in order to fuel his ever-growing tentacles. As you continue to expand your influence over the stage, Spade’s clothing starts to tatter and his skin begins to dissolve into black mist as he gives over more and more of himself to this attack. This also causes his movement speed and jumps to decrease. When you reach 75% consumption of the stage, Spade is nothing more than a skeleton with glowing eye sockets, he can only perform a single jump with his bony wings, and his walk is a limp with Jigglypuff’s speed. While you still can’t be KO’d traditionally,
once Spade activates this attack the strain of keeping it up renders him vulnerable to stamina-style KOs. With the attack just activated Spade will be destroyed upon reaching 130%. With 75% of the stage under Spade’s control, his skeletal body is fragile enough to be taken out at a mere 60%! If Spade is already at dying damage when he activates this move, he will be KOd the next time he takes a hit. Considering his mobility decreases as he takes over more of the screen, this is the absolute pinnacle of high-risk/high-reward moves.
Up Special: Lost on the Path
Spadefox extends a single tentacle upwards at the rate of Charizard’s dash. He will keep extending it until it hits a platform, or until you release the Attack Button. There is below average startup lag to the move but ending the move early has average end lag. During the startup lag if you quickly press the direction on the Control Stick you can adjust the direction the tentacle moves in, in full 360 degrees around our demon wolf. Spade hovers and stops his aerial movement while this part of the attack is going on.
If the tentacle makes contact with a drop-through platform or the top or side of a solid platform, it latches on and Spade remains suspended at that point. Now, he can press the Attack Button to reach out with another tentacle in a direction you indicate, defaulting to forwards. Hit another piece of ground and now the tentacle remains stuck in that one too! Now you can use the control stick to teleport between the connection points and continue onwards to make more and more, with up to 10 of these on the stage at once! The tentacles are invincible once they stick to the stage, but if Spade takes damage at any point during this move, all of them disappear in a puff of smoke.
Upon making a smash-input during this phase of the attack, Spade snaps his fingers with the same lag as Snake activating a C4, causing every single one of his tentacle zip-lines to explode in a burst of darkness, dealing
12% and knockback that KOs at 130%. If you can set-up a lot of these, you can really box in your opponent and make things hectic when you decide to send it all to hell. If you want to cancel out of the move early, press the Shield Button and all the tentacles disappear as if nothing happened (detonating them also takes Spade out of the move). Pressing the Special Move button allows Spade to use his actual Neutral Special while this is all going on, so he isn’t defenseless.
If you have Mitternacht active when you input for this move, Spade performs a simple horizontal leap with his claws out-stretched. He goes as far as Donkey Kong's Up-B and as high as Luigi's first jump before entering free-fall. Spade's claws are hitboxes with low priority (For the record, all of Spade's claw attacks generally have low priority as the hitbox of his hand/claws matches up exactly with the hurtbox) but deal a respectable
12% with set vertical knockback as high as Falco's first jump. Below average startup and end lag.
Down Special: Guard Dog of Hades
Spade claps his hands together as a faint circle of dark energy radiates from his scythe, with the radius of one Battlefield drop-through platform.
If Spade is in the range of this circle, a black spiky chain forms between the scythe and the back of Spade’s neck, connecting them. The clap happens very quickly, as does the energy wave to connect Spade to his weapon. Upon a successful connection, blue flames start to envelop Spades’ body, the chain, and the scythe, and Spade glances at his hands for a moment as he extends his claws. If Spade is already holding his scythe this is naturally a guaranteed connection as he sticks his scythe into the ground while doing so.
As long as Spade and his scythe retain their link, he only has a single jump in this mode and no glide (we can’t have doggy flying away from his post can we?). In fact, he is left with a heavily shrunken moveset while maintaining a bond to the scythe; He can only use his jab, dtilt (all tilt inputs result in this move), dash attack, dsmash (all smash inputs will do it) and bair (all aerial inputs do it), and all of these moves will be their alternate claw-based variations.
However, his claws are extended to be 1.3 times their normal length, and the blue fire around them actually adds to their hitbox (and is disjointed), giving them some much-needed priority. Spade is constrained to the area he would be in range to actually connect with the scythe in the first place, and the connection will break if he is hit out of range. Normally his knockback will come to a halt as the chain reaches it limit, but if he takes as much as knockback as say, Mario’s Fsmash at 70%, it’ll snap and end the move.
Now why can’t the enemy just run away if Spade is confined to a smaller area? Because he still has an actual input with his Special Move button, silly! First, you can simply make the input for this move again, which causes the chain and fire to disappear as the scythe warps into Spade’s hands. This takes .25 seconds, during which time Spade has super-armor. If you perform any other Special Move input, Spadefox rears his head back with a shrill howl that makes the
entire screen look like cracked glass for a moment except for the area he can remain within. Any enemies caught in the attack take
10% with a paralyzer-stun, and the move deals decent damage to shields and cannot be dodged. This has low end lag, and high but cancelable startup lag. Forget pitiful telegraphed projectiles, just cover the entire freaking screen in an attack and your opponent has no choice but to approach!
*pants* Still with me here? Good, now we can FINALLY move past the specials and onto the abnormals. (h)
STANDARDS
Now with more viable options than FTilt!
Jab: Fishing for Sinners
Spadefox whips one tentacle forwards as far as a drop-through platform on Battlefield. This has average startup lag and deals a minor
4% with flinching knockback. The fun part is when you press the Attack Button a second time, which causes the tentacle to quickly retract while curling into the foreground. This deals
4% and trips any enemies in range while pulling them towards Spade. It has below average end lag so Spade can have oodles of fun taking advantage of his victim.
