ikeTATARI

I didn't mean to sound accusatory or impatient with my previous post, it just felt like the current threads (until some edits =D) were really unfriendly to people just picking up Carl. Case in point: I saw someone mention a "summon combo", spent almost an hour browsing the threads trying to find the full notation for one, and couldn't, so I gave up. Even just a few simple combos that you can use as starting points until you're more comfortable with how Carl's moves link would be nice. And I am completely willing to contribute, but since my execution isn't really up to snuff all I'd be able to help with would be compiling things that are already posted - and since I can't test them, unless damage/etc was posted with them I wouldn't even be able to help with that.

Some people before have posted about it and I've had varying degrees of success against Litchi's with the strategy, but treat her like Hakumen - play really defensively and get punishes. I've noticed that a lot of players underestimate the range of Carl's normals, so they like to do things like end a blockstring, reset to neutral, and throw out another poke, even if the normal they ended with is unsafe on block. If you get an IB these normals that are -frames on block, you can punish into summon combos/loops if Ada is already close by. You just have to play patiently, because if she hits you she gets stupid damage for free.

Is there any way that the combo threads could be formatted differently? I am looking for combos to try out to try and find what works best for me but it is literally reading through walls and walls of unformatted, unbolded, unseparated text. It's REALLY hard to find anything, and I assume it would be hard for other people who want to pick up Carl as well. I mean, the first post of the Carl Combos thread is basically just a few solo Carl combos and then a dissertation about the 2D loop, which, while useful, doesn't really consolidate combos, and the thought of having to read through pages upon pages of threads to find combos is really daunting. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this, but I didn't want to make a new thread for it and it seemed relevant (since this thread itself is over 100 pages long, and some of it is CS speculation/loketest info.)

One thing that no-one has mentioned is that if you make Litchi block or get hit, her staff loses its hitbox and falls to the ground. The most frustrating thing I've had with this matchup is that Litchi has much more range on you than a lot of other characters, especially with staff in hand. Some things that are safe against other characters aren't as safe, and she can punish whiffed Drive moves much more painfully and easily than other characters. You need to keep control of the ground in this match, and don't let her get close enough to jB because that move has a ridiculous, ridiculous hitbox. This matchup is most definitely in Litchi's favor, though, thanks to her fantastic normals and range. Really though, it turns into running away a lot and trying to control space as best you can - being unpredictable is the best bet with this match, and some of those high risk-high reward things (fishing for 5D counterhits into 236C, etc) can be useful in this match - strangely, since Litchi's normal damage is so high, I'm not as scared of her punishes since it's generally the same as getting hit by a combo.

This super is not instant. If you are fullscreen away and she throws it out you can start blocking it before it hits you, even if you're in jump startup. The best thing to do in this situation is empty jumps - if she tries to punish a perceived j2D, you can just block it. If she tries to dash in and do anything you can 214D close to the ground - I'm pretty sure almost grounded 214D even hits her out of her sweep, but if not and you see her sweeping you can land and 3C - the delay on the sweep is REALLY long, so if you see it coming it's incredibly unsafe for Makoto. Also, if you're getting hit by Makoto wakeup super as Lambda, you're much too close. Best thing to do in this situation is to throw out a 214D(~C) and block to see what she does. If she supers, you don't get hit - if she doesn't, you're reset back to neutral. Really in this matchup, it seems that it's just playing safe for most of the match - Makoto's pressure is somewhat strong, but she can't approach very easily if you know her options and a lot of her feints aren't scary since as Lambda you shouldn't be in range for a 214A~D feint anyway. Also, during Asteroid Vision, she's in the same place during the startup, so a 5D will counterhit all day long if you space it and she's trying to approach with it. Close range you can even get away with 5C - I believe this even stuffs the 214A~D feint. Just can't be spamming dem swords from midrange or you'll get a wakeup super to the face.

