D20
Smash Lord
Warning: This is work in progress and, when complete, it will be a very long read. I hope you enjoy what I have so far...
I created this thread just to share my tournament experiences with Young Link, and for others to share their own. Perhaps we can all learn a thing or two about playing YL in a tournament setting.
Just a little bit about myself first... I have only been a competitive smasher since November of 2006 (a little over 3 and half months). In that time, I have been to 6 cash tournaments, for all of which I mained YL. I have done fairly well at these small tourneys (the average turnout has been around 17 with a low of 12 and a high of 25 smashers), but have yet to break into the top 3. I'm not really going to discuss my first tourney because any mistakes can be blamed on lack of experience and jitters and success can be attributed to luck (for the record, I placed 5th out of 21).
Now that we have that out of the way, I can really discuss what goes on at the other tourneys. Over the 5 tourneys that I plan on describing, I will share everything that worked and everything that didn't. My progression will become clear by the end, and hopefully you guys will be able to make the transition from just another low-tier player to a scary medieval machine of destruction (that was a bit over the top, but whatever) faster than I did. "n00bs" and seasoned players alike will hopefully get something out of this post since it illustrates common tournament scenarios. The newcomers will benefit the most from the first tournaments I touch on (highlighting basic strategies and general problems) and the latter ones will be more tailored to advanced players (discussing mindgames and specific issues).
Tourney #2 - Late December
A couple of my friends and I traveled about an hour away to play in a tournament with smashers we never met before. That fact makes this tournament an excellent example because it eliminates variables based on knowledge of an opponent's strategies. However, I was also playing against people who probably never see many quality YLs (a common advantage that comes with maining a low-teir).
Whatever the case, I was able to breeze through two rounds against two (what I consider) substandard players. In the third round, I was forced to play a Sheik main (who eventually went on to claim 1st). This was pretty much the worst case scenario (although I didn't realize it at the time). In case you were wondering, according to Phanna's Character Match up Chart, the match up is 5-2 in favor of Sheik. Why? Well, Sheik can easily get both vertical and horizontal kills, and most importantly, can CG Young Link to ridiculous percentages. Unfortunately, I was unaware of that last note at the time. Anyhow, the level we drew was FoD... ok, not so bad. What I should have done was hop up on the platforms and simply jump between them while throwing bombs down. That's Young Link 101 right there. I followed that plan for a little bit, and then for whatever reason I got off the platforms. Big mistake... I got CGed to around 75% and then took a fair to the face. That trend continued for that match. I lost by 2 stocks. In counter picking, I chose FD (worst idea ever, never do that). Again, I lost by 2 stocks. Ok, looking back I made 2 major mistakes...
1. Leaving the platforms - Simply put Young Link needs platforms to win against Sheik. Not only do they allow you to hit and run, but if you are stuck in a CG, you can DI up onto an above platform to escape.
2. Picking FD (against Sheik and most other characters) - Ban it at the start of a set if the tournament permits it. There is no place to run and escaping CGs becomes impossible.
That was my first encounter with a tournament caliber Sheik... my future battles with her will turn out quite differently. That will be discussed in tournament #6 later.
In the losers' bracket my first opponent was a Fox player (who eventually finished 3rd). Once again, this is a very bad match up, and in my opinion, YL's worst. It's listed as 5-2 in favor of Fox on Phanna's Chart. Our first match was on BF, a solid level against Fox. However, I made some very critical mistakes again. As a Young Link player, it is habit to take out bombs and boomerangs and throw them at every chance. Unfortunately, against characters that can reflect your projectiles, you can mindlessly hurl them at your opponent. The Fox I played reflected everything right back at me. Now to seasoned players, this isn't a real issue, but I wasn't "seasoned" yet. I couldn't stop throwing things, and it cost me the match and the set. I proceeded to counter pick FD again and was eliminated from the tournament.
The mistakes are obvious... but what should I have done instead? I'll start with the easy one, counter picking against Fox. You want to pick a level with a high ceiling to avoid low percentage uair combos that the Fox will undoubtedly try. Also, a stage were the Fox can't hug the level with his firefox while recovering is a good idea, too. This is why I mentioned BF wasn't that bad. From my experiences though, Brinstar and Dream Land give you the best bet against Fox. Both have platforms, high and ridiculously high ceilings, and Brinstar makes Fox's recovery much harder.
