Vlade's Falco. Updated with Recent Tournament Videos

[Vlade]

Vlade's Falco​

1/3/09

Loser's:

Vlade vs Ghnaschnakoff
1 2

Grand Finals:

Vlade vs Corpsecreate
Set 1: 1 2 3 4

Set 2: 2 3 4 (1 didn't get recorded)


Please note that I gotten rid of my older vids in this thread, since these new ones are much better I haven't deleted the old vids from youtube though if you still want to watch them.

Feel free to rate, critique, comment and subscribe. And make sure you watch in high quality!

 

[Mith_]

oh yeahz u got vids up .

This forum requires that you wait 30 seconds between posts. Please try again in 1 seconds.

 

[mongoosedog927]

Your Falco, for any Falco's standard, is too agressive. Your falco needs to lay back more. Use IAPs to create spacing and use lasers especially against wario (no range).

You had a good hold on the match at the beginning. But towards the end of the match, you got too reckless and Wario was able to predict , shield, and punish you for this reckless approach.

Good use of pivot boost grab.

Practice with lasers SHL, SHDL, reverse SHL and reverse SHDL. Watch and study Seth's laser game (best imo). Learn and apply these and more applications of Falco's lasers.

Besides that your Falco is quite good.

 

[ftl]

You shouldn't need us to tell you this, but you did mess up the spike at the end of the CG on the first stock, and that's a big deal. Fix that issue ASAP. (Though you did get it fine the other times, I guess it was a fluke.)
...and on the second and third stocks, you overestimated how long your invincibility frames on the edge last, and got hit by Wario's recovery (one of those even killed you with a stage-spike.) That's something that shouldn't happen - there's no need to get yourself killed in a situation where you're in total control. Learn how long the invincibility frames last and get off the edge at the end of that, or regrab the edge or something, but don't get hit, that's a situation where you really shouldn't be taking that extra damage.

 

[Vlade]

Yeah I think I mess up the CG to spike once more in the videos I'm going to upload. I doesn't normally happen, but no johns I guess. And yes those invincibility frames, now that you tell me, I certainly do overestimate how long they last, and lost momentum whenever I did.

I certainly did get too reckless towards the end of the match, I wasn't spacing myself well enough I guess. Is it still ok to play aggressively, but not as aggressively as I currently do? But yes towards the end Richard7 was shielding/dodging all my lasers, and I was desperate for the kill.

Anyway thanks for the critique so far guys, please keep it up. I expect some more from those that have already posted after I upload some more vids.

 

[XxBlackxX]

your falco is pretty good. here's the way im going to critique vids from now on (stolen from the marth boards again xD)

0.33 what happened? that shouldn't be a mistake you are making.
0.34-0.59 you did quite well in this section, making almost no mistakes
1.14 you should have learned the timing of invinicibility by now, you should not have gotten hit with his recovery, especially when you are already in control like that
1.23 you are in the % lead. instead of camping like what falco does best, you rush in and luckily for you you hit him with nair. this goes for a lot of the rest of match.
2.31 there goes mistiming the invincibilty again. learn to do it better lol
2.40 why exactly did you fair? fair on the stage is almost always a bad idea
2.57 lol grounded lasers
3.08 you get hit with bike. there was plenty of time to avoid the move
3.08-end you DI rather poorly, get too aggressive and nair right into his shield when it was already up. he punishes and you die.


basically, playing aggressively is a tool. use it when you need it. not all the time. falco outcamps wario (duh), so use that to your advantage. other than that, practice timing the ledge invincibility and work on your laser game.

EDIT: overall though, nice falco im looking forward to seeing the rest

 

[Vlade]

Double post, I know, but I finished uploading the other videos so please come and critique!

Thanks for the critique Black, I look forward to the your next critiques

EDIT: Maybe it isn't a double post lol

 

[XxBlackxX]

Double post, I know, but I finished uploading the other videos so please come and critique!

i'll be out for a few hours and come back to critique those.


RESERVED.

 

[Denzi]

I'll critique them as soon as I have time to watch them, which will hopefully be soon.

ALSO RESERVED.

 

[gunterrsmash01]

Nice Falco man. You definetly know Falco inside and out. What you need to work on however is knowing your opponents character too. There were things about Wario that i could tell you did not know about. For example you shieldgrabbed his Dair a bit too late, just learn the timing for that.

