Falcon Mind-Meld: A Captain Falcon Matchup Thread (now on: EDGEGUARDING))

Windrose said:

rofl.....if only you guys knew in depth of a more useful matchup

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Brookman said:

there are quite a few luigi players running around the east coast breh.

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Wenbobular said:

Is that the thanks we get for trying to tell you guys how not to get ***** by bad characters?

I'm sure Juggleguy would've appreciated advice before he lost to Vudujin, but maybe next time he'll do better

Or we can just not say anything and you guys can blow forever, that's cool too

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Roneblaster said:

Holy **** the mana lord?! Just a few days ago i was thinkin about you brah, wonderin what u were doin with ur life.

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TheManaLord said:

supp!! graduated college completely broke just got a part time job minimum wage I LOVE AMERICA!!!

gonna chip away at my loans and start travelling for smash again, i will meet you time is just a strange thing

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DuckPimp said:

Hullo, Falcon peeps.

After proposing the idea to Scar, I decided to start an interactive matchup thread, similar to the one used by SmashGod in the Luigi boards (and possibly others)

The idea is that the matchup thread builds over time based on the experiences of falcon mains across the boards. A character will be discussed one at a time, based on a template given.


Here 'tis

What does Captain Falcon have to watch out for when playing this character? (what makes this character gay or difficult to beat, what makes falcons lose in this matchup, etc)

What can Falcon do to get around these techniques? (i.e. not land next to peach and crouch cancel, although try to keep it to things that arent completely obvious... "LOL dont get hit")

What Falcon should do to **** in this matchup? (i.e. approach, specific edgeguards, gimps, combos (percents VERY welcome) etc)

Percents and DI info- (where percents will go, a combo list of sorts v each character)

Stages to ban/counterpick in this matchup, and why?

General Falcon mindset in this matchup? (ex, what to keep in mind as a mantra of sorts, the primary focus of what you gotta do)

Summary (a conclusion to your matchup essay)

Additional thoughts ("LOL dont get hit")

links to good videos of what to do is encouraged, as is anything that helps.

Most of us have secondaries (or TERTIARIES, if you're fancy) to play as, but assume that we are talking about ONLY Falcon. Otherwise, whats the point of having a Falcon matchup thread if everyone says "Play another character" when we're talking about someone like Sheik?

Discuss other poster's information, to let natural selection take its course.

Information will be updated to the first page of this thread, to allow for easy access.

Anyways, to start, lets begin at the tip top of the tier list. Since the luigi boards are currently discussing Fox, lets start with Marth. Makes sense.


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MARTH:


What Falcon has to watch out for-
Being off the stage, being above Marth, getting grabbed, Marth's range

Marth's edgeguarding game is ridiculous. Once you're off the stage vs a good Marth, thats the stock. Getting grabbed is really bad vs Marth, because they can throw you onto a platform or do silly uthrow utilt combos, or chase you and hit you off the edge. Lastly, Marth's closecombat range is pretty commanding.

What Falcon can do to get around these techniques-
Never go off the stage when you dont need to. Dont run in and knee or nair foolishly, or you will get grabbed. If you do, di down and away. Learn to space attacks and dashdancing, so that you dont run/jump into one of Marth's tilts or fairs or smashes or what have you. When Marth has you in a combo, di away and save your jump. Make the Marth work for their combo, rather than just letting them fair > dair your *** off. When on a platform above Marth, run away. No sense trying to attack by dropping down and getting smashed or grabbed and sent back up there. Also, don't be too crazy with nairs at low/medium percents, good Marths can CC those and whup ya. You can try putting them before Marth get an aerial out, to interrupt their approach and put them on the defense. Finally, dont be repetitive. This goes for all matchups, however. People who are predictable get punished. We should know that, as Falcons.

What Falcon should do to **** in this matchup?-
Combos are always a Falcon's best friend. They are why we play Falcon. Dashdance, and wait for Marth to approach or mess up, and punish. Marths dont have projectiles. They can't laser-camp, or spam pills, or throw vegetables. It can boring, but let them make the first move, or work on your fakeout game to bait them. Punish mostly with grab combos. UThrow to uair or knee is nice, and when those magic percents come up, Grab > Knee. Crouch cancel a lot vs Marth, his aerials are weak and you can grab him after most of them. Be efficient if you want to win. Know when to be flashy, and know when to be merciless.

