Josh Ballard

Dood, I meant that old matchup chart that you linked in the OP. That's what I've been disputing this whole time. If you look at the overall numbers there, Eddie & Testament are tops at +13 and ABA is tied with Baiken (I think that's Baiken...) for 3rd at +6. That was one of the reasons I said we shouldn't read too much into that, because I agree that ABA in top 4 is pretty silly. Ergo, some of the individual matchups in there are probably off, and I brought up the Jam fight as an example. Sorry if there was any misunderstanding. =)

I certainly agree with that, but that chart had her at #3 or 4 in the game or something like that. I don't think that's really defensible. Oh one thing that does stand out: Her beating Jam seems MAD sketchy to me...

I wouldn't really trust the matchup chart used here and in the Matchups subforum. It's from February of last year I think and has some wacky stuff, most notably Axl/HOS/ABA/Zappa/Faust all being above Slayer, and Millia in the lower tier. ABA would probably rate lower in more current charts if you can find any, though I certainly don't know enough yet to say what would change...

I still think Slash was a more balanced and better overall game than AC. Thing with Slash was that while the bottom tier was worse than in AC, the mid tier was better. In particular, I'm thinking of Axl who is more or less mid in both games - he got waaaaaaay better tournament results in Slash as I recall. Or look at SBO finals for AC - Eddie/Testament/Slayer winning, Slayer/Jam/Potemkin in 2nd. I would love to see concrete evidence that I'm wrong, but AC just seems more heavily dominated by the top 8 characters or so. When you had Slash at SBO, there was only one Ky in the top 4 IIRC and not much top tier in the finals (just Anji I think). But even beyond that, Slash had far better move balance. Meaning, the vast majority of your stuff was worth using even at the highest level. AC has more broken moves and more terrible moves, which makes things less interesting IMO. But then, I'm one of those people who prefers nerfed characters (see also: Real Bout 2, Samsho V Special) so YMMV. -Josh

The more I think about this, the more I come to believe that Axl only has two truly "bad" matchups: Baiken & Millia. We've already talked about Baiken a bit, but she just limits you so much. A major handicap to overcome! And against Millia, I just don't see what he can do about the hairpin. She can stay out of his range and toss it, and it lets her get in for free. And of course, he doesn't have an easy way out of her mixups either. Hoping to get a chance to work on these in the near future... -Josh

Why no comment on the Eddie unblockable death video? Some of these seem to have serious high-level potential. The unblockable with drill FRC & IAD j.S is especially nice! Many have suspected that Eddie could potentially separate himself from the pack ala #reload, and this could be part of that process... -Josh

Clayton, do you have tech set to neutral? That makes them randomly not tech things sometimes. Back & forward are accurate I think.

Hmm, I can never get 63214S -> rashousen from bomber loops. The dummy always techs the slide! This happens from throw and TK Bomber - don't recall trying it from ground combos, though! OK guys, I didn't find anything useful from comboing TK FB Bomber - not surprising, but I figured it was worth a shot. Comboing 623Hx2 from sweep *is* good if you're not too far away, as the second 623H will whiff at max range. Does about 30 pts more damage than Rensen, I think? And now, my latest discovery: 5K-2D-Rensen FRC, dash forward a little bit, 6H, 5K-2S-623Hx2. This is going to be my new B&B, seriously. Knocks down most characters, not too hard, and only does 10-20 pts less than kokku aircombos. The only issue is that the timing is character-dependent; on most, you want to hit the 6H kinda late, but on Jam (and maybe a couple others) you actually need to land it early. It's always fairly lenient, though. Thanks again, everyone! =) -Josh

Hello all, AC Axl has many good uses for tension on both offense and defense. Offensively, Rensen FRC is critical to his ground combos and pressure, and makes a very nice poke as well. And FB Bomber adds a lot of damage to his anti-air combos. Defensively, he has no good reversals and his normals suck. Thus, FD becomes very important, as does DAA in certain matchups. What I am wondering is this: Should you always try to hold on to at least some meter for defense? Or should you focus more on damage? It's going to be matchup-dependent, certainly. vs. Eddie, for example, it seems to me that you should aim to keep 50% since your DAA hits him out of little Eddie's BS. But someone like Slayer leaves me less sure. He can't pressure you on the level that Eddie & Testament can...but he has good mixups and good hit-confirm combos if anything hits. I suspect that you should keep a little meter for FDing, but don't need to go too far with it. Any thoughts, people? Thanks, Josh.

With Axl, I would also like to add some minuses: - No truly reliable reversal. His backdash is arguably the worst in the game, 623S loses to lows, and 623H is so slow that most characters' 2K will recover before it hits. - Because of this, he probably has a harder time dealing with tick throws than any other character. Backdash works fine to punish command grabs, but against normal throws you're going to eat a 4H/6H. And his fastest normals are 6 frames, so you'll often get thrown out of them. FD jump is about all he has there, really. - Because of all of the above, he really needs tension to survive on defense. Unfortunately, he also really needs tension for a lot of things on offense: Good damage from ground combos, continuous pressure on block, and landing bomber loops from outside the corner. He's definitely not as bad as, say, Johnny in this regard, but it still presents him with some very tough decisions in certain matchups. And here's a few more pluses: + His high/low becomes awesome in the corner. Late airdash j.P-j.K and deep j.HS are overheads, and even if they're blocked you get another mixup: Land and go low/throw, or cancel to Axl Bomber (air 623H). And don't forget, the Bomber also gives you frame advantage if they don't instant block, so you may still be able to pressure even if they survive that whole sequence! All this, AND you get huge damage + knockdown from one successful guess. + One of the easier characters in terms of execution. [4]6S FRC is about the only difficult thing he has, and even that's not as hard as Slayer or Millia's combos. In theory fighter this shouldn't be a factor, but it helps when dealing with tournament pressure. If this is too long-winded, I apologize! Thanks, Josh.

