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Dr Peepee

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Once again, I think I'm facing new mentality hurdles in a different form that I'm not exactly sure how to properly overcome.

The past month is by far the biggest slump I've gone through. I'm trying various methods as to how to make my practice sessions more productive without friendlies, but so far it's not showing results. Definitely compared to months prior, this is a pretty big downward trend so far and it's pretty demoralizing and disappointing for myself. Yet despite such results...I know deep within me I can still do it. I've demonstrated my prowess before. But I'm so impatient. I've gotten remarks on car rides home that I'm too emotional when I mull over my losses and my prospects of the future. I don't necessarily self-deprecate myself anymore, as that chapter in my life is gone. But I still think about it nonetheless, just thinking what if, replaying how hurtful the loss was, and that I want to get better NOW. I just want to get better so badly. And I'm not sure if my current way of thinking is necessarily productive/healthy or if I should adhere my friend's advice to just perhaps take a short break, accept for what has happened and trust the process, and move on.

This sort of segways to Evo, as that will be my first supermajor and out of region tournament. I've already invested a lot of money to just even get there and all, excluding potential other spendings. It's kind of surreal to me honestly that this is happening in less than two weeks...but sooner or later I will experience everything a supermajor will have to offer. Yet at the moment, I don't feel like I'm at a good performing condition to truly make the most out of Evo. But perhaps that's irrelevant with all the various factors in plays. How can I make the most out of an opportunity like this?
Your post makes it very very clear you have a lot of passion, and no matter what you want to hold onto that. How you express it may be another story, and I'd encourage you to channel at least some of that to finding the answer. If something doesn't work, assume something else WILL and keep adjusting. Try stuff that's weird or unusual or feels good to you. Whatever it takes.

Also, you want to have some balance. Passion is good, but you'll need to know when to rest such as when to sleep, and when to calm down a bit as you lead up to the event. Take it from my experience, you don't want to get overhyped and burn yourself out before you even get there or play a game. It doesn't have to be a break, just use common sense.

I'd like to say something a bit unrelated that may bring hope. You might be closer than you think. Not only to this direct problem, but to having an overarching training plan. If you can solve this, then you will be prepared year-round and can begin refining or tweaking in ways that work even better for you. Be persistent.
Do you have any general rules on when to whiff punish with sh rising fair vs whiff punishing with jc grab?

It seems that you use fair when the opponent is in the air so they can't asdi down, but I've also seen you use fair to punish grounded moves and occasionally the landing lag of aerials.
I will usually prefer to air-to-air whenever I can because that's quick and offers fantastic returns. Sometimes if grab will give me more reward I will opt for that, but it can also be a matter of conditioning. Sometimes people may be spotdodging after landing from an aerial and it would be iffy if I could get the grab, so I just jump and either pressure their landing, their movement back, an attack they do afterward, or their spotdodge. Also, if I think someone will move back or jump, then I could rising Fair so I can pick them up off of the ground as they're less likely to hold down then. Of course if they WD back instead of dash back that's not true. I don't mind using Fair if it knocks down either since that can lead to situations most players aren't prepared for. I can get tech chase aerials or Fsmash and mix with grab pretty well in some situations, especially if they don't tech, and this means that the opponent will be very confused with their DI.

I'm not sure I remember other reasons off the top of my head, but that should be some helpful info anyway.
 

Kotastic

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PP, how do you find training by yourself fulfilling? I have two phases of my training plan (one which is practicing practical tech skill stuff and the other which is simulating scenarios I find in real matches and try to replicate them via 20xx replays) which I often do at least one, but I often can't bring myself to do both because...it's just boring. I found that back then when I had access to constant friendlies, I had infinite stamina to play friendlies for like 10 hours straight if I wanted to and found it very fulfilling. I'm not quite finding the same excitement and drive here, and it's probably why I'm not improving as much as before, and I'm curious to hear what you find within solo practice that you can do this for months on end.
 
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Zorcey

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When building sequences of actions that have observation points built in, what actions do you often use? Or is this too dependent on context to say? I’m looking for general advice I can apply to making sequences to practice in all positions, but then separately looking for specific advice on building compound approach sequences from TR (or any approach sequences beyond the basics of dash Fair and WD Dtilt).
I still have a problem with faster characters like Fox and Falcon running down my DD because my intent to approach/not approach is quite predictable (with some thinking I’ve concluded this is probably because my tempo slows down/my dash count increases when I don’t plan to approach, and they could be picking up on these signals before they overshoot me).
What this has helped me figure out is that my sequences not only need to include points of observation to confirm actions (like whether they dash in, or jump, etc.), but I should be able to move out of those points differently depending on what I confirm/don’t confirm, and they must also include (especially toward the beginning) actions common to as many different kinds of options as possible (in the position of TR, approaches, overshoot coverage, etc) to maintain the ambiguity I want.
How is my current understanding/what am I missing in divising this plan for sequence building? Do you have any rules for making points of observation/what actions do you commonly use (dashes in I suppose are a good start)? Are most of the sequences you use in a match planned, or are most organic based on your understanding of the basics? Do you have any examples you could share of your more complex work as an illustration (either a compound approach or something from another position)?