I can tell you from playing Synthesis offline that this is a TERRIBAD matchup for Carl. If every attack ever didn't stop Nirvana's attacks, it would be much more even, but since you can't really throw out any normals with Nirvana (when you're hiding behind her anyways), basically your entire neutral game starts to revolve around Carl's normals, which as we all know are pretty terrible for neutral game. I will say however that her air normals are slow enough that if she IAD/jumps in with no cover you can get a 6A really easily. With laser cover that is timed incorrectly, too, which is great because a badly played Mu doesn't place steins as effectively as a well played Mu, so they end up approaching as if they had stein cover when they really don't.

PSN: BastianKnowsBest I main Carl guys. Totally.

Actually, after practicing some things in challenge/training, none of his stuff is impossible to do on pad. I had to get used to throwing with L1 and my D button being R1, but it's actually really comfortable after a bit of playing (and I can do his sandwich stuff/corner stuff much easier now too).

As another new Carl player and someone with more of a background in 2D fighters, I can say the biggest thing you're going to need to practice is putting Nirvana where you want her and negative edging her moves. Once you get the hang of Nirvana, the combos get infinitely easier (at least imo, but again, I come from a 2D fighter background so maybe the combo system just makes more sense to me?) The only places I seem to miss timing/inputs is when I have to do things like jC->5B->2B->6B->6]D[->JC->jC->5B.... etc. I always miss them at the 6]D[. But really, Carl seems like one of the most if not THE most execution heavy character in the game. As far as setting up your combos/pressure, there's a pretty fantastic setup in Challenge... 4 or 5? Off of a ground throw that gets you in a sandwich position (Carl on one side, Nirvana on the other) and it's not techable until they hit the ground. This sets you up for some of the best pressure/mixups in the game. As far as escaping pressure... Gear super is okay if they're far away because it persists even if you get hit. Some of Nirvana's moves share this property. Additionally, for 50% heat, you can counter assault by pressing 6A+B while you're in blockstun. Really though, Carl doesn't seem to have tons of moves with invulnerability and such, so bursting, counter assault, gear super seem to be the best. Keep in mind that Instant Blocking makes a LOT of blockstrings unsafe, so if you can IB the last hit of a blockstring you may be able to IAD/dash/poke out, depending on what state the opponent is in. On another note - Are there any suggestions for playing Carl on pad? I've had mild success with mapping D to R1, but I'm not going to have a stick until I have considerably more disposable income, so if there are any tips (especially for some of the longer combos) that might make my life easier, I'm open to suggestion.

Part of the problem with this matchup is that Steins eat your Drive moves (yes, even 214D/236D) when popped. Otherwise, as long as you keep her blocking/getting hit, the steins just sort of disappear into nothingness. This matchup is definitely an aggressive one for Lambda, because you really have to keep the pressure on from your drive range. Most of Mu's normals lead into some really stupid damage from anywhere on the screen, so it's definitely a good idea to try to stay half a screen away from her. An inexperienced Mu is hardly a problem, though - if they don't know how to utilize their steins, that's the only real advantage they have in vs. Lambda.

Did you know that Steins cancel Ouroburos? So his Drive is useless if she has any steins out at all. It's a pretty even matchup, maybe a slight advantage for Mu, because if you have enough Steins in you can stop his Drive from reaching you, and Hazama's movement is pretty terrible without it. His supers I guess give him some advantage, but Mu can just zone him all day long. This is coming from a Hazama player vsing a Mu player - I can't get in because the steins themselves, the lasers they shoot, and the explosions all stop Ouroburos in place and make most of his movement followups off of it unsafe. Since he has no other way to get in, as long as you can keep him far away, you win! However, I will say that if the Hazama player keeps himself in (with speedy usage of all of his different drive options) it could at least be even for the Mu player, but once she gets knockdown and some steins out on oki his Ouroburos gets infinitely less useful.

PSN: BastianKnowsBest Location: Tucson, AZ I'm not the BEST Hazama player in the world, buttt....