Knife AMA

[Knife]

Hey guys, I like educating people on matters of Smash. This thread will be Q & A of sorts where you can ask anything (Smash related) such as my competive experiences, what characters are good, how can I improve (include vids plz), how to play against a character, challenge my knowledge, etc..

Just know that your question will be in reference to my opinion mostly, which is based observations I've made. I have something to say on pretty much everything, so no such thing as a dumb/pointless question. Others can answer too if they want, always good to have more feedback.

[euklyd]

- Why did you completely drop Link (if you did)?

- How is Greninja's matchup spread (what does he do well, where does he struggle)?

- Are you working on any secondaries? If so, which character(s), and why?

- When are they putting you on Houston PR? Are you truly, as your member title states, "the best"?

- How do you get in regular practice? Do you meet up with people randomly, are there regular events, do you just do online?

- how2beat fox wtf

- - Cloud too, I guess

- - edit: also mario

Edited June 6, 2016 by Euklyd

[Lord Raven]

How do you feel Ike will pan out in the future in tournament play?

Follow-up question: why do we use tiers in this day and age? Is it just an aggregation of tournament results or is there something else? I was thinking about this and ultimately it seems like they are pointless in their design because matchup lists are far more useful, since tiers don't seem to provide any actually meaningful information, but I'm wondering what other thoughts on this is.

EDIT: I have a tough time full hopping consistently. How do you recommend I improve this? I tend to get a short hop half the time I think I got a full hop it ends up being a short hop.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Lord Raven

[Jedi]

- What characters do you believe can handle Rosalina the best, even outside the top tiers, because I've heard some debate on disjointed characters having an advantage overall etc.

- Who do you personally think is #1 after the Bayo nerfs?

[Elieson]

Why do you main bad characters?

What's Trela like?

When's the next tournament being held north of Houston (Woodlands-area)? I can probably make it if it's there. I can't make it to central and Katy and the like.

[Comet]

Any advice in the Sheik ditto?

Favorite Roy palette?

[Zera]

Why don't you main Dedede? Show them you are the King!

[Knife]

- Why did you completely drop Link (if you did)?

- How is Greninja's matchup spread (what does he do well, where does he struggle)?

- Are you working on any secondaries? If so, which character(s), and why?

Q. Why did you drop Link?

A. I still play Link casually, I find him really fun to play. I'll also use him in early bracket/pools since I can actually close out matches really quick with him. Competitively, he's really lacking and that's just function of his design. He's just super average at everything among the swordies and most of the time it is best to specialize in something. Why play him for zoning when you can go with Robin or even Toon Link and do it better? Why play him for spacing when Marth and Cloud can do it better? Why play him for his throw game when other swordies like Ike and Robin (barring bad grab range) can do it better? Not to mention he really bad fundamental flaws in a really bad jumpsquat, disadvantage state, and grab (which I cannot understate how bad this flaw is especially in Smash 4 where shield is king). Most of the people in my area have figured out the MU, its time to play a better character as sad as it is to say.

Q. How is Greninja's MU spread?

A. I'm pretty active among the Greninja community and most agree he has a ton of even MUs and slightly loses to Sheik, Sonic, Fox, and Diddy. He doesn't outright demolish a lot of the lower tiers like a top tier would either. Losing MUs against common top tiers (albeit slight disadvantages) and not that many heavily winning MUs (his winning MUs are probably only slightly in his favor, unless it's like Ganondorf or Jigglypuff) put him in upper mid tier, somewhere around 15th to 25th place. Basically a pretty balanced spread, kinda like Pit.

Q. Are you working on any secondaries?

A. Right now, I'm focusing on solo Greninja, but maybe I'll need a secondary at some point to deal with his tougher top tier MUs. Or I'll just suck it up and play out his bad MUs, nothing probably as bad as Link-Sheik or Link-Fox. For now, I'm trying to get his tech/footstool game down.

