[CSE] μ12: War Room - Tactics of Terror v1000

[bakahyl]

What is the best corner oki vs tager? I usually get disrespected by him if i use the regular one with a charged stein after j.2c, so should i go for a techable airthrow instead?

[Cryingvoid]

Hey guys, I got some time to test out different GC paths midscreen, so here what I got so far (still raw, but promising):

[midscreen, 50% meter required] SOD(lv4)GC > RC > 5[D] > tiny delay > (66) > 6C > 5[D] > forward normal jump cancel (9) > ]D[ > j.C (late) > j.2C (late) > land > 66~ > ]D[ > 6B > (66) > 5C > SOD > 5C > high loop > mid loop > omohi (7157 dmg, heat gain precisely 50%) / (with 100% meter at start) yata > omohi (8271) (dash before 2C > yata required for all steins to hit)

Gotta work out RC'less path later. And maybe polish this one more.

[pochp]

What is the best corner oki vs tager? I usually get disrespected by him if i use the regular one with a charged stein after j.2c, so should i go for a techable airthrow instead?

Depends how they're disrespecting. You can do j.2c 2b 214d if there's a stein on them, catches people who mash too hard. Else there's also j.2c j.5[d] land 2b, if they roll you catch them, if they don't it whiffs and you can jump out and wait for the laser to fire to go back in or punish their stuff. If you end with jump back j.c j.2c you can add 3c 5d 214d, catches rolls and most buttons, but loses to sledge I think. There's also j.2c j.5[d]xx j.236a which keeps you in the air a good amount of time, but it really loses to sledge.

I dunno, the airthrow tech never felt as strong as the other options for me.

[bakahyl]

I tried 3c 5d 214d and mid air 236a before and they indeed both lose to a welltimed sledge hammer and in the case of 3c 5d 214d i can even get grabbed by a 360 or 720 (which happened a few times in CS2, so that's why i am not using it now in extend after the p1 damage nerf) if they quick tech. In case of the regular 2b whiff and when they don't roll, my jumps gets sometimes read and i get collidered out of the air when i was waiting for the charged stein to fire. :S

The airthrow tech either nets me 2k damage (but i end up in the corner after that) or increased pressure against him, because mu has a faster and maybe even better air to air from that distance with j.b.

I haven't tried j.2c ,2b and habakiri on tager though.

[C0R]

xC > xD > Special is always punishable with any sort of attack. All the stein cancels leave Mu AT BEST: +-0. So tacking on the 38 odd frames of another special allows the opponent to call you out with some huge punishes.

[Cryingvoid]

Baka, basically Tager is not a character to freely joke around in the corner with our okizeme's. He is just made like that to be strong on wake up. Just like Hakumen. I'd personally recommend you bait his 360/720's by making him think you ground-mashing something, and do a jump cancel on the last frame. It is not easy to read and do a collider (if you don't abuse it). But better not do any close wake up actions when he's 100% meter. Though is is great to bait his 720, he may also do magnetic wheel > RC thus getting a free + on block in any situation. You may try baiting magnetic with IAD back, but it is dangerous. Safest is to distance yourself to the length of our 5C

[Zeromus_X]

While there is a very fair risk in trying to pressure Tager on wakeup, his huge hitbox lets us get away with some fun stuff like jA and jB > RC jB fuzzy guards, etc. I know it sounds silly but what I like to do is meaty Tager with j2C in the corner. If he tries to do stuff he'll get FC'd for his trouble and you can confirm with 5B > 5C > SoD > derp. Even if you can't confirm into the best combo (j2C is an awkward starter), you should be able to do a BnB and repeat okizeme. Even Tager will have to be careful with 3-4+ orbs on top of him. Plus doing this will condition them not to quick getup 2C or yomi collider as often (as long as you aren't obvious with jumping in the air to bait stuff like void mentioned).

I am a fan of feinting meaty attacks and then IAD'ing back though, especially when Tagers have 100 heat to MTW > RC to force their way out (actually a pretty common situation with Tager's heat gain). You can 6C FC them for free once MTW whiffs.

