Shadow Mewtwo Guide [Advanced]

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-Spacing
-Defense
-Setups
-HP and Burst Management

Spacing

Field Phase

In field phase you should be moving constantly. Shadow Mewtwo takes too large a percentage of its HP when it loses one mixup, so you want to avoid being at frame disadvantage up close in field at all times. sY, jY, bY, and Psywave Blast should be enough to contain most characters. Some characters have fast linear projectiles that can shift you from full screen like Chandelure and Decidueye. Side step and side walk those characters to get in close and jY when you are in a range where it's tough for them to anti air. Just remember universally to keep moving.

Keep moving side to side in field phase and chip away at the opponent's shield. jY and Reflect are very useful when opponents are getting too close.

sY has a large amount of hitstop, meaning the opponent freezes in place giving you time to confirm whether the move connected on hit, block, or armor. When the opponent’s shield is about to break, obviously confirm into fY on hit. But also block confirm into fY. Against armor, it’s timing, spacing, and character dependant. Vs some characters you can dash up and grab them. Vs others doing jump forward Y into Earthquake will shut them down whether they release the CA or try to CADC in any direction.

Duel Phase

In duel phase, you don't have one single range you want to be at. Shadow Mewtwo does best just outside the range of your opponent's best poke. 2YY is going to be thewhiff punisher of choice against quick buttons, but 6X and 6Y can launch big whiffs that fall just short of you. Always be ready to 8Y jumps or Psystrike the ones with low arcs like Libre jY. Some good ways to provoke whiffs and jumps are with Psywave Blast and 6X. When the opponent is crowding your space, crossup jY can be very useful to escape as it’s difficult for most characters to anti-air, and it has a lot of pushback on block.

Use Shadow Mewtwo's walk back speed and long pokes to force whiffs and get whiff punishes.

Utilizing 6X

6X is tied for my favorite poke in the entire game right up with nightmare Darkrai's 6X. It starts up in 19 frames and has great distance, so it works well as a preemptive normal. It puts opponents into a lot of hitstop or impact freeze, meaning if you buffer it into Psywave you can cancel before opposing counter attacks and almost all command counters can hit you. You can then punish with Vortex on reaction. And of course it confirms on hit and can be canceled into Teleport on block. If the opponent doesn't have a particularly dangerous command counter, you can cancel into Miracle Eye for less commitment on block even though you might take minor damage if they release a fast counter attack early. 6X can be used whenever the opponent is walking forward for too long or if they like to whiff buttons in neutral. Its main weakness is that as a mid-low, it can be high profiled by several 8Xs or jumps. Ideally, Psywave Blasts should be used first, then 6X when you have a better grasp on their neutral tendencies. In the corner, against most characters 6X into jump back is very safe on block and most armor, and hit confirmable. 6X jump back leads to a rare heathless combo that does 250 damage. Always be ready to anti air with 8YY when you see opponents getting frustrating dealing with your normals and Psywave Blasts.

A meaty 6X buffered into Psywave can punish the overwhelming majority of armored moves in the game... on reaction.

Defense

I think Shadow Mewtwo's best defensive options in order are Reflect, backdash, then block. If your opponent gets too close, as long as you have a 5 frame gap or bigger you can instant reflect away. Practice it in training mode by doing a move that is -8 and then immediately doing jump Reflect to avoid 15 frame moves like Blaze Kicks to know you're doing it right. If your opponent isn't quite point blank or if they are meatying you with a jab vs throw mixup constantly, backdash is a great option. It has just enough invincibility to avoid most meaties that are single hit as well as standard throws. If you don't have a big enough gap to escape, unless your opponent has a very damaging throw like Mewtwo when you're against the wall or Charizard, blocking is a consistent option since you minimize how much of your low HP pool you lose. When you absolutely have to break a throw such as vs command grabs like Garchomp, 2Y is the safest, while jX gives the biggest payoff but can be punished on reaction. If your opponent is doing stuff with lots of recovery or that you can react to like EX Heat Wave, you can teleport away from it or Psystrike, but that's the last line of defense.

-8? No problem. Reflect. (just watch out for non-low i11 moves)

Setups

I suggest checking out the setup videos and clips from the Advanced Guide video, but here is some text.

-6X 5AYYY (level 2), whiff 2X, 6X. Meaty 6X safe from almost all command counters when canceled into Psywave.

-Level 2 or 3 5AYYY, 6Y, dash, 4A. Trickier version of the above mixup. Puts you close enough to threaten a throw, but also punishes backdashes and is safe from even the fastest command counters. Can be circumvented by projectile invincible moves like EX Sky Uppercut, however.

-(corner) 6X 5AYYY (level 2), 8Y, jAY (low as possible). Safe from armor. Doing it slightly higher makes it whiff and you can go for a throw instead. A tricky 50/50 when you're thirsty for damage.

-Duel phase throw into dash, sY. Over +23 on block and much higher on hit. Hitstop allows for punishes on counters on reaction. Canceling into Miracle Eye is inconsistent depending on the character and wall but each mirror you walk the opponent into continues the block stun.

-Duel phase throw into nY Miracle Eye grab. Best when the opponent lands near the wall but not completely touching the well. Grabs blue armor, confirms into a punish against wake up attacks and beats wake up grab as well. To escape this setup, opponents must homing cancel.

-Burst 2X. Whiff 2Y, dash, 6X. Times 6X to be meaty. Stuffs jump attempts and is safe from almost all armor when canceled into Psywave.

-Burst 2X. Whiff 4X, 5YY. Times 5YY to be meaty. Stuffs jump attempts and can be option selected into the second cancel listed below.

Option Selects:

-5YY, 8A, (4A). 5Y cancels into Psystrike on armor and into 5YY on hit or block. 4A is optional. Once you can react to of the 5YY came out you can manually cancel into any other special. Replace 8A with 2A against i11 DPs. =

-Burst: 5YY, L+R. Same concept as before, but 5Y will cancel into Burst Attack on Armor. This is safe against less command counters than the Psystrike OS, but keep in mind that the Psystrike OS is mostly useless in burst because 5Y has too few active frames to make Psystrike poke through fully charged counter attacks.

Option selects exist with other normals like 6X as well, but I found these to be the most practical in my matches.

HP and Burst Management

I actually left out one important move from my beginner guide which is Recover ]A[. Kind of a big deal. You can't just throw this move out in neutral because of its... large recovery, but after combos instead of setting up a meaty you can go for a Recover instead. In duel phase, wall combos ended with 8YY can be ended with Recover to set up a 6X even though the timing is not a frame kill, it's still consistent if you practice the timing. Shadow Mewtwo's most basic zoning options and whiff punishers burn HP so often times, instead of rushing the opponent down after a combo, it's a good idea to hold back and just charge recover while the combo is ending.

Get that 60 HP back.

That's the advanced Shadow Mewtwo guide, and now your spacing will be better, your defense will be improved, and you have some sick meaty setups to open opponents up. Look through my YouTube channel to see my tournament and online matches with the character!