Ben Reed

Man, I can't wait for the new version on consoles. Selvaria only got a handful of buffs that I can see, but they're all REALLY good for her. Being able to cancel 236X into teleports makes that move actually worth using at neutral now! (To say nothing of the new mid-range combo routes it opens up for her now. Max-range 5C, 2C, and 2B starters are a lot more dangerous now!) Cancel is on hit or block, probably still unsafe on block if you're close, but at max range, it's difficult to say if any character besides KYH or Selvaria could punish it on block. They also buffed the hell out of the advantage on hit (shortened recovery? or just inflict more hitstun? can't tell yet) on both her ground and air 214A. She no longer needs to space out with max-range 2B starter to reliably combo 214A (hit) > link 5A/5B > air combo now, just putting a 2B > 5C filler into a combo from A attacks is generally enough space for the required advantage on hit now. Her 2A+B doesn't look any better, but I think she can play "around" that just by getting even more reward on spaced-out pokes now. Easier/more rewarding now to avoid situations where Sel's inability to anti-air right above/behind her head would be a huge liability.

5H becomes a bit better in the corner since there's less pushback there. Mostly better for run-in punish combos, but also just good for general pressure. Jack people's RISC up and then try and counter hit them when they try to stop you. 6H gets better too because you run SLIGHTLY more risk of getting interrupted on the ground, but no chance anymore they can move backward and make it whiff, and on air block almost nobody can do anything about 6H > Applause string. Not a gigantic lockdown tool, but good to keep people still if they get jumpy in the corner. TBH at midscreen with meter to YRC i wouldn't end with [4]6S/H for corner push if I could help it. Reason for this is simply cause at midscreen you can go for a crossup with the meaty ball drop setups (beach ball YRC as they wake up, mix up between IAD > ball drop > jH from the other side or just forward jump > ball drop > same side jH for a fake crossup. Against powerful characters at neutral vs May without meterless reversals (read: Elphelt) I would focus on 2D > Applause for the Dolphin oki rather than corner push. Characters like Elph you REALLY need to pin down more than get them to the corner, and hoops can help in that regard. I would actually avoid ending with [4]6H midscreen in general unless you're close to the corner for wallstick. for an HD ender, end with [4]6S instead because you get an easy safe jump that way, which can be very useful against characters with DPs. Take DP off the table and then go for stuff like ball drop/Applause setups. Against Potemkin it's not a big deal, get your fill of [4]6H, your main goal is just to keep him out anyway. This is not to say to never mix him up with 2D > Applause or ball drop and the like -- just be careful about going in too hard on him and handing the life lead back to him off a defensive opportunity you didn't have to give him.

Safe jump from 2D > [4]6S still works on everybody with timing adjustment IIRC. That's my usual safe jump (though I'm trying to learn others) and it seems to work on fast risers like Sin. I may go back through and check my homework, though. Also, don't worry about trying to find a universal timing because (1) they don't exist and (2) trust me, it's easy to get used to adjusting the timing for characters like Sin. I can do it and I suck, lol.

Regarding frontpage/subforum content...my somewhat ignorant take on it, I guess, is that even though a lot of characters for various games (Xrd, BlazBlue, Persona main ones I'm thinking of) usually are getting continually explored. But you may not see that tech evolve on Dustloop itself simply because a lot of game knowledge is increasingly concentrated in streams and YouTube. People avoid Dustloop because it has a semi-deserved reputation for not being as fast a source of information as just searching for videos to watch a game, character, matchup or whatever evolve. People tend more and more to make videos demonstrating tech rather than provide detailed breakdowns on DL frontpage or subforums simply because it's (usually) more time saved. Record, add comments/video notations, maybe yakk a bit in your own voice if you feel you explain it better that way, post video, post token link in some dusty (no pun intended) corner of Dustloop, done. If those links were put somewhere more visible, and some staff writer or contributing writer could write an SRK frontpage-style brief article to describe the significance of the content, that might help draw a few more eyes to Dustloop. People have to look a bit less hard superficially for Dustloop content, and start digging deeper into the site once they see that it's being kept up to date with whatever tech or metagame changes (tourney results, whether upsets or an ongoing trend) are happening for insert favorite anime game here. tl;dr get more aggressive about frontpaging video content that's relevant to Dustloop interests -- character tutorials, combo/setup tutorials, match footage, etc. A bit more like modern SRK frontpage (minus a bit of the fluff). That's my dumbass take on it.

