How do you play against players who you KNOW are better than you?

[Mijah]

What is your mentality/mindset when going into a set against a player you know is better? I think Marth is the most fundamentally rewarding character in the roster, meaning he rewards you for implementing solid basic fundamentals more so than any other character. That said, I also believe he is very hard to win with against an opponent who has better fundamentals than you as he has no "gimmicks" or "jank" to win the game. Do you agree? If so, what are you doing to beat players clearly better than you? Just curious as to what everyone does in this situation.

 

[PlamZ]

It all depend on how better they are. If they're just a little bit better, I will go all in and try to be as good as possible.

If I play a VERY good player (Top100 caliber), I often lose all composure because of their awesome spacing and movement. I then proceed to kill myself 3 times attempting a simple ledge dash.

 

[Dandy_here]

Keep composure, don't play on tilt, and most importantly, make sure you have good knowledge on the match - up and the person you are playing. Doing this should get you a great experience and possibly the win.

 

[Ben Zed]

What is your mentality/mindset when going into a set against a player you know is better? I think Marth is the most fundamentally rewarding character in the roster, meaning he rewards you for implementing solid basic fundamentals more so than any other character. That said, I also believe he is very hard to win with against an opponent who has better fundamentals than you as he has no "gimmicks" or "jank" to win the game. Do you agree? If so, what are you doing to beat players clearly better than you? Just curious as to what everyone does in this situation.

Ugh...I mean, this isn't a bad question actually. I just think you're looking at this the wrong way though. When playing against someone who is clearly better than you, then your goal shouldn't be to win at all in my opinion. Your "goal" is to pay close attention to why you're losing. I may be spoiled in that I record most if not all of my matches, so I tend to have more opportunities to break down my matches with people.

However, you can still learn from moment-to-moment exchanges as well. I try to make an effort to really think about what it is that I'm trying to do in neutral to outplay my opponent, and whatever the outcome is I'll try to understand why I won/lost in neutral. Try to catch on to your habits, because when you take that approach when playing a superior opponent, you'll start to notice some themes/patterns will begin to rise. And I'm sorry if I'm speaking in vague terms, if you really want I may try to elaborate, but what I'm basically getting at is: Don't play to win; play to learn.

 

[AirFair]

I played m2k last Saturday in Houston, and all I really tried to do was just look at how he plays.

When I go up against players who are better, I often just observer the first couple of interactions, and I try not to get punished as easily.

It's not easy, but watching is half the battle at least.

 

[goateeguy]

Taj always says that you have to pull out all your tricks for players who are better than you. Go for harder reads, double dash-dance baits, fsmashes in neutral, things they'll expect good players not to do. Just, ya know, not all the time.

 

[Abel SSB]

you dont you lose