"I'd Telegraph That!" - Little Mac Video Thread

[jet56]

Hey guys, here is a match I played on the weekend at my monthly. Funny enough, it was against Earl, a man drowning in Little Mac knowledge. I think I held my own for game 1 but then sort of collapsed afterwards (my first top 3 placing, had some nerves)
Asking for criticism and advice heading forward (excuse the for glory side B off the stage. Was trying to Up B LOL)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgbSBIzXmkE

Also if anyone has any advice on the R&L matchup, I'd love to hear some. Picking up a secondary for her, but Id really like to beat that *****

Here is a match I played against someone who doesnt even play the character and I still cant seem to deal with her. Looking back on it, I fell for her camp game even though I was up a massive amount of %

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpWHR2VtiL8 (i apologise for the ****ty sound, just mute the video, no interesting commentary whatsoever)

ill be honest, your tech skill is better than most little macs ive seen, and you know your basic mac combos which is good. but in my opinion, your gameplay is stale and stagnent most of the time. i don't have any problems against a defensive played little mac, but i felt you let the Ryu player freely pressure you too much, with no punish. you can be more assertive, and need to implement a good punish game to pressure your opponent.

#1:if he likes jumping in and throwing out safe aerials on shield, just throw out a upsmash or up angled fsmash, to punish him for approaching like that, you will super armor through it. even if he empty hops, he will still eat a smash attack, and if he airdodges, he will most likely hit the ground and suffer lag for hit, which you can then punish with a fast acting tilt or jab. or you can predict the airdodge, and punish after he does so. main point, you only have to anticipate whether he airdodges or not, so you always have a 50-50 chance no matter what the Ryu player approaches with (except focus, so use jab if you are reading a focus in midair. this is only specific to Ryu though.)
#2: while i know little mac has a bad grab, you have to use it at the very least to mix up your opponent, and not let him hide in shield, too often, Ryu would throw up shield and feel safe when you approached, or after he threw out a move on you. you can even do stuff like Dtilt or jab>grab, as combo and string mixups.
#3: get creative with your edgeguarding. there is nothing wrong with running off and throwing out fair, if you anticipate a low recovery. a jump off stage fair is for high recovery, and you can run off and side b the ledge to ledge trump him. Dsmash doesn't work for everything, but try not to let him back to the stage for free.
#4: it takes time, but learn different mac combos and strings, you have the basics for sure, but dtilt>fair at mid percents is a good string for damage, and can condition them to airdodge after you pop them into the air with dtilt, so you can then dtilt, bait airdodge, then smash attack.
#5: LEARN HOW TO PRESSURE. i cannot stress how important this is for a little mac player. your moves that are safe on shield (if spaced) are jab, dtilt, ftilt, backside of utilt. dtilt and jab being your safest moves. i noticed, you get smash happy with mac at times, i understand this is nerves, as i suffered the same thing when i started going to tourneys, but you need to learn that you have more than smash attacks as kill options. ftilt, jab>up b, dtilt>up b, utilt>up b are also solid kill moves, and are much safer than smash attacks.
#6: TECH CHASE and LEDGE PUNISH. you need stocks as fast as you can, so this is also essential. keeping an eye on how your opponent gets up from the ledge, and how to punish them is important. little mac can do the following things.
standard get up: jab, or a smash attack, if you can time the punish window right.
roll get up: anticipate the roll and smash attack away from the stage.
get up attack: shielding the attack and punish works. you can also super armor through the attack with a usmash or fsmash.
get up jump: up b, or uair/jab. only use up b if you are reading a jump and you know it can kill. otherwise, use uair, or even footstool if you can time it right.

also note that some options you have can cover multiple options. jab for example, can cover get up jump and standard get up
and sometimes even get up attack (on certain characters). dsmash can cover get up jump/attack/roll if timed right. you can even bait or condition your opponent to do certain things, such as holding jab, when they are on the ledge, then throwing out a smash attack away from the stage, since they will most likely roll.

Sorry, i know its a lot, but i really loving out mac players to get better with the character and as a player, and you show a lot of promise, since you already have the tech skill down, which most mac players don't. GOOD LUCK AND KEEP PRACTICING!

 

[Solreth]

" LEARN HOW TO PRESSURE. i cannot stress how important this is for a little mac player. your moves that are safe on shield (if spaced) are jab, dtilt, ftilt, backside of utilt. dtilt and jab being your safest moves"

literally none of those things, in perfect spacing, is safe on shield. Oddly you neglected to mention the only thing that is, post patch- Down-angled Forward Smash. Not trying to be a stickler here, just want to make sure he hears accurate advice. Again, not a manner of disrespect. Its awesome that you're helping out!

 

[inconspikuous]

" LEARN HOW TO PRESSURE. i cannot stress how important this is for a little mac player. your moves that are safe on shield (if spaced) are jab, dtilt, ftilt, backside of utilt. dtilt and jab being your safest moves"

literally none of those things, in perfect spacing, is safe on shield. Oddly you neglected to mention the only thing that is, post patch- Down-angled Forward Smash. Not trying to be a stickler here, just want to make sure he hears accurate advice. Again, not a manner of disrespect. Its awesome that you're helping out!

wait, da-fsmash is safe on shield? what are you buffering to make it safe? i feel like i've been punished for da-fsmash on shield.

 

[jet56]

" LEARN HOW TO PRESSURE. i cannot stress how important this is for a little mac player. your moves that are safe on shield (if spaced) are jab, dtilt, ftilt, backside of utilt. dtilt and jab being your safest moves"

literally none of those things, in perfect spacing, is safe on shield. Oddly you neglected to mention the only thing that is, post patch- Down-angled Forward Smash. Not trying to be a stickler here, just want to make sure he hears accurate advice. Again, not a manner of disrespect. Its awesome that you're helping out!

no problem, i don't mind friendly criticism at all, i welcome it. i did forget to mention the DA-fsmash, i personally thought it wasn't safe on shield. while i do agree that mac has no moves that are safe on shield outright, i am confident in the fact that the tilts i did mention are safe if spaced. to be more specific, certain tilts are safe on some characters, if they have bad or slow out of shield options, (ftilt and utilt), with dtilt and jab being better shield pressure options. TBH, it all comes down to frame data and shieldstun of the moves.