Thanks for the discussion, guys. Basically, I think it may not be confirmable, or it may be like Ken's low forward -> super. I don't think 5P works after 3P. But 5K-5P-etc. does, as Shoto wrote in the OP. So that would likely still be the more match-practical combo. Now, on to something else... On standing opponents, you can combo 5K-5S-instant FB Bomber. This would probably get you more damage than rensen FRC for the same amount of meter, but I have to test just what you can do from it and how useful it would actually be. And finally, 623H combos from 5K-2D on everyone IIRC, and does a little more damage than Rensen. Gives you better wakeup options too, as I recall. So you could charge back during the string, and confirm 623H on hit or Rensen on block. Could be helpful when you have no meter... -Josh

Guys, I am not making up this Axl Bomber thing, go into training and check it out. I've tried it in the corner, midscreen, it doesn't matter. And thanks again! =) Can't believe I forgot about 6H. I knew you can combo from a normal hit on Zappa, didn't think to try that on Faust. =P And I had no idea the sweep could do that! *That* is an awesome little tidbit... -Josh

Yes, I can assure you, the beat remains orange throughout these combos. Though, again, have only tested on about half the characters. There are probably longer knockdown combos on other characters besides Pot, too. The Sols, Anji, Axl, and a few others come to mind... Like I said before, I think you *can* confirm this if you're good enough. It seems like a tougher 3rd Strike sort of thing. -Josh

Thanks, guys. =) Faust...he crouches under j.K *and* Axl Bomber. So the only thing I can think of for mixup is a late airdash j.H. He can poke your unblockable on reaction, so I wouldn't try that too much either - after a 2P, I would stick with Rensen/delayed Rensen/5K strings. Also, Shoto said he can punish the Rensen finishers right? Oh yeah, and be VERY careful when using Rensen by itself. It's good, but if he's out of range he gets a free scalpel pull on reaction. Zinac did this to me multiple times in a tournament. =P I honestly am not too sure how to win this one... -Josh

Here's something neat with CH 3P: 3P-6H, 5K-2S-superjump combos. The 5K link isn't that hard, though I haven't tested on everyone. It won't work at max range, and not right next to some characters either. You can also opt for 623H-623H to knock down, but the damage loss is significant enough that I usually prefer SJing. Also, there's a cool variation on Potemkin that knocks down and doesn't do much less than SJing: 3P-6H, 5K-2S-delayed 6K-2S-623H-623H. Are these hit-confirmable? I think so, but it would be difficult. You'd have to react to the CH right away, as you can't afford to delay the gatling much if at all. -Josh

Also, I don't recall seeing anywhere that Faust crouches under Axl Bomber. I think it's only him, too. =/ -Josh

Figured this would be the best thread to mention this... The game doesn't let you perform Rashousen while the opponent is getting up, for obvious reasons. However, you CAN use it during sliding state. So, in the corner, you can perform a small combo such as 5K-5S-5H -> rensen FRC, then immediate 63214S. Wait until near the end of the slide, then use Rashousen and it will hit as a meaty. This is of very limited use, however, since you're better off just going with bomber loops after an FRC, and the combo HAS to be short or else they can tech the slide. It would be freaking unfair against ABA, except she takes too long to get up and it misses. -Josh

Far S is fine as is. It beats quite a few things, and on CH you get some good stuff. All I want is a better backdash, really.

Dunno if this has been posted yet, but I saw an awesome-looking ender to the usual corner bomber loop: Rensen FRC, 63214S, MEATY UNBLOCKABLE. That can only be escaped with a reversal, right? I imagine this usually wouldn't be worth sacrificing your corner mixups for, but I think he did this to win the round. It'll earn you coolness points with anyone who's never seen it, too. =D

Heh i always thought BitTornado was the standard basically...thanks a lot though! =)

I can't figure out how to download the SBO qualifiers I just posted - BitTornado keeps saying it's a bad filename or something. Thanks, Josh.

SBO Qualifiers from Playland (torrent): http://b-board.rdy.jp/torrent/details.php?info_hash=33c83187a69d947e0da26be87f6ff65c9856c475

Actually for top 4, I recall hearing it's Eddie & Testament in S tier, then Baiken & Jam at the top of A. HOS would be just a little bit behind. Seriously, people, you have to remember that it's kaqn. When he's not playing, does HOS really look like the best? On the other hand, a bunch of different people win with the above characters (well, maybe not Baiken). I didn't even know they gave Testa inv frames on 6P, that is pretty effin ridiculous.

I haven't seen people get out of his stuff with the new shadow K and it looked safe from FD to me...but maybe there's some tech I'm missing. America's gonna have a bunch of Eddie whores, especially now that he's easier than #r, so we need to figure out how to deal with all this. Also, the recent Popeye 3on3 videos feature a decent amount of Dizzy winning. vs. Eddie & Testa even! Maybe H.H. will find a way to make her not suck...

little Eddie = free genei-jin. You eat a command grab at the end, and you're seriously proud of yourself for not getting hurt even more...just like Yun. *sigh*