When this move is performed with the Side-Special active, Spade performs a single slash with his right hand, dealing
7% with knockback and stun comparable to Ganon’s jab, though instead of electrical effects, the attack has a darkness attribute. The attack is quick and has okay range.
Forward Tilt: The Fabric of Space
Spade lets go of his scythe and swings his left hand forwards, which causes the scythe to dart forwards as far as ½ of battlefield at a decent speed, blade-first. Any enemies who make contact with the scythe’s head take
9% and are dragged along to the end of the weapon’s flight path. At the end of the path, Spadefox pantomimes a horizontal weapon swing, which causes the scythe to perform the actual motion of the weapon. This deals
7% and then the scythe teleports back into Spade’s hand. Below average startup lag, average end lag.
If the scythe is on the stage via Neutral-Special, this input has Spade make a “come here” motion, calling his scythe to return to him. Rather than simply teleport to him, the scythe literally cuts a path through the air as it flies towards Spade at a high speed, going through all enemies and walls in its way. A purple scratch on the screen is left from its flight-path, which lasts for 1 second and is a disjointed hitbox, dealing
6% and flinching knockback. The scythe itself deals
9% and flinching knockback as it darts for its master. Average startup lag, below average end lag.
Down Tilt: Never saw it Coming
Spade sticks a tentacle into the ground and it starts to creep through the platform, appearing as nothing more than a shadow extending from Spade. As long as you hold the attack button the tentacle will continue to reach out until the button is released or it reaches the end of the platform. When that happens, the tentacle will immediately shoot out from the ground, reaching as high as Marth is tall and dealing
8% with set vertical knockback as high as twice Bowser’s height.
The tentacle will linger in the area for .3 seconds after striking, during which time it has no hitbox but can still be destroyed. During this time, you may press the attack button for Spade to sink into the ground, becoming a shadow himself, and
move to the location of the tentacle at an extremely fast speed, near instantly in fact. Spade cannot do this if the tentacle is destroyed. If you don’t teleport the tentacle will simply retract into the ground, and in either case there is low end lag. There is also low startup lag to the initial attack. Both the tentacle and Spade himself are invincible when in the ground except against a move that specifically affects the ground, in which case Spade and/or his tentacle will be knocked out the ground on the spot.
If Spade is using his Side-Special when this input is performed, then he’ll pull back one hand before lunging forwards on a low trajectory as far ¼ of battlefield while slashing with his claws. There is average startup lag as Spade prepares for the move, but the actual lunge occurs very quickly and has low end lag. His claws deal a respectable
12% with knockback that KOs at 140%, darkness attribute. If he goes off the stage he will regain control in the air.
Up Tilt: Sinister Rising
With low startup lag, Spade swings his scythe upwards in a semi-circle in front of himself, dealing
7% with vertical knockback that KOs at 190%. There is below average end lag to this, or you may press the attack button a second time for Spade to swing his scythe back down, dealing
6% and weak set forwards knockback as far as ¼ of battlefield. This part also has below average end lag.
If this input is performed with Spade’s scythe implanted in the ground, Spade performs an uppercut motion with one hand, causing his weapon to fly straight up at the speed of Fox’s blaster. It deals
8% with flinching knockback as it flies all the way to the top blast zone (or the tentacles from the side-special) or a ceiling. After a brief moment, Spade motions downwards, causing the scythe to plummet back down, dealing the same damage as it did the way up. Upon hitting a platform (not necessarily its starting point) it will implant itself into it while the force of impact creates a burst of dark energy to emit from the ground the size of Mario, dealing
12% and vertical knockback that KOs at 130%, and has a darkness attribute. Below average startup and end lag.
Dash Attack: No Escaping the Past
Spade anchors 2 tentacles into the ground as he continues dashing forwards. He will continue dashing while you hold the attack button, and upon release he will kick straight out similarly to Ganondorf’s FTilt while quickly pulling himself back to his starting point with his tentacles. His kick deals
12% with horizontal knockback that KOs at 135%, darkness attribute. Low startup lag and average end lag for the entire move. If an enemy destroys his tentacles while he is in the middle of this attack Spade will auto-trip. If Spade runs off the platform, jumps, or otherwise stops dashing the move cancels itself.
With the Side-Special active, Spadefox simply performs the kick on its own. This severely hurts it as the tentacles could pull Spade out of harm’s way if he whiffed, but now the move is fully punishable.
SMASH ATTACKS
Sorry, no more cigarette moves. Spade makes up for this by having lots of smoke-based stuff throughout his moveset (h)
Forward Smash: Around the World
Spade gives his scythe a mighty underhanded swing, causing it to fly forwards as fast as Fox’s blaster. How far does it travel? Why, it goes all the way to the end of the stage…and then it
loops around and returns to Spade from the other side of the screen! It deals
13-26% and set knockback as far as 2/3 of Battlefield, and the scythe will even phase through walls and such to complete its journey. While the move has below average startup and end lag, Spade is immobile for the duration of the move, so if he misses the sheer time it takes for his scythe to return is more than enough to punish him.
If the scythe is planted on the stage, Spade will mimic the normal motion as the scythe performs the attack from its current location. If Spade happens to be in the path of the scythe, he will catch it mid-flight and end the move. If the omnipresent Side-Special is in play, the Scythe will be absorbed into the tentacles and instantly appear on the other side like normal, thereby cutting down the duration of the attack. Overall, this a fun move to toy around with, and an excellent addition to Spade’s zoning game.
