Young Link is very under rated.

[Eagleye42]

I want to discuss how under rated this character it. When people call young link a low tier I become supremely annoyed, since I think he is much closer to a mid tier level, ranked somewhere around yoshi or luigi. He has a bunch of really safe fast moves, nair, bair, fair, and u-air, are all pretty safe. Dair is a decent kill move even if it can only be landed after a bomb for the most part. His F-smash is good, especially when delaying the second hit until they drop shield, up smash can be okay when they are at low percents. Down smash is another decent kill move. And he has a fantastic projectile game. His Tether makes him harder to edge guard and he has a ledge jump. He doesn't get comboed too hard and he is decently heavy so he doesn't die too too early. He has some decent matchups against the top tiers, he beats puff, peach, samus and luigi, he goes even or beats falcon. Fox and Falco don't totally destroy him. His worst matchup is easily Marth, and shiek has an edge on him. Other than that, he does a great job chipping on damage, and his Nair is super safe, his only major draw back is his lack of kill potential. (He is also very fast, and has really good movement and mobility)

anyways, in conclusion, I think young link has a bunch of useful tools and is the last of the midtiers that can compete with the top teirs. He would be hard to solo main at a high level, and I doubt he could win a super major, but some smaller tournament without any gods? Yeah he could take it.

 

[Benny P]

He's still low, but i still like to think Mid at best. Most moves you described as safe aren't really on paper. only with a lot of aerial drift/ and spacing can you make them psuedo safe against most characters. Anyone who actually has knowledge of f-smash will know its a non threat most of the time, only ever good as a timing mixup to use once in a blue moon. His Tether is a good recovery mix up but his recovery overall is pretty linear. Young Link Can get combo'd, and Young Link is NOT heavy at all, and CAN die early.

I can tell you right now he does not beat any of the characters you just suggested, they all have very good strengths to counter act YL.

Luigi? I don't have enough personal experience in this MU. It's debatable but don't get your hopes up. His Ground movement is very threatening and can be hard to deal with at first. if you can up air him and keep him juggled, that's where its at.

Puff is not an easy match up to win, any skilled puff will notice the gaps in your projectiles and slowly weave her way in and out to get you. It's not impossible by any means, but it certainly isnt as simple as "beats puff". She IS very easy to kill however, so thats a plus.

Peach, hell no. While shes easier to camp than Puff in many cases she also does not die without a good set up like bomb>dair. At low percents its hell if you try to aerial her as she can CC dsmash most of it away. Camping her on DL is a double edged sword, because she still wont die with good DI for a long time and you'll basically have to run the clock off of any lead.

YL sort of succeeds as a good but niche CP vs Peach and Puff, but only if you are straight up outplaying your higher tier opponent. When both players are of equal skill it is very rough for Young Link.

Samus is similar to peach in that she also cannot die easily. to top it off, she has better ground speed and burst movement, and also CC's your attacks considerably well. Range on her nair is better than yours and will beat it or trade should you be deep enough. her other aerials also have a fair range and speed on them as well even if they arent disjointed. Also, she has a better/faster projectile game than you with her missiles and Charge Shot (unsure if i should mention bomb here as its usually a recovery tool with bomb jumping.)

YL's worst mu is different between who you ask but it usually comes to either Sheik, Falco, Marth. Anyone that can quickly shut him down or keep him out better than he can utilize his projectiles and bully his way in are characters that easily destroy him.

He is great at racking percent with projectiles into aerials, or just straight up camping. I do not know where you get the idea that Nair is super safe, unless you mean doing the lowest one possible (which is sorta telegraphed due to how YL falls, hes not fox)

My idea of YL is that he has some okay tools for neutral, and if executed correctly, has a fantastic edge guarding game. His flaw is just kill power really, and some slow or laggy moves) unfortunately, i don't share as much enthusiasm about YL's tournament winning abilities for people who's name isn't Jeffrey Williamson (AXE) but we do have some relatively good YL players such as Laijin/Kokiri Solider, Prioritized, and NeilHarbino.

I'm not too sure where you got your info from exactly. However, if you are interested in learning more i highly reccomend joining the Young Link Discord chat, and going through the YL Smashboards and looking up some of the guides on him if you are thinking of playing this character.