Percents and DI info (****need verification****)

Uthrow to knee: 70-90
Uthrow to Uair: above 30
DThrow to knee: above 90
Dropzones: ??
etc

After a throw (before knee-kill %'s)
DI in: Nair
No DI: ReGrab, Nair, Uair
DI away: Tech chase, punish jump
On ledge expecting DI in: knee

Stages to ban/counterpick in this matchup, and why?-
Ideally, Falcons want to take Marths to FD, DL64, KJ64, or (if all else fails) Stadium, and bring tha hurt. Small stages leave Falcon cramped, and often Marth can Fsmash and Utilt through the platforms, limiting Falcon's movement even more. Marth's range is pretty devastating if correctly used, or incorrectly dealt with. However, if you get put on a small stage, all is not lost. Knee kills at lower %'s, and Marths get ***** when they're on platforms and you're on the ground. The advantageous position for Falcon over Marth is when we are below them. Their Dair is laggy, and we have moves in our arsenal that bring tha aforementioned hurt. One should always choose a big stage over a small one, as dashdancing and movement is a big part of the matchup.

General Falcon mindset in this matchup?-
Wait for opportunities. Dont go off the edge. Press left and right on the control stick for a while. Mix it up. Watch Percents. Di away from combos. COOOOMBOmmmmm...

Summary-
It is pretty much an even matchup, even though Marth gays Falcon pretty bad. Being smart will let you survive and thrive, being dumb will get you off the stage and dead nearly all four stocks. It's a pretty easy decision to make.

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Fox

What does Captain Falcon have to watch out for when playing this character?-
Fox has quite a few tricks up his furry sleeves to make things, at the very least, difficult for falcon. He gets edgeguarded easily, and shines can gimp like nothing else. Falcon gets grabbed and punished with utilts or uairs or upsmashes. Fox can also waveshine falcon pretty well, which can lead to significant damage or KOs at gimp percentages. Jumping around with nair is a highly effective approach against Falcon. It’s bad, y’all.

What can Falcon do to get around these techniques?-
First off is the shine. Jumping OOS is useful for when you know when you’re going to get shined, as you can be back on your feet quickly, and gtfo quickly. When getting waveshined, rolling out or jumping OOS is useful, but don’t let your rolls get predictable. As Falcons, we know what happens to predictable people in terms of punishment.
This point seems to be following a trend, but don’t go offstage needlessly. Unless youre trying to be soopa-flashy, which in that case do whatever you want, especially if you’re being recorded. Anyways, you run the risk of getting shinespiked (bad.) or bair-edge-guarded (bad.). However, when given the choice, make him bair you rather than shinespike. You have a chance of surviving a couple bairs, based on percent and DI. Shinespike… you dead.
Against nair, there are a couple of ways to deal. If you want to be soopa-angry, nair him as soon as he’s leaving the ground. Then DD away and grab him => ??? => profit. If you’re getting ***** and angry doesn’t cut it, put up that shield. You can roll out, and shieldgrab him if he keeps nairing. You can DDcamp, grab to techchase etc. Just be careful.
When getting tossed onto platforms, figure out what the fox does to proceed. Avoid the tech in place, because that is usually what they look for.

What Falcon should do to **** in this matchup?-
Techchase like a badass. Do it. Do it. Do it. It’s always good, its what Falcon does well. Throw => techchase, nair=> grab, do anything you can in that aspect. If Fox misses a tech, stomp to Knee for the dead.
Use the gentleman as a pseudo-shine. It comes out fast, its disruptive, and it combos well. Abuse it, and mix up full combo and AAgrab to remain hard to predict. It’s good for when you mess up spacing by a little, and to use after nairs to avoid shieldgrabbing and start combos of your own. When spaced effectively, nair => gentleman is extremely difficult to punish, and is great for pressure situations.
Edgeguarding: Dtilt the side-b, follow up. If the situation deems it necessary, get out there and kill him. If theyre firefox-ing, you can drop down and dj-uair, that way you rarely get burned. It’s easier to edgeguard fox when he is below the stage, as he has fewer options. Subconsciously, they may prefer to side-b to the edge rather than up-b from below the stage, so take advantage of that.

Percents and DI info-

Stages to ban/counterpick in this matchup, and why?-
Try and get your *** on DL64 or FD. Falcon is good when he can run around. Ban FoD, and Yoshi’s (or battlefield if you think you’re Scar, and go Yoshi’s).
Uair and upsmash kill you upwards. Obviously. They are two of fox’s best killing moves. Therefore, you may want to pick a stage with a high ceiling (DL64, FD). You will then want a stage to move around on, preferably with platforms to techchase/avoid lasers on.

General Falcon mindset in this matchup?-

Summary-

Additional thoughts-

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Have at it.

Edit: I added "Approach" to the list of discussion topics in "what should falcon do to **** in this matchup", because it wasnt listed there before. Also 'cuz its important.

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