Your offensive game is strong, but your defensive game needs some work. Just remember, theres no rule in the game saying you HAVE to approach your opponent. Slow it down, laser from far away, and then punish whatever your opponent does when he approaches you.

Basically, 4 things you should work on.
1. Knowing the opponents character (aka know the matchup)
2. The times you should approach and the times you shouldnt
3. stay unpredictable.
4. DI, there were times i saw you didnt DI warios smashes at all, and it got you killed.

in an even more shorter version: Be more defensive, less aggressive.

Good falco though, defintely like the way you walk more than you run, very smart. again your offensive game is strong, its just your defense

 

[Vlade]

Thanks very much Ozz, you're certainly correct about the fact that I don't know very much about the falco vs wario match-up. I'll work on my defensive game since I guess that's falco's most important aspect. In the first match I think I could've survived that bair if I DI'ed, oh well.

Thanks very much for the critique, and keep them coming!

 

[cman]

I have an urge to pick up falco. Anyway, despite not knowing much about falco, mind if I point out a few things?

 

[Vlade]

Go for it. Please be blunt with whatever you have to say!

 

[cman]

Ok :D For the third video:

0:20~ Should have been an easy edgehog, but you decided to grab the ledge earlier. After making the decision that you did, you should have stayed on the ledge since he wasted his midair jump, then dropped and baired him as he jumped off the bike, and that would have nullified your first mistake. You such had an incredible advantage here in terms of positioning that it should have been a stock.

0:24~ You jumped and naired while he hung on the ledge. Correct me if I am wrong about this, but Falco's nair does not hit below horizontal. Therefore, what you did sacrificed you positional advantage for something that had a low reward and low chance of succeeding. You should have waited for him to make a move, then reacted, because afaik wario does not have any terribly good options off the ledge.

0:36~ The fullhop nair was really telegraphed.

1:00~ You gave up the positional advantage here again for no reason, and further put yourself in a spot that is very dangerous, being both below your opponent and below the ledge. It worked out well, but it really shouldn't have.

1:55~ Wario wiffed a down smash, and you didn't punish the mistake.

1:58~ Warrior was in a fairly safe place due to his bike shield, and you are winning, so you should not have approached. It probably would have been better to destroy the bike first, or just wait for him. He would have to leave his spot eventually since you were in the lead.

2:20~ Wtf?

2:38~ He was charging a forward smash, and you jumped into it. You managed to shield it, but it was still very risky, and you may have even been in killing range (I don't know the percent that a fully charged wario fsmash would kill falco from there, but i suspect you were close). You should have stood just outside its range, and punished after he wiffed. It would have been much safer and equally effective.

2:58~ There no reason to keep following him with non guaranteed follow ups at that point. At your percent, it was a high risk, low reward move, and you got punished and killed for it. You were still in the lead, so you could have just lasered and waited for him to make a mistake.

3:05~ You held your shield slightly too long. There was a chance to punish, although small.

3:06-end~ He pretty much just outplayed you on the last stock. He kept you at a situational disadvantage or neutral for pretty the entire last stock, except for a brief moment from like 3:17-3:20, but you were unable to capitalize, so it reset to neutral right after.

Overall, your main mistakes were making mediocre decisions in various situations. That is definitely one of the toughest aspects of smash, and so much harder to do well in-harder than to critique afterwards. Even pro's screw up a fair amount (see EL's critique of Hylian vs Roy_R match). You looked quite good though, and should have had the match if not for two moments though. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[akkon888]

Alright. Let me start off by saying what was good. Your recovering was brilliant, and in one case your recovery killed your opponent. Your technique was very good also. You were able to execute actions with good precision.

But, the problems swallowed up this. For one, I kept seeing you use D-Throw, and although it's a good move, if you use it that frequently, you can become predictable and the opponent can easily counter. Also, I saw very little spacing. You could roll dodge, but also, USE THAT REFLECTOR. That reflector is great for edgeguarding, spacing, and killing units mid-air. Try using the Shorthop>D-Air combo. F-Air should not be used on this level to otfen, but you can use it to confuse the enemy, aka mindgame. You got very agressive, if not reckless at the last portion of the fight, and I never saw you use shield for the last minute of the match. Try roll dodging in front and behind him, and get him with a quick smash, one of Falco's best Pros. Don't use beam to often, Battlefield has 3 levels of platforms, so there is a high chance that your beam will miss. Just remember that even though he can't be as heavily punish as someone like Ike or Ganondorf, he can be punished, so don't go all out.

