Author: Sam "Trilby" Foxall

Cloud has cemented himself as one of the top tiers in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, thanks to his amazing neutral game, great mobility and his Limit mechanic which can result in kills at around 50% with certain setups. While almost everyone can agree that Cloud is a top tier, there is a quite a bit more discussion on who is the best Cloud player.

Komorikiri, Tweek, MKLeo, Mew2King; all are in contention for being the best Cloud player, but how would they do in Cloud mirrors? Well, as MKLeo is currently staying on the East Coast, he was able to get in a first to seven set against Tweek, where they both played Cloud. What results is a great display of how powerful Cloud’s Limit can be and how going down a stock as Cloud may actually be benefit in a 2-stock scenario, as you get extra Limit to play with as the opponent goes into their final stock.

Source: Rush Hour Smash

With the release of patch 3.5 for Killer Instinct, skeleton warrior Spinal received a substantial increase to his meter gain, along with a new move which allows him to summon back Skulls to help regain or increase his momentum. In order to determine if these buffs have radically changed Spinal’s place within KI, the commander of the skeleton army UA|Bass has played some first-to-10 sets with other notable Killer Instinct players to put Spinal to the test.

First off, we have Bass playing against Aganos and Gargos player, LetalisVenator.

Next up is TBS Sickle and his ferocious Glacius. This set is especially good, as Bass and Sickle regularly trade games rather than it ending up a total blowout for Bass.

Finally, CrazyLCD’s Orchid takes a swing at the skeleton. The tweet following this set may hint at what non-Spinal players may think of his changes.

Expect more of these first-to-10s coming out of Bass’ channel in the coming weeks as he gets to grips with Spinal’s new toys, so check out his channel for top-level Killer Instinct play.

Source: XiBassiX

In addition to the changes to ledge invincibility and the advent of maneuvers like ledge trumping in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, players need to take into account the “one second rule” which stops people continually regrabbing the ledge. Unlike in Melee, where you can stall at the ledge by grabbing it as many times as you want, Smash 4 makes you wait 55 frames before you can regrab the ledge.

With this knowledge in mind, the Beefy Smash Doods have made a new video tutorial, detailing how players can utilize this “one second rule” when it comes to ledge-guarding. By using low knockback moves like Megaman’s Mega Buster or Pikachu’s Thunder Jolt, on-stage players can cause opponents to recover just above the ledge, teeing them up for a forward-smash or to take the opponent’s double jump and causing them to fall to their doom. If your recovering opponent isn’t aware of this quirk in Smash 4’s ledge mechanics, it means you can have a lot of fun setting up stage spike setups or early-percent kills.

Source: Beefy Smash Doods

Continuing to optimize Fox to 20XX levels, Irish Fox main Skarfelt is back again with another video in his enlightening “Optimizing Fox” series. In this episode, Skarfelt breaks down Fox’s back-air by showing its usage in neutral, how to integrate it into your movement, and the best ways to pressure shield with this move.

To use Fox’s back-air effectively, players need to master its autocancel timings, as well as which characters can be hit by either rising or falling back-air. Luckily, Skarfelt outlines which characters need to be hit by which back-air, before going into the various combos and pressure strings Fox can set up with careful use of the move.

Source: Tesla Skarfelt

Continuing to optimize Fox to 20XX levels, Irish Fox main Skarfelt is back again with another video in his enlightening “Optimizing Fox” series. In this episode, Skarfelt breaks down Fox’s back-air by showing its usage in neutral, how to integrate it into your movement, and the best ways to pressure shield with this move.

To use Fox’s back-air effectively, players need to master its autocancel timings, as well as which characters can be hit by either rising or falling back-air. Luckily, Skarfelt outlines which characters need to be hit by which back-air, before going into the various combos and pressure strings Fox can set up with careful use of the move.

Source: Tesla Skarfelt

While games like Marvel and King of Fighters revolve around teams of characters, it’s very rare that traditional fighters allow players to team up to fight against others. The Super Smash Bros. series has always prided doubles as part of its competitive scene, with teams events growing in popularity and prestige over the past few years. Esports teams like Alliance and Counter Logic Gaming have even signed players down to their skill in doubles play, showing just how advanced and respected Melee doubles has become over the last few years.

To celebrate the “unique power of Melee teams”, the latest mini-documentary from Last Stock Legends focuses on CLG|PewPewU, CLG|SFAT, and WFX|Shroomed, some of the USA’s best doubles players as well as Norcal natives as they compete throughout Genesis 3. The documentary presents a potted history of Melee doubles in California, as well as shedding light on why Melee doubles is so unique and appealing in a competitive world which usually values singles play, by talking to other notable players like Armada and Shroomed’s erstwhile doubles partner Alan. As with any LSL documentary, expect some top-notch production values and high quality interviews from various players from the upper level of Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Source: Last Stock Legends

Freeser is really starting to cook with Birdie, finding some hard-hitting setups with this portly punk. Experimenting with the juggle potential after a whiffed V-Trigger activation, he has discovered some corner mixups which can be more damaging than your typical guaranteed V-Trigger stun combo. By making the flame that Birdie spits out deliberately miss your opponent, you can utilize the juggle points gained off the missed V-Trigger to maximize your damage.

Freeser also covers ways to account for back recovery following these longer juggles, but cautions that you cannot cancel into Critical Art to finish this extended juggle. While you do gain extra juggle points, they run out before you can finish with Birdie’s Critical Art. You can cancel crouching heavy punch into CA after the whiffed V-Trigger activation, but it seems like a massive waste of meter for the actual damage it does.

Source: Freeser