So for a while I thought I was pretty good at the Samus matchup, then I played K-12 and Daydee (2 of Europe's best Samus players) at BEAST 6 and got wrecked. It's not so much the punish game, but the neutral that I'm having trouble with. Every approach I did seemed to get punished by WD back -> D-Smash/Grab , Up-B OOS or CC D-Smash / D-Tilt. I know my options against these, but it feels like i'd be better off not approaching at all. However, I don't really want to play campy, that isn't really my style.
So my question is has anybody got ways of pressuring/approaching Samus that are safe generally and how can I punish her options such as F-Tilt and Missles in neutral. It's a shame I couldn't get my matches recorded as that would've been helpful in seeing what they were doing in neutral :/ . Also any general VS Samus tips would be helpful.
Ur matches vs samus are going to last 4min plus in many instances if u and ur opponent are actually evenly skilled. Dreamland it is not uncommon for it to approach 7min. I dont know what u consider agressive, but there is no way around this matchup taking a long time if u want to win it consistently.
If samus is missle camping u, u can really just use ur reflector to send them back at her. On PS/ Dreamland there is just too much room for samus to cover to really punish u for it. FD and Battlefield its a little more a judgement call, but either way u cant let her shoot missles at will. U cant pressure her shield directly, and u will get almost nothing out of grab, so once u get her in shield u have to bait out a wd back or up-b. Dair techchase her or take a simple shine aerial combo before resetting to neutral and repeating.
This isnt the matchup to play aggressive in, but it doesnt mean u have to "camp". If samus is to punish u for anything she has to either get a read on ur approach or punish something dumb on shield. U can apply pressure by being in her face and make it seem like u will attack. This will bait out ftilts and dsmash attempts. It sounds like the samus u played had a read on ur approach, u should have just stopped approaching, but made it look like u would to bait her reaction. The matchup really feels like a cat and mouse game if both of u play it right.
PPMD bar none is the best at this if u want to see what it looks like. He had some sets vs duck at a canadian tournament i reccomend looking at (EGLX i think?). As the sets went on, PP was able to be more aggresive like u want to be, but it takes time to play like that. U really have to feel the samus out.
Edit: It was actually Canada Cup that they played at (CCG2k15)