[SpA]Relentless

Litchi vs Rachel (Hachikuji Mayoi) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ikZNWKCYA&feature=feedu Lambda (Naaga) vs Rachel (Hachikuji Mayoi) www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ikZNWKCYA#t=4m55s Valkenhayn (Nao) vs Rachel (Hachikuji Mayoi) www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ikZNWKCYA#t=20m35s

Rachel (Kinoko) vs Litchi (Youjou) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfCPKM5F5js#t=4m55s Rachel (Kinoko) vs Jin (Miya) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfCPKM5F5js#t=8m30s Rachel (Kinoko) vs Ragna (Yutta) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8nCmAQWh0w#t=12m10s

I've recently run into a pretty fundamental problem which I didn't realize I had because everyone I play against neutral techs everytime. Scenario: I did Rachel's corner bnb (5B > 5CDC > 214A > 3C(1) > 236A > 214B > d.5CC > d.3C > 214C > 3C > 214A) ending with 3C knockdown + frog and pumpkin oki. My opponent attempts to forward roll to escape the corner. If I press nothing, he escapes. If I got good enough reaction, I can maybe punish the roll, but then I have to do a mediocre midscreen combo. If I anticipate with 2A (into 5B etc) and he latetechs, 2A will bluebeat, and a proper followup combo will likely not be possible anymore. He can thus airtech and escape the corner too. Sometimes george will also activate because of this but not connect fully after I OTGed with 2A 5B, further ruining things. Sometimes I can catch the forward roll directly with 2A (optimal situation), but sometimes I mistime it and whiff 2A while the opponent is now behind me. 3C would work to trip them but it's not optimal if they neutral tech, and again if they managed to roll behind me I must do a midscreen combo. So yeah, what's the optimal way to punish people for rolling forward after 3C knockdown in the corner? Preferably I want to keep them in the corner, possibly tack on good damage so they finally start neutral teching. Other solutions would be: Ending with 5CC > frog instead. This would the best workaround but I don't think that it's possible to end the bnb with 5CC unless you began from a great starter like 5B. What's the worst possible starter that still lets me end this combo with 5CC? Cutting the combo short and ending with 214B after the 2nd 5CC. I think I'll try this for now, after 5CC pumpkin I'm far enough from the opponent so he can't roll behind me, and there's no George out that might interfere with my bluebeat combo. Less wind recovery is a disadvantage though. Do you have any other suggestions for me?

What are you talking about. Look at her arms, follow them to see where her shoulders are. Her neck seems alright to me.

Answer to tofurr cause I wasn't fast enough in the last thread: No need to rip the audio, the uploader provides a dl link for the mp3. I'm leaving this here for reference purposes: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm16034750

Dat Ragna There was not a single time in the entire video where he held back. If you confirmed your combos better, you would not have lost a round. Anyway serious advice, first combo vs Ragna was blabla > frog > 5B > 236A > j.C2D > dj.2C(Lv2), this is really not worth it in this situation. Do the standard corner bnb that ends with oki and regens all your wind instead. It wasn't even legit, you probably dropped it because of the proration. Use 6A more, it works wonders against Ragnas I-jump-back-wait-until-I-am-1m-above-the-ground-then-airdash-forward bullshit. Discourage him from jumping in on you, then if he tries to approach from the ground use 236A (with wind) or 6B to stop him in his tracks. 236AD will put him almost fullscreen, 236A9D will tag him fullscreen and 236A8D creates a wall that usually covers both ground and IAD approaches well and gives you enough time to summon a pumpkin. Always try to have either a frog or pumpkin out (preferably both). Rachel's zoning strategies really shine against Ragna, especially if the Ragna player never blocks I don't have a lot of Valkenhayn experience so I can't give you tips here.

Sick Queen of Rose-remix.

Fair enough.

Don't know what you're talking about. From the looks of it you played the matchup correctly. Some combos were dropped and some decision weren't optimal, but it could've been worse, considering it were the finals of a tournament. Good stuff. Generally I think it's a bit hard to critique on videos where you win, it just doesn't seem right. If you won, chances are you didn't do a lot wrong. Also, pad without macros? Kudos to you, we got an arcadestick player over here that assigns a button to burst cause apparently he can't press ABCD at once

Sohei uses a different handle though (a longer one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqMVmJZCJZ0#t=15m I'm confused :3 Rachel (Nyomu) vs Jin (Shirushi) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJli9JQzMSE

Thanks!