Edited May 4, 2012 by Zeromus_X

[Cryingvoid]

Also, if I believe right, his 214D is aerial autoguard. Though it is risky on his side, it is one more thing to fear.

And do not forget that unlike cs1&2 he now has 5k midscreen off random jabs.

[bakahyl]

I have seen j.b and j.a lose to his 2a for some odd reason

[C0R]

Tager's 2a is his most legitimate antiair, not for the head invulnerability but for its very good hixbox.

Tager's greatest new strength in CSX is that he gets meter off everything, and then uses that meter to get damage off everything.

[pochp]

had a bit of fun in the lab tonight to prepare for ECT, looked at what reversals beat sakuma and H.H's setups because I'm thinking, why am I not using these yet... and wow yeah they're pretty solid.

...j.5d 2b 5c 2c 7j.2c j.2d j.236d : loses to inferno divider, valk super, lambda super, hazama super, relius doll super. if anyone finds something else lemme know. It trades with a few others as well, but beats a lot of stuff clean. (sakuma's)

...j.5d 2b 5c 2c 7j.2c 3c 5d 214[d] : beats inferno divider! (H.H's)

...j.5d 2b 6a 7j.c j.2c :j.5d 214[d] : I don't see in which situation you would use this one as opposed to one of the above. Seriously, if someone finds some other usefulness to this one besides maybe deceptiveness, post up! (H.H's)

also, if someone knows a corner setup that beats valk/lambda/relius/hazama super I'd really like to know what it is. I'm not talking about blocking, I'm looking for something that gives you an advantage even if they don't do the super.

[C0R]

had a bit of fun in the lab tonight to prepare for ECT, looked at what reversals beat sakuma and H.H's setups because I'm thinking, why am I not using these yet... and wow yeah they're pretty solid.

...j.5d 2b 5c 2c 7j.2c j.2d j.236d : loses to inferno divider, valk super, lambda super, hazama super, relius doll super. if anyone finds something else lemme know. It trades with a few others as well, but beats a lot of stuff clean. (sakuma's)

...j.5d 2b 5c 2c 7j.2c 3c 5d 214[d] : beats inferno divider! (H.H's)

...j.5d 2b 6a 7j.c j.2c :j.5d 214[d] : I don't see in which situation you would use this one as opposed to one of the above. Seriously, if someone finds some other usefulness to this one besides maybe deceptiveness, post up! (H.H's)

also, if someone knows a corner setup that beats valk/lambda/relius/hazama super I'd really like to know what it is. I'm not talking about blocking, I'm looking for something that gives you an advantage even if they don't do the super.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGULNsN44Rs&feature=plcp

stuff, play with it.

[pochp]

nice! will have fun with this for sure

[pochp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGULNsN44Rs&feature=plcp

stuff, play with it.

double post! okay so it beats lambda and hazama supers, loses to relius doll and valk supers if you time it to catch jumpout (unless there's some timing between the two, but that would be kind of unreliable due to possible late techs), and looks like it doesn't do well against rolls and late techs. If you use ...j.2c j.5d dash 6[d] DP instead (or simply delay the DP input a bit), you beat every reversal I thought was worth testing, but don't hit jump outs, just catch them blocking in the air, and still lose to roll. Both these clash with a lot of stuff so you need to be ready for it.

I have no idea how to combo after a DP CH ]d[ without spending meter though.

[C0R]

Basically the trick to all the meaty drive setups is that you late jump cancel. If they happen to uppercut, you're inputting jump forward barrier and will automatically bait it. If they don't uppercut it the steins will put them in blockstun before you hit the ground, allowing for jumpin mixup. If they reversal super you jcc into ground dp / omo or air dp during the superflash, beats every reversal. Does not catch rolls, but hey that's that. If they try to jump out you get j.aaaaaaa mixup.

