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CT ZeRo's Coaching Program! (I'm back!)

TSM ZeRo

Banned via Administration
Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Messages
1,295
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Back on the business guys! Now with a new program that I'd like to introduce to you guys.
CT ZeRo's Coaching program!

You can ask me all you want, ask me to critique your videos, ask me to explain you concepts, match ups or characters. Anything related to the game, and I will use all my experience as a top player to help you out as much as I can. I will be essentially, your Smash coach. I love the community and I want to help it to grow. But this takes time especially since I do it with love, so speaking about grow right now I'm trying to grow as a Twitch TV broadcaster, a YouTuber and also help out Clashtournaments achieve new heights on the same media channels. But to do this, I need follows and subscribers. So I thought of a method that will achieve this grow while also helping out the people that do it (And we want to grow to reach out to more people and help them out with our content. Clashtournaments is a business dedicated to helping eSports as a whole grow, and this obviously includes our lovely Smash community. And I'm dedicated completely to helping our community grow in all aspects. Competitively, in numbers and positiveness. So essentially, you help us so we can help out more people (And you!) with our content and also provide better content too. So it's a win-win situation for the community 101%!

Now, this works out like this: You will follow in Twitch TV and YouTube the following channels:

STEP 1:
My channels:

Clashtournaments:

STEP2: You tell me the names that you've followed/subscribed with and I will then check for your name.

STEP3: Enjoy having me as your Smash coach!

It's as simple as that guys. Enjoy and spread the word and links around! (ESPECIALLY this thread).

Summary of my posts by MU:

[COLLAPSE="Match Ups:"]
:ivysaur:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]Ivysaur: If you sit in your shield, you're gonna have a rough time. This is the kind of the match up that you need to be aggressive on, and keep a constant flow of pressure. If you simply sit there, you'll end up losing cause of his camp game. A good thing to avoid them, is to short hop + Airdodge them while running towards Ivysaur. This is an excellent gapcloser. After this, proceed with a well spaced aerial if they like to attack/grab if they like to shield/Tornado if they like to roll/spotdodge.[/COLLAPSE]

:charizard:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]Charizard's flamethrower is really slow, and you can see it coming a mile away. Try to prevent it. But if you get caught in it, DI Up/Away from Charizard, then buffer a tornado and hit him with it. You can also N-Air/D-Air on top of him. For Rock Smash, you can only predict it, shield and then punish accordingly (N-Air/Grab are good options. Don't use Grounded UP'bs too much vs Chari, you dimply stale a good kill move vs him, and you have other options that do more damage, like N-Air/Grab).[/COLLAPSE]

:lucario:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]Early game I focus on getting as LITTLE damage as possible, avoiding any trade if the reward isn't something super high (Like a stock or off stage combo). I do this by literally, camping at mid range (A little past Snake's F-Tilt). I do this because he won't be able to spam Aura Sphere's safely, and I would be in range to punish anything by him. I simply try to do as much damage as possible, while taking the less amount. At the end of each stock, I would play at the same mid range (to prevent super Aura Spheres) but at the same time, making more plays directed towards getting him off the stage, where he's easier to kill. At pro level, Lucario's are extremely hard to kill, and if you keep failing the chances of killing him, he will just turn around the whole game. This is Lucarios main strenght: Comebacks. I prevent this by playing extremely safe the whole game. Not letting him any chance to zone me by camping, or me making over-aggressive moves. The right balance of camping.

I camp by sitting at mid range, and walking around in place, then I would F-Tilt/Dash Attack/Shield + Grab anything I see. This is a mix of Tyrant's manner of camping, coupled with Ally's style of punishes. I find this strategy to be extremely effective when done correctly.

I edgeguard Lucario in the same way that Anti does. You can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dt3c3OMEeY

As you can see, reverse UPb' (easier to hit than it looks), N-Airs, Down Airs, and correct edgehogging/Smashes are the way to go.

Key factors: Don't get camped. Zone him. Don't overextend (too aggressive) because you will get F-Aired/Down-Aired/F-Smashed. Don't get hit AT ALL by Down Air/F-Air/F-Smash.
[/COLLAPSE]
:wario:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]Warios like to do short hops and D-Air/N-Air/F-Air you. To stop this, you simply F-Air, if he's in front of you, and you can get enough vertical distance to hit him, otherwise short hop backwards a tiny bit, and do two quick up airs, and then air dodge. If you do this correctly, you will do two lagless upairs, and would either hit Wario, or zone him out properly. Backwards F-Airs are great if you can get enough vertical distance for when he comes at you (otherwise you get down aired for free).

Imagine that you're "boxing" away Wario. Basically, you need stage control in this match up. Wario needs GROUND space move around with Jumps, if you take that away from him, he can't properly space himself, and will have to do something risky while moving towards you, this is when you have to do those backwards aerials, to properly zone him back.

Off stage is tricky. You need to zone him out in two ways, depending if he doesnt have a Bike (Wario's recovery is quite good and long if he has his bike available to jump from).

With Bike: You simply Up B when he starts his Bike animation (He will do it at one point or another, if he has done it for a while, don't up B him, since he can jump/airdodge). Only do this if you can catch him very high in the air, and he's starting the animation. If he comes from below with his Bike, you drop down and N-Air him, this will make him lose his jump, then you grab the ledge, and he is probably dead. Otherwise, a Down Air zoning will do the trick. Just watch out for his Upb, it comes out pretty fast, so just Down Air a bit before you think he's gonna do it.

When he doesn't have his bike, simply N-air/down air his jump, then grab the ledge, and he's dead. It's quite simple. He's like Donkey Kong when he doesn't have his bike, great horizontal movility, but awful vertical movility. Judge well when to smply take the ledge and when to D-Air/N-Air him, you can sometimes save him by attacking him (just like DK, a bad placed down air can give him enough vertical movility to make it back to the stage).

Importante note: When Wario left his Bike at the stage, and he's off the stage, DON'T touch/throw/destroy his bike, since he CAN'T use it, while it's on the stage. If you throw it off the stage, or destroy it, he will be able to use it again. He can also play around with the tires much better than you, so it's easier to not touch it, and let him risk himself trying to destroy it to attain the tires.

Also, don't play too safe/too risky, when he has his waft available, both sides of the coin are dangerous. Play aggro (mixed style of aggression/defensive), and watch out for when he tries to land "above you" (waft). Don't be afraid to shield when he jumps, but don't get dash grabbed (mix up for when he has waft) or shield poked too much because you're shielding way too much. In short, play safe, but still putting aggression, and be ready to shield those waft attempts. Once he did his Waft, time the timer for when he will have it again.

Bans: Preference. Both characters like the same stages, but he can kill you very early at Halberd. I ban Yoshi's because I don't like the zoning game there (it's weird for me to maneuver there). And I'm not afraid of him in CP's.[/COLLAPSE]

:metaknight:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]The MK ditto is such a hard match up to be consistent at. I'd say that there are like 5 MK's in the world that dominate it at a level where I say "Wow!" when I see them play the ditto.

The ditto is a battle where the MK that makes the other MK play his game the most, will win. Either being a flashy technical game (Like me for example), or a well elaborated mindgames and tricks (Anti/Ally). The match up is typically played very aggressive, since camping an MK at a pro level is extremely hard, and there's way too much room to make mistakes, which is why an aggressive/zoning style is prefered.

The match up is generally in three ways:

Approach:

1.- Run, shield + punish whatever the other MK does. This is mostly, the USA way to do it. The way to counter this is to dash grab it when you think he's gonna shield. (Very good if they're at kill %).

2.- Run towards the other MK, then do a short hopped F-Air while moving backwards, + D-Tilt. This is countered by running and shielding + punishing.

3.- Run towards the other MK and either spotdodge/roll. Both are countered by doing a delayed (a couple frames) short hopped F-Air while moving backwards.

As you can see, this is pretty much a rock-paper-scissor game. Experience, and mindgames, are who tell you what to do and when. By playing someone, you get to know by their reactions, what they're most likely gonna do.

