Captain Falcon vs. Wolf Matchup Thread

[TimeMuffinPhD]

Captain Falcon
This will be the first of a series of threads, each dedicated to a single matchup, covering all 41(+) matchups. These threads are going to be a collaboration, so PLEASE give me your thoughts and opinions. Post your videos here, even if you lose. Post your preferred stages, even if people think otherwise. Post your tips, even if you think you aren't the best player.

I. Videos:

II. Overview:
Captain Falcon is a fast character who has the potential to kill very quickly with his powerful tech chase game. Here, we discuss key points and basics of the matchup, we will go into analysis later on.

Captain Falcon's Strengths:

• Strong tech chase capability
• Powerful kill move
• Fast

Captain Falcon's Weaknesses:

• Easy to edge guard
• Very combo-able
• Sub-par recovery

Key Points:

• Wolf needs to watch out for raw knees
• Never drop an edge-guard
• Always be prepared to shield
• Don't get hit

III. Matchup Analysis:
Neutral Game:

• Neutral game is all about getting Falcon off the stage or getting a combo started. Falcon has to work harder than Wolf to kill him - he needs to tech chase successfully and land the killing blow.
• As I've mentioned previously, you have to watch out for raw knees, just one will send you off stage and possibly kill you... I'm serious.
• Grabs are a good way to get something started, particularly B-Throw and U-Throw, I'll go into this in more depth later.
• You can juggle Falcon with shines to get a combo started also.
• Lasers are risky business, but can be rewarding. Never use them in an un-safe situation; because a good Falcon will use that as an avenue to punish. Lasers work better on larger stages, I prefer to use them as an approach tool by wavelanding forward with a few of them.
• Its just a huge combo fest, do you best to control space and choke Falcon out with blasters and pressure. Don't get baited because if falcon gets a grab or any hit really, its just a few super easy tech chases that will end with either a drop-zone Knee or a Stomp>whatever the hell he wants.
  Combo him like any other fast faller, carry him across the stage and hit him off, force him to recover low then take the free edge guard.

Comboing/Punishing Captain Falcon:

• You can combo Falcon via several things. You can start by shine juggling him until you can't juggle him anymore, after that you can follow up with U-Air's. You can basically juggle him with U-Air's until he's offstage, which is ultimately where you want him to be.
• U-Smash is a good option if Falcon misses a tech, you can normally get 2 in, and then still continue the combo.
• Another way to chain U-Air's in via U-Throw, since Falcon is a fast-faller, it's very easy to combo him from this throw.
• With B-Throw, you can F-Smash him, which also carries him across the stage. D-Smash also works from this throw.
• Dash attack can start combos depending on percent. At low percent, all it will do it start a tech chase opportunity.

Escaping Captain Falcon's Pressure:

• Shine OOS is the best option for escaping Falcon's pressure, it gets him away from you and it allows you to reset the neutral.
• If you just need him to back away from you, then just use wavelanded blasters backwards

Edgeguarding Captain Falcon:

• When edgeguarding Falcon, all you need to do it be consistent. He doesn't have many options.
• If he's too far out when he uses Up-B, then just grab the ledge and return to the stage when he's in range to grab
• D-air works well whenever he's off stage, even when he's sweet-spotting the Up-B you can still hit the D-air when accurately placed

Recovering against Captain Falcon:

• Falcon has several options for edge-guarding Wolf, he has B-air and U-air which are both quick and can gimp Wolf when he's using his up-b. I believe it's better to use side-b to recover against Falcon. However make sure you mix-up your recovery against him.
• If Falcon predicts well you will be in for a rough time, and if you make it easy for him expect worse.
  
• Falcon can also ledge hop knee you if you land on stage, so most of the time it's a very unsafe option.
  
• Shine stalling is useful if he's going out there for the weak knee, it can put Falcon in a bad position. Sometimes you will beat him to the ledge and just steal it from him.

Putting it all together:

• This is a good matchup for Wolf, but only if you make it.
  
• Keep your edgeguarding consistent.
  
• Watch out for knees.
  
• Zone when you need too.
• Pick small stages and don't let him have his space.