[pochp]

ah I see, yeah that makes a lot of sense, I was thinking it would be cool if you could chose to not dp if you don't see a superflash, but then you'd be really vulnerable to throws... unless you're in the air

so yeah just tested this is real solid, need to remember to use in matches. I think you can use 6[d] instead of 6d to automatically get the right delay, depends if you prefer your steins charged or uncharged. Testing it out in training mode and it's giving you some really interesting options because the j.5d is there to cover you in case they don't DP.

stuff like j.2c j.5d 66[d] 7jc low airdash 6b ]d[ 2b etc.

...7jc j.c j.2c j.236a ]d[ 6b etc.

...9jc 2b 2b ]d[ 6b...

fun times ahead!

though... any combos off the DP if it doesn't clash? best I could get was DP RC ]j.5d[ 6b 6a j.2c j.5d (6]d[ whiffs) 2b 6a j.c j.2c.

too close for the normal DP corner combo and ]d[ screws up the 6b 5c 2c j.c j.2c 2c 6c... combo.

[C0R]

too close for the normal DP corner combo and ]d[ screws up the 6b 5c 2c j.c j.2c 2c 6c... combo.

Hmm. I'll find another one when I get back from work.

[C0R]

DISCLAIMER = MAY ONLY WORK ON THE TRAINING DUMMY, EXTENSIVE TESTING REQUIRED

FOUND SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAH.

OMG.

HAH

works on - ragna, haku, haz, tager, lambda, litchi, makoto, relius (must be dashing forward jump for 623 to connect on relius)

doesn't work on - tao, tsu, noel, plat, valk, rachel, jin, arakune, carl, bang, mu

It seems that there is a period after neutral tech where characters will retain their standing hitbox for a very small frame window. This was know to apply to stagger tech, but this is the first we've seen of it with neutral tech.

As most of you know, j.b will hit many characters standing, allowing for a xx623c rc combo into good damage and meter replenishment.

While j.b does connect on a few characters standing, it appears that the window does not use the full standing hitbox, so there are exceptions with these characters (carl, mu, jin, valk, tsu). It may be found to also work on these characters, using an adjusted jump timing, however the timing is far too strict for me to land at this time.

It seems that 2b recovers so fast that mu has enough time to whiff 2b at a timing that will catch rolls and punish quick tech, and still have time to do the instant overhead. Additionally, using 2b as a crossunder normal seems to time this technique perfectly.

I've also found a combo off midscreen j.b j.623c rc that leads to decent damage and corner knockdown.

midscreen j.b > 623c > RC !66j.b > j.c > j.2c > 66 2c otg > 6c > 5d > 8j.a > j.c > j.2c >(]d[ whiff) SoD > 6a > 6c > 214d (hit) > j.2c = 3268, 30

Edited June 6, 2012 by C0R

[Zeromus_X]

Definitely gonna practice that combo later, sounds very economical and finally a practical use for DP in combos.

[C0R]

closer to the corner you can get j.b j623c rc 6c sod 6b highloop midloop = 4188 (-50) + 27

[pochp]

So I was going to add all this stuff to the wiki, but I wanted to post it here first. So if anyone has something they think I should change, or find mistakes or things to add, etc. we can discuss it here. Of course once it does go up on the wiki we can still edit it, but I prefer getting it checked before.

Strategy:

Mu is a zoning character with long range normals. Midscreen she wants to keep you out while setting up. Most of her ground hits aren't very rewarding, but air hits, counterhits, and meter use will lead to great corner carry and okizeme. In the corner, her damage is ridiculously high, and her okizeme is very solid as well. Mu's tools and damage can allow you to get away with a lot of stuff, but it's very easy to get carried away and screw up.

Neutral:

Since Mu doesn't have a reliable normal move that allows her to start her pressure game, it's generally a good idea to start a match by running away from your opponent. Her j.c is an excellent air to air move, and her 5c has very good range for ground to ground. Mu has no reliable jump in move (j.a whiffs on crouch, j.b can cross up but has short range, j.c's hitbox makes it a bad jump in, j.2c can work but it's very slow and punishable at certain heights/spacing), and her anti air game is a little risky (6a has little vertical range, 2c has terrible recovery and head invuln only starts at frame 11, you need to chose one of the two and 2c can be baited with a double jump), so you want to try to stay at the same height as your opponent.