(Also just the occasional thanks for what you do here. This is a tough one for me, and I super appreciate being able to take it to you. You da best PP.)
 

assortedletters

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When playing, what are things you are looking for to react to in neutral? If this is too broad, specifically when playing fox or icies
 

Dr Peepee

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PP, how do you find training by yourself fulfilling? I have two phases of my training plan (one which is practicing practical tech skill stuff and the other which is simulating scenarios I find in real matches and try to replicate them via 20xx replays) which I often do at least one, but I often can't bring myself to do both because...it's just boring. I found that back then when I had access to constant friendlies, I had infinite stamina to play friendlies for like 10 hours straight if I wanted to and found it very fulfilling. I'm not quite finding the same excitement and drive here, and it's probably why I'm not improving as much as before, and I'm curious to hear what you find within solo practice that you can do this for months on end.
I should probably start by saying I'm not sure I could only do solo practice for months. Maybe I could, but I didn't improve my routine to that extent. Within a few days I always wanted to apply. That said, I had been preferring solo practice before I had to step away from the game more. I think that will still be the case once I'm caught back up with the meta. That out of the way, let me answer your question.

I love training alone. I'm not just saying this, I think it's genuinely great. I didn't always think so and could get bored, but even during my early days I liked it alright as it served as a way for me to keep pushing out my excess Melee desire even when it wasn't super effective at getting me better. Just flowing and comboing and thinking of things that could go differently still helped me. Anyway in more modern times, I found I loved solo practice because it REALLY did connect with me with the game and my tools more. I found myself acting faster and seeing myself get better has been super fun. I also noticed that when I practiced I messed up less in matches and could even be more creative as well as willing to experiment due to ideas I'd whip up on my own. This doesn't really get to the heart of my feeling exactly....maybe I should say that I actually began not liking playing friendlies before I practiced, and some days I would prefer to just only practice. Something about going deeper into my own mind and exploring more possibilities instead of responding only to patterns my opponents would present made practice feel deeper and more expressive in its own way to me. It ultimately is where I was building my relationship with the game, and from there my matches could flow more smoothly. Maybe that works better?

I should probably add that this was not a mindset I had until I began exploring martial art theory, my motivations/attempting to return to a beginner's mindset, and also attacking my own psychological weaknesses. Additionally, I had been searching for a new way to approach Melee since becoming a top player, which presents extremely difficult psychological challenges and forces you to confront your own motivation or suffer losing it. So, what I may be saying may not be all that necessary or helpful to you as our positions are different. I don't really know how else to answer this question beyond what it means to me though, but I guess I am just worried it won't be that helpful. I hope this makes sense.

Do you think rising fair could be used to whiff punish these 2 times i tried to grab?
https://youtu.be/EfrKeqwuR-E?t=2m23s

Also do you have any advice on punishing sheik's tilts? Should I dash dance faster/closer?
https://youtu.be/IRDL4TVCF_4?t=9m47s
Yes for the first one, although I believe you can grab as well it's just hard since FC Nair is so fast.

And yes you need to be closer. Once Sheik does the first tilt she can't move forward so easily out of it, so even if you were worried about her moving in before, no need to afterward. It doesn't mean lunge in when you see a tilt because you won't make it normally, but it does mean move in so she can't spam and get free mixups off of it. If you're closer though you can grab her tilts and that's always great.

When building sequences of actions that have observation points built in, what actions do you often use? Or is this too dependent on context to say? I’m looking for general advice I can apply to making sequences to practice in all positions, but then separately looking for specific advice on building compound approach sequences from TR (or any approach sequences beyond the basics of dash Fair and WD Dtilt).
I still have a problem with faster characters like Fox and Falcon running down my DD because my intent to approach/not approach is quite predictable (with some thinking I’ve concluded this is probably because my tempo slows down/my dash count increases when I don’t plan to approach, and they could be picking up on these signals before they overshoot me).
What this has helped me figure out is that my sequences not only need to include points of observation to confirm actions (like whether they dash in, or jump, etc.), but I should be able to move out of those points differently depending on what I confirm/don’t confirm, and they must also include (especially toward the beginning) actions common to as many different kinds of options as possible (in the position of TR, approaches, overshoot coverage, etc) to maintain the ambiguity I want.
How is my current understanding/what am I missing in divising this plan for sequence building? Do you have any rules for making points of observation/what actions do you commonly use (dashes in I suppose are a good start)? Are most of the sequences you use in a match planned, or are most organic based on your understanding of the basics? Do you have any examples you could share of your more complex work as an illustration (either a compound approach or something from another position)?

(Also just the occasional thanks for what you do here. This is a tough one for me, and I super appreciate being able to take it to you. You da best PP.)
Haha no problem man. This stuff is really difficult so I can't blame you at all for asking. I looked through my old laptop a few months ago and saw some of the questions I was asking Cactus when we started on this, and they were so nooby that I was immediately humbled forever lmao.

I believe you get rushed down for a few reasons. One is that you probably just want them to approach at a certain way or time, so you'd be well off to practice reacting out of any point in your defensive DD. You'd do well to practice that and find awkward yet strong actions. Another is that people will react to you moving in and not approaching faster than you may expect. Once they realize you won't come in, then they will do their best to take stage since they don't feel you are threatening. If you lack intent with your defense then it makes it easier for them to be rewarded for rushing you down, which is similar to what I just said but it's a way to bring the idea of practicing defense setups and perhaps also mixing your offense and defense work. Also I haven't really answered your question about specifics yet because you could react out of move away, move in, jumping, standing still, etc lol. If I want to observe though, I often use long dash in and/or jump and/or WD back. That doesn't mean I don't use dash back but I tend to find these actions give me lots of leewy and great info, plus they bring out favorable actions from the opponent as well. My personal favorite is long dash forward and I like to build my game around it, but I try to avoid pushing this recommendation on people in favor of letting them develop themselves(and also because I may need to learn how to understand the game by building around other tools instead). Anyway, jump is great because it beats approaches in most cases and is safe from others and it's kind of floaty so it gives you time to see what they did before you jumped as well as what they will do as they see you will land. WD back is similar but you change your position more directly and hold down. The old school loved WD back and I've grown to love it as well. Really good tool and I think if you're working on defense you'd do well to explore the option more. This is a lot and I don't know how well I answered this so I will just end here.