Now for addressing characters with reflecting capabilities... aka Mario, Doc, Zelda, Fox, and Falco (and maybe someone I missed). Basically, it boils down to mindgames (yeah, everyone's favorite word). Holding the bomb in your hand is a mindgame alone. Many players will be itching to use their capes or shines when they see your projectile, so take advantage of that. At a time when you would typically throw a bomb, simply jump towards your opponent, drop the bomb down with "Z", and throw out a nair. What happens is your opponent puts up their shine (or cape), and during the move's lag (since they won't be JCing right away) you will have enough time to attack. Do this a couple of times, and they might quit trying it all together. When your opponent's at a higher percentage, instead of short hop nairing in, try a full jump dair. You have to experiment on your own a bit, but there are ways around almost any tactic in the game.
Things I took away from this tourney (in simplest terms):
1. FD = Bad
2. Know what characters can CG you (more about that later)
3. Be aware of reflectors
4. Be flexible... have a backup plan
Tourney #3 - One week later...
The next tournament I competed in was very different. It was the smallest tournament, only 12 people, but every smasher there was very good. In addition, they were smashers who I had played with before at STDs and Smashfests, so we knew what to expect going into each match up. In the second round, I was up against one of my best friends and a highly technical Samus player. Once again, I'll refer to Phanna's Chart which shows Samus having a distinct 5-3 advantage. The problem here revolves around YL's killing moves. As you all know, YL doesn't have many to begin with, and because of Samus' excellent horizontal recovery, the dair is your only real chance. Luckily, the stage we drew was Yoshi's Story, which basically negated Samus' recovery and prevented excessive double missiles. So, what went wrong here?
Well, the way I see it is a bit complex. When you play certain people over and over and over again, the character matches disappear and are replaced by player match ups. In this scenario, I don't pick all of my moves based on the fact that my opponent is using Samus, I base my tactics on the fact that my opponent is my friend Evan who typically does this attack followed by this attack, recovers from the ledge this way, and never moves in this manner. Follow that? Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is that occasionally you will have a tournament match against a close friend who knows your game inside and out. This is perhaps the single worst thing that can happen to you at a tournament, but it does happen. The person who will win this match up is the person who changes their game up the most and reads their opponent the most effectively. This concept applies to all characters (not just YL) and is important for every smasher to understand.
The bottom line of my tournament match was that my opponent played me better than I played him. He beat me on Yoshi's Story, but I really felt like I could have won that round, so I counter picked with Yoshi's Story. This time I was able to win by a very narrow margin because I corrected my mistake by consciously changing my style. Anyhow, he took me to FD... great. FD is the only level where a Samus can out-spam a YL. His projectiles have more range, and so, are superior on that stage. At any given moment there were 2-3 missiles on the screen, and my YL (at the time) just wasn't able to handle it.
Once again, this goes to so how deadly FD is for Young Link. With that, I found myself in the losers' bracket. From there I went on to win a set against a space animal player. This smasher could do all the waveshining and pillaring that are so typical of Fox and Falco users, but halfway through the first match I noticed something. This player wasn't teching. Now, things like this aren't always easy to spot, but for whatever reason, this stood out. I was able to punish this with down throws to dsmashes for an easy win. Now if a player isn't teching, that typically means they aren't extremely skilled, and you should be able to win without noticing it. However, I chose to share this example because to be a great smasher you have to analyze opponents quickly and accurately. Just something to think about next time you pick up the controller…
Moving on to the next round, I was up against arguably the best Falco player (one that does tech) in my area. I knew it was going to be a rough battle; it certainly turned out to be just that (Phanna’s Chart claims 5-3 in favor of Falco). We drew BF and it was a spam battle, his lasers against my bombs. As it turned out, I was gaining the advantage. However (there always seems to be a “however”), I was still not used to dealing with Falcos that pillar perfectly. I foolishly tried to shield grab on several occasions and paid for it. Luckily I managed to squeak out a win that time. Counter pick time… he takes me to FD and I lose. Seeing a trend? My turn to counter pick… I pick BF. It worked once; it should work again, right? Wrong. It’s kind of ironic how I made the very mistake a consciously avoided against the Samus player. I played the second round on BF the exact same way I played the first, and my opponent didn’t. I lost a very close match.
So what should I have done differently? For this match up, YL has to be near perfect when it comes to tech skill. I made too many technical errors, and by too many, I mean I missed the dair's l-cancel once or twice each game. L-canceling that move is so critical. In the time it takes for the lag to end, Falco can easily start a dair to shine combo or simply fsmash you off the edge. In addition, my opponent simply made adjustments and I didn't. It is difficult to deal with taking a loss in a set that could go either way, but you just have to accept it and recognize your mistakes. If you blame a loss on "luck," it won't make you any better.
Things I took away from this tourney (in simplest terms):
1. On certain occasions you have to play your opponent instead of their character.
2. If you recognize a weakness, don't just file that info... act on it.
3. Your tech game can always improve. If you're not comfortable with a certain tech skill, practice it until you are.
4. Some characters (namely Falco and Samus on FD) test the limits of YL’s spamming ability. Be prepared to alter your strategy for these match ups.
