I created this matchup guide in my "Improvement Series" video to demonstrate the process that I use to learn matchups in Smash Ultimate. I am by no means an expert yet at Pyra and Mythra. Don't take this guide as a definitive example of the matchup, but rather as a representation of my learning process and the way I think about learning matchups in general. As I continue to learn more about this matchup I will update the guide with corrections and additions.
Overview
Pick: Battlefield, Town and City
Ban: Final Destination, Smashville, Kalos
Steve relies on forcing and punishing bad approaches by mining for better materials. His weaknesses are in his slow movement and lack of good ranged options. Play at a range in which you can punish his mining without being over aggressive. Abuse Mythra’s superior movement speed and Pyra’s range to punish him once you put him in disadvantage.
Stages
Steve tends to excel on flat stages where he has a lot of space to mine and build. Ban stages like Final Destination, Smashville, and Kalos. Having more high up platforms benefits Aegis much more, so look to counterpick to stages such as Battlefield and Town and City.
Netural
Steve’s neutral game involves walling up to buy time to mine better materials. Using these materials he unlocks upgrades to hit attacks and enables him to use some special moves that cost materials to perform. Mining does have lag that can be punished, but you must be careful because Steve will use mining to bait an approach. Playing neutral properly is a balancing act of putting pressure on him so that he can’t mine for free while staying safe from his attacks.
Mining tends to put Steve into the corner, so you should abuse Mythra’s speed and Pyra’s range to punish based on how he responds to being in the corner. Out of a mine Steve players will usually either pick a defensive option, jump, or throw out a hitbox. Both defensive options and hitboxes can be baited and punished, while jumps can be beaten out with any of your aerials. If he puts up a big wall, using the horizontal range on Mythra’s side-b can be a good way to get psat it and punish his mining from a distance.
Steve’s approach options are pretty telegraphed, so if you have a lead you don’t have to feel too pressured to get in right away. His movement is slow and gives you plenty of time to react. Minecart is probably his most used approach. If he stays in the minecart you can shield it, but if he jumps out it turns into a grab hitbox. The easiest way around it is to jump over it while covering yourself with an aerial hitbox. Even though his approach options are lackluster, you have more freedom to play aggressively when he doesn’t have any good materials.
Materials
Stronger materials upgrade his basic attacks as follows:
Attacks that require materials to use are as follows:
Advantage
Juggling
Steve has a very low airspeed that should make juggling him relatively easy. However, he does also have strong options to escape from juggles. The strongest of these escape options, down air (anvil) and minecart, require resources to use. Pay close attention to his materials meter, and if he is out of iron you should be able to chase him through the air without much worry..
If he does have iron, you must watch out for his down air, the anvil. This is a very powerful option to block any attempts to chase him from below. When juggling him you must space yourself around the threat of the anvil or you risk taking damage or dying to it. Using Pyra is a good idea because her air speed is still faster than Steve’s, and her up air covers a large arc that extends pretty far in front of and behind her. Abuse this to hit him with a strong attack while remaining safe from anvils.
Another good option he can use to escape juggling is to place blocks down to act as a shield and block you out. These do also require materials, but they use the lowest quality materials instead of needing iron. They shouldn’t be too much of a worry because they won’t hurt you and he can’t use them infinitely. Eventually he will have to find a way down and you can punish that.
Edgeguarding
Steve’s up-B has good horizontal range but not great vertical range, so Steve players will tend to recover high rather than low. Look to use Pyra to punish with aerials. This is another important place to pay close attention to Steve’s materials. Minecart can be a powerful recovery tool, but if he is out of iron his recovery will be more telegraphed and exploitable.
Often Steve players will recover onto the stage with up-B and crash into the ground. It looks like this should have a lot of lag, but it doesn’t. If you want to try to punish it you are best off using something fast like a Mythra dash attack or just punish from a distance with Pyra’s Blazing End. Immediately after landing they will usually look to swing right away with a hitbox, so you can also wait this out to punish it afterwards if you aren’t in position to properly punish the initial landing.
Ledge Trapping
Steve’s ledge options are quite good due to his ability to build blocks and his long ledge roll. Because of the ledge roll length, it is best to stand back a bit further than usual when ledge trapping to put yourself in position to punish it. However, this opens up his ability to abuse his ledge jump into placing blocks which gives him a free escape. When he places a block from a ledge jump it gives him the ability to shield right away and because he’s in the air you can’t grab him. I think it’s best to try to cover the ledge jump with a quick aerial, then be ready to land and turn around grab the ledge roll if he does it.
Disadvantage
Shield Pressure
Steve’s jab and f-tilt are essentially the same move: a quick hit with little lag. If he hits your shield with it he will usually try to continue the pressure by following with more. These hits are only -10 on block (-9 when he has a gold weapon), meaning that only the fastest OOS options will work. Usually you are better off just rolling to escape the shield pressure and reset the situation to neutral.
You must be careful though, because this leads to a situation where he can read your reaction to get an even stronger punish. If he reads your roll, for example, he can do an f-smash instead of more jabs. Other common mix ups you will encounter after he jabs your shield are dash back minecart (command grab), and jump anvil (can break your shield).
Recovering
Steve is best able to punish low recoveries through the use of down air (anvil), down tilt (fire drop), building (block your recovery), and minecart. In an ideal world you would avoid recovering low altogether, but doing so would make reading and punishing your recovery even easier. As always, it’s best to mix it up and keep him on his toes. Knowing the range of his moves will help you to position your recovery better.
In the event that you do get stuck in the down tilt fire at low percents while recovering to the ledge, you can throw out another up b right away and hit him back before he can use another attack. This should put you on the ledge for free.
You want to avoid getting grabbed at a range that he can forward throw you offstage because this puts you into a low recovery situation due to the knockback angle on the throw. Don’t throw out laggy moves when you are in the corner to give him that free punish.
Escaping Combos
The most common combos you will get hit by are the jab/f-tilt strings across the stage and the up air ladder strings. For the horizontal strings on the ground you must mix up your SDI away and in. If he is ready for either option they can punish by extending the combo, but they have to read it. Mixing it up will help you escape at times. When it comes to laddering vertically with up airs you should SDI up to escape.
Landing
Landing safely and avoiding getting juggled shouldn’t be too difficult because Aegis has the air speed advantage in this matchup. Be especially careful about landing on platforms just above him because he can throw out an up smash that lingers or he can jump with rapid up airs. However, his jumps aren’t very high so landing on high platforms tends to be safe. You can also abuse this when you are at high percentages to avoid getting killed. His options to approach you on a top platform aren’t great, making them relatively safe to hang out on.
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