Hi y’all! First time posting in this Zelda group <3 First of all I think we’re all ****ing awesome for maining the best character in the world and I love every single one of you already. Posting some of my tournament vids down here just to showcase how I play my Zelda. I like to consider myself an aggressive Zelda (or at least more aggressive than the norm) and so far it’s been doing me justice the past several tournaments I’ve been to. I’m super open to critiques/comments so feel free to call me out on anything (but nicely)!'
Hey, welcome to the Zelda board. It's good to see more people playing her in tournaments, she definitely needs more representation. I think you do well with her, you look comfortable playing her for the most part. That said, there's always room for improvement and since you invited, I'll mention those(but nicely
).
There's a lot to cover and as such this post is a little long, so bear with me.
Palutena
One big issue that really stood out to me, is that you have a tendency to take to the air. It's a natural instinct for fighting game players, skilled and new, to go to the air when neutral or approach is uncertain. It is however, only an illusion of safety, especially for Zelda. Being above your opponent is the worst place to be and jumping like that will get you juggled hard. Empty short hops are fine fast falled, but DJs and full hops will telegraph what you are doing. That Palutena was playing a little too passive and missed a lot of opportunities to punish and Palutena can punish Zelda hard. Palutena's not great on the ground, so stay there and force her into the air, with Phantom or baits.
Another issue was using Phantom offstage above the ledge, too close to the ledge. Especially against Palutena, but a lot of characters have quick enough Fairs to interrupt your charge and possibly take a stock. You should fast fall or DI away from the stage in that scenario. All Zeldas, even Ven, does this, so I'm not going to fault you for it too much, we just need to remember not to do this.
You kind of had a bit of a snafu at 5:45. I can't tell if your jumps were taken or if you panicked, but there were plenty of options to avoid that and you would have lost a stock, if that Palutena had done a more optimal punish like Fsmash or Dair on your Up-B attempts. Zelda is difficult to edgeguard and has a really good recovery, so you can afford to hang around offstage and plan your recovery.
Overall, I think you handled things quite well and anything else would just be minor nitpicks on likely misinputs or similar. I did like that Up-B KO in the second match and the combo that took the last stock of the first. The Up-B is good for highlight reels, but the other is pretty underrated. You fast falled Up-air to discourage any platform jumps then D-Tilted, which can avoid any aerials, into Fair, which then comboed into a surprise Din's Fire. This is a good example of using Zelda's moves together, she doesn't have any overly broken one she can spam, so needs to use all of her tools to win.
Squirtle
One move I've noticed that's really absent from your play, is Up-Tilt. It's a good tool to use and it will be pretty helpful at catching fast aerials. Nair is good, but not easy to hit small characters with and overusing it will make you predictable. Get used to timing Up-Tilt and you will have an easier time against small characters.
Nayru's Love is another somewhat underused move. It's not good to spam it, as it can be baited, but I think you need to use it as a combo breaker more. You're going to be taking a lot of damage regardless, so try doing it when he commits to a dash or jump. You need to get a feel for when you should use it and when it can be baited.
Don't do so many commits like Fsmash in this one. Squirtle's fast, but doesn't have disjoints like his fellow small Pokemon, so needs to play a more punish and bait oriented game. Side-B is a good punish tool and a decent approach tool, given it's super armor, so you need to play a more defensive and safe neutral. Don't give him even small openings and just focus on spacing safe disjoints.
Other than the above, you handled it pretty well and I think that player learned after a while, that random Fairs can kill Squirtle early. It was also smart of you to hold off on Up-B recoveries until Water Gun couldn't hit you anymore. We definitely don't want embarrassing gimps.
Ivysaur
I think you need to play a little more defensive in this MU and force him to approach. His optimal spacing range, is the same as Zelda's and his aerials are better. I went into detail how I feel the Ivy MU should be played in the MU thread, but I don't think he's particularly good at approaching. Once you manage to hit, you can switch to offense and then stick as close to him as is safely possible.
