[CT] Iron Tager vs. Ragna

[Waks]

Ah thats true, I forgot you can sp-cancel ragna's 5D. And yes, lack of competition here kills me I guess its still good to know you can 720 ragna's 5D if he dash canceled it, albeit risky, haha.

[brningpyre]

Something useful I've found: Tager's Voltaic Charge (412B) eats Ragna's Hell's Fang (214A) and Gauntlet Hades (214B), as well as their followups (214D). Very easy to followup with a 360B afterwards.

[BeefyJr]

Doesn't Voltaic Charge have upper-body and complete projectile invincibility? Shouldn't it stop any move in the game that hits above the waist?

[brningpyre]

My noobish bad. I thought it just ate projectiles. Whoops. That said, I still think it's worth mentioning, since otherwise a Ragna player would never give you a chance to breathe/charge yer lazer.

[BeefyJr]

So I have a Ragna-playing friend who I can beat most of the time, and tonight he decided to start hitting me once and running away the rest of the match. What's a safe way to approach a runaway Ragna? I think part of my problem was just getting frustrated and making dumb mistakes and leaving myself open, but for the life of me I just couldn't get in on him to do any damage. Any ideas?

[Osuna]

So I have a Ragna-playing friend who I can beat most of the time, and tonight he decided to start hitting me once and running away the rest of the match. What's a safe way to approach a runaway Ragna? I think part of my problem was just getting frustrated and making dumb mistakes and leaving myself open, but for the life of me I just couldn't get in on him to do any damage. Any ideas?

I'd charge my gauge. If you can magnetize him, at some point he has to jump over you or attack. Do you have any more specific things that a difficult for you? What specifically is happening?

[BeefyJr]

I actually think I have a better handle on it after playing some more. My biggest problem was just getting close without getting knocked into an 8-hit combo. Ragna's got a crazy reach and everything about Tager is so slow. Tightening up my timing and baiting rush-ins seemed to help a lot, as did magnetizing him. I think the problem was more me than the situation.

[kensk]

if hes running away, just hit him with spark volt when he back dashes/air dashes predictable :] even if you get it blocked, the magnetism should be enough to get you to mid range. you could also just start winning right off the bat, so he has to put some work into his offense. also if hes running away, he'll obviosuly get negative warning...

[Prototype909]

As a Ragna player, this match is more of a "How can I not mess up" or "How can I not get gimmicked" than it is a "How can I win" match. The way to win is easy, it's just that in execution some things can be screwed up. Basically my advice - Try to keep the Ragna player guessing with 5D cancels and 360 A. Tager's biggest strength in this matchup is his backdash which pretty much puts an end to Ragna's rushdown when used correctly because most Ragna's don't know how to deal with it. This is probably my least favorite matchup in the game though as a Ragna player. Not because it's hard like I said, but because it just feels retarded in execution.

[Mike Z]

Of course, if you backdash and he ID's, the ID will straight up beat your backdash after Tager's invincibility finishes...

[Toasty]

One thing that I noticed in this matchup is that using Tager's pressure strings is not a good idea, as Ragna can just Inferno Divider out of it. Against Ragna's pressure, if you see a Dead Spike coming out, you can 360A him out of it, and it doesn't need to be on an IB. Try not to overuse sledge either, as a good Ragna can see it coming and get a CH combo on you, and same goes for 360's if you don't time it right.

[Prototype909]

Of course, if you backdash and he ID's, the ID will straight up beat your backdash after Tager's invincibility finishes...

Things that I usually get through backdash with -

ID (Both Versions)

Neutral j.C

2C (Usually at max range)

5D (Only if started during the backdash, even then, it's rare)

2D at max range

6C

5A or j.A spam

5C and 5B at max range

Things that backdash usually stuffs -

6D (This is SO punishable as Tager. Ragnas will love to throw this in during block strings or just running in at some intervals. Backdash will leave him wide open.)

Air dash (anything really)

Dash 5B or 5C

Dash 3C

If Ragna gets jump cancel happy, then you should probably wait for the 6A or 3C (His only Jump cancelable moves) and then atomic collider or 2A him, or just block/backdash. If not, any block string (Even if they use Dead Spiked) can normally be 360A'd to punish.

[fragile]

edit: for some reason my backdash 360a/360b loses to ragna's IAD jC > followup. is it because i mistime it ? if so, what is a good indicator for the timing to backdash an IAD move? btw this is a combo i love to use on him after i block his dp (when i'm far from doing 720c or 360b) ch 5c 6c collider into 2d /sparkle followup

[Hydrogyn]

edit:

for some reason my backdash 360a/360b loses to ragna's IAD jC > followup. is it because i mistime it ? if so, what is a good indicator for the timing to backdash an IAD move?

btw this is a combo i love to use on him after i block his dp (when i'm far from doing 720c or 360b)

ch 5c 6c collider into 2d /sparkle followup

Yeah you are mistiming it, I try to backdash as he would just get in range to hit with it and 360A (online at least) and it works.

[A.X.I.S.]

i forgot to address this but your airs can beat ragna's if your above him, so if you wanna use air shananigans then only do it if your above him, most the time he won't ID you anyways.

[ZhePrime]

Something that I've been doing for a while that might help some people.