i don't know how much of a math or frame data guy you are, but did a guide on shields using shieldstun mechanics and frame data, explaining how shields work, and how little macs moves stand up to shields. understand that a lot of testing was done to ensure the accuracy of these statements. http://smashboards.com/guides/little-mac-shield-guide-how-to-handle-shields.667/

Quote from the guide above:
"little macs safest move with the least amount of cooldown:
Dtilt:
active frames: 21
hitbox active: 3-4
ending lag: 5-21
first active frame: 22
Damage: 8%

(8/1.75)+2=6.5 frames of shield stun, rounding down its 6 frames.

so, if you were to hit a shield on frame 7 lets say (4 frames after perfect shield)it would be as follows

1: dtilt on frame 4, hits shield on frame 7
2: shield suffers 6 frames of shield stun, dtilt is now on frame 10
3a: opponent suffers 7 frames shield drop, dtilt is now on frame 17
3b: opponent uses OoS option grab (megamans: frame 6) dtilt now on frame 16
4a: opponent can punish dtilt in 4 frames.
4b: opponent grabs on frame 16 of dtilt."

Technically, yes, even macs safest option, is not safe on shield, but if you space it outside of the grab range, you can't get shield grabbed, and other OoS (out of shield) options are also unable to hit. i will admit that there are some characters with longer grab ranges that can punish you from further distances (donkey kong for example, im sure you have a lot of experience with that character from playing M2K) but if spaced perfectly, you still are outside the range. Ill be honest, maybe my post was too simple, and lead to some misinformation about the safeness of macs moves on shield, but to an extent, mac can pressure a shield safely. the moves that can punish mac's dtilt are:

frame 4 or less moves (megamans tilt, and some fast acting jabs with range, like ZSS)
OoS options (shieldgrab, jc up b moves, etc.)

I did neglect to mention DA-Fsmash as a solid option, but only because i found its not safe on shield, from my experience and testing. i could very well be wrong. i can provide the math on it as well.
i will be making 2 lists of all moves that can punish macs tilts, one for tilts that are spaced, and one for tilts that are not spaced, so players will have more knowledge on exactly how safe macs moves are on shield.
Understand Sol, that i still love you when you comment, and i appreciate the fact you even commented on my post at all. (Senpai noticed me :D). Also, thank you for correcting me on my statement above, as i shouldn't have used "safe on shield" in such a broad manner. oh, and thank you if you read this whole wall of text guys.

Side note: personally im a huge fan of you Sol, and you did inspire me to pick little mac and play him as my main extensively. i wouldn't be posting and testing or doing any of this at all if it wasn't for you my man.

EDIT: just got back from some testing, and have compiled together a list of all moves that can punish little macs Dtilt (when spaced).

's Bair (OoS only).
's grab (OoS only).
That's it. little macs Dtilt spaces out all other grabs (or can buffer an option before it can come out, like a tether grab) and frame 4 or under moves including all jabs, and all the frame 4 or under tilt moves. i will list the moves with the BEST RANGE/CHANCE of hitting mac after he uses dtilt.

Jab:
Dash attack:
Ftilt:
Utilt (backside):
Dtilt:
Bair:
Nair:

Note that these moves have the best range and speed to combat macs dtilt, without actually having the guaranteed factor of punishing macs dtilt after he uses it on shield or hit. i haven't finished putting together the list of moves that can punish little macs other tilts and jabs, but am working on it as well. Sol was right in the fact though, that little mac doesn't have a move that is safe on shield against the entire cast. will update soon.

Edit 2: K im done with testing and have compiled together everything for the rest of macs tilts and jab.
JAB:Macs jab IS NOT SAFE on shield even when spaced, as most characters have a longer reaching jab than mac, and even certain tilts and other moves (like the ones above) can punish mac. jab is basically a worse dtilt in regards to safety.
FTILT: this move outspaces even better than Dtilt, but suffers from more lag, ftilt is safe from all options except some characters dash grabs and from most characters dash attacks, so ftilt is not safe on shield.
UTILT(Backside): utilt is a lot like macs dtilt in that the spacing of the move is the same (just a tad longer), and its ending lag is just a little longer than dtilt. so it is a safe move on shield, except to megamans bair and olimars grab of course.

As a side note, DA-Fsmash is not safe on shield, as most characters can dash grab or dash attack you out of it in most cases. it is still a solid shield pressure and shield break option though.

So to sum things up, here is a list of what moves can punish little macs tilts (when spaced)

JAB: most other jabs, fast acting tilts, shieldgrabs.
Dtilt: bair, grab
Utilt: bair, grab, and dash attack.
Ftilt: certain characters dash grabs and dash attacks.

thank you sol for the correction, and for helping me correct my mistake of over simplifying what "safe on shield" is.

 

[inconspikuous]

nice 3rd placement Splash Damage . good show. tough MUs vs craftis and ntarps.

 

[Splash Damage]

Thanks, been meaning to post some analyze on the rest of my streamed sets&explain my reasoning for stuff. Ill get to that in a bit.

 

[Splash Damage]

