Editing Mindgame

Predicting an opponent's option is the most basic example of a mindgame. It involves observing an opponent's behaviour and discerning habitual patterns in their play-style, then predicting these actions and [[punish]]ing them. Successfully predicting a player's action is commonly referred to as a '''read''', and furthermore, there are two types of reads: a '''soft read''' and a '''hard read'''. The relationship between the types of reads is a matter of risk versus reward; a soft read occurs when a player punishes an opponent's options while covering other options (often resulting in sub-optimal punishment), whereas a hard read occurs when a player specifically reads a single option with its optimal punishment but at the expense of not covering other choices the opponent could have made. An example of a soft read would be covering tech options. For example if an opponent is put into a tech chase, he or she only has four options: tech-rolling towards the player, tech-rolling away from the player, a neutral tech, or missing the tech on purpose. By dash dancing near the opponent, a player effectively covers three of the four options: the neutral tech, the missed tech, and the tech roll towards the player, (since these three can be punished upon reaction). An example of a hard read would occur if in the scenario described above, the player picked one tech option and charged a smash attack in the location the opponent would end up after picked that said tech option. Such a example of a hard read occurs in the GIF to the right.

Another example of a mindgame is baiting, also known as luring, which is a slightly more complex form of predicting and punishing. It involves tricking an opponent into putting themselves in a vulnerable position. This is done by recognizing and remembering an opponent's reaction to a particular situation and inducing that situation in order to punish their reaction. In other words, this is punishing a player's habits.  

An example of baiting commonly seen in competitive play is punishing laser habits from [[Falco (SSBM)|Falco]] with powershielding. In ''Melee'', many Falco mains fire lasers recklessly, or only fire lasers from a specific distance. By memorizing the timing and spacing a Falco player fires lasers at frequently, one can move to that spot, read the laser, and prepare to [[powershield]] the laser and follow it up with a grab or an aerial. In the GIF to the right, such a laser was baited, powershielded, and punished with a wavedash out of shield into a forward smash.

===Pressuring===

[[File:MangoDD.gif|thumb|Here, [[Smasher:Mango|Mango]] (Fox) uses dash dancing to pressure [[Smasher:Armada|Armada]] (Peach) into trying to take back stage control. Armada was pressured into trying to hit Mango out of the dash dance, but was unsuccessful and punished.]]

[[File:ZhuPressure.gif|thumb|Here [[Smasher:Zhu|Zhu]] uses neutral aerial-shines to successfully pressure [[Smasher:Mew2King|Mew2King]] into doing a hasty shield grab.]]

Pressuring is the act of limiting an opponent's options in order to force them to react. Like baiting, pressuring is used to lure out some sort of punishable action, but the difference is the action is lured out more aggressively and the opponent's habits are not necessarily taken into account. An option commonly used to pressure is dash dancing. Dash dancing (in conjunction with wavedashing) allows players to threaten an opponent while simultaneously taking safe space away from them. If done properly, the opponent will be forced to take a very risky action to counter the dash dancing such as trying to hit the dash dancing player or roll through it. An example of successful dash dance pressure is shown to the right.  

The most famous pressure seen in competitive play though is shield pressure, particularly with [[Fox (SSBM)|Fox]] and [[Falco (SSBM)|Falco]] in ''Melee''. They can use their shines and fast aerials to threaten a shielding opponent with a shield break, and thus force the opponent to try and escape the shield. With a few exceptions, most out of shield options are risky and have very explicit periods of vulnerability, meaning they can be punished very easily if read. Shield pressure is used to lure out one of options to punish. An example of good shield pressure is shown in a GIF below.  

Having difficulty dealing with pressure is a pretty big weakness for some characters, such as [[Yoshi]], whose extremely limited [[OoS]] options without platforms and lack of reliable [[approach]] moves with considerable range gives him trouble against characters who can easily shield pressure him, and characters who can easily outrange his approaches (such as {{SSB|Kirby}} using his up tilt in ''Smash 64'').

{{Main|Spacing}}

Spacing is the technique of using one's movement and the threat of one's range relative to the opponent's to manipulate the positions of both players.  

===Unexpectedness===

Sometimes, situations occur where an opponent does not cover an option because it is known by both players to be inferior to other options, or is otherwise thought to be something "they would never do". Recognizing that the opponent doesn't expect something can make it notably more effective. A common example is Ike's forward smash; while it should generally never be used without a read or a setup, successfully throwing it out when the opponent doesn't expect it can result in a surprise hit.

===Tomahawk===

A tomahawk is mindgame performed when a player nearby an opponent does a [[jump]], typically a [[short hop]], and simply lands back on the ground without using an attack. The intent is to make the opponent believe an aerial attack is coming and cause them to raise their [[shield]] (making the technique a bait). The jumper then has a free move on the shielding opponent, most commonly a [[grab]].

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