I'll answer more questions a bit later. I'm getting late for work. More tonight.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Knife

[Tsunami922]

Where would you put Peach and Palutena on a tier list?

[Refa]

Why did you choose to main Greninja? Nothing against the character him(it?)self, just seems like a weird choice if you were actively trying to pick a more tournament viable character than Link.

[Knife]

- When are they putting you on Houston PR? Are you truly, as your member title states, "the best"?

- How do you get in regular practice? Do you meet up with people randomly, are there regular events, do you just do online?

- how2beat fox wtf

- - Cloud too, I guess

- - edit: also mario

Q. You're the best. When are you making the Houston PR?

A. Thank you, I am the best. I am currently pretty inactive locally, which has a lot to do with extra work over the summer and need to lab things before I'm ready. I think I can make it pretty high up there.

Q. How do you get regular practice?

A. I'm part of a group of 4-5 friends and we regularly practice together, mostly close in skill. There's also a big smashfest every two weeks that we go to and some pretty good players come out. I also play online when I'm bored and have extra time. I try to practice at tourneys, but I usually end up spectating matches or chilling so I don't really get much practice other than the main bracket, where I learn a lot.

If you can, try to find a group of people around your skill level and propose practice sessions. People also join crews or WiFi clans for the same reason.

Q. How do I beat Fox, Cloud, and Mario?

A. This is pretty broad since I don't know what character your using against them, but nonetheless I'll give you some general tips that can apply to every character.

Fox can be difficult to deal with with his amazing speed and frame data, but you must exploit his weaknesses offensively and defensively. You should definitely lab how to stuff Fox's Illusion since 99% of the time he'll be relying on that to make it back onstage. It's pretty character specific but most characters have a lingering aerial (Nair) that can catch it and you can pretty much run offstage, double jump backwards and drift back on stage with a Nair, timing it to catch Illusion. If you have a character with a projectile, you might be able to knock him out of it with good timing, but you have to practice it. Quick Dtilts with decent disjoints are also really good if you can time 2 frames, you've probably seen Void consistently Dtilt Foxes out of their Illusion. Once you've caused the Fox to waste all his double jump and they are below the stage, they have to Firefox, in case you can (stage)spike or use a stronger aerial to finish them. Be brave when challenging Firefox since it will knock you upwards if you miss anyway (you can trade a Sheik Dair with the Firefox and live), don't wait for them to get close to the ledge since they can "cheat death" with the 2 frame ledgesnap. Offensively, Fox can have trouble killing if you make it hard for him. He relies a lot on Nair/Dair setups into Usmash to kill, but it is actually pretty easy to avoid these if you are completely aware. You'll probably notice at the higher levels, players don't fall to this as much, Larry gets most of his kills from raw Bairs and Uairs. If you have the stock lead, you are pretty much safe in shield since he has no way to kill you though it (unless he shield pokes with Dair), focus on surviving and maintaining a lead at this point.

Cloud can be difficult to deal with for good reason. Most players have a lot of trouble contesting his aerials. His Dair and Nair spam may seem really safe, but you can still exploit this even without relying on powershielding. You may notice a tendency for Clouds to rely on Dairs to land, but with good spacing not even that is safe. You can pretty much beat it with a horizontally spaced aerial since his air speed will be low right after he comes out of hitstun. Lots of characters also have pivot grabs/tilts that beat the landing. SH Nair spam can be beaten by reading his jump timings and pretty much running under and Usmashing. Like Fox, you should also lab ways to gimp him. Remember he doesn't ledgesnap unless Climhazzard is spaced perfectly, so this makes his recovery pattern more predictable. You can abuse the lack of ledge snap with a Dtilt/Dsmash. If they recover high, you can jump next to the cloud, drift with him at 45 degree angle in front/under him until he does an option (usually either airdodge or nair, but you can beat both with a fast enough aerial and good reaction). You can also grab him drifting on stage if he's about level with it and grab release him to his death if he lost his double jump.