Air:

Generally, the MK who's getting juggled the most will lose the match. Since there's little you can do when an MK properly juggles you with Up airs and N-Airs. This is done by Up airing any attack he will do, and N-Airing any air dodge. If he's close to land, wait on the ground, and D-Smash airdodge, and shield+grab aerial attacks.

Off the stage can get pretty tricky. You Shuttle loop when he's coming back, and you know he won't air dodge in time, or he will aerial attack you. You down air/nair when he's gonna side B towards the ledge, and you tornado when he's gonna up B (or time a well placed edgehog depending of his position). When he's gonna down B, you grab the ledge, then when he gets above the stage, you do a ledge hopped F-Air towards him.

When coming back, you tornado when you think he will shuttle loop (don't do it if you're too close, since you need to press B a bit before to gain priority, otherwise Up b beats tornado). You down b, when you think it's safe to grab the ledge (aka, he waits for something else). And you shuttle loop, for when he grabs the ledge.
[/COLLAPSE]
:diddy:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]A) Picking his bananas:

This strategy is simple. You simply try to catch one of Diddy's bananas, and use it against him. You can bait Diddy to throw you the bananas, by staying near him, and then catching it with an aerial attack (F-Air while moving backwards is an excellent option), and then either holding it, so he can't use it vs you, and be forced to play without a banana covering the ground, or simply throw it back to him for some combos (Glide toss forward + grab is a very strong option, so is throwing a banana close to him, tornadoing, and then backing out using the banana as an obstacle. He can still Dash attack you and grab it at the same time, but if you move far away enough, he can't punish you).

Depending of how the Diddy reacts when you get close, you can counter it, and get trough his wall. This is a high risk/high reward option so use it wisely. Some Diddys like to do a glide toss backwards while throwing the banana downwards/forward, you counter this by running and dash attacking. Some Diddys will run away/glide toss away before you get in range to Dash Attack, depending if they throw a banana or not, you can catch them off with a tornado, but remember to not do it if they can predict it. Some Diddys will do a F-Air, while having a banana in hand, you counter this by running and shielding/up'bing/tornado. I usually shield, and then grab their approach. You have to react well, to make this work, though. And if they chose to spotdodge/roll, you will have to react to it accordingly. This option has a lot of variants, so I just pick general options: Banana in hand: Dash attack. Aerials: Shield, wait for reaction, punish accordingly.

Also, don't approach if you're winning by a considerable amount. Let him come to you, but make sure to not grab the ledge, so you don't lose the time out if it comes down to that. Practice shielding/dodging/attacking (very good option, F-Airs) the peanuts/reacting to bananas. I like to run away with bananas, then use them to create escape/opening options. (Like throwing down when they're close to me, and staying behind it, or running away from him, then glide tossing towards him, etc.)

2.- This is basically, outcamping Diddy. I do this a lot, and it works if you can react to his mixups. You basically make him to you if you're winning, like I said above.


If you're losing, be EXTREMELY careful TO NOT take damage when trying to regain stage control. THIS IS HOW Diddy wins games, because some people take TOO much damage trying to regain stage control. Be really careful on this.

Ban: PS1 if you fear getting infinited in a wall/combo'ed. FD if you don't like getting camped. YI if you don't like him recovering easier to the stage.

Counterpicks: Halberd/Delfino (watch out for infinites/spikes in the water!) Brinstar/Delfino are all very good counterpicks.

This match up is all about getting around the bananas and not getting combo'ed across the stage.

You can play effectively in both ways: Campy, or aggressive.

Here's a summary on how to deal with Diddy's common strats:

ADHD strategy (Banana in hand, in ground and peanut spam): You have to move around his banana throw range, and grab it. Then with it hand, you can approach his wall because he's not covering the ground. Glide toss to grab. F-Air, tornado are all good options. So is dash attack/F-Air (to counter the throw)

In general:

Space everything correctly. He will punish you hard for any technical mistake you make. Make sure to only tornado when his shield is low. D-Air camp is good to lower shields, and F-Air/Dash attack catch bananas is great too.

Don't play too agressive, or too campy, he counters both styles. Play aggro, then go all in when he's in the air.

Juggling him is pretty easy. Tornado on landings owns him very hard. U-Air beats all of his options, and you can shuttle loop his monkey flip. You can also tornado it when he comes back with it from off the stage.

Edgeguard:

You want to D-Air him over and over, shuttle loop/Tornado his monkey flips, and Shuttle Loop/N-Air/D-Air his upb and then he is dead.

He is tricky, but very easy to gimp. If you constantly get him in the air, you will win easily. But if you can't, then he will own you hard. His ground game is excellent.
[/COLLAPSE]

:marth:

[COLLAPSE="Open"]Bans: FD if you don't like getting grabbed easier. If not, BF/SV depending of what platforms you like more. YI is also a good ban if you don't like him recovering easier.

Delfino (watch out for spikes), Halberd/Brinstar/RC are all great CP's.

The Marth MU is pretty simple. Whoever spaces the best, and counters the other player's approaches, wins.

In general:

• SH F-Airs: Shield>Dash grab/F-Air/GSL/N-Air if not spaced properly.
• Double Jump: Upb, or catch the landing with tornado.
• Side B's: Shield/tornado

Summary:

You basically need to counter one of Marth's option, then juggle him until he is dead. U-Air/Shuttle loop/Tornado on landings beats EVERY single one of his options, besides Down B. When he starts Down B'ing, you simply wait, and it's a free grab/N-Air.

Edgeguard:

Go all the way down to him, and Down Air at 45 degreeangle. He can't survive it. If he's pretty close to the stage, he will UPb you, and land on the stage. To counter this, simply bait it, and punish afterwards.

Tornado the ledge when he is grabbing it. It's SO good vs him.

SH's: Tornado in general destroys Marth's SH. So does running + shielding, because of Marth's poor dash grab.
[/COLLAPSE]
:zerosuitsamus:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]You can't gimp her during her Down B, because she's invencible during the whole time, and then she kicks the tornado, if you try to do it. What I do, is that I basically bait the down B, and then punish at the stage, with grabs/d-smash. If she down b's early, and doesn't get to the stage, I time an UP when the animation is almost done, just when she can kick, I time my upb, so she can't kick me in time. If I see that she can barely make it to the stage, I'll grab the ledge, at down b range (that's her upb's/side b's range) and then press L when my invenciblity is about to wear off, and she's falling down to her doom. This is hard to time. Some down airs/nairs when she tries to get close to the stage, work too. Just be careful of the kick, it's a really good option if the other player doesn't know how to handle it. Remember, punish after her invencibility is over, not before, because you will get kicked and die at super early %'s.

Here's a tournament match between Salem and I, where you can see how I do the MU:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej2XpeYR5sw
[/COLLAPSE]
:jigglypuff:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]She can't handle your priority. Which means, that you can pretty much U-Air/Down Air/Upb her for free, and she can't do anything but air dodge/use her aerial movility/charge a B, and hope it hits. If she charges a neutral B, just jump out of the way, and Down Air where she would land/move, and you'll hit her. If she aerial attacks, F-Air/Down Air her/upb depending of the angle.

Just make sure to pay attention to her aerial movility, and counter accordingly.[/COLLAPSE]

:falco:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]Falco: You can hit Falco's phantasm, with pretty much any of MK's attacks, the problem is timing that attack to hit him. The easier attacks to time are tornado and N-Air. But D-Air/F-Smash work the best if you can time them. If you see a Falco Side'bing to you, just Tornado him, and move the tornado to the edge of the stage, so he's off the stage again. Or Short hop N-Air/Full hop D-Air him as soon as he phantasms.

In the following videos you can see what I mean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5KkXjUR0GU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2MEHOxEWWo
[/COLLAPSE]
:pikachu2:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]He's really hard to gimp, because if the Pikachu recovers smartly, you won't really catch him. But you can punish poor recoveries: If he Upb's to the edge/stage, you can tornado over to the edge, and then go back. If he misspaces his Upb, you'll hit him. You can also Down Air, N-Air him in the same fashion as Falco's Side b. If you see he will make it to the edge using his second movement of his Upb, grab the ledge, and he's dead. Besides of this, you can't really do much.

