Help VS a metaknight player

[Mr Gentleman]

So every year i go to this casual brawl tournament that is held during a convention. i do well having placed in the top 3 every time I've gone (that being only two years though) but there is one meta knight player. the current champ. who I've always had issue with. (being that he is one of the only real competitive players at said tournament)

but there is one plan I'm thinking of using. he told me in conversation that he is thrown off when you change characters on him. and i can play just about the entire cast. but the problem is mach tornado. if i do change he will spam it and i don't know the right counter with all my characters. the characters that best fit my style are Mario, D3, Kirby, Shiek, and while i am hesitant to play him yes meta knight.

So what are your thoughts? should i try to take advantage of that weakness? or stick to just one of those five? or maybe someone else? and what are the best ways to beat nado spam?

Thank you all for whatever help you can provide

~Mr Gentleman

 

[Jackson]

I'm no smash master, but I would try to stick to your guns and play your mains that you know best.

 

[Double Vision]

This has happened to me several times, and I agree with you 100%. Although Meta Knight isn't all Mach Tornado, there are several ways around him.

1. He Has Poor Camping Ability

If you're a long range character, let's say Snake, for example, Meta Knight is a target for easy damage. For Snake, Nades (grenades, short term) can be used to rack up some fast damage. Nikitas (Snake's Controllable Missiles) can break the tornado, as well as any other explosive (C4, Land Mines, Link's and Toon Link's bombs, etc.). Also, arrows (let's say Link) can also rack up damage. Sometimes the Nado will still cancel out the arrows, but if they're just standing there, they can't do much. Also what you can do is shoot Falco's and Wolf's lazers at the Nado or just the MK, as they will always have higher priority than the Mach Tornado.

2. He is Susceptible to Chain-Grabs and Short Range Combos

One neat trick that I'm sure you've heard thrown around a lot is "Chain-Grab". This is essentially a string of grabs that the opponent is not able to escape easily that typically cause mass amounts of damage to opponents. For example, the Ice Climbers (IC for short) almost entirely got their S rank on The Tier List solely for their throw (I forget which one). You can chain these together until about 125%, and then you can land an Up-Throw to finish off the job. Meta Knight is not well know for his ability to escape these. More examples include King Dee Dee Dee's Down-Throw, Snakes Down-Throw (which forces the opponent to roll away, get up attack, or simply get up. As you get more experienced with this, you can read opponent's get ups, and can chain them together, until the opponent starts panicking, in which you can get an easy KO), and Falco's Down-Throw. I'm sure their are more Chain-Grabs out there, but I don't main many Chain-Grab characters.

3. Don't Get Close to Him!

If you get close to a Meta Knight, you're going to need to think on a plan to get out quickly and then execute it like there's no tomorrow. The worst thing to do against a Meta Knight when close is to not be sure about your decisions. If you are unsure about whether or not to do something, I guarantee a smart player will punish you before you can make up your mind. Also, if you feel a Nado is coming, SHIELD AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!! If you can sense something, or you can find a pattern, break it up immediately. Another good trick is to interrupt the flow of the attacks. This can work against any player, but the more you can put to use, the better!


I really hoped that this put an end to your problem and I hope you can win next time!

 

[Taytertot]

Well I dont exactly want to tell you that your mains don't work because I think it's great to get good at characters other then top tier and still get the win, but

Mario, D3, Kirby, Shiek,

all have difficulty vs. metaknight.

That's not to say that you cant win but it does mean that you have to be very careful as Double Vision said.
I always find that it helps to watch tournament matches of my mains vs. metaknight, so if you can find any you might find certain combos to help to mix it up vs. meatknight.

 

[Thor]

Use a LOT of back-air if you pick Kirby. Kirby's back-air is what makes the Kirby-MK matchup manageable. D3 is terrible vs MK, as is Mario, and I don't know how good this guy is at gimping, but Sheik can get gimped easily, so I might stay away from her.

If you want to perform a character switch, I suggest learning Falco, Zero Suit Samus, or Snake in advance of the tournament and pulling them out if Kirby doesn't work. Falco can get gimped but has lasers and reflector to break tornado if he uses it from far, as well as a chaingrab (down-throw) that you can even link into his down air if performed properly (if he does not SDI it and messes up his meteor cancel that can be a zero-death) as well as strong camping thanks to the lasers and his side+b (short-hop and immediately firing side+b to zip to the other side of the stage is good). ZSS can also get gimped. For her you should either learn to be really good with items or else throw them away - if he can't catch you can use them but if he can just throw the others away unless you know you can also catch them. ZSS has a good juggling game thanks to uair, and landing a dsmash lets you dsmash him again and then turn around for a back air as a string that deals about 30%. Her side+b and fsmash also break tornado, and I think uair and bair trade with the tornado if used from certain angles. Snake gets juggled hard (and get gimped, though less easily than Falco), but he lives a long time with proper DI and momentum cancelling and he has explosives for camping. His ftilt can deal 20% (both hits combined) and his utilt is a strong KO move once Meta Knight moves past 110% or so (earlier on top of platforms). His dthrow lets you chase where your opponent gets up. Note that Falco's fair and most of Snake's aerials are laggy though, so be careful with those (Snake's bair is a good move to throw out if you're trying to surprise him, and it's strong enough to KO at higher percents).

This advice is all pretty basic, but it might just be what you need to beat him. If you want to see top-level characters play these characters, look up DEHF (Falco) (vs Nairo or M2K is a good choice), Salem (ZSS) (vs M2K is a good choice), or Ally (Snake) (vs M2K is also a good choice, if he's not doing MK dittos instead). You can see some of this stuff and also more tricks, and also how MK can exploit these characters so you can guard against it.

If all else fails, do the MK ditto - it's your best matchup (I didn't mention Pikachu because he doesn't have many "abuse this" tactics, but Pikachu is even vs MK, better than Falco, ZSS, or Snake - go to the Pikachu character boards if you think you should pick up Pikachu so you can beat this guy and the threads about learning to play Pikachu if that's what you think you should do). Good ditto footage would be Nairo vs M2K.

Hope this helps some.

 

[Lukingordex]

Mario, D3, Kirby, Shiek,

Your only option to win against him is banning MK from the tourneys, i'm sorry, but you're NOT going to win with those characters against a good MK.

 

[BlueXenon]

When you're playing metaknight, your execution must be nearly perfect, and you need to angle your shield against tornado. If your shield can't handle a tornado, run away and attempt to reset to a neutral situation. You must be confident and commit to the options you think will work. Do not hesitate to choose an option, your decision making should be quick. If you become nervous against metaknight, you're likely not going to win. Additionally, metaknight's moves are too fast to react to, so you need to play more based on anticipation. When you expect metaknight to do something, commit to the option you think is best.
One thing that makes metaknight very strong is his conditioning game. Here is an example:
Metaknight hits you into the air, and immediately shuttle loops so you don't expect it.
Metaknight hits you into the air a second time, and you decide to air dodge because you expect his shuttle loop. The metaknight knows you're going to air dodge, and instead of shuttle looping, he charges a smash attack so you'll land into it after your air dodge.

Metaknight does have weaknesses, but his conditioning game allows him overcome those weaknesses. You probably already know that every character has a conditioning game. Conditioning is one of the most important concepts of high level play.

Out of all the characters you said fits your playstyle, I think D3 is best. D3 vs MK is close to a 30-60 match up at high level play, but it is winnable, especially if metaknight doesn't know what to do.