When playing, what are things you are looking for to react to in neutral? If this is too broad, specifically when playing fox or icies
You might find that Fox players run in a lot to attack, so you want to look to react to that. Otherwise reacting to laser startup or FH would be a good bet. For ICs, getting close to them to oppress them with sword is what you want, so seeing them shield or WD back is a chance for you to move in. Rolls can be good too, but you have to watch for desync blizzard.
 

Kotastic

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What are these martial arts theory you've studied? And lately, I've been trying to refocus my psychological weaknesses and motivations as well into something more productive, so that might see returns some time.

Although even if this still ends up me thinking solo practice is still boring, I still see it as a challenge. I want to overcome this hard obstacle through whatever it takes, but at the very least I'd want to know the most efficient steps to accomplish this. Many things you've said has immensely helped me even if they didn't directly answer my questions, so thanks.
 

Dr Peepee

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The Art of Learning was one way, and "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" was another. If you do get the latter, I urge you to stick with more of the philosophy for now. I think the two books work well synergistically.
 

quixotic

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And yes you need to be closer. Once Sheik does the first tilt she can't move forward so easily out of it, so even if you were worried about her moving in before, no need to afterward. It doesn't mean lunge in when you see a tilt because you won't make it normally, but it does mean move in so she can't spam and get free mixups off of it. If you're closer though you can grab her tilts and that's always great.
Yeah it makes sense that you can take space freely against ftilt because it has almost 30 frames of lag so rc dtilt/ dash attack wouldn’t be a threat. What about spaced jumps? Some specific setups that I’ve been struggling with are sheik fair-> dash back jump bair and fox doing empty full hop fastfall into sh nair or running approach depending on my spacing. Do you think taking space is good against these options?

I guess Marths dtilt is also kind of different since it has 20 frames of lag which would be between the lag of a zoning jump and sheiks tilts.
 
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Kotastic

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PP, I'm doing your exercise where you WD forward and then back, then combining them back and forward. I think WD forward is supposed to represent dtilt threat. I also think the WD back WD forward punishes opponents trying to take space from the initial WD back. What exactly does WD back mean to you as a tool? Additionally, what does WD forward WD back mean?

I find that the act of WD back in it of itself to be kind of different than dash --> WD back, but I'm not entirely sure on that and how i can exactly explain it in words atm.
 

Dr Peepee

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Yeah it makes sense that you can take space freely against ftilt because it has almost 30 frames of lag so rc dtilt/ dash attack wouldn’t be a threat. What about spaced jumps? Some specific setups that I’ve been struggling with are sheik fair-> dash back jump bair and fox doing empty full hop fastfall into sh nair or running approach depending on my spacing. Do you think taking space is good against these options?

I guess Marths dtilt is also kind of different since it has 20 frames of lag which would be between the lag of a zoning jump and sheiks tilts.
For her dash back jump Bair, you can of course run and rising Fair it but you can't always know she will dash away Fair. If you do press in after Fair or after dash back, then you're now able to pressure her after she lands with her back to you, which is great for you.
And for Fox, if you can get in close enough on his landing to Dtilt/Fair around him coming forward then that's great, but otherwise you may want to WD back mixed with Dtilt/Fair to stop them from coming in. Mid/especially late Fair can cover many things, so if you jump just before they land then you can pretty effectively stop them from coming in. You could also drift in as well if you thought Fox might see this and wait for you to land before moving in.

Hm I never thought about how much lag Marth's Dtilt has. I guess it's a bit weird it doesn't get punished more often, but it makes sense why I'm able to react to it decently. The main issue is it's hard to tell exactly when it's coming which does help with opponent reactions I suppose.

PP, I'm doing your exercise where you WD forward and then back, then combining them back and forward. I think WD forward is supposed to represent dtilt threat. I also think the WD back WD forward punishes opponents trying to take space from the initial WD back. What exactly does WD back mean to you as a tool? Additionally, what does WD forward WD back mean?

I find that the act of WD back in it of itself to be kind of different than dash --> WD back, but I'm not entirely sure on that and how i can exactly explain it in words atm.
WD back resets your dash space(where your dashes reach) and allows you to still face forward to intercept any threats. It's like a big lunge backward. The time it takes to move is also just awesome for observation. WD forward then WD backward makes me think of catching an opponent who wants to come in vs WD Dtilt. It can also just be very explicit movement that would be designed to make the opponent move since they're very elaborate movements, especially since WD forward gets into their space and forces a response. It's like an exaggerated dash in to WD back. WD back in itself tends to have a slower tempo than just dash in, and you'll usually go farther back with just WD, which makes it more likely the opponent responds to it directly.
 

maclo4

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I have a general question about gameplans. With your game plans do you have a concise description in your head? That’s what I always assumed, but for myself it’s more like a combination of a lot of “if they do this, you can do X” type statements. But I have a hard time working off of more broad statements like “against sheik your overal goal is X”
 

Dr Peepee

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Yeah when I was coming up I mostly thought in terms of a lot of specifics for matchups but refreshed myself on the major ones before I played a matchup. Now though I've found I can condense all of my knowledge down to very simple points and that has been a good sign for me. If you can't get there I wouldn't be too worried about it, but it could be helpful to strive for.
 

