Smasher:DP
DP "D..P" | |
---|---|
Character info | |
Melee main | Falco |
Other Melee characters | Mario, Ness |
Project M main | Falco |
Team info | |
Former crews | Team Rocket |
Personal and other info | |
Real name | Michael Pigford |
Location | Sacramento, California |
Miscellaneous info | |
Skill | Professional |
DP or D..P is a Falco main from Oakland, California and the brother of Catnip. Although he has not yet made national impacts, he has performed very well while living in Maryland, having taken sets off of notable players such as ChuDat, Chillin and DJ Nintendo. DP was formerly ranked 8th and 9th on the DMV Melee Power Rankings and MD/VA Project M Power Rankings, respectively. He is currently ranked 1st on the Sacramento Melee Power Rankings.
Playing style
DP is a defensive "textbook" Falco player. He employs heavy usage of dash dancing and lasers in the neutral game, and uses safe options to stifle his opponent's approaches. DP also has excellent spacing, particularly with his aerials, and usually makes decisions to give himself positional advantage, pressuring his opponent with his superior position rather than with extended combos. DP also employs Falco's more underused tools, such as his up smash, back throw, and forward tilt, in creative ways, usually also to gain position. Because of this, in his games, he usually racks up damage slowly then goes for a guaranteed KO setup when the time is right. DP's patient playstyle has allowed him to defeat low tier characters even without knowing the matchup beforehand, such as DJ Nintendo's Bowser.
However, due to this reliance on spacing, DP will usually drop combos that similarly-skilled Falcos would not. This makes his punish game weak for his level, and gives him serious problems against players who can beat him in the neutral game but have a much more lethal punish game, such as Mew2King. Additionally, due to his reliance on guaranteed KO setups and edgeguards, he struggles if the opponent lives up to a high percentage where those setups are no longer available to him. DP is also weak in matchups against floaty characters, and used to be notoriously poor at playing around the Ice Climbers and wobbling.
Notable tournament placings
Melee
Tournament | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
---|---|---|---|---|
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 5/6 | May 6th, 2014 | 2nd | — | — |
Shell Shocked XV | May 10th, 2014 | 1st | 2nd | Boss |
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 5/20 | May 20th, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 5/27 | May 27th, 2014 | 4th | — | — |
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 6/3 | June 3rd, 2014 | 2nd | — | — |
Thanks For Playing 7 | June 7th, 2014 | 5th | 2nd | ChuDat |
Mortality eSports Tournament | August 2nd, 2014 | 2nd | 1st | TC1 |
SMASH BASH 4 | November 29th, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
Let It Shine! | August 15th, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
Button Check #1 | August 29th, 2015 | 1st | — | — |
GENESIS 3 | January 15th-17th, 2016 | 65th | 25th | TC1 |
Sacramento Saturday Smash #2 | February 13th, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
Button Check 5 | April 2nd, 2016 | 1st | — | — |
Button Check #6 | June 25th, 2016 | 3rd | — | — |
Button Check #7 | July 30th, 2016 | 2nd | — | — |
Project M
Tournament | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
---|---|---|---|---|
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 5/6 | May 6th, 2014 | 13th | — | — |
Shell Shocked XV | May 10th, 2014 | 9th | 3rd | TC1 |
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 5/20 | May 20th, 2014 | 7th | — | — |
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 6/3 | June 3rd, 2014 | 13th | — | — |
Trivia
- DP has been repeatedly featured in "salt compilations" due to his refusal to shake some players' hands after he loses a set, particularly Ice Climbers players who utilize wobbling. The most well-known example of this are DP's many matches with Nintendude at Xanadu, particularly his Grand Finals sets with him.