Alright, we back team. doublepostboys
At the GU weekly I attended Tuesday, the Upset Train reached its next stop and the PR was destroyed forever. Basically, so many upsets were made by so many players that only 3 of the top 8 seeded players made it to winner's quarters, and only 4 of the top 8 seeds actually made it to top 8. It was wild.
In any case, back to Mac. I faced most of the popular MUs for Mac either on stream or off, so I got a lot of good info.
To start: https://youtu.be/BVz00VC_Elk vs Meccs' (Aka "It almost worked.")
Now I had another set off stream against the best Ness in RI that I managed to beat 2-1 and there was a lot of good stuff to take from it(Namely watch out for Dtilttrip>Bat, as well as hard onstage PKThunder2 reads). However, this is the only Ness set i have footage for, so I'll incorporate that stuff into this.
Game 1, I tried to keep my neutral more tame than what I usually do upon suggestion of belaC, the best Mac in NE. It's better to use more tilts than smashes more often as Mac, since those are the overwhelmingly fast moves, not so much his smashes.(tangent: Too many smashes=Staling kill moves&missing punishes/pressure. Sure they come out fast by the standards of smashes, but that's less effective when you're fighting against tilts, jabs, grabs, &shields which are all mostly faster than mac's smashes. Stand your ground, don't commit to dashes when you can just walk, &tilt your little heart out) Essentially, use your blinding frame data as a way to limit Ness' options and create pressure, even when he's attempting to camp the platforms. Another important thing shown off here is Dsmash at ledge. In my experience, 110% of all Ness mains do this to recover:Double Jump past ledge>F-air/airdodge. If they F-air, eat through it with Dsmash(Or Fsmash if your timing is immaculate) to land yourself a kill. If they airdodge, Ftilt for pressure or just roll past them to regain stage positioning. Additionally, having good timing on your Dsmashes as well as being able to catch recoveries with it is an amazingly helpful tool that forces them to take the same damage every time they're offstage as Mac himself does. On his second stock, Meccs was knocked offstage at ~30% and came back at 75% thanks to Dsmash timing(If I hadn't decided to try the Mac Tournament Winner, I probably could've just kept Dsmashing until I missed one for even more damage than I got).
Game 2 showed off similar things: preassure w/tilts&frame data, Dsmash, & mix up your recovery. Another thing:Up B seems to kill Ness far earlier than other characters, off stream I won a set with a dtilt>upB against a Ness at 84% with rage. Try to save this to avoid staling, but use it when you can to limit their caping options.
https://youtu.be/4shdBVInTvU DJ Delta's, best Luigi in RI/possibly NE since belaC switched to Shiek
Ive always been fascinated by this matchup, whenever I face it I feel like I have to walk on eggshells and like any second I could be getting combos and dying off of a grab. I bet this is what people felt like facing ICs…I like it.
Game 1 I goofed pretty hard. Be careful when you use side B to kill, ensure you don't buffer another one. Either way, the general neutral of this MU was shown:abuse the fact that any of your tilts beats out fireball&gives you KO meter, abuse the fact that you're one of the only character who surpasses him in grounded frame data, abuse Luigi's lack of approach options/lack of ability to make you approach, don't overcommit on shield. Grab when you can to convince the Luigi against shielding, so that you can force different defensive options that you can punish with your better half of your arsenal.
Game 2 was where it began to develop a bit more. Wising up to my antics, he began to start running up and shieldgrabbing, anticipating the incoming tilts. In hindsight, I was expecting this after a few times during the set and failed to react/properly read it to get a grab and discourage this, but I did begin grabbing more often to attempt to discourage the shield.
Game 3 overemphasizes the importance of hitting those KO punches in this matchup. Luigi can't do anything to you without the KO punch being something to consider, shown at the end where Delta does an unexpected Nair>Goof Troop combo, which put me in danger range of a gimp/hard read smash, but also filled up the KO meter. After that all it took was two overcommitments on my shield&two down tilts, and that was the set.(Also wow me and the TO popped off a bit too hard, huh. This must be how Leo feels.)
Also, that set showed off the general knowledge that Commentators have of Mac.

Spoiler

"I was just throwing out robust smashes and it was just working for me, and that's pretty much Little Mac."
"I'm not really seeing enough Fsmash."
"Wow, [Luigi] is a really hard matchup for Little Mac."
"He's probably gonna ban Lylat and go to Dreamland."

No disrespect though cause these commentators are cool guys
TL;DR on the Luigi MU:Wall him out. Your range, frame data, & pokes all surpass his by a significant margin, & a lot of your tools have more lenient due to Luigi's shield pushback, but be sure to grab sometimes to discourage runup>shield approaches. I wrote about this more in depth on a different thread, but Mac nullifies Luigi's fireballs benefitingly with any of his moves at all, so abuse that. Make the most of what you surpass Luigi with, and don't let him "actually fight" you, because once that grab happens, Luigi can close that ago you've made very quick. Also, KO punch. Mac wins the MU 60/40 IMO, Luigi has no hugely significant all-option-covering edge guard tool like Marth does, so he has to guess between high&low and both force committal.
I'll finish up w/the analogy for Craftis' set tomorrow, I need shcleep now.
EDIT: Craftis set
https://youtu.be/lf5BcMsKJnM vs Craftis' , 3rd on New England PR & top level EC Sonic
Around this point in the tournament, I began to get a little overzealous, mistakenly committing to the rapidly shanging stage positions. I should have done more standing-there-and-holding-jab, as that's what was stopping the momentum and lowering the effectiveness of his play style, but i only realized the effectiveness of this too late. Essentially, in this matchup, don't overcommit. And by overcommit i mean commit at all. No raw fsmashes, no Up B out of combos(unless those are up air combos which ill talk about in a second). Just do whatever you can to keep the pace of the match under your dictation. Your transcendent tilts and jab are your saving grace here, plus occasional grabs to discourage the shield. If he tries to kill ypou off the top with up airs, wait until the Critical Moment(Shoutouts to Sirlin) to up B and turn his advantage into your own to net yourself a kill. I would have been able to take it to game 5 if I did that properly.
TL;DR on Sonic v Mac:Always make sure you're dictating the pace of the match, &don't let Sonic take control. One mistake gives Sonic the pace&control, so stay on your toes. Just standing there holding jab will only work so long, so be ready for their mixups. Up B only to kill. Sonic wins it 65/35 IMO, give or take.

 

[Solreth]

no problem, i don't mind friendly criticism at all, i welcome it. i did forget to mention the DA-fsmash, i personally thought it wasn't safe on shield. while i do agree that mac has no moves that are safe on shield outright, i am confident in the fact that the tilts i did mention are safe if spaced. to be more specific, certain tilts are safe on some characters, if they have bad or slow out of shield options, (ftilt and utilt), with dtilt and jab being better shield pressure options. TBH, it all comes down to frame data and shieldstun of the moves.

i don't know how much of a math or frame data guy you are, but did a guide on shields using shieldstun mechanics and frame data, explaining how shields work, and how little macs moves stand up to shields. understand that a lot of testing was done to ensure the accuracy of these statements. http://smashboards.com/guides/little-mac-shield-guide-how-to-handle-shields.667/

Quote from the guide above:
"little macs safest move with the least amount of cooldown:
Dtilt:
active frames: 21
hitbox active: 3-4
ending lag: 5-21
first active frame: 22
Damage: 8%

(8/1.75)+2=6.5 frames of shield stun, rounding down its 6 frames.

so, if you were to hit a shield on frame 7 lets say (4 frames after perfect shield)it would be as follows

1: dtilt on frame 4, hits shield on frame 7
2: shield suffers 6 frames of shield stun, dtilt is now on frame 10
3a: opponent suffers 7 frames shield drop, dtilt is now on frame 17
3b: opponent uses OoS option grab (megamans: frame 6) dtilt now on frame 16
4a: opponent can punish dtilt in 4 frames.
4b: opponent grabs on frame 16 of dtilt."