If your opponent is refusing to get near you, and you know you're in a safe spot, you can use your drive to place steins. This serves two purposes, first, you place them in such a way that if you use a command laser afterwards, the laser will go back and forth multiple times, increasing the chances you have at opening up your opponent. Second, it shows your opponent that you have the advantage in this situation, and provokes him into acting. If he choses not to act, simply send out more steins, 236a, or 236d and go in on him. If he does start doing something, you need to be aware of your options. You should cancel stein startup into a jump, 236a, DP, or SoD. (stein > stein is not the best idea unless you're really fullscreen and your opponent is too passive). A mistake a lot of Mu players do is set up a bunch of steins, and then the opponent just jumps on them and they start blocking, which cancels the stein startups, and defeats the purpose. If you place a stein and see a superflash, cancelling into DP can sometimes protect you.

236a is very good at covering space at neutral. If blocked, it usually gives you enough time to send out a 236d. It's startup and recovery are a lot faster than 236d and 214d, so it is a good idea to use this one first. Because most of Mu's tools at neutral are relatively slow, or come out late, sometimes your opponent will forget about 6C. This move is terrible on whiff, so it should really only be used if you have a read or if you're not playing seriously. It's good against Rachel's summons, Lambda's 214d-c, Tsubaki charging, Tager j.D, Mu-anything. The most common source of damage at neutral is j.c air to air counterhit. Stein setups are not to be underestimated. At a distace equivalent to 5d dash 6d 236d, if the command laser hits, you can use 3c to launch, the laser hits afterwards, and you can combo into either j.b or j.c...

Offence:

Once you get your opponent blocking a 236d, or see an opening (ex: whiffed lambda drive), you can go in. Mu's normals aren't that great individually, and her overhead usually means the end of your pressure, so you need to get creative to have good pressure. Mu has a great variety of gatlings, and can go into 6b from 5a 2a 6a, or 5b. What you want to do is stick to lows as much as possible, especially because 2b is 0 on block. Frametraps are very rewarding, simple ones being 2b 2c, 2a 2c, 5c 6c, these catch mashing as well as jump out attemps. You can turn any gatling into a frame trap by delaying it a bit, but be careful, because this also opens up a chance for your opponent to DP. Once you've got you think your opponent is respecting your pressure, you can dash forward and reset it after mostly 2b, but any normal if you want to risk it, or special cancelling into mostly 236a (or 3c tk j.236a), but also more risky with 214d/236d. Ending blockstrings with SoD can also act like a frame trap, and holding it a bit can lead to breaking primers and + frames, but do not abuse this as its easily punishable if your get read.

When using a blockstring, you want to be able to easily hitconfirm whatever can hit. In the corner for example, a strong string is 2a 2b 5c 2c 236a. If you hit with 2a, you have time to hitconfirm with 2b and 5c, then cancel 5c into SoD for a decent corner combo. If 2b hits them low, you have 5c and 2c to hitconfirm as well, then SoD after 2c. If everything is blocked, the string is gapless until the 236a, which puts you outside of mashing range, and allows you to reset pressure if they don't jump out fast enough. You mix this up by going 2a 6b for overhead, 2a throw, 2a 2b 5c 236a, 2a 2b 5c 2c SoD... there are many different possibilities, add steins to the mix for even more options, just don't get predictable.

