TD

While 421 d does cancel out pumpkin, it's really hard to find use anywhere else. Everything else projectile wise that rachel has beats it or in frogs case avoids it unless on startup by Rachel's hands (it will eat the fireball for free on summon in this case). Also, since an unwinded pumpkin cannot go away until rachel winds it or is hit herself, this method is unreliable. Not entirely sure is fireball eats pumpkin or clashes with it but if it doesn't eat pumpkin, it's not a great advantage for you. I -may- be wrong here as I haven't tested this stuff in quite awhile, though I vaguely remember rachel not having much trouble with fireball. In fact i believe 236a beats it free. In terms of ja pressure, she can literally only do it from 5a and 5b. 5a is the nago slap and 5b the wind vortex. It's so linear yet effective that you really should always expect a ja coming from point blank. Because of this is why I'm saying to ib, but baby steps there. If you cannot just yet that is fine, though if you see a pattern used over and over you should definitely try so you can mash dp os against it. Her lows are more dangerous than ja but if they are blocked it puts rachel in a riskier scenario where she may not be able to continue pressure without a summon around or using more wind. Barrier is an alternative way to get her off of you if you block the 5b and ja combo.

It's been awhile but I will be here on this day in this hour.

You're supposed to use your speedy basic movement to get in the Rachel's face. Charging times are difficult here as you will be constantly giving her time to run and setup with every tap, so you must frazzle the rachel into thinking you won't charge sometimes, let her think you're going to get aggressive and she will aim in front of you, or vice versa with charge, they expect it and they will aim directly at you usually or setup their own army, then you can strike her on recovery of you're close enough/have the resources. This is the gist of the neutral vs a solid rachel. Tsubaki doesn't really have much besides speed, but she does have some interesting moves that prove to be just enough to not make this matchup free. 3c is long range and low profiles lobelia shots including her 236a, pumpkins (except low to the ground/2d/3d pumpkins) and bats; even beats most of her normals, just be careful of rachel 6b closer in. As said tsubaki is speedy, rachel can shoot stuff out but she has to be careful more here without a pumpkin or enough time. Surprise 236c to whiff punish had zoning. I don't think fireball is great in this matchup, j236a is a little better but eh. Air to air, a bit difficult, both characters have short range but rachel has summons. You can sjd semi freely fullscreen, just don't overdo it. Dives are ok every once in a while for breathing room or after a charge. Try to bait 6a, jb, jc, b and c lobelias through a combination of air movement and attacks, and then punish her when she thinks she has your air patterns down. Not sure what moves tsu has to kill frog outright, if 3c works then great, otherwise may have to jump over. I know hyper charging star kills him and everything else rachel has: speaking of, this is the primary way of scaring rachel, getting two stocks and threatening with 421d 236d since its plus and completely stop rachel from doing anything hit or block. It is easy for rachel to dodge but she doesn't like the air too much, especially useful if rach has low wind since this forces her into a crossroad of block vs escape via air. Tsubaki has a TD of her own, it beats Rachel's, but rachel can avoid it by jumping toward it and 9d on time, even on oki. Chase her to the corner, or confirm block or hit and go from there. Whoever gets the other first has a huge advantge. As said keep her PINNED because if she escapes you might regret it. Cat chair is 5f startup so any blockstrings with 4 or less gap inside should do (factor in ib and barrier as needed).. Bait counter assaults, it hits tsu's torso area, so maybe she can 3c under it in successful prediction. Always watch her wind and try to take advantage of every opportunity offense and defense wise. If you get hit don't panic, hold the L maybe take a few ja mixups and gain meter (try to ib any patterns you see for the meter!!), so you can counter assault or threaten with it Practice ibing rachel ja pressure, it's 5b 9 2dja jb to start, then this leads to djb or land 2b and both lead back to 5b, so it's lightning fast but very simple. Barrier hurts rachel decently. Always try to punish whiffed moves if you can. Wrote way more than I was supposed to lol, this is a basic understanding from a tsubaki perspective. There is definitely more strategy needed than just this, but I would recommend always trying to stay one step ahead of both her and her wind meter.

There is more than one option to block. Using barrier all the time implies that is was the easiest, least risky way to get people off of you, therefore nerf. Normal block, barrier and instant all have their role in ensuring characters get out of many situations, and "should" be used as such. This is not to say it was broken by any means, just needed some harmony between its two brethren.

You're gaining for losing though. Plus, tsubaki dp becomes a little better with charge. It's definitely not the same as having an actual burst, but it is more offensive, a little more safe with charge, and tsubaki neutral arguably gets better with charges, so she is one of the people I was talking about. If you played Ragna for example and loved popping OD in neutral, that would be... Questionable.