Technically, yes, even macs safest option, is not safe on shield, but if you space it outside of the grab range, you can't get shield grabbed, and other OoS (out of shield) options are also unable to hit. i will admit that there are some characters with longer grab ranges that can punish you from further distances (donkey kong for example, im sure you have a lot of experience with that character from playing M2K) but if spaced perfectly, you still are outside the range. Ill be honest, maybe my post was too simple, and lead to some misinformation about the safeness of macs moves on shield, but to an extent, mac can pressure a shield safely. the moves that can punish mac's dtilt are:

frame 4 or less moves (megamans tilt, and some fast acting jabs with range, like ZSS)
OoS options (shieldgrab, jc up b moves, etc.)

I did neglect to mention DA-Fsmash as a solid option, but only because i found its not safe on shield, from my experience and testing. i could very well be wrong. i can provide the math on it as well.
i will be making 2 lists of all moves that can punish macs tilts, one for tilts that are spaced, and one for tilts that are not spaced, so players will have more knowledge on exactly how safe macs moves are on shield.
Understand Sol, that i still love you when you comment, and i appreciate the fact you even commented on my post at all. (Senpai noticed me :D). Also, thank you for correcting me on my statement above, as i shouldn't have used "safe on shield" in such a broad manner. oh, and thank you if you read this whole wall of text guys.

Side note: personally im a huge fan of you Sol, and you did inspire me to pick little mac and play him as my main extensively. i wouldn't be posting and testing or doing any of this at all if it wasn't for you my man.

EDIT: just got back from some testing, and have compiled together a list of all moves that can punish little macs Dtilt (when spaced).

's Bair (OoS only).
's grab (OoS only).
That's it. little macs Dtilt spaces out all other grabs (or can buffer an option before it can come out, like a tether grab) and frame 4 or under moves including all jabs, and all the frame 4 or under tilt moves. i will list the moves with the BEST RANGE/CHANCE of hitting mac after he uses dtilt.

Jab:
Dash attack:
Ftilt:
Utilt (backside):
Dtilt:
Bair:
Nair:

Note that these moves have the best range and speed to combat macs dtilt, without actually having the guaranteed factor of punishing macs dtilt after he uses it on shield or hit. i haven't finished putting together the list of moves that can punish little macs other tilts and jabs, but am working on it as well. Sol was right in the fact though, that little mac doesn't have a move that is safe on shield against the entire cast. will update soon.

Edit 2: K im done with testing and have compiled together everything for the rest of macs tilts and jab.
JAB:Macs jab IS NOT SAFE on shield even when spaced, as most characters have a longer reaching jab than mac, and even certain tilts and other moves (like the ones above) can punish mac. jab is basically a worse dtilt in regards to safety.
FTILT: this move outspaces even better than Dtilt, but suffers from more lag, ftilt is safe from all options except some characters dash grabs and from most characters dash attacks, so ftilt is not safe on shield.
UTILT(Backside): utilt is a lot like macs dtilt in that the spacing of the move is the same (just a tad longer), and its ending lag is just a little longer than dtilt. so it is a safe move on shield, except to megamans bair and olimars grab of course.

As a side note, DA-Fsmash is not safe on shield, as most characters can dash grab or dash attack you out of it in most cases. it is still a solid shield pressure and shield break option though.

So to sum things up, here is a list of what moves can punish little macs tilts (when spaced)

JAB: most other jabs, fast acting tilts, shieldgrabs.
Dtilt: bair, grab
Utilt: bair, grab, and dash attack.
Ftilt: certain characters dash grabs and dash attacks.

thank you sol for the correction, and for helping me correct my mistake of over simplifying what "safe on shield" is.

No sweat and thanks for the response. I dabble less in frame data and speak more in experience, but I have not been hit in response to a maximum distanced down-angle smash since the new shieldstun patch. Doesnt mean my perception isnt flawed either, and I really appreciate when someone breaks it all down to the nuts and bolts like this. Much respect Jet and I hope to see you posting around forums! Feel free to add me on twitter man, I certainly wouldnt mind more mac chat some time!

 

[Solreth]

Summary of Smash Conference this week:

Ryo and I handily won doubles and that was quite pleasant.

Singles though is where I faced some particularly relevant matches for mac nation.

I had several back to back rounds with tough matchups/playstyles that extended all the way to winners finals. Thought I'd share them as a base line for how to deal with- "Campy projectile spam" "Pikachu vs Mac matchup" and "Ding Dong the Donkey Kong".

Additionally id like any advice to better tackle these matchups. If anyone knows a helpful trick im not applying to these matchups, for future reference, please let me know. Thank you.

1) This set really took every last ounce of my patience, and I was starting to lose it by the start of my first stock in match two. Patience is something very foreign to me, that I have been struggling to learn and adopt. Not a lot to discuss beyond the draining of my patience (I regain my cool after KO punch in second match). Is there a way to better steel oneself to the emotional gruel of the patience game?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdLnGJRv08g

2) My most recent discovery is the aptitude for up-tilt (facing away) to devour quick attacks. [This is mostly displayed in the first match]. I always handily place pikachu among macs worst matchups, and tachyon is handily a top 3 pikachu player in florida with Esam leaving state recently. Particularly he displays the danger of the matchup in match 2 on my first stock. Can I better optimize this fight?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm55MqydQ_c

3) So Donkey Kong is a frightening matchup. One backthrow provides Kong with the easiest gimp string of backairs that results in an almost guaranteed lost stock. I tried to focus on center control, and stuck to platforms when I was within kill percent of Ding Dong, baiting the shield break for hard down-tilt abuse. Overall im proud of my performance, but he definitely got the better of me in several spots, and I especially wound up in a risky position at the top of Dreamland at one point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IblF0THUcg0

The thing I note the most is that I essentially played at Three different gears (passive, mixed, and aggressive) between the three different matchups. Im happy with that overall.

Do I have any repeatedly atrocious habits? What can I improve upon? What do I do well? Are there any tools im failing to abuse enough? Any constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated, and likewise too I hope these can help anyone having similar troubles.

 

[Venks]

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I feel I did really well at my last tournament. Knocked the current #1 player in my area's PR ranking into Loser's, twas pretty fun. I'm a very smash heavy Mac. I'm all about momentum and attempting to make my opponent afraid to press buttons because of my speed. I throw out unsafe stuff a lot, but I'm all about my reads. Also super happy with my recovery angles throughout the set. I feel I mixed that up very well everytime. Though my opponent was making some uncharacteristic mistakes.

