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Use soft thrown (set) bombs to stop stop sonic from being able to approach you on the ground with a spindash, as well as jabbing at closer range. You were jabbing quite a bit but it was more of a mashing jab out of habit instead of a more calculated one. Also, if you notice it whiffs, dont bother finishing it, you'll just get punished, especially against sonic.
Ok, I will be considering your advices, the match was a big laggy at some points, I admit that I tend to mash my jabs too much. While viewing the replay again I noticed that soft-throwing the bombs would've been a good idea.
Incredible performance by z3ph1r. That Cloud player wasn't really good I noticed he kept going for Dash Attacks and F-Smash as well as Blade beams... there's more to a character than just 3 attacks.
vs P105 yeti vs Shinjoebi & Shinjoebi vs P105 yati & P105 Dane & Shinjoebi vs songan & WavE & Shinjoebi vs WC Spike City
That greninja was pretty good but you almost clutched it out. I would only suggest watch out for going for the up-smash to cover their get up options on ledge cause you got punished for that and slight rolling/bomb pulling.UMN Smash January Sm4sh 2016
Losers' Round 5: Requiem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L2CyvIMvZA
Losers' Quarters: Requiem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ7Rstz0VZ0
Doubles Losers' Quarters: Requiem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zyUZ9eElA
Dourbles Losers' Round 4: Requiem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL15zRuaeuo
Dourbles Winners' Round 3: Requiem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip7wKgoSAOI
Yeah, those Usmashes were me hard reading his ledge option and they didn't work at all. LOL
Sheesh.....that's just not even fair.
vs. Grove : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn_Xnt0xGL0 vs. Rahx : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCR7go5-nrY vs. LLL | Mr. R : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYp_5hCY4GE vs. Izaw : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J652GZtHl4I vs. Patrino : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaNnlxVD-4U vs. Meru : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb-oD7JLpQA vs. Istudying : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StPWlv3e4S8 vs. Peeko : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lFs-cZ7MJQ
vs Hermes 1 Friendlys vs Kevin Friendlys
vs Songn (& others) Vs. Mew2King 
Sev3n
here?
Any reason why you're shielding until your bomb blows when Ryu is offstage in that first stock? Why not just throw it away and then go get some edge-guarding work done?
Thanks man!
Trying this new from of critique where I can just go through the match and pause, see if it helps:
Dumbfire
i know its too much work but can you try the new critique way with pausing the matches on my matches vs the cpt falcon if its possible. I learned alot from the one you did for Tsage. thanks
Yes, I think I can get to it Sunday!
As you requested I wrote an analysis but this ended up being very long since there was a lot to talk about.Hey Guys i have some new videos of my playing offline vs the best Cpt Flacon player in my country who is top 4 and id like your critique on them.
Tshadow (Link) vs Omart (Cpt Flacon) Friendlies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=527ScMoneX4
and here I have other friendlies with a few people i played on the same day, will appreciate critique on those too.
Tshadow (Link) vs Omart (Could), Mikasa (Pit), Derek (Lucas), Sonikku (Rosaluma). Friendlys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOWwtjP9HVc
. Keep at it and good luck!
I think you wrote the wrong name there buddy xD
Hey DF, not to take away from any of you, i think both of you are knowledgeable in Link MU's, Nimious essay / critique was very insightful, id still want you to go through some of my videos vs the cpt Falcon, maybe you can do it for match #4 and #5, since that video has 5 matches and Nim did it for the first 3 matches.
Pheww!!!!! Man, Nim thanks for this very detail explanation of the Falcon MU and my matches, after reading all of this and watching my videos, i feel like a noob, i see that i need to learn a lot of things, thanks for the advices and I will definitely practice all of what you said. especially, the jabs and the grabs, thanks for all the time you put into this. I will study this and my matches until i get better and get rid of this stupid habbits.As you requested I wrote an analysis but this ended up being very long since there was a lot to talk about.
Game One
0:00 Against characters like Falcon you should almost never start with a projectile throw on small or mid-sized stages like SV. If you know your opponent and their tendencies it’d be easier to deal with however if you don’t it’s often better to do nothing and prepare to jab his approach or do a slight SH back Zair (followed by jab if he’s already on top of you).
