3GOD
Smash Ace
I have begun playing around with Samus, and I'm particularly interested in her matchup against Meta Knight. It might seem initially that MK has a major advantage in this match, but I'm beginning to think it may be even or slightly in Samus' favor for a few reasons.
THIS IS BASED LARGELY ON THEORY AND ONLY SLIGHTLY ON EXPERIENCE.
1) Meta Knight is slow in the air. By this, I do not mean that his aerial attacks are slow, but that he is just slow moving in the air. If MK attempts any kind of aerial approach, you can basically Zair and stop him dead in his tracks. Retreating Fairs also seem useful when he does finally begin to close the gap. To sum up, Samus seems to stop any aerial approach from MK.
2) Samus' Ftilt and projectiles can stuff Meta Knight's ground approach. Since MK is slow in the air, he relies heavily on approaching with his quick running speed into grabs, shield counters, dash attacks, etc. Grounded super missiles can slow him down significantly (use a fox-trot missile to adjust your spacing), and when he does get into melee range, the Ftilt seems to have enough range and speed to beat his good ground attacks (namely Dsmash). In other words, the Ftilt keeps him at bay on the ground, and if he tries to roll inside your range, you can jab him. Dtilt can also be used with basically the same result, but I think it should be saved for the KO.
3) Up-B out of shield escapes shield pressure. If there is one point here that concerns me, it is this one. Meta Knight can really pressure shields with his Shuttle Loop -> Glide Attack canceled into Dsmash not to mention the tornado. Samus can escape shield pressure with her Screw Attack, but a simple spot dodge from MK leaves you floating above him completely vulnerable. Rolling is a poor option since Samus has a slow roll, but the safety of the Up-B out of shield also concerns me. Obviously, one would prefer to avoid shield pressure all together, but it's bound to happen from time to time. This ability to safely escape shield pressure may be a deciding factor in who has the upper hand.
4) Meta Knight is light, and Samus is heavy. One area where Samus seems to struggle is KO power. Luckily, MK is one of the lightest characters in the game and also struggles with getting a KO sometimes. If you save your Dtilt, you can get the KO about 110-115% (better to play it safe and go 115%) while MK will probably need to get Samus to 150% at least, provided he doesn't get a gimp KO. You could try to get a spike with Dair, but MK is pretty tough to edgeguard in general. The Dtilt is safer but obviously requires MK to have taken more damage.
Anyway, I'm just considering these few factors and thinking that this matchup might not be so bad for Samus. Is there something I'm missing? What do you guys struggle with in the match? I really need to play around with this matchup vs. someone good to get a better feel for it, but I think these points definitely have some credulity.
THIS IS BASED LARGELY ON THEORY AND ONLY SLIGHTLY ON EXPERIENCE.
1) Meta Knight is slow in the air. By this, I do not mean that his aerial attacks are slow, but that he is just slow moving in the air. If MK attempts any kind of aerial approach, you can basically Zair and stop him dead in his tracks. Retreating Fairs also seem useful when he does finally begin to close the gap. To sum up, Samus seems to stop any aerial approach from MK.
2) Samus' Ftilt and projectiles can stuff Meta Knight's ground approach. Since MK is slow in the air, he relies heavily on approaching with his quick running speed into grabs, shield counters, dash attacks, etc. Grounded super missiles can slow him down significantly (use a fox-trot missile to adjust your spacing), and when he does get into melee range, the Ftilt seems to have enough range and speed to beat his good ground attacks (namely Dsmash). In other words, the Ftilt keeps him at bay on the ground, and if he tries to roll inside your range, you can jab him. Dtilt can also be used with basically the same result, but I think it should be saved for the KO.
3) Up-B out of shield escapes shield pressure. If there is one point here that concerns me, it is this one. Meta Knight can really pressure shields with his Shuttle Loop -> Glide Attack canceled into Dsmash not to mention the tornado. Samus can escape shield pressure with her Screw Attack, but a simple spot dodge from MK leaves you floating above him completely vulnerable. Rolling is a poor option since Samus has a slow roll, but the safety of the Up-B out of shield also concerns me. Obviously, one would prefer to avoid shield pressure all together, but it's bound to happen from time to time. This ability to safely escape shield pressure may be a deciding factor in who has the upper hand.
4) Meta Knight is light, and Samus is heavy. One area where Samus seems to struggle is KO power. Luckily, MK is one of the lightest characters in the game and also struggles with getting a KO sometimes. If you save your Dtilt, you can get the KO about 110-115% (better to play it safe and go 115%) while MK will probably need to get Samus to 150% at least, provided he doesn't get a gimp KO. You could try to get a spike with Dair, but MK is pretty tough to edgeguard in general. The Dtilt is safer but obviously requires MK to have taken more damage.
Anyway, I'm just considering these few factors and thinking that this matchup might not be so bad for Samus. Is there something I'm missing? What do you guys struggle with in the match? I really need to play around with this matchup vs. someone good to get a better feel for it, but I think these points definitely have some credulity.