I've never encountered a Marth like this but I can't see why Sheik couldn't just then take the middle of the stage and control space from there if Marth is playing so passively. Marth is pretty weak near the edge against Sheik.
FoD is fine for Sheik. She benefits way more from the low platforms because of her crouch & tilt game. Among other things. YS is one of Marth's best levels against Sheik IMHO, just because you can kill her there easily and it buffs his offense.
By playing so passively and forcing yourself to constantly go second with a slower character, you're weakening Marth's stage presence. Marth's stage control is amazing in this MU for a lot of the reasons. Most importantly, it's one of the best ways to apply pressure to Sheik (she doesn't want to go offstage) without doing much.
You're not really judging Sheik very well if you think you can just "close space more safely" and "outrange her". Sheik's effective range is very comparable to Marth's. Marth's is better, but Sheik's movement speed is on par with Marth's (and she accelerates into her dash speed faster), she has a lot of really good evasive properties in her crouch (and pseudo-crouches), her moves are generally faster, etc.
I'm going to just pretend you didn't try to compare Fox vs. Falco to Marth vs. Sheik (or individual aspects... or whatever you tried to do).
I disagree. I think they're about equal in terms of first hits maybe, but Sheik hits like a truck with her stray moves. The fact that you don't consider anything Sheik can do from the air as a legitimate option strongly suggests, to me, that you really don't understand her that well as a character at all in this MU. Sheik has a lot of really strong options from the air.
Marth only has to play passively if hes camped.. he can successfully play passively if sheik thinks that needles are a viable way to force an approach, and thats what I was talking about in the first place
I could take anything you said and try and pick around the edges of it to. Im not describing the complete match up, just things that are important to this discussion. I could turn all my paragraphs into essays on every single situation and hitbox and movement.
Just take what I say for what it is and dont read into every situation. any Matchup knowledge that you write down is going to be incomplete; you can take any post and pick at it, or just accept that.
Its not "just close range" or just "outrange."
It's like:
Marth has a better dash dance.. grab range, general range, good specific combos, and stage control. and other stuff that i could list, but theres no point, cause you probably know it anyway.
i dont underestimate sheiks air game, especially vs marth. for her to effectively use it, marth has to already have ****ed up, and its easier to not **** up and get a hit or grab than to **** up, imo.
Of course when you get grabbed, you should probably just be option-covered to death.
It really doesnt matter. Not writing 10 pages on a matchup doesnt mean I lack the understanding of it. Not mentioning a piece that no one has brought up doesnt mean Im not aware of it
To close: I think most people are pretty bad at this game. I dont think getting hit by stray moves is "ok" at all, and it equates to messing up, which you dont have to do. In some matchups, you have to try and make reads and plays to win (eg vs falco with most characters). Theres nothing safe that marth can do vs falco.. I mean, I cant explain it, but marth HAS to do SOMETHING, and all marth players know this. sheik doesnt have the pressure that falco has
Now ive just repeated myself a thousand times.
Also I think stages are mostly preference. I myself just practiced fod a lot cause most people hate it, and now Im very comfortable there.
I hope they are, wouldnt mind seeing David pull off another 3rd place finish