0:08 From a FH or FH distance it’s better to do a FF Fair to land instead of FF Nair. Though Nair was well spaced in this case it’s often better to go with the FF Fair for its range, damage and extra shield lag. I believe FF Fair is -3 upon impact with shield meaning you have enough time to roll before you get shield grabbed given Fair only has 12 frames of landing lag.
0:12 From a grab when your opponent is at 0% you should always start with the Up-tilt vs Falcon. If he jumps it’s possible to catch his jump and then keep Up-tilting him. If he airdodges you will have enough time to jab him afterwards. What you did which was Down-throw to Jab is also a correct option as it will work at 0% but the Up-tilt has better follow-up opportunities.
0:14 With how fast Falcon is I would usually refrain from firing arrows at mid-range but in this case you got it right. However where you went wrong is right away rolling after. At that distance you have enough time to start your double jab which is a much better option. Remember Falcons are trying to get you to shield, to roll and to airdodge. It’s better not to give them what they want especially if you can do it safely.
0:17 SH in place for bomb pulling is often a bad idea vs Falcon at midrange. It is much safer to do a FH or at your location you can mix it up by SH off stage bomb-pull followed by jump then projectile or just tether and jump onto the SV platform. Careful not to do this too often as some Falcons will call you out by Dairing you.
0:22 It’s a good try to see if he’d airdodge but in this case instead of F-smash you should have done a pivot grab. If he does airdodge or somehow lands on the ground first and shields the grab would beat both of those options. With Falcon at 36% Down-throw into Up-smash also does far more damage than F-smash.
0:23 Falcons often watch for your airdodges which is a critical component in landing knees in general. If you think that’s what they’re trying to do, Nair instead of airdodge.
0:27 It’s better to fire an arrow if you’re going for a gimp. Boomerangs pop your opponents up which makes it easier for a character with a poor recovery like Falcon to recover. If you hit him with the arrow and with him having lost his jump he would be forced to go for the ledge making it far easier for you to capitalize.
0:33 It’s important to notice if your opponent is trying to bait out airdodges like he is here. You need to mix-up between attacks and airdodges to prevent him from capitalizing. However at the same time you don’t want to desperately hit him so badly that you give up a safe landing for it. With Link it’s better to avoid damage than to do damage.
0:37 Your airdodge is way too early here and isn’t necessary. At times like this it would be better to go for a FF Nair. If you trade you can get back on stage easily. Once again you notice the Falcon trying to get you to airdodge.
0:46 In the neutral you want to jab, and jab a lot. You generally want to avoid SH advancing Fairs in this MU as it’s dangerous to you. Fairs should generally be done retreating or in place so you don’t get shield grabbed. When you do it advancing it should be because their shield is weak enough for you to poke through.
0:52 Falcons have terrible landing options so if you manage to get them in the air you should watch them and catch their landings while occasionally mixing it up by intercepting them in the air. For example if he lands on the ground you grab him, if he lands on the platform you Fair him, etc. You want to count his jumps as well and watch his drift which is the key to catching him. There’s not much Falcon can do to stop you but you do have to watch out for falling Up-airs and FF Bairs. What you want to avoid is giving up the string to pull a bomb because that gives him the free landing that he wants so badly.
0:59 If Falcon is above you, you should always be ready to Up-tilt him. He can’t get past that without you spacing it incorrectly. If you notice him drift back then you Fair or Zair him. Remember you have the range advantage so you want to counter him rather than jumping or running away.
1:05 As a Link player you want to be more reactive rather than proactive. There’s no need to go for these Up-air reads. If you have stage advantage don’t be afraid to keep it and wait. In this case I would have tried to Fair him and then try and jab him upon landing or watch him and Zair him. Just play it calm and safe. The F-smash afterwards too, don’t play the match proactive as Falcon can punish hard.
1:13 After pulling the bomb and noticing the Falcon jump back I would either tether to the ledge immediately or toss a boomerang onto the stage then tether. With you, by staying out there for so long and then double jumping before the Up-B you made yourself vulnerable for much longer than you needed to. He could have just Daired you then and finished the match. Your only worry with a Falcon at the ledge like that is whether he’d trump you or not as he can’t Up-tilt a tether.