Also, this is an excellent demostration of the match up at pro level if you're interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MYsv_ZIdLw

Ban: FD if you don't to get camped/grabbed hardcore. If not, PS1 for Pikachu's tricks there.

Delfino/Halberd/Brinstar/RC are all great. Just be careful of getting killed very early on Halberd/RC, or CG'ed to death on Delfino/RC's third transformation.

This match up is all about properly spacing your attacks and not getting grabbed early. Pikachu will own you "Falco Style" if he gets a grab on you early on. Proper spacing of Full Hop D-Air camping, F-Tilt and D-Tilt are key. So are backward SH F-Air's to prevent his dashes/ground movement.

Juggling him is pretty easy. Standard things. U-Air/tornado's like I said earlier are all great options.

D-Air camping is very good vs Pikachu, because it's hard for him to hit you. And it also keeps you safe from his proyectile camping.

D-Air camping to landing to dash grab is a very good mix up vs him.

In general, play careful, don't over extend, after 50%, you can be more aggressive because you won't get 50% if you get grabbed. And also, be extremely careful of going too high into the air, that is a free thunder kill for him, also: DI HIS D-SMASH. MASH UP, AND THAT'S IT.

Edgeguard:

He's really hard to gimp, because if the Pikachu recovers smartly, you won't really catch him. But you can punish poor recoveries: If he Upb's to the edge/stage, you can tornado over to the edge, and then go back. If he misspaces his Upb, you'll hit him. You can also Down Air, N-Air him in the same fashion as Falco's Side b. If you see he will make it to the edge using his second movement of his Upb, grab the ledge, and he's dead. Besides of this, you can't really do much.
[/COLLAPSE]

:mario2:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]This is very similar to jiggly, in that Nair/Down air/Upb> his moveset. If he's close to the ledge, he WILL upB early to grab the ledge, so he doesn't get hit by your attacks. If you see this happening often, just bait the Upb, then grab the ledge, and he's dead. If he doesn't upb, down air him once/twice, and he's dead at pretty much any %. If you get hit by his cape, then you're doing it wrong. You need to at a 45 degree angle from him at all times, like this:

(Left side)

MK

Mario[/COLLAPSE]

:peach:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]You edgehog peach by putting pressure on her you can't really edgehog her, but you can straight out kill her, or do a bunch of damage. You basically move above her, at the 45 degree angle, and start spamming Down Airs in her direction, if she starts to float AWAY from you, you drop down, and F-Air her, and if she didn't expect it, she's dead. And when she tries to grab the ledge with her upb, you simply Upb her until she's dead, or time the edgehog at the VERY last frame, and stay there, if you did it right, she's dead. It's basically free damage when she has to up b, so abuse that in your favor!

Ground:

You have to basically move outside of Peach's Jump and D-Air range. I personally play the match up like this:

I will walk outside of D-Air's range, and wait for her to either float, jump, or roll/shield. If she floats, I will F-Air her. If she gets above me, I will Upb/U-Air (Depending of how much time you have until she attacks, UPB is safer when she's not directly above you, since you can get hit anyway if you Upb her when she is directly above you) or I will shield, block her D-Air, then block the LAGLESS attack that she will do in landing. BEST option here is to shield the D-Air, then spotodge, so you don't get grabbed/jabbed shield stabbed. Then punish afterwards.

You can also Tornado in these cases, but it's dangerous if the Peach knows how to SDI/DI, because if she does, you'll eat a N-Air/D-Air every time, and you can lose the game this way. So careful of when you tornado. Be smart, and don't overextend with it, or spam it. Use it smartly on landings, or for when she aerials, and you can attack her with the bottom part of the tornado, so she can't DI it. Always tornado pretty above her, so she can't DI it. But careful of not hitting her because you went way above her, because that's a free "2008" (D-Air, U-Air + N-Air/U-Tilt, about 40%).

If she likes to roll/shield, I will tornado the roll if I don't know where she will roll/or she is cornered at the edge.

If she likes to roll backwards/spotdodge, I will F-Air backwards, and cover both options. It's very important to keep Peach at cornered at an edge, because she's extremely limited when putted into this position.

In the air it's pretty tricky. Upb ANYTHING that she does when you want to kill her, if not, U-Air juggle her until she is either dead, or until you mess up.

She can beat your aerial Upb with D-Air. She has to hit you in the upper part of SL's circle arc. If she likes to do this, simply jump just like if you were to upb, then proceed to: Wait for her to D-Air, then you upb, or, U-Air her/F-Air depending of angle. (F-Air if you're in the same height than her, U-Air if you aren't).

When shes coming back to stage, simpyl D-Air her at a 45 degree angle, or Upb from the below the edge, drop down, and repeat until she is dead. She can't do anything about this if you do this correctly. If she tries to F-Air/Side b you, simply Upb her before she can do either.
[/COLLAPSE]

:gw:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]You can gimp him in two ways:

When he's far away from the ledge:

Drop down all the way to himp, and down air him at the 45 degree angle (only if he can't upb to the ledge when you get there). Be careful of his B-Air/D-Air/N-Air, just stay at the safe 45 degree angle.

When he is in uPb range. Grab the ledge when he's about to grab it, and N-Air him as he lands on the stage with lag (make sure to the land the N-Air to the other side of his body, so the Nair sends him off the stage again), if you can't get the Nair in time, simply F-Air him.[/COLLAPSE]

:zelda:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]MK's tornado, hitting her head, absolutely beats any of her options. She will get beated by it very easily. The thing is, don't get hit by Din's fire from far away. Do it up close. Poke her shield a bit with F-Tilt/D-Tilt/F-Airs (She will shield>drop shield>D-smash to punish any poorly spaced things you do) and then shield stab her shield with tornado. D-Airs at a 45 degree angle over her head works wonders too.

Chase her without fear in the air with U-Airs, and punish air dodges with D-Air/N-Air. Punish landings with tornado, and if she doesn't air dodge frequently, shuttle loop her! To edgeguard her, simply tornado over the ledge and then back out a bit. She will have to angle it super weird to not get hit by it, and will put her under very disadvantaged positions.
[/COLLAPSE]
:dk2:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]Bans: Ban Yoshi's. That's DK's best stage. He will go FD if you ban YI.

DK is a MU where you have to own him constantly. Aka, do not trade. Either neutral, or you hitting him are the only options. If you trade with him, you will lose. He does much more damage and knockback than you.

Tornado beats all of his options, but he can shield it and punish accordingly. This is a similar MU in terms of Zelda, where you poke their shield before going in. The only difference here, is that you don't wanna trade.

Watch out for B-Airs, it's his all-use move. He will use it to space, combo and even kill you.

To edgeguard him, you want to D-Air him at a 45 degree angle until he can only grab the ledge, then proceed to grab the ledge and kill him. Or you can tornado spam his Upb, and keep juggling him in the landings, then mix it up with something that kills like a D-Smash or a shuttle loop. Or you can go a little bit below the ledge and Upb, facing the away from the stage and shuttle loop his upb, then when he can only grab the ledge, grab it and kill him. Or if your Shuttle Loop gets staled simply mix it up with tornado's, or D-Airs. Even F-Smash works if he likes to land above the stage.[/COLLAPSE]

:toonlink:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]With Toon Link, the goal to win, is to not get hit by his proyectiles. This is done by approaching, and not playing carefully. If you simply stay away from him, you will get camped to death. His camping game is extremely varied and good.

For his camping game:

Boomerang/Arrow: Short hop tornado over his head. Tornado beats both! You can also shield either, and dash grab him/F-Air him. Remember to U-Throw if you grab him and the boomerang is coming back, so you can evade it.

Bombs: TL takes a bit to take out a bomb, if you can get up to his face just as he is about to throw it, you can grounded Shuttle Loop him (GSL) and blow the bomb in his face, and also upb him. You can also bait this. Wait for him to expect this, or something similar, and dash grab him! D-Throw works great as a follow after this. GSL is a good follow up option too, so is shield>punish (F-Air/F-Tilt/Grab, depending of the distance of the throw, what did he do with the bomb, etc.).

