Konrad-QD
Smash Journeyman
Hi LucarioMaster!
Congratulations on continued improvement! I've seen your lucario grow for a while now and it continues to impress. Also, I had the pleasure of meeting your fellow countryman Nives at a NY tournament. Its nice to see Europe train lucarios!
As far as your play, I agree mostly with what Hichez said. I assume the set with LLS you treated as practice. You didn't seem to be reading/paying attention to the falco player for the majority of the set. On multiple occasions you didn't edgehog him when you had the opportunity (and I believe you were aware of this but simply chose not to edge hog him).
I'm not going to comment on your set with Nives. You played well obviously.
VS Hoejja, I compliment you on your optimal use of the landing force palm (both from front and back). Your mobility is on full display and I believe this is your best playing from a technical as well as intellectual level. However, I have to disagree with Hichez on that you are doing better than Trela. I think your opponent is still not a very skilled DDD and in the least is not aware of the matchup. The most glaring thing is that he doesn't powershield. Against a ddd that does powershield a lot of options you are choosing would simply not be safe if they expect those options. Furthermore a DDD that knows the matchup will break out of FP chain grabs so be careful with those.
Here are some specific comments:
1:05 really nice wavebounce and smart choice as an option. Be careful you don't do this too frequently because if DDD reads it you put yourself in a really bad position (You have to up B and you can get edge hogged easily). I don't think you do this too much though.
Thus far I'm noticing that you have some habits. For one I think you tend to have bursts of trying to use one specific move over and over again. For example at the beginning of the match you went twice in a row for the air dodge to landing grab option. Be careful that you don't announce your intent by repeating the same option multiple times in close succession.
1:57 Again you start out at low percent fishing for the same option (force palm landing grab after crossup). I think you have a habit of going for this. ITS A GREAT OPTION but don't be predictable (against this player that is not a problem.)
I also notice that this DDD player likes to roll from the ledge a lot.... bad option for ddd
3:07 see you're going for the same thing again at low percents. ddd's sidestep is broken so you won't be able to land that option if he reads you (or just randomly sidesteps because he feels like it)
4:14 this is really good as a mix up since he probably expects you to try to cross him up. Great job
5:11 risky, but on this stage its not so bad since you can cling. Nice read.
5 :17 see how you did the same thing 5 times in a row? - against a player that can read better this will get punished really hard.
5:48 I don't think this is worth commenting from this point. When DDD is trying to swallowcide you over and over again its pretty obvious you've won =D
7:05 I've noticed this a couple times - you don't wait for his invincibility to end =D be careful of that.
8:45 habit again (still works against this guy though)
I wanted to mention here some options that I think you could consider adding to your game that I don't see you using. 1 sh Fair to footstool to dair (if the footstool doesn't connect you can usually escape safely with a wavebounce from the second jump if you think your opponent is following your momentum)
2) try to catch DDD in the ASC if he is shielding a lot or sidesteping or if you manage to catch him in a combo with fair when he is at mid percent.
3) try to fair to crossup Bair as a mix up to nair since the timing changes and its less punishable on landing (you push DDD away if he shields it)
These are just some mixups to consider! good stuff!
Honestly at your level of tech skill the thing that's holding you back is your ability to read/make intelligent plays and not have habits. I think, like me, you're really infatuated with the flashyness of Trela's combos and you're trying to emulate them as much as possible. The problem that I see is that you make a decision in your head of what combo you want to get and then you start fishing for it (against these players it works!) Try thinking more about what options your opponent may want to use to get to a better position, or how they might try to kill you, or how they might try to get damage on you at low percent and try to figure out the best way to punish the options that are best for your opponent.
I look forward to seeing further improvement in your game!
I also wanted to post this message I received from Trela that talks about choosing options at certain percents and avoiding a situation where a combo is broken by short hitstun:
Trela wrote:
I used to have the same exact problem that you are having right now, as well. You'll get the Fair on them and then be like, "Wait wtf? How did they just shield my Nair/Dair in the middle of my combo?" I Learned that it's all based on you and your opponents percentages.
You see, if you try and go for a Fair to Nair/Dair combo on someone while they're at a low percentage (0 to about 20%), there won't be enough hitstun in the Fair for your combo to work. Even when you've got a lot of aura going and you're at a high percentage like you said, it's still not enough to finish the combo. This is why you see me go for the Force Palm mix-ups instead. They're expecting you to go for another hit after the Fair so they can shield it and punish you, but if you grab their shield from behind with a Force Palm.......now we're talk'n!
As for the use of the Aura Sphere charge, it also depends on percentages. If they're at a high enough percentage to where my Nair will knock them too far back for me to string another combo together, then I pull out the ASC on them in order to continue the combo for a little extra damage. I also gotta make sure that I have one semi-charged up and if I have enough aura going so the ASC will be big enough to catch my opponent in it.
And that's basically how I work my combos lol. Hoped I helped any
