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Microinteractions #1: Instant Fair OOS & Double Poof Mixup

hologram summer

Smash Cadet
Joined
Sep 21, 2015
Messages
41
Location
RVA
Alongside my Sheik guide that I'm working on I wanted to start a little blog-posty thing called Microinteractions. I'm fascinated by the microdecisions made in neutral by top players because they never seem to explain why they do what they do. Is there a reason behind it? Is it just free jazz? Have they worked out these situations already and are recognizing them? For us non-top players, the answer to these questions can be puzzling and sometimes even fruitless pursuits. Sometimes thinking bigger and more broadly rewards us much more than thinking small.

This series is about indulging short time-frame interactions mostly because they are cool and awe-inspiring, but also because they are interesting to discuss and can potentially add some flavor to your own play.

In this series I want to cover just two interactions in the Plup vs. Mango set @ Genesis 5 which really wowed me.

#1: Instant Fair OOS vs. Shine Pressure (Easy mode)

https://youtu.be/9kfhc5flcOk?t=12m55s

The sequence:

1. Mango shine OOS after Sheik Nair OOS
2. shine does not punish the nair so he continues shine pressure with another shine
3. Mango goes for shine -> dair but is interrupted during the startup of dair with Sheik fair OOS​

Why this is fascinating:

Nair OOS is commonly known to be Sheik's best option out of shield vs. shine pressure at the right time because it takes about 6 frames to hit, meaning it can beat shine grab, however using Fair instead of Nair could potentially be a dair read. Plup knows Mango is going for dair pressure and attempts to knock him out of his jump to secure the kill.

- If the opponent dairs, they are pressing c-stick down, which means they automatically ASDI down when hit, which advantages fair as a knockback much more than Nair
- Even at lower percents, fair does significantly more knockback
- Tested on my own, if Falco instead does Nair instead of going for dair, Nair OOS will trade but Fair OOS will beat it clean, meaning in situations where percentages are both high, this is an extremely valuable read​

#2: Double poof mixup-> Platform Slideoff -> Counterattack (Hard mode)

https://youtu.be/9kfhc5flcOk?t=59s

The sequence:

1. Sheik is offstage after being hit by bair, responding to an edgeguard situation
2. Sheik attempts double poof onto stage (Plup actually misses it but this is what he was going for) and lands on the edge of the right Battlefield platform
3. He holds shield and Mango's aerial pushes him off, allowing him to up hair him in response to a laggy move​

Why this is fascinating:

- If Plup acted faster, he could have hit Falco off the top platform with Fair. Had Falco been high percent, that would have been a complete reversal of edgeguard situations from an edgeguard mixup
- Mango intentionally delayed his getup animation do deal with a potential double poof, possibly meaning that he would never be able to hit Plup before he could put him his shield. Had Mango gotten off the edge at the normal timing to deal with the mixup, he would have been hit with the double poof had Plup done it correctly
- This double poof spacing is actually not easy to replicate. To be able to land on the edge of the platform he did, it is possibly required to actually fake the double poof and just go for an up b closer to being on the stage? Is this a layer 2 mixup?

So what do you guys think? Do you think either of these two things is as cool as I do? Do you see any more general applications?
 
Last edited:

taz3141

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
12
I really lime the first part. However, the analysis of the second situation seemed to give more questions than answers. you should for sure lab out the situation and answer the questions that you asked.
 

eideeiit

Smash Ace
Joined
May 14, 2014
Messages
592
Location
Finland, Turku
Regarding that 1st situation, Plup drifts back. Perhaps he sees getting the drift and DI as more important than faster frames, since he has a stock lead he worries more about getting zero to deathed than about landing that last hit that is sure to come as long as he plays solid.
 

darkatma

Smash Hero
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Messages
5,747
Location
St Louis, Missouri/Fremont, CA
Microinteraction #1:

Sheik's fair will hit the most in front on frame 6, compared to nair's first active frame on 3. The observation you made about nair trading but fair winning has to do with sheik's nair having negative disjoint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA-fz3szZ8w&t=2m40s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA-fz3szZ8w&t=3m58s

Here are two situations where a fair OOS would've been harder to time but probably better. Sheik's foot gets clipped by fox's dair in both of these instances.

Also note in all these clips plup chooses to drift back before doing his aerial. This just makes it so that they're less punishable if he whiffs, and the hitboxes have slightly more priority while retreating.



Microinteraction #2:

After you set up double poof, you can lightshield rather than heavy shield on the platform so that the slipoff occurs more easily.

As a more general note, plup picks the spots he lands on platforms very carefully. Not only is he good at just shielddropping, he's also the best at drifting to the correct spot so that he will have some sort of advantage as he drops through. He also recognizes when he's in a bad spot and will do things other than shielddrop/slipoff aerial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA-fz3szZ8w&t=1m58s

observe after randall messes up plup, he drifts to the edge of the platform rather than the center to minimize the likeliness that lucky's aerials will shieldstab as he lands, and so that he's to the side of lucky so that fair will connect more easily. (and lucky does not have enough time to get directly under him and gain a big advantage).
 
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