Snakeee
Smash Master
I did some serious thinking, and I am very optimistic about ZSS' viability right now. I am developing a really good strategy now, and I'm really excited about it because it's more fun to play this way than I've ever played the game before 
...Also, I owe an apology to Nick Riddle. I was being way too harsh about my opinions, and I was biased because it's frustrating when you lose the spotlight believe it or not. However, being the underdog is much more fun to be honest. It's not just my' rivalry' with Nick Riddle, but I just absolutely LOVE proving myself in just about anything I care about. When I finally got recognition, I felt great! Once I'm there for a while though, I often get sloppy and lazy. People surpass me like he did. I do admit he is producing better results than me at this moment, and his style is not quite as gimmicky as I previously thought (though there are clearly a few flaws). I certainly respect his ability as a player now.
Nick's style actually IS very similar to the way I used to play. However, I think it's because he buffers an escape move* after D-smash to avoid being punished. This may work well, because the opponent has to be pretty quick to be able to punish it (which a lot more ppl are nowadays) so if you're buffering an escape, it will be much more difficult for the opponent to consistently punish ZSS.
* The escape moves I'm talking about are spot-dodge, roll, and jab.
Another problem was at the time I decided D-smash was useless, I had been preparing a 2nd d-smash after it (for 2x d-smash combos). My opponents often read this leak in my game, and it's far easier for them to punish if they know you're going to do that. I've since corrected that issue, but was already using it very minimally so I couldn't have noticed much difference of the move's effectiveness.
I feel I've gotten much, much better at this game as of very very recently. This goes along with my ability as a poker player too, because it's mostly my psychological game that has advanced (I just realized I have the biggest edge in heads up cash games). Most of my performance is based on how accurate I am at tracing my opponent's train of thought.It's allowed me to utilize ZSS' grab proficiently, and let me tell you it makes you MUCH more difficult to play against if you throw in grabs when you're especially sure of your read on your opponent. Let me know if anyone would like to know more about this subject btw.
On a side note, another interesting thing to do is approach your opponent with a running (instant) up air. It seems very safe in most cases because you can land behind them, where hitting their shield with the reverse hitbox of up air seems to be a good option. The reason this is useful is because too many people short hop aerial against approaches WAY too often. Because of this, you'll (at least initially) actually hit with the up air the vast majority of the time they attempt their aerial. If your opponent catches onto this, it at least makes the option of grounded short hop aerials much scarier for them to use.
Also, the ZSS metagame is being improved further now. For one thing, Evan (SFP), made a new video showing some interesting stuff. With technical players like him around, we can discover plenty of things we just haven't noticed yet.
I am 100% confident that I will now give it my all in trying to be the best at this game, and doing it primarily with this character.
...Also, I owe an apology to Nick Riddle. I was being way too harsh about my opinions, and I was biased because it's frustrating when you lose the spotlight believe it or not. However, being the underdog is much more fun to be honest. It's not just my' rivalry' with Nick Riddle, but I just absolutely LOVE proving myself in just about anything I care about. When I finally got recognition, I felt great! Once I'm there for a while though, I often get sloppy and lazy. People surpass me like he did. I do admit he is producing better results than me at this moment, and his style is not quite as gimmicky as I previously thought (though there are clearly a few flaws). I certainly respect his ability as a player now.
Nick's style actually IS very similar to the way I used to play. However, I think it's because he buffers an escape move* after D-smash to avoid being punished. This may work well, because the opponent has to be pretty quick to be able to punish it (which a lot more ppl are nowadays) so if you're buffering an escape, it will be much more difficult for the opponent to consistently punish ZSS.
* The escape moves I'm talking about are spot-dodge, roll, and jab.
Another problem was at the time I decided D-smash was useless, I had been preparing a 2nd d-smash after it (for 2x d-smash combos). My opponents often read this leak in my game, and it's far easier for them to punish if they know you're going to do that. I've since corrected that issue, but was already using it very minimally so I couldn't have noticed much difference of the move's effectiveness.
I feel I've gotten much, much better at this game as of very very recently. This goes along with my ability as a poker player too, because it's mostly my psychological game that has advanced (I just realized I have the biggest edge in heads up cash games). Most of my performance is based on how accurate I am at tracing my opponent's train of thought.It's allowed me to utilize ZSS' grab proficiently, and let me tell you it makes you MUCH more difficult to play against if you throw in grabs when you're especially sure of your read on your opponent. Let me know if anyone would like to know more about this subject btw.
On a side note, another interesting thing to do is approach your opponent with a running (instant) up air. It seems very safe in most cases because you can land behind them, where hitting their shield with the reverse hitbox of up air seems to be a good option. The reason this is useful is because too many people short hop aerial against approaches WAY too often. Because of this, you'll (at least initially) actually hit with the up air the vast majority of the time they attempt their aerial. If your opponent catches onto this, it at least makes the option of grounded short hop aerials much scarier for them to use.
Also, the ZSS metagame is being improved further now. For one thing, Evan (SFP), made a new video showing some interesting stuff. With technical players like him around, we can discover plenty of things we just haven't noticed yet.
I am 100% confident that I will now give it my all in trying to be the best at this game, and doing it primarily with this character.
.
