Official Official LINK VIDEO Thread

[Thor]

I don't really think Falcon's a bad character, he completely destroys most of Melee's cast. However he does struggle against the space animals and Sheik, so I guess at least he has trouble winning tournaments. And yeah, I don't know how easy it'd be to pin Johnny down. You were almost certainly doomed, I just feel like there was maybe a little more you could have done to keep him cornered. Falcon's out of shield game is crappy, so calling his tries to jump over you out of the corner with reverse up tilt doesn't usually get you punished. The only way he can really get over it is to full hop, and Falcon trying to full hop out of the corner is a situation that's pretty good for you.

Also, thanks for the thorough reply! I'll try to respond to your questions in as much detail as possible. If I don't respond to some points, it's because my response was just "yep."

26:43 - I disagree to an extent. Link likes being directly below Falco if Falco's either in hitstun or without his double jump. If he's on a platform or has his jump available to him, his fast fall dair (after either from a platform drop or double jump mixup) just seems to come down too fast for Link's six frames of jump squat to handle. Now of course, my reaction times suck, so probably I could catch those if I train my reactions. Either way, the nair out gifted me stage position, and I almost certainly could have used it better.

I don't really think boomerang staleness matters against Peach, I use it to carve out a region of space instead of actually adding meaningful damage with it. Also, bombs do stale! Well, the throw damage from them anyway. I think the explosion always does the same because it's an effect of the item, but item throws should add to the stale moves queue.

39:20 - That's actually amazing. That changes so much of what I thought was possible about escaping Peach's shield pressure. It's frame perfect, but so is d-throw u-tilt. Definitely going to figure out how to grab those.

Sheik stuff - Arrows, in my opinion, are almost always bad. They have low enough knockback to steal jumps off stage, and they have a good arc to cover the ledge with against some characters' recoveries. Most of the time, I throw them out because I want another projectile in the air, but I don't want to have to pull a bomb and remove the ability to do ground normals or aerials. I also like throwing them out for disrespect, especially in crew battles like this where I can make people say, "Why did I get hit with that? Isn't it supposed to be a bad move?" Other than those times, sometimes I'll read an option out of shield with it, or I'll try to arc one into center stage to cover the angle. Usually pretty sub-optimal though.
- Side note: sometimes if a player misses a tech on the other side of the stage, you can start charging an arrow and punish all of the wake-up options on reaction with the fully-charged shot. Stro showed me that once.

1. I didn't MM S2J to make money but to learn. I think I wasn't doomed from the start at cornering him so much as just the amount I'd have to do to win is rather large, given that I rather trust that if I ever won a game, subsequent games would be determined by if I lost neutral 4 times or less than 4 times.

2. I think only 4 characters in Melee are truly "good" - Fox Falco Sheik and Marth [in that order]. I think other characters are "ok" or bad or whatever, so Falcon might not be "Bad", but I don't think he's truly viable (and I welcome 20GX people to prove me wrong, as I love watching a good Falcon player work their magic). There are obviously other ways to think about it, but I look at most of the cast compared to those 4 and I admit I just sort of shake my head a lttle. I also enjoy playing Falcon on the side because of Tapion combos [lol], so suffice to say that even if I thought Falcon was amazing, probably wouldn't join the hate train (can't hate the games I love, at least I try to think that way).

3. With Falco above me, I try to fullhop and either fastfall and shorthop again with a uair, or double jump and uair to meet him. Jump, then fastfall land utilt is also an option. The thing about being below a Falco with his jump that you just launched high above you is that you're in a situation where yes, screwing up might lead you to getting combo'd, but the position should be an advantageous one, and one that mostly converts to a lot of added damage. It does take practice, and I still mess it up plenty, but I encourage you to at least try it seriously in some friendlies or whatever... the damage output can be amazing.

4. http://smashboards.com/threads/complete-peach-hitboxes-and-frame-data.287033/

Peach frame stuff [there are threads like this for almost every character, but most lack the onshield advantage].

Spoiler: IMPORTANT

Note that the aerial numbers are "cooked", assuming that you hit their shields the frame before you hit the ground. To understand this, if you notice regular fair is -4 on shield, that implies fair -> spotdodge can't be grabbed, but if Peach does a high non-floatcancelled fair, even Link can grab it with ease, because it's less safe than that.

Jab2 is technically -11 on shield, and while you can grab jab1 -> jab1, you can't grab jab1 -> jab2 [you'll get hit with jab2, although it may be possible to just CC jab2 and grab again???]. Also, there is an extra frame of leniency because of grab armor [and grab armoring Peach's jabs is basically always a trade in your favor].