Man my biggest EVO regret was accidentally signing up for Melty instead of DFC side tournament, lol. I was doing pretty good by the end in casuals! But Melty's a good game too and I should dust that off for CEOtaku. Wish I could get games in online but my Internet is complete butt. Anyone streams anything (and they will, unless I play at like 2-5AM) and I go from like 3 bars to 0 in no time flat. So please come through for CEOtaku so I can actually play this game, lol.

Looks fairly interesting to me. I'm not a gigantic robot geek, but the design decisions seem interesting. The game looks like it merits a fair shot when the alpha opens up.

If they put a Baccano character in (finally, some source material I kinda give a shit about!), I would probably wanna see either Claire or Ladd. A case could be made for Chane, too, on account of, uh...she has a knife? The whole not-speaking thing might be awkward, though. If any of y'all are attending CEO 2015 and are interested in a DFC side tournament, put yourself down on the Google doc here (freely editable): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NyCvrks6_fOC8Bn0Uz7l5lQ_J1zRF3-BIhPrHEBm7sc/edit#gid=0 Please only add yourself if you know for sure you can make it to CEO. We're trying to get an accurate ballpark here of whether or not a tournament might make.

Hey all, Since I've been too busy with the 9-5 grind to spend much time in the lab (or even, uh...play the game *cough*), if somebody wants to update the May wiki strategy section with useful info on 1.1 ball oki (read: the crossup/no crossup meaty ball drop posted above), you're welcome to do so. I wrote the current section with 1.0 in mind, where ball oki took a backseat to dolphin oki, but these days, ball oki's the shit. The guy who placed second at a recent local (Mystic) played May and put that setup to work, it's really something. (Not just against characters with few reversals like May herself, but even some characters with pretty GOOD reversals like Ky!) I'd sit down with it myself and try to understand it/write an explanation for it, but I dunno where I'll find the time before CEO weekend itself. So if one of y'all finds a couple minutes to do so, be my guest.

Which of May's moves are most likely to clash besides her P's, 2H, and j2H? The reason I ask is I want to understand what ranges she's most likely to trigger Danger Time at so that I can try and come up with optimized, practical combos. Just kinda inspired since Danger Time bugs me a lot less than it does some other people. EDIT: Almost forgot, suggest me some other characters' moves that I should try and clash with so that I can set 'em up in the lab. Stuff like Potemkin's jD is easy to remember, but I'm not quite sure about some other characters.

Punishing baited and blocked DP is pretty easy. On Sol, Ky, and Chipp you can do c.S > whatever for a basic punish. Example: running cS > 2D > [4]6S or [4]6H > optional RC extension With more time to gain more run momentum, you can do: running cS > 5H > 2D > [4]6S or [4]6H > optional RC extension You can also punish with 5D, but the timing may require a little more practice. Don't be afraid to wait, though; the landing recovery on DPs is pretty significant in this game. There's no DPs really like Ken's LP Shoryuken in SF4, with blink-and-you'll-miss-it awkward punishes. Take your time and do it right. If you punish with 5D, here's some basic punishes: (midscreen) 5D > homing jump > jH > jH > jS > jH > jD > djS > djH > djD > Ensenga (corner) 5D > homing dash > cS > 6P > 5H > cS > 2D > [4]6S or [4]6H or Applause for oki Ideally you have plenty of time to ground-hit the opponent, but if you air-hit them from an early punish (understandable), you can do an air combo into Ensenga instead like so: cS > jS > jH > jD > djH > djD > Ensenga On a REALLY big miss (say a whiffed Grand Viper), if you're close enough, soon enough, you can punish with 6[H] > [4]6H for even more damage. midscreen: 6[H] > [4]6H > RC > air dash jH > jS > jH > jD > djH > djD > Ensenga corner: (I'll let someone else handle this, I need to work on these myself) When in doubt, just do a cS > 2D > etc combo on a blocked DP. You should have plenty of time to react. Go into the lab, program the dummy to jump vertically, DP, then hold down-back to block. No matter how dumb/tedious it seems, practice this from time to time when you're bored in the lab. DPs are big opportunities for damage, so you need to punish as big as you can.

I dunno, I never played May before Xrd (too hard), and I play her now despite her not being top tier. So you're not really controlling that well for "fake dolphin enthusiasts". But I played Aquaman in Injustice, so I consider myself a fully qualified marine biologist as fighting games are concerned. I don't think her tier placement is what scares people off the character. I just think there isn't a lot known about her since she isn't all over streams like top tier characters. I think more exposure through a well-made tutorial video could help clear the air on what's good and bad about her. Illustrate not just oki setups and dolphin loops, but how to poke and conduct a ground game with her weird normals that are frequently outmatched. Show people how to create a ground game with her in addition to BnBs, mixups, and setups.