 

[jet56]

Summary of Smash Conference this week:

Ryo and I handily won doubles and that was quite pleasant.

Singles though is where I faced some particularly relevant matches for mac nation.

I had several back to back rounds with tough matchups/playstyles that extended all the way to winners finals. Thought I'd share them as a base line for how to deal with- "Campy projectile spam" "Pikachu vs Mac matchup" and "Ding Dong the Donkey Kong".

Additionally id like any advice to better tackle these matchups. If anyone knows a helpful trick im not applying to these matchups, for future reference, please let me know. Thank you.

1) This set really took every last ounce of my patience, and I was starting to lose it by the start of my first stock in match two. Patience is something very foreign to me, that I have been struggling to learn and adopt. Not a lot to discuss beyond the draining of my patience (I regain my cool after KO punch in second match). Is there a way to better steel oneself to the emotional gruel of the patience game?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdLnGJRv08g

2) My most recent discovery is the aptitude for up-tilt (facing away) to devour quick attacks. [This is mostly displayed in the first match]. I always handily place pikachu among macs worst matchups, and tachyon is handily a top 3 pikachu player in florida with Esam leaving state recently. Particularly he displays the danger of the matchup in match 2 on my first stock. Can I better optimize this fight?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm55MqydQ_c

3) So Donkey Kong is a frightening matchup. One backthrow provides Kong with the easiest gimp string of backairs that results in an almost guaranteed lost stock. I tried to focus on center control, and stuck to platforms when I was within kill percent of Ding Dong, baiting the shield break for hard down-tilt abuse. Overall im proud of my performance, but he definitely got the better of me in several spots, and I especially wound up in a risky position at the top of Dreamland at one point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IblF0THUcg0

The thing I note the most is that I essentially played at Three different gears (passive, mixed, and aggressive) between the three different matchups. Im happy with that overall.

Do I have any repeatedly atrocious habits? What can I improve upon? What do I do well? Are there any tools im failing to abuse enough? Any constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated, and likewise too I hope these can help anyone having similar troubles.

Hard to critique a man who gets second at a stacked tourney like that. The only thing I can say is implement pivot grabs and grabs more, to scare people into not using shield. And use p pivot utilt more, it's a good spacing and approaching tool in neutral, and it's a good combo extender from dtilt and leads into up b. I'm going to a big tourney today as well, so I'll post anything that comes up and my stream matches.

 

[Solreth]

Hard to critique a man who gets second at a stacked tourney like that. The only thing I can say is implement pivot grabs and grabs more, to scare people into not using shield. And use p pivot utilt more, it's a good spacing and approaching tool in neutral, and it's a good combo extender from dtilt and leads into up b. I'm going to a big tourney today as well, so I'll post anything that comes up and my stream matches.

You're right! I totally forgot about my pivots that tourney! Good spot! Thank you Jet!

 

[inconspikuous]

i used to think that we need to educate commentators about mac meta, but now, honestly it's not really that important -- the more incorrect info floating around about mac, the more impressive our results will be.

Summary of Smash Conference this week:

Ryo and I handily won doubles and that was quite pleasant.

Singles though is where I faced some particularly relevant matches for mac nation.

I had several back to back rounds with tough matchups/playstyles that extended all the way to winners finals. Thought I'd share them as a base line for how to deal with- "Campy projectile spam" "Pikachu vs Mac matchup" and "Ding Dong the Donkey Kong".

Additionally id like any advice to better tackle these matchups. If anyone knows a helpful trick im not applying to these matchups, for future reference, please let me know. Thank you.

1) This set really took every last ounce of my patience, and I was starting to lose it by the start of my first stock in match two. Patience is something very foreign to me, that I have been struggling to learn and adopt. Not a lot to discuss beyond the draining of my patience (I regain my cool after KO punch in second match). Is there a way to better steel oneself to the emotional gruel of the patience game?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdLnGJRv08g

2) My most recent discovery is the aptitude for up-tilt (facing away) to devour quick attacks. [This is mostly displayed in the first match]. I always handily place pikachu among macs worst matchups, and tachyon is handily a top 3 pikachu player in florida with Esam leaving state recently. Particularly he displays the danger of the matchup in match 2 on my first stock. Can I better optimize this fight?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm55MqydQ_c

3) So Donkey Kong is a frightening matchup. One backthrow provides Kong with the easiest gimp string of backairs that results in an almost guaranteed lost stock. I tried to focus on center control, and stuck to platforms when I was within kill percent of Ding Dong, baiting the shield break for hard down-tilt abuse. Overall im proud of my performance, but he definitely got the better of me in several spots, and I especially wound up in a risky position at the top of Dreamland at one point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IblF0THUcg0

The thing I note the most is that I essentially played at Three different gears (passive, mixed, and aggressive) between the three different matchups. Im happy with that overall.

Do I have any repeatedly atrocious habits? What can I improve upon? What do I do well? Are there any tools im failing to abuse enough? Any constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated, and likewise too I hope these can help anyone having similar troubles.

first off, i just want to say your attitude is awesome -- you're pretty much the face for the mac meta in NA and still so humble. (in comparison, it's weird because people on fg generally think of mac players as arrogant noobs.) anyway, i think it's great that as mac nation we can still push the meta through input to you guys doing good work at tourneys. it seems mac has been making waves, and is often the crowd favourite anyway because he's really the underdog in every match. plus ko hype!

there's one thing that you could try against the link projectile spammers campers. if the toon/link is camping, there's usually a predictable pattern in their spam -- boomerang (watch out for the angle to discourage aerial approaches), pull out bomb/throw bomb, arrow, or some variation thereof. if you get the arrow read, it is a free jolt haymaker if you catch it on startup and this can kill if they're camping by the ledge. plus, vs toon link, you don't have to worry so much about the wind boomerang pulling you offstage after you initiate the jolt haymaker. otherwise, your patience was commendable for the majority of the matches. reminded me of the chota vids. 'zen' is really what you're going for in these matches, as the opponent is really trying to annoy you into making unsafe decisions. maybe meditation would help? lol.