Most TL's like to jump and camp. If this happens, do not chase him. You will get hit. Simpyl, shuttle loop him right away as he's jumping with a bomb or some proyectile. If he starts to bait this, wait it out, and do it again. There will be a point, where he will no longer jump if you do this correctly.

TL like to Z-Air you when you D-Throw. If this happens, walk towards them (DONT RUN) and GSL. It will work 100% of the time if they like to Z-Air. You can also walk, shield and then react to whatever he does. This is usually the best punish once he gets the "I won't Z-Air anymore"phase.

In the ground, simply approach towards him, shielding things from afar, tornadoing boomerangs and arrows, and poking his shield with Tilts. If you see yourself about to be punished, do this: Hit his shield, then forward roll behind him. He will grab/Jump, and it's a free punish. GSL is great for when he jumps and tries to B-ar you or something, and when he grabs, you can either N-Air, grab if he's close to the ledge (get him off the stage asap) or F-smash/D-Smash for the kill, or grab him to rack up damage. If you're a technical player, you can also U-Air/B-Air him at low percents, and combo him with U-Airs strings into an up b to get him off the stage. it's hard to do, but really rewarding when you do it correctly.

TL's usually like to boomerang/camp, bait an airdodge and then U-Smash you for the kill as you're air dodging into the ground. Simply don't land and go all the way away from him. If he's smart, he wil try to F-Air/N-Air you with a ful hop, you can then tornado that, D-Air, or F-Air/B-Air, or Down B away from him, depending of where he is, and where you're.

Finally, for the edgeguard part: Simply Down Air him at the usual 45 degree angle until he can only grab the ledge with his upb, and he doesn't have a bomb, and kill him. Or you can upb camp him at the edge. "You want to upb TL? Awesome, take this Shuttle Loop!" sort of.

Most TL's will upb towards you way before the ledge, in order to hit you, and get back to the ledge, or throw a bomb at your direction and distract you with it. Simply Down Air correctly. You beat both options with a well placed D-Air.

If he has a bomb in his hand, and you either succesfully edgeguarded him, or he "wont make it", expect the bomb to blow up and give him the chance to upb again. With this I mean, prepare yourself to edgeguard him again. Most of the time, simply grabbing the ledge will be enough for him to not make it back, but it all depends of where it blows up.
[/COLLAPSE]
:snake:
[COLLAPSE="Open"]Snake: This strategy relies on you reading what your opponent will do, and counter it every time:

• Shields/grenade in hand: Dash grab.
• Spotdodge: Short hop tornado.
• Dash attack: Tornado in place, walk away>F-Tilt. Short hopped F-Air while moving backwards.
• F-Tilt: F-Tilt/SH Tornado/Shield + Grab/F-Tilt as a damage racker, if not D-Smash for the kill/Upb if you got hit in your back, and you're quite far. If close, N-Air, whenever it's possible.
• U-Tilt: Same with F-Tilt.
• Grenade spam: If he cooks them, you will need to learn his pattern and go for the way he isn't covering, and then read the action he will do to get you. Every Snake has a pattern when grenade camping. If he likes to throw them very together, catch him when he's pulling one (GSL Works great, since you explode the grenade with him, and abuse your invencible frames). If he throws them quite apart from each one, and not cooked, then you can throw them back at him after 2 seconds so they explode when they get in contact with Snake, if they're cooked, simply get out of the way completely. Shielding/Spotdging is bad because Snake will slowly approach at you and punish these, or, lower your shield to shield poke you with F-Tilt/U-Tilt. If he likes to only throw them in one direction, go for the other, and so on. In general approaching him careless, will mean a bunch of damage to you. Most Pro's would play very campy in this phase, until they see an opening, or completely analyzed Snake's grenade pattern.

When Juggling:

• Air dodge (when high in the air): U-Air, fast fall U-Air/N-Air.
• Air dodge (when lowin the air): U-Air, Fast fall N-Air, if there's no time (cause he will land after you U-Air), then D-Air.
• B-Air (you're on the ground): U-Air if you're below him. If not, GSL/Shield+ punish.
• B-Air (you're high on the air): Fast fall U-Air. Don't try to challenge the B-Air hitbox, it's pretty outrageous to do so. And hard to do consistently. You can also Fast Fall while up-airing, and then jump and N-Air. Works awesome too.
• B-Air (when he's landing behind you): Hardest angle to get him. I would simply walk towards it then shield and react. If you run at him, it's an easy to predict GSL).
• B-Air (when the B-Air is in the other direction): Easy tornado in general, especially in landings. Otherwise easy F-Air/U-Air.

N-Air (high in the air): Go below him and fast fall while U-Airing, if you don't get him, then jump and N-Air. You can also challenge it with a shuttle loop, but the timing needs to be this way: Hit Snake with your strongest hitbox (early), if not, don't try to challenge it.

N-Air (Mid air, he's gonna "almost" land with it): Tornado below him. You can see this tornado in my set vs Ally, just at the start: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQi4_JSHsPc

Last thing:

Don't spam Upbs against he cypher. Mix it between D-Air's/Shuttle Loops/N-Airs so none of them get stale, and you can still kill Snake.

Or the conventional way, which is extremely campy.

Involves around D-Air camping, and waiting for Snake's pattern to show up and punish him with what I typed above.[/COLLAPSE]

[/COLLAPSE]

(Thanks BZ!)

As a general thing guys, once you've signed up and I've checked your name on the social media, fill a post with the following information:

Who do you main?
Where are you from?
In what areas do you want to improve on?
Any questions you'd like answered?
Recent videos?

Then we can go from there.

JOIN THE PROGRAM!
 

Joaco

Triforce of Wisdom
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Messages
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How did you practice every matchup?
What is the thing you most like doing in a match?
Will you attend to Apex 2013?
I'll probably come up with more questions later.
 

TSM ZeRo

Banned via Administration
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Messages
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How did you practice every matchup?
What is the thing you most like doing in a match?
Will you attend to Apex 2013?
I'll probably come up with more questions later.
1.- Played as much as possible with all my friends. This is how I mastered match ups like MK and Snake. Countless hours of raw training. For other MU's I had this youtube marathon watching the pros of the chars I wanted to learn, this way I could know how that char was played at a high level. Then I would visit the boards of that char to learn some of it's tactics, strategies, strenghts and weaknesses. Sometimes I would ask in their Q/A things like "What stage do I use vs this char" "Does this have more priority than this" "Any cool tricks that I don't know" (after visiting all the threads I could find). Then I would finally play a bit a of the character so I could feel what was his/her true weaknesses. I also practiced countless hours in the wifi AiB ladder honing my Match up skills against everyone I could find. I also writed notes in a little notebook I have, this way anytime I learned something, I would never forget it. Or remember to explore certain options, or stop/start doing something, or CP/Ban certain stages cause I lost at AiB because of them, etc. It was a long process, but it has payed off a LOT.

2.- I love doing reverse Short Hopped F-Airs while walking backwards, then Up-Airing to get off the stage with the C Stick, then jumping back to the stage doing another Up Air, and landing with an airdodge. I would follow this by buffering more reverse F-Airs after the air dodge. I also love cancelling MK's shuttle loop at SV's platform (Just like Nairo does) and then following that with a full hop N-Air, to an airdodge to the edge of the platform, then dropping down with an Upair, and then doing more ups. I love doing technical things :)

3.- It's completely money dependant, but I will do my best to attend. I really want to enter another USA tournament. I only have good memories from my time at Apex. Everyone was so nice, kind and lovely to me :)

Sure, you're more than welcome to ask more things!
 

KassandraNova

Smash Master
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Why won't you play megaman x?

Have you ever tried marvel?

Can we hang out and play at the next tourny? :D

What's your favorite color?

How much time do you spend in training mode on average?

Can you salsa? Can you tango?

0____0

:phone:
 

AlanHaTe

Smash Ace
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Messages
588
Location
Mexico
I remember I read this advice you gave when SmashBrosLA still existed...

you said something like "I figured out many MU's playing with lvl 3 CPU's" or something like that. I remember you stated they were like the most un predictable CPU's to get back on stage, and stuff like that... Also you said you tried to think "what would [insert player name] do"

I really tried to do that, but I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, or just that doen't work for me... so in times when I can't meet my friends to play or play wifi, what's the best I can do to get better at things like reads, prediction, etc?