1:19
Don’t airdodge out of reflex especially in this MU. If you stayed calm the best option would be to Fair instead. Even if you do panic and accidently airdodge there’s a chance to salvage it by canceling your airdodge with a Zair. In this case it might have saved you. It’s still a bad position though as a Bair would likely kill you but it’s better to bet on an attack than an airdodge here.
Game Two
1:48 While not very important, learning to SA (Spin Attack) OoS (Out of Shield) after PS (Perfect Shield) is something you need to eventually learn if you’re serious about Link. From a PS you can do SA OoS instantly without having to wait for the shield lag to wear off. This was the perfect opportunity to do it but given it’s a dash attack with a lot of lag you could have done a JC (Jump-cancelled) Up-smash to maximize damage.
1:55 In the neutral if you notice a Falcon is just running at you and shielding then you can do pivot grabs or just a grab and catch him. You need to give him reason to be afraid so he doesn’t just mindlessly run at you.
2:02 You need to jab more in neutral instead of backing off. Link’s jump is terrible, his jumpsquat is 7 in other words it takes as many frames for you to jump as it does to get your jab hitbox out. At this range you should jab or even roll but not jump.
2:09 It’s highly unlikely for your boomerang to hit here so it’s much better to just pull bomb instead. You throw your boomerang a lot when they’re off stage and while it can hit, it’s not a very good option. It’s better to get a bomb and set-up for your ledge guard instead if you’re this far away.
2:20 Forward SH Boomerang tosses are very dangerous. They shouldn’t be done at close range, especially vs fast characters.
2:26 You made this way too easy for him. You should have drifted a bit lower and further in before the Up-B so you have more protection recovering. It works out for you in this case but you want to avoid it if possible.
2:31 When he’s on the ground like that you should prepare for a tech chase. You need to stop jumping back all the time. If I were you I’d hold shield and if he does a get-up attack I would Up-B OoS, or grab OoS, if he techs in I would Up-B Oos and if he techs away I would SH Zair OoS.
2:49 Since this is offline you can just do Down-throw -> Up-air and kill him. No need to back throw then try and ledge guard him. However since you did get him off-stage with backthrow you should have pursued him with Nair or Fair off-stage instead of trying to set up bombs at the ledge. If you land a Nair or Fair he dies but if a bomb hits he’ll live. At 119% just go for the kill.
3:00 At the ledge and ledge guarding you either F-tilt or you grab a standard get-up, don’t fire arrows at this range.
3:04 Keep an eye out on percentages. Falcon is at 141% and you’re at tier 2 rage. With these conditions you can kill Falcon with Forward or Up-tilt which are a lot less committal than F-smash. As you picked F-smash it was much easier for Falcon to punish you.
3:07 After the bomb pull you have more than enough time to toss a boomerang to try and cover your recovery. Because you didn’t and burned your jump early it made it very easy for Falcon to ledge guard you. At the range where you were, had you just tossed a boomerang and then jumped you would have made it safely as Falcon couldn’t touch you at that point without being too far to recover himself.
3:17 Fair or Nair at this range but just stop airdodging. That is exactly what Falcon wants.
3:19 Even if you are right next to the ledge, always tether grab the ledge. This decreases the frames you must stay on the ledge for so you can access your get-up options much quicker. This Falcon is also not guarding for a SH Fair get-up from the ledge which could kill at this percentage. You need to mix-up your recovery more as roll was the worst option you could have picked.
3:22 You don’t need to fight to land on stage, as Link has a tether recovery and one of the best ledge get-up arsenals in the game you can quickly get back on stage with a spaced Fair or Zair and reset.
3:26 Always DI away but in this situation you picked no option and got kneed. You should probably have jumped.
Game Three
3:52 You don’t always have to boomerang. Sometimes it’s better to watch your opponent react especially if you’ve conditioned him towards your boomerang. See how he expects your boomerang and perfect shields it? You could grab him instead or just safely space jabs on him.
