The Teachy TV: Ivysaur Video and Critique Thread

[Machiavelli.CF]

Today I quickly put together a video in an attempt to popularize a lot of techniques I either discovered, or rarely see used.

 

[GFooChombey]

That video is amazing. You just gave me so much technique.

 

[Kyle Strand]

Today I quickly put together a video in an attempt to popularize a lot of techniques I either discovered, or rarely see used.

I love the use of the seed bomb on the ledge. I always have trouble mixing up different options coming back onto stage so this is fantastic

 

[WakerofWinds]

Hi, all!

I went to a 10 person PM tournament on Friday and played Ivy (almost) the entire time. It was my first time ever playing PM against real people (as opposed to CPUs) and my first real foray into competitive smash, so any and all criticism is welcome. Prior to now I mostly played Brawl with friends, so you'll see a lot of missed grabs and not very many combos. Additionally, you can enjoy the worst solarbeams to ever see the light of day!

1st game: vs yoshi
2nd game: vs Pikachu
http://www.twitch.tv/riddallk/b/544468168?t=104m46s

Winners Finals: vs Kirby
http://www.twitch.tv/riddallk/b/544468168?t=118m35s

Grand Finals: vs Mario
The first game I played MK because I wasn't feeling confident, so it technically starts here.
http://www.twitch.tv/riddallk/b/544468168?t=196m08s
I played Ivysaur for the rest of the match, which starts here.
http://www.twitch.tv/riddallk/b/544468168?t=202m05s

 

[TreK]

Got some videos from Gamer's Gathering 3 :
Crew battle - TreK vs Satanpuuu (Sonic) & Dr.Crow (Kirby) (not uploaded yet, will edit)
Exhibition - TreK vs Satanpuuu (Sonic)
Losers' Bracket - TreK vs Yami2b (Peach)
Losers' Bracket - TreK vs Blubo (Link)

I'm greatly displeased with my performance in that tournament, but if you feel like giving me a bit of critique, I'll take it, any opportunity is good to learn :V
I already picked up a few things :
-I ended a few combos sooner than I should have because I opted for a bair which doesn't combo into anything
-I didn't land a whole lot of vine whips and solar beams
-I just kinda stopped using any pivots and shield drops for some reason
-I missed the great majority of my perfect shield attempts (I average 70% so that's weird)
-I am extremely predictable when I'm on the ledge
-I stay too long in my shield when I'm watching my opponent
-I screwed up a good amount of edgeguard opportunities

And Nom told me that :
-I should move away after a shielded full hop fair to make it safe
-I dropped a lot of combos after nairs by strafing it incorrectly

 

[EmLeingod]

My pool at Low Tier City 2. Had Denti in my pools, so I got a ditto set in with him :D

Would like any advice you guys can give me. @ Machiavelli.CF @TheReflexWonder @ TreK (I know you guys are active on this board, so I figure I'd at least ask)

Em vs:
Magmios
The NZA
Denti
CORY

 

[AsianBrony]

Wow this really helped

 

[Sweet™]

I hate Marth.

I hate Ice Climbers.

 

[TreK]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z9iwac4JCo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ukttiEJjnY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CojlqhEKdfM
random things I felt like recording

 

[comicalflop]

I'm very new to the game (been playing less than a month, and im more used to smash 64's physics) and im looking for feedback beyond the Commentator's unhelpful comments about how quickly I was beaten by a much more experienced player.

 

[White Light]

I'm very new to the game (been playing less than a month, and im more used to smash 64's physics) and im looking for feedback beyond the Commentator's unhelpful comments about how quickly I was beaten by a much more experienced player.

Use razor leaf and seed bomb. Force marth to approach (he will because he has to). Then shield grab, or waveland back short hop fair or turn around bair, etc. once you get a grab it should be a free 25+% from dthrow short hop nair > bair or nair > uair or seed bomb. approach with short hop nairs, and empty hop wavelands into dtilt. spaced fair works wonders, just mix up your moves, practice wavelanding and know what the best options are against character weights (training mode is a god-send for this).