I try to know frame data stuff to know OoS options, how safe/unsafe pressure really is, and what kinds of blockstrings people might use [it's why I know to expect fair jab or fair grab from good Sheiks even though one of the only Sheiks I can play with any regularity does it far too little]. You obviously don't have to know all this stuff [playing it by ear and learning by practice is a wonderful way to improve], but given the oddities with Peach's float, understanding how much less safe some of her not-float-cancelled stuff is, and understanding her options after a float cancel and how the frames stack up, I personally find *very* useful, since it lets you know what options work against what, and then once implemented, it makes analyzing situations to choose a punish or an escape easier [in my opinion].

5. Random fun fact about arrows that can also be used to body a Sheik that doesn't know it: if Sheik starts charging needles on level with you and you start charging an arrow, at some charge threshold [dunno what it is exactly], you can just release the arrow when she releases needles and it will beat out all the needles and still keep going [fully charged I know this works, I don't know for lesser charge levels], while if she just stores her needles, you didn't really gain much, but you probably made them probably stop charging needles on the level with you [and if she's doing it below you, she's giving you a chance to pull a bomb, and if she goes above you to do it... prime uair territory for Link]. Since a full charged arrow does something like 18%, if they get hit by this, it's a colossal damage swing [since it beat out all the needles and so you didn't get hit].

 

[Wafer6866]

https://youtu.be/fq_ApKeE3CM
Do any other Link mains do this?? I've seen The Germ do this but I have not seen him do this while being in shield.

 

[JOJO94]

There is a matchup that is not here. I played my first set on stream last week. It is a Link Vs. Bowser. I will be posting this video in another thread later though...

 

[ikrager]

There is a matchup that is not here. I played my first set on stream last week. It is a Link Vs. Bowser. I will be posting this video in another thread later though...

Not bad. I would N-Air less, up-b OOS more often and go for grab setups more. Cool vid tho.

 

[ChainArmour712]

Hey there, I was able to play some sets on stream during a crew battle; I'm the Link starting at 49:56. The Pika player is decent but I'm slightly better than him overall, the Falco I had never played before, and the Falcon is a friend of mine who is way better than me. I took seven stocks in the crew battle so I was happy, but I have a lot of work to do to compete against the best players around me.

Looking at the footage again, I want to work on my nair and dash attack followups as well as my general neutral game; I rely on Dsmash and Fsmash too much. Overall I think in the year I've been in competitive I have improved a great deal. Any analysis and critique is welcome and appreciated.

 

[squirrels4ev]

Hey there, I was able to play some sets on stream during a crew battle; I'm the Link starting at 49:56. The Pika player is decent but I'm slightly better than him overall, the Falco I had never played before, and the Falcon is a friend of mine who is way better than me. I took seven stocks in the crew battle so I was happy, but I have a lot of work to do to compete against the best players around me.

Looking at the footage again, I want to work on my nair and dash attack followups as well as my general neutral game; I rely on Dsmash and Fsmash too much. Overall I think in the year I've been in competitive I have improved a great deal. Any analysis and critique is welcome and appreciated.

I agree you could use some work with following up on nair. In your match with pikachu you connected a late hit nair in midair and just landed instead of interrupting the first nair with either nair, uair, or bair. I did see you connect nair>nair on falco though so at least the idea is there, even if it isn't ingrained in you yet. I didn't see any uair juggling in any of the games, but you did play on fd all 3 games so maybe you just didn't get a good opportunity to do that. You should learn how to bombjump too. Link doesn't have much techskill to practice so if you have your own setup just grind that out, it isn't very hard to do with practice. The biggest thing I noticed is how often you threw empty boomerangs, and how rarely you cut off jump options with boomerang angled up. Learn when you do and don't have a boomerang to throw out (there is a sound that plays that indicates when the boomerang is flying, but it's quiet. Try disabling music in options to hear it better) and use the boomerang in conjunction with a bomb in hand to limit your opponents movement options. If they can't or don't want to jump because they're used to getting hit by high boomerangs, then they will be easier to hit with your bombs because they will move predictably. Use the bow less. It doesn't have many uses as a punish and the only real use it has in neutral is as a mixup. There's a thread about the bow here.

 

[ChainArmour712]

Thanks for the input, I read the bow thread and agree I need to be smarter with it, even though I catch opponents with it often at our level of play. The nair thing is I guess that I'm not used to hitting twice with a move in the air, particularly nair which stays out a long time. That time and my missed Fair on Pika were both things I can learn from. What I'm really wondering is how I can follow up Dash attack, as Pika caught me with a Usmash during the cooldown. It's a skill thing I guess to know when you can first act out of the move as opposed to acting early and not getting anything out. The Boomerang thing I'd put up to nerves, but I agree I need to angle it more. The Bomb Jump I'm actually decent at, but seeing that I use UpB a lot I usually don't get to use it. Uair is tricky because I find it hard to land also.

 

[JOJO94]

My second set on stream:

 

[squirrels4ev]

What I'm really wondering is how I can follow up Dash attack, as Pika caught me with a Usmash during the cooldown. Uair is tricky because I find it hard to land also.