This post is already becoming rather lengthy and I've only discussed two of my first tournaments. However, before I get to talking about my more recent tournaments (where I actually become a threat to win), I want to touch on an often overlooked aspect of YL's tactics. So here's a little sub-topic about YL's grabs and throws... enjoy.
Grabs and throws against common opponents...
I'll break it into three simple categories - Fast fallers, average characters (fall speed), and floaties. Be aware of you opponent's percentages though, your strategy will have to change accordingly.
1. Average characters (Example: Marth) - Typical grab combos here consist of a dthrow, followed by a utilt, and than a nair/dair/whatever. Most YL players are familiar with this tactic, so I won't go in to detail here.
2. Floaties (Examples: Samus/Jigglypuff) - The above pattern will only work if your opponent is at low percentages and DIs incorrectly. If you hit them once or twice while you have them grabbed, you might be able to mess up their DI and still get away with a utilt. What do I mean by that? Players rotate their sticks to escape grabs, so by forcing your opponent to attempt an escape, you are screwing up their DI. Alternatively, you can get rid of them as quickly as possible so they don't have time to react. Anyhow, if they do DI correctly (DIing up) the only thing you can do 100% percent of the time is uair. At lower percentages you can nair, bair, and dair as well. I would advise against the fair because it is difficult to follow up and is no threat to KO at all. At any rate, the dthrow to uair combo is a very effective finisher against Jigglypuff and also works well when playing other floaties (Luigi, Peach, etc.) on stages with a low ceiling.
3. Fast fallers (Examples: Fox, Falco, CF) - Ok, this is the tricky one. First off, it is very hard to land a grab on these guys. You have to either mindgame into a grab by forcing them into their shield, or you have to shield grab a dash attack or fsmash. Once you have them, you have another problem... they fall too fast at low percentages to do much of anything. I've seen Caveman (GS2 crew battles) try uthrows against them, but sadly that doesn't lead to much. Tech-chasing is you best bet here. If you're comfortable with tech-chasing multiple times, you can tech-chase grab, but that can get you into trouble and the rewards aren't that great. What I would advise is, quite possibly, the simplest and most effective tech-chase I've seen. When players tech, 9 times out of 10 they will tech away from the nearest edge. It is simply their desire to escape danger. Take full advantage of that by jogging (not dashing) away from the ledge right after you dthrow. As soon as the fast faller comes out from his tech, you will be right next to him. Just dsmash. It is that simple. Obviously you opponent will catch on, but they could still fall for it because they have to break the habit so quickly. The smart thing to do is to save that tech-chase for when your opponent is at a high percent so you get the KO before they can correct the mistake. I cannot tell you how many times I've won matches because of this simple tech-case.
That tech-chase is so reliable, that it has become a running joke with my group of friends. I grab someone, say "Tech away" out loud, follow them as they undoubtedly tech away, and then dsmash them right out of their tech.
Tourney #4 – Mid January
In this tournament (around 18-20 players) I was once again playing against familiar opponents. Like I’ve mentioned before, if you play smart in these situations instead of going through the motions, you can gain a nice advantage. Unfortunately, the tournament organized the brackets based on sign in order (which we were unaware of), and so, my friends and I got the bracket of death. Four of the top five players in our area knocked each other out in the opening two rounds. We have since stopped attending these tournaments, but that’s another story. On to the matches - my first round highlights two of YLs most talked about match ups… Peach and Link. Supposedly, YL counters Peach and has a slight advantage against Link. However, these match ups seem to be debated daily, so all I can really offer you is my analysis of the games we played. I’ll get straight into game one… Peach vs. YL.
Game one was played on Dream Land, an excellent stage for Peach. The match started as a spam war, which quickly turned in my favor. The Peach’s percentages were rising much faster than mine, and so, the Peach was forced to chase me down. Now, for some reason, the Peach players I’ve seen throw around their dash attacks like there’s no tomorrow. It is a surprisingly quick attack, and I’m shocked at the number of times it works. However, if you can read that a dash attack is coming, you can get a quick KO if the Peach is around 80%. With that said, this is what I did. While holding a bomb, I would shield the dash attack. Now, since I can’t shield grab (because of the bomb), I would full jump straight up, and immediately throw the bomb straight down. Once lag from throwing/dropping the bomb disappeared, I went straight into the dair since the bomb’s flames were holding the Peach in place… KO. I killed the Peach all 4 times in this manner, taking game one.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t blow the Peach out. It was a one-stock game. However, I really exploited Peach’s vulnerability to the dair… even though it was on Dream Land. So, does YL counter Peach? Slightly. It isn’t like Peach vs. ICs or Sheik vs. Ganon, but the YL has the upper hand (for once). I still lose to Peaches every now and then, but it is usually a result of me making truly stupid choices, and I have yet to lose to a Peach in a tourney.
