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Sheik (SSBM): Difference between revisions
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Sheik has always been a high/top tier character, as her long-ranged aerial attacks, amazing punish game, and strong edgeguarding capabilities, has led her seeing widespread use in all levels of play. For the first five years of the ''Melee''{{'}}s competitive life, Sheik was considered the best character in the game, ranking at the top of every tier list up until the eighth (July 2006). Her down throw [[chain grab]]bing ability was considered especially powerful in the early metagame, and her ease of use allowed Sheik mains to succeed consistently, especially since counterplay to her options had not yet been popularized. In fact, at some points, players believed Sheik was so good that they contemplated banning her, although such a ban was never carried out. However, over time, competitive players slowly adapted to Sheik's weaknesses, leading to growing matchup problems that would still be present in the modern metagame. | Sheik has always been a high/top tier character, as her long-ranged aerial attacks, amazing punish game, and strong edgeguarding capabilities, has led her seeing widespread use in all levels of play. For the first five years of the ''Melee''{{'}}s competitive life, Sheik was considered the best character in the game, ranking at the top of every tier list up until the eighth (July 2006). Her down throw [[chain grab]]bing ability was considered especially powerful in the early metagame, and her ease of use allowed Sheik mains to succeed consistently, especially since counterplay to her options had not yet been popularized. In fact, at some points, players believed Sheik was so good that they contemplated banning her, although such a ban was never carried out. However, over time, competitive players slowly adapted to Sheik's weaknesses, leading to growing matchup problems that would still be present in the modern metagame. | ||
Sheik's dominance as a character was faltered with the discovery of the incredible potential of Fox and Falco. With these characters now perceived as having much higher skill caps while still being good against relevant top tiers, they took the top two spots while Sheik dropped to third place. With these developments in place and the growing skill of the playerbase, players soon found that Fox had an advantage over Sheik, as did the {{SSBM|Ice Climbers}}, both of which were growing in prevalence in the metagame. Soon after, {{Sm|Mang0}} and {{Sm|Hungrybox}} | Sheik's dominance as a character was faltered with the discovery of the incredible potential of Fox and Falco. With these characters now perceived as having much higher skill caps while still being good against relevant top tiers, they took the top two spots while Sheik dropped to third place. With these developments in place and the growing skill of the playerbase, players soon found that Fox had an advantage over Sheik, as did the {{SSBM|Ice Climbers}}, both of which were growing in prevalence in the metagame. Soon after, {{Sm|Mang0}} and {{Sm|Hungrybox}} took {{SSBM|Jigglypuff}} to the next level, and demonstrated that it, too, was a very poor matchup for Sheik and possibly her worst, largely due to Jigglypuff's ability to exploit Sheik's laggy recovery by landing [[Rest]] KOs at extremely low percents. With three bad matchups and the meta being more adapted against its strengths, Sheik was no longer considered even a contender for the best in the game. Other top-tiered characters started improving their Sheik matchups as well (most notably Marth and Peach), causing less of an incentive for players to pick up Sheik just to deal with those characters. Due to this, and opinions on Marth improving further due to his better matchups against Fox and Falco, Sheik dropped to 4th in the twelfth tier list, and further to 5th on the thirteenth and current tier list due to the rise of Jigglypuff. | ||
Despite being considered one of the best characters in the game, Sheik was well known in the ''Melee'' community for her lack of success as a solo main. Prior to 2023, solo Sheik had won only a single major level tournament ({{Sm|Captain Jack}}'s victory at {{Trn|MLG San Francisco 2004}}, and had never won a supermajor, even behind lower-tiered characters such as {{SSBM|Captain Falcon}}, {{SSBM|Pikachu}}, and {{SSBM|Yoshi}}. This was largely due several factors: the first being that her most prominent top level players, {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|Plup}}, switched to other characters in certain matchups, particularly against Hungrybox's Jigglypuff; as a result, her metagame advancements stagnated compared to those of the other top tiers. Most ''Melee'' community members believed that winning a supermajor