Following up that particular dash attack wasn't possible given which hitbox you hit with, Pikachu's percent, and Pikachu's DI. While Pikachu is a somewhat light character, he was able to just DI down and upsmash you out of that dash attack because he was on the ground, you hit with the close part of the dash attack, and he attempted to CC it by DIing down once he realized he was being hit. Dash attack is very laggy and unsafe in neutral. The hitbox comes out above Link, and it launches enemies upwards, which makes it good for starting juggles if you can catch someone above you with it. It is, however, easily CCed and can't be used safely on grounded opponents until higher percents, probably around 60+ on Pikachu. Even at these percents it's not very safe because if shielded it is easily punished due to the high endlag on the move. Good moves to follow up dash attack with depend on the percentages, but from low to high percents, the moves you can follow it with will range from up tilt, dash attack, and upair. At specific percentages, different for each character, dash attack can lead to down air or up-B as a solid kill setup when there are no platforms to tech on. If you have trouble connecting uairs I recommend practicing against some low level CPU space animals. They won't DI so it will be easier to hit them, and they fall so fast that they're very susceptible to being comboed by uair. Try getting them to about 60% then up throwing or up tilting them to get them above you for uair combos.

 

[Keto]

Any advice for my Link?
https://youtu.be/YR_bWXoYXW8

 

[squirrels4ev]

Any advice for my Link?
https://youtu.be/YR_bWXoYXW8

I noticed you go for a lot of jab>jab>fsmash as shield pressure, but that only works if your opponent is jumping out of shield right when you fsmash. If they see you like to do that they will just hold shield and wait for fsmash so they can get out for free. Jabs are good for shield pressure because they can catch jumps. Look into jab canceling to be able to use more jabs without getting the third jab (press down between jabs to cancel the frame window where pressing A or Z will cause you to use the 2nd or 3rd jab). Jab shield a couple of times and go for walk up dsmash to shield poke their feet, or go for a nair to shield poke their head. Something Fox-specific: Arrow will never hit a fox who is travelling with his up-B because firefox out-prioritizes arrow. charging arrow to try to shoot Fox out of his recovery doesn't work, although you're kind of on the right track with what you're doing. Boomerang>arrow works if boomerang connects and knocks fox out of his charge, but you can also do boomerang>boomerang which not only works just as well but has less lag, allowing you to shield the firefox if you miss, or attempt to hit fox out of it with a jab, upB (not safe), or nair (good if you can catch him offstage). Around 2 minutes into the VOD when you backthrow Fox is a good example of when boomerang>boomerang or boomerang>nair would have worked better than the boomerang>arrow option you chose. Also see SAUS vs Chester01 for a prime example of a meaty boomerang>boomerang>arrow edgeguard on Battlefield. Not sure which game of the set it was if they played more than one on that stage.

Also saw you fishing for kills in game 2 last stock. You whiffed a few upBs in a row without going back to safe neutral game which was a little worrying to see. You could have landed that last nair you went for if you dashed toward ledge before jumping off stage. You nearly got him anyways though. Your bomb game looks good overall but the followups on landed bombs seemed lackluster. There also weren't many grabs. Link has less opportunity to get a grab most of the time but you can take advantage of setups and it's range to land more and secure guaranteed punishes. It looks like you could use more work with aiming the boomerang but you've got the right idea with how you're using it most of the time. I think I saw some weird usage at close range on the DL game but I can't remember for sure.

I saw it about 3 times in the set so I think it's intentional, but jump>immediate airdodge>zair is not a good option. Too much risk for very little reward. You'll never get a followup on it and on hit it can probably be punished because it's so laggy. It also does very little percent, probably like less than 4. If that's an intentional move you should cut that option out of your neutral game.

 

[Keto]

I noticed you go for a lot of jab>jab>fsmash as shield pressure, but that only works if your opponent is jumping out of shield right when you fsmash. If they see you like to do that they will just hold shield and wait for fsmash so they can get out for free. Jabs are good for shield pressure because they can catch jumps. Look into jab canceling to be able to use more jabs without getting the third jab (press down between jabs to cancel the frame window where pressing A or Z will cause you to use the 2nd or 3rd jab). Jab shield a couple of times and go for walk up dsmash to shield poke their feet, or go for a nair to shield poke their head. Something Fox-specific: Arrow will never hit a fox who is travelling with his up-B because firefox out-prioritizes arrow. charging arrow to try to shoot Fox out of his recovery doesn't work, although you're kind of on the right track with what you're doing. Boomerang>arrow works if boomerang connects and knocks fox out of his charge, but you can also do boomerang>boomerang which not only works just as well but has less lag, allowing you to shield the firefox if you miss, or attempt to hit fox out of it with a jab, upB (not safe), or nair (good if you can catch him offstage). Around 2 minutes into the VOD when you backthrow Fox is a good example of when boomerang>boomerang or boomerang>nair would have worked better than the boomerang>arrow option you chose. Also see SAUS vs Chester01 for a prime example of a meaty boomerang>boomerang>arrow edgeguard on Battlefield. Not sure which game of the set it was if they played more than one on that stage.