 

[hand]

Hey fellow Ivymates
I'll just leave this here and hope you can give me some advice on things I could improve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldfXYwoJ0Kw

In some matches in this set I just got utterly destroyed...

 

[EmLeingod]

Hey fellow Ivymates
I'll just leave this here and hope you can give me some advice on things I could improve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldfXYwoJ0Kw

In some matches in this set I just got utterly destroyed...

When your opponent tries to ledge hog, you should make them fell some pressure. Remember, as of 3.5 once we tether to that ledge our options are extremely limited. Fairs and Razor leaves should really keep them from feeling safe on the ledge, and if you're high enough use seed bomb even, but be aware of its high end lag. Even when you tether to the ledge there is almost no reason not to wait out the forced reel in to see if your opponent is going to try to punish you prematurely, other than as a mix-up, but the end lag is rather enormous now, so good luck mixing them up on the ledge once you've tethered. But on your last stock in game two where you were in the position where he just stayed on the ledge and waited to see what you would do after you’re reeled in, and you DI'd back, you re-tethered. This was your death sentence. When you saw that he did nothing you should have nair'd or dair'd he was no longer invisible and you basically had no reason not to attack him. He had you SPOOKED. You need more confidence in your execution. Self-confidence is the cornerstone to any healthy mindset.


Also, remember to abuse ledge invincibility. When you're on the ledge, you have 3 real options. Hold back to release from the ledge, then jump and you can either jump away from the ledge and throw a razor leaf (this is probably the most dangerous and should only be used as a mix up, or if your opponent is charging an attack or dash dancing. ALSO this WILL REQUIRE A TETHER, so plan accordingly, remember we only get 2, so make SURE you get back on stage after using your tether twice, even if you have to roll back on stage), Fair (while easily the best option, if it's read you can be easily punished for it, so don't overuse it) and Nair (probably the most difficult to execute, but has by far the most reward).


As for on the stage, you were kinda throwing bairs out without much purpose. I know I catch my self doing this a lot too. Use d-tilt and fair for spacing, it leads into nair, jab, and fair. Bair isn't really one of our spacing tools, it's a kill move, it doesn't do a whole lot of damage and leads into exactly nothing. It should only really be used to put your opponent offstage or to kill them offstage. Honestly your entire combo game could use some work. This will take some practice. Use CPUs, just set them to level 3, and just practice like 30 minutes a few times a week. This won't help with neutral though, that's something you have to practice against human players.


Oh, and where them up-b sweet spots at? It's not guaranteed off of anything anymore, but it can still be used as a punish. And what a punish it is. Usually you wanna get it of u-throw at higher damages if they don't DI u-throw or u-tilt. d-throw is basically the same as 3.0 so it still leads into up-b very well if they don't DI it.


Good luck man, hope that helps.

 

[hand]

I agree with everything you said, bar the bair thingy. It has the most range and fairly short startup, which is important so I don't get outspaced by Zard's nair. Additionally, bair leads to ftilt or jab in neutral, which is rather safe.

 

[Swann]

Nah, bair is only useful in this matchup as a means to keep zard honest. Throwing it out constantly is counterproductive after you've set up the initial threat. Dtilt, fair, and leaf are much more applicable (see... 2:04, ) especially at low %.

In essence, your main problems is that you're not really getting enough off your hits, you're throwing away neutral or you're committing to something within a punishable range, and you're not abusing your good situations. You're also kind of slow sometimes(?) and you tend to retreat after getting hits even when the exchange favors you taking space.