Down Smash: Tentacle Constriction
Spade raises 4 tentacles into the air as they take on a silver hue, and then he plunges them into the ground. A moment later, they emerge around the nearest enemy character (summons are ignored) and tightly wrap around them, holding them in place.
While the tentacles have grab-hitboxes they still obey tentacle priority and therefore can be dispelled with basic attacks, though they can still override shields like a regular grab. On the bright side, they can even grab airborne foes by emerging from portals in the sky. Once you catch your prey, Spade begins to squeeze the life out of them, dealing
2% for every .2 seconds an enemy is in your grasp. The time it takes to break free depends on charge, from the same of a regular grab to 1.3x as strong. This move has as much as startup lag as Ganon’s FSmash but below average end lag if you miss. It’s best used on enemies who like to remain still in order to force them to change their position.
When harnessing the power of Mitternacht, this attack is replaced with a harsh sideways claw-strike. This has below average startup and end lag and deals
12-24% with knockback that KOs at 130-80% and a darkness attribute. The reason why this move isn’t “ZOMG get rid of the tentacles to use this!” is that it has the typical poor priority of Spade's claw attacks and the range is only average.
Up Smash: Pitch-Black Light
Spade holds out his free hand as some shadowy substance flows from his hand into a neat compact black ball in his palm. After charging up the ball for .5 seconds, he fires it straight ahead, though the ball will home in on the nearest enemy with high precision. The ball is as large as a Smoke Ball item and moves as fast as a shot from Wolf’s blaster. It has average priority and deals
9-15% with knockback that KOs at 230-200%. Below average end lag.
When Spadefox transfers some of his essence to form the ball, it deals 15% to himself. However, upon a clean hit or a non-perfect shield, the dark substance completely covers the victim,
disabling all of their attacks that have a darkness attribute. This lasts until the enemy destroys the darkness covering them by “dealing” 15% in total with their attacks. They do not have to hit anything, just use attacks that will add up to 15% and they have access to darkness attacks again.
AERIALS
Why doesn't Spadefox have SHFFL? Because this is Brawl and not Melee. What, not everything has to be witty commentary!
Neutral Aerial: Damnation and Redepmtion
Spade harshly spreads his wings and arms as a swirling vortex of purple fire surrounds him for .4 seconds. The fire reaches outwards to cover an area the size of Bowser. Spade's aerial momentum stops during this attack, and after the attack is finished, there is average end lag. There’s also low startup lag in case you were wondering.
The fire is a disjointed hitbox that deals
14% with set knockback as far as 2/3 of battlefield, with a darkness attribute. After the move is finished, a cloud of purple ashes is left drifting where the attack was performed, taking up the same space. It lasts for 14 seconds. During the first 7 seconds, all darkness attacks performed within the cloud (meaning their hitbox is inside it) have a 1.2x damage boost, and all other moves have their power reduced to .8x damage. After those 7 seconds are up, the fog turns white, during which time the opposite effect occurs. Only one cloud can be on-screen at a time; if Spade tries to use this attack again with a cloud on-screen, he can't form the firey vortex, and his arms and wings are the only hitboxes dealing a minor
7% with set knockback as far as 1/3 of battlefield.
Forward Aerial: Lost in the Abyss
Spadefox teleports fowards 1/3 of battlefield, leaving a cloud of black mist where he was initially. With the scythe in the ground, you can also teleport to the halfway point between your current location and the scythe’s if you use a smash input.. His aerial momentum stops while performing this move. There is below average startup and end lag to this, and the mist lasts as long as the end lag. Enemies who touch the mist take
12% and set knockback as far as ½ of battlefield in the opposite direction they were heading. Spade has super-armor for last 3 frames of the startup lag, so
this is a combination of a counter-attack and repositioning move.
Back Aerial: Anti-existence
Spade lashes out one tentacle behind himself as far as a Battlefield platform. It deals
10% and knockback that KOs at 210%, and has below average startup lag with average end lag. If the tentacle hits a solid object, it will detach from Spade and fuse into the object, creating a “hole” the height of Ike and as wide as Luigi’s height. The hole is represented by a strange screen distortion, and only Spadefox can move through it. The hole lasts for 5 seconds and there is no limit to the amount that can be on the screen. If it affects the edge of a platform, then the nearest unaffected ground will be a substitute edge. This can even be used on traps to allow Spade to pass through them unharmed, though if the effect wears off with Spade on the trap, you’re damage insurance is void.
If his tentacles are preoccupied with manipulating the blast zones of the stage, then this move is replaced with Spade performing a 360 degree forwards flip with his claws outstretched. This deals
10% with knockback in the direction Spade is facing that KOs at 170%, darkness attribute. The flip starts up and goes by quickly but there is average end lag.
Up Aerial: Dark Embers
Magical purple Flames envelop Spade’s entire body as he spreads his wings. After .4 seconds of charging (and he has super-armor during the last .2 seconds) he then lunges in the direction you indicate with the control stick as far as Fox Illusion and only a bit slower. Spade’s entire body is a high-priority hitbox that deals
12% with knockback in the direction he’s traveling that KOs at 110%, and this has a darkness attribute. He will continue moving through enemies and even shields, though it does not actually hurt a shielding enemy. There is also low end lag to this move, though Spade will enter free-fall after using it.
While the move on its own is rather insane and a nearly unstoppable recovery move, there is an additional property that you may find eerily familiar. On a clean hit, some of the dark fire becomes infused into the target.