I'll think of some more stuff to ask, and thanks for being such a cool guy and willing to help peaople this much :)
 

GOofyGV

Smash Lord
Joined
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Messages
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Netherlands
what is our best close range option vs Olimar?

I like to actualy Dtilt him because Olimar doesn't have grab armor So he can't Really grab us.
 

M@v

Subarashii!
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Hey man, I don't know if you remember playing me at apex, but the one thing I distinctly remember when I played your mk was how good you were at buffering all your moves near perfect. Is this a particular thing your practiced? Or did it naturally improve as your got more experienced and tourneys and stuff? I'm asking because the main thing I'm working on with my mk atm is perfecting mechanics(I.E proper cancelling, buffering, etc).
 

BlueXenon

Smash Lord
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How do you get around PT's projectiles? I was playing ivysaur and I took probably 40% - 50% damage each match only from that projectile.
 

TSM ZeRo

Banned via Administration
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Why won't you play megaman x?

Have you ever tried marvel?

Can we hang out and play at the next tourny? :D

What's your favorite color?

How much time do you spend in training mode on average?

Can you salsa? Can you tango?

0____0

:phone:
1.- I have played it! I love it. Just too frustrating at times. I don't play it nowadays.

2.- Of course!

3.- Red!

4.- When I was sponsored and was practicing for apex, about 3 hours a day (from my 6-9 hours a day training schedule).

Nope, and nope! But you could teach me when we hang out =).

How are you doing?

When am I going to get my hour of training?
Very well. How about you?

Hit me up on Skype/SWF PM, and we can schedule a time that works for the both of us.

I remember I read this advice you gave when SmashBrosLA still existed...

you said something like "I figured out many MU's playing with lvl 3 CPU's" or something like that. I remember you stated they were like the most un predictable CPU's to get back on stage, and stuff like that... Also you said you tried to think "what would [insert player name] do"

I really tried to do that, but I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, or just that doen't work for me... so in times when I can't meet my friends to play or play wifi, what's the best I can do to get better at things like reads, prediction, etc?

I'll think of some more stuff to ask, and thanks for being such a cool guy and willing to help peaople this much :)
I remember you. Yes, you're correct, I did indeed say that.

I honestly suggest you the same method. If you can get down your mechanical skills down perfectly with CPU practice, and you have no one to practice with, just imagine if the CPU could take different options, and be in positions that could capitalize those options. You need to think in a general way. By thinking like this, you can learn new angles to punish things. Playing MK at pro level is capitalizing everything and not failing punishes. This is done by having good mechanical skill and positioning, two things that can be mastered ny playing vs CPU's.

No problem! I love this community, it's the least I can do.

what is our best close range option vs Olimar?


I like to actualy Dtilt him because Olimar doesn't have grab armor So he can't Really grab us.
That depends completely of the range. If they like to F-Smash a lot, F-Tilt is the way to go. If they like to sit in shield, then Dash grab/D-tilts. If they like to/Smash/grab in place, then grounded shuttle loop is the way to go. If they like to pivot grab, then tornado to his head/ Short hop + Airdodge + D-Smash/Grab/F-Tilt is the way to go. It depends of Olimar's habits, nothing is the "best option" all the time. Safest poke, would be D-Tilt for sure, because you can cancel it faster than F-Tilt, and both have the same range.

Hey man, I don't know if you remember playing me at apex, but the one thing I distinctly remember when I played your mk was how good you were at buffering all your moves near perfect. Is this a particular thing your practiced? Or did it naturally improve as your got more experienced and tourneys and stuff? I'm asking because the main thing I'm working on with my mk atm is perfecting mechanics(I.E proper cancelling, buffering, etc).
Hey Mav! What's up? Yeah, I remember you!

I practiced countless hours trying to copy and master M2K's play at MLG. With the time, and tournament experience, my mechanical skill kept getting better and better. It was something I trained really hard for. If I could do it, anyone can! Keep practicing! Try to do what Nairo, M2K, Otori/Kakera, me do! Try to do them as fast as possible, from any angle, and without really making an effort to do it (like, until it becomes natural to do these things). I remember telling myself "I won't get up from my chair until I can do 40 Glide Tosses in a row without failing" or "I won't get up from this chair until I can do M2K's routine 10 times in a row without failing", sometimes I would be hours trying to these things consistently. But it all payed off! So again, keep practicing! You got this.

How do you get around PT's projectiles? I was playing ivysaur and I took probably 40% - 50% damage each match only from that projectile.
What do you mean? As, MK? Or as Ivysaur?

Here's a quick rundown:

Charizard: Charizard's flamethrower is really slow, and you can see it coming a mile away. Try to prevent it. But if you get caught in it, DI Up/Away from Charizard, then buffer a tornado and hit him with it. You can also N-Air/D-Air on top of him. For Rock Smash, you can only predict it, shield and then punish accordingly (N-Air/Grab are good options. Don't use Grounded UP'bs too much vs Chari, you dimply stale a good kill move vs him, and you have other options that do more damage, like N-Air/Grab).

Ivysaur: If you sit in your shield, you're gonna have a rough time. This is the kind of the match up that you need to be aggressive on, and keep a constant flow of pressure. If you simply sit there, you'll end up losing cause of his camp game. A good thing to avoid them, is to short hop + Airdodge them while running towards Ivysaur. This is an excellent gapcloser. After this, proceed with a well spaced aerial if they like to attack/grab if they like to shield/Tornado if they like to roll/spotdodge.
 

TSM ZeRo

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Thankyou. I will remember thar
No problem. Glad that I could help you :).

so simple in essence, but so hard to comprehend when you haven't gotten there yet. there are no shortcuts, so I want to really make an emphasis on this. if you are hungry to win you put in the time.
That's how it is for everything in life. No one is born being a pro at everything. If you want to do something, put in the time to accomplish it. Everyone can do it!
 

BlueXenon

Smash Lord
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When I play someone for the first time and they dont know my playstyle at all, I like to Jab into Up B and it usually works the first time, but not after that. Is this a good combo?
 

TSM ZeRo

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When I play someone for the first time and they dont know my playstyle at all, I like to Jab into Up B and it usually works the first time, but not after that. Is this a good combo?
First of all, it's not a guaranteed combo. Which means, that they can escape it by DI'ing (Moving away from your Jab). It's a good mixup if you know that your opponent likes to attack after they get out of MK's jab, but it shouldn't be used too often, since there are safer options, like Jab to D-Smash/F-Tilt, or a shield mix up too.
 

Pivot

Godfather
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Messages
109
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America
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Hey ZeRo;

What is your strategy against Lucario, and what combos and tactics do you find trump him the best?

Do these strategies, combos, tactics, etc. change any when his aura is at the level where you must be cautious?

Finally, how about on the flip side? What strategies, combos, tactics, etc. do Lucario mains perform that you find trump you (if any)?

Thanks.

:phone:
 

BlueXenon

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Thankyou for the answer. I used A to dsmash near the ledge and it worked. The person rolled onto the stage and got hit with the back of dsmash.
 

TSM ZeRo

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Hey ZeRo;

What is your strategy against Lucario, and what combos and tactics do you find trump him the best?

Do these strategies, combos, tactics, etc. change any when his aura is at the level where you must be cautious?

Finally, how about on the flip side? What strategies, combos, tactics, etc. do Lucario mains perform that you find trump you (if any)?

Thanks.

:phone:
1.- My general strategy with Lucario is pretty simple:

Early game I focus on getting as LITTLE damage as possible, avoiding any trade if the reward isn't something super high (Like a stock or off stage combo). I do this by literally, camping at mid range (A little past Snake's F-Tilt). I do this because he won't be able to spam Aura Sphere's safely, and I would be in range to punish anything by him. I simply try to do as much damage as possible, while taking the less amount. At the end of each stock, I would play at the same mid range (to prevent super Aura Spheres) but at the same time, making more plays directed towards getting him off the stage, where he's easier to kill. At pro level, Lucario's are extremely hard to kill, and if you keep failing the chances of killing him, he will just turn around the whole game. This is Lucarios main strenght: Comebacks. I prevent this by playing extremely safe the whole game. Not letting him any chance to zone me by camping, or me making over-aggressive moves. The right balance of camping.