Getting more out of your hits:
--FOLLOW UP ON FAIR WHEN YOU HIT HIM (2:33, 4:02)
--Nair instead of bair in a combo situation
--Very often you settle for a grab when you could easily set up an usmash or grounded dair (which leads into everything)

Stop throwing away neutral:
--Very often, you put out moves at unsafe distances (leaf especially) or fall into a rhythm (bair especially)... see your last stock on GHZ for particularly egregious examples of this
--Abuse dtilt's complete ground dominance to force Zard to jump
--Please stop letting him run up->PS leaf->anything

Abuse good situations:
--If he's in the air, you have the advantage, especially if you forced him to jump and he's facing you (no threat of instant nair)
--If he's on a platform above you, you have the advantage, and you should be pressuring him VERY HARD with uair->seed bomb, vine whip, nair, and WL grab. The tendency vs most Ivysaurs is to shield once we get them pinned on a platform, then act OoS as soon as we do anything (this is why uair->seed bomb is amazing).
--If he's on the ledge, especially if he already used his glide, he basically has no options. Wait him out, use synthesis if necessary to remind him that he needs to do something or you win the game, and hit him for whatever he does (nair if you can get it, bair otherwise). Many PM players really really like to press X or Y and ledgejump. Turns out, everyone really really enjoys ledgejumping directly into vine whip sweetspots.

Other stuff...
--Don't roll out of dthrow tech. Mixing it up between tech in place->jab/ftilt/dtilt/dsmash/roll/spotdodge and missed tech->get up attack/neutral get up->jab is VERY hard for zard to cover, especially compared to our mediocre techroll.
--Another grab thing, you should probably be preemptively DIing behind Zard to cover the bthrow mixup. He never used fthrow so it's not REALLY a mixup, since worst case he will use dthrow or uthrow and you have plenty of time to react to those. Bthrow sets up into fair/uair/side b shenanigans if you get caught with bad DI.
--Stop burning your midair jump so much. Look at 10:33 or 17:45 and I'll give you a cookie if you can come up with one good reason why you should throw away your double jump way out over there. It's very likely you would've died for it, had he been patient enough to just sit on the ledge.
--Practice acting immediately after other things. L cancel SH bair into DD, FH fair waveland, nair->jab...

tl;dr nair more

Sorry if this was really confusing, I'm juggling lots of stuff today and in a bit of a rush. Got to calm down for a few minutes and watch some solid Ivysaur play so I appreciate that

 

[Swann]

Posting again for some vids

Got to play a bunch with Frolk and I'd appreciate a look-over

 

[TreK]

I'll look at that someday, I'll never say no to some footage against Marth even if most of the time it just makes me angry :V

I have some replays :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6xgYI7jW50 - vs Chen(Wolf)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ5VYL-_gHM - vs Chen (Wolf)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jD30rvUmSo - vs Shadow(CF, ZSS)

And since I'm here, might as well post replays of other Ivies :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOP6Adbaetg MJG vs Stoks (Mario)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4dMDZlxcMs SCG|JZ vs S4J (Mr.GnW)

 

[EmLeingod]

I'll look at that someday, I'll never say no to some footage against Marth even if most of the time it just makes me angry :V

I have some replays :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6xgYI7jW50 - vs Chen(Wolf)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ5VYL-_gHM - vs Chen (Wolf)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jD30rvUmSo - vs Shadow(CF, ZSS)

And since I'm here, might as well post replays of other Ivies :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOP6Adbaetg MJG vs Stoks (Mario)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4dMDZlxcMs SCG|JZ vs S4J (Mr.GnW)

Your Ivy is really fun to watch. You can tell you spend a lot of time with her <3

 

[TreK]

Turns out a couple replays were late to the party =D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGeVqBoDFb0 vs Shub (Mario)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJL4TnrB3pA vs Charby (He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) (1st match only, I'm not crazy lmao)

 

[Swann]

Since everyone apparently has a hard-on for Marth destroying Ivy, here's some more fuel to add to the fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IET6rNZJF1A

 

[Anuran]

I have a video for critique as well.
I would appreciate comments on things I should be doing, things I should be doing better/differently and things I shouldn't be doing. Also tell me things I did well so I know to keep doing them

This was at SiTB - Merlin yesterday; I use Ivy in game two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03IW_lYOwuQ

 

[Anuran]

Since everyone apparently has a hard-on for Marth destroying Ivy, here's some more fuel to add to the fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IET6rNZJF1A

Im just gonna do this is stream of consciousness fashion

• Good waveland option at 0:43
• over committed at 0:53
• Good spacing over all on the first stock. You just goofed at the worst time. Also marth is a *****.