For counter picks, he took me to Kanto. I pick YL, he picks Link. Again, this turned out to be a real spam war, and this time, it was very even. Although I went on to two-stock him, the match could have really gone either way. I’ve played this player at smashfests before, and our Link/YL matches are typically 50/50. I think I just hit a hot streak somewhere around stock three, and he went on tilt for stock four. Anyhow, there are some dangerous weapons that you have to watch out for. For one, you’ll probably see Link using his fair often. It is better than YL’s and l-cancels ridiculously fast. Don’t ever try to shield grab it. The Link will spot dodge too quickly, and you’ll take an up-b to the face. Also, if you get grabbed, expect an up-b to follow at mid-percentages and a dair at higher percentages. My best advice is to DI up if you know the up-b is coming. It simply has amazing horizontal KO potential.
I’m not going to lie, playing against Links can be miserable. You get a taste of your own medicine, and your opponent’s melee game hits harder. This match is practically dead even. The best advice I can give is simply to be aware of what Link does better than you. It is like a ditto in some respects, but the bottom line is that it isn’t a ditto. Link’s hookshot cover’s much more distance, so know that what will kill you won’t kill Link.
Moving on to round two, I was playing against a very solid Falco player. I won’t spend much time here, since I’ve discussed the Falco match up before. Anyhow, I played very well, except for once huge mistake (which was really just bad luck). I was edgegaurding, and, somehow on his recovery, I just got pushed off the edge when I was trying to dsmash. The dsmash turned into a dair and I lost a stock at low percentages. I ended up losing by one stock. I counter pick Dream Land, and he picks Jigglypuff.
So, we have Jigglypuff vs. YL on Dream Land? Not really as bad as it sounds. Jigglypuff has to spend most of her time in the air, so it makes an easy target for bombs. The dair and uair work on Jigglypuff regardless of the level, and YL can basically avoid the WoP by letting himself fall far below the level before using his up-b or hookshot. I went up two stocks quickly. Unfortunately, YL isn’t the best at holding leads. I fell into a rest combo when I was at around 30%... which shouldn’t have killed me. I DI’d perfectly and was on my way to recovering. However, I was holding a bomb at the time and, the instant I used my second jump, it went off, killing my momentum. It was a judgment error which I have never made since. The Jigglypuff quickly caught up, and I ended up losing with the Jigglypuff at around 100% on the last stock.
Once again, I found myself in the losers’ bracket. My next match was against a Marth main, and honestly, I wasn’t worried. I have always done well against Marth’s with YL, and so, even though the first match was on FD, I cruised to a two-stock victory. I think Marth players (for the most part) just don’t know what to do about all those projectiles. In addition, Marth seems to fall into all of YL’s combos. It isn’t unusual for me to land bomb>nair>nair>nair>dair combos on Marths… no lie. However, I learned at a later tournament that this is not always the case. In another update, I’ll discuss what happened when Vidjogamer and I played in the winner’s semi-finals of another tournament. Anyhow, back to this tourney, my opponent counter picked Yoshi’s Story. I stayed YL and started with a 0-death combo on his Marth. Then I made mistake after mistake after mistake… I DI’d practically everything wrong, got tippered about 7 or 8 times, and ended up getting two-stocked. I really can’t even describe what happened, since it is all a blur to me.
Sometimes you just don’t play well. It’s all about recognizing that you need to change your thinking and calming down. I just wasn’t able to do it. I’m sure everybody can remember instances in which things just went wrong. I played basketball throughout high school and was a fairly consistent player, but I remember games when I would miss 7 or 8 shots in a row that I typically would make. I suppose Super Smash is just like any other sport in that regard… sometimes you just play poorly. I went on to pick Kanto, and my opponent switched to Captain Falcon. However, this isn’t a good match to analysis because I wasn’t all there. I don’t even remember what really happened. I can only recall getting dair’d to kneed our last stocks. Basically, I was playing poorly and could not get out of the slump. I wasn’t thinking at the time. I’ll talk about the Captain Falcon match up more when I have an example in which I played my best and was totally aware.
Things I took away from this tourney (in simplest terms):
1. Know the Peach match up like the back of your hand… if you ever have a character advantage with YL, don’t throw it away.
2. Some games you’ll get unlucky, but you can’t let that effect an entire set.
3. Sometimes you’ll play poorly, but you have to recognize it before it is too late. If you have to, slow down and think. You don’t have to respawn right away… use that time.
4. This may not relate to the games themselves, but know how the brackets will be organized. Ask if you’re unsure. Most should be randomized, but as we learned, that is not always the case.
