JackG

Bang Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 4.0-6.0 Personally: Punishes: Anti-airing: Zoning: Their game plan: Strategy: Char specific details: Good mobility, good avg dmg, good pressure, and fear of furinkazan. jC makes things a bit interesting, but not much else hakumen can do safely. Disadvantage (6A nerf probably hurts a lot here, but I think it will be 4.5-5-5 in bang's favor eventually)

Taokaka Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 5.5-4.5 Personally: Don't know yet, but personally I hate waiting for combos that take 15 seconds long. Will probably lose out of boredom. Punishes: Anti-airing: Zoning: Their game plan: Strategy: Char specific details: Ability to fight tao in the air much better (can counter more specific things tao do in the air). 6A nerf is annoying but does not hurt very much. Other AA options are sufficient. Slight Advantage.

Litchi Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 4.5-5.5 Personally: Punishes: Anti-airing: Zoning: Their game plan: Strategy: Char specific details: Probably has avg dmg advantage. Risk/return also in Litchi's favor. 6A nerf hurts because it would have crushed jB. jC makes things not too bad at mid range. Getting use to the lack of 6A will probably make this matchup not too bad. Slight disadvantage.

TAGER Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 5.5-4.5 Personally: 5.5-4.5 4c and j.c made this retarded easy fight even more retardedly easy Punishes: Air- One way Tager can get in is through jumping at you, usually forcing your guard with j.b>j.c land. Luckily Hakumen has multiple great anti airs, so punish his jump on reaction with 2c (if he superjumps) or usually 6a assuming he's closer to the ground. You can punish with 5d/6d but if he empty jumps he can 360/720 you for punish, so might as well take the safer damage through 6a or 2c. Beware if he jumps and immediately does j.c, it gives him horizontal momentum, causing him to go over you and cause 6a to whiff. Just make sure you keep track of that. Ground- In terms of getting in, Tager has B sledge, 5d, 2d, or walking forward. His gameplan will usually consist of forcing you to guard a 5d, giving him a much easier time to get in on you after that. B sledge and 2d are safe on block (+2 and -1 respectively) while 5d can cancel into A or B sledge so it is safe as well. So all of his ways in are fairly safe, they're all fairly telegraphed and slow to start so you can 5d, 2d, or 6d on reaction (5d preferred.) Against sledge, Tager can hold it and make you miss your counter, so punishing sledge with 5b is usually in your best interest. Mashing on 2d will catch Tager's pressure after he pressures A or B sledge, but he can Buster so it's not usually in your best interest to do that. Tager's super where he spins and ends in the overhead at the end is super easily punishable, and not only that but it usually sucks you in next to him (assuming he's magnetized.) Take your choice of 6c CH or 5c CH into whatever (usually 5c> 623a~a> jc falling j.C> etc.) Counters: Anti-airing: Zoning: 4c and j.c all day, throw occasional 6c to break guard primers. What the hell's he gonna do about it anyways. Their game plan: Force you to guard to magnetize you, then get up in your face and mix you up with Tager buster or 5a into pressure resets, heat/2c to catch jumps, etc. Strategy: Space Tager and fight him at an optimal range for you, for me it's where I can land max range 6c and 3c (Now 4c and j.c). This is the only fight where H-man is the faster character, so you can really determine the pace of the fight. Stall when you need stars, always keep an eye on Tager's projectile bar gauge and know when you need to bait it. I generally roll out 632146 when I'm zoning with 6c and hit confirm into super if I got it and he gets hit. Poor Hakumen's backdash has ZERO invincibility frames, so trying to backdash Tager's frame trap mixup usually isn't the best since you'll always get hit out of it (unless of course he goes for a throw.) Char specific details: jC via reacting to opponent movement is strong, likewise for 4C(and occasional 6C) spamamge, but if magnetized zoning game becomes even. If caught into wakeup game can die in one go. Hotaru makes things slightly difficult for tager though. Slight advantage

Carl Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 5-5 Personally: Punishes: Anti-airing: Zoning: Their game plan: Strategy: Char specific details: 2D/6D active frame decrease, but 6A nerf hurts some. Rest of the matchup is about the same (sandwich sucks). However raw dmg and HP difference makes this matchup even.

Ragna Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 5.0-5.0 Personally: Punishes: Anti-airing: Zoning: Their game plan: Strategy: Char specific details: Zoning game is even, Ragna's avg dmg is slightly higher, but Hakumen's higher hp evens out. risk/return from DP is variable. Matchup is even. (4C, jC, and generally less punishable C moves have made zoning game even. Makes sense)

Rachel Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 6.5-3.5 Personally: Currently Hakumen's best CS matchup interesting enough Punishes: Anti-airing: Zoning: Rachel will likely be throwing eggs at you fullscreen, with the occasional pumpkin, frog, and wind forward. Don't IAD into egg or 6a because, well, it just a bad idea. Their game plan: Keep you out with eggs, fork (6b), 6a, and wind. Strategy: Char specific details: Rachel has the fattest hitbox when knocked down out of anyone on the cast. While I haven't tested character specific combos with this in mind, I'm sure it's relevant somehow. Long range zoning is the same as last game, but once hakumen gets into mid range the match becomes nearly impossible. Firepower difference too severe. Big advantage.