• Some stuff seems silly to tell you like you rolling too early at 1:26 but just be aware of that
• You aren't using enough beam charging moves over all, remember up throw is a solid option at early percents
• Lol at balloon get at 2:00
• Your whole stock at 2:28 was just really solid, constant pressure
• Your use of seed bombs is some of the best I have seen

the comeback was real first game

 

[EmLeingod]

I have a video for critique as well.
I would appreciate comments on things I should be doing, things I should be doing better/differently and things I shouldn't be doing. Also tell me things I did well so I know to keep doing them

This was at SiTB - Merlin yesterday; I use Ivy in game two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03IW_lYOwuQ

Some things I think that could improve your game:

Jab more, look at it frame by frame in debug mode, the first hit comes out on frame 2, and it hits right above her. It's really good for punishing poor approaches or keeping a combo going. Tech chase with nair more, especially off of good DI d-throw. Didn't see you use much of the staple nair u-tilt, but I'm going off of memory here, so if you use it my bad, if you don't use it more.

You go for grabs a lot, which is really good. But you didn't captialize that much off of d-throw and I don't think I saw you use u-throw which is AMAZING at lower-mid percents. It leads into seedbomb with no DI, and at later percents can lead into a up-b with the first to second frames of the up-b which hit directly above Ivy (again, look at it in debug, and notice where the tip of the vine is when if first comes out + the interpolation to frame 2).

You use back throw a lot which is great for getting them offstage which is where Ivy excels, just chase off stage with a bair, try to read their recovery and double jump into a second bair for the kill, make sure you can get back with up-b tho!

Overall you're Ivy is totally solid, keep it up man.

PS:

Black Ivy = best Ivy

 

[Anuran]

Some things I think that could improve your game:

Jab more, look at it frame by frame in debug mode, the first hit comes out on frame 2, and it hits right above her. It's really good for punishing poor approaches or keeping a combo going. Tech chase with nair more, especially off of good DI d-throw. Didn't see you use much of the staple nair u-tilt, but I'm going off of memory here, so if you use it my bad, if you don't use it more.

You go for grabs a lot, which is really good. But you didn't captialize that much off of d-throw and I don't think I saw you use u-throw which is AMAZING at lower-mid percents. It leads into seedbomb with no DI, and at later percents can lead into a up-b with the first to second frames of the up-b which hit directly above Ivy (again, look at it in debug, and notice where the tip of the vine is when if first comes out + the interpolation to frame 2).

You use back throw a lot which is great for getting them offstage which is where Ivy excels, just chase off stage with a bair, try to read their recovery and double jump into a second bair for the kill, make sure you can get back with up-b tho!

Overall you're Ivy is totally solid, keep it up man.

PS:

Black Ivy = best Ivy

Thanks man, I think I am coasting a lot off the time I put into 3.2 ivy, I need to lab 3.5 ivy

 

[TreK]

I have a video for critique as well.
I would appreciate comments on things I should be doing, things I should be doing better/differently and things I shouldn't be doing. Also tell me things I did well so I know to keep doing them

This was at SiTB - Merlin yesterday; I use Ivy in game two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03IW_lYOwuQ

I've seen you do a mistake I often do as well, trying to follow up a successful SH Razor Leaf with a ground move (dtilt, grab, jab, etc...). Those moves often whiff because they're so low, except for the jab which has little follow ups.
I think shffl nair would allow you to have more chances of connecting, as well as more follow ups in the case it connects since the opponent is airborne.