Midscreen, this blockstring also works, but a more reliable one would be 2a 6a 2b 2c 5c... A lot of people will get hit by the 2b due to either expecting a 6b after 6a, or messing up an instant block due to 2b being faster than 6a, and often they will be crouching. This allows you to combo into 6c after 5c for decent oki. 2b 2c is a frame trap, so pressure can often be reset by dashing after the 2b. Mix it up with overhead by going either 2a 6b, 2a 6a 6b, 2a 6a 2b 5b 6b, or add a low with 2a 6a 2b 5b 3c. After the last 5c you have a choice. Cancel into 236a and cross your fingers they don't move to reset pressure. Push them out with 6c then cancel into whatever and resume zoning. Put on a pokerface and go for SoD, you're out of the range of many characters at this point, but near the end of your SoD's range, so they can easily punish the whiff. You can use some setups like cancel into 5d jump back j.236a land dash 6dxx236d and go back in. Or just dash in again with a 2a/2b/5c even though you're -4 if you think they're respecting too much. This also increases the chance of them mashing in the near future. Of course, you chose your option depending on the situation, like if they're instant blocking/using barrier, or if you have a life lead, or obviously, what character they're using (ex: tager can sledge 6c). Then again mix it up with other strings, you have many possibilities. Video example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_c6ya4TPKU

When going for mixup, the simple and most effective thing is 6b (1) RC 2b, especially in the corner. Since the second hit is overhead, RCing into a low gives you a 50/50. If the first hit catches them crouching, you can go into a crouching combo that deals more damage than the standard 6b combo, so it's really a win/win situation. You will need to mix it up with... not doing the rapid cancel at some point. Strong mixup also comes from an aerial approach, though this usually require a laser to make sure you aren't eating an anti air. You can do jump in 2b/low airdash j.b, jump in j.b land 2b/6b, j.b crossups, j.c j.2c... It's also a good idea to gatling j.b into j.a when going for mixup. This gives you increased blockstun making it safe when you land, and also acts as a fuzzy guard hitting people with a quick move that must be blocked high, as people usually crouch after a jump in, anticipating a low afterwards. Though there's a lot of other options when using steins. If you get a knockdown, you can instead use them to make weird blockstrings, a simple one being 5a 2b ]d[ 6b, or use them to extend combos on hit as well as allowing you to continue pressure after 6b, for example 6b ]d[ 6b. Mu also has very strong guard crush potential. Setups can make 214d break multiple primers, or keep your enemy in place long enough to charge SoD. Knowing the timings on your steins makes everything a lot more effective, but it can be difficult to get used to. Spending some time in the lab and using the setups will help. This aspect of the character is definitely not required win due to Mu's extremely high damage and fast overhead, but just makes it even easier to. Video examples of simple setups : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agk5UuSUlr8 some explanations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vbb-RTnyUw "advanced stuff" but not actually hard to execute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrPMAlHju50 . Basically, there are all these really strong setups you can do after a knockdown, but once you get used to them, you can use variations of them at without needing the specific knockdown if the situation allows it.

You can also mix it up with throws, but I find it a lot less effective against strong opponents compared to 6b. Throws don't put you in an as risky situation if they weren't successful at least. They are also quite rewarding both in the corner (3.1k) and midscreen (2.9k), so a good use of them with TRM can be worth it. With steins or j.2c, Mu can also create throw whiff setups, but no Mu player is using them. The sitation after a throw break puts Mu in a really strong situation against some characters, because 5c will beat a lot of options, and just backing up can usually allow you to resume your zoning game. The situation after a blocked 6b is a lot more ambiuous. It's a good idea to test it out on an opponent early in a match to see how they act after it. Initially you either want to block or backdash after it's blocked. If your opponent likes to press buttons after blocking it, cancel into SoD(1) the next time for a fatal counter. If the opponent is passive, you can either go for charged SoD, or even 5c (especially for barrier blocked). If you are cornering them and they instant block the second hit, a good gimmick is to delay cancel into DP and then into a corner combo. Since it's -1, with IB it becomes -4 giving your opponents incentive to use the advantage to get out of the corner.

Defense :

Once your opponent is in and you're forced to start blocking, your options become very limited. Backdash is very good as most characters need to commit to punishing it if that's what they think you'll do. DP is nice because it hits behind as well, but the range is quite short. Counterassault range is also very short, so only use it when you know for sure it'll work. Jump barrier and mashing 2a can be valid options, but these are more easily punished by opponents so don't rely on them too much. Chosing various wakeup options like delaying, rolling, quick, or just neutral should be considered. A good defense combines all the options to make sure your opponent needs to bait various things, sometimes giving you a way out. It's not fair to play rock paper scissors if you just keep throwing rock and paper.

