Josh Ballard

Name: Josh Ballard Location: Oberlin College, most likely Columbus during summer/winter now Contact info: My AIM's right here (don't ask about the handle, dumb story =P), PMs, the usual Main: ABA Other Games: SF4 (Seth), BB (v-13), ST/HD Remix (Balrog main, many alts), all sorts of random poverty, looking into Marvel (Anakaris/Ironman/x), would be down with GG Generations if available.

not always top 3, even sometimes all the top players can be stacked on one side of the bracket now for a constructive suggestion: evo doesn't seed players in its tournaments unless they have some sort of objective accomplishment. for SF4 they gave seeds to the 16 gamestop finalists, the officially recognized national champions (e.g. iyo & poongko), the top 2 at MWC, and the winner of the hawaii regional. HD remix gave seeds to MWC top 2 also. there are some obvious inconsistencies here - why hawaii and MWC but not east coast throwdown or devastation, why not more seeds for HDR? - but i think this type of system can be superior to random seeding if planned out better. as such, my idea would be to designate a particular major as the beginning of the "season" (i would go with final round), and take additional seeds from each major thereafter. since double elimination is only completely accurate for top 2, i would only take 1 or 2 seeds from each selected tournament. SBO qualifiers would of course be included among the majors, and there would be no "alternates" for seeds (read: you must place 1st/2nd, if the guys in the finals are already seeded then no new seeds would be given). the main issue i see with this is that most of the tournaments we call "majors" are based in the midwest or east coast. west coast has evo and devastation, texas has SBO qualifiers (hmm...what to do about showdown championships?), and i can't think of much else atm. west coast seems much hungrier for BB than they were during AC, so hopefully this will lead to other worthy tournaments for them! SF4 had an issue at MWC where justin & floe didn't enter since they were already seeded and they wanted marn to get one...but i don't think that would be a problem here because seeding would be nowhere as significant. at evo, a seed meant that you got a bye straight into the semi-finals - an especially huge benefit in SF4 since pools were insane across the board. in our case, they would just give you a slightly better spot in the bracket and maybe a first round bye - not enough incentive for politics, i would think.

I would have thought my character would have to be at least B tier in Slash...are the force breaks really that huge a deal? I couldn't see them making up for still doing AC damage in Slash. *shrug*

hey kyle here's another cool french-style house track with a title that fits your character http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtHoHpN35DE&feature=PlayList&p=8D386C65BBE4B0FC&index=0&playnext=1

destin steal this avatar you know you want to

So I made a trip to NYC the week before Evo to level up in SF4, and it turns out they have a new website/Youtube channel called frame-advantage.com which records matches for various games each week. The best part is that they include the commentary & banter from the players while maintaining high video quality. As such, we now have a couple videos of my console noob Hakumen on the interweb. Watch for the rare sight of me talking shit, Arturo randomly saying everyone's free, and the site admin calling me out for retardedly rushing down Arakune while cursed! Note that since FA's content thus far has been all Capcom-oriented, I try to break down game basics & matchup stuff for any of the new people who might be watching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1BQKTMzKY - vs. DS Arakune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMHjCoiDo7s - vs. NerdJosh Carl

Thanks, I always forget about 5A anti-air! It's possible to go straight to j.B from that, which is good for throw combos on certain chars but yeah not so practical from a reaction anti-air. Also, 5C/2C doesn't work from instant overhead. =/ The opponent has to be launched high in the air (as in the 100% combo) for that. The mook gives a combo with 214B as the followup, which is great in the corner, but I find 2B xx whatever better at midscreen. 2B link has to be fast but I don't find it very hard.

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet... You can sometimes relaunch the opponent after j.214C. From what I can tell it has to be either from a superjump + double-jump combo or a triple-jump (i.e. double-jump into j.214B -> j.C xx j.214C). The latter is usually a waste of stars but the former is good to learn - 0 uses it from time to time, as that's actually where I learned about the relaunch in the first place. The relaunch is done with a falling j.C into 2C. j.B also hits the opponent but I'm not sure if you'll have enough time to land the 2C from that. EDIT: OK, at least one of the mook combos makes use of this, but I figured it was worth explicitly mentioning in the thread.

<--- hi

don't ever enter tournaments then

Get better, Mike!