IV. Stages

Stage wise, go to smaller stages to constrict his movement. If you're losing on smaller stages, you're just getting out neutraled or he is converting off punishes better, and a larger stage wont help that.

Don't worry about blastzones as both character's recoveries are pretty limited by PM standards. Go for your preferred platform arrangements and stage sizes.

If you have to leave larger stages un-banned, these ones are okay imo for Falcon to get to:

Battlefield (great neutral stage, obv)
PS2 (great stage for wolf no matter what)
Skyworld (he hates that platform arrangement because it doesn't help his movement, just watch out for him recovering high onto the platforms)
PS1
Lylat (its decent for both characters, most melee players and falcons don't go there though)
Distant Planet (great stage for wolf no matter what, you can camp here if thats your thing, and the platforms don't really let him escape)



Counterpicks:

• Wario Ware
• Yoshi's Story
• Fountain of Dreams
• Green Hill Zone
• Metal Cavern
• Smashville
• Yoshi's Island Brawl

Even:
BAN:

• Dreamland
• Dracula's Castle
• Final Destination

???:

V. Tricks, Tips, Do's and Don'ts:
Don't:
Do:
Tricks:
Tips:

Guide Contributors: @ Soft Serve @ TimeMuffinPhD

 

[Soft Serve]

I've only played this MU a couple times (there only a handful of falcon players in AZ, and less for PM) but its in Wolf's favor. I voted 60/40 wolf because I was being conservative, but on paper its even harder than Fox for Falcon, at least in neutral game. Wolf has VERY similar mobility so he is in that group of characters than can go in and threaten falcon's space and chase him down.
For reference, Most melee falcon mains say that CF/Fox is 40/60 at best forCF,, and CF/Falco is his worst MU, 30/70 at best. I think wolf sits in this range, so once the MU gets optimized on both sides it would be ~65/35.

Wolf would have to work a bit harder in his combo game than Fox would because he can't waveshine/tech-chase/ drill shine off stage > shine twice=dead falcon. Falcon can't take too many Bairs though, and Dair is always stronk, and wolf's Shine is still good off stage vs Falcon to "reset" the situation if you feel you can't land the bair. Wolf is still at a huge advantage if he shines falcon off stage.

When you can pin him down, abuse his bad OoS options to pressure him and convert it into a combo. His tech rolls are slow and easy to follow, so you shouldn't drop too many tech chases.

Its just a huge combo fest, do you best to control space and choke Falcon out with blasters and pressure. Don't get baited because if falcon gets a grab or any hit really, its just a few super easy tech chases that will end with either a drop-zone Knee or a Stomp>whatever the hell he wants.
Combo him like any other fast faller, carry him across the stage and hit him off, force him to recover low then take the free edge guard.

Stage wise, go to smaler stages to contrict his movement. If you're losing on smaller stages, you're just getting out neutraled or he is converting off punishes better, and a larger stage wont help that.
Dont worry about blastzones as both character's recoveries are pretty limited by PM standards. Go for your preferred platform arrangements and stage sizes.
I'd recomend going to any of these:
Wario ware
Yoshi's story
Fountain of Dream
Green Hill Zone
Metal Cavern if its legal in your region
Smashville
Yoshi's Island brawl

If you have to leave larger stages un-banned, these ones are okay imo for Falcon to get to:
Battlefield (great neutral stage, obv)
PS2 (great stage for wolf no matter what)
Skyworld (he hates that platform arrangement because it doesn't help his movement, just watch out for him recovering high onto the platforms)
PS1
Lylat (its decent for both characters, most melee players and falcons don't go there though)
Distant Planet (great stage for wolf no matter what, you can camp here if thats your thing, and the platforms don't really let him escape)

Just ban Dreamland, FD, and Draculas always imo.

Those are my garbled thoughts on the MU, if I think of anything important I'll drop more in.

 

[DMG]

I'd rate Fox and Wolf the same difficulty rating for Falcon, just slightly different tools and reasons for why they beat him. Wolf might be slightly easier in the long run if large stages stay legal/if you run out of bans for large stages.