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How to fight Marcina as Mario

Sir_Africa

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2014
Messages
57
Having some trouble lately both at my locals and online against this match-up. Against a really good swordsman who can space fairs and dtilts pretty well, I'm not sure what to do or how to get in. I've heard that I need to respect their spacing and try to whiff punish or attack in between their hits but sometimes their defense just seems airtight not leaving me much room to find my footing.

So I've gotta ask, what are some general strats for me as a Mario main that I can exercise in this match up?
 

Phatty

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 9, 2018
Messages
59
First, don't come into this MU feeling like you have to approach all of the time. This is exactly what they want and you'll just get poked to death. Prioritize keeping center stage and throw fireballs at them to force approaches. Play passively, defensively and campy. Now, I don't want you to think that fireball automatically wins the MU for you (it doesn't) but it can put more pressure on Marcina to approach which is what you want, especially if you have center stage. Fludd can be good for pushing them back and getting center stage as well. Reading how they react to fireball is important too. If they stay in shield, approaching with FH fireball is a good option. If they jump you can either back air them (if they use mostly landing aerials), run underneath them and Usmash, or run close to them and shield to throw off their spacing.

Second, respecting their spacing and whiff punishing their attacks is great advice. Whiff-punishing is easier if you play a character with better mobility than Marcina, like Greninja for instance, but Mario can do this as well. You really have to pick your spots, read your opponent well, and be evasive.

Finally, make sure that your punishes count. If you get a grab or landing aerial, make sure that you get as much as you can out of it. Mario's main advantage in this MU is that he does way more damage to Marcina than vice versa.
 

Arcane_

Smash Cadet
Joined
Aug 26, 2017
Messages
31
Location
South Florida
Mostly what above said. Fireballs and tricky movement can force approaches. You want Marth to come to you. When Marth makes a bad approach, he loses.
 

Phatty

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 9, 2018
Messages
59
Oh and I also forgot to mention that catching landings is very important as well. Marth and Lucina don't have great landing hitboxes, they have pretty poor airspeed and their fall speed is pretty slow as well. If you get right underneath them they don't have very good options. I mean, yeah they have Dair but it is very laggy and fairly slow compared to their other aerials. Preemptively intercepting them with Uair, dashing underneath them and shielding (like I mentioned in the previous post) and abusing your partially invulnerable Usmash are all good options. Keep them in the air as much as possible.
 
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