This gives the last 6 moves the opponent performed a darkness attribute as well as give them a 1.3x damage buff. This is a permanent effect for the remainder of the opponent’s stock and there is no limit to the amount of moves this can affect.
Down Aerial: Dark Dive (not to be confused with Captain Falcon’s Ganondorf’s Up-Special which doesn’t make sense since he’s going up not down and now this move name is even longer than Olver’s jab…)
Normally, this is a basic downwards swing of his scythe below himself, similar to Meta Knight's Dair. It has below average startup lag, average end lag, and deals
10%, with horizontal knockback that KOs at 150%. Woohoo?
When not wielding his scythe, Spadefox performs a stall-then-fall with his claws. This deals
8% and has low startup lag, and like all of his claw attacks, has a darkness attribute. When Spade hits the ground, he immediately sinks into it and disappears from sight. For one second, you may quickly move Spade around inside the platform he entered with the control stick.
After the second is up, Spade immediately burst out of the platform with a spinning claw uppercut that deals
10% with set vertical knockback as high as 3 Ganondorfs and has a darkness attribute. Spade goes up as high Luigi’s Super Jump Punch and the move has below average priority. Low end lag, the move ends in the air. If Spade is underneath his scythe when he emerges,
he will grab it as he exits the ground and performs the attack with that instead of his claws, giving the move better range, priority, and damage
(12%).
Glide Aerial: Thorn in My Side
Spadefox sweeps his scythe below himself during his glide. This has below average startup and end lag. Only the head of the scythe is a hitbox. If he misses, he enters free-fall, but if he connects he stops in place as the next part of the move commences.
Connecting with the attack gets the enemy caught on the blade of the scythe as Spade flies straight up with them for the distance of 2x Ganondorf’s height. At the end of this, he brings the enemy’s face close to his,
then performs his back-throw on them glaring at them for a moment before charging his scythe with dark energy, blasting the opponent off it for
13% and set knockback as far as 2/3 of battlefield.
If Spade already has his scythe sticking in the stage, it would be a tad difficult to use the regular move, so when you make the input, he stops his movement for .3 seconds before hurtling forwards as his entire body turns into a streak of black gas going as far as 1/3 of Battlefield at an insane speed. If he hits an obstacle for a shielding opponent, it ends up dissipating into a cloud of smoke the size of Kirby that lingers for .4 seconds and can move around in any direction at a decent speed with the control stick, then reforms into his real form and he enters his air-game with below average end lag.
If he does connect on an opponent, his entire Smokey body disappears into their body as the victim keels over. Oh man, that’s some bad indigestion. After .6 seconds, an explosion-like sound is heard as the enemy takes
13% and set knockback as far as ½ of battlefield, with some smoke oozing out of their body. That smoke quickly moves over to Spade’s scythe and reforms into the demon himself with low lag. This is a nice way to quickly get back to your scythe while damaging the opponent, OR if the enemy shields it you can still reposition yourself for follow-ups.
THROWS
I know all you guys are secretly gay and want me to keep the BThrow, but it wasn't very playstyle relevant back then, and it isn't now! (d)
Grab Animation
Spade reaches out with his free hand in order to grab the enemy by their throat. If the victim is smaller than Spade they start struggling as he lifts his foe off the ground in a choke-hold.
This has decent range but mediorce speed. You were expecting a revival of the grab from the original set? (wary)
Pummel: Give a Wolf a Taste…
Spade opens his jaws as a long black tongue emerges and Spade slowly licks his opponent’s face, getting a good long sample of their flavor.
This deals no damage and takes .7 seconds to finish, but an enemy cannot break out while the pummel is going on even if the grab timer runs out. When the move is finished the enemy will be
poisoned for 5 seconds, taking
1% each second.
Forward Throw: Soul Drain
Spade finally gives in to his feral desires and clamps his jaws over his grabbed enemy, consuming their life energy (Spade’s a Metroid?!) He deals
3% for every .2 seconds the enemy is caught, and his grab timer continues where it left off then tosses the opponent away as far as 1/3 of battlefield.
Abosrbing the enemy's essence causes some glowing vein-like purple markings to appear on Spade’s body.
If you use a tentacle attack with this marking, the tentacles will have a purple electrical aura that gives them decent priority instead of their normally pitiful priority. This lasts for one use before the marking disappears. The Side Special does not interact with this marking due to its unique properties, and if you manage to devour much of the stage Spade retains the glowing lines on his bones. Be warned, if you do this throw when the enemy has a status infliction Spade will inherit the status, for better or worse.
Back Throw: Transparry
Spade sticks the head of his scythe through the victim before swinging them backwards and off the scythe. This deals
7% and knockback that KOs at 180%, but is rather slow to perform due to Spade doing the motion in an exaggerated and dramatic manner. After performing this throw, some of the enemy’s blood is left on the blade of the scythe for 3 seconds. If Spadefox is hit by a jointed attack from the victim of the throw in that time, he will
automatically block the attack with his scythe and with a wave of his hand, teleport the victim ½ of battlefield away in a puff of smoke. Afterwards, the blood disappears. Spade cannot get a new target for the secondary effect until the current one goes away. If he’s not holding his scythe when attacked he cannot use the counter-move.
When you try this throw without his scythe, Spade turns around with the enemy and kicks them away. This deals
7%, which is lower than Dedede’s broken BThrow, and deals only ½ as much knockback as Dedede’s broken BThrow. Did I mention Dedede has a broken BThrow?
