SCOTU
Smash Hero
Some people around here really need to stop pretending that fox has some wtf advantage on MK (where advantage can be as loosely used as almost even). For the remainder of this discussion, assume high/top level play (cause that's all that matters when discussing matchups)
Fox has exactly 1 thing going for him in the matchup: his usmash against MK's low vertical KO threshold. Let's look at what MK has in the matchup.
MK's air/ zoning game: MK's fair and bair will beat out anything you've got in the air (except maybe a dair from directly above), in terms of range, and speed. MK can without a doubt out zone fox in the air. The best aerial zoning that fox can do buffer a sh fair that he can approach > back off a little with, and then autocancel. MK's ground speed, mixed w/ his falling speed, make it easy for him to maneuver around just above the ground in a way that makes it very difficult to hit him, while it's very easy for him to hit you if you **** up.
Fox's approach: fox has more or less nothing to approach with. anything fox can do on the ground is easily punishable by MK shielding > many forms of punishment. Also, MK's dsmash, ftilt, dtilt, fair, or bair also out prioritize fox's approach options. Fox's air approach options are probably worse. MK's usmash ***** all of fox's air approaches singlehandedly. furthermore, his nair, fair, and dair are all very easy to shield (in which case fox gets *****). fox's rar'd bair also gets ***** by a dashing usmash, or by any form of dodge, or either of MK's side aerials. Fox's sh'd uair is a joke of an approach. One last comment on this section: MK's shuttle loop out of shield has invincibility on startup, so even if his shield is being hit by a multihit attack, he can up-b the attacker mid attack. This completely ***** fox's fair as a legit option to approach with.
Fox's Defense vs MK's approach: Fox can shoot a few lasers at MK. Unfortunately, MK can cross all of FD while only getting hit by about 2 (assuming you stop at the safety threshold). great. now what? MK's dash attack crosses up your shield, and he can dsmash after his dash attack faster than you can dsmash out of your shield. Fox has nothing that stands up to the tornado's pressure. Fox has a few things that can beat the tornado right at startup, or from directly above it. However, MK's not going to use the tornado when he's right up next to you; he'll only use it when he's already on top of you (i.e. dair >tornado), or when he's just at your safety threshold. Furthermore, it's not reasonable to assume fox can beat the tornado by attacking it's weak spot (top). This requires fox to full hop his aerials, as his sh isn't high enough to get him over the tornado. At this point, it's painfully obvious that MK can avoid this attack, usually w/ the ability to punish any landing lag you have left yourself in.
MK's fair is also easily usable to hit fox's shield w/o worry of counterattack. unlike fox's fair, MK's hits low enough to the ground so that he covers himself when he lands.
Fox's Recovery vs MK's edgeguarding: First, it's clear that MK will have an easy time getting fox off the stage. His dsmash, up-b out of shield, fair, or dthrow all do a good job of getting someone as light as fox offstage in a flash, even at low %s. Once Fox is offstage, he's basically *****. I've already broken down some of why MK ***** fox when fox is offstage, so i'll just quote that here:
Anyone still reading up to this point clearly wants to make their fox as good as they can, otherwise they'd've stopped reading long ago dismissing this as something that they cannot understand, or because they already agree with this. To anyone still reading this, to improve yourself, you must first understand your own weakness to learn how to correct it or to minimzie it's effects. Every competitive player realizes this. The same goes for a character's matchups. You have to realize why your character has a disadvantage, so you can try to work around the disadvantageous points and try to get a win out of a situation that's 70-30 against you. Being ignorant of this and assuming your character goes even (or close to) with MK for whatever reasons, is just going to get you owned hard at your next (or more likely, first) (real) tournament; at which point you'll realize that you've been cheating yourself out of a lot of time you could've been improving in.
Fox has exactly 1 thing going for him in the matchup: his usmash against MK's low vertical KO threshold. Let's look at what MK has in the matchup.
MK's air/ zoning game: MK's fair and bair will beat out anything you've got in the air (except maybe a dair from directly above), in terms of range, and speed. MK can without a doubt out zone fox in the air. The best aerial zoning that fox can do buffer a sh fair that he can approach > back off a little with, and then autocancel. MK's ground speed, mixed w/ his falling speed, make it easy for him to maneuver around just above the ground in a way that makes it very difficult to hit him, while it's very easy for him to hit you if you **** up.
Fox's approach: fox has more or less nothing to approach with. anything fox can do on the ground is easily punishable by MK shielding > many forms of punishment. Also, MK's dsmash, ftilt, dtilt, fair, or bair also out prioritize fox's approach options. Fox's air approach options are probably worse. MK's usmash ***** all of fox's air approaches singlehandedly. furthermore, his nair, fair, and dair are all very easy to shield (in which case fox gets *****). fox's rar'd bair also gets ***** by a dashing usmash, or by any form of dodge, or either of MK's side aerials. Fox's sh'd uair is a joke of an approach. One last comment on this section: MK's shuttle loop out of shield has invincibility on startup, so even if his shield is being hit by a multihit attack, he can up-b the attacker mid attack. This completely ***** fox's fair as a legit option to approach with.
Fox's Defense vs MK's approach: Fox can shoot a few lasers at MK. Unfortunately, MK can cross all of FD while only getting hit by about 2 (assuming you stop at the safety threshold). great. now what? MK's dash attack crosses up your shield, and he can dsmash after his dash attack faster than you can dsmash out of your shield. Fox has nothing that stands up to the tornado's pressure. Fox has a few things that can beat the tornado right at startup, or from directly above it. However, MK's not going to use the tornado when he's right up next to you; he'll only use it when he's already on top of you (i.e. dair >tornado), or when he's just at your safety threshold. Furthermore, it's not reasonable to assume fox can beat the tornado by attacking it's weak spot (top). This requires fox to full hop his aerials, as his sh isn't high enough to get him over the tornado. At this point, it's painfully obvious that MK can avoid this attack, usually w/ the ability to punish any landing lag you have left yourself in.
MK's fair is also easily usable to hit fox's shield w/o worry of counterattack. unlike fox's fair, MK's hits low enough to the ground so that he covers himself when he lands.
Fox's Recovery vs MK's edgeguarding: First, it's clear that MK will have an easy time getting fox off the stage. His dsmash, up-b out of shield, fair, or dthrow all do a good job of getting someone as light as fox offstage in a flash, even at low %s. Once Fox is offstage, he's basically *****. I've already broken down some of why MK ***** fox when fox is offstage, so i'll just quote that here:
Fox's Edgeguarding vs MK's recovery: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Fox dies.
Anyone still reading up to this point clearly wants to make their fox as good as they can, otherwise they'd've stopped reading long ago dismissing this as something that they cannot understand, or because they already agree with this. To anyone still reading this, to improve yourself, you must first understand your own weakness to learn how to correct it or to minimzie it's effects. Every competitive player realizes this. The same goes for a character's matchups. You have to realize why your character has a disadvantage, so you can try to work around the disadvantageous points and try to get a win out of a situation that's 70-30 against you. Being ignorant of this and assuming your character goes even (or close to) with MK for whatever reasons, is just going to get you owned hard at your next (or more likely, first) (real) tournament; at which point you'll realize that you've been cheating yourself out of a lot of time you could've been improving in.
