Link vs. Toon Link Super Smash Bros. Brawl tiers, match-up votes and discussion

Toon Link is yet another one of Link's 20 counters. For convenience reasons, I will refer to the former as just Toon here.

Toon triumphs in neutral. While they both have pseudo-shields against each other's projectiles, there's generally more Toon can do with his, since Link is generally easier to combo (heavy fastfaller with slow get-off-me options). Although Link is the heavier hitter, Toon wins in damage racking for this same reason. Toon's up tilt and bair are particularly nasty in this department, since Link's nair is frame 7 and doesn't have disjoint, and his fair is akin to a frozen snail trying to thaw itself by moving through honey peanut butter. Since Toon's projectiles and fair come with more utility, he even kills better than his timeline counterpart does; since his bombs deal less knock back, it requires less strict timing on his part to land a fair, nair, or such. Recovery and edge guarding are two more important aspects of the matchup where the "realistic" hero falters; while Toon is also somewhat reliant on prior horizontal momentum to get good side distance on Spin Attack, his higher air speed and air acceleration put him in a less risky position if he is struck by something with low knock back; 2 perfect examples of these are Link's uncharged arrows and sourspot nair. Toon's Spin Attack also goes higher than Link's, and since he's floatier, he's not in as dangerous a position if his Clawshot misses the ledge. Both Links would prefer to recover low, as otherwise they can nail gruesome punishes on each other. Of course, for the aforementioned reasons, Toon is better at that, with his projectiles clashing with Link's, and his frame data advantage
allowing him safer use of his Master Sword.

In summary, Link loses 3/7 because he is inferior to his 5-year junior in all the important areas; neutral, recovery, damage racking, frame data, edge guarding, and killing. Despite his raw power advantage, his lacking impression here encapsulates how he is more of a bait, read, and punish character than a zoner.