Dash jump from 2D > [4]6S is the safest version of the basic safe jump (hardest to mess up), and it's universal, but it's also the least deceptive. It's safe against smart players, but also unlikely to hit them unless they make an execution error (or you do, and they make a bigger one). The IAD version requires more practice to time properly, but is almost certainly more likely to land a hit than the dash jump version. Many players won't associate IAD's with safe jumps because (somewhat rightly) they require a much larger momentum/recovery commitment than a simple dash jump. You can get by knowing one safe jump inside and out and rotating it with dolphin oki if your opponent isn't/stops waking up (i.e. end your basic combos with 2D > Applause instead of 2D > [4]6S if you don't have meter for RC or don't particularly need corner push or distance). But knowing multiple (assuming you can do them consistently in a match) is even better, because it keeps your opponent confused about what they can do on wakeup. The end goal of safe jumps is to teach your opponent they can't wake up hitting a button, because they don't know for sure what you're going to do. The safest things they can do with that uncertainty are Blitz Shield and backdash, and those are generally a lot less threatening to your momentum than other wakeup options. (Blitz Shield may threaten a combo, but it's also typically easier to counter-Blitz somebody who lands such a wakeup Blitz Shield. They'll be typically thinking "Finally!" and be really eager to put you into a combo ASAP to make you "pay" for safe jumping them -- but since you're in an aerial reject state, their options to immediately hit you before the reject expires are relatively limited, and so it's pretty easy to predict the timing they'll try and hit you with and deny them a punish with your own Blitz.)

The short and sweet definition of a safe jump is a meaty jump-in (while holding down-back to block) on a knocked-down opponent, timed so deep that ideally you get one of three outcomes: (1) The opponent wakes up blocking, blocks the jump-in, you're safe on block. (2) The opponent wakes up mashing something non-invulnerable (like 4/6H trying to throw you) and gets hit by the jump-in, you get a combo. (3) The opponent wakes up with a DP/reversal super attack, going through your jump-in attack, but you did it so late that the reversal will be too slow to hit your landing recovery (landing will cancel most of the whiff recovery), and you'll block the reversal. You then do whatever your BnB punish is on a point-blank blocked DP, super, etc. In order to have a true safe jump (one that works!), your attack must be timed so that it would be BLOCKED or HIT, not whiffed, if the opponent wakes up doing something non-invulnerable. If you do your attack too deep and too late, you can be thrown out of your landing recovery since you're right next to the opponent. To make sure you're timing your safe jumps properly, do this in training mode: (1) Pick the character you want to practice on as the one you play. (2) Pick May as your dummy. (3) Record May to do the safe jump setup on your character. (4) Test the safe-jump timing by attempting to wake up with throw, blocking, or an invulnerable reversal attack. Depending on the character(s) and the knockdown in question, timing a safe jump can be easy or hard. May's easiest safe jump is from any combo ending in 2D > [4]6S, where you immediately dash jump and then do a well-timed jS to try and safely meaty them. The only trick is doing the dash jump ASAP, and then you have plenty of time to watch the opponent wake up to make sure your jS is timed right. Not all safe jumps are this easy to time, though. (Raw 2D is harder. I still need to work on that one.) There are two ways to counter a safe jump in Guilty Gear: (1) Blitz Shield the safe jump attack (will get even easier in 1.1) (2) Backdash on wakeup to escape the attack (assuming the character's backdash is invulnerable long enough and moves backward fast enough) So safe jumps aren't unbeatable, but they're EXTREMELY important, especially against lower-level players who love to mash on wakeup. If you think netplay Sol/Ky is gonna wake up with DP every time you knock him down and jump at him, you can just run safe jumps on him over and over again and collect free punish combos on blocked DPs. Safe jumps are a good, safe way to test players you don't know to quickly see how mashy they are (or aren't).