Up Throw: Out of my Sight
Spade cuts the victim with his scythe, dealing a paltry
5% and gets some of the enemy’s blood on his scythe. Spade then let’s go of the enemy and makes a dismissive motion with his free hand,
transporting the enemy to the nearest platform edge in a puff of smoke. This can be either a solid edge or a drop-through platform, and the enemy is standind next to it, not in the air about to grab it.
If Spade isn’t wielding his scythe, then he just tosses the enemy away with a disgusted look on his face, dealing
6% and set knockback as far as 1/5 of battlefield.
Down Throw: From Beyond the Grave
Spade wraps some tentacles around the victim while sending some through portals to grab his scythe. Then, the tentacles pull their respective items through portals to switch places with each other,
causing the opponent to be transported to where Spade’s scythe was while the evil overlord himself has his scythe back in his hands. This throw deals no damage or knockback. Spade’s tentacles can be attacked while the animation is going on by other players, and if tentacles are destroyed they won’t complete their part of the exchange, so Spade can possibly transport the opponent to his scythe without actually bring back his scythe. This can be used to your favor in a team battle with friendly fire on considering Spade takes no damage from his tentacles being destroyed…
If Spade is already holding his scythe, or his tentacles are unavailable thanks to his Side-Special, this move is a simple kick to the face, dealing
7% and knockback that KOs at 180%.
FINAL SMASH
You mean Super Attack or Fatality, right?
Awakening the Chaos
Ah, it’s time for Spade to once again become his
super-broken alternate form
that you already know about if you’ve read Playing God (or the original moveset).
So after acquiring the smash ball, Spadefox closes his eyes and remains perfectly calm and collected for about 6 seconds, invincible.. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s even able to put up with HR’s constant babbling and Warlord’s constant political debates in this Zen-like state. After the time’s up, however, he instantly opens his eyes as they shine purple and the entire screen fades to black…
When the screen comes back in, you’ll notice that the camera is zoomed out considerably, and we can see wriggling black tentacles all around the edge of the screen, just like in Spade’s side special! Okay, that’s not too bad, all we have to do is KO Spadefox…oh, yeah, he’s in that really awesome final form he has, in the background, and he’s pretty much as huge as Godzilla. For the
next 13 seconds, you get to pulverize your opponents with 2 pretty broken attacks, and the entire time the tentacles are closing in (for the record, it takes 14 seconds for Mitternacht to reach full power, and the state of that move resets when the final smash begins).
Pressing the Attack Button will result in Spade slamming one of his fists onto the side of the arena it’s closest to. This deals
20% and impressive set knockback, as far as ½ of Final Destination towards the other side of the stage. The startup and end lag are both as high as a Warlock Punch, when an attack covers half the stage, does that really matter? You may hold the control stick left or right do determine the fist he uses, defaulting to left.
While the final smash is going on, you also have a puny little cursor of fire to move around the stage with the control stick.
Pressing the Special Attack button plus a direction results in Spade firing an equally small sphere of energy from one of his eyes to the cursor. Once it reaches the position of the input (you may move the cursor once you make the input, and this attack can be performed laglessly but with a recharge time of .5 seconds) it suddenly darts in the direction that was pressed at a high speed until it hits something. This deals
10% with set knockback in the direction the sphere was moving as far as 1/3 of battlefield. If no direction is pressed, the sphere lingers in place for .4 seconds, dealing flinching knockback.
Once the Final Smash ends, some overly epic cutscene happens and blahblah the screen turns back to normal, Spade turns back to normal, the game (which you just lost) continues like normal, everything becomes BORING again! Seriously, where’s Doppelori when you need her for some over the top, zany action?
PLAYSTYLE
WARNING! OMNIVERSE OF TEXT APPROACHING!
ZOMG somehow manage an approach with your fail approaching tools and then somehow your tacked-on status effects will allow you land more hits even though they don’t actually assist with that and if that doesn’t work then just try camping even though you have no ways to camp!
Whoa, what kind of playstyle is that? Seriously, you’d have to be an idiot to think a playstyle like that is good! Really, if I ever see a set like that place in a top 10, I’ll kill myse- *sees MYM6 top 10* (no)
Okay, seriously, Spadefox’s playstyle can be summed up in one simple word:
Positioning. That’s it. His attacks allow him to shift around on the battlefield while simultaneously damaging opponents, and therefore he can constantly readjust his location to prepare for the next strike. There, playstyle section over, you may now super vo- oh, you want more depth than that? Fine (d). Just don’t say I didn’t warn you…
Setting-up and Positioning-Based Offense
Okay, so the first thing you’ll need to take into account is the fact that
Spade essentially has 4 different movesets at his disposal; 2 variations with/without his scythe, and 2 with/out his tentacles. The trick is to not force yourself to stick to one set of moves, but swap them around as the match goes on. Naturally, this is a very daunting task to learn so much, but thankfully there is some rhyme and reason to it.
The primary state for Spadefox to be in is for his scythe placed in the ground as his Side-Special inactive. Scythe Mind is of course how you’ll be moving the scythe into place, and it’s very good at what it does. You don’t have to worry much about interruptions when your damage your opponent while moving the scythe around, and since the enemy can’t pick it up, once you place it where you like, it’s there to stay. Once you’ve set-up the scythe, you’ve essentially created a set of coordinates that spell death for those who enter it. Get into the scythe’s horizontal axis? Be prepared to eat an FSmash, and all the walls you hide behind won’t save you! Or shielding for that matter, since Spade can just toss in Dsmash when that occurs. Go above the scythe, and you’ll have to contend with the wolf’s Utilt, and on some stages this may as well be the entire vertical axis of the stage! A final potential option is FTilt, which is dependent on yours and the opponent’s positions to be effective, but is flexible because of its path being adjustable.
