2015: What is new?

[Sizzurp]

Hey guys, how's it going? I'm new to Smashboards but not to Melee. Brief rundown, started back in 2012, took a break for most of 2014 and I went back to play Melee for fun with some friends the other day and some new 20XX teenager who I helped get started back in the day beat me and told me I was some ****ty washed up scrub. That didn't sit well with me.

I got the hack pack and have been getting back into the groove of things. While I continuously improve the technical aspect of the game, I had some specific questions regarding Melee in 2015, and some matchup stuff that I couldn't find on the forums on or on YT.

1. Who are the top Falcons these days? I know Hax quit Falcon but good riddance, his negativity is not needed. Seems like Gravy, Wizz and Ghatzu, are the newer ones that come to mind. Back when I was serious it was all about Hax, Jeapie and S2J. Is there anyone else I'm missing? I need to watch videos, the more videos the better.

2. Now that the availability of the hack pack has eliminated the tendency for technical mistakes, zoning and spacing are even more important these days than before. You can't count on people goofing up for an opening. What are some tips for zoning Falco? Besides the basic stuff, what is the solution against a Falco who is simply all over the place? WD back OOS and punish? What else is there? How to deal with lasers?

3. What are your guys drills looking like? Gravy's "Tech Chasing like a Man" video was super helpful, and I've been drilling the dash WD -> tech chase, but there's so much more to CF than that. What else do you guys practice regularly? What are some key actions that CF has to be able to preform?

Thank you guys for any help you offer to me. I like the optimism of this board and how you guys haven't given up on the Captain. I'll do my best to offer any help I can to others as well.

 

[Sizzurp]

Found the index thread, lots of useful stuff, but older. If anybody has any tips relevant to 2015 that'd be dope

 

[Spak]

1. Darkrain was also really big when you were watching it in 2012, and both he and S2J are still a couple of the best.

2. I don't know. I would say just use amazing Falcon movement to do the Matrix and avoid the lasers, but that's not a good answer. Honestly, I usually just try to avoid FD against a Falco but that isn't good because it takes one of my bans.

3.Honestly, I usually train tech skill from the Falcon Trials video and the way I practice my Falcon is with the video How To Train Your Falcon. How To Train Your Falcon is decently old, so you may have seen them before.

Falcon Trials:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6vclHINyNDA

How to Train your Falcon:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JbgR29W_X_o

 

[Oskurito]

1. Who are the top Falcons these days? I know Hax quit Falcon but good riddance, his negativity is not needed. Seems like Gravy, Wizz and Ghatzu, are the newer ones that come to mind. Back when I was serious it was all about Hax, Jeapie and S2J. Is there anyone else I'm missing? I need to watch videos, the more videos the better.

S2J is probably the best falcon imo. Wizzy and gatzhu are really good too, gravy doesn't seem to be as good as far as results go, despite the amount of knowledge he has.

2. Now that the availability of the hack pack has eliminated the tendency for technical mistakes, zoning and spacing are even more important these days than before. You can't count on people goofing up for an opening. What are some tips for zoning Falco? Besides the basic stuff, what is the solution against a Falco who is simply all over the place? WD back OOS and punish? What else is there? How to deal with lasers?

As a falco main, I can tell you that working on "take laser" approaches and power shielding would benefit you significantly. Try to find which moves work best against common laser + nair/dair/grab approaches with different positions (spacing can be a key factor more often than not). Use 20XX hack pack to practice powershielding against lasers.

You can't really zone falco, you can't outcamp him if his smart enough.

3. What are your guys drills looking like? Gravy's "Tech Chasing like a Man" video was super helpful, and I've been drilling the dash WD -> tech chase, but there's so much more to CF than that. What else do you guys practice regularly? What are some key actions that CF has to be able to preform?

Learn to combo floaties, specially sheik, marth and peach because they're the most commonly used. I've yet to see a falcon that can tech chase on reaction, that can potentially be the end of the 20xx fox era.

 

[Sizzurp]

Thank you guys for your input. I'm new to the 20XX hack pack and learned that you can have falco spam lasers. Very useful for power shielding practice.

S2J mentioned that the best way to deal with Falco is just by being aggressive, so I guess that's the closest to "zoning" you can get.

The Sheik matchup wrecks me.

 

[Oskurito]

Thank you guys for your input. I'm new to the 20XX hack pack and learned that you can have falco spam lasers. Very useful for power shielding practice.

S2J mentioned that the best way to deal with Falco is just by being aggressive, so I guess that's the closest to "zoning" you can get.

Yes, is good to keep the pressure on the falco and don't let him breath. Once you get a grab or stomp you should try to take it as far as you can, deal as much damage as possible. The reality is, unlike falco who usually hits you like 20 times during a combo and then kills you, you may only need some grabs, a couple of stomps and a knee to kill him. Punish game is key with falcon vs falco.

The Sheik matchup wrecks me.

S2J is really good at this match up, he eats sheik scrubs for breakfast. Also, I think he 3 stocked m2k's sheik once on a cali weekly.

Darkrain is also ridiculous, specially at comboing her.

All I know is that grabs are like the only sure way to start something against sheik, down throw can lead into stomp via tech chase and then you can knee or custom combo. Also, you can upthrow her at like 80%+ and it should be a free knee until 90% or something.

 

[Oskurito]

Messed up, sry for double post

 

[Sizzurp]

Thanks for the advice Oskurito, I'll def check out this videos. Sheik seems "floatier" than I remember her being, which I suppose is better for for certain combos. I just can't stand that f-tilt, its like the u-tilt the spacies have.