my problem is the following: L_Cancel (Olimar)
My real problem with Olimar is me getting tarped by his U smash and trying to get him in the air. I try to Dair him from above, I should probably be in the air behind him...
omg L_cancel. He's one of my favorite people and we play all the time.
Dude, learn to bait L's airdodges. L has always had a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE problem with airdodges. He airdodges whenever you hit him, even though he's getting better at stopping. Abuse this against him for as long as you can.
Also, whenever L is on the ledge, he will ALWAYS ALWAYS uair. Drop down and dair stagespike him. It will hit him every time. He will not learn.
L has a bunch of stuff that works specifically against him that wouldn't work on other players. Malcolm likes to jokingly call them "autocombos on L_Cancel" because he doesn't learn and always reacts the same way to certain stimuli.
Be aggressive against L offstage. Bait the airdodge and fair/bair/dair him off for as long as you can. L is hard to gimp, but you can rack up a ton of damage and it is possible to eventually gimp him. Be careful not to get KO'd by a red Fair. If he is pretty far away with only 3 or so Pikmin, he's always going to throw all his Pikmin and try to recover with the "Nolimar Hop." Watch out for purples and punish him while he has no aerials except Nair to cover him.
If L is on a platform above you, he'll try to dair you a very large percent of the time. Spam utilt or nair/uair immediately. He also likes to dair you if you're on the ledge for too long, but it's not guaranteed.
Don't let L get under a platform. L is a master of camping and WILL screw you up if he sets himself up.
Up until recently, L always DI'd inwards towards his opponent whenever he got grabbed. He might have a relapse, So Fthrow/Uthrow/Dthrow immediately to mess him up if he ever goes back to old habits like this.
Ban L's Island. (Yoshi's Island). L is absolutely amazing on that stage. If he somehow gets to go there because you forget to ban it, do whatever you possibly can to keep him from camping the middle. Good luck. L is for the most part invincible on this stage and absolutely cannot be defeated here. :<
Lastly, SPAM GRAB AGAINST L AND OLIMAR IN GENERAL. Olimar sucks against Lucario's grab, and L is just as vulnerable. Just be careful about L's dsmash and you'll be good. I'm serious. 90% of your success against L_Cancel and maybe 70-80% of your success against Olimar in general will be DIRECTLY dependent on how much you grab him. jab grab. dash grab. roll to grab. airdodge to grab. Do everything you can to grab grab and more grab. As long as he's on the ground, grab is your goal. You want to grab. Get him in the air before you think of anything else. You can sometimes get away with dtilt, utilt, or jab to grab once he starts learning about your grab and starts dodging it, but for the most part grabs go through his vulnerable shield and get him in the air, so they're your top priority.
I practice with L on wifi all the time and I always hear Malcolm talking to L between matches they play on wifi too. L is a really nice guy and a good smasher, but he has a ton of habits you can exploit right now.