The concept is true but I don't feel that is particularly the reason it is not used in neutral. Some characters don't even need OD in neutral so they are instantly eliminated, but there are those that don't need to chase you down as they activate od, such as those with passive benefits which is anyone with a special guage usually, they just want to gain their resources and set up. Then there is your point of a probable rushdown character using OD and it getting avoided. Well, why would they be using it there in the first place, it's rather counterproductive for several reasons besides getting jetted on. But besides that, these same characters can use OD during pressure or a combo and get guaranteed pressure or damage. Also, because od changes the way characters' moves behave, using it in neutral could lead to situations where you would have to ad-lib a combo where you normally wouldn't due to varying time constraints, and one wrong attack could cost all of your momentum.

Yeah, game is gasping for air. It's been this way not too long after it was downloadable the first time.

Such a subjective response with no factual answer. Not sure if you are looking for a specific answer or topic to be discussed like, this is our opinion or do we believe everyone in the world with and without experience with fighting games were to try it, they would like it... In my opinion, damn good game. One of the best of the best? Perhaps. The best? I doubt it. I mean its balanced and fun but these are subjective terms, not everyone will think the same as me, relying on multitudes of data, some may have limited info or base their responses on emotion and experiences. So while I can say that I think this game is really, really good, I could never turn this into a 100% fact for everyone to agree. Given the forum name is "dustloop", I'm sure there is a hell of a bunch of almost cult-like followers on this forum who would mostly agree that this game is top notch, but once we step outside this realm, opinions will scatter like cockroaches at the sound of footsteps. This thread title reminds me of promises of a very controversial news article.

Not bad, but maybe the dog food bit is too much to swallow even for the manly. Might I suggest simply savoring the taste of conquered enemies' tears, establishing your role as the alpha pet in the room?

Gcod not only has character specific nuances, it has character vs character situations. It's versatile enough to always be an option so long as one is blocking with a burst, but it may not net a huge damage reward for some or many characters, just a chance to evaluate the situation and plan an escape strategy; then again, some characters like the resident zoners love this and don't mind not having top Gcod damage potential. As already said, people with reversal supers benefit greatly from better damage and positioning, because they simply have more options to confuse the foe with, some of which lead to massive damage in the short coming seconds. Further down the road, we may be able to see a stable tier list representing who can use this mechanic the best. It has great synergy with everyone's defensive options, and risk/reward is so vastly different for each character, I think it's a great addition and adds more depth to the defensive system.

just stopping by to say that rachel is relatively worse but still very much viable. most of her nerfs can be played around, though they are rather stagnating nerfs. agreed that new bb just doesnt seem all that new and interesting. personally I dont want to spend money on such a miniscule update. we are playing a variation of cp 1.1 with another set of annoying top tiers,old top and bottom tiers becoming real average characters, and the new bottom tier still look familiar. nerfs hardly seem to matter because everyone still has the same old gameplan with mostly the same system mechanics, two relatively shitty character choices, and either buffed or nerfed offensive routes. this shouldn't be a new game at the very least, or there should be more, interesting content that would warrant such a price. I mean who is going to even keep playing outside of the most dedicated after about a month? it'll be back to normal, looking for games, being bored playing.. IMO.

All is fair in war

I just super jump toward him while barrier blocking. Assuming a ground bug doesn't lock the char down, most can jump into the void without having to worry about the arial bugs too much. (Doesn't hurt that I play chars who can stay in the air an extended period of time, but besides them.) bugs come crashing in from roughly 60-75 degree angle, with the top one coming straight in front of kune, and the bottom being near him in front of behind I believe. one can super jump in, being slower that the aggressive a and b bugs, thereby avoiding them entirely and inciting their cool down which gives further chance to stall. Kune won't usually challenge a player without the assistance of a bug or they are certain they will get an airgrab or something: it's too risky for them to lose momentum, plus they have an insane neutral game for a bit anyway so what's the point of rushing in. If he does go in and you are in the air he has to be a bit precise with his air lunge (j6a b or c), or the more lenient grab, so it's rather easy to prepare for those by alternating between this method and the limited other strategies. Whatever you do, just try to keep off the ground or you WILL get mixed up and likely gg yourself. Haz can't really chain kune in curse or run away with them but one should still try especially if you visually confirm an a/b bug was just used and you're not in the way of a c or d bug, and kune can't immediately stop you. It may require a sharp eye and brain, but you must create enough of a distraction to either: Stay the hell away from the corner (recurse) Take 4k, maybe a little curse meter and corner carry max Avoid curse entirely and return to neutral. And if your char CAN stay in the air for a while, do that shit immediately first chance you get. This goes without saying. Even if it costs all resources. Don't forget he is on a timer even if he plays it cool in the beginning, so try and stay calm and always try to look for a way out first. If you must hit him try to get some gapless string going, don't be too aggressive, and don't even try oki if he still has curse unless you have some assistance of your own like pumpkin, lightning trap, a staff etc. so you can block or you'll be eating a b bug for your troubles.