Expect more updates this weekend...
I created this thread just to share my tournament experiences with Young Link, and for others to share their own. Perhaps we can all learn a thing or two about playing YL in a tournament setting.
Just a little bit about myself first... I have only been a competitive smasher since November of 2006 (a little over 3 and half months). In that time, I have been to 6 cash tournaments, for all of which I mained YL. I have done fairly well at these small tourneys (the average turnout has been around 17 with a low of 12 and a high of 25 smashers), but have yet to break into the top 3. I'm not really going to discuss my first tourney because any mistakes can be blamed on lack of experience and jitters and success can be attributed to luck (for the record, I placed 5th out of 21).
Now that we have that out of the way, I can really discuss what goes on at the other tourneys. Over the 5 tourneys that I plan on describing, I will share everything that worked and everything that didn't. My progression will become clear by the end, and hopefully you guys will be able to make the transition from just another low-tier player to a scary medieval machine of destruction (that was a bit over the top, but whatever) faster than I did. "n00bs" and seasoned players alike will hopefully get something out of this post since it illustrates common tournament scenarios. The newcomers will benefit the most from the first tournaments I touch on (highlighting basic strategies and general problems) and the latter ones will be more tailored to advanced players (discussing mindgames and specific issues).
Tourney #2 - Late December
A couple of my friends and I traveled about an hour away to play in a tournament with smashers we never met before. That fact makes this tournament an excellent example because it eliminates variables based on knowledge of an opponent's strategies. However, I was also playing against people who probably never see many quality YLs (a common advantage that comes with maining a low-teir).
Whatever the case, I was able to breeze through two rounds against two (what I consider) substandard players. In the third round, I was forced to play a Sheik main (who eventually went on to claim 1st). This was pretty much the worst case scenario (although I didn't realize it at the time). In case you were wondering, according to Phanna's Character Match up Chart, the match up is 5-2 in favor of Sheik. Why? Well, Sheik can easily get both vertical and horizontal kills, and most importantly, can CG Young Link to ridiculous percentages. Unfortunately, I was unaware of that last note at the time. Anyhow, the level we drew was FoD... ok, not so bad. What I should have done was hop up on the platforms and simply jump between them while throwing bombs down. That's Young Link 101 right there. I followed that plan for a little bit, and then for whatever reason I got off the platforms. Big mistake... I got CGed to around 75% and then took a fair to the face. That trend continued for that match. I lost by 2 stocks. In counter picking, I chose FD (worst idea ever, never do that). Again, I lost by 2 stocks. Ok, looking back I made 2 major mistakes...
1. Leaving the platforms - Simply put Young Link needs platforms to win against Sheik. Not only do they allow you to hit and run, but if you are stuck in a CG, you can DI up onto an above platform to escape.
2. Picking FD (against Sheik and most other characters) - Ban it at the start of a set if the tournament permits it. There is no place to run and escaping CGs becomes impossible.
That was my first encounter with a tournament caliber Sheik... my future battles with her will turn out quite differently. That will be discussed in tournament #6 later.
In the losers' bracket my first opponent was a Fox player (who eventually finished 3rd). Once again, this is a very bad match up, and in my opinion, YL's worst. It's listed as 5-2 in favor of Fox on Phanna's Chart. Our first match was on BF, a solid level against Fox. However, I made some very critical mistakes again. As a Young Link player, it is habit to take out bombs and boomerangs and throw them at every chance. Unfortunately, against characters that can reflect your projectiles, you can mindlessly hurl them at your opponent. The Fox I played reflected everything right back at me. Now to seasoned players, this isn't a real issue, but I wasn't "seasoned" yet. I couldn't stop throwing things, and it cost me the match and the set. I proceeded to counter pick FD again and was eliminated from the tournament.
The mistakes are obvious... but what should I have done instead? I'll start with the easy one, counter picking against Fox. You want to pick a level with a high ceiling to avoid low percentage uair combos that the Fox will undoubtedly try. Also, a stage were the Fox can't hug the level with his firefox while recovering is a good idea, too. This is why I mentioned BF wasn't that bad. From my experiences though, Brinstar and Dream Land give you the best bet against Fox. Both have platforms, high and ridiculously high ceilings, and Brinstar makes Fox's recovery much harder.
Now for addressing characters with reflecting capabilities... aka Mario, Doc, Zelda, Fox, and Falco (and maybe someone I missed). Basically, it boils down to mindgames (yeah, everyone's favorite word). Holding the bomb in your hand is a mindgame alone. Many players will be itching to use their capes or shines when they see your projectile, so take advantage of that. At a time when you would typically throw a bomb, simply jump towards your opponent, drop the bomb down with "Z", and throw out a nair. What happens is your opponent puts up their shine (or cape), and during the move's lag (since they won't be JCing right away) you will have enough time to attack. Do this a couple of times, and they might quit trying it all together. When your opponent's at a higher percentage, instead of short hop nairing in, try a full jump dair. You have to experiment on your own a bit, but there are ways around almost any tactic in the game.