This doesn't mean you have to always take some action, simply blocking/instant blocking can get the opponent to bait a DP if you have already shown him you're capable of doing it through his strings. It's also good to keep in mind that Mu's gold burst combos are very damaging and lead to strong okizeme, so sometimes it's better to eat a combo and gold burst afterwards, as opposed to green bursting. A good counter to opponents who won't meaty on knockdown is to do wakeup laser super, if you have steins out. It's not invicible, but it has a fast startup, and gives you good frame advantage on block as well as great damage on hit.

Anti air is risky with Mu. 6a is the most reliable, but it doesn't have good range. 2c has great range and is easy to hitconfirm, but head invuln starts late and very bad on whiff, so it's easy for an opponent to bait it out. Jump back j.c instead if you can.

This is a bit risky, but Mu has a DP both in the air and on the ground, and can cancel from steins into it. Smart use of this makes it hard for your opponents to guarantee a way it, as opponents often think they can catch your recovery. Setting up steins prior to a cancel into DP can also make it somewhat safe on block.

Combos :

Will list eventually, in the meantime, check this thread : http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?11490-CS2-CSX-%26%23956%3B-12-Combo-Thread-(Updated-9-23) and these videos : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoCLTItUeyM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9omQR9fN_iE

Matchups summaries: (I know other wiki pages don't have this, but I thought it might be a good idea)

Arakune : Use j.236a, steins, and run away. Try to dodge his stuff on the screen, make him take risks because he will need to if he wants to hit you. Hit him out of those risks with j.C air to air, or send out 236d and go for mixup if he's too passive. Standard matchup, you have the better zoning, just be really careful as one hit is enough to ruin it instantly. Extra emphasis on dodge his stuff and look out for the teleports. Remember to respect the pit super if he has 50, and be aware that 6a or close 2a, as all these lead to 100% curse. Avoid anti-airing an arakune that is spacing his j.b well, it's not reliable.

Bang : Nails are annoying, try to avoid blocking them if possible. Don't go in on bang without a laser, and look out for guard point if you do. j.C is average air to air in this matchup, you will eat a lot of j.a/j.b CH if you rely on it too much. Steins are risky because they can put you in a position where you're forced to block nails, but don' hesitate if the bang is too passive or conservative on nails. Once he has no more, just be careful of his double air dash and you're good. Air DP is good in this matchup because bang thinks he has the air to air matchup free. Ground DP is really good to get out of 6a 5a pressure, as well as after blocked nails since they don't have a lot of blockstun. When pressuring him try to gatling as much as possible, if he guard points you'll CH him out eventually. Don't mash 2a. If he does FRKZ at neutral and you have 50 heat and steins out, and he doesn't have another 50 heat for daifunka/umbrella, you can activate laser super, for a temporary advantage.

Carl : Know which puppet moves are cancelled when he is hit or when ada is hit. Use steins a lot, but be careful of Fuocco, Volante, and Brio, as these specials have a lot of range. Carl's normals don't have great range, and if ever you catch him far from his sister don't wait for lasers to go in, just not an obvious jump in. He's really hard to block so don't hesitate to use your DP. Hard to find strong carls to learn the matchup.

Hakumen : I dunno what to do someone help please. All I can say is don't respect the counters too much outside of setups, and avoid jumping in on him. If you see a void, jump barrier into it to make it go away. Avoid anti airing him, his air normals are too good, 6a if he spaces his jump in wrong. Place steins behind him if you want to provoke him into doing something as in becomes harder to cut them. Beware of Shippu. Traditional keepaway gameplan isn't as effective here as hakumen has the advantage at neutral, since he's filling up his meter, and kisshu will go through anything so once he has enough meter he doesn't care about your zoning. Too much meter also means really hard to block mixup due to fuzzy guards.

