Slight advantage is about right. I'd even argue for even, but, for now, -1 is fine for me. Fox's rushdown can be very overwhelming if you aren't prepared for it. and if you want to know, I indeed voted for even.
Why:
- Find our strengths in this matchup
For starters, we outrange him. as obvious as it may or may not be, this also means we are able to apply a certain kind of pressure ourselves when we get him into the air. Our weight differential, combined with our attack power, it evens things out against his strong rushdown game. Instant Pin kick, U/D-Throw (closer to the edge), U-air, B-air and even one of F-Smash or Side B TIPPER, all reliable kill moves at some point of the match. We can get him pretty good with one of the tippers when he's coming back, depending on the angle. also, let's not forget we juggle him pretty hard.
- Discuss our cons in this matchup
Believe it or not, we're sort of combo food.You're not going to want to get caught hitting his back, considering U-Tilts are the most annoying lower-percent combos/combo-starter. His rushdown is pretty underwhelming if we aren't being careful with the moves we throw out- and most importantly,
when. (I, personally, have a bad habit of FF N-air'ing unsafely on Shield as well as bad B-airs)
- Choose our best stages for this matchup
Pretty much Battlefield. It saves us from U-Smash at higher percents too, so there's that. There's also Town & City, with it's low celing and nice platforms.
I kind of forgot what Fox does here, but me, personally. I like to get close and force a sort of reaction in which I can catch him in a bad spot, like a F-air string or something. In the meantime, I like to throw out F-airs (mainly right off the jump, as looks pretty safe on Shield as well as it keeps a sort of momentum) and some FF N-airs in the middle, in case he happens to drop Shield (bad habit of mine). FF B-air is also really good, assuming you're perfect with them.
It's been said. We catch his Side-B with F-Smash, can Side B TIPPER his Up-B and even choose to Counter it (it's a garanteed punish, I'm just not sure when it kills). By the looks of it, we might even be able to D-air his Up-B and catch his Side-B with Bite (shot, then Bite?).
He can gimp us with Foxcopter and maybe even N-air, so watch your Up-Bs (and Jumps, too).
For him, or for us? He has setups like D-air to U-Smash (I think you're supposed to DI down, away and tech, otherwise you're dead). He's going to fish for U-airs, but I never found it that obvious. He's to work for it (DI away from him and either try to airdodge accordingly or even D-air when you see him coming).
I've already talked about our general ways to kill him. U-Throw isn't so bad isn't this MU.
Considering he's a fast-faller, we might also be able to catch him in strings for longer than others. Look out for F-air strings and frame trap opportunities, those are huge.
- Discuss Disadvantage
- Overall Tips
- Summary
Character Specific Topics:
- Viability of using Dragon Fang Shot with respect to Fox's reflector.
- Exploiting Fox's fast falling properties, combos that work on fast fallers?
- General edge guarding strategies against Fox's linear recovery.
- Countermeasures against Fox's kill set-ups.