Things I took away from this tourney (in simplest terms):
1. FD = Bad
2. Know what characters can CG you (more about that later)
3. Be aware of reflectors
4. Be flexible... have a backup plan
Tourney #3 - One week later...
The next tournament I competed in was very different. It was the smallest tournament, only 12 people, but every smasher there was very good. In addition, they were smashers who I had played with before at STDs and Smashfests, so we knew what to expect going into each match up. In the second round, I was up against one of my best friends and a highly technical Samus player. Once again, I'll refer to Phanna's Chart which shows Samus having a distinct 5-3 advantage. The problem here revolves around YL's killing moves. As you all know, YL doesn't have many to begin with, and because of Samus' excellent horizontal recovery, the dair is your only real chance. Luckily, the stage we drew was Yoshi's Story, which basically negated Samus' recovery and prevented excessive double missiles. So, what went wrong here?
Well, the way I see it is a bit complex. When you play certain people over and over and over again, the character matches disappear and are replaced by player match ups. In this scenario, I don't pick all of my moves based on the fact that my opponent is using Samus, I base my tactics on the fact that my opponent is my friend Evan who typically does this attack followed by this attack, recovers from the ledge this way, and never moves in this manner. Follow that? Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is that occasionally you will have a tournament match against a close friend who knows your game inside and out. This is perhaps the single worst thing that can happen to you at a tournament, but it does happen. The person who will win this match up is the person who changes their game up the most and reads their opponent the most effectively. This concept applies to all characters (not just YL) and is important for every smasher to understand.
The bottom line of my tournament match was that my opponent played me better than I played him. He beat me on Yoshi's Story, but I really felt like I could have won that round, so I counter picked with Yoshi's Story. This time I was able to win by a very narrow margin because I corrected my mistake by consciously changing my style. Anyhow, he took me to FD... great. FD is the only level where a Samus can out-spam a YL. His projectiles have more range, and so, are superior on that stage. At any given moment there were 2-3 missiles on the screen, and my YL (at the time) just wasn't able to handle it.
Once again, this goes to so how deadly FD is for Young Link. With that, I found myself in the losers' bracket. From there I went on to win a set against a space animal player. This smasher could do all the waveshining and pillaring that are so typical of Fox and Falco users, but halfway through the first match I noticed something. This player wasn't teching. Now, things like this aren't always easy to spot, but for whatever reason, this stood out. I was able to punish this with down throws to dsmashes for an easy win. Now if a player isn't teching, that typically means they aren't extremely skilled, and you should be able to win without noticing it. However, I chose to share this example because to be a great smasher you have to analyze opponents quickly and accurately. Just something to think about next time you pick up the controller…
Moving on to the next round, I was up against arguably the best Falco player (one that does tech) in my area. I knew it was going to be a rough battle; it certainly turned out to be just that (Phanna’s Chart claims 5-3 in favor of Falco). We drew BF and it was a spam battle, his lasers against my bombs. As it turned out, I was gaining the advantage. However (there always seems to be a “however”), I was still not used to dealing with Falcos that pillar perfectly. I foolishly tried to shield grab on several occasions and paid for it. Luckily I managed to squeak out a win that time. Counter pick time… he takes me to FD and I lose. Seeing a trend? My turn to counter pick… I pick BF. It worked once; it should work again, right? Wrong. It’s kind of ironic how I made the very mistake a consciously avoided against the Samus player. I played the second round on BF the exact same way I played the first, and my opponent didn’t. I lost a very close match.
So what should I have done differently? For this match up, YL has to be near perfect when it comes to tech skill. I made too many technical errors, and by too many, I mean I missed the dair's l-cancel once or twice each game. L-canceling that move is so critical. In the time it takes for the lag to end, Falco can easily start a dair to shine combo or simply fsmash you off the edge. In addition, my opponent simply made adjustments and I didn't. It is difficult to deal with taking a loss in a set that could go either way, but you just have to accept it and recognize your mistakes. If you blame a loss on "luck," it won't make you any better.
Things I took away from this tourney (in simplest terms):
1. On certain occasions you have to play your opponent instead of their character.
2. If you recognize a weakness, don't just file that info... act on it.
3. Your tech game can always improve. If you're not comfortable with a certain tech skill, practice it until you are.
4. Some characters (namely Falco and Samus on FD) test the limits of YL’s spamming ability. Be prepared to alter your strategy for these match ups.
