How do i deal with Shiek?

[burntfish44]

I'm by no means "good" but I'm not just a casual. I'm working on becoming competitive-level at smash, and am making good progress... i've got marths spacing down well, wavedashing down decently, and I'm currently working L-cancelling and teching in as being habitual.

Unfortunately I don't really have anyone to practice with (for now) and am stuck vs. bots. Some lv.9 bots i can mostly consistently beat, a lot of them are decently even matchups.

But I've hit a stump in the road - I'm having a ton of trouble dealing with characters that are even faster and zippier than i am, mainly Shiek. I feel slow/helpless compared to shiek, who just sorta zips around me and shield grabs anything i try, and once i get to 40%+ I'm just tech-chased to death. The u-airs and f-airs are killing me and even the needles are giving me trouble.

Squirtle is giving me a similar trouble but i feel like I'll be able to deal with him if i play the matchup a bit, where shiek seems to consistently wreck me

What advice can you give/ what should i work on, other than general stuff like L-cancelling/teching?

 

[5-oNe]

watch dr peepee(marth) vs m2k(shiek).its melee but it still helps a ton.

 

[5-oNe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kREm4Bsw58M
just figured i should go find it and post it for u.watch and enjoy.because this is also when the matchup was even harder for marth

 

[Bukowski On Ice]

You have to work heavily on your grab game vs shiek. Follow the basic Marth rule: When the opponent is above you, you're in control. When you throw shiek into the air, you can juggle her with u-airs and u-tilts into some pretty high percents, and she cannot challenge you. Get her off stage as much as possible and always hog the ledge. Her up-b landing lag is super long so you can get a grab or smash attack on her every time if you practice.

On the defensive side, you need to spot dodge and shield a lot. Needles will force you away or into mid range, but the closer you get the more shiek will want to move in on you. A good shiek will use retreating f-airs on your shield which are very safe for her, so you need to wavedash in after shielding or spot dodging. If she's aggressive or poorly spaced, you need to punish her on-shield attacks with grabs. ALWAYS GRAB. MORE GRABS. Work on your tech chases and keep pushing her off stage so that you can get those punishes.

In PM you can DI down and away from her d-throw so that she can't SHFFL you, so just beware of her f-tilt and u-tilt jungles. DI out and prepare for a fair. And if you see a shiek use her second jump while approaching, just attack her. An overconfident shiek will die easily from getting hit out of her double jump too often.

Be as patient as possible and react to things. Acting first will get you killed.