Not even Scooby doo would want to solve those mysteries.

ODR definitely has an unbalanced tier list of its own, but even though we haven't played it yet, I don't think it will be huge factor in games as opposed to something that should be watched or played around. Using this strategy is as risky as it is rewarding, and may not yield much depending on health, starter used, positioning, foe's character etc. there are plenty of variables. It will of course make more blockstrings risky but the point is to cycle through strings so you can maximize your chances of beating your foe's options. Alternatively, one can try to come up with general or character specific option selects. It certainly makes annoying tactics more annoying, like encouraging kunes to really mash on the 5a, an apparently 720, but hey, what are we going to do.

If you're not at least 75 percent or starting with a low prorated starter, going for meter and corner carry is highly recommended. It's just too easy to catch terumi who has lost his meter or didn't gain enough. Unlike Haku, he has no options for getting out meterless, and his ca sucks, so with meter he needs an opening and rps to get out. Not sure why 6d was needed to be nerfed but you take what you get lol

Doing motions is about taking it slow and committing them to muscle memory. It's easier to do if you VISUALIZE what exactly you want to happen. If you know how the combo looks exactly in your head, play it over and over. It's like learning music lyrics. If you have a song that you know by heart, think about how fun it was to endure that process of actually learning the song. With that mindset, you can learn combos and much more. Putting everything together requires a quiet, focused mind, motivation, and patience. Frankly with two things I believe that is how you learn games at a fundamental level. But anyway. It's like pieces to a puzzle, in that you take the whole picture (combo), and divide it into fragments (each combo attack or movement). You take each piece and you fit them in one at a time until you know for sure that is how they fit and can recall the exact same, small pieces on a whim. BEFORE you practice you should always take a few long, deep breaths through your nose and out your mouth. You need the brainpower oxygen provides to put you into the alpha mindset. Try to visualize a bit right after, like what you want to learn from that training session. Count all the small victories, even if it's a tiny one in a sea of failure, it's always better to count your blessings. This also helps with motivation, expanding that inner Fire which will increase your patience and positive outlook on your progress. Don't forget about dustloop, fear not asking questions.

The thing is (and this soon may change come 2.0 which I doubt, but he's considered high tier in that game so), it's easy to not make mistakes vs Tager, if you have to matchup know how. Like some people want to just try to whittle the tank's behemoth health down too quickly, which is a very brave and foolish thing to do; or those who are so fearful of the giant that they resort to cowardice tactics only, including on defense. You, like many, seem to have that problem of being too close to Tager in the first place. If you play Jin, it is paramount that you are spacing him the entire match with your safe attacks at their max range 5c, 2c for anti air, ja in some situations, 2d, 6b point blank and on wakeup to discourage grabs, etc, making blockstrings short and effective, backing off when necessary... Most tagertots outside of high or top level simply cannot deal with people playing their matchups correctly. It may be painful to not be in his face, may have to be meticulously planned, matches may drag on to the point where it would be jin vs the timer, but this is what you have to do most of the time until you can get successful reads. So the next time you get hit by a 360 or 720 you need to ask yourself what you did wrong, how you got hit, and what you were pressing (or not pressing).

He's not going to be in the game. Training mode was a very welcome commodity...

She won by a landslide it seems. Where was she in the previous polls?

Oh, that. True. Hmm, it's interesting though, because lately I've seen myself doing full combos with her in slightly delayed situations. That is a sign that one has played netplay so much, that he can become used to the volatile creature.

Yeah I read a bit about it before buying it. The idea sounds cool but as Mac said... ...well, offline training skips a few beats occasionally, and there is a very small, yet notable input lag... Probably not the most optimal solution for playing, but I digress... Plus, no add-ons! No koko, no terumi, colors... So sad. It all boils down to how other people experience the play though. Gonna try some matches this week to test. Why not rachel specifically?

Didn't spell check qq. I will be seeing "you" guys in extend. Looks like playstation now has bbcp, though only to rent, and not sure if it can be netplayed. But it's free for a week to test ... If so I'll play some sets with people before extend. Maybe upload some matches. Edit: cool, it works. @shadowclawbkr, we can play.

Why must words get under people's skin. Just play. Whoever has a problem, don't even waste your time thinking about them. Just treat them like gum on the sidewalk that you may or may not step on because you don't really care either way. No one gets angry and likely won't see them again anyway. Unrelated, I no longer have a PS3 so I will be seeing tho guys in cp extend.

Is there ANY point in doing Leo's fs-p and hs-p guard points?