i agree with pikachu being one of mac's worst mu's. we really need to discuss better strategies against this character, esp since post-patch, a lot of his approaches are now safer. good look about the utilt vs quick attack -- seems like it partially shut down his usage of it, but then he started baiting you into utilting and punishing for it.

i thought your use of platforms with all the matches, but specifically the DK matches, was unconventional. that said, i think mac really has a future meta with more platform-usage. it could be like platforms are a 'less-flexible aerial' option for mac. i tihnk, for example, landing dtilt>upB on platforms (kills at ~65%) will be pretty important in the future. i don't really have input about the DK matches, but i did notice your use of the platforms and thought it was different.

generally, i know you know that at higher percents jab>upB is a true combo. i've seen nairo's mac do a lot of shield pressure by just mixing up jab1/2 timings and dtilts on shield, and then when he gets the opening, hit confirms into other options or upB at kill percents. i don't know if it's just because nairo's reaction time is amazing that he can do those things and still be relatively safe, or his pressure game is just on a different level so that it doesn't really matter which character he's using, but i think incorporating more jab1 into your neutral may help.

 

[inconspikuous]

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I feel I did really well at my last tournament. Knocked the current #1 player in my area's PR ranking into Loser's, twas pretty fun. I'm a very smash heavy Mac. I'm all about momentum and attempting to make my opponent afraid to press buttons because of my speed. I throw out unsafe stuff a lot, but I'm all about my reads. Also super happy with my recovery angles throughout the set. I feel I mixed that up very well everytime. Though my opponent was making some uncharacteristic mistakes.

man venks vs rosaluma i really liked your option coverage at 4:42. most rosas will do that exact sequence when you have the ko punch -- mixup dashgrab and mixup dash attack. when you whiffed your ua-fsmash he thought he had the free punish -- but the upB tho. awesome. great work man. your mac looks really different than before... not sure exactly what you changed, but good stuff man. i think my playstyle is a little like yours -- at times, trying to bait and read with whiffed smashes, but i do think it's a bad habit that will eventually get me killed when the opponent adjusts. anyway, good look man, stay up.

 

[jet56]

K, back from my tourney and did...ok. 13th isn't terrible but whatev.
http://www.twitch.tv/sakgamingtv/v/26015289 - match starts at 1:21:35

only got one game on stream, and it was against the best pikachu in tuscon, if not the entire AZ state. game 1 i feel i did well, kinda got lucky on the second stock though. game 2 was a bit jank, in the fact that he got the trade off of me on the edge, and got a free stock conversion off of it, after that i just lost momentum and the game. game 3 is on me. on the first stock, i was going to gazelle, and overlooked pikachus thunder jolt, causing me to lose the stock. and in games 2 and 3, he just gimped me off stage. it was mentioned before in other posts, but this MU is hard for mac, since he dies so early offstage to pikachu. and his biggest juggle setups came from quick attack, and i didn't consider using utilt to stuff it until after the match was over. so something to keep in mind going forward.

BTW Sol, added you on twitter, going by senpaimac, and sent you a message there.

 

[Solreth]

Okay Jet: 1, learn to save your jump. Never use it unless its your last option for recovery. You're dying here because you are resorting to it far too early. Essentially, the gimps were your fault there.
2, triple down-tilt only works vs fast fallers, convert it to side B OR if you're near the ledge convert to Ppivot up-tilt
3, Down-tilt up-B is your primary kill condition vs chu due to the low hit box and light weight.
4, Gazelle punch is not performed by dropping from ledge jumping then koing, its jump option frame perfect ko and it is notably safer (you wont die trying)
5, Apply your up-tilt more, its especially useful by using the back-end to catch QA as well as any sloppy chu backairs.
6, exercise more center control. In this matchup you have to always be mindful of being off stage, its almost always death unless you are incredibly at mixing up recovery. Dont contest him offstage, you can some characters. He isnt one of them.

 

[Splash Damage]

Totally not shameless plug:on the topic of Dtilt strings, I made a thread compiling the total number of Dtilts he can get on everyone at 0%. If you need to know/are a lab monster like me, here it is.

 

[jet56]

Okay Jet: 1, learn to save your jump. Never use it unless its your last option for recovery. You're dying here because you are resorting to it far too early. Essentially, the gimps were your fault there.
2, triple down-tilt only works vs fast fallers, convert it to side B OR if you're near the ledge convert to Ppivot up-tilt
3, Down-tilt up-B is your primary kill condition vs chu due to the low hit box and light weight.
4, Gazelle punch is not performed by dropping from ledge jumping then koing, its jump option frame perfect ko and it is notably safer (you wont die trying)
5, Apply your up-tilt more, its especially useful by using the back-end to catch QA as well as any sloppy chu backairs.
6, exercise more center control. In this matchup you have to always be mindful of being off stage, its almost always death unless you are incredibly at mixing up recovery. Dont contest him offstage, you can some characters. He isnt one of them.

1. I'll be honest here, ive been punished too much when i save my jump and go low, as that is what everyone is expecting, but i have been using jump early too often. ill mix it up more often.
2. that was me buffering dtilt inputs too many times, or pressuring a shield. ill be more aware of it though. i forget side b combos.
3. I am very aware of this, it was a mix of nerves, and of not getting an opportunity to use the kill conversion that stopped me.
4. I am also aware that gazelle is down by using the get up jump animation, then timing the b input to cancel the momentum. i think what happened was i either lost invincibility while hanging on ledge, or it was a missed input.
5. i didn't consider the utilt usage till after match, as i was too focused on pressuring the pikachu player.
6. patience has been a little hard for me to exercise, since most of the players in my region play aggro styles and characters (falcon, fox, ZSS.) or very campy characters that force an approach out of me (Samus, Villager).

It is refreshing to hear sound advice, as i hardly ever get it since nobody plays mac in AZ except for one player in flag, and the other couple who do play mac don't play the character at the level im accustomed to playing or seeing.

 

[Solreth]

Keep doin mac nation proud man!

 

[jet56]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzeR4s2z6lw
starting to put up videos of my gameplay now, trying to get more mac rep out there.