Zorcey

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I've been continuing work on my DD, with my strategy being building sequences of movements that give lots of option flexibility at points I'm checking an opponent's response, and I'm seeing decent progress even over a short period of time. But now that I have an understanding of how to build sequences of movements, I'm wondering about how I should best combine them into a cohesive DD. What I envision is taking various prepared sequences of movements and chaining them together, perhaps making edits to them in the moment, or interrupting one with another if necessary (so I may only get halfway through a sequence before I start a new one if the situation calls for it). Am I on the right track here?

Additionally, I recognize how important it is that I maintain intent even while DDing defensively. But what this means to me is that the intent must be clear to me, but ambiguous to the opponent whether it's aggressive or defensive (my problem is it's the opposite lol). This is kind of the basis for my philosophy of building a DD that doesn't restrict my options much, and puts me close to, but still outside of an opponent's TR. This part is half a question, but also half just showing you what I've gotten out of thinking about/playing with the advice you've been giving me.

Another question I have is about dash in/dash back versus a cornered opponent. (First, I define "cornered" to be a position where the cornered player can't dash back (a significant distance) because their back is more or less to the ledge.)
I think of Marth's dash as a tool to move with an opponent and maintain or adjust to a particular favorable spacing, but versus a cornered opponent who really can't move that much, dash doesn't seem very good, because you already have a favorable spacing the opponent can't change much. Because of this, I think staying roughly in place and using much more sword/zoning is the best thing Marth can do versus a cornered opponent (you've indicated this before as well).
But there are some options I think dash may be necessary to beat: like using dash in > dash back > pivot to bait some kind of yolo if they won't commit and wait to get between your swings, or dash in aerial to catch a FH back, or dash/WD back to react to their dash in shield/yolo attack, etc. The problem I see with dash in the position, is that by using it you risk losing your advantage because it's a big commitment in such a close spacing, but I don't see a way around using it (sparingly) to cover certain options at certain spacings. Do you agree that dash is necessary but risky when pressuring the corner, or do you believe there are ways around the options I listed and others with little to no movement?
 

Dr Peepee

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Yes more or less with that first part. You'll see how it is when you begin experimenting, and shadowboxing will especially give you ideas for how you need adjust in real time. Sometimes you have to switch based on what your opponent does, and sometimes you've gone through observation and then need to do something else(with or without waiting). In this case you could interrupt the sequence or wait until it's over+ if you want.

It's okay to let the opponent think they know what you're doing or even know it. So long as you pull the rug out from them at the last moment that's all that matters. Otherwise I'd say you're on the right track.

Yeah you've mentioned an important point that you have to move sometimes. Additionally, what if they're cornered but you're not quite in range to begin swording them? You'd need movement then as well. You never need to be right on top of people though, and since you're mostly (wave)dashing backward unless you are calling out a jump or something it will be okay to move when you want. Getting on top of them with sword asap is what you want to do ideally, but how you get there can be negotiated between people some.
 

Zorcey

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As I'm learning shadowboxing, I get concerned about a lack of precision from not actually having another player there. At the same time, I expect shadowboxing and actually DDing around a real player will feed into one another, with the shadowboxing becoming more accurate as I work the strategies on others, and those strategies getting more precise because of the shadowboxing. This a good way to think of it? Oh, and do you shadowbox all positions, or just specific ones? I've been trying to add on a new situations constantly, but stuff like edgeguarding/juggling seems tough.

Ah, that's true. This seems like a logical extension of keeping options open during a DD, but it's definitely challenging to put into practice effectively. Gotta think about it some more.

I interpret "you never need to be right on top of people" as having them just outside the range of your basic standing threats like SH Fair/standing Dtilt - where if they move they'll get hit by sword, and if they stand still/shield they'll get hit by dash in grab, and if they jump they'll get Fsmashed. Is this the right idea for the spacing? I'm not sure if this is a little too close to react with movement when necessary, or if it may leave you too vulnerable when you try to move in and out to bait a commitment.
 

Dr Peepee

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Yeah you want to shadowbox as many positions as you can, but I have found doing pure neutral and moving into other positions from there and back to neutral the most rewarding, along with corner/platform control. You can still do juggling/edgeguarding as well but I personally only practice difficult motions for juggling and edgeguarding normally.

Being on top of someone is basically like inside or even at your jab range. You want to be able to hit them without them hitting you. Fair and Dtilt are the moves you want to use here, and once you get them to shield you don't need to swing too much anymore. If it's a ditto or there are other circumstances then being just outside of that range where you can hit them doesn't make their lives much easier since they still can't really move.
 

Kotastic

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PP, I think I figured out a large reason why my results have dropped off as of late. Watching my old vods, I was far more disciplined in my actions. My actions had intent. For some flashes, it felt like I was playing very optimally. Of course there various things to improve, but I really felt like my mind was in the right places going forward.

Fastforward to now, I feel like I lost mindfulness. I just go in and hope that I beat their level 1 options and generally impatient. And that will work against bad players, but beyond them, I lose against some players that people back then wouldn't even think I'd even struggle against. I think back then with the friendlies I had, it helped build up discipline, that I can't just play like an idiot. And now I do without the human interaction that I really need. Every time I want to kill someone at marthritis percent, I get so impatient and shield just wrecks me, whereas months ago I would've stayed calm and pressure smart.

My question is, how can I build up discipline and patience by myself? Meanwhile as I've been improving various aspects of the game by myself, I realize I've been ignoring perhaps the most important aspect for me personally to the game. For now, I guess I'll meditate on this and try to think about scenarios that trigger my impulses and how I should react to it, but it's a guess on my part on how I should handle it. Hopefully this last-minute advice can help me for Evo, lmaoo.
 

Dr Peepee

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Do you think there can be any reason why you lost mindfulness/intent besides playing others?