4:06 Up-smash not Up-tilt. This Falcon has given no signs of understanding how to DI out of Link’s Down-throw combos so take advantage of him. Also less arrows and Boomerangs. Arrows are low damage and Boomerangs you aren’t trying to combo off them. Given this is the case you’re better off Zairing as it’s far less dangerous to yourself than arrows and boomerang. With those two projectiles you have around 45 frames of FAF but with Zair you can cancel FAF by landing which gives you only 8 frames of landing lag.
4:08 This is such a random chain of events. To begin with don’t randomly do things. There was no need to do a FH advancing Nair and because you did that you got scared and instantly rolled. Play calm.
4:16 What is this lol. Your opponent just keeps trying to Dair for the next 20 seconds. I think you know what’s going wrong here. Stay calm and stop putting yourself into very vulnerable positions and then compensating for them by airdodging or rolling, etc.
4:27 Same pointers as 3:07. If you have the time and distance after pulling a bomb, throw a boomerang or arrow to cover your recovery.
5:02 Drop-zone Nair. You did Bair for some reason. Also don’t guess with the Up-B. As you guessed wrong you died for it. You want to play safe in this MU. It’s Falcon’s job to take on the risks not yours.
5:28 Another unsafe boomerang. Mix things up.
After 5:28 this neutral is really sloppy. A lot of misinputs so I won’t remark much on it but you need to clean things up from a control and spacing perspective not to mention better decision making is needed. You need to watch these games and realize you’re getting overly aggressive at times and not selecting the optimal options. That Up-B past the stage is ill-advised for example. That drop-down Nair to turn F-tilt should have been a drop-down Nair to Up-tilt which is far quicker and safer. All the small mistakes will add up and give you a loss. Not only that but too often you realize you’ve put yourself in a vulnerable position and try to compensate by going instantly for defensive option like airdodging, rolling or just jumping away when it’s not ideal. It’s much better to play calm.
Practice
One of the best exercises you can do to prepare for the Falcon MU is to have a buddy play Falcon in training mode and have him run at you and try and dash attack or grab. The goal for you is to jab him with your double jab and if the first two land do the third. The goal here is to hone your reaction time and for you to know the spacing for jab by heart. If Falcon hits you, you start over with some space in between, if you hit Falcon it starts over with some space in between. Just repeat this and you will learn. This exercise is extremely effective as Falcon’s main approach is simply to run at you and either dash attack you or grab you.
As Link’s jab shuts down both options this exercise is excellent. You also don’t need to guess as you can jab a Falcon running at you on reaction.
When you get down the basics have your buddy mix it up. They can run at you and then fox trot out or run at you and shield. It’s your goal to avoid getting hit and keep landing jabs.
It’s also very important for you to understand you only jab twice with the third only if the other jabs have landed. Doing the full jabs without confirmation is dangerous and defeats the purpose of the exercise. Also if you find yourself double jabbing and Falcon hasn’t been hit you can crouch and double jab again to avoid the third jab and is the quickest way for you to prime your jabs again.
Against real Falcons they may adapt and try to jump over your jabs but Falcon’s aerials going down are rather poor so you can always up-tilt them. They may also try rolling past you but again these are options that are easy to react to so just getting down this main exercise will help you versus most Falcons.
Mindset
Link’s mindset in this MU is to zone Falcon out. He does so by beating him at the mid-range with Zair and mid-short with Jabs. His retreating options are pivot F-tilt, pivot Jab, run away RAR Zair and retreating Fairs and Zairs. If you utilize your options correctly Falcon will have a hard time getting in.
This MU often goes badly for Link mains when they focus too heavily on projectiles. A bomb pull is an opening, a boomerang, arrow, these are openings. You need to understand what is safe and at what distance.
Remember it is also Falcon's job to break into your zone. If he wants to stay back let him so you have time to setup your bomb field. If he still stays back fire some arrows to remind him who he's playing. Just don't advance on him without good reason as it makes his life far easier if you come to him.
Also as usual keep in mind it's better to avoid damage rather than to take damage. Don't over extend, reset to neutral when in doubt. Link's zoning ability is after all what he is best at.
Two points Links should understand is how useful Soft-thrown bombs are in this MU and how deadly your grab is vs Falcon.
