Episode 2-4: Elite Smash and You

AV and Peon wonder if Elite Smash or GSP matter. In this episode they explore this topic to figure out what things can be taken away from this controversial Smash Ultimate feature.

## Questions

### **AV:**

> That’s a really good question. I mean, people hate characters, like, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to hate a certain match up with your character. When I play against an Incineroar or Richter on WiFi, I’ve definitely groan a little.
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> I think in terms of developing a healthy mindset about the character is understanding weaknesses. Now, the thing is, a good character design is basically very clear win conditions and clear weaknesses. People can argue with me about that, but I think that having a tool kit that plays to a certain win condition, or even, maybe two or three well-defined win conditions, and then having weaknesses that are exploitable are parts of good character design.
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> The thing is, when you hate a character and when you obsess over the things that make them frustrating to play against, you will often overlook their weaknesses, or how difficult their win condition is. Understanding how to beat a specific character is more than just being good with your own character. It’s about really figuring out what you need to do to absolutely abuse this character’s weakness.
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> For example, Incineroar has a plethora of wonderful combo starters, juggling tools, get off me tools, armored abilities, and command grab. In theory, you have this incredible character but with this massive Achilles heel, which is the fact that recovery is extremely linear and you can gimp this character really easily.
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> The thing is, if you just obsess over the things that make Incineroar incredibly good, you’re never going to get to the root of how to abuse this character. Sometimes playing against a character involves being lame.
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> If your goal is to win, like most other players, don’t be afraid to just play lame and keep throwing Incineroar off the stage. Don’t interact with them on any of the fields they like to play on.
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> Similarly, with Little Mac, a lot of people struggle with a Little Mac matchup. It’s like they’ll see Little Mac as a matchup and, of course they’ve picked FD 3-minute 3-stock on quick play. You groan a little, but then you see them only F smash. All you have to do is spot dodge that F smash or roll behind them in the F smash and punish. You play bait punish and you know what they’re going to do the entire time.
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> Don’t get frustrated by the options that they’re spamming. Basically, understand and pick apart the wonderful weaknesses that Sakurai has granted to these characters. When you do it’ll be a really meaningful experience.
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### **Peon:**

> Yeah, I think you really answered that one. I think I fell asleep.
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### **AV:**

> [laughing] I’m sorry!
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### **Peon:**

> That was longer Pulp Fiction.
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### **AV:**

> [laughing] I’ll try to keep it more concise.
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### **Peon:**

> That could have been a Harry Potter book.
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### **AV:**

> Oof. That is long.
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### **Peon:**

> That’s a dope selection UltiMutt. That’s an awesome question. Squad Strike is such a cool concept. I’ve played it quite a bit, just with friends locally, and it does take a little while to set up, admittedly. It’s really fun. I like it a lot, so mine would currently be something like Inkling, Cloud, Ness, Chrom, and either mario or King K. Rool, one of the two depending on my mood. What about you AV?
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### **AV:**

> Mine would be DK, Captain Falcon, Pichu, Ike, and Cloud. That would probably be mine. Then I could probably switch in King K. Rool for any of those characters.
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### **AV:**

> So there is a disconnect with this. I picked DK completely on the basis that he had an incredibly consistent Kill Confirm in Smash 4, and I wanted that. I went from playing Sheik, who had nothing consistent, to playing DK because I liked consistency.
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> So, in short, I have zero connection. I haven’t even played Donkey Kong games, although Peon has encouraged me to play all the Donkey Kong games because he loves them. I did make the remixes for our intro and interlude music, so I do think I am required to play the games at some point.
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### **Peon:**

> Right, for me it comes down to if I love the character’s play style, but, you know, do I like the character themselves. For me, It’s like the after sex smooch. You don’t need it, but it’s nice.
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### **AV:**

> That’s such a beautiful way to put it.
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### **Peon:**

> Yeah. You know, for instance, my favorite character if I had to pick is Diddy Kong, straight up. I love Diddy Kong as a guy, as a dude, and someone I would hang out with, but he isn’t the character I would play. His play style isn’t perfect for me.
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> For me, I love to play as Inkling, and Inkling, as a character, I also love. I love Splatoon games, I have an Inkling Amiibo, you know, I like the Inklings, so that’s cool. It’s a bonus.
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> For me, I would play Box Dude, the Defender of Evil, or something. Just this generic stick figure with a stick. If his moveset is cool, I’d play him. I don’t really care.
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### **AV:**