 

[Eagleye42]

He's still low, but i still like to think Mid at best. Most moves you described as safe aren't really on paper. only with a lot of aerial drift/ and spacing can you make them psuedo safe against most characters. Anyone who actually has knowledge of f-smash will know its a non threat most of the time, only ever good as a timing mixup to use once in a blue moon. His Tether is a good recovery mix up but his recovery overall is pretty linear. Young Link Can get combo'd, and Young Link is NOT heavy at all, and CAN die early.

I can tell you right now he does not beat any of the characters you just suggested, they all have very good strengths to counter act YL.

Luigi? I don't have enough personal experience in this MU. It's debatable but don't get your hopes up. His Ground movement is very threatening and can be hard to deal with at first. if you can up air him and keep him juggled, that's where its at.

Puff is not an easy match up to win, any skilled puff will notice the gaps in your projectiles and slowly weave her way in and out to get you. It's not impossible by any means, but it certainly isnt as simple as "beats puff". She IS very easy to kill however, so thats a plus.

Peach, hell no. While shes easier to camp than Puff in many cases she also does not die without a good set up like bomb>dair. At low percents its hell if you try to aerial her as she can CC dsmash most of it away. Camping her on DL is a double edged sword, because she still wont die with good DI for a long time and you'll basically have to run the clock off of any lead.

YL sort of succeeds as a good but niche CP vs Peach and Puff, but only if you are straight up outplaying your higher tier opponent. When both players are of equal skill it is very roug for Young Link.

Samus is similar to peach in that she also cannot die easily. to top it off, she has better ground speed and burst movement, and also CC's your attacks considerably well. Range on her nair is better than yours and will beat it or trade should you be deep enough. her other aerials also have a fair range and speed on them as well even if they arent disjointed. Also, she has a better/faster projectile game than you with her missiles and Charge Shot (unsure if i should mention bomb here as its usually a recovery tool with bomb jumping.)

YL's worst mu is different between who you ask but it usually comes to either Sheik, Falco, Marth. Anyone that can quickly shut him down or keep him out better than he can utilize his projectiles and bully his way in are characters that easily destroy him.

He is great at racking percent with projectiles into aerials, or just straight up camping. I do not know where you get the idea that Nair is super safe, unless you mean doing the lowest one possible (which is sorta telegraphed due to how YL falls, hes not fox)

My idea of YL is that he has some okay tools for neutral, and if executed correctly, has a fantastic edge guarding game. His flaw is just kill power really, and some slow or laggy moves) unfortunately, i don't share as much enthusiasm about YL's tournament winning abilities for people who's name isn't jeffrey Williamson (AXE) but we do have some relatively good YL players such as Laijin/Kokiri Solider, Prioritized, and NeilHarbino.

I'm not too sure where you got your info from exactly. However, if you are interested in learning more i highly reccomend joining the Young Link Discord chat, and going through the YL Smashboards and looking up some of the guides on him if you are thinking of playing this character.

I agree with a lot of your opinions, and don't get me wrong, I don't think young link is an amazing high tier, but I do think he is generally under rated in a lot of ways. In my experience as long as I play a very campy style and rack up % I can finish easily with a bomb dair. But still, he would not be able to win any major tournament, and I don't think solo maining him is plausible because of some of his MU's, however; I still stand by what I said when he has good, relatively safe options and can hold his own with some of the high tiers. Oh, and for future reference, when I say he beats puff, peach, etc. I don't mean he wrecks them, its still a hard fought win(I like to think of it similar to Marth fox, fox still wins, but it is more of a 55 45, as opposed to his usual 60 40 or 70 30 against some other characters)

 

[Aio Project]

This character sucks. Get used to it.

And yeah his nair is good but its definitely not safe on shield and can get cc'ed at most %s. If you watch any of the like two top young links (axe, and kokiri soldier) they almost always spot dodge after nair on shield. Its a big mix up though because you can mix in jabs and dsmash hoping it will poke or in know kokiri will sometimes upsmash. None of it is legit though lol.

Young link doesnt "beat" any top teirs. He does pretty good against all the floaties, but anyone fast enough to get in his face is a real pain.

 

[MinhtheMage]

His nair is really his only redeeming quality imo. The bomb and boomerang are great but could be better, and his kill moves are very risky and unreliable. That's what makes him low tier. His lack of reliable kill moves.

 

[Crooked Crow]

I think he's ranked appropriately- as the 16th best character, out of 26.