I camp by sitting at mid range, and walking around in place, then I would F-Tilt/Dash Attack/Shield + Grab anything I see. This is a mix of Tyrant's manner of camping, coupled with Ally's style of punishes. I find this strategy to be extremely effective when done correctly.

I edgeguard Lucario in the same way that Anti does. You can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dt3c3OMEeY

As you can see, reverse UPb' (easier to hit than it looks), N-Airs, Down Airs, and correct edgehogging/Smashes are the way to go.

Key factors: Don't get camped. Zone him. Don't overextend (too aggressive) because you will get F-Aired/Down-Aired/F-Smashed. Don't get hit AT ALL by Down Air/F-Air/F-Smash.

----

Lucario's tricks are player dependant. There are Lucario's who like to trick you in the campy side, like Junebug, or players who trick you in the aggressive side, like Trela. Campy Lucarios trick you in the timing of their reactions, such as Aura Sphere's, Rolls, and F-Smashes. Aggressive Lucarios like to mix F-Airs/Down Airs, Forward Rolls/spotdodges in their approaches/zoning. Mostly, the only change is timing. To beat Lucario you must understand the timing of how he reacts to everything. You can only have a general idea in order to win, aka, when he does X, I do this. This is done by having experience against the character at all levels. Also, don't ALWAYS do X thing vs all Lucarios. Aka, what works vs Trela, MIGHT not work vs Junebug. And so on.

Hopefully I helped you!

Greetings.

Thankyou for the answer. I used A to dsmash near the ledge and it worked. The person rolled onto the stage and got hit with the back of dsmash.
Yep yep! That's a great trick if you know they like to roll. You could also commit your opponent to shield. If you keep pressure in their shield, and then you grab, you basically tell them "What you gonna do now". Some players break down after things like this. If they like to spotdodge/roll, don't forget to charge those Smashes ;).
 

Pivot

Godfather
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Thanks for the help. I'm a Luc and MK main, so the usefulness was two-fold ^^.

:phone:
 

ninjapenguin

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Messages
168
Location
Shreveport
Hi Zero, nice to meet you. :) I've been trying to get competitive with MK, and recently I've been learning MU's and getting more general experience on AiB, which has helped me tremendously. Despite all the time I've played on Free Play and Ladder, I have YET to face a Wario. The little I do know about the matchup is from what I've read here on the boards.

If I go to a tourney (especially here in the south), I'm bound to run into a Wario, so what should be my general strategy against him? What should I watch out for and what should I be trying to do during the match?
 

BlueXenon

Smash Lord
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I SD a lot in matches for one reason mostly. I dont know when I have my jump glide and when I dont. Sometimes I dont use any B move to recovery because I think I can just glide, but when I realize I dont have it, its too late. How do I know when I have it?
 

TSM ZeRo

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Messages
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Hi Zero, nice to meet you. :) I've been trying to get competitive with MK, and recently I've been learning MU's and getting more general experience on AiB, which has helped me tremendously. Despite all the time I've played on Free Play and Ladder, I have YET to face a Wario. The little I do know about the matchup is from what I've read here on the boards.

If I go to a tourney (especially here in the south), I'm bound to run into a Wario, so what should be my general strategy against him? What should I watch out for and what should I be trying to do during the match?
Nice, nice. I remember starting at the AiB ladder last year, and getting wrecked at it by any player. Then a couple months later of playing 24/7 I would consistently in the top 10 every season, then a couple months before Apex 2012 (where I traind sooo hard for) I holded the 1st place for a while in the ladder. I'm positive that if I could do it, anyone can. So keep up the training bro!

Hmmm, Wario is a tough match up. It's one of those MU's, like with Olimar/Ice Climbers, where you gotta have experience in to do good. My general strategy is to play like it's Kirby, which means: ZONE him. Don't let Wario enough space to maneuver in, and don't get:

D-Aired/Wafted (Down B). Important note: Waft is the most powerful at 1:50. Time this. If a match starts at 8 minutes, be ready for his Waft beggining at the 7:20 minute mark.

Warios like to do short hops and D-Air/N-Air/F-Air you. To stop this, you simply F-Air, if he's in front of you, and you can get enough vertical distance to hit him, otherwise short hop backwards a tiny bit, and do two quick up airs, and then air dodge. If you do this correctly, you will do two lagless upairs, and would either hit Wario, or zone him out properly. Backwards F-Airs are great if you can get enough vertical distance for when he comes at you (otherwise you get down aired for free).

Imagine that you're "boxing" away Wario. Basically, you need stage control in this match up. Wario needs GROUND space move around with Jumps, if you take that away from him, he can't properly space himself, and will have to do something risky while moving towards you, this is when you have to do those backwards aerials, to properly zone him back.

Off stage is tricky. You need to zone him out in two ways, depending if he doesnt have a Bike (Wario's recovery is quite good and long if he has his bike available to jump from).

With Bike: You simply Up B when he starts his Bike animation (He will do it at one point or another, if he has done it for a while, don't up B him, since he can jump/airdodge). Only do this if you can catch him very high in the air, and he's starting the animation. If he comes from below with his Bike, you drop down and N-Air him, this will make him lose his jump, then you grab the ledge, and he is probably dead. Otherwise, a Down Air zoning will do the trick. Just watch out for his Upb, it comes out pretty fast, so just Down Air a bit before you think he's gonna do it.

When he doesn't have his bike, simply N-air/down air his jump, then grab the ledge, and he's dead. It's quite simple. He's like Donkey Kong when he doesn't have his bike, great horizontal movility, but awful vertical movility. Judge well when to smply take the ledge and when to D-Air/N-Air him, you can sometimes save him by attacking him (just like DK, a bad placed down air can give him enough vertical movility to make it back to the stage).

Importante note: When Wario left his Bike at the stage, and he's off the stage, DON'T touch/throw/destroy his bike, since he CAN'T use it, while it's on the stage. If you throw it off the stage, or destroy it, he will be able to use it again. He can also play around with the tires much better than you, so it's easier to not touch it, and let him risk himself trying to destroy it to attain the tires.

Also, don't play too safe/too risky, when he has his waft available, both sides of the coin are dangerous. Play aggro (mixed style of aggression/defensive), and watch out for when he tries to land "above you" (waft). Don't be afraid to shield when he jumps, but don't get dash grabbed (mix up for when he has waft) or shield poked too much because you're shielding way too much. In short, play safe, but still putting aggression, and be ready to shield those waft attempts. Once he did his Waft, time the timer for when he will have it again.

Bans: Preference. Both characters like the same stages, but he can kill you very early at Halberd. I ban Yoshi's because I don't like the zoning game there (it's weird for me to maneuver there). And I'm not afraid of him in CP's.

Counterpicks: Again, preference. Just pick your best stage.

Good luck!

I SD a lot in matches for one reason mostly. I dont know when I have my jump glide and when I dont. Sometimes I dont use any B move to recovery because I think I can just glide, but when I realize I dont have it, its too late. How do I know when I have it?
There's only one way to know: After you've used your Glide, and you start falling down, MK's wings will be facing upwards until you jump again. This is the only sign you have for when you've already used your glide. Other than that, you can't tell other than using your memory.
 

Vinylic.

Woke?
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*pops in*

Pretty swag that you used the amazing MK pic I sent you as a sig. Makes me look 20% cooler after dabuz's sig of my post. :cool:

Shouldn't just leave something like that, so I'll ask a question too.
So I guess no one answered how to handle an MK ditto, so how would you handle it?
 

TSM ZeRo

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*pops in*

Pretty swag that you used the amazing MK pic I sent you as a sig. Makes me look 20% cooler after dabuz's sig of my post. :cool:

Shouldn't just leave something like that, so I'll ask a question too.
So I guess no one answered how to handle an MK ditto, so how would you handle it?
Haha, thanks for the pic brosky. I appreciate it a bunch. Yep, you're definitely 20% more cool to me in my book now.