I think you should work on your edgeguards, DK shouldn't live until 160 against Ivysaur. He may be heavy but his upB has a lot of weak spots and it's pretty slow, you can just snowball him until death. You can abuse the 30 frames of invincibility the ledge gives you to hit him through his weird upB hitboxes in example, instead of coming back onstage like you do twice at the end of the match. He's got no landing lag, Fox style, so that type of punish is not going to work.

Against DK you just really want to have him in the air because he's all about that grab, so those grounded razor leaves were justified, but in another matchup there might have been too many of them. Keep an eye on that and make sure your neutral game is solid enough to deal with characters and players who can navigate around RL.

You were very patient in your recoveries and that's good, but that DK player didn't edgeguard you properly so I don't know how well it'd work against someone who would.

When you want to get out of your shield, you seem to opt for a roll most of the time. A wavedash oos would be faster, and you have other options like jumping as well. You allowed the DK player to close in on you several times because of this.

Looking good overall :V

 

[Anuran]

I've seen you do a mistake I often do as well, trying to follow up a successful SH Razor Leaf with a ground move (dtilt, grab, jab, etc...). Those moves often whiff because they're so low, except for the jab which has little follow ups.
I think shffl nair would allow you to have more chances of connecting, as well as more follow ups in the case it connects since the opponent is airborne.

I think you should work on your edgeguards, DK shouldn't live until 160 against Ivysaur. He may be heavy but his upB has a lot of weak spots and it's pretty slow, you can just snowball him until death. You can abuse the 30 frames of invincibility the ledge gives you to hit him through his weird upB hitboxes in example, instead of coming back onstage like you do twice at the end of the match. He's got no landing lag, Fox style, so that type of punish is not going to work.

Against DK you just really want to have him in the air because he's all about that grab, so those grounded razor leaves were justified, but in another matchup there might have been too many of them. Keep an eye on that and make sure your neutral game is solid enough to deal with characters and players who can navigate around RL.

You were very patient in your recoveries and that's good, but that DK player didn't edgeguard you properly so I don't know how well it'd work against someone who would.

When you want to get out of your shield, you seem to opt for a roll most of the time. A wavedash oos would be faster, and you have other options like jumping as well. You allowed the DK player to close in on you several times because of this.

Looking good overall :V

so what I'm hearing is

• too many grounded RF if this wasn't a match against DK.
• work on effective edge guarding abusing invincibility from the ledge
• shffl nair to combo effective RL to keep air time going and it was a better chance of connecting
• Rolling too much (I have been playing a lot of sm4sh) and WD out of shield is better in most cases.

Anything I missed?

 

[TreK]

so what I'm hearing is

• shffl nair to combo effective RL to keep air time going and it was a better chance of connecting

Only on a short hopped RL, and not if you hit only once though

 

[Swann]

Things I noticed

That first dtilt you should probably have just jumped in with nair or uair
If you are going to attack, use jabs or jab mixups in a situation like 5:30
At 5:58 you throw out vine whip. I have noticed that after whiffing vine whip, the opponent tends to go toward that spot for some reason. And yeah, if you had used it again, you would've hit him when he went to the platform. (seriously this works a disproportionate amount of time for how stupid it sounds)
Start bairing with more confidence once you get him out of CC range (and especially at 100%+). Strangely he didn't really CC much
Another vine whip->vine whip opportunity at 6:55
You're not really using fair/nair from ledge, which are really really solid options
At low %, uthrow combos into uair
Ivy can actually throw leaves from the ledge and recatch the ledge, no need to drift onstage at 8:47, might as well wait for the hit confirm
Easiest way to edgeguard DK is to bair his up b. Stay under him and usmash if he goes onstage and you don't have time to bair

Solid stuff throughout.

 

[EmLeingod]

http://youtu.be/HT3LIoF9P8s?t=8m5s

Played Ivy at a free tournament and got it recorded recently. Only one game as Ivy because I'm trying to pick up bowser

A few things I'd like some advice on:

1) what was I doing wrong against Ganon specifically?
2) how can I improve my neutral?
3) anything else you notice?