General I've only played this matchup really once of note but by mirror standards, it doesn't seem too bad. Mostly seems to be about getting the life lead and turtling smartly, like many of May's matchups. Dance around enemy summons, protect your airspace, counterpoke smartly. Don't be a hero unless you need the life lead back. The good and bad news about this matchup is May has an easy time anti-airing herself and struggles a bit to counterpoke herself. Depending on your style of May, this mirror may feel a bit like a mismatch sometime. This is especially true if your experience with the mirror (like mine) is conservative turtle-y May vs shenanigan-oriented offensive May. This is why it's important not to live too dangerously in this matchup, especially if the opponent has summons out and you don't. Applause dolphins and beach balls can make a lot of shenanigan moves like vertical dolphins much harder to punish, so if your opponent likes to do dolphin-assisted scumbaggery, just be patient and keep blocking. Don't be ashamed if you get crossed up by vertical dolphins or don't react to like whiff vertical dolphin > OHK the first time you see it. Just try to catalog all these different shenanigans so that you can practice blocking/evading them in the lab -- and possibly use them yourself, in moderation! Specific notes: - Blocked vertical dolphin is annoying as shit to punish if it bounces back. Best you can usually get is f.S, too far to combo anything afterwards (even [4]6S) without RC. - If you block [2]8S or [2]8H crossup, it's a much better story. In that situation you can do slightly delayed c.S (hopefully air hit) into full combo. - You can Blitz Shield 2D > [4]6S on block if you IB the sweep, but it's tight. Almost certainly worth practicing, though, because autopiloting into [4]6S on block is a common bad May habit. (Not that I, uh...know anybody like that...*sweats* *looks around nervously*) - 3K is a VERY consistent solution for f.S > Applause on block. If the opponent doesn't YRC, they can be hit out of any Applause version by the sweep. Just don't do this unless you know the opponent can't/won't YRC in that situation to either pressure or bait the slide. - At neutral, jS can be beaten pretty consistently with 2H to attempt a counter-hit combo. Even if done safe-jump deep, you will frequently win and occasionally clash or trade, so long as you react properly and don't get hit for throwing one out without watching to see what May does first. - May's small size, especially when crouching, makes her obnoxiously hard to cleanly do combos/blockstrings involving [4]6S > Ride on Dolphin without accidentally sailing over her. Try to release your dolphin later and/or air dash cancel later to compensate, though you risk dropping your combo if you overcompensate. - It seems pretty much impossible to me to 6P her f.S, even just outside its maximum range. May just can't get close enough to the hurtbox on it without entering the move's range. So if you're afraid of 6P in this mirror, f.S seems like a pretty safe poke. 5K and c.S trade more consistently with it, but it whiffs fast enough that May can't really punish it on reaction (even [4]6S runs the danger of whiffing despite its speed) unless you just predict that it's coming and throw something faster into the lane. - You also can't 6P her f.S inside its range, because the hitbox reaches down too far. - You can 6P her 6K, though if you whiff, the other May can punish with an immediate [4]6S if close enough. - 5K is the standard answer to pokier Mays who are gonna try and prod you with 2K and 2D. - Barring protection from summons, you can easily react to spaced-out vertical dolphins and hit 2H early or late-ish with little fear of losing. Collect your counter-hit combo on hit. - Easiest punish starter on blocked Ultimate Whiner is c.S. You're pretty much always in range for it, just delay it very slightly so you don't miss the punish window by inputting c.S too fast. - Minor word of warning: If you are FDing the Whirlwind super and attempt to interrupt with Ultimate Whiner just as the other May calls the orca, the orca will hit May out of Ultimate Whiner after the invulnerability expires(!). A very minor thing but it's something to keep in mind. This won't happen to Dead Angle, obviously, because Dead Angle is invulnerable for days. - If May calls Yamada while you're at neutral, you have enough time to call your own whale if you want to force a trade (assuming no YRC). Most meter wins here. Keep this in mind if you want to humiliate your opponent for calling the whale at neutral. :D