My two cents.

 

[mongoosedog927]

I think Ozz pretty much hit the nail on the head. When I said your Falco was too agressive, I was going for what Ozz said about how your Falco's defensive game is weaker than your offensive game. I know I'm not the best critiquer in the world but...

Anyways, great contribution Ozz and great Falco Vlade. =D

 

[XxBlackxX]

Alright. Let me start off by saying what was good. Your recovering was brilliant, and in one case your recovery killed your opponent. Your technique was very good also. You were able to execute actions with good precision.

But, the problems swallowed up this. For one, I kept seeing you use D-Throw, and although it's a good move, if you use it that frequently, you can become predictable and the opponent can easily counter. Also, I saw very little spacing. You could roll dodge, but also, USE THAT REFLECTOR. That reflector is great for edgeguarding, spacing, and killing units mid-air. Try using the Shorthop>D-Air combo. F-Air should not be used on this level to otfen, but you can use it to confuse the enemy, aka mindgame. You got very agressive, if not reckless at the last portion of the fight, and I never saw you use shield for the last minute of the match. Try roll dodging in front and behind him, and get him with a quick smash, one of Falco's best Pros. Don't use beam to often, Battlefield has 3 levels of platforms, so there is a high chance that your beam will miss. Just remember that even though he can't be as heavily punish as someone like Ike or Ganondorf, he can be punished, so don't go all out.

My two cents.

killing units mid-air?

dude, this isn't advance wars >_>

anyways, of course dthrow is okay to use repeatedly because it's called a CHAINGRAB and unescapable. also, beam? wtf? it's called lasers lmao.
anyways, there's nothing wrong with spamming lasers against someone like wario IF AND ONLY IF you are at a safe distance, i mean, what's gonna happen to you if you miss? nothing.

EDIT: but i agree with more shine usage, it's priority makes it useful for spacing, though you would be screwed if they predict it.

 

[Hyo]

^Hmm I dunno. I find SH shines if spaced properly are quite effective. +as a ledge guard+

That being said, Falco has a multitude of options, so it's really hard to narrow it down to just one.

 

[Vlade]

Thanks for the critiques so far guys, please keep them coming!

This sunday is tournament day and I gotta prepare

 

[mr.fizwidget]

yeah dont use beam too much......

 

[Runawayfire]

Ok, I rarely do critiques and they might sound slightly vague but I truly think if you improve these 2 things you'll improve the most, seeing as you already know what Falco is about.

1. Aggresiveness (as others have said), but more specifically Lasers: generally Falco's always laser backward as opposed to forward, this allows you to limit your opponents options outside of danger, if you laser forward you're lasering into the danger. This leads into...

2. Spacing: Knowing your character's advantage/disadvantage ranges is still pretty much the most important part of your character. In match one and two you give up advantageous positions a lot due to #1. You have to be a little gayer/meaner about this, Falco makes characters come to him, not really the otherway around. Also with advantageous positioning it makes it MUCH easier to predict your opponent cause they already have bad options...

Proper spacing+ Lasers = Too **** for Falco, I always think that Falco's aren't lasering enough when I watch their videos hahaha.

Nice bair punching

Edit: Oh also, you overuse nair into your grounded opponent sometimes, and you got punished for it a lot.

Also for the Wario matchup here's a video of me ****** a pretty good Wario:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlJ8g89Z6_A
Should help a bit.

 

[Viox]

Looks like you got the criticism you came for so ill just say this, you're way too offensive.

 

[Vlade]

Thanks very much Minus. You're definitely right about those 2 points. I need to learn not to give away advantageous positions and space myself. I'll work on lasering backward as well.

Bair punching ftw

After watching that video I now know what spacing is ideal.

Thanks once again.

 

[Vlade]

Updated with new vids.

Please critique. I've tried to work on spacing and playing more defensively.

 

[Hyo]

Such.. beautiful video quality.

Btw, you don't run enough from TL. You should.