Thanks for taking the time guys <(^o^)>

 

[Anuran]

http://youtu.be/HT3LIoF9P8s?t=8m5s

Played Ivy at a free tournament and got it recorded recently. Only one game as Ivy because I'm trying to pick up bowser

A few things I'd like some advice on:

1) what was I doing wrong against Ganon specifically?
2) how can I improve my neutral?
3) anything else you notice?

Thanks for taking the time guys <(^o^)>

1.) So I totally sympathise because I have issues with this matchup as well. The thing about ganon, bowser, ike, dedede, anyone with big strong hit boxes, is that you simply can't challenge attacks because you will lose. You really have to out-space them the whole game and hit them with the edge of disjointed hitboxes. It's hella frustrating to hit them like 10 times and have them hit you once and be equal in %. Uhhhh... tech roll away from flame choke I believe (correct me if i'm wrong) but he got several down smashes off of mis teched flame chokes.

2.) I cant speak to this because I'm not good at it myself yet. The only advice I have is to be patient, not every second has to be you approaching them or visa versa. You have projectiles and he doesn't so you already have the advantage in neutral.

3.) One thing that stuck out like a sore thumb to me was your lack of up throw or pummels in the whole match which is super contrary to my own play style (not saying its wrong but objectively are not using Ivy's whole kit to its fullest potential.) The only Charging moves I saw you use were a stray up air sweet spot and a few SHFFLed synthesis once he was dead.

Overall I think you just made a few too many mistakes against a heavy punish character :/

 

[Eagle Smash]

@ EmLeingod

You're fighting Ganondorf. A very simple thing to keep in mind here is that Ganondorf is not particularly fast. If you are aggressive against a Ganondorf without being clever or subtle about it, the Ganondorf player will eventually catch on to your patterns (because you've formed patterns of 100% no chill) and put a huge hitbox in a place that you thought you wanted to be. Ivysaur is relatively faster than Ganondorf. If you have some chill, you can pretend to approach Ganondorf so he maybe does something stupid (misses a laggy attack) and then laugh at how little chill he has while you punish his because he is kind of heavy and likes combos despite how much he claims the contrary.

I like that you throw things at Ganondorf. I really do. But sometimes you throw things and then you goof up and throw yourself at him. He responds by batting you back out like the projectiles you're throwing to try to offset his chill (doesn't work here because he takes all the chill and you run in like it's a good idea, when it reality, Ganondorf likes to hit things and you're a thing so you get hit)

Now, watch the match again but focus solely on Ganondorf's position in relation to you for the entire match. Hit K repeatedly to pause every few frames if you want to. You'll notice that you sometimes chase Ganondorf to the edges of the stage, where he's probably sitting under a platform. If he isn't under a platform, he's choosing to be in the center of the stage. If he hits you out of the center of stage, he only moves a little bit to the edge of the center of the stage. He has no interest in straight up edge guarding you. He'll just punch you to death. He's safer in the middle.

So, what you need to focus on in that particular match: http://www.kanyezone.com/

And after you take Ganondorf out of his comfort zone, don't leave it. He'll want to get back in there. So just, like, don't let him. It's easy. Just hit him in the face because he'll make ****ty approaches (he can what, down B, forward B, fair? You can just Bair or shieldgrab or whatever)

Other than that, maybe try not to have to move all the time. Standing still can be threatening, too.

Have some chill.

 

[TreK]

That Ganon kept DIing into your combos and double jumping onto your upBs, how nice of him

jkjk
I noticed you used a bunch of weird moves when doing a platform tech chase. Just FH nair fastfall, it gets the job done just as well =P
He was clearly the one camping in that match. You overextended quite often and got baired for it. You're Ivysaur, find a way to make HIM approach. The only thing he can do against a razor leaf is a down B, so yeah, as long as you're spaced properly, you can throw that move for free and force a reaction. I won't say it's not dangerous but it will piss the Ganon off and he'll end up approaching after a while.
You missed an edgeguard against Ganon, please don't miss an edgeguard against Ganon. Especially in 3.5 where all onstage killmoves have been nerfed severely.