Building mindfulness from playing others comes from them punishing you in situations and forcing you to control yourself. What if, during shadowboxing, you thought of those sorts of things and practiced going through your next steps and keeping your game fresh? That would be a basic way to keep yourself ingrained with a higher level of thinking.






Edit: Probably too late for anyone going to EVO to read, but good luck to all from here that will be in Vegas! I will be watching as much as I can this weekend and hope to see you bring your best out =)
 
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vitorswimer

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PPMD I would like to know your thoughts about the MU Marth vs Puff? It's been a long time Hbox doesn't lose to marth, sinse Apex 2015 if I'm not wrong.
Hbox beat Zain and PPU at EVO pretty solidly. Do you think this MU is so hard for marth?

And I would like to know your thoughts about Zain vs Armada at EVO? More precisely about Zain positioning when peach is off stage. I'm not a professional player, but I think he is letting Armada's peach gets on the ground so easily so many times and it's all that peach wants.

One situation I would like to metion is Zain vs Armada on Pokemon Stadion at EVO game 3:
Armada is off stage holding a turnip and Zain runs away and Armada gets to the ground for free.

Sorry for my English. It's not that good.
 
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Dr Peepee

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I believe Marth beats Puff solidly. This is due to outranging and outspeeding her, as well as killing her earlier and comboing well too. Her edgeguard could be better than his though. Marth being able to pivot grab Puff's non-backdrift Bair as well as her Nair is very helpful as well.

I agree very very much that Zain lets Armada down for free a lot. He hasn't ironed out the flowchart yet.
 

Reyjavik

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I realize there are threads and vast amounts of pages, but I feel so lost for the game. I have high energy at times but feel low and unwilling to play the game, not because of losing but the fear of looking bad after spending so much time with the game. I don't know how I can improve anymore besides ironing out tech skill and I just feel so sad about it. As fellow Marth mains, what have you done to help fix your motivation/improvement?
I try and play for at least an hour every day but have gotten scared of playing people irl that I hang out with and with people on netplay ladder
 

Dr Peepee

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Whenever I would get stuck, I just return to the base concepts of the game and work on them. Those being anything involving neutral such as pure neutral, fighting closer to the opponent, bridging the gap, positions like when you or they drop combos/tech chases, how to beat their options on defense offense etc. Also punishes like combos tech chases edgeguards juggles etc. DI recovery etc. There's always something to do better, even alone especially with new hack packs. Eventually I build up desire to test out my ideas with people. Not in a way to dominate them or to avoid them dominating me, but to learn and see if I am on the right track and how it fits into my existing knowledge. Maybe this would help reduce your stress as well. Deep breaths might work too =p
 

Reyjavik

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Yea I'm trying to understand neutral more but I just can't understand how I'm losing it so often now. Its one thing to try by myself but I feel against people I just can't understand how my options are losing to theirs when I'm trying not to do the same option every time. its just frustrating thta I feel I'm at a wall. Deep breaths might help for sure. Its just hard to not see any improvement imo and not know where to begin to improve
 

Reyjavik

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My game plan and style is to use quick movement and moves to overwhelm and punish them. I'm trying to actively dash dance in and out of range combined with wavedashes to dashes to move quickly. I've been trying to use more well spaced d-tilts as well but feel I use a ton of aerials to try and push the advantage. I used to focus more on cactuar dashes but haven't really been using them as much or tree grabbing.
 

Dr Peepee

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Moving is definitely good, but if you aren't using your attached threats such as Fair then your movement will not be effective. It might be helpful to focus less on moving a lot and more on mixing up when you go in and how you go in. Also Dtilt is just less good in matchups like Falco for example.
 

Reyjavik

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Yea I've been labbing and come to that decision as well for d-tilt and Falco. I've been trying to notice patterns but while I can do it for less skilled people than me, I can' see the same as much for higher skilled people. I do try and have a back dash rising fair in addition but no matter how many times I practice by self, flub short hopping in some opportunities. I love melee movement and options but cannot figure out how top players slide so quickly when wavelanding on platforms. I can waveland but so people like Mango or Vro (also yourself) move even faster off them
 

Dr Peepee

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When you push in, people must respond. If you push in and you attack then the next time you can WD down/back and counter attack them for example. That can be a good simple mixup to start with.

For wavelands, it's about quickly airdodging just as you get over the platform, but can also be about how quickly you move after the lag for quick movement. Also Youtube videos can often distort the actual speed of players so if you can use a hackpack to show that you're going about as fast as you can then that's okay.
 

Reyjavik

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Oh I see. I have been also using waveland to dash for speed but wasn't sure if that was the key to that extra speed idea.
yea, mostly I've been focusing on mixing up options but higher level players can tell what I'm doing, even when I'm trying to mix up. Its been a bit disheartening so I've just worked on punish game lately but find it hard to picture ahead what the opponent will do, especially with fox.Is it just conditioning yourself against high level play or is there some kind of key to being able to vusualize the game on a higher level?
I've mostly been following llod's guide to improvement, but can't figure out what concepts are a red light for me that I need to turn green to improve
 

Dr Peepee

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You have to get specific to understand how to deepen your mixups. Starting somewhere can help. Did you approach the same way too many times? Did you always respond the same way to pressure and they got an easy reaction? Did you wait to rush in at the same time every time? So there's a lot that can cause you to get messed up by higher level players. Just keep on with your mixups and you'll sort it out eventually. As for punish, you can go one step at a time. If you start with a Fox at 60% on mid FD, what are his possible DIs? What can you do vs each? Then for each answer, you repeat the process. It's work but you can calculate it out. Watching matches helps you get an idea, and if it gets overwhelming just watch weaker players as both sides will incorporate less complexity.
 