I know you can do all sorts of stuff if you block it up close, but smart ABA players won't use it there; hell, May can punish a close Danzai with 5S-2D-FB Dolphin stuff, but you never see that in real matches. I was thinking tensionless punish from a distance, and 214P is the best I can find - 623P gets the wallbounce, but you can't combo from it unless she's close to the corner. But that's just splitting hairs. The REAL best tensionless punish is slashback, anyway. =P

As an Axl player who switched to ABA, I mostly agree with Digital Watches but wanted to add one tidbit: 214P allows you punish Danzai with a knockdown combo, so it's not 100% useless. =P

It actually is a mixup. Though difficult, you can hit-confirm the first j.S and just land instead of jump canceling. The "hitstop" on impact helps with this.

Oiboi: The reason to use j.S-dj.S instead of j.S-j.H is because the latter won't work if you do a deep jump-in (which is a must to be safe from reversals).

so yeah, eddie i'm thinking i might have to just learn the guy myself ala sean, not to actually play him but just to figure out wtf is going on

Oh hi there, didn't know you were interested in ABA. =) Well, it's one of those things that was probably a bug but left in so many games because it's cool. Like the entire idea of canceling a normal into a special, you could say. And I always just land and combo with 5S into 2H etc. You can let the 2H launch or go into rekkas or FB Danzai, whatever best fits the situation. Since you will catch the opponent in crouching hitstun, you should always be able to land the 5S without a problem.

ABA's fuzzy guard setup leads to a ton of damage, but it was always something of a mystery to me. Sometimes, at midscreen, I would land it and get a full combo, while other times it would whiff altogether. And I found it extremely difficult in the corner. Well, I have finally figured out the secret! First, for the sake of any new people who just might happen to read this, here is the basic how & why: What is ABA's fuzzy guard setup, and why does it work? To execute the fuzzy guard, perform a deep j.S, then immediately jump cancel into another j.S. After a SLIGHT DELAY, chain to j.H then land and combo. When done the right way, this will hit every character in the game (yes, even the Baiken/Faust/Zappa types). This works because of a bug prevalent in many fighting games: After blocking high, you maintain your standing hitbox even when crouch blocking, so you can be hit with certain overheads (read: jump attacks) which would normally whiff. Note that you cannot jump cancel if you hit the j.S too low to the ground. This sounds simple enough, but as I mentioned in the beginning, it often seems not to work even when it should. With that in mind, here are the proper ways to perform it: At Midscreen: Yes, ABA can use her fuzzy guard at midscreen and convert it to a juicy combo on anyone. There are two ways to do this. When close to the opponent, jump forward and j.S, then jump forward again for the second j.S. Simple as that. From farther away, the ideal method is slightly less obvious: Dash jump toward the opponent for the first j.S, then NEUTRAL JUMP for the second j.S. The fuzzy guard is easiest when you can tag them with the lowest part of j.S's hitbox (the "sweet spot", so to speak), and a dash jump followed by a forward jump will cause that part to miss, making it many times harder. In the Corner: Forward jump with j.S, then forward jump again. My mistake here was always dash jumping - DO NOT DASH JUMP IN THE CORNER. It makes the setup needlessly difficult, and literally impossible on Baiken. With two standard forward jumps, it becomes easy to use on everybody. Why fuzzy guard? It's the basis for one of ABA's strongest mixup games: Fuzzy guard, or j.S into 2K, or j.S into throw. When timed properly on the opponent's wakeup, it is safe from almost all reversals, so it is especially valuable against characters like Sol and Potemkin. If you make the opponent afraid of her ground pokes, you may even be able to sneak a fuzzy guard in the neutral game every once in awhile. What to watch out for: Jam's parry and Anji's autoguards have instant startup, but there are ways to punish these. Against Jam, just land and throw (or perhaps even use Orbs as you're about to land), and vs. Anji jump forward then double-jump straight up to bait autoguard normals. It may also be impossible, or at least extremely difficult, to safe jump into fuzzy guard on Robo-Ky; his level 2/3 DP is only 3 frames, and remember that you cannot land j.S too low to the ground. If that's the case, you can jump in and FD, then hit him with a big combo to make him wary of trying reversals. That concludes this guide. Practice this stuff in training mode (record the dummy to block high for a bit, then low) and have fun with it! =)