Also saw you fishing for kills in game 2 last stock. You whiffed a few upBs in a row without going back to safe neutral game which was a little worrying to see. You could have landed that last nair you went for if you dashed toward ledge before jumping off stage. You nearly got him anyways though. Your bomb game looks good overall but the followups on landed bombs seemed lackluster. There also weren't many grabs. Link has less opportunity to get a grab most of the time but you can take advantage of setups and it's range to land more and secure guaranteed punishes. It looks like you could use more work with aiming the boomerang but you've got the right idea with how you're using it most of the time. I think I saw some weird usage at close range on the DL game but I can't remember for sure.

I saw it about 3 times in the set so I think it's intentional, but jump>immediate airdodge>zair is not a good option. Too much risk for very little reward. You'll never get a followup on it and on hit it can probably be punished because it's so laggy. It also does very little percent, probably like less than 4. If that's an intentional move you should cut that option out of your neutral game.

Ah, thank you for the advice. A lot of what you say makes sense, so I'll try to work on those changes. I have a lot of not-so-good habits that I need to fix. I think Link still has what it takes to be viable, the remaining Link mains can push his meta further.

 

[CnB | Chandy]

Moneymatched a great Link main in my region, Skeith, and I narrowly won the set 3-2. My intuition tells me that Link wins the match-up by a non-trivial margin so I would imagine there are some things he could be doing better. We don't see this match-up recorded at this level often so I'm interested in what yall would have to say about it. I have my own thoughts on the match-up from DK's perspective and it'll be fun to contrast the two.

 

[Team Plasma N]

Hey guys, I need some serious help. It seems I struggle against defensive players. I often find myself getting shield grabbed, having everything I throw out shielded or spotdodged, unsure of what to do when an opponent camps at the top platform (specifically the top platform), and find it difficult to deal with players constantly running away from me. I'm also struggling to play consistently, one day I'll play like my usual self and another I'll look like I just picked up the game. I have some footage of how I played today, I notice my decision making is much worse and there were a lot of mis-inputs (such as trying to throw a bomb to turn around edgehog in the wrong direction or failing to throw a bomb upwards for a bomb recovery).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMI3Scjs8LE&t=7m31s

The second match in the set being linked starts at 13:43. This set is against a Fox player that camped me on the top platform a few times. I'm honestly not sure what to do against players that do this. If I Uair, they usually shield it and punish. If I throw a bomb upwards, they'll evade or shield that and continue waiting. Should I be afraid of approaching him while he's on the platform? During the set it felt like he was running away from me a lot, re-watching the set it doesn't seem like he was, so I'm unsure how I got the impression he played a more evasive game.

Also anyone know how to discipline yourself to play consistently? I feel as though I don't push myself enough unless I'm playing against certain opponents. I need to learn to discipline myself to play against everyone as though my tournament life is on the line.

Tldr; I'm garbage at Melee and want to learn to discipline myself to play consistently, and I usually have trouble against defensive opponents and top platform campers.

 

[ChainArmour712]

Heya, I got to play another crew battle this past week, I'm the Link at the start of the video. Since last time, I have learned to use my fairs and Dairs better and have implemented UpB OOS into my game; it's a valuable technique that won me the game vs. the Falco (a better one by far than on last video, he SDed and that probably cost him more than anything). I still think he shut me down a lot using lasers, and laser to Fsmash got me a few times. I only got to record a stock against the Luigi, but he is pretty decent and I'm happy to have taken one off of him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiX6deevSbY

Overall, I'm looking to see what I can do out of jabs as I was gotten a few times by moves such as Luigi's Dsmash that shouldn't have occurred. I'm sure I need to work on many other things as well, such as Ftilt coming out accidentally a few times. Any critique is welcome and appreciated.

 

[squirrels4ev]

Something that works for me if I think Falco is trying to laser>grounded approach me with something like jab, grab, or fsmash is to just mash out a jab or even a downsmash if I really know he wants to grab. If he's catching you right as you come off the ground with a jump you can try wavelanding away to throw off his spacing. I think the key to working around lasers against Falco is to do 2 things depending on how close Falco is to you. You should stay under or on a side platform using bombs and boomerangs until you get an opening. Falco should laser until he gets an opening. This probably won't happen because Falco has a lot of options that are somewhat safe in neutral besides laser. Avoid lasers from mid-long range away by jumping onto or dropping from the side platforms while you get a bomb. Attempt to catch Falco with the bomb at a spacing such that you can follow it up with an aerial, grab, or boomerang. If you catch him, move to punish game. If you miss, get back into position and get a new bomb. Eventually Falco will come to you with aerials or with close range lasers. Don't get caught pulling a bomb when he's too close to you. Keep him off of you using nair, bair, jab, and sometimes uair, utilit, usmash, or dsmash. Those last 4 are more situational and not as safe. If you have to shield, the safest option you have is to roll or spotdodge unless Falco messes up his spacing or shine pressure. If he messes up, you can catch him with nair, upB, or grab probably, or at least jump away safely. If you try to catch him with an aerial while he's too far away he will have time to react and if he reacts with a shield it's very hard to get out of that situation without getting caught by something. Be careful not to get baited into him. I think Christian (formerly Zoro) uses the side platform strategy against Falco. Pretty sure that's where I noticed it when I was having difficulty with Falco lasers and trying to watch VODs to find how to deal with them. He's not as projectile heavy as I think you should be though. This is all just opinion, so think about if you think it will work for you or not.

