M E T A K N I G H T
Matchup Ratio [90-10] Metaknights favor
This matchup is insanely stupid. Easily Samus' second worst matchup (behind DDD). A good samus will not beat a good metaknight aside from amazing amounts of luck and character matchup exp, or the metaknight severely not knowing the matchup. There is a reason why metaknight usually places first in most major tourneys. Samus
is not a counter.
[90-10] in metaknight's favor currently and unlikely to change. .
![Frown :( :(](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Metaknight imo honestly has advantages over samus in almost all gameplay areas.
*What to watch out for
Tornado- and why it sucks
Tornado is the most crippling move against samus in this matchup, she gets hit harder than almost any other character by it, bc it single handedly kills her spam walls and ledge game, and is generally unpunishable enough to create a favorable/secure tradeoff for mk when used intelligently (I find a lot of people rely on underrating the mk player's ability to develop theoretical strategies against it). Why is this move so bad? :
-it comes out fast, and will be used in a manner that keeps samus from being react.
-it can be controlled, it lingers, and it can be directed away from the character at the end to avoid counterattack.
-it can be used offstage, and in the air, and can be used to gain vertical height.
-it gains horizontal ground fairly quickly.
-homing missiles, and uncharged charged shots easily get absorbed,
-zairs will get absorbed at regular spam levels unless you predict the tornado beforehand (unlikely) and shorthop aim it at the top of the tornado (or the metaknight is stupid and tries tornadoing from long range). Predicting wrong means easy approach and attack for mk from the horizontal opening underneath created.
-Super missiles get absorbed as well (though the mk will have to mash tornado... which they do).
- The only spam move that legitimately takes out tornado at a regular level is the fully charged charge shot, and that is difficult to recharge after and before use since metaknight is usually aggressive on the approach.
-Bombs are bad here (yes they are). They don't hit on contact and must time out against the mk, plus you have to plant them preemptively and they make you vulnerable during the duration. They aren't a good protection for samus since mk can easily take advantage of them, and they have a bad tradeoff (especially after the first two times you use them as a counter measure and they become predictable). You can not use bombs as a reaction to tornado happening, tornado will pass right through them in the early stages and hit samus. These are a bad counter guys, face it. I've tried it too many times w/o substantial success.
-aerials at low heights are basically all absorbed by tornado... nair gets through if you can aim it towards the top of the tornado, and dair can actually get through if you come in from above (lol). Both of these are unlikely given the time frame mk will give you to react in my opinion.
-grab passes through (correct me if I'm wrong) if tornado is like 2cm off the ground not to mention it is a bit laggy and punishable if it misses and can not be used consistently.
-all ground moves get eaten basically.
-the worst part of tornado is when samus is on the ledge and metaknight is edgeguarding, all they need to do is to tornado off the ledge and then back on when samus tries to get up.
it will block all of her spams (if she can even get them off), she can't fulljump out of it, and all of her ledgehopped aerials and zair get eaten (plus she gets knocked back onto the ledge). This situation is pure havoc for samus when done right, and its hard to trick the mk with tether stalls and under the ledge attacks (which can actually get hit if you try) to gain damage or get him to tornado early. Plus nado hits her on the ledge.
-Finally, even if tornado doesn't hit and is shielded it will pass through all of her spam walls and make the game a close range one, which, is not where samus wants to be against mk.
Approaching and Speed- Besides tornado, mk can approach in other ways easily as well. His dash attack, grab ground speed, and even dash usmash are fast and cover a lot of ground and have low centers of gravity (except usmash). His aerials which are used often in approach come out quick and have good range, plus he has multiple jumps to use them in (I've seen mks easily approach from above with multiple shorthop dairs, etc...). MK has very little trouble approaching and keeping in samus' face.
Aerials, Recovery, and Offledge Game- almost all of mks aerials outpriortize samuses, come out fast, do decent damage and have better range. Because of this a lot of things happen. A good mk will very rarely be spiked (since uair outprioritizes dair- and also because even if he is spiked, he can usually 90% of the time still recover). Mk can approach with these and gain damage quickly, even combo out of them. And Mk can also play off the ledge with them with a certain sense of confidence.
MK has a much easier time than other characters gimping Samus with aerials and shuttle loop by using them to "swat" away samus from the ledge (if samus ends up horizontal or below to the stage) it forces samus to recover in a very specific way-> bombjumping, jump and screwattack or tether. She can't use zair here to protect the ledge really because of she needs to save her vertical height and also because mk can usually up b recover back to the ledge even if he is hit (and she can't use aerials since mk's outprioritize her). This predictability in her recovery allows mk to go out and aerial her before she can screwattack the ledge basically enabling him to keep swatting her away and forcing her to recover in the same way.
Another thing to watch out for that mks do with his uair is when you are in the air he will try to juggle you up by continually jumping and uair, and then finally tornado you at the end. I've seen people ko'd off the roof with this technique. If this starts to happen try to airdodge and bomb di out of it (the damage is still harsh though)
RecoveryMks recovery is amazing and probably the best in the game as well, he has multiple jumps, a glide, his upb (which goes into a glide), tornado, aerials that easily protect his recovery, the option to air dodge. Dimensional Cape as well has the capacity to be used as recovery tool. Mk should almost never be gimped and can recover from most spikes. ouch.