If this was all there was to Spade he would be one-sided and boring, but thankfully all that positing stuff I mentioned comes into play at this point! You’ll notice that spade has a decent amount of
moves that let him end it in a different position from where he began; DTilt, Fair, and Dair are the easiest examples, though several other moves qualify as well. These are the bread and butter of Spadefox’s gameplay; as you attack, you also move around the battlefield, putting yourself in a position to perform follow-ups. Some characters need to play the zoning game with their opponent after every hit to land that next strike, but Spadefox can deal damage to his opponent and space himself at the same time. This is another reason why your scythe is so valuable; it’s uncompromising linear space-control effectively restricts the opponent’s horizontal and/or vertical movement to a specific quadrant of the stage, so even the slightest bit of post-move-positioning that Spade’s moves allow for can lead right into the next strike, and since he’s moving during the attack that makes it that much easier for him retreat in case he falters.
Plan B: Defenive Action
Of course, Spade will inevitably be countered by something the opponent does, or else he would be broken (Which is greatly preferable to the garbage-tier status of the first moveset, but still). Even worse, the opponent may find themselves in the perfect spot to start applying their own pressure.
This is the time when Spade will most likely physically wield his scythe. If you sense an offensive’s about to happen from your enemy, this is a perfect time to use either Dair or Gair to get to your scythe ASAP! If you’re opponent is waiting by the scythe, then Gair loses its effectiveness but you gain 2 options in its place; Scythe Mind becomes viable as the wind from the teleport-swing will give you some breathing room to prepare a defense (if not pre-emptively blocking the enemy offense) and FTilt will just move the scythe to your hands and if someone is in the way, they take damage!
Okay, so you got your scythe back, and are all geared up for some defense.
Your goal at this point is to simply get your opponent far enough away that you can set-up the scythe into the stage and return to your zoning-based offense. Spade has an easier time doing this with his scythe in-hand as his scythe-based moves all deal good set knockback that gives him the space he needs, with the exception of DTilt which simply provides a nice air-to-ground option. Other options include Nair for having spacing-knockback, and UThrow to immediately get the enemy to the nearest platform edge if you happen to be far from one. The moment you get some breathing room, it’s time to return the scythe to its natural habitat of the ground and for Spade to return to his natural environment of kicking butt.
Finishing-Off the Enemy
Speaking of the edge,
Spadefox can viably score regular KOs or gimps. You’d probably think Spade as built for KOs considering his aerial shenanigans and he doesn’t have much KO options outside the somewhat predicable Scythe Mind…or does he? Yeah, maybe you forgot the part where Mitternacht lets him SHRINK THE ****ING BLAST ZONES! Yeah, even if his moves don’t normally KO too early, he can lower the percent they KO at anyways, and this even makes his gimping stuff more potent since he doesn’t have to chase you as far off the stage while removing the risk of dying. The main reason NOT to try this is that you’ll probably be at a high damage when you use it so Spade will die just from regular hits…But then again, Spade is so freakin’ light that he dies easily even without stamina-restrictions, olololololol. Of course, until that happens you’d have to be an idiot to not recover with Spade, considering he has Scythe Mind, Mitternacht, Lost on the Path, UAir, and Gair in addition to multiple jumps and his glide to take care of things.
Close-Combat Zoning
Zoning doesn’t does have to be super-long range and involve stage control. Sometimes the best zone you can control is to simply keep your opponent close to you. That’s where Spade’s down special, “Guard Dog of Hades”, comes into play. You don’t even need to place your scythe anywhere to start it up; just add water! Now you’ll be forced into using Spade’s melee-oriented claw attacks (which are normally mediocre but in this state get range and priority buffs to be good), he can’t move out of the range of his scythe, but that’s ok. You can just howl to force your enemy to approach, and since the startup lag is cancelable you’re pretty much free to use it.
The key is that
Spade still isn’t turned into a camper with this strategy; He still has to actively fight the opponent once they enter his zone of combat, as running away isn’t an option thanks to his chain, and if he doesn’t apply pressure they can leave the zone and use ranged tactics against him. Heck, why not activate Mitternacht while you’re at it, it won’t matter if you’re mobility is lowered a bit since you’re stuck in a pre-defined area to begin with, and by the time the link is broken for the move you’ll either die from stamina, or you’ll live and go right into Spade’s primary positioning strategies.
Ironically enough, the zone you’re trying to defend despite all this close-range offensive pressure is the area outside of your range of movement.
Other Options
OH GOD NO MORE HR NO MORE! Don’t worry, this is the last section. So you may have noticed that Spade has a few moves that involve attacks with a
darkness attribute. Well, to keep this short, these contribute to Spade’s zoning with some nice bait-and-swtich tactics. Uair powers up the enemy’s attacks with darkness, but then USmash takes away (and is a homing projectile so it helps with zoning directly too!). Nair can be used to lure an opponent to a specific spot or limit their movement depending on how you treat Uair. Then FThrow applies their darkness buffs to yourself!
Lastly, we get to Spade’s throw-game, touched upon in other sections. This is a nice way to round out Spade’s gameplay by letting him play with positioning in a different way; by
altering the enemy’s position instead of his own. 3 of his 4 throws do exactly this. 2 of them require Spade to wield his scythe to make use of them, but that’s ok, as DThrow relocates the enemy AND gives Spade his scythe back at once! While Spade mainly wants to be the one doing the positioning, should the time come where you’re opponent needs to move, you can remain in control.