 

[it's Papa]

Up and coming midwest Ivysaur here, been playing for about 8 months now; my tag is Papa. I just won a 60 man Ohio tournament with Ivy including wins over Drephen (Sheik), 2 wins over Fumbles (arguably best PM Ice Climbers), and Village Mascot, our best Link in Ohio. Videos coming soon!

EDIT: I'm told the videos will go up tomorrow afternoon, so stay tuned.

 

[it's Papa]

Alright, the videos from my tournament went up. Unfortunately I only got WF and GF recorded and not my winners semis set against Drephen, which is probably the best set of PM I've ever played. After looking at these vids, I'm still not satisfied with the way I played. I obviously still have A LOT of work to do, so feedback from you guys would be great. I still tend to move around carelessly at times and pick the wrong followups. I also missed a lot of solar beams, which is very uncharacteristic.

Winners Finals: Papa (Ivy) v Village Mascot (Link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbDmhLONhvY

This set is incredibly slow and campy just due to the nature of the matchup. We pretty much just play footsies until someone wins neutral and converts for 30%. Rinse and repeat until someone wins.

Grand Finals: Papa (Ivy) v Fumbles (Ice Climbers, Metaknight)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck7LtwlEp4U

I believe Ice Climbers is probably one of the easiest, if not THE easiest matchup for Ivysaur. I had previously beaten Fumbles' ICs in winners quarters of this tournament and in the preceding two tournament sets we'd played. He decides to switch off IC after game 1 and go Metaknight games 2 & 3, which is a much more challenging matchup.

 

[TreK]

Ooooh yeaaaaa

not my winners semis set against Drephen, which is probably the best set of PM I've ever played.

Whyyy :C
It's the one I wanted to see the most, I legit don't know anything about Sheik

After looking at these vids, I'm still not satisfied with the way I played. I obviously still have A LOT of work to do, so feedback from you guys would be great. I still tend to move around carelessly at times and pick the wrong followups. I also missed a lot of solar beams, which is very uncharacteristic.

I have no experience against 3.5 MK or ICs, so I'll only give feedback on your match against Link :
-I've mostly seen you approach by doing FH fairs and RLs, while trying to avoid rangs. You can also clash rangs now, which was a bad idea in 3.02 since it made the rang disappear thus allowing Link to simply toss another one sooner, but in 3.5 it clears the way quite nicely. It deals 11% at best (although I've seen it deal 17% once ? wtf) so everything can clank with it. I usually go for dtilt or ftilt on the floor and nair in the air in order to have the highest margin of error but whatever floats your boat. Obviously a perfect shield still yields the longest rang-free time. RL is still fine because clanking increases your move's duration by 5 frames, unless it's a projectile. Its high startup is what kills it imo.
-He seemed to get a lot of damage and kill setups on you from guarding the ledge (which is natural), but you often went to the ledge during the respawn phase. I think you should risk staying onstage, there's a chance you might get hit but it won't be as bad as getting hit on the ledge.
-I saw a large numbers of rolls, idk if they were all necessary but you managed to make em work, gg. That move's a lot harder to use well than it looks...
-Except on YI where you kinda spammed them, I've only seen you do a few scarce ledgedashes and the ones I've seen were kinda sloppy. I understand the fear of the SD is 2stronk and that Mascot is extremely intimidating when ledge guarding, but ey, that's just an observation, do what you want with it.
-y u ban Skyworld ? :C (that's my favorite CP but then again, to each their own. It might be a good idea in the Link matchup anyway lol)
-I'd like to talk about this. Here he jumps above the platform, giving you cover and time to react, and yet you flee with a roll and end up giving him stage control. It's not a recurring problem, but I think it's a pretty big missed opportunity. This happens a couple times on Dreamland as well, where it's kinda easier to platform camp.
-Mascot seemed proficient at CCing your nairs in order to avoid some of the harshest followups you could get from it. What you can do against this strategy is to simply not fastfall your nair. That way you'll hit with the strong last hitbox of it, which grounds CCing opponents at about 30%. It's a pretty simple mixup, and even if he doesn't CC you'll still get a follow up (dash-full hop fair).
-you can punish Link's second hit of fsmash with a wd oos into a dash attack (instant dash attack is dash + C stick down in PM in case you come from Melee and don't know about it)
-charged arrows deal 15% so you need a move that deals 5% or more to clank with them (which is surprisingly rare in Ivysaur's multihit-filled arsenal). dair, fair and bair2 all work but that's about it. belly stomp would work... if it wasn't negatively disjointed.