 

[inconspikuous]

so i was watching this video of a cali tourney mac vs dkwill, and zero was commentating. although i disagree with a lot of zero's analysis on little mac, he suggested something interesting re ledge get-ups>shield. i guess cali dk's have been punishing ledge get-up's one-frame vulnerability with utilt, as it is a 'lingering hitbox'. since mac's utilt can act in a similar way, it may be a new addition to mac's ledge game. if mac uses utilt facing the stage, there will be at least 3-4 frames where the hitbox is active on the correct side, and with good timing it can cover multiple options: ledge get-up>shield, ledge jump, ledge drop>aerial. plus if you guess wrong and the opponent rolls in, utilt's endlag is forgiving and you may be able to buffer another option to cover the roll (with ftilt, for example). thoughts?

oh, and the video is not very good for mac. tempo gets bodied, so it's not really worth watching in that sense.

 

[Actilide]

 

[Splash Damage]

Welp, can't be holding out much more. Been keeping this list to myself for a while, but I guess I'll share it after all.

 

[Splash Damage]

Sol proving once again why he's the best Mac in the world, with absolutely unbelievable performances against crazy MUs/stages. Good luck in top 16 if you're reading this, here's to taking the whole thing. FIGHT SOL FIGHT
https://youtu.be/SnS4aAXZ4ew
https://youtu.be/2_W08CMmYLw
Double post boyzzz

 

[inconspikuous]

^ double post. infract. lol. will watch those vids asap. AWESOME. go sol! i really like his use of side B as his 'first jump' when trying to recover. gives him a lot of leeway to use his double jump if he gets hit out of it, and also has a hitbox. i'm going to start doing that.

EDIT: MATCH 2 HAD THE MOST BRILLIANT/SURPRISING MOMENT I'VE SEEN FROM MAC IN A LONG TIME.

in other news, alphicans repping mac nation at drop zone northwest majors @ 1:43:05:
http://www.twitch.tv/teamkhaos/v/27009341
top 8 tomorrow.

 

[Solreth]

Thanks splash! Ultimately pulled top ten and went 2-0 against MVD. Beyond proud.

 

[inconspikuous]

yo alphicans is playing for top 3 right now! go mac!

EDIT: ALPHICANS VS ZERO TOP 2. SPOILERS.

Spoiler

bodied. lol.

 

[shinhed-echi]

I really really liked these matches.
The hype was too real on that last one too!
SOL should have won just by landing that KO punch alone. (And literally,he should have won, if his opponent was standing on the highest part of the stage).

I really enjoy watching you play!

 

[darkman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWXzV4NEzTs

I try out my lil mac against 2 friends.

(smash vers 1.1.2)

 

[Solreth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWXzV4NEzTs

I try out my lil mac against 2 friends.

(smash vers 1.1.2)

I got to the point where the ryu player (you know, the guy that gets free up-tilts to kill at 75%) said that little mac was pure bull****, and I couldnt keep watching. Im sorry... I can't help T_T

 

[jet56]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWXzV4NEzTs

I try out my lil mac against 2 friends.

(smash vers 1.1.2)

kinda hard to judge a match with three people. but in regards to how you can improve:

MOVEMENT TECH

p pivots
foxtrot
dempsies (dash dancing)

this improves little mac's neutral game tremendously, which is the best thing he has going for him. but if you want more immediate results and things that don't involve hours of practice i suggest:

foxtrot
dtilt>side b (low %)
dtilt> ftilt (low%)
dtilt>fair (mid to high %)
jab>up b (kill percents)

just learn to combo a little with mac, and otherwise, play a bit more patiently. also, dtilt>k.o. punch is true on all characters at low %, but it varies by weight. keep that in mind.

please don't abuse and use side b in neutral. it's a good punish and mixup tool to get out of stuff, but you shouldn't approach with it except on rare cases.

otherwise, keep up the good work my man!

p.s. nothing against the ryu player, but there is nothing OP about mac, considering his character has so many combos, kill setups, a free combo starter (focus attack), decent recovery, and an invincible up b that kills between 60-80% that can can get set up from F%$#& any tilt Ryu uses.

 

[jet56]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXr4MlqIbnk

shamelessly double posting guys . starting to post matches, but can't do other content till i get a motion capture. anyways, enjoy, and critique me if you like.

 

[jet56]

yo alphicans is playing for top 3 right now! go mac!

EDIT: ALPHICANS VS ZERO TOP 2. SPOILERS.

Spoiler

bodied. lol.

ill be honest, i can't judge alphicans too hard, since he does really well with mac at a ton of events, but he has to learn to play more aggressive. yes the defensive style is good, and sometimes necessary, but he was missing so many potential follow-ups in his sets. yes i understand they are risky and sometimes not worth it, but dtilt>jc up b is true at later percents and kills, so there is no risk involved there if executed right. that's like watching mario not use his throw combo, or ness not using fair following a dthrow, or shiek not using fair to follow up.

on another topic, his first set against zero is why i firmly believe the : matchup is 90:10 favor.
her neutral game is pretty much as strong as little mac, and she can gimp you SO easy. she taps you once, you are offstage, and really only come back if shiek gets the wrong read. is the only character that shiek doesn't have a hard time killing, which makes her op in this matchup. the reason i give mac a 10, is because he can kill shiek relatively early, and he has super armor to eat through aerial approaches.

 

[Solreth]

ill be honest, i can't judge alphicans too hard, since he does really well with mac at a ton of events, but he has to learn to play more aggressive. yes the defensive style is good, and sometimes necessary, but he was missing so many potential follow-ups in his sets. yes i understand they are risky and sometimes not worth it, but dtilt>jc up b is true at later percents and kills, so there is no risk involved there if executed right. that's like watching mario not use his throw combo, or ness not using fair following a dthrow, or shiek not using fair to follow up.

on another topic, his first set against zero is why i firmly believe the : matchup is 90:10 favor.
her neutral game is pretty much as strong as little mac, and she can gimp you SO easy. she taps you once, you are offstage, and really only come back if shiek gets the wrong read. is the only character that shiek doesn't have a hard time killing, which makes her op in this matchup. the reason i give mac a 10, is because he can kill shiek relatively early, and he has super armor to eat through aerial approaches.

The matchup for sheik is absolutely not 90-10. Ive played Zero's Sheik (lost but nothing that felt insurmountable), Mr.R's (brought him to a close game five) and found success vs Anti's Sheik, and Wizzrobes Sheik. I also currently have a winning record vs every sheik in my state. (MM and Bracket lumped together)

This matchup is NOT 90-10, it is 60/40. I frequently survive past the 100% percentile vs sheiks. In numerous cases above 140%. you have to recognize the patterns of their edge guard, but its actually quite predictable.

This is one of the few things I adamantly disagree with amongst common convention. Mac sheik isn't only not 90-10, its not even that bad.