The number I have heard for this matchup from ppl more experienced at GG than me is 6-4 Ky, and based on my experience with both smart and stupid Kys, i agree with that. Definitely no worse than that for May. Absolute best rose-tinted-glasses case, it's 5-5. No better than that for May; not in this version, anyway. It's definitely not unwinnable (or else I would have quit May in disgust...nah not really, May is way too fun), but barring a MASSIVE gap in player skill, I think May has to be a lot less sloppy than Ky to win this matchup. May guesses wrong at neutral and she takes a big swat to the face, gets knocked back out to Ky's zoning range, and if he gets knockdown, she has to block the Ky laser light show honestly and waste a bunch of time and/or tension doing so. And her guesses at neutral can be pretty painful depending on what she misses. (Did you just get zapped by a full-screen Stun Edge, or did you try to 6P a jump back jH you had NO hope of beating and got clocked into a Stun Dipper combo into the CSE grinder? God forbid you IADed at Ky, that's utterly suicidal!). Ky gets sloppy and May can put some pain on him, and he gets cornered, Ky might have to sit through a couple dolphin calls before he finds a gap. But between Ky's MUCH better normal range, his ability to punish bad/reckless summons, and his ability to turn so many max-range pokes into knockdown into pressure for MORE damage (or at least force May to burn tension to get him off her back) gives him MUCH higher comeback potential IMO. Higher overall clutch power -- ESPECIALLY where nerves are concerned. May has to play footsie like whoa to avoid getting f.S'ed or Stun Edge YRCed into damage and/or a terrible situation for her. If the situation is perfectly equal, Ky has the advantage by default. The only way May changes that is with some fairly slick reads into good confirms to get enough of a life lead to force Ky to live a little (and die in the process). Much easier for a Ky player to keep calm so long as they understand the different options -- and their associated risks -- that May has to try and outsmart them (or out-dumb them, depending on the May player). Always remember that one good reversal into good oki may not immediately steal the life lead back, but the initiative is basically ALL yours until/unless May leaves blockstun. Ky also has a MUCH better risk-return on stupid YOLO shit than May does. You try to disrespect Ky with run up Overhead Kiss or random Blanka balls/upballs and you are dancing with death via 2P abare or brutal, basic punishes (hello 6P/c.S!) into a bad situation. Ky mixes it up with (sparingly used) YOLO Greed Sever/Stun Dipper and the resultant confirm or pressure afterward can put him seriously ahead, particularly if he has Burst available in case his gamble fails. May's stubby limbs mean that she has a hard time punishing stuff like that unless you do them way too much or way too stupidly spaced. When May throws a normal, she almost always has to CHOOSE between speed or range. Ky does a lot better at combining both when he pokes, especially with meter to do Stun Edge YRC.

Decided to update the wiki to fill in the general-strategy section with basic info. Trying to keep it concise but I'm not super good at that. If I get anything really, egregiously wrong, feel free to correct & edit.

The main way I've found to beat Kys as May in Xrd is basically to never jump at him, ever. Don't even attempt to go air-to-air/air-to-ground with him and just fight pure "Street Fighter". This is obviously not a miraculous solution for May, as it means putting up with Ky's ground game, but it VASTLY narrows the avenues through which May can take damage in this matchup. Ky can still back up with impunity vs May, covering his retreat with jH, jD, ground pokes and Stun Edge. But keeping the game on the ground also helps May keep her focus on backing Ky towards the corner, tempting him to try increasingly intrepid tactics to try and keep May out, until May finally chokes off enough space that counter hitting Ky with 6P, 5H and the like become realistic and safe® possibilities. (Or at the very least, you can more safely pepper him with 5K and 5S pokes to Applause dolphins with less risk of whiffing and getting Ky 5S'ed/2S'ed/Stun Edged for your trouble.) Yes, if you don't jump at Ky, you have to dash brake like mad and watch him backpedal for like 30+ sec before he corners himself, and you have to vertical jump Stun Edge after Stun Edge. Very Street Fighter indeed. But you also deny him the opportunity to get MASSIVE (for this MU) incidental damage from 6P/2H anti-air or a counter-hit air-to-air jK/jS/jH into air combo. This is important because the key to BOTH characters winning or losing this matchup is who has the life lead. If May gets the life lead vs Ky, this is huge. Ky HAS to go in on her now in order to regain the life lead and the initiative. This raises May's chances of anti-airing him or counter-hitting him where otherwise Ky wouldn't have to take that risk at all; he could just sit back and let May kill herself trying to start her offense. But it's still not a super-gigantic gain for May because obviously Ky has great pressure and lots of reach, and one stray hit or throw into knockdown can mean Ky stealing back the life lead and more. But if you change the tone of the matchup by taking the life lead and turtling, you may be able to win the player matchup simply by having better defensive fundamentals when Ky gets too reckless at neutral. This is probably the best form this matchup can assume for May in Xrd. Reduce the matchup to "who has the best ground/turtle game?" (Which, on paper, is obviously still Ky.) But it takes a lot of patience and practice for May to make it work.

