Why do you main marth?

[djmath]

I've been playing competitively for nearly 2 years now and I'm having a main identity crisis. Marth is my best character because I have the most experience and matchup knowledge with him. I love moving around the stage with marth and doing cool grab/aerial combos, but recently I've found that playing the neutral game with marth is tedious and boring. Dash dancing and baiting my opponent feels rude; if I'm going to hit you I want it to be because I started it not because I tricked you into making a mistake. I don't like waiting for fox on the top platform to stop camping. I don't like getting bodied by sheiks just because I'm not patient enough to respect the character. I don't like marth's tools for dealing with defensive opponents. But at the same time, I'm not good enough and I don't have the time to commit to switching to fox, or preferably falco. The amount of tech skill training I would have to do for my falco to be able to beat my marth would be immense and I would have to lose to people that I normally 2 stock just to play as a character that better suits my aggressive playstyle. I love marth's punish game, but there's something about spacies that just gets my blood going.

Is there something I'm missing with the prince of altea? Should I not give up on him just yet? Or should I take to the skies and pressure opponents from literally anywhere on the stage and 0-death them without hesitation?

Why do you main marth, what makes marth your homeboy?

 

[AirFair]

dash dancing is not just a bait. It's also an approach as well. While one of the main premises behind dash dancing's effectiveness comes through it's use as a strong baiting tactic, the ability to dash into an opponent's range and still be safe is extremely useful, especially when your dash is so long. Marth can dashdance in a variety of ranges, and acts differently depending on which. Most of the time, his goal is to impose his effective range while keeping perfectly safe of opponents threats. This is done through stage control and good use of dash and wavedash, which can be done to weave in and out of opponent's space, making them respect your range.

With this range you also have an extraordinary poke. The only straight line hitbox you have, dtilt. IASA of 20 frames and a hitbox so low to the ground makes this an amazing extension of your already amazing range. You can observe opponent's reactions to your dtilt on their shield, or just your dashes in and away.

On top of that, the sick punishes that marth has with his disjointed hitbox are also very effective and you are capable of completely shutting down opponents, if not put them in bad positions with just one touch.

In sum. Marth's neutral game isn't boring, it's patient. Patiently waiting to destroy.

 

[Elyssa Xey Hexen]

Fire emblem.

Can zero death anyone in the game.

Greasy.

Tiara.

 

[AirFair]

YEAH LOL HE"S SO ANIME XDDDDDDDDDDD

 

[Hunybear]

I am a super aggressive Marth and like you I went through a time where I thought his tools didn't fit my play style. I am happy to say that with a change of mentality me and my home boy Marth are playing better than we ever have!
What helped me was changeing my perception of aggression.
Instead of viewing aggression as Always over extending with hopes of getting a heavy Combo started, I switched the focus of my aggression from getting a hit to moving as good as possible. The fastest, slickest movement I can make while still remaining actionable, practical and safe.
After I made this switch in focus I've been playing 100% better.

 

[Janky_CNF]

(Pointing out the obvious, M2K's Marth is godlike so I was obviously influenced by him mainly.)

One reason why I main Marth is his unique toolset. He isn't fast or too slow, he doesn't have a projectile but he has range. He plays strong both on the ground and offstage, and tippers can give him early kills around 70 given bad DI. His stage picks are also really good, as he doesn't truly have a bad stage (It's not like FD for Sheik, Dreamland isn't all that bad for Marth imo. So long as you remain under them, the sword should still hit them. Plus, you live longer in Fox/Marth and other volatile matchups where Marth gets bopped at 80%.)

His matchup spread is amazing, he has the best non-spacies toolset to defeat space animals, he also does well against some floaty characters, and Marth dittos are just so much fun because they practically go to the more skilled Marth, unlike something like Falcon dittos where you just knee and nair to win with a little bit of spacing. The only matchup within the top 8 characters that I don't like as Marth and insist on switching are Sheik, Falcon, and IC's. (I'll go Sheik, Sheik/Fox, Fox)

He's the first character I picked up when I played the game as a kid, I loved swords and swordfighters and even though I loved Young Link, Marth inevitably grew on me. Even now, as a competitive player I still love Marth. (By the way, color tierlist : Black/Blue > Red > Green > White [Sorry Moon]) Something about patiently waiting in neutral to suddenly strike is the most glorious thing to me, and chaingrabbing spacies is just too much fun for me.

So in summary, I like Marth cause he's a flamboyant anime prince who uses the force and plays very very smooth and is good.

 

[djmath]

thanks for all of the replies and advice, keep them coming if you're just reading this. I will consider whether or not I am patient enough to play marth, or can become patient enough to play him. Glad to get a positive response

 

[A_Reverie]

Mostly because Marth's design just happens to be really well thought out, and it just works. Aside from deeper reasons that I'll explain in a moment, Marth's matchups are all doable and in my opinion very fun to play.

He doesn't have anything gimmicky or "jank," he's just wonderful game design. Marth fits into Melee's design in an amazing way. I think he and Falcon have next-to perfect design in their normals (A moves) and their movement in a way that hasn't really been seen in any other smash game.

To be more specific in Marth's case, the main design is that he rewards precision. Putting the sweet spot at the tip of his sword was a great design choice. This creates a plethora of strategies and playstyles that all revolve around that one thing: precision. This goes hand in hand with his well designed moveset/frame data. His attacks are quick, greatly disjointed, and punishing if aimed well, however, his attacks are not very active and aren't a lasting threat. This allows for counterplay while still enabling Marth to have his strengths without them being neutered by something silly. Winning and even losing with Marth can reveal a lot about what you're doing right or wrong. It all boils down to that precision.

The next reason is more beneath the surface. Marth's power and control allows you to play very mentally. At high levels, you start to learn how to tune in to your opponent's intentions in movement. You can really feel the fear in an opponent being effectively zoned. Stuff like this really makes playing Marth a satisfying experience. Discovering a new way to outwit someone and take their stock as a result is something that never gets old.

 

[Xxaz_v]

If you main Marth, you're most likely a person that doesn't want others to have fun while you Ken combo them for the fourth time.

Basically playing snake in PM.

 

[AirFair]

Someone doesn't know how to DI........

 

[ShadowKing]

The Ken *M2k* combo and his Amazing combo game