 

[Recoil]

Sorry for not leaving any criticism, but what do you use to record your videos with? They are really nice quality :O

 

[Vlade]

I'm very glad to hear that you guys like the quality

Here's a guide I wrote on how I record my videos. I use a Dazzle Video Creator Platinum (Dazzle DVC 170). The guide should refer to any dazzle of model number 100 or higher, but extremely specified for DVC 170.

Guide: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=217934

And yeah, I'm still sort of learning the toon link match up Hyo. Got any more hints? This toon link player is insane lol, he wins most of the tournaments here. I rarely beat him, and if I do, it's on FD, BF or SV.

Help!

 

[J4pu]

against the ROB what I noticed was your recovery flaws, you phantasm'ed over the top a lot which got you punished since the free fall + after-lag is hard to not punish, you should always sweetspot the edge or go barely onto the stage, (if there is a platform it is ok to go barely onto that) but minimize falling time as much as possible. Unpredictability in recovering doesn't do you any good if being that unpredictable also gives them the time to make up for their surprise.

 

[Jupz]

hopefully i can play u at the next tourney

nice falco. hes my second best character after DDD. ur falcos probably better then mine but all u need to work on is probably playing more defensivly (i never do it either, though i probably will in a tourney), and there was a few opportunities for a boost smash/gatling combo

 

[Vlade]

against the ROB what I noticed was your recovery flaws, you phantasm'ed over the top a lot which got you punished since the free fall + after-lag is hard to not punish, you should always sweetspot the edge or go barely onto the stage, (if there is a platform it is ok to go barely onto that) but minimize falling time as much as possible. Unpredictability in recovering doesn't do you any good if being that unpredictable also gives them the time to make up for their surprise.

You're certainly right. I just didn't want my phantasm to be edgehogged I should at least minimise falling time, although there were times when I was being edgeguarded with fairs and I was desperate to get back onto the stage.

I'll sweetspot more often than not from now on

@ Jupz: I don't see any reason why people should gattling combo. I'd rather save my usmash for kills.

 

[kewl_niven]

That ROB was a noob.

 

[Jupz]

yeah your right vlade but gatling is usually done at low percents and by the time high percent has come the upsmash is usually replenished

 

[Vlade]

More critiques please.

 

[Shaya]

Hey Vlade

Watched the recent tourney videos:

Falco has more than just dthrow. After the chain grab percents gone, always going for things that never worked (i.e. dthrow to dair, 100% of the time air dodged) was wasting the potential of other moves and their ability for set ups. In your thought process, you have to be aware of all the options so if one doesn't work, you can mix it up with another.

I am a fan of Falco's aerial control, and hence I use bthrow, because afterwards I can always follow up with SHL/SHDL, pressure with the potential upsmash, or go for bair chains.

Overall (I don't consider myself a falco expert, so take it with a grain of salt), I didn't see much use of any moves [that hit] other than dthrow, lasers, jab and usmash. I coudn't see much flow or rhythm in your playing either. I would round that down to the feeling I never really saw you pressuring at all, or trying to put your opponent into a difficult position. Nor did I observe much of outsmarting (mindgames son ) when you gained the advantage more than your opponent making a mistake.

Also I saw too much dash grabbing... *ouch*.

P.S. How come you guys never post the actual tournament results/placings (from Perth)? You know I'm interested in that stuff, no matter the number of entrants.

 

[Vlade]

So what you're saying is, mix it up more, and try to keep a 'rhythm' (aka keeping pressure as much as possible)? Sounds difficult lol, but I'll work on that.

 

[Shaya]

What seperates high tiers from low tiers is their ability to have MANY answers to MANY situations. I felt that in all those matches you would always answer any situation with just one answer.

In a match up that is in Falco's favour (TL, even if only slightly), one of the reasons he most definitely outplayed you was he would always expect that 'one answer', and luckily TL isn't that bad of a character to counter the one response.... WHEN EXPECTED. When the mid tiers come along, they can generally answer all situations, but only if they know what is about to occur.

Take top tier example, i.e. Snake's dthrow. No character in the game, high, mid or low has a definitive response to it, it always comes down to prediction. To further improve you need to expand your horizons, and think a lot deeper about the 'essence of a fighting game' than you are at the moment. For Falco, it can simply come from the fact he has FOUR different throws that ignite 4 completely different situations, where you have so many many possible actions to take after those that mostly all characters can't counter all. Just like how I said bthrow to either lasers, fear of usmash or bair chains. Hell we're all aware how laser pressure can then go into an usmash, it's practically an undefeatable predicament for the opponent once they're placed there. That's what I refer to as the 'pressure' that I didn't see you do much of...