The MK ditto is such a hard match up to be consistent at. I'd say that there are like 5 MK's in the world that dominate it at a level where I say "Wow!" when I see them play the ditto.

The ditto is a battle where the MK that makes the other MK play his game the most, will win. Either being a flashy technical game (Like me for example), or a well elaborated mindgames and tricks (Anti/Ally). The match up is typically played very aggressive, since camping an MK at a pro level is extremely hard, and there's way too much room to make mistakes, which is why an aggressive/zoning style is prefered.

The match up is generally in three ways:

Approach:

1.- Run, shield + punish whatever the other MK does. This is mostly, the USA way to do it. The way to counter this is to dash grab it when you think he's gonna shield. (Very good if they're at kill %).

2.- Run towards the other MK, then do a short hopped F-Air while moving backwards, + D-Tilt. This is countered by running and shielding + punishing.

3.- Run towards the other MK and either spotdodge/roll. Both are countered by doing a delayed (a couple frames) short hopped F-Air while moving backwards.

As you can see, this is pretty much a rock-paper-scissor game. Experience, and mindgames, are who tell you what to do and when. By playing someone, you get to know by their reactions, what they're most likely gonna do.

Air:

Generally, the MK who's getting juggled the most will lose the match. Since there's little you can do when an MK properly juggles you with Up airs and N-Airs. This is done by Up airing any attack he will do, and N-Airing any air dodge. If he's close to land, wait on the ground, and D-Smash airdodge, and shield+grab aerial attacks.

Off the stage can get pretty tricky. You Shuttle loop when he's coming back, and you know he won't air dodge in time, or he will aerial attack you. You down air/nair when he's gonna side B towards the ledge, and you tornado when he's gonna up B (or time a well placed edgehog depending of his position). When he's gonna down B, you grab the ledge, then when he gets above the stage, you do a ledge hopped F-Air towards him.

When coming back, you tornado when you think he will shuttle loop (don't do it if you're too close, since you need to press B a bit before to gain priority, otherwise Up b beats tornado). You down b, when you think it's safe to grab the ledge (aka, he waits for something else). And you shuttle loop, for when he grabs the ledge.

Stage wise, it's personal preference. I love playing the ditto on CP's, while other MK's don't. Just pick your best stage, and ban your worst.

Hopefully this answered your question, feel free to ask me further about the topic if you want bro =).
 

Okuser

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Hey zero, I just met you, and this is crazy, but answer my question maybe?

What do you do against campy diddys? and by campy I mean, always set up in the middle of the stage with 1 banana in front of them, one in hand, and shooting peanuts. the kind of diddy that wont even go for follow ups because they want to re set up their bull**** bananas in the middle of the stage.
 

Shadow Blitz

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Nice to meet you, ZeRo.

What are your tactics offstage/how to gimp the following characters:
  • Zero Suit Samus
  • Jiggypuff
  • Falco (only against the Phantasm)
  • Pikachu
  • Mario (stupid cape gets me all the time)
  • Peach (I can never edgehog that stupid parasol)
  • Mr. Game and Watch

You are awesome for doing this; one of my model MK's ;)
 

Kaffei

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Thoughts on full hop f-air against Ice Climbers? Seems like it could work, but I would like to know what you think.
 

Pivot

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I already got some questions in, and it seems you have a bunch above, so take as long as you need.

How do you train in brawl? I can beat Nasties consistently, but CPU's lack the minds humans have.

I watch a bunch of videos of pros like yourself, and try to incorporate the combos etc. i see into my play. The issue is my friends are not super skilled at the game, and WiFi is laggy. So I'm left with CPU's and training mode...

Tourneys probably would help, but an hour of matches doesn't seem like a whole lot of practice, especially if tourneys are once a month (at best).

So yeah, what are some ways to train, and what are some ways to train solo?

Thanks a bunch.
 

TSM ZeRo

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Hey zero, I just met you, and this is crazy, but answer my question maybe?

What do you do against campy diddys? and by campy I mean, always set up in the middle of the stage with 1 banana in front of them, one in hand, and shooting peanuts. the kind of diddy that wont even go for follow ups because they want to re set up their bull**** bananas in the middle of the stage.
Hey there! Sure, no problem my friend.

The ADHD tactic can be such a pain to deal with as a Meta Knight player, especially when he starts to combo you from there.

There are 2 ways that I deal with the ADHD tactic, depending if I have a lead, or not, the stage, and the positioning of both characters, I would pick one of these strats. I usually pick what could work, even if it can be risky. But I play safe at tournaments, usually picking the safest option (being that, either you take damage, or nothing happens).

1st way: Aggressive

A) Picking his bananas:

This strategy is simple. You simply try to catch one of Diddy's bananas, and use it against him. You can bait Diddy to throw you the bananas, by staying near him, and then catching it with an aerial attack (F-Air while moving backwards is an excellent option), and then either holding it, so he can't use it vs you, and be forced to play without a banana covering the ground, or simply throw it back to him for some combos (Glide toss forward + grab is a very strong option, so is throwing a banana close to him, tornadoing, and then backing out using the banana as an obstacle. He can still Dash attack you and grab it at the same time, but if you move far away enough, he can't punish you).

Depending of how the Diddy reacts when you get close, you can counter it, and get trough his wall. This is a high risk/high reward option so use it wisely. Some Diddys like to do a glide toss backwards while throwing the banana downwards/forward, you counter this by running and dash attacking. Some Diddys will run away/glide toss away before you get in range to Dash Attack, depending if they throw a banana or not, you can catch them off with a tornado, but remember to not do it if they can predict it. Some Diddys will do a F-Air, while having a banana in hand, you counter this by running and shielding/up'bing/tornado. I usually shield, and then grab their approach. You have to react well, to make this work, though. And if they chose to spotdodge/roll, you will have to react to it accordingly. This option has a lot of variants, so I just pick general options: Banana in hand: Dash attack. Aerials: Shield, wait for reaction, punish accordingly.

Also, don't approach if you're winning by a considerable amount. Let him come to you, but make sure to not grab the ledge, so you don't lose the time out if it comes down to that. Practice shielding/dodging/attacking (very good option, F-Airs) the peanuts/reacting to bananas. I like to run away with bananas, then use them to create escape/opening options. (Like throwing down when they're close to me, and staying behind it, or running away from him, then glide tossing towards him, etc.)

2.- This is basically, outcamping Diddy. I do this a lot, and it works if you can react to his mixups. You basically make him to you if you're winning, like I said above.


If you're losing, be EXTREMELY careful TO NOT take damage when trying to regain stage control. THIS IS HOW Diddy wins games, because some people take TOO much damage trying to regain stage control. Be really careful on this.


Nice to meet you, ZeRo.

What are your tactics offstage/how to gimp the following characters:
  • Zero Suit Samus
  • Jiggypuff
  • Falco (only against the Phantasm)
  • Pikachu
  • Mario (stupid cape gets me all the time)
  • Peach (I can never edgehog that stupid parasol)
  • Mr. Game and Watch

You are awesome for doing this; one of my model MK's ;)
ZSS: You can't gimp her during her Down B, because she's invencible during the whole time, and then she kicks the tornado, if you try to do it. What I do, is that I basically bait the down B, and then punish at the stage, with grabs/d-smash. If she down b's early, and doesn't get to the stage, I time an UP when the animation is almost done, just when she can kick, I time my upb, so she can't kick me in time. If I see that she can barely make it to the stage, I'll grab the ledge, at down b range (that's her upb's/side b's range) and then press L when my invenciblity is about to wear off, and she's falling down to her doom. This is hard to time. Some down airs/nairs when she tries to get close to the stage, work too. Just be careful of the kick, it's a really good option if the other player doesn't know how to handle it. Remember, punish after her invencibility is over, not before, because you will get kicked and die at super early %'s.

Here's a tournament match between Salem and I, where you can see how I do the MU:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej2XpeYR5sw

Jigg's: She can't handle your priority. Which means, that you can pretty much U-Air/Down Air/Upb her for free, and she can't do anything but air dodge/use her aerial movility/charge a B, and hope it hits. If she charges a neutral B, just jump out of the way, and Down Air where she would land/move, and you'll hit her. If she aerial attacks, F-Air/Down Air her/upb depending of the angle.