If you want to punish Razor Leaf with Phantom, you are either going to need to be close enough so that the early charges hit or far enough you can get the shield versions out(I think the shield should slow it down, don't quote me though). You kind of found yourself in the middle, which is why it wasn't working. You can also punish with Up-B, if he is being particularly spammy. Don't spam it obviously, but it can surprise and discourage him from doing it again.
I think both this and the Squirtle MU, showed why it isn't a good idea to be in the air. You took quite a lot of percent by those juggles, so stay out of the air as much as possible. The current meme is spamming aerials, but Zelda has always been primarily a ground based character. Avoid getting too high in the air, unless you are trying to juggle.
Try and have a fully charged Phantom covering your recovery, Ivy's Dair is nasty.
Again, you did fairly well, you just took too much percent. You need to use Up-B when he is committing to a juggle, Ivy's usually too slow to punish, this should help you get back to the ground without taking too much.
Charizard
You did really well, despite IMO this being the most difficult MU for Zelda of the three. There isn't really going to be much I can add.
Don't use either Phantom or Din's Fire, if he is in any position to Flare Blitz punish. Both moves are too slow in most cases and its hitbox is big enough to hit Zelda through Phantom, if it is close to her. Either wait and punish if he is foolish enough to use it or just accept that you aren't going to be able to do anything about it this time. Alternatively, if you are close enough, Fair can punish the startup and bust through the super armor.
Wolf
Not much to say here, you kind of just have to outplay him in neutral, which you did really well. Up-Tilt can catch his aerials pretty well. That was a cool spike, so props for that.
Falcon
Not much to say here either, you handled it well and played about how you need to.
Up-Tilt and Nair are good for catching his aerial stuff. One thing I would really like to see, is you using Up-B OoS more. I know it seems like a pretty high committal, but relatively not much more than Fair/Bair. Frame 6, means you can catch a lot of poorly spaced and laggy aerials or moves in general. It should help with trying to KO Falcon who can be a little difficult to do sometimes.
Pichu
I think you handled neutral quite well, your Phantom spacing in the first couple of matches was impeccable and those were my favorite matches to watch out of them all.
I think the turnaround was when you missed some crucial techs that allowed him to jab lock you into an Fsmash, which ultimately cost you the match. That seemed to fluster you into abandoning that spacing and you starting playing very frantic and jumpy, which allowed to him camp you and bide his time until you gave an opening.
I think rather than neutral, you need to work on disadvantage vs. Pichu. There isn't much Zelda can do about neutral, other than what you were doing in the first couple of matches. He's that perfect combination of speed, small profile, and disjoint that can go under or through our own disjoints. I think the best way to go about this, is to not do anything that will let him KO you. Zelda can win through a war of attrition, given her better KO options and the presence of kill throws.
So make you sure you don't do anything risky and always select the defensive options that has the least chance of leading into a kill move of his. It's better to keep taking percent, than it is to panic into a kill move. Dsmash, Fsmash, F-Tilt, Up-B are all his good KO options on stage. So any defensive options you take, need to not lead into one of those.
I think that's the biggest problem a lot of people have, is getting flustered from the pressure and panicking into a bad option. Even if it means taking another Fair/Bair or whatever other combo move, it's better than air-dodging/rolling into an Fsmash or Dsmash. That's mainly what Pichu is looking for, is a panic option.
He's also looking for a getup option at the ledge. You lost a lot of stocks by an F-Tilt at the ledge. If need be, drop a little back off the ledge then land with an aerial or tomahawk grab or regrab then roll or jump from there as mixups. You need to be tricky in general with getting back on stage with Zelda, but especially against Pichu.
I really think you could have had it, if you got those techs. I think as you said you just choked at the end. It was more of a problem with your mental state than your strategy at the time.
Overall, I really liked your play. You have a solid neutral, which is rare with Zelda players, you label yourself as "aggressive" but you don't overextend and usually know when to back off. I feel like your advantage is a little lacking at times, but am unsure as to why or what can be done to fix it. Not bad, just could get more off of each neutral win. Your disadvantage is decent for the most part, just need to be a little more tricky at times.
