Mikezor
Smash Journeyman
Match Ups
Sonic
Sonic is a very interesting character to play against. With unmatched speed on the ground, he will always be right in Lucas's face at the most annoying times. But fortunately, Sonic has a limited number of ways he can approach the enemy. Almost all of the approaches include running up and either side stepping, shield grabbing, dash attacking, running behind Lucas, spin dashing, or using a short hopped aerial. Since Lucas has a lot of low lag moves with mega range and priority, he can form a wall so to speak, negating Sonic's approaches. PK fire works especially well when Sonic is just inside the range. Make sure not to use it if he is any closer though, it will result in a grab for him.
Punishing a Sonic too much for approaching will force him to play campy, and this is where the fight starts getting annoying. Basically you have to bait Sonic into your attacks without leaving enough lag for him to hit you back. Forward tilts and jabs keep Sonic at bay efficiently, as well as short hopped aerials. When all else is done and done, landing a KO on Sonic can be very frustrating. For one, Sonic has a very good recovery that is hard to edgeguard, forcing Lucas to kill from the stage. This may become a problem because sometimes Lucas will be relying on moves as weak as forward tilt to kill, as Sonic is harder to punish with Lucas's laggier smashes. Secondly, Sonic's mobility and low lag make him hard to punish. What works best to counter this is to look for side steps and apply a timed smash attack/down smash appropriately.
Ness
While this match up isn't necessarily harder or easier than the rest, it is my favorite match up as Lucas (probably only for the fact that these are two psychic children fighting each other). Fighting Ness in this game is a battle of spacing, timing, and edgeguarding. While not much of a threat on the ground, Ness's aerial game is frustratingly good. His neutral air and forward air have insane priority and will beat all of Lucas's air attacks, his back air and up air have great KOing power, and his down air can pop anyone up into another aerial. Ness also has a dynamite dash attack. This move combos into almost any of Ness's aerials and has incredible range. Ness even has his own PK Fire and Psi Magnet which will damper your ability to pester him with projectiles.
But there are some things Lucas can do to fight back.
First up is Lucas's ground game. Lucas's forward tilt is great for keeping Ness away from Lucas, and his up tilt, as always, is great for combos and keeping enemies in the air at bay. Lucas also has his up and forward smashes which can catch Ness off guard after an aerial attack. A running up smash when Ness uses a short hopped/full jumped aerial, a retreating forward smash when Ness is already in the air and is chasing after Lucas.
Next is timing and predicting Ness. Because Ness's dash attack is so great, he will be using it often. If Lucas sees one coming, there are a couple of options Lucas has at his immediate disposal: aerials and PK Fire. Lucas can short hop over Ness's dash attack and plant any of his aerials right in Ness's face, ideally a forward or neutral air, but if you want to keep your distance, PK Fire will stop the dash attack while staying as far away as you would like.
However, out of all the techniques Lucas can use against Ness, edgeguarding is the shining jewel of this match up. After accomplishing the difficult task of getting Ness off the stage, the harassment can begin. Initially Ness will be in the top left/right hand of the screen with good DI, so Lucas can proceed to forward air, back air, up air, neutral air, PK Thunder, or PK Fire Ness (while PK Freeze is an option, there are much better moves possible in my opinion). Do anything humanly possible to take away Ness's second jump; if it is lost, there will be almost no excuse for Lucas if he does not finish the job because Ness can only recover with a PK Thunder. One technique will be to jump out and absorb Ness's PK Thunder with Psi Magnet, leaving Ness to fall to his doom. Another is edgehogging, which forces Ness to recover above the stage, putting him right into up smash heaven. Jumping out and keeping the pressure on with Lucas's meteor smashes works very well because either Ness will have to dodge them in some form or have a very low chance of recovering. I could go on and on about how many ways there are to edgeguard Ness, but I'm sure you'll find a way to kill him after this point.
Ike
This match up is actually easier than most, and in my opinion, Ike shouldn't give Lucas players much trouble at all. The fact is that PK Fire completely destroys Ike's methods of approaching. A short hopped PK Fire will still hit Ike when he is running, Side B-ing, and even short hopping. NOT DONE.