Dealing with Mario can be extremely MU dependent but basically: If you're a spacer/disjoint character, abuse Mario's lack of range and always stay out of grab range. If you're a zoner, keep zoning. I feel like people respect cape too much, but you can still bait it and Mario isn't exactly the fastest character so you can decently camp him. If you're Brawler like him, it can be pretty even. Also, don't full hop a lot against Marios, Usmash is a really good anti-air. Stay away from the ledge at kill percents and avoid Bthrow. Mario's combos do a lot of damage but remember to keep your cool and focus on survival, make them lose their cool when you live till 160%.

How do you feel Ike will pan out in the future in tournament play?

Follow-up question: why do we use tiers in this day and age? Is it just an aggregation of tournament results or is there something else? I was thinking about this and ultimately it seems like they are pointless in their design because matchup lists are far more useful, since tiers don't seem to provide any actually meaningful information, but I'm wondering what other thoughts on this is.

EDIT: I have a tough time full hopping consistently. How do you recommend I improve this? I tend to get a short hop half the time I think I got a full hop it ends up being a short hop.

Q. Where will Ike go in future tournament play?

A. At the very top level, I think he will only go down. He's pretty outclassed by Cloud, only thing he has over him is throw combos and slightly better (but still not great) recovery. Ryo, Ike's current best representative isn't doing that well at the bigger events. He's just got too many frame data and disadvantage issues that top tiers love to abuse.

Q. Why do we use tier lists?

A. TBH, tier lists make for some really good discussion fodder. Nothing riles smashers more than when their main is perceived to be bad or good. Tier lists can have a bunch of criteria in it, from Matchup spreads, results, and overall theory of a character. Matchup spreads alone are pretty good, but doesn't really paint the full picture. For example, Pikachu is theorized to go even or beat the majority of the cast, does that mean he's the best? Far from it since he gets really mediocre results and has killing issues for a supposed top tier. Whether it contains useful information or not depends on who's looking at it. For casual players it means nothing since they could be beating their other casual friends with Ganondorf. For competitive players, its serves a bigger function, something like a "who should I practice for the most" list or a "who should I play" list.

Q. How to full-hop consistently?

A. Press the jump button a bit longer.

- What characters do you believe can handle Rosalina the best, even outside the top tiers, because I've heard some debate on disjointed characters having an advantage overall etc.

- Who do you personally think is #1 after the Bayo nerfs?

Q. What characters can handle Rosalina the best?

A. Rosalina has two losing MUs, against Cloud and Metaknight. Cloud has the disjoint and frame data to get rid of Luma safely and juggle really well with great kill power. Metaknight can actually hard counter her. He can still get Uair ladders on her post patch because she is big and floaty, dying to it at absurdly low percents due to her low weight. His dash attack clears Luma for free and he can also edgeguard really well. Other disjointed character can do well, but only in the context of the general cast. Pretty much every other sword character has frame data issues or not enough of a disjoint to do what Cloud can do to her, though Marth comes close. She probably goes even or slightly beats all other disjoint characters. Other than that, she beats/goes even with a ton of top tiers and doesn't really lose to anyone (maybe ZSS, but Dabuz has beaten Nairo many times recently). She's top tier for a reason.

Q. Who is currently #1?

A. Diddy Kong. He was getting really good results last patch and he continues to get them this patch. His neutral is way too good (Frame 4 ranged Dtilt to everything), even without a banana and while he's not usually killing you until at least 120%. His MU spread among top tiers is also really good, beating or even with everyone else, though he may possibly lose to Rosalina and few random mid tiers like Luigi and Olimar. Why is he better than Rosalina then? Because Rosalina is hard countered by Metaknight whereas Diddy has no such hard counter. Rosalina also loses to Cloud, a really common character.

Why do you main bad characters?

What's Trela like?

When's the next tournament being held north of Houston (Woodlands-area)? I can probably make it if it's there. I can't make it to central and Katy and the like.

