How can I counter edge-tech phantasm/illusion?

Question

In Super Smash Brothers Mêlée, it's possible to tech on the side of the stage against powerful, edge-guarding attacks, such as a Spacie's down-smash, by inputting a tech pre-emptively. This is called (l)edge-teching. If an edge-teching Spacie immediately does a side-B (phantasm or illusion) after the tech, they can grab the ledge safely because of its speed.

As a Falco player, it is common to edge-tech against my edge-guarding Dair. I've seen another Falco player edge-guard by doing a Dair into ledge-cancel into Bair to counter edge-tech phantasm/illusion. This probably comes out at such speed that it's impossible to edge-tech the second hit. I've tried to do this, but the spacing and timing is strict. What are the other options to deal with edge-tech phantasm/illusion?

Answer 1

I am more of a technical-knowledge player than a practical-knowledge one, so feel free to be skeptical of this.

According to this frame data thread, Falco can't grab the edge for a whole 24 frames after he starts the Phantasm. From my own testing, walltechs work like this: 6 frames of intangibility on the wall followed by 8 frames off the wall (which can be interrupted and will continue into the input move). So if he does it perfectly, you have a window of 16 frames to hit him.

The problem is that you're probably (and expectantly so) hitting with an early frame of the dair (say 5, the earlist hitbox). You can't do anything until frame 49 of the move, and that's more than enough to go through the edge-tech. So, the best piece of advice I can give is to hit with a later frame of the hitbox, which will leave you more time to end the move and start the fast nair or bair before he grabs the edge.