Alright, people, I'm stick and tired of getting away with this move, and a lot of characters can really hurt her in ways I never see you do. With that in mind, here's how it's done! General Rules: - The most practical way to punish Danzai is to use a fast (up to 8-9 frames) or invincible move in between the two hits. If you block both hits, she seems unsafe from the frame data, but she pushes you back too far to punish with normals. - The gap in between the two hits appears to be the same for both versions of Danzai. - For most characters, the absolute best way to punish Danzai is to slashback the 2nd hit, allowing you to follow up with any dash-in combo. It's quite a bit harder than the above method (though still doable with practice), and I would only say it's a must with a few characters. - If the Danzai is performed from close to its max range, most fast normals won't reach her, and DPs tend to clash or outright whiff. - ABA is in counter-hit state during Danzai, so punishing her in between the two hits allows for some things you couldn't normally do. And now, here is a list of the most useful punishes with each character! Since slashback is a generic solution, I'm only listing moves that hit her during the gap. Sol: Grand Viper! Yes, this is always guaranteed, no matter how far she is. He can also Volcanic Viper, Tyrant Rave, or Fafnir (very range-specific), but Grand Viper is one of the best Danzai punishes, period. Ky: Ride the Lightning always works, DP works at close range. His sweep can punish at close range (worth doing when you can combo into Sacred Edge), and at long range it will trade. The latter is both a good and bad thing, since it's a knockdown but she gets to pressure you on wakeup. Millia: Roll through the 2nd hit and combo her ass. There's also the angel super, but that seems kinda pointless to me. May: The most reliable one is the slide. If she used the Danzai right next to you, however, you can do something a million times scarier: c.S-2D-FB Dolphin, etc. Also worth remembering is the whale super, which is the only thing that works from max range. She is one of the characters who benefits a lot from slashback here, as it gives her free command grabs. Axl: You'll mainly be using the counters. If you have meter then you want 623P into the force break, but with no meter 214P works just fine and leads to a knockdown combo. This is also one of the few situations where the flame super is actually very good: Over 1/3 life plus knockdown. Potemkin: Pot Buster, baby. If she's at max range, then you'll have to settle for Hammerfall or the mirror super...how sad, I know. Actually, you might be able to Hammerfall Break into Pot Buster anyway (not 100% sure of this, though). Faust: One of the few punishes I actually see Americans doing consistently: Dust! Scalpel super is pretty good as well, since it's a knockdown. Eddie: Not a whole lot, honestly. At very close range you can 2P-2D, and there's the super that doesn't even knock down. He's one of the characters who gains a ton from slashback here. Chipp: DP is the safe bet. Up close, a lot of his normals work, leading to various combos. And there's that super that does like 500 hits. Baiken: Counters, obviously! I like the kick one myself, since you get sweep -> tatami etc. And, of course, the slashing super works if you need easy damage. Testament: 2H-2D-Badlands (does OTG exe beast hit?). The counter and both supers also work. Anji: Autoguards & HS Fuujin. Venom: He probably needs slashback the most of anyone. Without it, pretty much all he has is sweep, and even that merely trades from a distance. Jam: Parry the 2nd hit and go to town. There's also the supers, not sure how useful they are though. And I wonder if you could FB puffball or even do the crossup one... Johnny: The most reliable ones are 2H and the super. Up close, you can 2P-2D, or c.S-5H-level 2/3 Mist Finer stuff. Dizzy: 5K-5H-Icespike from close range, or just 5K-Icespike from farther away. The unblockable super is also effective. Bridget: The most consistent punishes are sweep and the twirling yoyo super. If you have the yoyo close to ABA, the flaming bear super becomes the best option. Starship can be used if you really need that last bit of tensionless damage. Another character who is helped out by slashback. I-no: Up close, you can combo 2S-5H-Chemical Love. There's also the ground super. Zappa: In normal mode, you obviously want to summon. The sword has the DP, which I think might knock down since it's a CH. The dog can attack during blockstun, of course. The ghosts are kinda screwed, as all you have are little chains that only work at close range. And Raoh's got the uber-DP. Oh yeah, there's also that super that gets rid of summons. I think that about covers it. =) Slayer: Bar none, the best character at punishing Danzai. With no tension, you can forward dash through the 2nd hit and combo with 5H-command grab, 2K-2D. At 25% tension, you get free Big Bang Uppers. And best of all, at 50% tension...COUNTER-HIT DEAD ON TIME. One of several reasons ABA is forced to play a more patient game in this matchup. Robo-Ky: 5H, mainly. DP super is sometimes good up close. The punching super also hits her, but you have to time it early; the move doesn't have invincibility, it's just really fast. Order Sol: You can actually Gunblaze her up close, but from farther away it gets stuffed. Fafnir always works, as do the supers. Also, when close, you can sweep if you really need that last knockdown. A.B.A.: The answer should already have occurred to you: Danzai her back! =P That's about it for my guide. If I missed any other useful moves, please let me know and I'll edit this post!