Q. Why do you main bad characters?

A. Greninja isn't bad and can keep up in the metagame. And I dropped Link.

Q. What's Trela like?

A. He's a super intelligent guy and cares a lot about improving in Smash 4. He's pretty much the prince of Houston Smash 4 and a lot of people respect him as he is the state's only nationally viable player. He's a bit too hard on himself when he loses, though he's gotten much better about it recently. If you ever see him, say hi, he's really friendly.

Q.When's the next tournament being held north of Houston (Woodlands-area)?

A. Go to this link, Clutch City Clash (corny name I know) happens Aug. 6-7th.

https://smash.gg/tournament/su-presents-clutch-city-clash

Any advice in the Sheik ditto?

Favorite Roy palette?

Q. Any advice in the Sheik ditto?

A. You both have trouble killing, but no problem dealing damage and comboing each other. This match will come down to who can close out kills better. If you have a read you can save, don't use it until its time to kill (like a Usmash airdodge read, Ftilt 50/50 Uair read, or a ledge trump Bair for example). Needling is bad, Bouncing Fish beats it pretty easily. Focus on ledgetrapping since edgeguarding Sheik is hard even with Sheik and you don't really have a strong enough aerial to kill other than maybe needles to Bouncing Fish.

Q. Favorite Roy palette?

A. Dark purple. Since he gets all the girls.

Why don't you main Dedede? Show them you are the King!

Q. Why don't you main Dedede?

A. The world is not ready for my Dedede. Someday I will though.

Where would you put Peach and Palutena on a tier list?

Q. Where would you put Peach and Palutena on a tier list?

A. Peach would probably fit somewhere around where Greninja is, in the 15th to 25th range. High damage, good movement options, good kill power, but a bit susceptible to anti-airing and getting camped. Palutena would be a tier below below that, in the 26th to 40th range. I don't believe Palutena is garbage, she has a few really good tools that prevent her from being lumped in with the Jigglypuff and Ganondorf tier, like Bair and Bair.

Why did you choose to main Greninja? Nothing against the character him(it?)self, just seems like a weird choice if you were actively trying to pick a more tournament viable character than Link.

Q. Why did you choose to main Greninja?

A. I just really enjoy playing as him and he's the best character that I also enjoy playing. I considered ZSS for a while, but ultimately liked Greninja lot more. I think he has potential and I'm sticking with him for now.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Knife

[euklyd]

Holy shit these are in-depth answers. Thanks!

A. This is pretty broad since I don't know what character your using against them, ...

I'm still using 90% Link, although recently I've had success vs Fox and Mario using Marth.

[Tsunami922]

What is your opinion of Kamui?

Do you think she would be a good secondary for a Peach/Rosalina main?

[General Horace]

What's the best way to handle projectiles with a slower character? I know it's inherently a weakness of said characters, but is the real only option walking and (power)shielding? Also, what's the best way to approach a projectile user hiding under something like a battlefield platform? I've had issues with getting lamed out by characters just hiding and throwing needles/metal blades/arrows and what not there a lot.

For characters that struggle to land, is going to ledge a valid landing option?

Edited June 7, 2016 by General Horace

[Zera]

Dedede vs. Samus?

[Knife]

Holy shit these are in-depth answers. Thanks!

I'm still using 90% Link, although recently I've had success vs Fox and Mario using Marth.

Q. Link vs. Fox/Cloud/Mario?

Link vs. Fox is very tough for Link, but he does have a chance since this is Smash 4.

Neutral: Use lots of pivot Ftilt and Jabs, in general try to outrange Fox whenever possible. Don't fish for grabs around kill percent, Fox can pretty much always kill you for it.

Offstage: Arrow snipes are probably the quickest way to beat Illusion, but run off Nair is good too. Don't get too greedy and try to Dair Illusion, but it can work if you have enough to time to set it up. If Fox is forced to Firefox, he should pretty much never make it back, you have Nair, Fair, and Dair to beat it.