It's good to see the use of fairs and dairs but they need refining still. Fair landed pretty close when it did land so I'd work on that spacing since it's different from nair or bair. You came down with a lot of dair and that's fine when your opponent doesn't know it's coming but if they read it you have 25 frames of l-canceled lag that they can punish when you land. Nair is usually safer to come down with especially at lower percents. At high percents when your opponent is thirsting for the kill is when they're most likely to get overaggressive and go for a not guaranteed followup high in the air. At that point a quick dair can often get you down safely where trading your nair with their kill move wouldn't be safe anyways. It's rare that you would use backair to come down but 2:14 into the video shows a situation where you could have used it instead of dair. You get shined and DI a bit to the left on the left side platform, then you doublejump back to top platform and Falco comes up at you with a bair. Your dair is still coming out when he hits you so with that jump towards the platform you can try to cover an earial intercept with bair and the move ends in time for you to select another aerial closer to when you land if Falco waits you out after he sees you doublejump.

Sometimes weak throw boomerangs came out when you were angling them up. If you have trouble smash throwing directly at the angle I'm pretty sure you can smash throw straight and roll the control stick up or down quickly after the smash to make the boomerang go that way. You're still using a lot of arrow but it's not nearly as much as last time if I remember correctly, so that's good. I'd say most of the times you used arrow you could probably have pulled a bomb instead and been better off. There was one arrow that Falco ended up fsmashing that he was too close to you already when you arrowed so you couldn't have pulled a bomb safely there. Right before Falco SDs around 3:40 you get an upair and then catch Falco coming down off the platform with the back of your uptilt. Right there you could have turn around dsmashed instead of upsmash. if you caught him with more of the middle of utilt you could have utilted him again once or twice before uair or fair/dash attack if he DIs away. It's really useful to keep spacies in the air if you catch them with that. Punish game is important for Link because he's not the best in neutral so you have to make the most of your punishes when the opportunity arises.

 

[link7]

So I played a set against WA's #2 best player, Bladewise.

Critique please.

 

[JOJO94]

Advice for my Link please!
Things I regret:
No techs against Ness's Foward Smash.
Missed D-throws (F-Throw and B-Throws).
First recovery in Game 2 should have been a bomb jump.
Missed edgeguard at 5:47. I should have gone with Nair instead of Dair.
SD at the end of both games (Azen dash and late Up-B).

Aside from those mistakes this must have been my best performance yet.

 

[Bravo_10]

I have a backlog of matches to post for once. I think for now I'll just post the ones from Genesis, where I played in the Melee Games crew battles. I'll link them so that the video will start from the point where I come in.

Georgia Tech vs. SBU - https://youtu.be/On43JdxvEVs?t=23m12s
- Honestly I'd say I played pretty okay on this one. I came in against Sol, who was probably their crew's second-strongest player (I was Georgia Tech's worst). I could have come away with the 4 on 4 victory here if I hadn't tech flubbed a few really key situations like my up-B hit on the second stock (meant to turn around, waveland back to grab ledge).

Georgia Tech vs. York - https://youtu.be/SJ1I3Ak9g04?t=32m24s
- I kinda wrecked TO Joe, but I don't think he knew what he was doing against Link. I played sloppily but converted anyway. Went for a few silly arrows, mostly to try and style to calm myself down during the crew. Then I got to fight Kirbykaze on FD! Which went about as well as you'd think it would. Honestly I played it really badly, he was just waiting for me to throw a bomb, then rushing in with pressure once the toy was out of my hands. Need more patience.

Georgia Tech vs. UCI (grand finals) - https://youtu.be/yXTEaOSDCBk?t=30m50s
- I fought Squid, and...I'm really disappointed with this one. I don't really know what to say, his pressure was on point, I played like an idiot. He just held onto that one stock forever, and I kept fishing for a nair to end it instead of being patient. Unfortunate, but it was good to get to grand finals of TMG anyway.

CnB | Chandy Sorry nobody commented on your match. I actually watched that one live, and I too think Link should kinda destroy that matchup. His projectiles should make it virtually impossible for DK to find an opening, and though DK wins the punish battle, Link still has the ability to put serious hurt on the big ape. I'll comment in more detail on the specifics of the match when I have less work to do.