.kRO's Ike Impression
Ike- You can pretty much expect Ike to be a beast from his range and his killing power. However, it isn't as bad as if you were using Meta knight against him (Ike owns meta). Things that really work against Ike is a short-hopped PKfire. One, if he tries to do any sort of short-hopped aerial, the pkfire would hit Ike and push him away. Two, PKfire ***** Ike's forwardB recovery. Three, PKfire is great for baiting him and punish. Of course, one move doesn't make up for the fact that Ike out ranges you in every other move. His aerials completely shuts down your dair, since all of his move cover above Ike, making it incredibly hard to set up the right height level to dair. And you'll often trade hits with fair with his aerials (and trading hits with Ike is like trading hits with Ganon in melee). You're ground moves are solid against Ike though, especially the ftilt. The other two tilts lack range and will often whiff, allowing Ike a free ftilt or the like. Your smashes are generally better (just watch out for Ike's sweeping UpSmash).
-Be sure you punish obvious rolls with a dashcancel upsmash.
-Spam PKfire
-ftilt after an aerial 75% of the time.
-Don't get hit (easier said than done, but its so key)
-If the Ike wants to approach you with an ForwardB, use a short hopped PKfire or just jump over him. It's practically impossible to time a roll or a ground dodge because Ike's ForwardB is amazing as a spacing mindgame. So just make him stop using it with a short-hop PKfire.
-Harass his ForwardB recovery with a PKfire and a PKthunder
-Try your best not to get annoyed by Ike's neutral jab combo (its so easy to land and it does friggin 15%) its pretty much the only ground move Ike has going against Lucas
Captain Falcon
Pending.
.kRO's Captain Falcon Impression
You shouldn't have trouble with him. At all. Imagine melee falcon without the ability to upair combo and you dominating the ground game (ftilt *****, uptilt for combos, dtilt can force trips sometimes). And ofcourse, use short-hopped PKfires and bait with fairs. Just watch out for grab spamming Falcons and punish with fairs, ftilt and the like. The only thing scary is being upaired while your trying to recover but you should see it coming.
(Be sure you use ftilt right after you land with fair/nair since ftilt comes out incredibly fast and has insane range for a tilt. Almost gurantees a safe landing.)
King DeDeDe
Pending.
.kRO's King DeDeDe Impression
His ForwardB (him chucking the WaddleDees) is as spammable as the PKfire so space well. He is obviously, much bigger than Lucas so your nair absolutely dominates D3 by the fact that his shields won't cover him fully when you nair. So spam your aerials. He also has an absolutely horrendous recovery, so the bair meteor, or the downB hit is incredibly easy to land for an easy kill. However, watch out for his chainthrow; I think he can get two-three at low/mid percentage. But even then, a good D3 will mix up the dthrow chainthrow with an occasional upsmash/dashattack expecting you to spotdodge/roll and kill you. Another thing, your smashes near the ledge is a safe move to do since even a shielding opponent will get pushed back far enough for a forced edge grab. Allowing you an easier situation for a kill (if you anticipate that he'll jump the ledge->upsmash, otherwise, roll and forwardsmash/ftilt/dsmash). uptilt is also incredibly easy to land on D3.
Metaknight
Pending.
.kRO's Metaknight Impression
Thank god Meta doesn't have a projectile. Spam PkFire like no tomorrow (short-hopped). And majority of the time, you should aim to kill him vertically since its much, much easier that way. You practically can't edgeguard a good meta when he's recovering horizontally. His fair is overall better than yours, and all of his aerials come out as fast/faster than your nair. Anticipate rolls (if there was something as easy as wavedashing, meta will be unstoppable imo) and punish with ftilt/upsmash. Never underestimate the range of the upsmash, since it hits like three Lucas models piled up (sorry for the lame description) and also hits a decent amount at the side.
-Meta can close distance really fast with a nicely timed DownB if you get predictable with the PKfire
-Meta can **** your recovery with a dair off the ledge
-If you try to stall at the ledge (which isn't a really good idea in the first place with Lucas), he'll **** you via running nair off the ledge
-Watch out for his upair combos, out of his fthrow. Your dair is solid though.