Killing: Fox is pretty evasive so you need to rely on outspacing to kill him too. Utilt/Ftilt/Pivot Grab work well on Foxes that like to hop a lot. You can get Dthrow>Uair on him pretty easily if you can buffer it well. You might catch jab/utilt heavy Foxes with a spaced Fsmash.

Disadvantage: You can actually punish a lot of his moves with Up B out of shield, including his back hit utilt, jab 1-2, down air, and dash attack. When he's juggling you, pray for the best. If you are at autocancel height, you can try Dair but he can space a Bair to hit you out of it. Don't try to punish his Bair at any spacing, it is incredibly safe.

Link vs. Cloud is actually not too bad.

Neutral: Wall him out as much as you can. Yes he's fast, but he's still a pretty big target so he'll still eat Boomerangs, Bombs, and Zairs. If he tries to limit camp you, let him. He's going to get it anyway and its not particularly threatening at low percents anyway. He may Limit Blade Beam through your projectiles, but you can react since it's slow. Don't play too aggressive, make it hell for him to get to you.

Offstage: Run off nair or arrow gimps work well. You can also try to time a Dsmash 2 on the ledge which will kill him pretty much any percent. Don't be afraid to challenge Limit Climhazzard either, it still doesn't cover Cloud completely and it doesn't hurt you that much if you miss. If he recovers high or level with the stage, you can try an airdodge read Nair or a grab release to his death.

Killing: With good timing you can pivot Ftilt Cloud out of his Dair, even if he's at autocancel height. Usmash can catch a Nair spamming Cloud. You can also beat his Dair with your Uair, something most characters can't do.

Disadvantage: Don't try to punish Limit Cross Slash, Link is too slow. If he autocancel Dair/Nair/Bair your shield, don't punish, roll away. He can edgeguard you pretty hard too, Nair sends you at a nasty angle. Try using more airdodge tethers to make it back. Dair trades with his Uair, and you usually win the trade damagewise.

Link vs. Mario is slightly in Mario's favor.

Neutral: Wall him out as much as you can. He does have a cape, but he can't reflect everything and he has pretty average mobility. Trusty old pivot Ftilt and Jabs work well here too. Try not to fight him upclose, he will always outframe you.

Offstage: Honestly, not much you can do offstage. You're too slow to chase him before he's within range to use his Up B, but you may get an arrow gimp. Focus on ledge trapping.

Killing: He's a bit floaty and can have trouble landing, so Utilt and Usmash work well. If he's grab happy, pivot Ftilt beats it pretty easily and he'll die for it. Jab (Slow)Jab Up B might work.

Disadvantage: A lot of his stuff is safe on shield including back hit Usmash. Study what you can and can't punish. Try not to land onstage too much, he's fast enough to follow your landing and Usmash. Ledge retreating might be better. Watch for cape offstage, but you shouldn't have too much trouble coming back. At low percents, fastfall and shield if he starts a Dthrow Utilt combo, you might even hit him with Up B OoS. Uair Up B ladders are pretty much inescapable, just eat that damage but don't lose your cool.

What is your opinion of Kamui?

Do you think she would be a good secondary for a Peach/Rosalina main?

Q. What do you think of Kamui?

A. I think top players tend to overrate them a bit, we have yet to see an amazing result from them at a larger scale. I definitely don't agree with Zero putting them at #10, they just have too many mobility and recovery issues to keep up with most of the top tiers. They do have tools better than a lot of the cast such as great disjoints and dragon lunge. I'd put them somewhere in the 15th to 20th range.