If he's not pressuring you and he's dashing in for a 5B, 5C or whatever poke then 360A him on reaction, your invincibility will save you and you'll end up grabbing him (remember that Ragna's pokes extends his grab range, meaning you can grab his foot for example). Every time he jumps be ready for a psychic collider, jump back j.D or if you're feeling lucky a 2A CH.

Something that really helps though is learning to IB into 720, or heck just IB overall, it helps you open up holes in Ragna's pressure. If you have problems buffering in a 720 after IB, then MTW works as well in most cases.

[A.X.I.S.]

Something that I've been doing for a while that might help some people.

If he's not pressuring you and he's dashing in for a 5B, 5C or whatever poke then 360A him on reaction, your invincibility will save you and you'll end up grabbing him (remember that Ragna's pokes extends his grab range, meaning you can grab his foot for example). Every time he jumps be ready for a psychic collider, jump back j.D or if you're feeling lucky a 2A CH.

Something that really helps though is learning to IB into 720, or heck just IB overall, it helps you open up holes in Ragna's pressure. If you have problems buffering in a 720 after IB, then MTW works as well in most cases.

when ragna run's in you can also stuff his dash 5B or 5C with a 5A i found this great when ragna thinks he can run in on tager, you also get enough time to backdash silly shit like GH.

remember always punish a wiff GH with 360B or 720.

if ragna high jumps and double jumps to avoid a possible spark then 2C or collider him it's really not much he can do especially if he was commited to a j.c.

if he think's IAD is wise then from lowest risk? to highest? 2A, psychic collider, or j.C will work, a CH j.C will end with 6k with spark or meter so have fun at it.

i found it wise to keep my pressure short when trying only mixing it up to keep him from having funny idea's(ID) or jumping out.

now being pressured by him just remember that you can IB punish his shit easily, as for dead spike if chose to block it, then you can 360/720 him or do the usual air punish.

with this i never had to spark a ragna unless its for combo's.

ok i'm done.

[FlyingVe]

Be a little bit careful trying to punish a whiffed GH, Ragna can still do the followup hit or not, and if you get hit with the follow-up your in for some real pain. But if you block the followup it's super easy to buffer a 720C.

Ragna is one of the few characters Tager can (sort of) AA (like axis said). From my experience 2A can beat Ragna's jA, jB, jC, but will lose to jD. 2C Works well for similar reasons. Also, keep in mind when pulling in Ragna from full screen with AC that he can ID through AC.

[ZhePrime]

when ragna run's in you can also stuff his dash 5B or 5C with a 5A i found this great when ragna thinks he can run in on tager, you also get enough time to backdash silly shit like GH.

Yes, you can punish a lot of stuff with 5A against Ragna. 5A is my favorite opener against Ragna because it pretty much stops any opener they throw out. Also nice to break their pressure when they for example throw in 6D with Tager's 5A.

if ragna high jumps and double jumps to avoid a possible spark then 2C or collider him it's really not much he can do especially if he was commited to a j.c.

Well that's really not a problem for me since I don't just throw out my Spark, I try to save it for combos or if they whiff something but I'm out of range for a close ranged punish.

And yes j.C is not really a problem, Ragna's that spam j.A is more troublesome than jump in j.C.

i found it wise to keep my pressure short when trying only mixing it up to keep him from having funny idea's(ID) or jumping out.

Yes Tager's pressure isn't that good, especially not against characters with shoryukens. So you either need to keep it short or learn to predict those shoryukens. I like mixing in some 360 in my pressure though, both tick and delayed so they don't tick, usually catches them off guard. Throwing in a tick is good every now and then because sometimes they will either try to jump or throw out a shoryuken as fast as possible, which can lead to a throw reject miss. But when you don't tick, keep your eyes peeled for jumps (psychic collider punish) or shoryukens (block and punish).

now being pressured by him just remember that you can IB punish his shit easily, as for dead spike if chose to block it, then you can 360/720 him or do the usual air punish.

Yes IB, 5A and (if you know what you're doing) a 421B are some of your best defensive options, not spamming backdash is also good since Ragna has some slow moves or moves with a bunch of active frames that can hit you during your backdash if you're not careful. It's not fun to get hit by something like that, even if it is just a 5D into gauntlet hades. Only backdash when you know what's coming, Tager is not Potemkin.

Be a little bit careful trying to punish a whiffed GH, Ragna can still do the followup hit or not, and if you get hit with the follow-up your in for some real pain. But if you block the followup it's super easy to buffer a 720C.

Yes, it's best to be ready for a follow-up punish over trying to punish them thinking they won't do the follow-up. Once you start to punish them for their followups, then you can start throwing in some non-follow-up punishes.

Ragna is one of the few characters Tager can (sort of) AA (like axis said). From my experience 2A can beat Ragna's jA, jB, jC, but will lose to jD. 2C Works well for similar reasons. Also, keep in mind when pulling in Ragna from full screen with AC that he can ID through AC.

Well using 2A as an AA is not always a good idea, it depends on the Ragna's habits. If they like to do late say j.C's then a 2A might not always work and you'll eat a combo instead. If they do early say j.C then they're just stupid.

Psychic collider is my prefered AA in this matchup, I save my 2C for when people try and cross you up, which Ragna's don't tend to do that often in my experience.

[Heroic_Legacy]

Protip:

Can't Inferno Divider a !! Buster