Played this match some more yesterday. I used to think it was dead even but now I think it MIGHT be slight May favor. 3K vs Dandy Step at neutral is in fact really good in this matchup, so long as they don't have meter (or the knowledge) to YRC. But then again, you don't want to be 3K'ing without meter to RC to combo or for safety anyway. There's really very little to fear in this matchup right now from just playing it Honda-style. Block a lot, wait for frame disadvantage to abare to knockdown or slip out with a jump or a whiff [4]6S/dash under a jump. If you're at neutral, threaten with 5H and empty single jump, and focus on attaining a spacing where you can bait long-range approach moves like forward dash, IAD, Dandy Step, and Mappa Hunch. You will inevitably get thrown a couple times blocking so much, but there are far worse things in life than getting thrown by Slayer. Blitz Shield is HUGE in this matchup because everything Slayer does, while frequently plus or safely spaced on block, requires a commitment from his body. If you KNOW he's gonna 6H or 2K or whatever at a given point in his pressure, by all means, Blitz him. His IAD is hard to react to, but there's very little shame in not reacting to it as long as you didn't get HIT for worrying too much about reading his IAD. Just take your time, keep blocking and watch carefully to see at what points in pressure and neutral he likes to bring it out. He has good AA/air-to-air but there's no burning need to jump at him, ever. All you really need to control space vs Slayer is your ground game (5H zoning, 5K, 5S > Applause, anti-air 6P and 2H) and occasional empty single jumps at mid range, trying to invite him in. You can basically win this match Street Fighter-style. If you try and jump at him you just run the risk of throwing away a lead you shouldn't have trouble holding if you get 6P'ed/5P'ed/2S'ed into an AA combo. Safe jumps from [4]6S on his wakeup are very prudent if he has meter. This will be even more important in 1.1 when they buff the hell out of Dead On Time's stun. So if he has meter on wakeup, give him the benefit of the doubt and bait.

May player here, my brother plays Ky decently and I dabble in him too. In Xrd this matchup is almost certainly Ky's favor IMO. Not unwinnable, but still pretty bad for May (I agree with the 6-4 Ky number people throw around). Most of you probably figured that out by now, though. The tl;dr to this matchup is just watch Rozu here and do what he does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTbeAV94MW0 In this game, Ky has a great reach advantage over May's ground game at pretty much every range. There's also no longer a gigantic gap between his damage/stun output and hers; May needs to land a LOT more hits now to kill/stun people so the damage output is very even between the two characters. Her newfound ability to put beach balls on the screen and play a semi-zoning style with them doesn't work all that well against Ky because between regular Stun Edge and Grinder Stun Edge, Ky has a very easy time punishing the startup of summons on reaction. If May doesn't have meter to YRC, summoning at neutral vs Ky is pretty damn dangerous. Ky also doesn't have to put himself out there a lot to kill beach balls; you can kinda kill them incidentally using Stun Edge YRC and then be free to anti-air or otherwise react to whatever May was doing behind the beach ball. This matchup is basically just about keeping her out, which is easier than ever against Xrd May. Blanka ball dolphins are safer on block in this game, but Ky's still one of the few characters who can consistently punish them without using a super. Basic punish on an IB'ed Blanka ball is Stun Dipper. I think it's the only move Ky will have that will actually REACH May when she bounces back from Blanka Ball. You can basically jump back jH to zone May for free in this matchup. Anti-airing it with her 6P takes some eagle-eyed timing, and obviously you can vary the timing if you think May's catching on. But if you're jumping back vs May, you basically hold all the cards; May has shit for normals that have the range to reach jH's hurtbox without getting her hurtbox tagged herself, both ground and air. jD is a good space-waster against her too, especially if you have meter to Stun Edge YRC and just completely lock her out for a second or two. She can punish max-range blocked Greed Sever with 3K, but it's not gonna hurt unless she has meter to RC. The knockdown sucks and so does the oki afterwards since the slide recovery is so long. Max range Stun Dipper (2nd hit) can be punished the same way. If you're getting swept out of Stun Edges by her 3K, definitely consider baiting it because the rewards are immense. The move's -27(!) on block and she's in CH state all through recovery for God knows what reason. So if you bait a slide, blow her up. Stun Edge YRC is basically God in this matchup. If you think May's gonna hit a button or try and go over your ground poke in the air, just put a Stun Edge YRC out there and react however with leisure, whether to anti-air or confirm a combo. Stun Edge YRC restricts the HELL out of May's options at neutral. You don't need a lot of meter to wreak havoc on May so just go nuts on Stun Edge YRC, there's basically no way you'll get called out for it. If you diversify your blockstrings and oki appropriately, you have very little to fear from Blitz Shield. May will want to use it, but the consequences for guessing wrong on a Blitz attempt are way worse for her than for Ky. If she gets one off and has meter, it'll probably hurt if you don't guess your way out, but there's no reason to be scared. Just be patient on wakeup and mind her setplay, you are basically one counterpoke > Stun Dipper > oki away from running it back even if May tears your face off with an Ensenga combo. She has an easy safe jump from S Blanka ball on Vapor Thrust (Blanka ball, dash jump jS), so if you've never seen this matchup before, be wary of this. Don't feed May bad Vapor Thrusts, because May will be looking for them (if the May player's not a dumbass). Her best reversal super is the spinny arms one, it's -13 on block but the spacing can be kinda weird to punish sometimes, so grind it out. The spinning anchor super is not invulnerable but can be made safe on block by throwing the orca. You can FD to push her back farther and make her whiff, but it's not that hard to realize when the pushback is getting too intense and just pinch it off with the orca to stay safe. The whale is still 9+0 but you're probably not gonna get hit by it unless you're being REALLY predictable on offense. I admit I haven't really TRIED the whale much in this matchup, but IMO I'd rather save that 50% for RC, Dead Angle, Blitz or a couple summon YRC's rather than roll the dice on a whale for meh returns. (Unless Ky is already caught in a corner Dust combo...on defense the whale's not nearly as scary as it used to be. You have pretty much nothing to really respect on May's wakeup unless they can Blitz Shield well.) I hate playing this matchup as May. I play it anyway because I believe in the heart of the cards 6P, but I think it's one of her worst simply because there's bajillions of Ky players out there. And I probably just helped a couple of them get better at this matchup. Sometimes my decisions are highly questionable.

