: Don't really have anything to say other than it being extremely poignant that a Mega Man player got this far in bracket and even got the upset over one of this tournament's star players right before he'll inevitably get bodied with one incredibly sinister nerf. I hope there's still a place for him in 2.0.0.
After rooting for Yeti to place well at Genesis 6 all weekend knowing just how skilled as a player he is and seeing him almost obtain the ultimate goal of making Top 8 out of 2000+ entrants, I'm glad I got to see his run. The controversy/hate surrounding Leaf Shield and even surrounding Yeti himself though is quite hilarious not gonna lie. Yeti is one of the last players that should be called "carried" considering what he did late game S4 and all the upsets/results he's had, and how he even dominated ultimate region tournaments despite not knowing you can hold B to extend Leaf Shield until mid win streak lmao.
Patch 2.0.0 listed the single MegaMan change as "Special moves will not be activated when jumping and using Mega Buster." This was the basis for the large part of the "Macro Cancel" tech that allowed him to hit confirm and cancel pellet endlag into Leaf Shield. This was huge because he'd get almost 30% and instant stage control just for mixing up his timings on his quick, ranged, barely committal projectile. Even if he missed, he could try to shield poke, cover himself with the toss, or just continue holding B to run away and reset. He could be more aggressive or choose to disengage at will.
This combined with MegaMan's amazing neutral game, his buffed kill power/setups, and just how well he does with stage control (especially in the juggle & edge-guarding department) and you could see why it was so talked about; especially in the regions with notable Mega players which because the char is still so rare people didn't understand just how strong he was until it came closer to Genesis and thus the patch itself. This is even before factoring the other stuff Macro Cancels did like the infinite which he could do even off a Z-Drop Blade OOS (not to mention someone in Mega Discord was working on a way to do it without relying on RNG) or the kill confirm he got off metal blade and thus by extension, pellets as well.
However, what people don't realize is the fact that Leaf Shield remains the same exact move in the new patch. Yeti definitely abused Macro Cancels at Genesis (and why wouldn't he, it was simply the most optimal option and granted free damage lol) but he also hit most of them just raw in combination with mixups and reads. Even post-patch he can use the move in a lot of the same situations for a similar effect (escape disadvantage, ledge option, cut through projectiles, shield poke/pressure, etc.) It's still a tool that requires opponents to respect his up-close pressure more than they used to. Leaf Shield Startup is Frame 7 which is the same frame as his pellets interestingly enough.
I thought that Mega Man was
stupid good while he still had access to that tech, but even without, I still think he's very solid if I'm being honest. I don't see him dropping down entire tiers like people are suspecting nor do I see any MUs getting drastically affected at all; he might remain in a very similar spot imo. Especially with no other changes happening to his moveset in 2.0.0 and seeing all the new stuff that has already been discovered or are now resurfacing due to the fact that they weren't needed because Pellet -> Leaf Shield was most optimal in every situation.
For example, this setup was discovered in early S4. Most effective against Heavies/Tall Chars for various factors in that game. In Ultimate however, it's easier to do this in general due to buffering and item blade dealing less % than it used to in S4 allowing it string together more easily (he can also do this OOS). This is just one of many things that will be used to make up for the small hole that Macro Cancels left:
Z-Drop Blade Chain
Mega Man's neutral will likely consist of more Z-Drop Blade Nair Recatches to pressure with pellets while still retaining access to blade for confirms, damage output, and pressure. He can still mix in Leaf Shield to whiff punish or dissuade aggression alongside use it in 90% of the same situations. There will still be aerial mixups into SH Buffered LS or shield damage setups to get it to shield poke and escape the corner. The move will still do a lot of percent on its own and trap people in it until the throw. He can still use it without hit confirming and mix up his escape to be safe. People are still going to complain. If anything, it just slows down Mega's gameplan a little because he has to be slightly more creative with how he operates or puts on damage, but the char will still play largely the same regardless.
Leffen's analysis on Pokemon Trainer was really interesting on his post tournament stream. He told people not to discredit Yeti using his char's strongest tools/playing to win and he mentioned some of the struggles he had if Ivysaur wasn't able to keep up in a certain MU. Like vs Yeti, he said it's hell because one single pellet stops razor leaf which eliminates a lot of pressure and no matter which Pokemon he switched to, because Mega Man bodied him in neutral, he could never actually get a kill without some crazy hard read or cheese. He said regardless of patch, Mega would still win the MU because of that:
Leffen on PKMN Trainer vs Mega Man
Sorry for the long rant, too much Twitch Chat/Reddit/Twitter will do that to you I guess. Felt I just had to vent somewhere. I look forward to seeing how Yeti and the rest of the notable Mega Man players progress post-patch. I for one am not worried and can't wait for Yeti to prove himself once again.