Q. Do you think she would be a good secondary for a Peach/Rosalina main?

A. Whenever I look at MU coverage, I generally look at my perceived top 9 and how well your mains can cover them: Diddy, Rosalina, Cloud, ZSS, Sonic, Sheik, Fox, Mario, and Ryu. Chances are if you have good/even MUs with these characters, you will probably do well against the rest of the cast. TBH, I don't know much about Peach's MU spread and I don't think she does any better than Rosalina in anything anyway, so I'll consider you a Rosalina main. As a Rosalina, you absolutely need a secondary to cover your Cloud and MK matchups. I'm not completely sure about this, but I hear Cloud slightly beats Corrin and Corrin is either even or beat MK. ZSS could give Rosalina some trouble too, but I'm not really sure how Corrin does but if I had to guess, ZSS beats Corrin.

TLDR: If you think Corrin can help you more against Cloud, MK, and ZSS, use her. Otherwise Rosa can handle most MUs by herself.

What's the best way to handle projectiles with a slower character? I know it's inherently a weakness of said characters, but is the real only option walking and (power)shielding? Also, what's the best way to approach a projectile user hiding under something like a battlefield platform? I've had issues with getting lamed out by characters just hiding and throwing needles/metal blades/arrows and what not there a lot.

For characters that struggle to land, is going to ledge a valid landing option?

Q. What's the best way to handle projectiles with a slower character?

A. If your character has a slow enough fall speed, you can try to Shorthop Airdodge (SHAD) past the wall of projectiles. Some slower characters like Ganondorf and DK have Dash Attacks that trample projectiles and at midrange you may even get a punish. Platforms are actually your friend when if comes to approaching projectile heavy characters. You don't have to commit to landing in front of the opponent's line of fire (though if they have good platfrom pressure, that might hurt). If you get on a platform on top of them or near, you can time a drop down aerial to beat their spam.

Q. For characters that struggle to land, is going to ledge a valid landing option?

A. Depends on the MU. For example, DK has a terrible time getting off the ledge with really slow getup frames. When you play a heavy character or a character with landing troubles, there's not much you can do other can try to stall a landing to throw off timing or weave in and out. If you have a character with a safe on shield aerial, it helps tremendously.

Dedede vs. Samus?

Q. Dedede vs. Samus?

A. This sounds pretty terrible for Dedede. I can't give you as much detailed MU advice since I don't play either character (maybe someone reading this can?). I'd imagine it would involve a lot of Dedede trying to approach a walling Samus. I think Bair is really his only viable approach aerial, but even then it can be punished. You can mixup a lot of falling Neutral B (the Dedede suck) to beat opponents shielding expecting an aerial. Just eat a lot of damage and hope you get a hard read that kills early I guess.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Knife

[Tsunami922]

How do you think ZSS does against the other top tiers?

[euklyd]

Thanks so much! I think those may be my three most common matchups here; I'll try to put that all into practice!

[Knife]

How do you think ZSS does against the other top tiers?

Q. How do you think ZSS does against the other top tiers?

A.

Diddy - Lose

Rosalina - Win/Even

Cloud - Even

Sonic - Win

Sheik - Even

Fox - Win

Mario - Win/Even

Ryu - I barely see this MU at top level so IDK

ZSS has some challenging MUs against a few High/Mid tiers like Villager and Greninja.

[Tsunami922]

Does Cloud have any bad matchups?

What matchups does Meta Knight have trouble with?

[Jedi]

Who do you think Marth overall does best against?

[Knife]

Does Cloud have any bad matchups?

What matchups does Meta Knight have trouble with?

Q. Does Cloud have any bad matchups?

A. Sheik and Bayonetta. Sheik has been nerfed, even still she has amazing frame data, ability to carry Cloud offstage, and edgeguard well. Neutral game is even though Cloud still has to approach since Sheik has needles. Cloud can Dair and Nair all he wants, but in the end he has to approach since he'll just keep getting needled.