Punishing IB'ed K Mappa with OHK is surprisingly obnoxious. The punish is certainly fast enough, but I lose so much time buffering the motion cleanly that half the time the Slayer dummy is able to jump away. Trying to do it faster, but it's hard without getting 6K. Other than that I don't mind this matchup too much, to me it's mostly a matter of not hitting a lot of buttons (which I'm good at) unless you know for sure what the Slayer will do next.

good, I'll work on those. I understand in the abstract that stuff besides meaty 6K works, I'm just afraid to try em right now because 6K is the only thing I know for sure won't get wakeup thrown. I'll find some lab time and test the spacing, I guess (although if I do meaty 2K without moving after 3K max-range hit I GUESS I'm out of most chars' throw range).

What are my oki options from 3K meterless/with YRC besides meaty 6K? If I hit a 3K I usually panic and just autopilot meaty 6K because I'm not sure what else I have time to do that's either throw-proof, reversal-proof, or both.

- Learn hoop oki. It's powerful, fun, and pretty easy. You only need to remember a handful of basic decision trees, and the rest you can kinda freeform. In almost all combo situations May's best option is to end in knockdown and put up hoop oki (or sweep to beach ball midscreen, where beach ball is more powerful). - 6P is your friend vs long-reaching mid normals a la Faust/Ky 5S. It's a weird, slow anti-air, but a very good counterpoke. Use it to get max-range knockdowns from which to put summons on screen and advance. - Learn safe jumps from [4]6S ender. Very easy and rewarding vs DP characters, especially Ky. - There are some matchups, believe it or not, where your first goal is not to get in, but to back off and create space to summon before you go in (Faust, Axl, probably Ky too but it's very hard to create safe space vs Ky). May isn't a hardcore zoning character, but there are certain matchups where her normals are so hilariously outgunned at neutral (usually in the range department) that you really need a beach ball and/or a hoop dolphin on screen to protect your offense/zoning. In those matchups, be stingy with your meter -- always try to have 25% handy to YRC your summons for safety. - First matchup you should grind out with her is Ky. This is true for pretty much every character, but especially for May, because Ky is not a good matchup for her and there are bazillions of Kys out there, especially online. Finding a good Ky to train with is preferable, but learning how to beat bad Kys will teach you some stuff too. (Blocking a zillion abare Greed Severs is a skill for LIFE!) - Try not to go in the air too much. May's air normals are kinda meh. She has an okay air-to-ground game with IAD and double jump (esp double jump, very useful against Zato shadow S), but air-to-air, she's not very good. If your opponent likes the air, try to stick close to the ground and either gain a favorable spacing or try and anti-air his ass with 6P or 2H. Air throw is your best option if they're right on top of you, but it's kinda hard to get May's air throw because her jump puts her at a weird height kinda fast compared to many characters' jump-and-dunk tactics. - [4]6S is only -5 (-4?) on block and is spaced to be unpunishable by normals (unless you did it with your back to the wall or something), but some characters can punish it if you get too predictable (including Ky, if he IBs it and Stun Dippers you...fuckin' 5-frame slide). Mostly you don't want to go too ham on it as a blockstring ender because you lose so much frame advantage. Don't be afraid to stop your strings at 2D, it's only -1 on block and the spacing is frequently such that if you think they're gonna abare or run in after blocking it, another 2D will counter hit them for a knockdown. Avoid using it as a raw poke as well because it's vulnerable to both 6P's and low profile moves. - Blitz Shield is your pal. Learn how to use it, especially anti-air. May has to wake up honestly, so Blitz Shield is a good skill to learn now BEFORE they buff it for 1.1. Have fun and believe in the power of 6P.