-Do not PkThunder as recovery if you don't have to. The more time you spend off the level, the more chances Meta has to kill you
Sonic
Sonic is a very interesting character to play against. With unmatched speed on the ground, he will always be right in Lucas's face at the most annoying times. But fortunately, Sonic has a limited number of ways he can approach the enemy. Almost all of the approaches include running up and either side stepping, shield grabbing, dash attacking, running behind Lucas, spin dashing, or using a short hopped aerial. Since Lucas has a lot of low lag moves with mega range and priority, he can form a wall so to speak, negating Sonic's approaches. PK fire works especially well when Sonic is just inside the range. Make sure not to use it if he is any closer though, it will result in a grab for him.
Punishing a Sonic too much for approaching will force him to play campy, and this is where the fight starts getting annoying. Basically you have to bait Sonic into your attacks without leaving enough lag for him to hit you back. Forward tilts and jabs keep Sonic at bay efficiently, as well as short hopped aerials. When all else is done and done, landing a KO on Sonic can be very frustrating. For one, Sonic has a very good recovery that is hard to edgeguard, forcing Lucas to kill from the stage. This may become a problem because sometimes Lucas will be relying on moves as weak as forward tilt to kill, as Sonic is harder to punish with Lucas's laggier smashes. Secondly, Sonic's mobility and low lag make him hard to punish. What works best to counter this is to look for side steps and apply a timed smash attack/down smash appropriately.
Ness
While this match up isn't necessarily harder or easier than the rest, it is my favorite match up as Lucas (probably only for the fact that these are two psychic children fighting each other). Fighting Ness in this game is a battle of spacing, timing, and edgeguarding. While not much of a threat on the ground, Ness's aerial game is frustratingly good. His neutral air and forward air have insane priority and will beat all of Lucas's air attacks, his back air and up air have great KOing power, and his down air can pop anyone up into another aerial. Ness also has a dynamite dash attack. This move combos into almost any of Ness's aerials and has incredible range. Ness even has his own PK Fire and Psi Magnet which will damper your ability to pester him with projectiles.
But there are some things Lucas can do to fight back.
First up is Lucas's ground game. Lucas's forward tilt is great for keeping Ness away from Lucas, and his up tilt, as always, is great for combos and keeping enemies in the air at bay. Lucas also has his up and forward smashes which can catch Ness off guard after an aerial attack. A running up smash when Ness uses a short hopped/full jumped aerial, a retreating forward smash when Ness is already in the air and is chasing after Lucas.
Next is timing and predicting Ness. Because Ness's dash attack is so great, he will be using it often. If Lucas sees one coming, there are a couple of options Lucas has at his immediate disposal: aerials and PK Fire. Lucas can short hop over Ness's dash attack and plant any of his aerials right in Ness's face, ideally a forward or neutral air, but if you want to keep your distance, PK Fire will stop the dash attack while staying as far away as you would like.
However, out of all the techniques Lucas can use against Ness, edgeguarding is the shining jewel of this match up. After accomplishing the difficult task of getting Ness off the stage, the harassment can begin. Initially Ness will be in the top left/right hand of the screen with good DI, so Lucas can proceed to forward air, back air, up air, neutral air, PK Thunder, or PK Fire Ness (while PK Freeze is an option, there are much better moves possible in my opinion). Do anything humanly possible to take away Ness's second jump; if it is lost, there will be almost no excuse for Lucas if he does not finish the job because Ness can only recover with a PK Thunder. One technique will be to jump out and absorb Ness's PK Thunder with Psi Magnet, leaving Ness to fall to his doom. Another is edgehogging, which forces Ness to recover above the stage, putting him right into up smash heaven. Jumping out and keeping the pressure on with Lucas's meteor smashes works very well because either Ness will have to dodge them in some form or have a very low chance of recovering. I could go on and on about how many ways there are to edgeguard Ness, but I'm sure you'll find a way to kill him after this point.
Ike
This match up is actually easier than most, and in my opinion, Ike shouldn't give Lucas players much trouble at all. The fact is that PK Fire completely destroys Ike's methods of approaching. A short hopped PK Fire will still hit Ike when he is running, Side B-ing, and even short hopping. NOT DONE.
