First of all, for clarification..... again: I never said GGs is a bad stage vs. DDD, only that I don't feel it's CP-worthy. Never did the words "it's bad against DDD because I don't like it" come from me..... in fact, I even clearly said in one of my earlier posts that I don't necessarily think it's a bad stage vs. him, so @ESAM: I dunno why you're aiming that "that doesn't make it a bad stage" stuff at me. Like I said, learn to read.
The fact that I said it's not my cup of tea should be a moot point. I never let that interfere with my objective view of the stage, so I would really appreciate it if people would stop assuming that it did.
However, since y'all really want to get into it, this is the flaw I see in the reasoning for Pika being "amazing" on GGs vs. DDD:
You're basing all of the stage's benefits off the assumption that Pikachu will have the lead. There are two problems with this, imo, one theory-based and one reality-based.
1) This assumption comes from the fact that Pikachu can safely camp DDD, but personally, I see the beginning of the match being more or less of a stalemate.
Tjolt camp isn't exactly effective..... it doesn't pressure DDD's shield that much (plus his shield is huge), it's ridiculously easy to pshield, and guess what? He also has this little thing called a spotdodge. Tjolt is laggy enough that it's both easy to see coming and won't be coming out often enough to scare DDD into approaching.... it's not like Falco's lasers or Pit's arrows where they can fire off a ton fairly quickly. Tjolt is also very low priority. He can stand there and clank jolts with utilt (or practically any other move + remember that clanking negates endlag) all day if he wants to. His options for avoiding jolts are numerous and easy to do.
Normally this wouldn't be a problem since we could mix jolts in with fake-out approaches, baiting, etc., but on GGs, any smart DDD will plainly see that you have zero safe approach options. GGs limits you to approaching from the air from above if DDD's camping one of the little platforms, and all of our air approaches are unsafe on block. There's no room to retreat aerials for baiting, and to grab DDD or approach from the ground, we have to safely land next to him, which I don't see happening. Because he knows you're limited, Pika's baiting abilities for an approach opening become much less effective, if not totally ineffective.
Now, do you have to approach? No. But neither does DDD..... 9B technique. You'll be shooting jolts, and he'll keep avoiding them with any of his many options.
Granted, this could happen on any stage, but the reason why GGs is less effective as a stage, imo, is because on other stages, Pika's baiting potential is significantly higher since he has more approach options than just coming down from the air. He also has more room to maneuver, retreat aerials, etc..... he can actually somewhat scare/bait DDD into moving while staying safe. You can break the blocks, but a) they come back down pretty quickly, b) I don't see that helping the cause too much because of the limited time you have before the blocks respawn, and c) you could easily leave yourself open while trying to break them.
EDIT #2: Prime brought up that you can go to the ledge and plank him, but then you either have to: commit to breaking the blocks, which could leave you open, or somehow get past DDD to the ledge behind him, which will also leave you open. Then (depending on which ledge you take) you have to deal with blocks spawning around/on top of you, although I'm not sure if that would affect planking since they disappear when they land directly on you.
Also, we talked about apples, which I did think about but didn't comment on. You could drop apples on his head, but they're not that much of a deal-maker imo. At most, they'll force a shield, but I don't see any real benefit to that unless you can get to the ground to grab him.
That's the more theory-/technical-based reason why GGs doesn't work so well in my opinion. The more reality-based one is:
2) In real matches, you don't always have the lead. Especially in a MU like this one where DDD's damage output >> ours and on a stage where we don't have the space to CG him. (Note: I realize we can do wall shenanigans, but that assumes that you're facing the right way when you grab him AND that you can land safely next to him to get the grab, which is highly unlikely if he's camping one of the side platforms. Inb4buffereddthrow: it's not guaranteed.)
In a normal match, if DDD gets the lead, you're kinda screwed, but like I mentioned before: Pika's baiting potential is much higher on other stages. On GGs, if you lose the lead, it's pretty much a done deal (for the reasons I outlined earlier). The risk of falling behind percentage-wise on this stage is MUCH higher than on other stages, so for all wall tricks and whatnot you can pull off, in my opinion, it's not worth it for a CP.
Being on your counterpick means you lost the first match, which means you really need to make **** sure you're on a stage where you're pretty ****ing guaranteed to win. To me, it's not smart to pick a stage where if you get behind off some stupid mistake or controller malfunction or distraction or whatever, it's an easy loss. I'm trying to give real advice for real people playing real matches, not for some fantasy world where Pikas play frame-perfect. The reality is, most Pikas make mistakes; the reality is, yes, Pika will PROBABLY be ahead percentage-wise, but he could very realistically be behind. It's basic risk/reward assessment, and to me, this stage seems too risky as a CP if you fall behind.
If you're playing vs. a DDD who's impatient or aggro or who actually approaches, by all means, pick Green Greens. But the DDDs I've played/seen play (mostly TUSM and Vex) are patient to an extreme and will happily sit there doing nothing more than necessary while you hop around shooting jolts and throwing out bait like it's supposed to do something. As easy as it is for you to camp, it's just as easy for him to avoid/not be bothered by your camp.
The last reason why I think GGs is meh as a CP is because DDD kills a lot earlier on this stage. So does Pika, but Pika's lighter, weaker, and shorter-ranged; DDD is fatter, stronger, and has more range. A bair off-stage, a dtilt at the edge, or a utilt are pretty much death once you're anywhere near killing range, whereas DDD still lives longer and can shieldgrab/grab punish all of our KO options/setups, barring a thunder at the top of the screen (which still requires a setup).
That's my opinion on the stage. I feel like that was a waste of time since y'all will probably tl;dr, but at least now nobody can say I didn't give my full reasoning.
EDIT: As for what I would CP against DDD, I'd just go for a neutral tbqh. Probably SV. Or a stage with walk-offs like CS or Delfino.
![[FBC] ESAM](/data/avatars/l/92/92614.jpg?1365783210){kind=avatar}
I have the IM log to prove it.