[CS2] Hazama vs Carl Clover

[Fluck]

I won't be posting match-up numbers cause they just always cause argument. The purpose of this thread is to teach you what to do in the match-up, not how good the match-up is anyway.

General Overview

Carl's defence is extremely weak. Conversely, his offence is amazing, thanks to unblockable resets and decent mix-up. It sounds pretty obvious to try and get the first knockdown but it really is the most important part of the Carl match-up. If you get hit, that could be the round right there. Similarly, if you press momentum against Carl, there is not much he can do to stop your own offense.

Neutral

As usual, you will use chains in neutral. Carl will usually airdash backwards and hide behind Nirvana, then use her to approach. Keep in mind that chains do not stuff Nirvana's attacks. It is thus a bad idea to fight Carl with Nirvana in front of him since she can punish chains with her attacks. Use chains and followups such as j.8D~D if Carl is hiding behind Nirvana so that you get to the other side of screen, where he is in front of the doll and fight from there.

Pulling yourself in from neutral isn't a bad idea since Carl doesn't have many ways to get out of pressure. His 6A anti-air is very good, however, and will punish any predictable air to ground approaches. You have to vary your trajectory and angle of approach to get past it by either throwing his timing off or making it whiff. Examples of this include whiffing normals to lose momentum and using different chain followups.

Defence

Carl himself only has overhead 6C, which is very slow at 29F startup. Most Carls will not go for it. Similarly, Nirvana's only overhead is surely one of the slowest in the game at 57F startup. Carls will do the overhead with Nirvana but the high/low mixup is not a major concern. Carl's primary source of mix-up comes from doing crossups. He can use Vivace to cross you up while Nirvana does an attack. A good example of this is during the Rhapsody of Memories super. Carl will keep doing Vivace to continuously cross you up while you block Nirvana's attacks and it is not easy to block this. Another common tactic is to do jump cancel IAD crossup j.2C (keep in mind this is not an overhead), which you can beat with your usual 2C anti-air. Carl's blockstrings are not very long, so usually he will go a quick cross-up to get a hit instead.

Carl's unblockable set-up deserves a very important mention. Due to its nature, it is pretty much impossible to Counter Assault out of it. Hazama does not have a true DP and there is thus little he can do about the reset until he gets 50 meter. Once he does have 50 meter, he can do Jayoku. If Carl does the DP-safe version, he will block Jayoku, but Nirvana will trade with Hazama and hit him out of recovery. This effectively reduces the recovery on Jayoku and you can go on the offense afterwards. Carl can still punish Jayoku by not activating Nirvana and blocking but that is actually worse for Carl since the DP-safe version is low risk and will not give up pressure if Hazama simply blocks.

Offense

Press your advantage and make it count. Carl's defensive options are very bad. His Counter Assault has bad reach and he lacks a DP without meter. With meter, he can do Rhapsody of Memories as a reversal. It can be very hard to punish Rhapsody of Memories; if you see it coming, jump over Nirvana and Carl should be in an easily punishable CH state.

Carl has only 9.5K HP, so you'll often be confirming Jayoku combos into Mizuchi for the kill.

Misc. tips/tricks/things to watch out for

Keep an eye on the Nirvana gauge. Carl needs to manage it properly. If he overuses Nirvana and causes her to break, his options will be much more limited since he either uses Nirvana and causes her to break or fights by himself, always a bad idea.

You need to alter the relaunch combo against Carl. Do 6A after 623D j.6D~D.

Edited July 22, 2011 by Fluck

[Zeron_X25]

Just a minor correction but Carl DOES have an overhead. It is 6C. And this is probably one of Hazama's only two bad matchups.

[Dusty]

I think this match up is in Hazama's favor actually. Just don't get cheesed out

[Zeron_X25]

I can't really comment on that because I don't nearly play enough Carls to tell. Just basing this off of Japanese matchup lists.

[Dusty]

Hazama can be a complete faggot and run away the whole match and Carl can't really catch him. He can use the doll to attempt to snatch you out of the air but he will be wasting too much doll meter to keep this up longer than a few attempts.

MOST IMPORTANT TOOLS IN THIS MATCH UP. (Other than chains)

3C and 214D~A

Both of these moves with hit nirvana GO THROUGH HER and hit carl. This makes the match up a pain in the ass for carl because you can do damage to the doll up close,have the move continue through nirvana to make carl block, which in turn deactivates the doll and puts carl in pressure.

These moves make carl want to cry to his SIS!!!!!

Edited July 22, 2011 by Dusty

[Shazam]

Godlike thread I noticed this ^ but I didn't realize the potential that these moves had in this situation. Still, I've spammed them pretty hard against Carl/Nirvana sandwiches regardless because it just makes sense.

I often get lamed out in this match due to inexperience and end up barely losing but now I see what's good here. I have some Carl playing friends and will be able to contribute to this pretty significantly in the future.

5b 5c jump cancel j2c on Ada

[ZeroRaider]

A very cat and mouse match this can be. Life leads and momentum can be pretty key for this match. Having the lead can make him take risks and doll meter to try to catch you and can even get him way from Nirvana. For momentum, he just might even touch-of-death you. Though the same can go for Haz too with Carl's lower health and lack of DP or Guard point. Do your best to keep the flow in your favor. On the defensive side, it can a serious problem getting by his wombo combo and resets.. Only thing I got now is bursting when it shows they are commiting to the combo. =_=

I'll get back it that part when I get more matches.

[Shazam]

Yeah Arcsys doesn't want us to get sandwiched lol. You gotta respect the top hat.

One thing I feel significant to this match up is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fznb-6Au6cA 9:34.

Doing long combos ftw. Dat 6a

[ZeroRaider]

Top hats are defective fedoras.

Edited July 23, 2011 by ZeroRaider