Why can't i beat my Plebeian friends

[ThotAssassin98]

I have played both competitive melee and Smash 4 for just under a year (melee around 3-5 months). My tech skill in melee is good enough to place me in tournaments, but yet when i play against my friends (who solo play smash 4 and spam c-stick with every character - no tech skill) i just cant beat them. I use everything i have to try and play like i do but its the same with me for both games. The only character i can win with is my Falcon in melee, in which i spam the side b to knee combo. My main; falco, my movement goes sloppy and my combos turn to mush, i can barely get around the stage without SD'ing with a side B when i'm trying to pillar with my shine. This has been the case since i started melee and leaves me little to no practice as i can only very rarely attend tourneys due to my sunday work schedule. Pls give me advice on how to train without using them as a training partner.

 

[Pauer]

my movement goes sloppy and my combos turn to mush, i can barely get around the stage without SD'ing with a side B when i'm trying to pillar with my shine.

well maybe work on that. You can easily grind a lot of those problems out by yourself. Do you have the 20XX hack pack?

 

[-ACE-]

Are they spamming Marth fsmash? Most characters can wavedash oos and grab that unless it's a tipper. You can also run in and wavedash back to bait the fsmash then punish. Learn wd oos. It's so much better than rolling in lots of situations.

 

[kevlar]

If you are having a hard time losing to spammy players, cheese them back. Camp them hard, gimmick them, etc. You don't have to be too flashy, just let their bad habits come out, take notice and punish them. In the case of a fsmash happy Marth, a simple dashdance toward, then away can cause them to whiff and give you an opening.

 

[dvatch]

Sounds to me like youre scared. I do the same thing when im over 100% and im playing against fox upsmash. You probably can hit side b --> knee because its so easy that its impossible to mess up. Just practice your tech skill and whatever the people above suggested until it becomes so easy its impossible to mess up.

 

[SSG SAX GAMER]

Make sure you never tech towards them or behind them, always tech away. falco's laser can help whenever you see a charging smash attack.

 

[ThotAssassin98]

well maybe work on that. You can easily grind a lot of those problems out by yourself. Do you have the 20XX hack pack?

I do have the hack pack, only problem is i dont have a computer that can run it up to the same kind of level (mackbook air 2013 model). Most of the things i practice on it is just sparring

 

[Pauer]

I do have the hack pack, only problem is i dont have a computer that can run it up to the same kind of level (mackbook air 2013 model). Most of the things i practice on it is just sparring

It's probably best to practice with 20XX on a wii with a crt and not on a PC. What's your regular setup?

The problems you're having against your friends will not necessarily be solved with better punishes or something like that. I pointed it out because you mentioned you had issues with it and it's very straight forward to practice it on your own but it will take time until you see results.
You can probably start winning all matches against them if you start implementing some very basic movement and incorporate waits to bait out their smash attacks and rolls. That however isn't as straightforward as practicing tech skill and requires some thinking and discipline to pull off in your matches. The other people who commented on the thread have added some more tips in that regard.

 

[Jonah Thunder]

Just punish accordingly. The neat thing about knowing what noobish people are going to do is that you don't have to guess. You don't need to go for fancy things; you only need that level of tech skill when your opponent has it too. Just play the fundamentals. Throw out hitboxes, abuse your short hop lasers and down airs with Falco.

Most importantly, though, don't let losing to someone worse than you get in your head, because once it does you won't win until you can push it out.

 

[Fortress | Sveet]

This is how you beat your scrubby friends

 

[Mr Snak3_]

I remember seeing on reddit or some other site 'bait and punish' playing Marth with spacing helps a lot

 

[Onmitsu]

Well how far is your tech skill? There is a point where you get worse at the game. Playing people without tech skill is completely different because they do things you don't expect since it's usually bad, or just only used in rare cases in the competitive scene

 

[Wechey]

Work on your flaws.