The Art of Counter-Picking

With the current rule-set, it is important to understand the rules. I’m not going to really present an article on whether I think the stage rule set is fair (that’s a whole different subject), but rather how to make the most of it.

In a Best of Three (BO3) set, you have some degree of freedom in dictating which stage will be played for each match. In a close set with someone close in skill level, stage selection can ultimately decide who takes the set. I’ve seen countless newer players make very questionable decisions on their game 3 counter pick to ultimately lose a set. Here are some factors to consider when making your counter pick.

Choosing a Counter-Pick

1. How does the matchup between your character and your opponent’s character work?
This should be the leading question for 90% of your matches.

Some examples of questions
– Does your opponent’s character rely on platform movement? How do the platform heights factor into their ability to control the stage?
– Does your opponent have a strong punish game that relies on grabs? Does your character have a 0-to-death combo on Final Destination or vice-versa?
– Does your opponent have a good recovery that will cause him or her to live long on larger stages?
– Does your character rely on space to win? Or does your character rely on pressuring and trapping your opponent? (Preference on wide stages vs narrow stages)

2. How familiar are you with the stage?
Back in the days of 2006, I absolutely dreaded playing on stages such as “Poke-Floats” or “Rainbow Cruise” because I was not familiar at all with how the stage worked. Fortunately, I do not have this issue in the 2013 rule-set. There might be a stage in which you really love the platform heights and actually do better. For example, Westballz, a SoCal Falco Player, loves to play on Yoshi’s Story even when it might not necessarily be the most strategic choice based on the character matchup. His Falco knows how to combo and maneuver the platforms exceptionally well, which allows for Westballz to have a strong advantage on that stage.

3. What are your opponent’s preferences?
Just as I mentioned previously, sometimes players love certain stages. In this case, it might not always be the best to counter-pick based solely on the matchup. I won’t counter-pick Westballz to Yoshi’s Story and I probably wouldn’t want to play Hax$ on Battlefield. If you don’t necessarily know your opponent, pay close attention to how your opponent stage strikes and what they may say during the process. You can get some great clues to your opponent’s preferences based on this. If your opponent strikes Yoshi’s Story and Fountain of Dream, chances are they like to play a slower paced game and do not like to fight up close. Sometimes, they may even make a comment about a particular stage being awful. Use this information to your advantage.

4. Does your opponent have secondary characters?
I remember one time when SFAT lost game 1 to Mew2King at a tournament in a Fox vs Sheik matchup. SFAT then decided to counter-pick to Final Destination, a strong stage for Fox. To his dismay, Mew2King smiled and quickly switched his character to Marth. SFAT lost miserably, getting 3 stocked and chain-grabbed in the process. With a metagame that is emphasizing character counterpicks in addition tostages, you need to be careful of players that can play multiple characters at a high level.