I haven't seen anyone edgeguard you properly and it makes me sad :C

 

[it's Papa]

Thanks for your input! I'll try to digest it for when I have to play Mascot next time.

I didn't ban Skyworld, it wasn't legal. It is my favorite counterpick as well, but unfortunately it's rarely legal in Ohio for whatever reason

EDIT: I had seen fumbles edgeguard other tether characters extremely effectively (notably against mascot in losers finals) by having nana hang on the ledge while popo stands on stage and forward smashes the opponent during the forced hop. I'm not sure why he elected not to try that on me during our set. Players around here are generally hit or miss in whether or not they try to take advantage of the new forced hop in trying to edge guard me. Drephen makes good use of it, and my response was generally to either try to fade back to the ledge after the hop, or eat a sheik fair while DIing down and teching the stage.

 

[TreK]

Player spotlight : Bobo, from Montreal
Apparently he's new to the character. If he can keep on improving that fast, I'm sure we'll all be learning from him pretty soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YeBQlxanro

You can see more of his Ivy in doubles on the same youtube channel

 

[EmLeingod]

http://youtu.be/5q5CU1psh0Y

Playing against someone who knows how to ledge guard tethers... Tethers are so bad now. I also realize that I'm not very good at ledge guarding tethers.

Other things to note from this set: F-Smash might very well be our best onstage killing move for practical purposes. That said d-smash is still arguably more practical/safer most of the time, even if it has slightly less KB.

Things I noticed I was doing wrong: Terrible habit of DIing toward the stage when getting carried off. Not full-hop f-airing enough.

Anything else guys?

 

[TreK]

Yeah fsmash is really good

I'm on my phone so I can't be as thorough as yesterday but here are the three main things imo :
-you dropped a lot of edgeguards, which is something you really can't afford in 3.5. Basically you really have to tell yourself that if they recover, it's because you let them.
-shok's been crouch canceling a lot, make sure you try to use the few moves Ivy has that actually beats this strategy. Dtilt, a well spaced razor leaf,dash attack, dash grab, ftilt and eventually non-fastfalled nair (although he mostly CC'ed when you were on the ground)
-when you strafe back during a forced tether hop, make sure you DI up. I'm pretty sure some of those bairs shouldn't have killed you. All of shokio's kills were either bairs or fairs, so yeah you need to be on the lookout for those.

 

[TreK]

You guys' turn now !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjk_i6ECN0I&index=2 vs Chen (CF) WB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYFJ_GiGpyI&index=5 vs Leon (Snake) WSF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzhthllC1fc&index=11 vs Charby (He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) WF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKeL6Ivjnz8&index=12 vs Leon (Snake) LF

See anything you don't like ?
What I've noticed so far (I haven't watched everything) :
-bad tech habits
-DI can be better
-My panic button is shield : if I'm okay, I almost never shield (what's the point with Ivy amirite ?) but as soon as I'm in trouble I spam the hell out of it and it gets me in even more trouble.
-I should go live in a region with less top Marths (although I did get to switch to DK in all my Marth matches except for like, one or two of them)