 

[Team Plasma N]

So I'm starting to have trouble against Puffs that know what to do on Link. Most Puffs don't normally give me a hard time, but once they figure out how to get past Link it makes the MU a lot more of a struggle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEKSv5El6_0&feature=youtu.be the first set in this vid is against a Puff player called michael41000. I used to beat him a lot, however as he kept playing me more and more often, the tables have turned. Now at best I can normally take him to one stock 60ish percent, and seldom take games off him these days, he's one of the higher ranked Puffs on netplay atm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H9V2mRVNcQ&t=21m57s this video contains a lot more matches, however the time I linked to is against a Puff player that goes by the tag Jank (BuffaloJank on smashladder), he claims to have a lot of Link practice against Stro and is starting to take more games off him. There's a few sets on youtube of them playing.

One thing I've noticed is Puff struggles when she's not in the air. Jab seems to give her a hard time and they usually either take the hits or they're forced to shield and roll if you continue jabbing (or well, rapid jab at least). Problem is going for a smash attack on her shield is generally unsafe if it doesn't shield poke, and jab doesn't do much shield damage so I find it difficult to lower her shield to the point I can dsmash poke her, or continue pressuring without getting grabbed. I also notice I tend to go for the edge after I take a stock (it's not something I do against Puff only), I probably subconciously feel I get hit easier in other areas of the stage, I'm not too sure. Anyhow, criticism is appreciated for this MU.

 

[Wafer6866]

https://youtu.be/KU6c7EjKZUQ
This is just a set I played at a regional in north. Florida called Mcmansion 7. I only play Link the last two games though :\

 

[Stormghetti]

This is just for the sake of entertaining and letting people know what Link can do, not to show off or something. I also want you guys to tell me what you think about it and if I could improve things like my punish game or others, I'm really curious about that and need advice.

 

[Scoops_HD]

This is just for the sake of entertaining and letting people know what Link can do, not to show off or something. I also want you guys to tell me what you think about it and if I could improve things like my punish game or others, I'm really curious about that and need advice.

Your wave dashes aren't crispy enough, you need to hit the 17 degrees under the axis for the most distance. Also your opponent could break up many of your combos if they threw out moves, or DI'ed, or hit their techs, or didn't sit in shield so much. That falco was also living to ridicolous percents, you need to force him off stage and work on your edge guards. You need better competition

 

[Stormghetti]

Your wave dashes aren't crispy enough, you need to hit the 17 degrees under the axis for the most distance. Also your opponent could break up many of your combos if they threw out moves, or DI'ed, or hit their techs, or didn't sit in shield so much. That falco was also living to ridicolous percents, you need to force him off stage and work on your edge guards. You need better competition

I know, but I've been improving lately since this video. Thanks.

 

[Thor]

We don't seem to have a tournament results thread, but I'll state here that I got 13th at Rubicon 9, losing to Kels and a pretty good Falcon player named Big Leo.

When I went to check the vods, for some reason it seemed like my full set was not there, which was extremely disappointing because I am not really sure how I managed to generate the lead I got [he threw away a stock to open by being under the ledge and upBing very early, leading to an up+b semi-spike kill at <20%, and I know I got a sick uair uair dair, but I'm not sure how I set that stuff up]. You can still watch me throw away game 1 and keep game 2 reasonably close but still lose the set 2-0.

https://www.twitch.tv/meleeeveryday/v/59627596 [EDIT: Here is the full set, was recently uploaded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4uL1nXFew ]

It's kind of disappointing because I've never generated that sort of lead over a Fox of Kels' caliber, and frankly I'm not sure I could ever do it again (unless I get much, much better), but it was still a fun set to play and I get the feeling I did some stuff right [my DI game 2 seemed mostly good, I think?]. @SAUS I don't know if you're interested in this sort of set but I get the feeling Kels is the kind of player you could definitely beat but would not be expected to, if that makes sense.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also shoutouts to J J.Shadows [J666, maybe I mistagged him] for being in twitch chat and seeing how bad I played in teams.

There's also a crew battle that happened and I played terribly but still managed to take the one stock I needed to take. Don't really feel like linking that since I know a lot of what I did wrong.

 

[garotis]

When I actually cover options as Link НO0ОଠＯOOＯ (netplay):

 

[Stormghetti]

When I actually cover options as Link НO0ОଠＯOOＯ (netplay):

Lol, that Falco needs to update his teching game! Otherwise, nice punish and reads.

 

[Bravo_10]

We don't seem to have a tournament results thread, but I'll state here that I got 13th at Rubicon 9, losing to Kels and a pretty good Falcon player named Big Leo.

