what are the uptilts trading with? fairs and spaced bairs i assume?
I know out right killing is better, but i mention edgeguaring looping because you mention that she has a good edgeguard on falco. its true, but she doesn't have anything certain or "garunteed" in the same way that falco has a relatively guaranteed edgeguard loop.
and i think a balanced critique, inlcuding her faults, is better. I know you're pointing out why falco loses, but it gives the impression that falco gets completely destroyed. Especially when you only list her strong points and when falco's strong points are brought up, you counter everything with "they can do X to beat your Y". And i think u should do the same thing for sheik, especially because it would help falco players in the matchup to know how to counter her stuff, instead of it just being like "falco loses because of all these good things sheik has"
Trading with Nairs actually. Dair has outright beaten it before...I flipped out.
Yes a balanced critique is better but I haven't done one of those in years. I suppose it'd go something like:
Falco pros:
-laser control and mixups
-decent combo potential
-camps somewhat effectively
-Bair ***** Sheik if she's airborne and you put her there
-can shine up-B sometimes
-Tilts have comparable range to Sheik's
-somewhat effective stage control once gained.
Cons:
-can get CC punished hard
-being tope chased to death from a grab
-gimped easily
-juggled/comboed well
-lasers aren't nearly as effective as in other matchups since Sheik can counter all of their uses quite well
-somewhat weak from above and definitely weak from below
-Sheik's faster than Falco so DD punishes on aerials are possible
-very unreliable shield pressure
-loses boxing game due to Sheik's superior CC game
Sheik pros:
-superior CC/boxing game
-needles to set up an on-par camping game with Falco's in that Sheik's needles control diagonals whereas Falco controls horizontals
- up-B stalls to keep Falco away/guessing.
-SDI and floaty weight prevents lots of combos.
-powerful anti-laser game abilities including taking lasers to Ftilt/Dtilt/Dsmash or using any of those 3 moves or Fair/Bair to trade with/beat incoming lasers/approaches.
-very effective stage control once Falco is contained.
-quick platform movement allows compensation for ground mobility and abuse of needle control
-excellent shield/anti-pressure game
Cons:
-Somewhat weak from below
-weaker DD game is weakened further by lasers
-can be edgeguard looped until death even from lower percents
-has no actual approach outside of slower zoning and dash attack
-poor aerial mobility can get Sheik ***** if not in the air on her own terms
-decent combo weight
And then we'd look at what beats what....
Sheik's Bair can outrange/outprioritize any of Falco's moves(except uptilt from below kinda?). That, in addition to her solid camping and anti-pressure/laser game give Sheik an amazing defense vs Falco's usual barrage of hitboxes in any given matchup.
Sheik Ftilt vs Falco Dtilt(both seemed to be done in similar times when I played the matchup today so I figured it was worth mentioning) it seems like Sheik's Ftilt may be slightly longer but it's typically a clink.
Falco Ftilt vs Sheik Ftilt= Falco loses
Falco Dair vs Sheik Fair=trade I believe? one that sheik certainly wouldn't mind doing I imagine.
Falco Nair vs Sheik Fair=...hmm not sure on this one but I do know that it's easier to get under Sheik if she jumps higher or is falling at all with this move. Not sure what outright beats what here. Nair may win actually.
Falco Nair vs Sheik Ftilt=typically a trade, which puts falco in the air and sheik probably CC'ing....
Falco Dair vs Sheik Ftilt=I've seen this trade a lot too but Dair may technically win? I seem to always trade with Ftilt....
Falco Bair vs Sheik Fair=Falco wins
Those are the most important ones I think....
Anyway, so right now I feel like the first aspect of the matchup is neutral position from a distance aka the camping game. Falco controls the horizontal aspects of the stage with lasers and Sheik controls many odd diagonals with needles, but can also hit Falco while he's lasering from a horizontal angle with needles if needed. As Falco can change his height vertically and shoot his gun faster than Sheik can move around, but Sheik can run faster than Falco can shoot so she can position herself to do projectiles faster, I see the camp game being even. I believe Falco should approach though on the grounds that Sheik approaching with her careful zoning game is not something Falco can defend against well(not that his defense is that great anyway).
In a closer battle, Sheik can take a laser to Ftilt/Dtilt/Dsmash, or use any of those moves(D moves being ones that hit Falco if he tries to come in afterward or catch him just as he lands from lasering and Ftilt being one that can outright trade with/stuff a laser due to its reach). The importance of Fair/Bair should never be neglected here, as both of those moves can either happen before or after the laser comes out/hits their shield and defend well against approaches(with Bair>everything for sure). It then becomes Falco's job to keep Sheik pressured without making his approach patterns obvious so that he can cause a punishing move to be used and hopefully capitalize or at least gain more ground. Sheik can have easy retreats to platforms though, where she sets up her powerful camping game yet again on Falco, which makes dealing with both projectiles and possible quick dropoff Fair/Bair/needle grab or whatever followups very hard to handle given Falco's mobility and limited control of any diagonal save Bair(and even then, Bair has plenty of lag to be punished, AC'd or SHFFL'd). I'll be playing around with more of this position though, as it's very important.
Sheik never really has to approach Falco, but if she does then she has a good dash attack and Fair/Bair?/etc spacing games used to zone and threaten. the possibility of a counterattack is what makes Sheik's "approaches" that much more intimidating, as a Bair from Falco saves him from most anything Sheik tries to actually get inside without baiting Falco to approach in some way first.
Falco's shield pressure on Sheik is weaker than on Marth I've concluded. WD OOS combined with Nair OOS(just as fast as Falco's shine OOS wtf) and the fact that Sheik is tall and has a great shield all make pressuring her very difficult. Fortunately, even if Falco can't land much pressure, it can be enough to lessen Sheik's shield so that she at least plays in a more scared fashion and could possibly give Falco more openings should he be able to create them with laser mixups or some form of platform pressure. Pressuring Falco as Sheik on the other hand is very rewarding. Delayed Fair/Bair on Falco's shield are typically safe even frame-wise let alone spacing-wise, and Falco not having much to do to respond besides Dair/laser/WD/FH OOS leave a rather simple poking game that Falco must come up with an answer too quickly. Mixing in a jab game with the Fairs is something Amsah frequently does and Falco has little answer to a jab/grab mixup game other than shield grab and attempt to CC punish the jab. Sheik's zoning on Falco far outdoes his laser/zoning control on her when on the defensive in my opinion.
Sheik gets Brinstar and Falco gets FD, but both get banned typically. Sheik is fine on RC, somewhat? struggles on DL(Tope struck to there vs me twice though so maybe not), struggles on PS and possibly KJ64 as well. Sheik wins for sure on BF, FoD, and YS due to Falco not having room to set up a decent horizontal control game there while Sheik gets closer platforms to abuse her great platform movement game on, which in turn allows for stronger needle control and zoning/Fair/Bair punishment.
Alright, that's all I got and this is how I used to do these things. Is that good?
. It was definitely the most useful thing Cactuar ever taught me about smash.