I play this matchup probably more than any other, partially because my brother plays Ky, partially because half of Florida plays Ky. To add on to what Finches said: - When in doubt, stay on the ground. I know it sucks and you need YRC to get dolphins/beach ball on screen without getting stabbed and he gets to jump back basically for free, but that's the nature of the beast. You need to preserve your life and slowly corner him so that you can get the life lead, start turtling, and force him to take risks that you can punish. If you have the life lead, don't be a hero. Just dodge Stun Edges, maintain a good neutral spacing, and be ready to anti-air if he air dashes at you. - Even with YRC, don't try to summon stuff randomly when Ky can try and whiff punish you. Try to treat summons like a "whiff punish" -- bait Ky to throw something out with long recovery that you can't reach to punish (say an air H Stun Edge for the hell of it, or a jump back jD) and summon on reaction (without YRC, use a dolphin, they whiff slightly faster. Otherwise chuck a beach ball and YRC.) - Blitz Shield is your friend. It costs meter that could go towards a YRC, sure, but the conditioning aspect + the potential punish power can't be ignored. Plus, if you're scared of counter-Blitz, you can do an empty jump or something towards them and throw or OHK them if you think they'll down-back after a failed counter-Blitz. Just be sure that your punish combo ends in knockdown so that you can do oki afterwards. - Do NOT IAD at him at neutral. Ever. Ky's anti-air vs IAD is completely brain-free and very painful. All your opponent has to do is have 2H waiting in the lane and you will pay for your hubris. Do not IAD at neutral unless you know for a FACT that your opponent can't handle it. - I would go farther than Finches and tell you to pretty much never try to challenge Ky air-to-air by jumping AT him. His aerials outgun May's so hard it's not even funny. You jumping at him only makes it easier for him to reach your hurtbox at minimal risk of a trade. I would use aerials pretty much strictly for zoning in this matchup, using single vertical jump or jump back jH at MAX range. It doesn't do much to keep Ky out, but it keeps you from getting counter hit, and you can at least watch how Ky reacts to see if he does something stupid & punishable. - 3K is the most consistent max-range punish on Greed Sever and Stun Dipper. It just sucks because you have to use meter to get a combo and oki will be shit without YRC since 3K takes 5 years to recover. But any knockdown is precious vs Ky, so figure out some stuff with YRC. (I'll have to do that later this week, I guess.) Just keep that in mind if you have ANY doubt if you're spaced for a better punish. - He can pretty much jump back jH for free when you're on the ground. You don't really have any safe normals to challenge it except early-ish 6P, which sometimes hits but may not reach. You can dash to go deeper and be guaranteed to reach his hurtbox, but mistiming it is dangerous. - Despite the temptation, avoid using 2H as anti-air unless Ky air dashes at you. Really, a forward air dash is pretty much the only situation in which you can expect to beat Ky's air game consistently. So if you notice that the Ky player is air dashing like clockwork in a given situation/spacing, make them bleed for it. (And of course, use 2H only if you expect them to be above your head or too high up for 6P. Otherwise, use 6P instead.) - Learn to safe jump Vapor Thrust from combos ending in [4]6S. It's fun, easy, and can be very rewarding against Kys who otherwise don't give you a lot of openings. This is one of the first things you should grind out in this matchup. - You can 6P his 5S quite easily at its max range. If you know you can get Ky to 5S you on cue, get your fill. Even if you can't combo afterwards, a knockdown into dolphin or free approach is valuable enough. And of course it is scientifically verifiable that getting hit with frequent enough May 6Ps makes people stupider. Believe in the psych-warfare power of 6P.

I thought that was in reference to the new negative edge mechanic, though. It's kind of a vague statement (at least in the translation we were given) to extrapolate much more than that IMO. But I guess if they wanna do something like that it'll blow up reasonably fast & we'll know about it soon-ish.