Reyjavik

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Yea, I saw there's a match analysis thread as well so I'll prbably start postin in there as well. I have tried using video analysis software to help me improve but have gotten out of it as of late. I never thought to look at weaker players though, never crossed my mind.
I think I have taken my movement not into account for mixups, only taking aggressive action states into account.
How did you practice sdi? I'm trying to incorporate double stick di but unsure on if its working, especially against fox upthrow upair chainslately its been getting me out of chains simply but buffering an aerial attack but I want to be more confident in my defensive game
 

Dr Peepee

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In the newer hackpack/training packs you can have Fox do Uthrow Uair on you repeatedly. There's also a toggle for seeing how many SDI inputs you get. Looking up Youtube tutorials for SDI and the hack packs will probably answer a lot of questions for you from the looks of it.
 

Reyjavik

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yea I've looked up videos but also have read that asdi with the cstick is less powerful than regular sdi. Which is your go to method that you feel is more effective? Quarter circle di seems hard to implement at first while csticking seems easy yet less effective
 

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Returned from my Evo trip and got the much-needed friendlies grind I've sorely needed. I really felt like I leveled up pretty hard with all the things I've learned so far, so I'll see how I can put that to the test soon. Got some questions though.

I had an enormous privilege to play friendlies with M2K's Marth as he tweeted about wanting Marth practice in his hotel room. I found my way in and...there are many situations I'm not really sure how to handle correctly.

Is it ever worth it to approach M2K in the corner? Just experiencing it firsthand made me realize just how dangerous it is tread the ledge against M2K, and he made me pay when I was a little bit off. M2K knew plenty of mixups by the ledge, as he would invincible ledgedash roll (so I have to respect him), waveland down (pushes me trying to respect him), jump fair (so I can't spam moves by the ledge), and the patented m2k ledge stall (to deplete my spawn invincibility) to really make it seem like cornering him wasn't worth it. It's either I might get him, or he gets me and kills me, completely violating the typical convention of corner = my favor in many matchups. It really didn't feel that way vs. m2k, and one might even go as far saying it's an advantage...

Speaking of cornering, I feel somewhat lost trying to apply effective corner pressure. I understand that having center is an inherent advantage because you have additional options like dash back. Somehow though when I dashed back, M2K would just somehow get close enough to land DA on me. When I tried dtilt in place to cutoff his DA, he would do a slight dash back to dash in DA to beat that option. Sometimes I would try to jump fair as that should beat his options, right? M2K would then just stand there and fsmash on reaction to my jump. Then I got lost in how to use my center stage to make it my advantage vs him, when things like DA/fsmash/aerial has such a high reward even in the corner.

Speaking more about jump fair vs. cornered opponents, I understand that it supposedly beats many options as the opponent has no room to dash back to cleanly beat fair. And it's even better when the opponent is shielding since they can't do much vs. fair. However if the opponent isn't shielding and is just standing there instead, suddenly, it feels like jump fair is a huge commitment since they can retaliate on reaction. How can I better corner my opponent that isn't shielding in the corner?

I had the privilege to fight Plup in my pool. Though I brought him down to two stocks per game, it really felt like he outplayed me many times and glad that I fought him. He said that one thing to improve my play is to have a better gameplan when my opponent is at high percent and is sitting on shield at fsmash kill percent. Of course I notice that when I WD in, my opponent will shield in preparation for fsmash, which logically I can grab to mixup. However, do you think that's necessarily the best course of action? Grab is low reward, and if I do it too much then they can start reading that and get a huge reward off of like spotdodge/roll compared to me just getting them offstage and hopefully I kill them. Perhaps WD in and wait as they sit in shield?

Regarding juggling, surprisingly I have most trouble trying to juggle Samus as she tries to drift in FF dair/nair on the way down and I don't know why. I think it's because I have the notion that since Samus is slow, I should be able to shark her indefinitely so I get stubborn and try to outspace her with juggling aerials like fair/bair/uair, but usually I just get hit instead and get retaliated hard. Should I instead handle juggling Samus with the typical jump FF dash fair/WD fsmash?

Also, what do I do when Samus missile --> jump dair? When I jab missile then dtilt, that option tends to beat that. I'm starting to think FH over missile is just the best option at this point.

When Peach has a turnip at hand and Marth is within DA range, what are options typically decent to default to? I don't like jabbing/shielding the turnips because they can pull another turnip or regrab the turnip and maintain pressure. FH can be good but it can get called out pretty hard if the Peach reads it. I talked to Bladewise a bit about it in our friendlies session and he says that it's the one thing that makes the mu bearable, and thinks that the only consistent pull I can combat this is either be right at her face (since throwing the turnip somehow dodges Marth at point blank) or just simply dash back and reset neutral. Thoughts?

I'm confused about how to utilize my ground game when the Falcon is dash dancing me back for whiff punish. In the Fox mu if the Fox is dash dancing waiting to whiff punish me, I can at least gradually take space since Marth has the longer dash dance to push my advantage. In the Falcon mu, Falcon has the longer dash dance and I find myself getting crept to the corner. How can I out-ground game Falcon in this scenario since I don't have this advantage for longer dash dances?

I asked someone to record my set vs Vinodh, a puff player, and he said he will record and upload it on Youtube but it hasn't been done yet. -_- I will have questions on that soon whenever that happens.

I also fought a kirby for the first time in tournament and got back thrown suicided. That was cool.

That's the thoughts I have for now. I hope to make bigger waves in the next major I attend sometime!
 