Sorry by the way, really not trying to thump my chest on this one, just explain/relate the experiences that have developed my conclusions on this matchup as a whole.

 

[sirchadakiss18]

Vs Sheik (Lmaooo)

 

[inconspikuous]

ill be honest, i can't judge alphicans too hard, since he does really well with mac at a ton of events, but he has to learn to play more aggressive. yes the defensive style is good, and sometimes necessary, but he was missing so many potential follow-ups in his sets. yes i understand they are risky and sometimes not worth it, but dtilt>jc up b is true at later percents and kills, so there is no risk involved there if executed right. that's like watching mario not use his throw combo, or ness not using fair following a dthrow, or shiek not using fair to follow up.

on another topic, his first set against zero is why i firmly believe the : matchup is 90:10 favor.
her neutral game is pretty much as strong as little mac, and she can gimp you SO easy. she taps you once, you are offstage, and really only come back if shiek gets the wrong read. is the only character that shiek doesn't have a hard time killing, which makes her op in this matchup. the reason i give mac a 10, is because he can kill shiek relatively early, and he has super armor to eat through aerial approaches.

The matchup for sheik is absolutely not 90-10. Ive played Zero's Sheik (lost but nothing that felt insurmountable), Mr.R's (brought him to a close game five) and found success vs Anti's Sheik, and Wizzrobes Sheik. I also currently have a winning record vs every sheik in my state. (MM and Bracket lumped together)

This matchup is NOT 90-10, it is 60/40. I frequently survive past the 100% percentile vs sheiks. In numerous cases above 140%. you have to recognize the patterns of their edge guard, but its actually quite predictable.

This is one of the few things I adamantly disagree with amongst common convention. Mac sheik isn't only not 90-10, its not even that bad.

Sorry by the way, really not trying to thump my chest on this one, just explain/relate the experiences that have developed my conclusions on this matchup as a whole.

i actually like that alphicans plays a very different style of mac than, say, sol. yes, i think he missed some opportunities, but alphicans is the type of player that tries not to reach unless he absolutely has to. if he isn't confident in going for something, he won't. 2nd place to zero is not a bad showing by any stretch of the imagination, and he beat a bunch of pretty tough matchups to get there. plus, i think he does have his tech skill in his back pocket, but he doesn't have to show it off if his fundamentals (and i mean fundamentals ie. shielding, spacing, punishing) are working.

re sheik: i used to think facing sheik was unwinnable on the ladder. then i got better. sheik is still the best character in the game so it will never be 'easy' to beat a competent one, but i would agree that it's nowhere near mac's worst matchup and is definitely not 90:10 in sheik's favour. 60:40 sounds right, but it is more in sheik's favour if you're on smashville.

Vs Sheik (Lmaooo)

a wild j.a.p.a.n appears! lol. what an honor, it's been a while, man. anyway, FG sheiks are funny. i especially enjoy people that switch off their 'main' to sheik when you're beating them because they think the matchup is 90:10 that will make a difference. lol. but this sheik in your vid forgot to grab you (or even damage you lol. s/he could have peppered you with needles 1% at a time lol) in your insanely long start up. lol. i think there's like 40 frames or something before you can even get a hitbox out. but yeah, poor adaptability with this sheik.

 

[jet56]

The matchup for sheik is absolutely not 90-10. Ive played Zero's Sheik (lost but nothing that felt insurmountable), Mr.R's (brought him to a close game five) and found success vs Anti's Sheik, and Wizzrobes Sheik. I also currently have a winning record vs every sheik in my state. (MM and Bracket lumped together)

This matchup is NOT 90-10, it is 60/40. I frequently survive past the 100% percentile vs sheiks. In numerous cases above 140%. you have to recognize the patterns of their edge guard, but its actually quite predictable.

This is one of the few things I adamantly disagree with amongst common convention. Mac sheik isn't only not 90-10, its not even that bad.

Sorry by the way, really not trying to thump my chest on this one, just explain/relate the experiences that have developed my conclusions on this matchup as a whole.

Don't get me wrong, im not calling the mu unwinnable, i've beaten plenty of shieks in my region, even taken games off the best one in state. But on a neutral ground, stage picks involved best 2 of 3, with two players of equal skill, shiek has a huge advantage. you just have to work much harder as mac than shiek does to net stocks. i could go on, but this would turn into a wall of text if i did. if i just have a huge misconception about all this, and im totally wrong, cool. cause i want to be wrong about this, i want to know how to play this mu. just from my experience, and the advice and things ive heard from everyone else, mac doesn't have any distinct things he can use against shiek. IDK, maybe im just playing the mu totally wrong, but i haven't seen anyone who is either willing or able to argue why the mu is easier for mac than i think it is.

BTW sol, it's cool you bring up your sets against other top level players, you can thump your chest all you want. :D
j.a.p.a.n with that ninja video though.

 

[Cookie Boy]

What would you say is the worst matchup for Mac then?
Not sure if this should be discussed in this particular thread but I'm interested in your opinion.

 

[Solreth]

What would you say is the worst matchup for Mac then?
Not sure if this should be discussed in this particular thread but I'm interested in your opinion.

Peach followed by Pikachu. If Sheik is macs toughest matchups, she is at the bottom of his top 10

 

[Solreth]

Don't get me wrong, im not calling the mu unwinnable, i've beaten plenty of shieks in my region, even taken games off the best one in state. But on a neutral ground, stage picks involved best 2 of 3, with two players of equal skill, shiek has a huge advantage. you just have to work much harder as mac than shiek does to net stocks. i could go on, but this would turn into a wall of text if i did. if i just have a huge misconception about all this, and im totally wrong, cool. cause i want to be wrong about this, i want to know how to play this mu. just from my experience, and the advice and things ive heard from everyone else, mac doesn't have any distinct things he can use against shiek. IDK, maybe im just playing the mu totally wrong, but i haven't seen anyone who is either willing or able to argue why the mu is easier for mac than i think it is.

BTW sol, it's cool you bring up your sets against other top level players, you can thump your chest all you want. :D
j.a.p.a.n with that ninja video though.

I just want to be clear too, I actually think its great. Alphicans brings something different to the character and honestly part of exploring a meta is embracing diversity in playstyle. I certainly appreciate differences between various mac mains, and think our difference of opinion on matchups as well further shows we may have a lot to teach each other as a community.