Just make sure to pay attention to her aerial movility, and counter accordingly.

Falco: You can hit Falco's phantasm, with pretty much any of MK's attacks, the problem is timing that attack to hit him. The easier attacks to time are tornado and N-Air. But D-Air/F-Smash work the best if you can time them. If you see a Falco Side'bing to you, just Tornado him, and move the tornado to the edge of the stage, so he's off the stage again. Or Short hop N-Air/Full hop D-Air him as soon as he phantasms.

In the following videos you can see what I mean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5KkXjUR0GU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2MEHOxEWWo

Pikachu: He's really hard to gimp, because if the Pikachu recovers smartly, you won't really catch him. But you can punish poor recoveries: If he Upb's to the edge/stage, you can tornado over to the edge, and then go back. If he misspaces his Upb, you'll hit him. You can also Down Air, N-Air him in the same fashion as Falco's Side b. If you see he will make it to the edge using his second movement of his Upb, grab the ledge, and he's dead. Besides of this, you can't really do much.

Also, this is an excellent demostration of the match up at pro level if you're interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MYsv_ZIdLw

Mario: This is very similar to jiggly, in that Nair/Down air/Upb> his moveset. If he's close to the ledge, he WILL upB early to grab the ledge, so he doesn't get hit by your attacks. If you see this happening often, just bait the Upb, then grab the ledge, and he's dead. If he doesn't upb, down air him once/twice, and he's dead at pretty much any %. If you get hit by his cape, then you're doing it wrong. You need to at a 45 degree angle from him at all times, like this:

(Left side)

MK

Mario

Peach: You edgehog peach by putting pressure on her you can't really edgehog her, but you can straight out kill her, or do a bunch of damage. You basically move above her, at the 45 degree angle, and start spamming Down Airs in her direction, if she starts to float AWAY from you, you drop down, and F-Air her, and if she didn't expect it, she's dead. And when she tries to grab the ledge with her upb, you simply Upb her until she's dead, or time the edgehog at the VERY last frame, and stay there, if you did it right, she's dead. It's basically free damage when she has to up b, so abuse that in your favor!

GW: You can gimp him in two ways:

When he's far away from the ledge:

Drop down all the way to himp, and down air him at the 45 degree angle (only if he can't upb to the ledge when you get there). Be careful of his B-Air/D-Air/N-Air, just stay at the safe 45 degree angle.

When he is in uPb range. Grab the ledge when he's about to grab it, and N-Air him as he lands on the stage with lag (make sure to the land the N-Air to the other side of his body, so the Nair sends him off the stage again), if you can't get the Nair in time, simply F-Air him.

Hopefully I helped you, feel free to ask more if you want my friend!

Thoughts on full hop f-air against Ice Climbers? Seems like it could work, but I would like to know what you think.
It's a free grab for IC's if you don't jump before landing/or you fast fall it. They can also shield it, and N-Air/Up air for free. I only use it, if they run away from me, since they can't really punish from that angle (They can't grab/N-Air in time). They could Up air, but I time it so they can't (as they start to run away from me). DON'T use it if they're facing towards you, it can go really bad for MK.

Situational option, but should be mastered for when you need it.

Thankyou.
101010
No problem bro!

I already got some questions in, and it seems you have a bunch above, so take as long as you need.

How do you train in brawl? I can beat Nasties consistently, but CPU's lack the minds humans have.

I watch a bunch of videos of pros like yourself, and try to incorporate the combos etc. i see into my play. The issue is my friends are not super skilled at the game, and WiFi is laggy. So I'm left with CPU's and training mode...

Tourneys probably would help, but an hour of matches doesn't seem like a whole lot of practice, especially if tourneys are once a month (at best).

So yeah, what are some ways to train, and what are some ways to train solo?

Thanks a bunch.
Hey there!

While that is true, CPUS help you to develop mechanical skill. Mechanical skill is the speed and smoothness of how you do everything in the game. The bigger your mechanicall skill is, the faster and smoother you can do everything in the game. This allows you to do more precise/fast combos, develop more tactics, strategies, etc.

What you also need to take from videos, is why pros do that. For example, why did X player decided to take Y option over Z option? Why did X did Y? Why is he camping so hard? Why is he so aggressive? Try to understand the mindset behind everything. Pros do everything for a reason. Once you develop the skill to "see mindsets" your view of the game will change. And it evolves all the time. I often have times where I'm "Wooow, I've never thought of X like this before".

Tournaments are for playing players that you don't usually play, and test your skills vs the best of the best in your region. It's a place where you test and further improve your skill vs better players.

I usually train by practicing my mechanical skill a couple hours per day vs LVL 3 CPU's, and developing frame traps, strategies, and finding new tactics for everything I see. I often take a notepad with me, and write down every little thing I see so I can practice them later/investigate them. I would then practice match ups/test tricks at wifi, and see how they work vs different kind of players. I played a bunch at the AiB ladder last year, I first started getting owned by everyone, but I slowly improved. Then after several months, I achieved my goal: Getting 1st at the ladder. And then holding it down for a while was also hard, especially with the amount of dedicated and passionate players at that ladder. I learned SOOO much about match ups, and mindgames by doing this. Even though it was super laggy, I still learned a lot. I think this is the BEST way to learn match ups, atleast in my opinion.

I would also travel to every tournament that I can, no matter how far it was, or what plans I had, I would always attend tournaments and practice.

With the years of experience, coupled with dedication, time, love and tons of hours practicing, I got good.

What I reccomend you is that you try to be as technical as M2k, or me are, or even more technical! Try to do our tricks, and then master them. Or develop yurs! If you can get your mechnical skill down like that, the rest would be easier, since you won't be making mistakes, it'll be all in your head.

Keep playing CPU's, develop mechanical skill, play wifi, learn match ups, and then test yourself at tournies. This is how I practiced.
 

Pivot

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Thanks a ton again, Zero. Now when I train for hours against CPU's I can be at ease knowing it's a good use of my time.

I was also really wondering, do you have tap jump on or off, and why? U-tilt is easier with it off obviously, but I heard there are some pros to having it on as well.

Thanks again.
 

TSM ZeRo

Banned via Administration
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Thanks a ton again, Zero. Now when I train for hours against CPU's I can be at ease knowing it's a good use of my time.

I was also really wondering, do you have tap jump on or off, and why? U-tilt is easier with it off obviously, but I heard there are some pros to having it on as well.

Thanks again.
No problem. I'm glad that I can help you out a bit.

I play with tap jump on since I started to play Brawl. I got used to to tap jump on in my Melee years. I just couldn't change it, haha, it felt perfect at the standard configuration.
 

Pivot

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Thanks (tap jump is going to take a bit to get used to, hopefully I'll get it eventually).
 

BlueXenon

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Do you ever use other characters to try to learn the MU vs mk better?
 

TSM ZeRo

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Thanks (tap jump is going to take a bit to get used to, hopefully I'll get it eventually).
Just play with what you're comfortable with. Don't mimic other players.

Thanks for the reply, zero.
No problem.

Do you ever use other characters to try to learn the MU vs mk better?
Yes. I do that to understand other points of view. I do it quite often in friendlies.
 

BlueXenon

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How do you get back to the stage when your playing characters that are good at keeping you away from the stage like marth?
 

Metakill

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Do you critique videos? I have I think my best perfomance in youtube and I want to know if that playstile works.

I love to FF in ledge and then upB, but now I started using tap jump to make a better OoS game so I can't do that, When I'm going to do the UpB I jump and I don't go to the ledge, instead of that I start gliding and get a SD, how can I do upB without jumping first?

vs Marth what is the best tactics or gamestyle? In other video I play aggro but idk, first time I used MK against that Marth maybe he just didn't know my MK's playstyle (too different from the other around here, he plays like M2K of '09, dair camp)

It worths Grab release chain on dittos? or is better to do a Dthrow and a read?

Sorry for my english Zero, if some text is soooooo bad I can post it again in spanish
 
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