And then we get to lots of other fun stuff, such as using Mitternach to lessen the duration of FSmash and UTilt to make them safer, using FSmash with Spade in the path to transition to his defensive moveset, using Lost on the Path for all sorts of zip-line shenanigans…oh, look at the time, I have to go!
MATCHUPS
New and exciting idea for matchups: Let’s ditch the stupid arbitrary ratios and just state if the character had an advantage or disadvantage. (h)
Vs The Joker: Moderate Disadvantage
Let’s get the bad out of the way first, shall we? The Joker has the attribute Spadefox hates most: a good stage-control game. Ballistic Bomber and Gentleman’s Coat are both high-damage permanent traps on the field, giving Spade just as little breathing space as his scythe does for the enemy. The Joker isn’t very mobile, but he doesn’t have to be when he can stop Spade’s movement short with KO-potential bombs placed all over the stage (and he can actually be pretty fast with his coat off). If Spade tries to play more defensively The Joker still has some projectiles such as FSmash as long as his coat is on, and of course his infamous Joker Card. While the Joker can’t gimp well that doesn’t matter since Spade is ungimpable. With his coat on the Joker even has counters against Spade’s lengthier positioning moves with DSmash (which also has KO potential). And finally, there’s Joker’s great grab-game with even more KO goodness to destroy the light Spadefox.
It’s not all bad, though. Spade can still play dodge the bombs with his air game, and if he uses Scythe Mind liberally he can hit Joker from afar and detonate all of the bombs from Ballistic Bomber. When he does rack up some damage, he can finish off the Joker quite easily since he can take advantage of the Joker’s slow attacks to land a Scythe Mind tele-strike, and the Joker has a poor recovery that leaves him easily gimped. While the Gentleman’s Coat is a great trap, it can backfire on the Joker and using it removes some of his best options from play such as his fake cards, FSmash projectile, side-B bombs, and counter DSmash.
Overall, the match goes to Joker for being able to set the pace and being able to play to all his strengths: His KO potential, stage-control game, grab-game, and mix-up potential. However, his primary weaknesses come into play as well, his poor recovery and slow attacks. Spadefox is still able to play some positioning and can easily finish off the Joker if he does rack up the necessary damage, so he can still pull off a win, though it will be a bit of an uphill battle.
Vs Mach Rider:Strong Advantage
Mach Rider mixes rushdown with a hit-and-run, and Spade hates having to rely on his defensive moves. However, Mach Rider has a bit of an issue due to his gear mechanic. He needs to shift to 3rd gear or so before he can maximize his aggressiveness or else his attacks end up with poor range. If Mach Rider goes off to build gears undisturbed Spade is free to set-up his scythe, and if Mach Rider goes on the offense really early Spade can just punish with a range and priority advantage. Even when he gets his gears set-up, Spade can still move around the stage much easier and if he lands a single hit Mach Rider just lost all his progress. Mach Rider’s saving grace is his good recovery and the potential to KO Spade really early, so if he does manage to get into high-gear and keep it, he can pull off an upset win, though this isn’t exactly easy.
Vs Alphonse: Slight Disadvantage
Like the Joker, Al is great at stage-control, as we know that really screws with Spade’s playstyle. The primary difference here is that Al needs to go through a set-up phase before he really take advantage of this, and while Spade also has a set-up phase he can do it much easier and faster than Al ever could. Al WISHES he could damage-rack while drawing his transmutation circles. This means that Spade gets to do his zoning shenanigans and get Al up to high damage before he has to worry about those evil trap moves. Heck, Spade could even start Mitternach and actually advance it a bit before Al gets anywhere meaningful.
Of course, all of Al’s matches play like that at the start, lulz. Considering Al has so many traps with manual activation, including some insane ones such as Uair and Dair, he can scare Spade off with his tail between his legs once the Transmutation Circles are complete. At least Spade’s repositioning attacks can help him bypass the traps’ area of effect. Spade can’t be chain-grabbed well due to his light-weight, but by proxy he also dies fairly soon from one well-timed FSmash from Al. Spade also has a hard time finishing off Al due to that darn portal recovery, though if he takes advantage of Mitternach as previously mentioned he can offset this. If Spade uses Al’s set-up period wisely, he can deal impressive damage, but Al is fully capable of shifting the game to his favor once he gets going.
Vs Cutesy Beau: Can’t Happen
Cutesy is banned from competitive play for excessive stalling. Seriously, even in a match with infinite time it’s still not enough to read that freaking petal mechanic! And if we take it away Cutesy loses a lot of her gameplay, so Spade would win by default.
Vs Dingodile: Strong Advantage
Oh God another stage-controller of sorts and this one doesn’t even need to set-up like Alphonse! But wait, Dingo’s not so much controlling stage as he is finding a clever way to force approaches. Unfortunately for Dingo, Spade has multiple ways of getting around the crystals. He can use slice right through them with Scythe Mind or FSmash. With Fair or Dair, he can teleport through them or “tunnel” under them. With DSmash, he can just grab Dingo without even having to think of the crystals to begin with. With Guard Dog of Hades, he can safely attack Dingo and all of the crystals from afar. The best part is how those are Spade’s core moves to begin with, so he doesn’t have to readjust so much for this matchup.