Speaking of jump installs, a good throw combo to learn for many characters is as follows: Throw, dash forward a bit, 5S (press 8 for jump install)-2S, superjump cancel, j.S-j.P-j.S, JC, j.S-j.H-Keygrab. This also works from counter-hit 2S. I don't think you can get it from anything else, though, as j.P-j.S becomes techable after only a few hits.

I was talking about when the IK hits =P You can see it in the vid, at the end of the IK she suddenly loses something like 25-30% life. So it causes self-damage just like everything else in Moroha, which is what I thought was kinda funny.

hahahahaha i never noticed that aba's IK drains her life just like everything else in moroha, p. nice touch

Even when she's in Moroha, you can still outpoke her on the ground with far S and 2S. That often tempts ABAs to IAD to get in, so watch for those and land your juicy 6P combo (always end with the FB if you have it, since that's a knockdown). 6P also beats her 5H clean. Learn to slashback the 2nd hit of Danzai and the 2nd hit of rekkas; the former is especially useful since it's by far his most damaging way to punish it on block. If you can't slashback, then try one of Venom's pokes after blocking the 2nd hit (maybe 2S -> Stinger FRC -> etc?). Of course, if you REALLY expect a Danzai, you should back out of range and punish the whiff with 6H or something (not sure what Venom would do there). When on defense, be patient. Don't try to mash out moves or jump, or else ABA's delay game will murder you. Backdashing, on the other hand, is one of your best options, particularly after blocking rekkas or 2H. Remember to jump backward if you see her start that overhead-looking kick - it's unblockable on the ground, but in the air you don't even need to FD! Fun fact: Venom has the 2nd fastest instant kill in the game (counting activation + the move itself). Your goal should be to convert any hit into a knockdown whenever possible, as your oki and IK ability are perfect for this matchup. Throw in ball setups, FB overheads, whatever you can! Does Venom's Dead Angle knock down? If so, you may want to consider holding onto tension just for that, especially since you don't have a reversal. If not, then eh. A general game rule which is especially important in this fight: Gold bursts always knock down, blue bursts never should. ABA is really good at baiting bursts with moves like 2H, Danzai, and 2D, so I think it's worth it to take some shots with the gold ones. On a related topic, smart ABA players will often burst after being knocked down. There are two major advantages to this: It keeps her from losing the 1/3 Moroha meter, and if punished she is considered OTG, and thus will take tiny damage and be able to tech. Unfortunately, I don't think Venom has a real solution to this since his airthrow doesn't knock down. He may have some sort of burst-safe wakeup game here, but if not then don't get fancy and try to bait it. She may not end up doing it at all, in which case you'll be wasting an opportunity to begin your oki. That's about all I've got as an ABA player. I hate this fight right now. =P Basically you want to zone and poke, frustrate her into doing stupid things to get in, then punish her appropriately when she does so. And if you can get a knockdown off any of those mistakes, it's probably your round.

I think a major would be...70+ attendance, maybe? Really, with anything of that size a bunch of top players are going to come. Keep people in the same region from playing each other until 3rd round of winners, minimum. In the losers bracket, only float if there's going to be double jeopardy (same 2 people playing in both winners & losers). Once you get to top 8 I don't think you can avoid it any longer, though. Keep the bracket in public view at all times. Require tournament directors to explain the reason for any changes (floating etc.). And something else I just thought of recently: Do not give major gamblers any authority over tournaments. We only need look to sports for the reasons why: - In major league baseball, a group of players (since dubbed the "Black Sox") on the White Sox were paid off by gamblers to lose the 1919 World Series, and eventually banned for life once found guilty. That was far from an isolated incident - other games were fixed during that decade, and other players were banned once discovered. - The one that relates most to our situation...within the last few years, an NBA referee named Tim Donaghy was found to have attempted to fix games by favoring certain teams re: calling fouls; it turned out that he was a compulsive gambler who owed money to the mob, and this was his way of paying it off. - Pro boxing is one of the sports most clearly associated with high-stakes gamblers, and it has acquired a reputation for being not much less rigged than pro wrestling. Established competitive games are Nazi-like when it comes to gambling, because they have to be - it is a unique threat to their integrity. I'm not suggesting that we go out there and ban anybody who ever places a sidebet, but we should definitely consider this when selecting tournament directors. We have not yet had that Black Sox/Tim Donaghy moment, but we will if we do not heed this warning. Many thanks, Josh.

lol I always tried to 6P dolphins. Works on the horizontal ones but I would always get hit by the vertical ones. Thanks Kyle!