Bayonetta can be a tough one, though Cloud outneutrals her very hard. Things that make this MU bad for Cloud is Bayo's Witchtime which can halt a lot of Cloud's momentum and catch his lingering hitboxes. She also has what I consider, the second best edgeguarding in the game after Sheik. Bullet Climax forces airdodge and low recovery, and Bayo can either hold Nair offstage or drift under Cloud and Witch Twist (which sends at a very horizontal angle). I think you can also Bat Within Cloud's Limit Cross Slash with proper SDI.

Otherwise Cloud's MUs are really debatable among the top tiers (lots of people think Fox/Diddy/Mario lose, while others believe they win for example), only clear winning MUs are Rosalina and Sonic. He also has lots of evenish MUs against high-mid tiers on account of his fundamental weakness (bad recovery in a game where most recoveries are great).

Q. What matchups does MK have trouble against?

A. Pretty much anyone who can outneutral him hard and has a decent recovery. Personally, I think he has spots of bad MUs even among mid/low tiers, but I'll focus on top tiers.

Diddy - Lose

Rosalina - Win

ZSS - Lose (though Leo did beat Nairo, I still need to watch that set)

Cloud - Lose

Sonic - Lose

Sheik - Lose

Fox - Lose/Even

Mario - Lose

Ryu - Lose

He's not doing that well after the nerf TBH. He's a pretty good CP character against floaty large characters like Rosalina, Yoshi, Samus, maybe Peach since the Uair ladder still kinda works on them.

Who do you think Marth overall does best against?

Q. Who do you think Marth overall does best against?

A. In what context? If you're talking about top tiers, I think he goes even (which is good for a mid tier) with Rosalina, Cloud, and Mario but loses to the rest. Among all characters, I can see Jigglypuff having a nearly impossible time against him having to deal with a pretty good recovery, neutral, and disjoints.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Knife

[Jedi]

Ah, the context, sorry I forgot. Like against the top threats, as you mentioned.

I see alot of people picking up Marth almost strictly for the Mario MU recently even MKLeo.

[Tsunami922]

How should I be playing against Marth/Lucina?

How often do you practice?

[Knife]

How should I be playing against Marth/Lucina?

How often do you practice?

Q. How should I be playing against Marth/Lucina?

A. Playing against Marthcina is very MU dependent, though here are some general tips. I'll refer to Marth in the next paragraph, since Lucina's not as relevant (can still apply Marth stuff).

Neutral: Marth relies a lot on spacing and being safe on shield. Marth has amazing footsies, but he does have landing issues which you can exploit. Shorthop Nair/Fair heavy Marths can be beaten with dashshield since those moves are unsafe if you disrupt spacing. If you play a character with a good zoning game, you can keep him out and force approaches. Don't spotdodge too much, good Marth's will punish with run up Fsmash or Dancing Blade).

Killing: If they jump a lot, you can run under and Usmash or pivot Fsmash. Can't really say much without the MU.

Offstage: Only was to really edgeguard him is to hit him before he is in Dolphin Slash range of the ledge. Dolphin Slash is really good at protecting Marth and you may get stagespiked if you aren't ready to tech. May want to focus on ledgetrapping.

Disadvantage: There is a percent range where Marth gets nothing off grabs (like 60% to 130%), you can play shield heavy since his throws do a paltry 4% (though losing positional advantage is still bad). Marth is very good at edgeguarding, don't have predictable airdodge habits when recovering. Watch out for Dolphin Slash when he recovers, it can stage spike you very quickly and is sometimes untechable. Depending on if your character is a fast faller or floaty, you should either fastfall shield or double jump out of his Jab 1 followup. Don't Nair or airdodge after Jab 1, lots of less experienced players fall for this and get Fsmashed. Watch out for falling Nair/Dancing Blade, can set up for a tipper.

Q. How often do you practice?

A. Usually one smashfest a week, one tourney a week (sometimes two if a big tourney is happening), maybe some online or labbing in between. It honestly depends on how much time I have for it. One week I did nothing but fiend 5 days straight because a big tourney was coming up and out of state players were in town. Another week I played no smash at all because school/work johns.