This post is already becoming rather lengthy and I've only discussed two of my first tournaments. However, before I get to talking about my more recent tournaments (where I actually become a threat to win), I want to touch on an often overlooked aspect of YL's tactics. So here's a little sub-topic about YL's grabs and throws... enjoy.
Grabs and throws against common opponents...
I'll break it into three simple categories - Fast fallers, average characters (fall speed), and floaties. Be aware of you opponent's percentages though, your strategy will have to change accordingly.
1. Average characters (Example: Marth) - Typical grab combos here consist of a dthrow, followed by a utilt, and than a nair/dair/whatever. Most YL players are familiar with this tactic, so I won't go in to detail here.
2. Floaties (Examples: Samus/Jigglypuff) - The above pattern will only work if your opponent is at low percentages and DIs incorrectly. If you hit them once or twice while you have them grabbed, you might be able to mess up their DI and still get away with a utilt. What do I mean by that? Players rotate their sticks to escape grabs, so by forcing your opponent to attempt an escape, you are screwing up their DI. Alternatively, you can get rid of them as quickly as possible so they don't have time to react. Anyhow, if they do DI correctly (DIing up) the only thing you can do 100% percent of the time is uair. At lower percentages you can nair, bair, and dair as well. I would advise against the fair because it is difficult to follow up and is no threat to KO at all. At any rate, the dthrow to uair combo is a very effective finisher against Jigglypuff and also works well when playing other floaties (Luigi, Peach, etc.) on stages with a low ceiling.
3. Fast fallers (Examples: Fox, Falco, CF) - Ok, this is the tricky one. First off, it is very hard to land a grab on these guys. You have to either mindgame into a grab by forcing them into their shield, or you have to shield grab a dash attack or fsmash. Once you have them, you have another problem... they fall too fast at low percentages to do much of anything. I've seen Caveman (GS2 crew battles) try uthrows against them, but sadly that doesn't lead to much. Tech-chasing is you best bet here. If you're comfortable with tech-chasing multiple times, you can tech-chase grab, but that can get you into trouble and the rewards aren't that great. What I would advise is, quite possibly, the simplest and most effective tech-chase I've seen. When players tech, 9 times out of 10 they will tech away from the nearest edge. It is simply their desire to escape danger. Take full advantage of that by jogging (not dashing) away from the ledge right after you dthrow. As soon as the fast faller comes out from his tech, you will be right next to him. Just dsmash. It is that simple. Obviously you opponent will catch on, but they could still fall for it because they have to break the habit so quickly. The smart thing to do is to save that tech-chase for when your opponent is at a high percent so you get the KO before they can correct the mistake. I cannot tell you how many times I've won matches because of this simple tech-case.
That tech-chase is so reliable, that it has become a running joke with my group of friends. I grab someone, say "Tech away" out loud, follow them as they undoubtedly tech away, and then dsmash them right out of their tech.
Tourney #4 – Mid January
In this tournament (around 18-20 players) I was once again playing against familiar opponents. Like I’ve mentioned before, if you play smart in these situations instead of going through the motions, you can gain a nice advantage. Unfortunately, the tournament organized the brackets based on sign in order (which we were unaware of), and so, my friends and I got the bracket of death. Four of the top five players in our area knocked each other out in the opening two rounds. We have since stopped attending these tournaments, but that’s another story. On to the matches - my first round highlights two of YLs most talked about match ups… Peach and Link. Supposedly, YL counters Peach and has a slight advantage against Link. However, these match ups seem to be debated daily, so all I can really offer you is my analysis of the games we played. I’ll get straight into game one… Peach vs. YL.
Game one was played on Dream Land, an excellent stage for Peach. The match started as a spam war, which quickly turned in my favor. The Peach’s percentages were rising much faster than mine, and so, the Peach was forced to chase me down. Now, for some reason, the Peach players I’ve seen throw around their dash attacks like there’s no tomorrow. It is a surprisingly quick attack, and I’m shocked at the number of times it works. However, if you can read that a dash attack is coming, you can get a quick KO if the Peach is around 80%. With that said, this is what I did. While holding a bomb, I would shield the dash attack. Now, since I can’t shield grab (because of the bomb), I would full jump straight up, and immediately throw the bomb straight down. Once lag from throwing/dropping the bomb disappeared, I went straight into the dair since the bomb’s flames were holding the Peach in place… KO. I killed the Peach all 4 times in this manner, taking game one.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t blow the Peach out. It was a one-stock game. However, I really exploited Peach’s vulnerability to the dair… even though it was on Dream Land. So, does YL counter Peach? Slightly. It isn’t like Peach vs. ICs or Sheik vs. Ganon, but the YL has the upper hand (for once). I still lose to Peaches every now and then, but it is usually a result of me making truly stupid choices, and I have yet to lose to a Peach in a tourney.