When I went to check the vods, for some reason it seemed like my full set was not there, which was extremely disappointing because I am not really sure how I managed to generate the lead I got [he threw away a stock to open by being under the ledge and upBing very early, leading to an up+b semi-spike kill at <20%, and I know I got a sick uair uair dair, but I'm not sure how I set that stuff up]. You can still watch me throw away game 1 and keep game 2 reasonably close but still lose the set 2-0.

https://www.twitch.tv/meleeeveryday/v/59627596

It's kind of disappointing because I've never generated that sort of lead over a Fox of Kels' caliber, and frankly I'm not sure I could ever do it again (unless I get much, much better), but it was still a fun set to play and I get the feeling I did some stuff right [my DI game 2 seemed mostly good, I think?]. @SAUS I don't know if you're interested in this sort of set but I get the feeling Kels is the kind of player you could definitely beat but would not be expected to, if that makes sense.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also shoutouts to J J.Shadows [J666, maybe I mistagged him] for being in twitch chat and seeing how bad I played in teams.

There's also a crew battle that happened and I played terribly but still managed to take the one stock I needed to take. Don't really feel like linking that since I know a lot of what I did wrong.

Dang, that was a pretty sick first game against Kels. You really got anxious with all those f-smashes in neutral and gave up the lead, but I actually think it was yours for the taking if you reacted to his DI on your d-throw at the end there. He didn't DI behind you, so d-throw up-B was probably guaranteed death. By the same token though, I can understand why you'd want to go for the tech chase instead because I miss that reaction at those iffy percents all the time.

I'm also really surprised to see Kels to Falcon. I personally think it's Link's actual worst matchup, but Kels is known to have a Sheik secondary, which I would have expected to come out if he were to switch off of Fox. You did really solid against the Falcon but lost out in a few key spots. There was a moment when he had you in shield and was just bullying you with late knees and single jabs. I think your patience in shield served you really well against Fox, but I was dying to see you try spot dodging the knee and CCing the next jab. Link's CC in general is one of his few powerful tools against Falcon; it can beat out all of his approaches besides run up grab or hard knee, in fact you can CC the approaching nair until kind of ludicrous percents.

Oh and there was this one point where Falcon's up-B just beat your dair, and I kinda wanted to cry a little.

 

[Thor]

Dang, that was a pretty sick first game against Kels. You really got anxious with all those f-smashes in neutral and gave up the lead, but I actually think it was yours for the taking if you reacted to his DI on your d-throw at the end there. He didn't DI behind you, so d-throw up-B was probably guaranteed death. By the same token though, I can understand why you'd want to go for the tech chase instead because I miss that reaction at those iffy percents all the time.

I'm also really surprised to see Kels to Falcon. I personally think it's Link's actual worst matchup, but Kels is known to have a Sheik secondary, which I would have expected to come out if he were to switch off of Fox. You did really solid against the Falcon but lost out in a few key spots. There was a moment when he had you in shield and was just bullying you with late knees and single jabs. I think your patience in shield served you really well against Fox, but I was dying to see you try spot dodging the knee and CCing the next jab. Link's CC in general is one of his few powerful tools against Falcon; it can beat out all of his approaches besides run up grab or hard knee, in fact you can CC the approaching nair until kind of ludicrous percents.

Oh and there was this one point where Falcon's up-B just beat your dair, and I kinda wanted to cry a little.

Never thought of try to spotdodge knee and CC the jab... I'll keep it in mind and try it out, because I've had people repeatedly knee jab knee my shield before and tried to nair out before, but I missed it once and went for up+b the next time [a bad decision].

His up+b grabbing my dair was also kinda disappointing, but I guess I just needed to space it better.

With the grab at the end of game 1, I think I should have done uthrow and either gone for fair if he DI'd in in front, bair -> up+b (or uair) if he went behind, and tech chase dair if he teched on a platform. Hindsight is always clearer I guess.

 

[Bravo_10]

Never thought of try to spotdodge knee and CC the jab... I'll keep it in mind and try it out, because I've had people repeatedly knee jab knee my shield before and tried to nair out before, but I missed it once and went for up+b the next time [a bad decision].

His up+b grabbing my dair was also kinda disappointing, but I guess I just needed to space it better.

With the grab at the end of game 1, I think I should have done uthrow and either gone for fair if he DI'd in in front, bair -> up+b (or uair) if he went behind, and tech chase dair if he teched on a platform. Hindsight is always clearer I guess.

U-throw's pretty cool, I bet it would have been a good call too. I know u-throw dair just sorta happens to Fox at a KO percents if he doesn't DI the throw, but I don't know exactly when it stops being guaranteed. You can also no-impact land up-B on both side platforms of Battlefield, if you're trying to cover tech options. I don't think it's fast enough to get tech in place though.