I suppose that "hachikuji mayoi" is the pink Rachel, and "so" is the default colored one?

Makoto (shougeki no aruberuto) vs Rachel (kyota) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2k_mpQnJZs Tager (PET) vs Rachel (kyota) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2k_mpQnJZs#t=3m53s YES! A-cho videos with Rachel! Translation of the names required, please :3 Thanks to kotokot for the translation. Rachel (hachikuji mayoi) vs Lambda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQi5K0IcY4#t=16m30s Rachel (so) vs Valkenhayn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQi5K0IcY4#t=19m20s Rachel (so) vs Ragna http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQi5K0IcY4#t=27m Rachel (so) vs Carl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQi5K0IcY4#t=29m43s Rachel (so) vs Hazama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQi5K0IcY4#t=43m26s 46:30 nice pickup Valkenhayn vs Rachel (so) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQi5K0IcY4#t=56m35s Noel vs Rachel (so) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQi5K0IcY4#t=63m52s

Yeah I noticed, the title says CS2 though, but it's evident from the video that it's Extend :3 Added the set to the first post with timestamps. By the way, Jimumeka always delays the frog summon when he does 5CC oki in the corner. Does this serve a purpose? I always figured it's best to summon asap so you can move earlier.

Rachel (jimumeka) vs Valkenhayn (hima) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pILcW_3ec5I&feature=feedu Jimumeka was a very good Rachel player in CS2 with high PSR and then stopped appearing in videos, really hope this doesn't happen again, seeing as how we get no footage of other great players. Obviously he gets beaten in the first match he palys just so we don't get to see more of him. Oh hima, why are you so broken Why did they tag it as CS2 That Rachel is jimumeka too btw

Hakumen (Ekusu) vs Rachel (kyuuchou) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Zr3r9NkMA#t=10m22s

True, don't know myself why he's not using this godsend of a buff. Either he's just not used to it... or he knows something we don't know.

It's understandable that he plays exactly like CS2. Rachel's metagame didn't change at core. And I wouldn't say it's boring, he just plays really solid without any gimmicks. Which is not a wrong way to play her (and certainly not a style you shouldn't learn from).

Rachel (YAMA) vs Ragna (pon su) www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9dkp13SsXk#t=8m10s Rachel (YAMA) vs Platinum (AKR) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDlnG4q8zvc#t=5m15 Litchi (toppo) vs Rachel (YAMA) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDlnG4q8zvc#t=13m Rachel (YAMA) vs Ragna (pon su) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLOez3PoDLA#t=14m57s

Tried this out myself yesterday and you are right. Against really aggressive players playing chars with good pokes (Jin, Ragna), this is right now the ONLY way for me to get out a pumpkin safely :/ You have to be really careful though cause one whiffed cannon = And I suck at being careful... Speaking of pumpkin, what are your ways to get one out? I noticed yesterday that most of the match I'm desperately trying to get some space and summoning pumpkin when it's unsafe, and I get smacked in the face for it. I most of the time do some sort of dj > pumpkin > wind down or get the opponent fullscreen with a combination of 236A + wind, then pumpkin. Against slower chars like Hakumen it's easier (IABD pumpkin), but what do you do against aggressive chars?

Proration values probably only changed by a few percent so combo length doesn't get affected a lot. Also as someone posted earlier, character combo rate doesn't have anything to do with untechable time, so can take that out of the equation.

Maybe they buffed the damage on her normals a bit but in exchange made the proration a little bit worse. That would explain why short combos deal more damage than in CS2 and why she still does similar damage despite getting several proration nerfs.

That's true, but I think it's still good to mention it alone because it's one of her important/special normals. It also doesn't just prorate a bit worse - the followup combo does like half damage now :3

You forgot 5CC not taking a primer in the nerf list btw, and that 2C prorates worse :3

Makoto (yasuda) vs Rachel (YAMA) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTTtHl7BiIg&feature=feedu Hakumen (chin) vs Rachel (YAMA) www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTTtHl7BiIg#t=4m37s