So what can Dingodile do? Um, he can use his jab to try to out-position Spadefox, good luck with that…he can use some fire-ball mindgames to try and take pot-shots at Spade…and, uh…I guess ATTEMPT to suicide KO against Spade 3 times but Spade’s too big to eat…um, yeah, Dingo’s specialization of choice finally comes back to bite him on the butt and of course it’s with a guy who likes butt…
Vs Velociraptors: Slight Advantage
The main advantage of the Velociraptors, their mobility, is rendered somewhat ineffective in this matchup as Spadefox is pretty mobile himself and even has his positioning attacks to perhaps tilt it to his favor. Good thing too, since the Velociraptors excel in pressure and aggressiveness, which means Spade is gonna find himself playing more defensively than usual in this matchup so he needs way to escape. Both characters have things to set-up; Spade wants his scythe in the ground to begin his offense, and the Velociraptors want to form a pack to rack up super-high damage (more great news for Spade!). Of course, Spade can plop his scythe down at the start and use FSmash to plow through all the raptors at once, somewhat limiting the effectiveness of pack maneuvers. The raptors’ size and weight means that Spade can kill them easier than normal, especially considering he has surprisingly good damage racking for a character who primarily gimps. Throw in the superior range and priority of Spade’s scythe moves and acceptable speed and it turns out that Spade can quite easily shift the momentum to his favor and do some attacking of his own. This is very much a back and forth shift of momentum, and while Spade does seem to negate a lot of the raptors’ good traits, the raptors are so good at what they do (with some versatility to spare) that they can still quite easily pull off the win.
Vs Doppelori: Moderate Disadvantage
Okay, time to position the scy- OMG HELP ME I’M BEING BLASTED BY A ROBOT WOMAN WHO KEEPS CHASING ME AROUND THE STAGE! That sums up this matchup quite nicely. Doppelori’s “Hit and Repel” playstyle means that once she gets anywhere near Spade’s zone of comfort she’ll pummel him with artillery fire, then when he tries to escape and regroup he’ll just be sent packing again. His defensive moves aren’t going to help him much when Doppelori has a good projectile game at the forefront of his assault. Overall she just makes it very difficult for Spade to do much zoning when he’s stuck trying to fight her off to even get started. And since he’s so light, he has a good chance of dying before a minute passes…
If Spade survives long enough for Doppelori to gain a final smash, then things shift towards Spade being slightly favored. Spade’s final smash can make short of Doppelori if he lands one hand strike, considering Doppelori will most likely end up off the stage where her poor recovery won’t do her any favors (and then you have the shrinking blast zones the entire time). While Doppelori has great ground mobility to avoid the fist attacks, those energy spheres flying around at the same time make it hell for her to try jump-dodging with her poor aerial mobility which leaves her open to the fists. Of course, she is fully capable of surviving, which means that this matchup goes from “Doppelori ***** Spade” (ewww, there’s a nasty thought) to “Spade manages to squeak by with a win” when smash balls are present. Not exactly a great matchup, though it’s not horrible.
Vs Abra: Slight Advantage
Both characters rely on warping around to perform their duties, Abra much more so than Spadefox. Abra uses his teleports for hit-and-run mixed in with occasional rushdown, Spadefox likes to remain in a more neutral (though leaning towards offensive) state-of-being. What happens when they square off?
Well, the big thing Spade has over Abra is that he can reliably damage-rack and gimp with some KO potential on the side, whereas Abra mainly has damage racking but a bit of trouble with both gimps and KOs since even a gimp on his part requires some hefty damage requirements. Granted, this isn’t as big a deal in this matchup thanks to Spade’s weight, but Abra’s not exactly heavy either. While Abra doesn’t make positioning itself the focal point of his playstye, he is fully capable of competing with Spade’s thanks to the sheer amount of teleportation options he has, though Spade still has his trap-like Scythe to give him the edge overall. However, if Abra manages to put Spade on the defense, well, Spade’s gonna have a hard time doing much of anything when Abra just bypasses the scythe and hits Spade in the face, and Abra’s pressure-game can truly be terrifying at times like this. Overall, this is a fun matchup for both competitors as try to out-smart each other with all their teleportation shenanigans, it’s almost like a game of Super Smash Chess!
Alternate Matchup: A grab-happy Spadefox meets a grab-happy Abra, and they both keep teleporting EACH OTHER all over the place. Many lulz ensue and they go out to get a beer.
Vs Spadefox: Spadefox's Favor
Spadefox will try to pressure Spadefox and inflict status effects, but since he fails so much at approaching this means nothing. Even if Spadefox does inflict some penalties on Spadefox, none of them are severely crippling to movement that can be easily landed, so Spadefox’s zoning game will remain intact. Meanwhile Spadefox will take advantage of Spadefox’s slow attacks and pummel him with positioning moves to the dust. Both characters die early but Spadefox can actually KO and gimp, while Spadefox has to land his laggy (though epic) Down Special then try and kill Spadefox’s soul while both Spadefox and his soul use their in-hand scythe attacks for defense. Speaking of defense, Spadefox can’t even camp when his fail approaching does the same verb I just used as an adjective, whereas Spadefox has viable defensive options and can still force approaches despite a lack of projectiles thanks to his own Down Special and “homing tentacle attack” DSmash which is faster than Spadefox’s “homing tentacle attack” grab (though that grab game is sexy, mmmmm). Oh, and Spadefox’s Bthrow causes a paradox when used on Spadefox. Don’t do it.
EXTRAS
You want extras? Read the original moveset for that! Fine, I guess I can whip up something...
JOE! said:
REMIX PROJECT DIBS LIST
MasterWarlord: :gluttony: :envy:
Bkupa666: :Hades: :Kaptain Skurvy:
Hyper_Ridley: :Spadefox: :Omega Ridley:
Junahu: :every Sakurai moveset ever:
). 
