Clouds Doubles Legality
Dunban - August 21, 2017The Issue
After recent performances by Leo and Komo in doubles event, controversy took to twitter and other platforms. The controversy itself was about the legality of Cloud in doubles. Cloud is a very popular pick in doubles, for his great range, good combo moves and destructive killpower. Examples are being able to sandwich opponents and finish them off with Finishing Touch for extremely early kills. However, some bring up the question that Cloud may be too ridiculous for doubles, especially double Cloud. Infact, there has been very few major doubles event won by characters that aren't Cloud. Infact, almost every successful doubles team has a Cloud in it. Many people are beginning to say Cloud should be banned in doubles. That is of course not without good reason. It is not farfetched to say Cloud over centralized the metagame, with double Cloud being one of the most popular picks. Cloud has great synergy with literally any character. Say you're Bowser. You have great combo potential and killpower. However, you struggle with getting in and can get camped out very easily. You do not have much range. It is pretty hard to get kills sometimes. Cloud excels in almost every single factor. He is the perfect character to make up for your weakness, which is why double Cloud is so good. It has little counterplay, with the only real weakness being is recovery. Cloud is the best doubles character, easily. To prove this, Cloud has around 45 wins in doubles at the time of creation of this blog (ref). The argument of his doubles legality now comes into question.
Personal Opinion
Not yet. Sure, Cloud is very common in doubles, but I feel like there is definitely counterplay to be discovered. Examples being characters who can gimp Cloud easily (Bayo, Pikachu, etc.) Until it comes to the point where there is a Cloud in every doubles top 8 team, then I think Cloud should stay legal. For double Cloud, I think a ban may be warranted at this point. Very similar to Brawl double MK being banned. If Cloud in doubles comes to the point where it is mandatory to have one in your team, then he should definitely be banned in doubles. For now, it hasn't reached the point of overcentralization to warrant a ban.
Solution
As mentioned earlier, play characters with really good edgeguarding tools. Adapt to Cloud and find ways to counteract his high power and status in doubles. Don't let them charge limit. Things of the such, really. Another solution would be to ban him completely, if it reaches the point where counterplay is extremely hard to find.
Recap
Cloud is very good in doubles, to the point where counterplay is almost impossible. Has synergy with any character. Double Cloud is very busted and possibly warrants a ban.
Great resource here for refering to what characters tend to win doubles at majors.
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