Fly_Amanita
Master of Caribou
Andre, I watched the set with SFAT. I think you do a lot of things very well; in terms of move choice, you make a lot of reasonable decisions. However, there are a few recurring situations in which you make bad decisions that you get punished for really badly.
One big thing is that you like to full jump a lot. Even though you rarely got punished for this directly, it often put you in a bad position immediately afterwards. For example, a lot of the time, SFAT wouldn't hit you out of the air, but he would either bair you or bair your shield right after you landed. So, even though it may not seem like a bad idea to full jump as much you do at first glance (you still don't do it /all/ that much, but still a bit too often), it usually put you in a bad position right afterwards and SFAT got a lot of momentum off that. You should generally stay near the ground in this match-up.
I also think you don't have your priorities straight when right near the edge. Depending on which one of you is by the edge and which one is closer the center, your goal should either be to get back to the center or keep your opponent from getting there. A lot of the time, it looked like you were trying to fight Fox like you would on any other part of the stage when SFAT had you at the edge, and consequently you or Nana would get shined. Sometimes it's okay to just roll past Fox and accept that you might get hit or won't punish Fox directly since it'll get you away from the edge. I'm a big fan of wavelanding onto the platform above me to get back to the center. IIRC, I did see you do something like this a lot, but not for the purpose of regaining center stage. If the Fox starts catching onto this and tries to hit you out of it, then you can often get back to the center by just waveshielding towards the center. Actually, I probably shouldn't be emphasizing being in the center so much; it's more like you don't usually want to be closer to the edge than your opponent is; this isn't strictly the case, but is often true.
Those are the two big things. A few minor concerns:
-Sometimes you like to ice block a lot. I think the only really good use for ice blocks in this match-up, aside from perhaps a few weird edgeguarding scenarios, is to bait Fox into the air above you when he's camping you. Since you can punished badly for using ice blocks, I think it's best to use ice blocks like this only when you're really sure that he isn't going to approach.
-You shouldn't try to keep up continuous desynchs against Fox. Sometimes it looks you do continuous desynchs just because you can every now and then, but it's really better against Fox to just try to get back in sync if it's clear that the Fox didn't fall for the initial desynch.
-IIRC, this happened more against Obey than SFAT, but you would dsmash in a lot of the same situations and get punished because your opponent would shield it. I do think dsmash is a reasonable decision in a lot of the times you did use it, but try to take note of when your opponent starts shielding the dsmash and grab in those situations instead.
-Get better at dthrow -> dair! This is boring advice, but you mess up more than you should.
-You try to shield grab a lot. Honestly, this is perfectly fine against a lot of Foxes if you think the net gain of getting grabs will outweigh the loss of getting shined occasionally. Still, it's good to have a really good intuitive sense of when you can get a grab and when you can't; there are a few easy cues of when it looks like you can, like if the Fox nairs your shield really early or fastfell a little too late. Similarly, if you see the Fox nair really late, you're probably not going to get the grab. Foxes tend to be better at not messing up dair -> shine and it's harder to judge when you can get grabs then. A lot of the time, if you're not light-shielding and the Fox is good, they're not going to mess up. They're a little more likely to screw up if you light-shield. Another thing worth throwing out there is that it's sometimes easier to shield grab after the shine, but this varies by opponent.
uhhh, I might be forgetting a few things I wanted to say, but I think I got everything important. Hope this helps.
GofG, I'll get to you in a minute. Actually, give me a little more time. I'm not entirely sure what I want to say yet. I will say that your approach needs work, but I'm not sure about what specific advice to give yet.
One big thing is that you like to full jump a lot. Even though you rarely got punished for this directly, it often put you in a bad position immediately afterwards. For example, a lot of the time, SFAT wouldn't hit you out of the air, but he would either bair you or bair your shield right after you landed. So, even though it may not seem like a bad idea to full jump as much you do at first glance (you still don't do it /all/ that much, but still a bit too often), it usually put you in a bad position right afterwards and SFAT got a lot of momentum off that. You should generally stay near the ground in this match-up.
I also think you don't have your priorities straight when right near the edge. Depending on which one of you is by the edge and which one is closer the center, your goal should either be to get back to the center or keep your opponent from getting there. A lot of the time, it looked like you were trying to fight Fox like you would on any other part of the stage when SFAT had you at the edge, and consequently you or Nana would get shined. Sometimes it's okay to just roll past Fox and accept that you might get hit or won't punish Fox directly since it'll get you away from the edge. I'm a big fan of wavelanding onto the platform above me to get back to the center. IIRC, I did see you do something like this a lot, but not for the purpose of regaining center stage. If the Fox starts catching onto this and tries to hit you out of it, then you can often get back to the center by just waveshielding towards the center. Actually, I probably shouldn't be emphasizing being in the center so much; it's more like you don't usually want to be closer to the edge than your opponent is; this isn't strictly the case, but is often true.
Those are the two big things. A few minor concerns:
-Sometimes you like to ice block a lot. I think the only really good use for ice blocks in this match-up, aside from perhaps a few weird edgeguarding scenarios, is to bait Fox into the air above you when he's camping you. Since you can punished badly for using ice blocks, I think it's best to use ice blocks like this only when you're really sure that he isn't going to approach.
-You shouldn't try to keep up continuous desynchs against Fox. Sometimes it looks you do continuous desynchs just because you can every now and then, but it's really better against Fox to just try to get back in sync if it's clear that the Fox didn't fall for the initial desynch.
-IIRC, this happened more against Obey than SFAT, but you would dsmash in a lot of the same situations and get punished because your opponent would shield it. I do think dsmash is a reasonable decision in a lot of the times you did use it, but try to take note of when your opponent starts shielding the dsmash and grab in those situations instead.
-Get better at dthrow -> dair! This is boring advice, but you mess up more than you should.
-You try to shield grab a lot. Honestly, this is perfectly fine against a lot of Foxes if you think the net gain of getting grabs will outweigh the loss of getting shined occasionally. Still, it's good to have a really good intuitive sense of when you can get a grab and when you can't; there are a few easy cues of when it looks like you can, like if the Fox nairs your shield really early or fastfell a little too late. Similarly, if you see the Fox nair really late, you're probably not going to get the grab. Foxes tend to be better at not messing up dair -> shine and it's harder to judge when you can get grabs then. A lot of the time, if you're not light-shielding and the Fox is good, they're not going to mess up. They're a little more likely to screw up if you light-shield. Another thing worth throwing out there is that it's sometimes easier to shield grab after the shine, but this varies by opponent.
uhhh, I might be forgetting a few things I wanted to say, but I think I got everything important. Hope this helps.
GofG, I'll get to you in a minute. Actually, give me a little more time. I'm not entirely sure what I want to say yet. I will say that your approach needs work, but I'm not sure about what specific advice to give yet.