> That’s fair man.
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### **Peon:**

> Yeah, we get some fanart of Box Dude, the Defender of Evil, you can submit that to beyondthemetagame@gmail.com. If you submit that fanart, you can go on The Wall of Fame. Straight up, best picture goes on the wall.
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### **Peon:**

> I love that question. It’s a very Beyond the Metagame question.
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### **AV:**

> That is an amazing question and is one that I actually do have some experience with. I’ve played in a multitude of different venues. Maybe not as many as Peon.
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### **Peon:**

> [laughing] I’m just thinking of the vape shop.
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### **AV:**

> [laughing] Oh yeah, so just a little tangent really quick because he brought it up. The very first tournament I ever ran in Santa Barbara were in a vape shop. There were times when people literally be vaping.
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### **Peon:**

> You’d be playing a set and it’s this cramped little vape shop. It was a cool place, but was literally a vape shop. You would be playing your match and some dude would walk in and he would be like:
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> *“Hey dude, I want to buy some cinnamon flavored vape.”*
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> The dude at the counter would be like:
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> *“Okay, sure bro. Do you want a demo?”*
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> and the dude buying would be like:
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> *“Yeah sure, I’ll do a demo.”*
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> He would just take a fat rip of a vape and then there would be this huge cloud when he exhaled it. Suddenly, you would be playing this match and there would be a cloud of vape in your face and you wouldn’t even be able to see the screen. Like, dude this is the Grand Finals.
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### **AV:**

> I will say that there is a slight exaggeration to that but he isn’t exaggerating about the fact that you were playing and there would sometimes be vape clouds in your face. [laughing]
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### **Peon:**

> I’ve never wanted to ban Cloud, but in this instance. Yeah, it was rough, but it was also one of the most memorable, beloved venues, which is actually great. Sorry, let’s address the question again.
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### **AV:**

> Yeah, I think that to answer this kind of quickly, being prepared for situations is probably the most important thing. The things that I’ve suffered with are headaches, hydration issues, and food issues. All of these can be addressed by proper preparation.
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> So, I think one of the craziest things is when a venue doesn’t have access to water. Having a water bottle in hand, and having a bunch of water in your car, is really important. Having some Advil in case you get headaches when you go to other places, which happen to me alot. Having a jacket or t-shirt.
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> This seems like it’s too much but here’s the thing, look at Wizzrobe. Have you seen Wizzrobe prepare for events?
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### **Peon:**

> Wizzrobe, when he walks to a tournament, he carries a rolling suitcase with all of his supplies. It’s hilarious.
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### **AV:**

> It’s unreal. The thing is, it’s everything, down to the shirt that he wears. He wears a specific shirt that is soft enough to the point that he will not notice the shirt during his matches.
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> Now, I don’t think you should prepare to that extent, but the thing is, preparation is actually a huge part of the battle. I know, Peon, you prepare a lot for events. I do want to get your perspective on this.
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### **Peon:**

> Yeah, a little cozy kid. I realize how you put it. Be a little cozy kid. Get a jacket. If it’s summer time make sure you have that stuff.
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> In any event, make sure you have water, make sure you have snacks, and make sure you have medicine if you’re feeling sick. Make sure that you have all the supplies that you could need to adapt to whatever environment you’re in.
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> Maybe you go to the venue and it’s cold. Well, guess what, you brought a jacket. Stuff like that is so important and is really understated.
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> In terms of my own success, I always carry around a backpack full of stuff when I got to events. If you see me in a tournament, I’ll be wearing a backpack, or I’ll be straddling it. That’s why I carry it. I definitely have experienced performance differences at different venues.
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> I played at Thunder Arena when there’s 200 people yelling at me to lose because I was from out of region. I’ve played in local small, smelly, poopy card shop where there’s one dude behind me rooting for his boy. It’s even more distracting when one dude is cheering for your opponent compared to when 200 people are cheering. Like, the dude’s are shouting:“Let’s go!” every time you get hit.
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> You have these little distractors sometimes, like things that are preventing you from getting into the match. I don’t think there’s one answer to all of this. There is no “this is what you do”. I think what you need to do is embrace all of the different things that playing in different venues entails and you just have to understand that there’s a lot that isn’t in your control.
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> You have to start developing a mindset that is durable in the event of any scenario. Obviously, preparation is key, but it’s also durability and adaptation to different potentially bad situations.
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