Advice on Mario Matchup

[Crono12]

This Saturday is my region's largest tournament of the year. In my pool is a pretty good Mario player. Last year, he destroyed everyone except my region's top player. Being as there are no Mario mains in my region, I have no idea how to play against him.

Any tips?

Some specifics to get you started:

What kind of spacing should I maintain while in neutral?
What are the optimal down-throw punishes? Any chain grabs? DI Dependent?
How should I DI his throws?
Edgeguarding? I'd assume needles are best, followed quickly by ledgehogs. If he gets up on stage, down-air to punish.
Best tools in the matchup?
How should I play neutral in general? Force him to approach through needles and punish unsafe attacks? Rush him down as best as sheik can? Platform camp?


Any advice would be appreciated. The more specific the better, I'd consider myself a mid-level player and can likely understand anything you throw at me.

 

[mdmfromdaridge]

If you're losing to a mario player it's probably a matter of fundamentals. You should work on movement and neutral game mostly.

Spacing- You should have severe advantage here. I dont think mario has any attacks that you can't counter directly with your own. Well spaced Fairs and Bairs should do more than enough to keep him spaced out. If he gets close (which he will do because i believe he needs grabs and his attacks are fairly short range) then practice Nair out of shield, or just grab him if he spaces poorly. Down smash is a good option if you dont get predictable. Keep on the move, make him approach, and punish his ****tiness.

He likely can't be chaingrabbed since he is light, and may not be tech chaseable. Normally on floaties you should get at least 1 f-tilt after d-throw, and then wait to see how he responds and punish accordingly.

Throws im not too sure, although from what i've seen he will up or down throw mostly to combo. Try to DI to the sides and escape.

Needles are not a primary edgeguard. You should be more worried about landing Fair and Bair, grabbing the ledge as needed to force him to recover on stage and punish. Don't try to use Dair to punish as it is slow and should mostly be used in combos or VERY hard reads (cause slow.) Instead be satisfied with either fair, or waveland on stage and grab/f-tilt/d-smash.

Your tools for sheik are nearly universal, its normally a matter of spacing. Fair and bair are always solid. If he is mid % upthrow might be better for Uair punishes. Otherwise Dthrow into F-tilt/F-air/B-air/Dash attack.

http://sonichurricane.com/?page_id=1702

^^^^^ if you're serious about getting better, this guide is excellent for any game. I know that it is about street fighter, but neutral game is something relative in most all fighting games, and you need to understand its more than just "play campy" or "play aggressive." Learn to fake him out and make him mess up. READ THAT GUIDE IF YOU WANT TO DEVELOP NEUTRAL GAME. (the later on ones i think get more street fighter specific, but do your best to adapt the CORE CONCEPTS to smash bros.)

 

[Vellani]

Edge guard the living crap put of him, after getting a better grasp on fundamentals. Mario, Doc, and Luigi's recoveries are all very linear and sheik has a very easy time ether needling or bair'ing them to death. although, still if u get outplayed u just get outplayed and need to improve

 

[BRUJO~]

Play safely. Abuse retreating ac fair, but reclaim stage control when you do. (Portraitinsmash.blogspot.com, see the post "things sheik players aren't doing," look at "fair: a microcosm of Sheik's gameplay")
Use needles to eat his fireballs if he tries to counter-camp you.
Get uptilt out of dthrow if DI permits, ftilt if it does not, upair/fair at high percents.
Use ftilt to anti air if his balls are big enough to try to approach you with aerials.
Fsmash is mario's move with the greatest range, that move's range is the spacing which you want to respect.
Sdi his dair if you are capable, because dair grab is going to be a great tool for him if you don't.
Make him respect dtilt/ftilt when you both are grounded. If he respects the range of these two moves and tries to space himself outside of them, you can pressure him into giving up stage control because mario's range won't allow him to deal with the pressure

 

[Poccoishere]

What everyone else is saying but add down tilt, it ***** Mario if he doesn't sweet spot ledge and leads to fair or nair. Also dtilit in neutral can lead to utilt and ftilt. Because Mario is so light you can put it into combos around 30% assuming he isn't CCing and start a death combo with ease.