For counter picks, he took me to Kanto. I pick YL, he picks Link. Again, this turned out to be a real spam war, and this time, it was very even. Although I went on to two-stock him, the match could have really gone either way. I’ve played this player at smashfests before, and our Link/YL matches are typically 50/50. I think I just hit a hot streak somewhere around stock three, and he went on tilt for stock four. Anyhow, there are some dangerous weapons that you have to watch out for. For one, you’ll probably see Link using his fair often. It is better than YL’s and l-cancels ridiculously fast. Don’t ever try to shield grab it. The Link will spot dodge too quickly, and you’ll take an up-b to the face. Also, if you get grabbed, expect an up-b to follow at mid-percentages and a dair at higher percentages. My best advice is to DI up if you know the up-b is coming. It simply has amazing horizontal KO potential.
I’m not going to lie, playing against Links can be miserable. You get a taste of your own medicine, and your opponent’s melee game hits harder. This match is practically dead even. The best advice I can give is simply to be aware of what Link does better than you. It is like a ditto in some respects, but the bottom line is that it isn’t a ditto. Link’s hookshot cover’s much more distance, so know that what will kill you won’t kill Link.
Moving on to round two, I was playing against a very solid Falco player. I won’t spend much time here, since I’ve discussed the Falco match up before. Anyhow, I played very well, except for once huge mistake (which was really just bad luck). I was edgegaurding, and, somehow on his recovery, I just got pushed off the edge when I was trying to dsmash. The dsmash turned into a dair and I lost a stock at low percentages. I ended up losing by one stock. I counter pick Dream Land, and he picks Jigglypuff.
So, we have Jigglypuff vs. YL on Dream Land? Not really as bad as it sounds. Jigglypuff has to spend most of her time in the air, so it makes an easy target for bombs. The dair and uair work on Jigglypuff regardless of the level, and YL can basically avoid the WoP by letting himself fall far below the level before using his up-b or hookshot. I went up two stocks quickly. Unfortunately, YL isn’t the best at holding leads. I fell into a rest combo when I was at around 30%... which shouldn’t have killed me. I DI’d perfectly and was on my way to recovering. However, I was holding a bomb at the time and, the instant I used my second jump, it went off, killing my momentum. It was a judgment error which I have never made since. The Jigglypuff quickly caught up, and I ended up losing with the Jigglypuff at around 100% on the last stock.
Once again, I found myself in the losers’ bracket. My next match was against a Marth main, and honestly, I wasn’t worried. I have always done well against Marth’s with YL, and so, even though the first match was on FD, I cruised to a two-stock victory. I think Marth players (for the most part) just don’t know what to do about all those projectiles. In addition, Marth seems to fall into all of YL’s combos. It isn’t unusual for me to land bomb>nair>nair>nair>dair combos on Marths… no lie. However, I learned at a later tournament that this is not always the case. In another update, I’ll discuss what happened when Vidjogamer and I played in the winner’s semi-finals of another tournament. Anyhow, back to this tourney, my opponent counter picked Yoshi’s Story. I stayed YL and started with a 0-death combo on his Marth. Then I made mistake after mistake after mistake… I DI’d practically everything wrong, got tippered about 7 or 8 times, and ended up getting two-stocked. I really can’t even describe what happened, since it is all a blur to me.
Sometimes you just don’t play well. It’s all about recognizing that you need to change your thinking and calming down. I just wasn’t able to do it. I’m sure everybody can remember instances in which things just went wrong. I played basketball throughout high school and was a fairly consistent player, but I remember games when I would miss 7 or 8 shots in a row that I typically would make. I suppose Super Smash is just like any other sport in that regard… sometimes you just play poorly. I went on to pick Kanto, and my opponent switched to Captain Falcon. However, this isn’t a good match to analysis because I wasn’t all there. I don’t even remember what really happened. I can only recall getting dair’d to kneed our last stocks. Basically, I was playing poorly and could not get out of the slump. I wasn’t thinking at the time. I’ll talk about the Captain Falcon match up more when I have an example in which I played my best and was totally aware.
Things I took away from this tourney (in simplest terms):
1. Know the Peach match up like the back of your hand… if you ever have a character advantage with YL, don’t throw it away.
2. Some games you’ll get unlucky, but you can’t let that effect an entire set.
3. Sometimes you’ll play poorly, but you have to recognize it before it is too late. If you have to, slow down and think. You don’t have to respawn right away… use that time.
4. This may not relate to the games themselves, but know how the brackets will be organized. Ask if you’re unsure. Most should be randomized, but as we learned, that is not always the case.
Expect more updates this weekend...
interesting tourny outcomes btw