I have some matches that I could upload. Here's one of me versus a local Marth player called Smashing Turnips. Marth is far and away my favorite matchup, and this is a guy I was expected to beat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLv1y7GIg_c

Another from a different tournament, versus an Ice Climber named Grayson (gas$ is his tag, but mostly we just use his first name). He's the best IC in my region and usually beats me, though I swear that the character matchup is even for Link. We had a nail-biter of a set here, where I think I managed scuffle situations really well and abused the same corner escape strategy for the first two games until he finally adapted to it. I tend to go for juggles on both characters at once if I get them in the air, but sometimes this leads me to overextend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9_RvH5F0vY

Doubles with Dashdancedan. Teams is fun, but I wish I was better at it. I go for a lot of up-B's with the thought that my teammate will be able to shoot/needle me out of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqFxbEubNmk

Doubles again, this time versus Druggedfox's team. This one got a little silly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEeS9vwW82c

 

[J.Shadows]

We don't seem to have a tournament results thread, but I'll state here that I got 13th at Rubicon 9, losing to Kels and a pretty good Falcon player named Big Leo.

When I went to check the vods, for some reason it seemed like my full set was not there, which was extremely disappointing because I am not really sure how I managed to generate the lead I got [he threw away a stock to open by being under the ledge and upBing very early, leading to an up+b semi-spike kill at <20%, and I know I got a sick uair uair dair, but I'm not sure how I set that stuff up]. You can still watch me throw away game 1 and keep game 2 reasonably close but still lose the set 2-0.

https://www.twitch.tv/meleeeveryday/v/59627596

It's kind of disappointing because I've never generated that sort of lead over a Fox of Kels' caliber, and frankly I'm not sure I could ever do it again (unless I get much, much better), but it was still a fun set to play and I get the feeling I did some stuff right [my DI game 2 seemed mostly good, I think?]. @SAUS I don't know if you're interested in this sort of set but I get the feeling Kels is the kind of player you could definitely beat but would not be expected to, if that makes sense.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also shoutouts to J J.Shadows [J666, maybe I mistagged him] for being in twitch chat and seeing how bad I played in teams.

There's also a crew battle that happened and I played terribly but still managed to take the one stock I needed to take. Don't really feel like linking that since I know a lot of what I did wrong.

Lol was looking through melee streams and saw a Link so I had to watch

 

[Thor]

Lol was looking through melee streams and saw a Link so I had to watch

For the record, I normally team with a Falcon player who goes in really deep [I teamed with a Pika once who did the same thing and it went really well], not a Marth who tries to zone both of them at once [it was our first time teaming], so I'm used to throwing stuff at their back to cover them as they cross someone up. That was why I was such a dunce with my projectiles. I'm definitely trying to think about how to play teams better though, since that guy still enjoyed it and if we team again [which he is open to], I want to be a significantly better partner.

Also, the video for my set went up, and it has the full set, it's not missing some of the first stocks. So for anyone interested, it's here [I edited it in above as well]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4uL1nXFew

 

[Kyler]

thanks for the link to all of these link videos

 

[Stormghetti]

thanks for the link to all of these link videos

What a fraud.

 

[Kyler]

What a fraud.

well i cant go to DK threads and ask for the DKs to the DK videos

 

[Stormghetti]

well i cant go to DK threads and ask for the DKs to the DK videos

;_;

 

[Looticforgothispassword]

well i cant go to DK threads and ask for the DKs to the DK videos

Whats stopping you?

 

[JOJO94]

When I actually cover options as Link НO0ОଠＯOOＯ (netplay):

DUDE this is sick, the UP Air cover, LOL!

 

[JOJO94]

I need feedback on a set. I have a money match next saturday, probably against a Shiek. I know SSBMTL Kyle is a better player than me, but I want to know what you guys think I should do more.

Please guys, I really need this!

 

[Stormghetti]

I need feedback on a set. I have a money match next saturday, probably against the guy's Shiek. I know SSBMTL Kyle is a better player than me, but I want to know what you guys think I should do more.

Please guys, I really need this!

I'm no professional Link, but from what I've seen, most Links (including me) go for the N-Air to approach, which can be punished really hard when shielded, and what I'm trying to do is go for more F-Air than N-Airs since it spaces more than N-Air and it can be safer. The thing I saw you did against Sheik's throws is DIing from left to right too consistently, causing me to think you were frustrated by that or you tried to read his approaches with the chaingrabs, but that's pretty readable.

I mean... You can't do that much about her chaingrabs either way. >-> I also saw you don't use Up-Airs or grabs as much as you should, but maybe you wanted to go safer against Sheik because those plus D-Air are very laggy attacks, you know. Also, the backwards air-dodge to Z-Air you used on game 2 was pretty smart from your part, and I should try that more (when the oponnent is farther away, because the hookshot is pretty weak). If you could, you should also try working on set-ups to edgecancel them with either the platforms or the stage's edges (and also to edgeguard. You could also Z-Air towards the stage's edge to edgecancel it and to edgeguard and while they try to recover from what you did, you can do another edgeguarding move, but it's a bit risky since you may SD while doing it, but it's just a recommendation/tip you probably didn't know).