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Ivysaur in doubles

TreK

Is "that guy"
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
2,960
Location
France
Hello beautiful people.

Most, if not all of the discussions we've had thus far in these parts have been about singles. However, I'm a doubles lover myself, and I think Ivysaur is one of the best doubles characters in the game at the moment. I'd like to discuss with some like-minded people in an attempt to further Ivysaur's metagame in doubles.

I'll design this OP much like the character sheets I use on my smartphone to quickly sum up a matchup before a tourney set :

I - Pros and cons of Ivysaur in doubles

In this section, I'll add everything you guys want me to add.
  • Pros
UNIQUE STRENGTHS
-Her bair becomes an absolutely brilliant combo starter and extender in doubles when doing a sandwich formation, when it's a combo finisher you typically want to avoid in singles at low-mid percentages.
-Several good interactions for the healing mechanic
-Ivysaur and her teammate can simultaneously recover without edgeguarding one another
-Ivysaur's fair is one of the best moves for saving a recovering teammates
-The first hit of Ivysaur's bair can intercept a teammate that received a killmove and save him at the cost of only 2%
-Ivysaur's combos revolve around multihits, giving the teammate more time to adjust his spacing (nair especially)
-Ivysaur is pretty good at 1v2 situations
-Ivysaur is able to harass while staying safe, which is more than a lot of characters can do in doubles
-Ivysaur has two antiair moves, seed bomb and vine whip, which become a lot less situational in doubles

COMMON STRENGTHS
-Good killing power especially offstage
-Good staying power
-Small floaty target, slightly less susceptible to combos
-Shield pressure is always good to have by your side

Commentary : much like Toon Link, Ivysaur has a lot of tools that are sub-par in singles and become brilliant in doubles. Her bair ends combos too soon in singles, but it extends them in doubles and should be spammed, in example. Her offstage game is not only great at landing early KOs that are going to be decisive, but also at saving her teammate.

  • Cons
UNIQUE WEAKNESSES
-Can be chaingrabbed by very popular doubles characters like Kirby, Captain Falcon and Marth
-Ivysaur's very subpar ability to come back on stage from the ledge will often get her killed.

COMMON WEAKNESSES
-Bad out of shield
-Lightweight, so she dies easy despite her healing mechanic and everything

Commentary : Ivysaur can and will be snowballed, but overall, she doesn't show too many weak points that cannot be compensated for by a skillful teammate.


II - Teammates recap

This section will mostly contain quotes.
  • Toon Link
-Toon Link can put bombs on the floor for Ivysaur to heal off of with usmash. Though she gets hit by the bomb, the recovery time is comparable to that of the usmash, and the amount of health healed is far superior to the amount of health lost unless you are at 0%.
-Ivysaur is able to push bombs that are on the floor or on a platform with the windbox on synthesis
-Ivysaur's razor leaf will push bombs at a ~35° angle, so Toon Link can toss bombs at Ivy, and Ivy can then redirect them when doing the sandwich. This will cover most, if not all jumping options.
-Toon Link's grounded upB is a great combo starter in doubles. Toon Link can basically decide which direction the victim gets launched towards, making it a frame 5 combo starter out of shield. The best option for the opponent is to crouch cancel and tech it.
-Toon Link can stall his recovery for a long time even when he's not able to recover because it's too far with the bomb jump, allowing Ivy to save him almost every time. He can bombjump up to 4 times, at which point his upB becomes stale and he becomes unable to detonate the bomb. Substract the amount of times he's done a grounded upB in the last minute or so, though.
-Both characters have a variety of kill moves that hard to set up (Tink's dair and aerial up B, Ivy's upB and sweetspot usmash). Being able to do some team combos multiplies their killing power.
  • Kirby
-Kirby gets a solar beam every time he swallows Ivysaur, and has great solar beam setups.
-(needs to be checked) Ivy can seed bomb Kirby while he does an uthrow to get an instant kill
  • Ness
-His psi magnet absorbs our solar beam for a whopping 40% healing.
  • Lucas
-His psi magnet absorbs our solar beam for a whopping 40% healing.

Be a good seed and share da exp !
 
Last edited:

TimeSmash

Smash Champion
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
2,669
Location
Inside a cheesecake
NNID
nintend64
I don't have TOO much too add, but it's nice to note that if you teamed with Ness or Lucas, Solarbeam can heal 40% off them if they use PSI Shield. Also, Kirby gets a free Solarbeam ever time he inhales Ivy, which has the potential to be abused in doubles.

Ivy also has unique anti-air properties like UpB and Seed Bomb, which become less situational in doubles, although do be careful not to hit your opponent!! Also if teaming with Kirby, it is theoretically possible to have Kirby upthrow and if Ivy is somehow high enough, seed bomb the opponent when they are in the blast zone, causing a Star KO. Kirby can do something similar with Snake's C4
 

LowKey

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 26, 2013
Messages
12
Location
Newark, DE
Thanks for the info! I just played Ivy in a tourny and teamed with my bro. B-air is soooooo gewd
 

kevinw0w

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
279
Location
Texas A&M
Even though I basically use 3 characters in singles depending on the matchup, I use Ivy almost exclusively in teams haha.

Is it just me, or is Fox +Ivy a really awesome team? I've teamed with 3 different Fox mains now, all to great success. He's a great doubles character in his own right IMO. Great onstage game paired with a great offstage one and some of the teams' combos you can pull off are just mean.

Also, I've never teamed with a Kirby in tournament before, but I honestly just feel like it's nothing but cheese. Kirby mains don't really know how to use solarbeam in my experience. Both characters are play the same sort of support role and they're also both very light, making CP'ing pretty easy for the other team.

Thoughts?
 

TreK

Is "that guy"
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
2,960
Location
France
I'll probably team with a Kirby next tourney I'll be able to tell you. But on paper I agree yep :V
 
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