Hazama : Keepaway initially, safely place steins slowly when you're outside of his chain reach. Punish predictable approaches, j.c air to air is good if you're in range, but too preemptive will make you eat chain. 236a is risky, not worth using at neutral. Don't backdash too much, chains catch it easily. Try to stay kind of close, dodge the chains, neutral game is kind of in his favor. He has no DP besides jayoku so once you get a knockdown don't let him get away. Try to keep your bursts for gold, as it can be hard to catch him. It's impossible to, but look out for his overhead when he gets 50 heat. ps: don't try to bait the chains. it doesn't work that way.

Jin : His gameplan is similar to Mu's. Hard to approach and safe zoning. Standard gameplan applies, try to safely setup 236d and go in. Bait DP a lot. Beware of shenanigans, don't press too many buttons on defense, lots of Jins like to take risks and go for resets since their damage is kinda low. Play patient, moreso than most matchups. His j.c is better air to air (startup and hitbox), but Mu's is much more rewarding. Backdash and DPing out of his pressure is good, Jin can keep pressure going with 5b and 2d if you don't do stuff.

Lambda : You lose the zoning game hard here. Place steins when you're absolutely sure they can't hit you out of the startp if you're fullscreen. Slowly get in on them, avoid commiting to instant airdash into their 6d. Lots of dash barrier cancel. If you see them whiff something run in. Superjump over 214d. Learn how to deal with 236d (usually you can't, but there are times when they'll throw it out on a knockdown where it's not guaranteed, need to figure it out for yourself as there are a lot of possibilities). 6c is almost only worth it against 214d-c, 236a only worth it in blockstrings. Once you do get a knockdown, same as hazama, go in until they die.

Litchi : Both characters have similar tools, Mu has the higher damage, but Litchi has the better okizeme. Staff is really annoying, hard to avoid and cancels stein shots, almost ruins the fullscreen advantage of placing steins. Be careful of 6b[m] as it will lead to high damage and corner carry on hit, and hits pretty far and air unblockable so careful in the corner. Ittsu-a also reaches really far and high, so avoid that area when placing steins. Mostly play footsies/spacing, so empty jumps and whiff punishes are your plan. Be REALLY careful when jumping in because her crouching hitbox can be hard to hit. If she's stafless she has no DP, and even if she has a staff she can't RC her DP, so go in on Litchi. I don't know how to deal with her backdash properly though.

Makoto : Really hard for her to get in, play safe, set up stuff, normal gameplan applies. Be aware that she runs fast, break shot goes through stuff, her 6c actually has good range, and her 3c will go under a lot of stuff. So don't autopilot your setups, but it's a very uphill battle for Makoto. Her j.c can be scary, be careful when anti airing.

Mu : Figure out what your opponent's pattern is and 6c it. Usually ends up with one running away and the other chasing, the one running away would have the advantage if it wasn't for 6c. Dodge steins and lasers, you should know how they work, right?

Noel : Normal game plan applies, look out for optic barrel. Spacing her is kind of annoying though, as she has a lot of moves that will just go through. Play safe, abuse the fact that she doesn't have a meterless DP. Don't know the matchup that well so if someone has something to add please say so.

Platinum : Normal gameplan applies. Just keep an eye on her items and adjust accordingly. Avoid jumping in, she can make stuff whiff with 2b. Mami circular will destroy any risky setup you attempt, so just play safe.

Rachel : This matchup changes a lot depending on what tools the rachel player likes using. Some prefer the pumkin, beat it on startup with j.a or keep them away with j.236a. Others prefer lobelias, air ones make them whiff and punish landing recovery, grounded ones if you're close dash under them with Mu's low dash hitbox, or 6c them from far (risky). No DP even with meter so when you go in, don't even need to bait it. Cat chair (2c) has 5f before guard point and can be thrown. 6a is really strong, so avoid being close to her in the air, it also hits crossups.

Ragna : Standard gameplan from the neutral game section is pretty much the ragna matchup. Be careful of max range hell's fang. Getting hit crouching midscreen leads to a lot more damage than standing hits, keep this in mind when trying to block their mixup. Dead spike can be spaced outside of DP range, so use it between normals if you want to DP out.