For Soft-thrown bombs whether by running off-stage or retreating JC variation, bombs really slow down a Falcon and cut off his options. For example if you soft throw a bomb and it’s rolling, Falcon can’t run by it as it will blow up. He’ll either shield or jump and you can take advantage of both situations i.e air to air Falcon with Fair, grab him when he shields, etc. Another example is with the bomb right in front of you, a Falcon can’t really dash attack you as he’d grab the bomb as he hits you and thus gets no follow-ups as he’d need to discard it first (unless he’s really familiar with Link bomb usage that is) or it could blow up on him.
As for grabs Link can get an amazing amount of damage on Falcon as he’s a 4/5 on the Down-throw scale.
Captain Falcon: 4/5
0%: The only way to avoid U-tilt is to DJ airdodge frame perfectly, which is why Jab is unavoidable.
10%: The only way to avoid U-tilt is to airdodge into the ground, but Jab is still unavoidable.
20%: The only way to avoid U-tilt is to DI behind Link and airdodge (and technically if they DI behind you, turn-around-Up-B is unavoidable, though whether you want to go for it is up to you).
30%: U-tilt is unavoidable.
40%: As above except U-smash is now also unavoidable.
50%: As above.
60%: FH Nair is unavoidable. U-tilt and U-smash can be avoided by DIing away in front of Link, but U-smash can still be unavoidable if Link dashes in for a frame or two first.
70%: As above.
80%: As above except that Aerial Up-B is now unavoidable. U-tilt and U-smash can be avoided by DIing behind Link, though again, U-smash can still work if Link dashes for a frame or two in the direction of the DI.
90%: As above except U-tilt is now out of range, and Dash to U-smash no longer works for following DI away.
100%: As above except U-smash is now out of range, and Aerial Up-B no longer works.
110%: As above.
120%: FH Nair no longer works. Start going for FH Uairs as airdodge will stop before CF lands, just note that you'll have to dash in first if he DI's away. Nothing guaranteed.
Beyond, FH Uairs as above.
As you can see you have something for Falcon at all percentages all the way to death. It should also be noted that with no rage you could kill Falcon on most stages with Up-throw at 170% and this scales down with rage tiers.
Recall that a Falcon’s main way to approach is to dash attack or grab both of which gets beat out by a pivot grab. You can also condition shields with Zair and jabs so there's many chances to get grabs. Just be careful as Falcons will try and fake you out and can punish hard with FF Up-air combos but needless to say the reward for grabs are excellent.
I’d also like to mention that past 10% all the way to about 50% I would Down-throw -> Up-smash Falcons. While there’s a chance they can get out most Falcons simply don’t know how so you might as well abuse it.
Anyways I don't think this is a bad MU for Link. I actually don't think Falcon is good at all either
I covered two half matches, had to stop 'cause of coughing sorry but can do more when that's all past if you want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPpQj5tU0DEHey DF, not to take away from any of you, i think both of you are knowledgeable in Link MU's, Nimious essay / critique was very insightful, id still want you to go through some of my videos vs the cpt Falcon, maybe you can do it for match #4 and #5, since that video has 5 matches and Nim did it for the first 3 matches.
I know i can learn a lot from both of your inputs and his, hope its ok for you to do it, and Thanks :D
or if you prefer, you can go through some of my videos that are not vs the cpt falcon, although they are random replays cause i forgot to save the replays for all the sets we had that night hehehehe, whatever you think it will be best :D
Pheww!!!!! Man, Nim thanks for this very detail explanation of the Falcon MU and my matches, after reading all of this and watching my videos, i feel like a noob, i see that i need to learn a lot of things, thanks for the advices and I will definitely practice all of what you said. especially, the jabs and the grabs, thanks for all the time you put into this. I will study this and my matches until i get better and get rid of this stupid habbits.
Edit: dang sorry for the double post , didnt realize it until it was done
Thanks man, I feel stupid now after that critique cause im able to see those bad habits hahaha, I have some work to do, after a few weeks when I have fixed this and improve I will upload more videos for you to critique :D, Thanks again for doing this, and yeah i heard the cough, was just that or something else like flu? hope you are better man.