Up B-
Is another move that mk will rip out a lot during a match. It has good ko potential, comes out fast, and is great for recovery, breaking combos, and ledge game. Two things to watch out for with this move-> The first is that if you are about a zair distance above mk expect this move will be used to hit you, anticipate this and even spike at that distance sometimes so he will even upb into your dair. This usually won't actually spike him as he will still recover (very annoying T.T) however, sometimes you get lucky. MKs will use this a lot offstage and as a legitimate counterattack/combo break. Another thing to keep in mind is that the top/back part of the upb is weaker (if i remember right), in either case though if you are hit by this move, be ready to DI. DI is the second thing that you should know in this matchup against this move. DI-ing is very important early on to avoid being ko'd and to reduce the impact of this move.
Ledge Game- I've said before that samus has one of the best ledge games in the game, and I mean that. Mk I would argue has the best though, and is the only person who can really challenge her here. Why? multiple reasons: many ways to stall, His upB can be used on the ledge, ledgehop aerials and tornado, etc...
Edgeguarding samus is also very easy for mk. Tornado as outlined earlier screws samus, as do his aerial and stalls from the ledge when samus is trying to recover. up b can be used when samus is trying to get up from the ledge to ko her.
Smash Attacks- His fsmash and dsmash both come out fast and have great damage. nuff said. (oh, also for dsmash a lot of times the mk will do it twice in a row! expect this and act appropriately (shield through it) but don't get comfortable with this, mk occassionally can switch this up and dsmash and then grab you while you're still shielding). Great for kos.
Overall
MK has ways to ko samus early, has a clear advantage offstage and close range, an easy time getting past spam walls, better counterpick levels, the best recovery in the game, aerials that prevent him from being spiked, a better ledge game, and a crippling edgeguard game against samus.
>>>>SAMUS IS SCREWED<<<<
*What stages to ban and CP
Most decent cp levels for samus against mk are usually banned in tournament now (green greens, etc...), and good cps in general don't really exist against mk.
I will usually use Delfino as a counterpick here. MK btw ***** at this level, he can attack from under the stage on the moving ground part, and generally ***** samus in most parts of the level. Why did I pick this then? Simply put, the walkoff parts of the stage allow samus to play risky. she can grab to bthrow for a free ko, and charge her shots off screen and fire them, masking them. Castle Siege too. Samus can take advantage of the randomness of the stage. You'll probably lose hard here, but you can occassionally pull off a ***** win, which is more than you can expect out of some other levels which give him a more secure advantage.
Honestly, your best option is not to stick with samus in this matchup.
![Frown :( :(](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I do anyways bc I love her, but honestly this matchup is just broken.
*How does samus win or do well
Inexperience with the Samus Matchup-
most mks will have very little exp with samus, (even some very good mks), always be ready to use this to your advantage. This is how most samuses pull off wins in this matchup, and how you can beat some mks in tournament. Many mks will not know how to get past her spam walls well at first, and be surprised by her offledge capabilities. Most importantly many mks don't realize tornado completely ***** samus, if you play it right you can trick the mk into thinking zair and super missiles (and even bombs) are effective counters to it by predicting and countering it well early on in the match. This has dramatic advantages for you until they are able to catch on. Zair and missile the crap out of him and be ready to go out and dair him offstage. Another thing mks will usually underrate is her ledge capabilities, especially the fact that samus can save her jump by bomb jumping and leading into a spike. You have to really play trixy here and set up a lot of midgames against the mk... make him play cautiously by having him expect samus has potential in her weak points.
KO Percent- Mk's weight is relatively light. This doesn't make up for his drastic advantages and samus' difficulty koing, but hey, its a start, and it definitely helps. Plus you get a fuzzy feeling knocking him out of a tornado with a fully charged shot and watching him go off the screen. ^^ dtilt and fsmash are going to be harder to ko with unfortunately because they are risky. Dtilt is a great choice here if you space it right, it has great range and good ko potential. If spaced well you can usually get in another dtilt if they block it and before they can fully approach and counterattack. They won't usually expect it twice in a row. Bair is a horrible idea here bc mk can kill samus in the air, it leaves her in a nado setupd, and bair leaves samus with her back to mk, all bad.
Offledge Game- An clear advantage to mk, however, if played right samus can still pull off spam damage against mk off the ledge, and also an occassional spike. ^^
Defense and Spacing- Expect this matchup to be very defensive for you. Expect to shield through tornados a lot, but also keep in mind to avoid being too grabbable (is that even a word?). Up B out of shield and your
screw attack generally against mk is a good idea if he is above you. Keeping your space and being ready to not be very offensive are the real keys to doing well in this matchup.
Don't rely on being defensive though, always take advantage of openings created by your spams, and other moves..
*Overall, what do you feel?
nope, that should do it i think
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/tongue.gif)
just be ready to play defensive and keep an eye out for his upb, nado, smashes, and offledge game! Don't expect to win at high levels, but never give up!