Airk

Don't EVEN TRY to punish 6A, instant block or not. Any smart Tsubaki will gatling from it into 5C, which makes it safe and will result in you taking a CH that will lead into a very ugly combo. You have to ride out at least the 6A>5C>5CC before you even really have an option to do anything.

D DP isn't a projectile, so you can get free with that sometimes.

No idea. I hate move that say things like "above the waist invulnerability" because that's freakin' meaningless in terms of telling you what hits it and what doesn't. 22D hits pretty low to the ground though. so unless you have some sort of "real" invulnerability, I wouldn't really count on something screwy like "above the waist" invulnerability to save you from this.

Well, the cheap and lazy way is to just hold upback after the spot she 'usually' goes for the unblockable. For a lot of er...inexperienced Tsubaki players, this will be after 5CC. Of course, there are all sorts of ways to punish you for this, but it's the easy way out, and most of the punishes don't hurt as much as taking the unblockable on the chin. Otherwise, you just have to have the presence of mind to jump or jab when you see her start to charge that unblockable.

Right! That makes good sense! Thank you! I suspected it was something like what Dacid said after Justice's comments. Thanks again!

It doesn't add up though; Ragna's backdash (He's a good example, because he's pretty average here.) moves him 270 arbitrary distance units in 20 frames, meaning he's covering 13.5 ADUs per frame. Bang's backdash moves him 480 units in 36 frames, meaning he covers... 13.333 ADUs per frame. That's not really a meaningful speed difference, (Hazama, for example, backdashes at 10.8 ADUs per frame.) and you get a lot more invulnerability in exchange. I guess it would be a bad backdash because you surrender a lot of ground, but I don't really see how it's worse than average for backdashing for invulnerability unless people are able to chase you down due to the duration of the dash? Edit: Note. I'm not saying anyone is wrong, I'm just trying to figure out how the reality matches up with the theory. I like to understand why things are the way they are.

Very interesting stuff. I have one question - why doesn't Bang's backdash "function well in the standard use of a normal invincible backdash" when it has 9 frames of invulnerability - more than anyone's except Tager and Arakune? (And Wolf Valkenhayn, I guess.)

If it helps you remember, go for it; I'm nowhere near good at this game, but I have a list of stuff to try to keep in mind so I autopilot less. It's stupid stuff right now like "Use more counter assaults!" because I need to remind myself that the options to do stuff are there. Once I start remembering that, I can worry about putting them to use, and the list helps me remember what I'm not doing (or doing and shouldn't.)

This match broke my heart. I really felt like the Tsubaki player played better in this one.

Yes, yes they were. Also, special props to the commentators (particularly DacidBro, who can make almost anything entertaining.) for (mostly) keeping the hype level high.

May I refer you to Beginner Mode? Also, there is no "good way" to block mixups. Learn which moves hit high and low and block accordingly.

Depends on how much lag there is. Now stop and think and tell me if you think trying to predict your actions in a fighting game is a good idea. This isn't some FPS where it's okay where your action if you lag while running is to keep running.

... Bubble oki is pretty unfierce. Just don't roll. Neutral tech (That's NO DIRECTION +A, B or C) and you are 100% invulnerable until you can block. Now block. The bubble will break. Now just defend yourself normally. Without either Cat Hammer or frying pan, Platinum doesn't really have THAT good of mixup, so just block low, and jab if she goes for the butt-bump overhead or the command throw. The important part is...yeah, don't roll. (But rolling is SO STRONG IN BB. :P )

GGPO doesn't mean a lagless experience. All it is is a new and clever way to try to hide/mitigate lag. This is a common misconception that really gets under my skin - NETCODE CANNOT GET RID OF LAG. It is not possible. If it takes 2 seconds for my packets to get to you, NO MATTER WHAT, there's going to be some sort of delay. Netcode can do some shenanigans to try to make you notice the delay less, but there's nothing it can do to make the packets magically get there faster. People need to STOP harping on Netcode - and I'm hoping that when SF3:3SOLE comes out with the "magic" GGPO netcode and people realize that they still have lag, maybe they'll shut up about how netcode "sucks" and realize that it is, in fact, everyone's crappy residential internet connection instead. :P

I dunno; I sure feel like I saw lots of blue particle effects and no red ones in that Tsu vs Tsu match, but I guess that could be just the cancelling j.214a. Nevermind me, I guess.

