What Stages Benefit Samus?

[Avro-Arrow]

Hey guys! I play a bit of Samus and I was just wondering which stages are generally advantageous to Samus. I already know about FoD, DL and PS as her best but asides from that I'm generally unsure (I know FD kinda sucks, but I like it innately). I'd also like to know specific matchup stage choices/bans.

 

[JerkPhil]

All stage benefits depends on both your opponent and their character. Like... if you're facing an aggressive Falco or Fox, pick DL64. If they are campy and defensive, rather consider FoD or YS.

All characters has a harder time recovering on BF. If you're positive you'll be the one edge guarding rather than recovering, pick it.

PS is good if you don't want to approach as it's easy to spam missiles there. Also there's no top platform for your opponent to dodge them.

FD is for when you think your opponent benefits from the platforms more than you do. I was playing a Samus ditto at the last regional, and he was much faster than me using platforms (missiles and wavelands), so I counterpicked FD and JV3'd him as FD crippled him more than it crippled me.

If you'd like my general opinion about stages in certain match ups, just ask.

 

[Avro-Arrow]

Geez I wonder, which stage did he ban? At any rate, kudos to you, and thanks for the advice.

As of right now, I'd like to hear about a lot of matchups, but Marth would be a nice place to start.

 

[JerkPhil]

It was a best of 5 set, so no bans.

These are just my opinions, and they apply mostly to my own play style and preferences.

Marth juggles Samus easily. It's really hard to get down to the stage once Marth got us airborne. I think it's easier to recover from the side. Therefore when I'm above Marth, I try to reach the edge as Marth can't really follow us far off stage without risking too much.
DL64 is still a great stage for Samus, and a bad stage for Marth.

My stage order of preference is DL64>FoD>YS>PS>BF>FD vs Marth.

 

[Avro-Arrow]

DL64 is still a great stage for Samus, and a bad stage for Marth.

My stage order of preference is DL64>FoD>YS>PS>BF>FD vs Marth.

Could you please explain your rationale for your order of FoD > YS > PS?

Samus' grapple sees use on FoD, but as someone who plays some Marth, I'd just ledgehop dair that unsweetspotted recovery. Plus, doesn't Marth do well on YS despite Samus' platform/missile game there, and despite her being able to kill quickly with dsmash, nair and dair > bair? However, I can see PS' drawbacks too... harder to get kills and more ~FD, even though she has a great missile game there?

Thanks again in advance.

 

[JerkPhil]

FoD is easy to recover on as you mentioned. Also, it's narrow (easier to reach edges if you get juggled) but still has a big blastzone.
YS is similar to FoD but much smaller blastzone, but the platforms are better.
Both these stages' top platform is at a perfect height for our upB when we need to escape.

There are platforms or structures on all the transformations of PS to help us get back down. As you mentioned, the normal transformation's platforms are good for missiles, and the platforms are not at the edge for Marth to recover on. He has to land on stage or go for the ledge, so it's easier for us to edgeguard. Also, Samus doesn't get many vertical KOs, but Marth does in this match up.
PS is still very wide, so it can be hard to get down, and the platforms also means auto tippered Fsmash.

 

[Avro-Arrow]

FoD is easy to recover on as you mentioned. Also, it's narrow (easier to reach edges if you get juggled) but still has a big blastzone.
YS is similar to FoD but much smaller blastzone, but the platforms are better.
Both these stages' top platform is at a perfect height for our upB when we need to escape.

There are platforms or structures on all the transformations of PS to help us get back down. As you mentioned, the normal transformation's platforms are good for missiles, and the platforms are not at the edge for Marth to recover on. He has to land on stage or go for the ledge, so it's easier for us to edgeguard. Also, Samus doesn't get many vertical KOs, but Marth does in this match up.
PS is still very wide, so it can be hard to get down, and the platforms also means auto tippered Fsmash.

Ahh I see. So does it basically come down to personal preference then? For me, I'd favour FoD and PS over YS in all likelihood.

 

[JerkPhil]

There are different opinions about how to play Samus vs Marth. It also depends on your play style, and the Marth's play style.

So yes... personal preference is a factor in all match ups.

 

[Avro-Arrow]

There are different opinions about how to play Samus vs Marth. It also depends on your play style, and the Marth's play style.

So yes... personal preference is a factor in all match ups.

With me, I feel like I move around PS pretty well, so I like it there. Plus I have a ton of experience on FD with a lot of characters.

How would you describe your playstyle?

 

[JerkPhil]

I consider myself as a defensive low-risk low-reward type of player. I don't move around a lot, and I let my opponent approach for most of the time.
Here's the only footage of me vs Marth btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeffSKRMUH4

 

[xleo_samusx]

As many Samus's have trouble with Shiek, where would a Samus take a campy needly Shiek?

 

[343]

small stage, probably (fountain or yoshi's)

 

[BillNyeTheSamusGuy]

Yoshi's is a preferred stage for plup, hugs, duck, darrel, cause the platforms are great for tech chases making samus punish a lot harder. Plus, as has been mentioned, the top platform is at a good height to up b to.

I feel yoshi's is a bad pick vs sheik cuz fair will kill you heck early.

 

[Ringedge]

Fountain is a pretty good stage in general for Samus, that should be your default CP unless it gets banned.

 

[BillNyeTheSamusGuy]

Fountain is a pretty good stage in general for Samus, that should be your default CP unless it gets banned.

No such thing as a default counterpick. Do you really wanna get midair dsmashed by peach? Or let puff live forever? Or give falcon more recovery options? Or lose your missile canceling?

 

[Ringedge]

No such thing as a default counterpick. Do you really wanna get midair dsmashed by peach? Or let puff live forever? Or give falcon more recovery options? Or lose your missile canceling?

I don't know what you mean by midair dsmash but for the other things, you can kill puff off the side pretty easy, in general she dies easily. Falcon being able to go deep and wall jump really isn't that big of a deal, you can cover it just as you would cover his normal recovery from under the ledge. Missile cancelling works well on FoD except for the little bit of time when both platforms drop.

 

[343]

the only characters I wouldn't want to pick FoD against are... Peach, Ganon, DK, and maybe Marth

characters I would always want to pick FoD against: Fox, Falco, Falcon

 

[cisyphus]

I don't know what you mean by midair dsmash but for the other things, you can kill puff off the side pretty easy, in general she dies easily. Falcon being able to go deep and wall jump really isn't that big of a deal, you can cover it just as you would cover his normal recovery from under the ledge. Missile cancelling works well on FoD except for the little bit of time when both platforms drop.

Midair down smash is when peach sits on those side platforms and threatens it constantly. This hurts Samus a lot due to her tall hurtbox.
Puffs know how to DI really well in my experiences, but I don't much understand how FoD is bad in that regard. The side blast zones are pretty close. I suppose if you down smash a lot then Fountain's relatively high ceiling doesn't help. Yoshi's is better in general, though, which I think is enough to say in countering your generalization.
Falcon gets the option to recover high as well—Falcons generally try not to have to sweetspot because it's hard. The close and varied platforms makes covering those harder, especially when the Falcon edge cancels his up b. I'd still say Fountain is best for this matchup though, although Yoshi's is far from bad.
Missile cancelling is way harder on FoD considering there's only two or three heights that it can actually be done optimally (that is SH MC into Isai/Shai/etc drop into a second MC landing).