.kRO's Ike Impression
Ike- You can pretty much expect Ike to be a beast from his range and his killing power. However, it isn't as bad as if you were using Meta knight against him (Ike owns meta). Things that really work against Ike is a short-hopped PKfire. One, if he tries to do any sort of short-hopped aerial, the pkfire would hit Ike and push him away. Two, PKfire ***** Ike's forwardB recovery. Three, PKfire is great for baiting him and punish. Of course, one move doesn't make up for the fact that Ike out ranges you in every other move. His aerials completely shuts down your dair, since all of his move cover above Ike, making it incredibly hard to set up the right height level to dair. And you'll often trade hits with fair with his aerials (and trading hits with Ike is like trading hits with Ganon in melee). You're ground moves are solid against Ike though, especially the ftilt. The other two tilts lack range and will often whiff, allowing Ike a free ftilt or the like. Your smashes are generally better (just watch out for Ike's sweeping UpSmash).
-Be sure you punish obvious rolls with a dashcancel upsmash.
-Spam PKfire
-ftilt after an aerial 75% of the time.
-Don't get hit (easier said than done, but its so key)
-If the Ike wants to approach you with an ForwardB, use a short hopped PKfire or just jump over him. It's practically impossible to time a roll or a ground dodge because Ike's ForwardB is amazing as a spacing mindgame. So just make him stop using it with a short-hop PKfire.
-Harass his ForwardB recovery with a PKfire and a PKthunder
-Try your best not to get annoyed by Ike's neutral jab combo (its so easy to land and it does friggin 15%) its pretty much the only ground move Ike has going against Lucas
Captain Falcon
Pending.
.kRO's Captain Falcon Impression
You shouldn't have trouble with him. At all. Imagine melee falcon without the ability to upair combo and you dominating the ground game (ftilt *****, uptilt for combos, dtilt can force trips sometimes). And ofcourse, use short-hopped PKfires and bait with fairs. Just watch out for grab spamming Falcons and punish with fairs, ftilt and the like. The only thing scary is being upaired while your trying to recover but you should see it coming.
(Be sure you use ftilt right after you land with fair/nair since ftilt comes out incredibly fast and has insane range for a tilt. Almost gurantees a safe landing.)
King DeDeDe
Pending.
.kRO's King DeDeDe Impression
His ForwardB (him chucking the WaddleDees) is as spammable as the PKfire so space well. He is obviously, much bigger than Lucas so your nair absolutely dominates D3 by the fact that his shields won't cover him fully when you nair. So spam your aerials. He also has an absolutely horrendous recovery, so the bair meteor, or the downB hit is incredibly easy to land for an easy kill. However, watch out for his chainthrow; I think he can get two-three at low/mid percentage. But even then, a good D3 will mix up the dthrow chainthrow with an occasional upsmash/dashattack expecting you to spotdodge/roll and kill you. Another thing, your smashes near the ledge is a safe move to do since even a shielding opponent will get pushed back far enough for a forced edge grab. Allowing you an easier situation for a kill (if you anticipate that he'll jump the ledge->upsmash, otherwise, roll and forwardsmash/ftilt/dsmash). uptilt is also incredibly easy to land on D3.
Metaknight
Pending.
.kRO's Metaknight Impression
Thank god Meta doesn't have a projectile. Spam PkFire like no tomorrow (short-hopped). And majority of the time, you should aim to kill him vertically since its much, much easier that way. You practically can't edgeguard a good meta when he's recovering horizontally. His fair is overall better than yours, and all of his aerials come out as fast/faster than your nair. Anticipate rolls (if there was something as easy as wavedashing, meta will be unstoppable imo) and punish with ftilt/upsmash. Never underestimate the range of the upsmash, since it hits like three Lucas models piled up (sorry for the lame description) and also hits a decent amount at the side.
-Meta can close distance really fast with a nicely timed DownB if you get predictable with the PKfire
-Meta can **** your recovery with a dair off the ledge
-If you try to stall at the ledge (which isn't a really good idea in the first place with Lucas), he'll **** you via running nair off the ledge
-Watch out for his upair combos, out of his fthrow. Your dair is solid though.
-Do not PkThunder as recovery if you don't have to. The more time you spend off the level, the more chances Meta has to kill you
