Before getting right into it, I'd like to address an issue. I've only now realized an error with my series and I have to apologize for it here. What's wrong is that I've been reporting on matches that are played on Smash 4 when I really shouldn't exclude the other games in the series. It's important to recognize that the birthplace of competitive smash lies in Melee, even though I haven't played it in years and have little knowledge of the game.

This week I chose to exclude Smash 4 from my reporting so as to focus on some excellent Melee matches. In the future, I would hope to be able to report on both games weekly, as well as expand the focus from not only VGBootCamp's Vods. The issue, of course, is time, so I can only say that I will do my best to continue bringing the hypest matches around to you. It's important to me that we get to see these matchups, and it's important to me that we can all improve from watching them. Thank you for reading.

THE HYPE REPORT

Smash at Xanadu 170: October 17th, 2016

Analysis: SmashGOD vs. Plank

This week saw some exceptional players climbing the tournament ranks. Both SmashGOD and Plank held up a consistent effort to make it to Grand Finals, where Marth and Sheik clashed for a two-set match-up across three stages. In the first game, SmashGOD chose to play as Fox as Plank chose to bring Sheik to Battlefield, and a very classic fight started off at already high speed.

After a missed grab from SmashGOD, which placed him at the right edge of Battlefield, Plank down-smashed, forcing SmashGOD to recover. He fired straight upwards and then plummeted into Plank's forward-air. Plank followed him down to halt another Fire-Fox with a forward-air to put SmashGOD out of range of the ledge. After some chain-grabs and aerials, SmashGOD then set Plank up with an Illusion and killed with two back-airs in a row. Plank was able to answer quickly with a forward-tilt into forward-air.

Two grabs, a forward-tilt, and a forward-air later, SmashGOD saw himself once again recovering to the left side of the stage. He failed to combo out of grab, completely missing an up-smash that was punished with yet another forward-air from Plank. SmashGOD's last stock managed to kill one more Sheik with a dash attack into up-air, but was taken by Plank's dash attack into down-air into up-air. Therefore, Plank confiirmed game one with a two-stock advantage.

SmashGOD switched over to Marth before counter-picking Yoshi's Story. Percentages racked up quickly, but Plank caught SmashGOD with a down-throw into back-air that put Marth on Randall the cloud, performing a get-up roll that left him completely open to another back-air. SmashGOD answered with a down-throw into forward-smash and covered Plank's recovery with another forward-smash. After some solid combos from his Marth, SmashGOD saw a brief advantage after taking Plank's second stock with a back-throw into forward-smash, but it was cut short by two quick forward-airs from Plank.

The game sped up as SmashGOD completed a phenomenal up-air, up-tilt, two forward-airs, grab, up-throw, forward-air, down-air combination to spike Plank off-stage. Plank struggled from there on but managed a down-throw into up-smash with a sweet spot to even up the stocks. SmashGOD came through, however, by running past Sheik and pivoting back to forward-smash and end the game.

This game was played on Fountain of Dreams. SmashGOD took a clear advantage with extensive combos and tenacious coverage of Plank's recoveries. With Plank at 134%, he pulled out the dancing blade to set up an up-tilt that killed. Plank re spawned and performed a forward-air to put Marth off-stage and then faked SmashGOD out as if he were about to back-air, forcing a premature recovery that led to ledge-denial. SmashGOD answered with more strong reads leading into grab combos, leading to a forward-smash to take Plank's second stock.

Despite incredible recoveries, Plank was able to even up the stocks with an up-throw into up-air. Plank then created an advantage out of hard reads and grabs, killing SmashGOD at 126% with a back-air. Plank continued, making the most out of some air-combos and finished the set with a down-smash above the ledge SmashGOD clung to.

We returned to Fountain of Dreams for the bracket reset. Both played well, but unfortunately, Plank self-destructed to take his first stock. He was able to even stocks up quickly with a down-smash at the ledge just the way the first set ended. We then saw Plank at an unhealthy 134%, but that didn't matter since he self-destructed again. Plank returned to forward-air SmashGOD off-stage.

Both players racked each other's third stocks up above 100%; however, Plank's down-throw into forward-air placed SmashGOD off-stage where he was needled to the bottom. SmashGOD answerd with a strong offensive that led to a ledge-denial. Plank's final stock took SmashGOD's final stock with strong aerials and a dash attack right at the end of Marth's recovery just before he could grab the ledge.

Moving back to Yoshi's Story, it became clear we would not see SmashGOD's Fox in this match-up. Plank made an advantage out of cold spot-dodges and aerials, resulting in a down-air into up-air kill combo. SmashGOD came back with a forward-air that placed Plank on the right platform, and after missing the tech, he fell to a forward-smash. It was an even game at this point despite many strong combos coming out from both sides, up until Plank's down-throw into up-smash took SmashGOD's stock two.

SmashGOD evened it back up with an up-throw that to one forward air and, count 'em, four up-airs in a row with the last one sending Sheik into the background. Plank managed to gain back the advantage with a down-smash and a back-air off the ledge. SmashGOD's last stock gave Plank a lot of pressure, who even had to use Randall in order to safely recover, but ultimately, what seemed to be an accidental side-special was the demise of his second-to-last stock as SmashGOD threw out a down-air into up-smash. Plank responded with intimidating stage control and finished the match-up with a forward-tilt into forward-air.

Here's a link to the hype:

If it wasn't painfully obvious, both of these guys played well. SmashGOD poured all his faith into Marth, as did Plank with Sheik. It came close to becoming an extended match-up near the end, but Plank was able to hold to Sheik's strengths. There was an uncertain period back on Fountain of Dreams, where it seemed Plank became scared to get into the action. Eventually, he shrugged off this mental damage and played strong even after being juggled to death. SmashGOD knows Marth's strengths as well but didn't seem to hold up against Plank's speed and strength.

Both characters are able to chain-grab effectively well with many potential kill moves, but I'd argue that SmashGOD did not use Marth to full advantage as Plank did with Sheik. Sheik's aerials are incredibly powerful, which led to Plank's focus on maneuverability. This kept him alive off-stage and in battle, giving him an edge that seemed to cut deep despite two self-destructs in the same game. Congrats to both players on doing so well and bringing out a hype match-up!