I concur. It does an excellent job of retaining the 'look' of the old design without the 'hey look at me, I'm basically naked' part. Plus, it looks badass and fighty. NICE work.

Only watched one of those vids so far (Valk #1) but dang, Daed. Very nice pressure and defense. Clearly a bit of weakenss in the hitconfirm area though. You landed a lot of pokes that you didn't manage to turn into anything. Still, I wish I was that good. :P Edit: Oh, one other thing while I'm being "helpful" to people who are better than me: I see both of you (I think. I KNOW I saw Kiba do it.) doing DP-whiff combos with the A DP. Don't do this! C DP has more damage and significantly better proration, so you'll be doing more damage, and if things come down to the wire about whether your combo is going to hit or not, a C DP combo will be less likely to drop. The cancel window is basically the same, in that both moves can be cancelled as soon as they hit, and the startup is identical so... get in the habit of using the C DP for this!

People do. It's not THAT hard if you understand spacing - basically, if you realize that you're outside of range for 5BB to hit, then you buffer a special into the 5B and then hit the button if your 5B connects. Totsuka is a strong tool against Tsubaki - if you can get enough steins down, it can make it very hard for her to approach. Most good Tsubaki's won't attack from the air that much - there are some confusing things she can do with her j.236 and j.214 specials to create some pretty ambiguous crossups but her basic j.C© stuff is pretty easily stuffed on reaction unless she's already got you in pressure and is using it as a Jin-style ghetto overhead.

This might work against jabs - you're giving him 3 more frames to get his jab started. I'd avoid going too slow, truthfully. Full speed seems safest, because there will definitely be a gap. It'd be easy inferno divider territory though. In terms of maintaining pressure, the 'Japanese mixup' of 2A/5A * X is still valid. Partly you probably need to respect the ID a little bit less though, because the reward he gets from that is smaller than from a jab, and, it's also a lot more risky. MOSTLY though, it's probably what you already knew - that you play him a lot, so he knows what you normally do. So you'll just have to change up whatever that is. Sounds like you pretty much have it figured out already. Though while I'm making %^$% up, doing 5BB>6B would probably catch him offguard a bit too.

Have you considered delaying your 2B to mess up his IB timing? Or I guess you could just go 5BB>5CC, which should be airtight? And, uh, I guess you could try RCing 2BB? Can you RC a move during its startup? If yes, don't mind me, I'm just forcing my views on the community. Er, and alternatively, are there any strings he uses that you could do the same back to him?

Okay, that's a perfectly acceptable reason. 6B is indeed her overhead. it's pretty short on range, and it's a tricky confirm to turn into damage, but don't mash after blocking. For her command grab, I uh... usually just mash 2A. >.< It's got like 25 frames of startup even if she DOESN'T need to run towards you any, so...uh...just hit her in the face with something. About the only time I get caught with it anymore is if I'm up against some nutjob who will throw out heart cars mid-blockstring to try to catch me jabbing them out of the throw. :P She's actually kinda fun to play as though. Plus... Pony win pose!

Yeah. Fundamentally, it's better to block and punish if you suspect them of scrubby heartcar action, than it is to throw out the 22A, because honestly, I can't think of anything that Platinum would do at match-start that is likely to get hit by 22A other than Heart Car (Or uh...command grab? o.O), and you can get a bigger punish on that by blocking.

Unlikely to work. Makoto's uppercut only has invulnerability until she clears the ground (frame 10). Inferno Divider has invulnerability until it's done with all its active frames (Frame 18). So at the very least, Ragna will get a lot more altitude before he gets hit, but odds are the attack will just go through him.

Oops. Sorry. That was my brain shutting off. I meant 22A. I think heart car is high enough to go over even 22A at the start, but it might be related to how quickly you get 22A off.

Very good advice. Anything you can do to beat down Nirvana is really going to be key in the matchup, I think.