Relius : Standard gameplan, except ignis can hit you anywhere, but it's slow, so just set up safely and look out for it. Only meterless reversal is a dodge that can be thrown. Respect his grab super, it goes pretty far and is kind of safe.

Tager : Standard gameplan here as well suprisingly. Just add in a lot of 6d 4d 214d if he choses to go fullscreen. Play safe, don't rely on projectiles too much as he can sledge them. Don't use frame traps if he has 50 heat you will eat a 720. There are lame tactics as well, watch videos of Japanese players if you want to go there, but steins into command laser is generally good enough. Not a 7-3 matchup anymore. Don't try to beat sledge once it's started. Spacing with 5c helps hitting it out of startup though. Usually cancel 5c into SoD without going through 6c because you will often hit him no CH and he can sledge 6c since it won't combo from 5c without CH or crouching. Avoid anti airing him if possible, alternating between his j.b and j.2c can be a pain.

Taokaka : Use 5a, j.236a, j.c, airthrow, 2b, 6a. That's about it. Block a lot, and good luck. Oh and no meterless DP so if ever you do get a knockdown... bait wakeup crawl.

Tsubaki : Standard gameplan. Try to avoid whiffing normals. Her 214d goes through every projectile and a lot of normals, and she can cancel into it from her 236 series on whiff, so be extra careful at any range when setting up stuff. Her D DP may be safe with a lot of charge, but if it whiffs completely and you're at 6c range, you can hit her out of the followup. Good to keep in mind is if you jump in on her with barrier block, the followup to her 2c can whiff, so you can land and punish.

Valkenhayn : Lots of iab back j.236a, covers his approach nicely. Aim for the standard gameplan, but you really need to avoid being in a situation where you have to block because it's impossible to react to all he does, and it's very rewarding on hit, and he even has a command throw. Laser super is really good. So just run around all day dodging him and throwing out normals like 5c if he wants to face you ground to ground.

Edited June 26, 2012 by pochp

[Zeromus_X]

Damn nice writeup pochp.

Regarding mixups/blockstrings, I think jB > jA deserves a mention for making airdash jBs more + on block and doubling as a potential fuzzy guard if they always block low after your jB. Also your comment about throw whiff setups got me thinking since that isn't something I really thought about doing but seems like it would be really obvious/good.

Man I love this character. I feel like you can never stop discovering new stuff with her.

Edit: For Arakune matchup, I wouldn't recommend trying to anti-air any competent ones. His jB is pretty incontestable if they use it properly. I would treat it like Tager j2C and just try to run underneath it or accept it and block. If they space it wrong or use it at an improper height though, then yeah feel free to anti-air the shit out of them.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Zeromus_X

[pochp]

ooh lol totally forgot about j.b j.a, I haven't used that in months XD

yeah my arakune exp is pretty limited, I'll correct that, makes a lot of sense.

And about throw whiff setups, I tried to come up with fun setups involving lasers at some point but none of it seemed reliable. Walk then lowest j.2c probably works though.

[Lord Pwnge18]

Awesome wall of text, pochp. It makes me feel somewhat less shitty at this game, understanding what you're talking about.

I really don't want to add anything to the match-ups, cuz I'm not really sure how accurate or helpful my information would be. The only thing I'm really confident about (thank you Rachel-maining-best-friend) is to not jump in against Rachel. Just don't do it if she's on the ground; her 6a will fuck you sideways and backwards.

Also Origins will murder George, but just be careful about it. But I think we said that not too long ago.

[C0R]

ooh lol totally forgot about j.b j.a, I haven't used that in months XD

yeah my arakune exp is pretty limited, I'll correct that, makes a lot of sense.

And about throw whiff setups, I tried to come up with fun setups involving lasers at some point but none of it seemed reliable. Walk then lowest j.2c probably works though.

In terms of beating arakune j.b. From what copperdabbit and I have talked about, it extends his hitbox super far, as do just about all his air options. Try beating it with airthrow.