as solo Sheik required a lucky bracket that avoided running into Hungrybox (the #1 ranked player from 2017 to 2019), as well as extremely optimized play versus the multitude of Fox players that was considered unfeasible at the time. | Despite being considered one of the best characters in the game, Sheik was well known in the ''Melee'' community for her lack of success as a solo main. Prior to 2023, solo Sheik had won only a single major level tournament ({{Sm|Captain Jack}}'s victory at {{Trn|MLG San Francisco 2004}}), and had never won a supermajor, even behind lower-tiered characters such as {{SSBM|Captain Falcon}}, {{SSBM|Pikachu}}, and {{SSBM|Yoshi}}. This was largely due several factors: the first being that her most prominent top level players, {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|Plup}}, switched to other characters in certain matchups, particularly against Hungrybox's Jigglypuff; as a result, her metagame advancements stagnated compared to those of the other top tiers. Most ''Melee'' community members believed that winning a supermajor as solo Sheik required a lucky bracket that avoided running into Hungrybox (the #1 ranked player from 2017 to 2019), as well as extremely optimized play versus the multitude of Fox players that was considered unfeasible at the time. | ||
However, perceptions of Sheik's competitive viability were completely revived following the rise of {{Sm|Jmook}}, who burst onto the world stage in 2022. His breakout performance at {{Trn|GENESIS 8}}, where he defeated Plup and {{Sm|iBDW}}, two Fox players who were known for hardly ever losing sets to Sheik, en route to a 2nd place finish, only falling to {{Sm|Zain}}, the number one ranked player, in grand finals. Jmook became a consistent tournament threat throughout the rest of 2022, boasting strong records against almost all the other top ten players, and continued to develop solo Sheik even against her most difficult matchups. Many believed that his first tournament victory, and solo Sheik's first supermajor win, was coming in a matter of time. Jmook pushed Sheik's defensive and punish game to never before seen levels. He became well known for utilizing Sheik's incredible [[crouch cancel]]ing abilities, [[Needle Storm]] edgeguards, and landing grabs at significantly higher rates than other Sheik players. In particular, Jmook was the first player to truly optimize Sheik's reaction [[tech chasing]] versus the space animals, being able to consistently convert [[zero-to-death]]s vs. Fox and Falco and off of a single grab. With these advancements, many players began to rethink the Sheik-Fox matchup, arguing that Jmook's unforgiving punish game vs. Fox was enough to tilt the matchup more in Sheik's favor. Jmook finally won his first major at {{Trn|GENESIS 9}}, nine months after his breakout performance, becoming the second solo Sheik player to win a major, the first ever solo Sheik to win a supermajor, and the only solo Sheik to win a major in the modern era. He then won his second major at {{Trn|Collision 2023}} two months later. | However, perceptions of Sheik's competitive viability were completely revived following the rise of {{Sm|Jmook}}, who burst onto the world stage in 2022. His breakout performance at {{Trn|GENESIS 8}}, where he defeated Plup and {{Sm|iBDW}}, two Fox players who were known for hardly ever losing sets to Sheik, en route to a 2nd place finish, only falling to {{Sm|Zain}}, the number one ranked player, in grand finals. Jmook became a consistent tournament threat throughout the rest of 2022, boasting strong records against almost all the other top ten players, and continued to develop solo Sheik even against her most difficult matchups. Many believed that his first tournament victory, and solo Sheik's first supermajor win, was coming in a matter of time. Jmook pushed Sheik's defensive and punish game to never before seen levels. He became well known for utilizing Sheik's incredible [[crouch cancel]]ing abilities, [[Needle Storm]] edgeguards, and landing grabs at significantly higher rates than other Sheik players. In particular, Jmook was the first player to truly optimize Sheik's reaction [[tech chasing]] versus the space animals, being able to consistently convert [[zero-to-death]]s vs. Fox and Falco and off of a single grab. With these advancements, many players began to rethink the Sheik-Fox matchup, arguing that Jmook's unforgiving punish game vs. Fox was enough to tilt the matchup more in Sheik's favor. Jmook finally won his first major at {{Trn|GENESIS 9}}, nine months after his breakout performance, becoming the second solo Sheik player to win a major, the first ever solo Sheik to win a supermajor, and the only solo Sheik to win a major in the modern era. He then won his second major at {{Trn|Collision 2023}} two months later. | ||