Reyjavik

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The way I handle Samus and peach projectiles is to condition my opponent into expecting short hop aerials and mixing in FHs like you were saying. In addition I also mix in a nair as nair is a great deflection tool that allows you to approach while giving a mixup option as well. I can't say dair is the most effective however for projectiles as it doesn't really setup an approaching defense.
My take on the falcon matchup is out moving falcon using platforms and fadebacks that are spaced. Falcon wants those grab confirms so playing a more nuanced game is required against him, especially when he has a comparable speed to marth. His aerials may be his bread and butter but they have a ton of startup lag. Take advantage of Falcon's weaknesses and outmaneuver him to get your own punish setups. That mu is extramely punish heavy on both sides
 

maclo4

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Cstick usually isnt enough to do anything on its own in my experience. It can sometimes add enough to regular sdi to get you out of up throw or something but its not very visible even on its own. But I just started learning sdi and its much less hard than it seems. Just watch the unclepunch video and do exactly the way they say is optimal.
 

Dr Peepee

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yea I've looked up videos but also have read that asdi with the cstick is less powerful than regular sdi. Which is your go to method that you feel is more effective? Quarter circle di seems hard to implement at first while csticking seems easy yet less effective
Sometimes I mash control stick one direction while holding C stick for ASDI, and sometimes I quarter circle with control stick while holding C stick for ASDI. I don't always SDI some hits during combos though.

Returned from my Evo trip and got the much-needed friendlies grind I've sorely needed. I really felt like I leveled up pretty hard with all the things I've learned so far, so I'll see how I can put that to the test soon. Got some questions though.

I had an enormous privilege to play friendlies with M2K's Marth as he tweeted about wanting Marth practice in his hotel room. I found my way in and...there are many situations I'm not really sure how to handle correctly.

Is it ever worth it to approach M2K in the corner? Just experiencing it firsthand made me realize just how dangerous it is tread the ledge against M2K, and he made me pay when I was a little bit off. M2K knew plenty of mixups by the ledge, as he would invincible ledgedash roll (so I have to respect him), waveland down (pushes me trying to respect him), jump fair (so I can't spam moves by the ledge), and the patented m2k ledge stall (to deplete my spawn invincibility) to really make it seem like cornering him wasn't worth it. It's either I might get him, or he gets me and kills me, completely violating the typical convention of corner = my favor in many matchups. It really didn't feel that way vs. m2k, and one might even go as far saying it's an advantage...

Speaking of cornering, I feel somewhat lost trying to apply effective corner pressure. I understand that having center is an inherent advantage because you have additional options like dash back. Somehow though when I dashed back, M2K would just somehow get close enough to land DA on me. When I tried dtilt in place to cutoff his DA, he would do a slight dash back to dash in DA to beat that option. Sometimes I would try to jump fair as that should beat his options, right? M2K would then just stand there and fsmash on reaction to my jump. Then I got lost in how to use my center stage to make it my advantage vs him, when things like DA/fsmash/aerial has such a high reward even in the corner.

Speaking more about jump fair vs. cornered opponents, I understand that it supposedly beats many options as the opponent has no room to dash back to cleanly beat fair. And it's even better when the opponent is shielding since they can't do much vs. fair. However if the opponent isn't shielding and is just standing there instead, suddenly, it feels like jump fair is a huge commitment since they can retaliate on reaction. How can I better corner my opponent that isn't shielding in the corner?

I had the privilege to fight Plup in my pool. Though I brought him down to two stocks per game, it really felt like he outplayed me many times and glad that I fought him. He said that one thing to improve my play is to have a better gameplan when my opponent is at high percent and is sitting on shield at fsmash kill percent. Of course I notice that when I WD in, my opponent will shield in preparation for fsmash, which logically I can grab to mixup. However, do you think that's necessarily the best course of action? Grab is low reward, and if I do it too much then they can start reading that and get a huge reward off of like spotdodge/roll compared to me just getting them offstage and hopefully I kill them. Perhaps WD in and wait as they sit in shield?

Regarding juggling, surprisingly I have most trouble trying to juggle Samus as she tries to drift in FF dair/nair on the way down and I don't know why. I think it's because I have the notion that since Samus is slow, I should be able to shark her indefinitely so I get stubborn and try to outspace her with juggling aerials like fair/bair/uair, but usually I just get hit instead and get retaliated hard. Should I instead handle juggling Samus with the typical jump FF dash fair/WD fsmash?

Also, what do I do when Samus missile --> jump dair? When I jab missile then dtilt, that option tends to beat that. I'm starting to think FH over missile is just the best option at this point.

When Peach has a turnip at hand and Marth is within DA range, what are options typically decent to default to? I don't like jabbing/shielding the turnips because they can pull another turnip or regrab the turnip and maintain pressure. FH can be good but it can get called out pretty hard if the Peach reads it. I talked to Bladewise a bit about it in our friendlies session and he says that it's the one thing that makes the mu bearable, and thinks that the only consistent pull I can combat this is either be right at her face (since throwing the turnip somehow dodges Marth at point blank) or just simply dash back and reset neutral. Thoughts?

I'm confused about how to utilize my ground game when the Falcon is dash dancing me back for whiff punish. In the Fox mu if the Fox is dash dancing waiting to whiff punish me, I can at least gradually take space since Marth has the longer dash dance to push my advantage. In the Falcon mu, Falcon has the longer dash dance and I find myself getting crept to the corner. How can I out-ground game Falcon in this scenario since I don't have this advantage for longer dash dances?

I asked someone to record my set vs Vinodh, a puff player, and he said he will record and upload it on Youtube but it hasn't been done yet. -_- I will have questions on that soon whenever that happens.