 

[TechnoMonster]

In general you should continue to use D-throw unless a particular throw would put them off of the stage, or in particular with F-throw + DI away to create a bad recovery angle. U-throw is good at B-air and U-air kill percents. D-throw to N-air or D-throw to jab + followups are very valid damage builders after CG percents and even if they dodge it, you have advantage. If dodging is predictable simply D-throw to boost smash.

I see what you're saying with B-throw definitely, and you can definitely learn the throw well and make it effective (and you should), but I think D-throw is his best throw at all percents, and with constant use can be a very effective mindgame.

 

[Shaya]

It all comes down to style. Dthrow is still effective after cg percents, definitely.

But only doing dthrow to a dair that's airdodged then usually punished isn't [effective].

And for Falco it isn't all about throws either, but it is quite pivotal to him.

 

[Vlade]

So after dthrow should I short hop, wait, then attack with jab, utilt or something?

Also, after watching my vids at a critical point of view, I noticed I got punished a lot when I messed up my spacing and used an aerial while I was SHL'ing, only to be shieldgrabbed.

Should I do empty short hops and then grab to combat this?

Also, what you said about me not using many moves that hit other than jab, dthrow, lasers, etc. is true in the toon link video. But when I versed the ROB player I was actually able to connect with a variety of moves. How come I just couldn't hit with other moves against the toon link player? Any ideas? I'm bugged.

What seperates high tiers from low tiers is their ability to have MANY answers to MANY situations. I felt that in all those matches you would always answer any situation with just one answer.

In a match up that is in Falco's favour (TL, even if only slightly), one of the reasons he most definitely outplayed you was he would always expect that 'one answer', and luckily TL isn't that bad of a character to counter the one response.... WHEN EXPECTED. When the mid tiers come along, they can generally answer all situations, but only if they know what is about to occur.

Take top tier example, i.e. Snake's dthrow. No character in the game, high, mid or low has a definitive response to it, it always comes down to prediction. To further improve you need to expand your horizons, and think a lot deeper about the 'essence of a fighting game' than you are at the moment. For Falco, it can simply come from the fact he has FOUR different throws that ignite 4 completely different situations, where you have so many many possible actions to take after those that mostly all characters can't counter all. Just like how I said bthrow to either lasers, fear of usmash or bair chains. Hell we're all aware how laser pressure can then go into an usmash, it's practically an undefeatable predicament for the opponent once they're placed there. That's what I refer to as the 'pressure' that I didn't see you do much of...

I've just been talking to the toon link player, and I asked him why I couldn't beat him lol. He said that he could exploit situations where he could punish me. Trouble is, I'm not exactly sure of SPECIFIC situations where I could mix it up. But I realised what he said related to EXACTLY what you were trying to say. But I don't know what sort of answers to respond with, if I don't even know the situation.

 

[Shaya]

Try to look at your videos with the scope of this:

"Could have I done something better?"
You'll probably be able to point such things out, if using simple rules like "I just got hit when I didnt want to"

2. Is he doing something over and over?
I gave a pretty prime example I saw continually throughout the vids:
"You would do a dthrow and then ALWAYS go for a dair".
He would always respond by AIR DODGING
IF the opponent is responding to something you were trying to do, in a positive manner, there are PATTERNS. IF IT ISNT WORKING, AND HES DOING THE SAME RESPONSE, MIX MIX MIX IT UP
So I say to you, he was AIR DODGING.

What do you do?
Boost Smash? Laser to Boost Smash? Another GOD **** GRAB!?

Now what happens after you mix IT UP by doing something as simple as just chasing him and grabbing him?

IF HE IS A GOOD PLAYER, HE WILL REALISE IT [AIR DODGING] ISN'T WORKING AND WILL DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. PERHAPS PUNISHABLE THINGS. i.e. he realises you're going in for the dash grab, he decides to jump then dair.

Well, now you're thinking hee hee hee, so after the dair, and his jump, you dash forward and shield. The dair comes falling; you're shielding, he bounces, you jump and bair or laser him a couple of times... or GOOD GOLLY YOU GO FOR A DAIR AGAINST HIM.



It's called pressure. :D