I also fought a kirby for the first time in tournament and got back thrown suicided. That was cool.

That's the thoughts I have for now. I hope to make bigger waves in the next major I attend sometime!
I'm skimming the post and notice you got Bthrow killed by Kirby. SHAAAAMEEEEE

Jk and I'm glad you leveled up. Let's get to it.

M2K has been forced to learn the corner extremely well. It's valuable to be so good there because of how you can reversal people there and just in general make a bad position a good one. One good thing to do is just sit at the edge and hold down outside of Fair range. You can Dtilt a couple different things there, and if he WLs down onto the edge then you can shield Fsmash on reaction or dash back or whatever. Can you hit him when you respawn on FD? Probably not, but you can get a mixup on YS if you want. Not saying you even should, but it's possible to play it.

I don't think he could accurately predict you using all of these counters, so I'm wondering if you showed your hand too early and went into counters before he could act or if he gave you a little bait of movement. This would allow him to see what you're doing and punish correctly every time. Ah which reminds me, sometimes just waiting it out can work pretty well against opponents like this. Your options are good, but if you just throw them out in a punishable way hoping they act at the same time you can lose. M2K in particular will often lunge at you if you just wait a little bit, so maybe explicitly saying this will help you there more with the timing.

Dtilt is often safer to use when cornering, but late Fair can be the best as it also hits jumps. So you can drift in with Fair or fake that. Drifting in without FF'ing will also help you avoid getting Fsmashed so easily iirc. But yeah anyway, there are different ways to play the corner imo. Marth is amazing vs cornered opponents since they can no longer use dash back well vs his moves which is their best answer to them as he outranges and disjoints them normally. But if they can dash back at all it can still be an issue as you've noticed. So you can either come forward slightly and force them to move back more, choking out their space. You can lunge and take the space all at once and make sure they can't get away. You can fake either of these and move into defense, or use defense primarily and let the pressure get to them eventually. You can combine these options and get more complex as well. My guess is you may be too stationary when cornering someone, allowing them to retain mobility over you using the bit of stage they have. Does this seem accurate/helpful?

Yes you don't need to grab. Grab is still okay as it's free damage that dislodges their position and makes Utilt/Fsmash/edgeguards more likely. Still there's no reason you HAVE to attack since their shield whittles down quickly and you can poke it or their OOS action anyway. You can also just Dtilt for pressure or to hit them if they don't shield and set up a pseudo combo/edgeguard.

Yeah if you just sit on the ground Samus can definitely reliably Dair you. You need to use jumps to juggle her as you said.

This whole missile thing is so weird to me. I've meant to test it but for missile to Dair, I would think you could react to Samus jumping and just Fair her instead of going for instant Dtilt. You could also crouch under some missiles and Dtilt approach or just Fair after it passes you instead I suppose. Platforms and FH are an option too, but I'm not sure if they're always the best to recommend. You can test what you think is best and go for it though.

Running away lets Peach push in with retained turnip control, so I don't like it. I like rushing her down. I also like Nair'ing through turnip so first hit hits turnip and second hit hits her. Doesn't always work but can be effective vs some throws. If you jab the turnip you can run under it as well but I forget how it all plays out. Peach doesn't get a free pull for a jab I remember working that out a few years ago. Anyway I like platforms, FH, run in vs Peach turnip. If it's not Armada who will hold the turnip and wait a while, you can use some DD and fakes and the Peach may throw it early which makes things easier.

No point in hiding this Falcon thing I remembered a bit ago since I've seen M2K use it vs Wizzy now. There's a dash in Nair in place option you can use that will beat Falcon's aerials and more or less be safe from grab. You mix this with running Dtilt and it forms a good threat. Dtilt sparingly, Nair more frequently, do nothing most frequently. I prefer to push in with my ground movement because Falcon can't ground hit me with anything quick like Fox can with running shine or whatever. Falcon can grab but if I stay around that range or go into it then right back out he's not going to land it. This can also help me get under his aerials if he tries to overshoot. I think you can at least somewhat bully Falcon this way. I'd play around with the Nair.

Okay just link me.

Good luck with your training.
 

Kotastic

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"Dtilt is often safer to use when cornering, but late Fair can be the best as it also hits jumps. So you can drift in with Fair or fake that. Drifting in without FF'ing will also help you avoid getting Fsmashed so easily iirc...My guess is you may be too stationary when cornering someone, allowing them to retain mobility over you using the bit of stage they have. Does this seem accurate/helpful?"
-Why would drifting in without FF help me not get fsmashed on reaction? That seems counter-intuitive to me. Say in the mirror trying to corner Marth, he's sitting there in the corner and I try to jump at him, which since the other Marth is sitting there he fsmashes me on reaction. I noticed when I had the most success cornering M2K was when I gave up doing conventional cornering stuff and instead momentarily gave him stage then WD in dtilt similar to how you cornered Plup at Summit on that FD game, so perhaps that would help my corner game more instead of being stationary.

Speaking of juggling Samus, do you follow the notion of indefinitely sharking Samus with like say, falling up air? Some people believe this, but I'm not sure if I would really want to commit the long game like that.

Another topic regarding juggling, do you think it's a bit ah, suboptimal on the Marth's end for getting a fair vs drift in?
https://youtu.be/m_z89147RYQ?t=1m43s
-I often find that what happens is that it trades or gets susceptible for getting airdodge punished. Would just simply FF retaliate would be better?

Alright, I'll try to play around with nair the next time I dash dance around Falcon dash dancing me, never thought about utilizing it that way. Do I nair in place as I push in with dash in while Falcon is dashing in within a threatening jump nair distance so I can cover myself well?
 
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