Λ-11 Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 5.5-4.5 Personally: Punishes: Make black holes from Lambda's D moves and taunt behind it for profit! Anti-airing: Zoning: Their game plan: Strategy: Char specific details: Gaining a lead in HP is much more probable, and hakumen can now use it as leverage. nerf to nu's swords, C moves and hakumen's jC/4C makes things interesting. Slight advantage. (I think this will be even, unless they think the firepower difference will keep it at slight advantage) Links:

Punishes: Anti-airing: Zoning: Their game plan: Strategy: Char specific details: Not enough data. jC may provide slight advantage.

Hazama Matchup Statistics Japanese Ranking: 5.5-4.5 Personally: Because it's Thriller! Punishes: Anti-airing: Zoning: Their game plan: Strategy: Char specific details: dp is strong. Currently zoning isn't difficult because it's still easy to read hazama players for now, but that may change in the future. Firepower difference, able to cut chains makes this currently slight advantage. (This will probably be even. Hakumen won't be able zone safely once hazama players get good at punish with mizuchi)

I guess I can go it now, but who knows how long it'll take to get to fill them up. On the topic of matchup forums, should I go ahead and get rid of the other ones and make new ones or just edit them? I'm sure some of the info people have posted in them is still applicable, but I don't want it cluttered with old info for new people trying to figure out CS tactics.

correct me if im wrong, but I believe zantetsu>5c doesnt work anymore. Also I don't mind Haku being high-ish tier so much that what he has that made him that way. I think toning the negative frames on 5c and 6c would have been acceptable, make them a wee bit faster, and he'd be fine. Instead he gets these ridiculous moves like 4c and j.c that simply lock down the opponent with no skill involved.

Forgot to mention Hakumen can projectile autoguard Hazama's D moves, meaning if he pulls himself in he just sucked himself into one of those black holes. Makes it pretty difficult for Hazama to move in I'd say.

Ryoko has it pretty much. Also, I'm not saying Hakumen isn't difficult to play and unlock all of his potential, but his initial learning curve is fairly simple. I'm sure it isn't too difficult to throw 4C and j.C a lot and win when the game just came out and people are still getting used to the huge character changes. keep in mind Arakune was considered pretty bad when CT first came out because while being pretty broken, it took a long time for people to optimize his combos and such. Long story short, learning to play Haku basic-wise well (aka blocking/IBing, countering on reaction, not having gatlings) is more difficult in the long run over most characters, but the combos and pokes are probably one of the easier ones (nothing character specific really)

Not bad, only 2 unfavorable matchups so far and a buttload of favorables (Rachel at 6.5? wow!) Though I'm thinking it's probably a bit too early to tell. Hakumen is the type of character to get fully developed early on while other take more time to flesh out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O3jgBYQk3w 6:14: anti air CH 5A>5C works

Feel free to dump changes to Hakumen in Continuum Shift in this thread. I'll hopefully try to keep this page updated.

against Carl you can backthrow > 623A~A superjump j.2c>j.C but it's tough timing and just really awkward to do honestly.

That's a great find ryoko, I love FUC and the whole jump-cancel special thing (which to this point it only looked like Bang employed) pressure of 236A >623A~A >2369A > 623A~A works. Apparently when you do the second 236A (as in from the jump cancel off of his 623A~A) it resets his specials used, so you can go right into enma again. Seems like a good idea to blow tension if you are going for guardbreak or something. NOTE: You can also do (with 8 magatama) 41236C> 623A~A > 412369C for double overhead. Pretty lols, plus builds guard libra like MAD

The thing with countering blockstrings with D moves is that there is always a risk/reward attached to it. Sure, while you CAN IB Jin's 5B and counter 5C (which yes, IBing is that good that you can create a hole between 5B and 5C.) And sure, if your opponent gets predictable you can reliably counter what they are throwing out, but people tend to learn. Letting your opponent KNOW you have the capability to counter at any point is really the biggest advantage of having counters. It's the same as DP characters (dragonpunch) in that they CAN DP character's pressure strings, presumably the damage you'd take if you missed/had it blocked is a lot more than if you simply hit with it. As such you wouldn't expect to use it nearly as much, because the risk/reward would dictate you wouldn't use it that much. However, using it every now and then gives your opponent the knowledge that you can and will use it to your advantage, and theoretically they would adjust their game plan to be less aggressive. Then again they might not adapt, in which case continue DPing/countering. Other than that, I really only use counters on reaction for surefire results (such as overheads, counter oki projectiles/Nu's super/Litchi's 13 Orphan super) And Yeah, IBing is super important. Learn it, as it will both fuel your bar with much needed magatama as well as provide ins against zoners (IBing Nu's swords for movement) as well as making moves punishable either by hitting them or countering their next move. Any way you slice it, IB is essential to any character's game, especially Hakumen.

Hakumen's Dead Angle basically is a counter from frames 1-20 I believe upon activation, so you have to be blocking in order to do it, and then get hit again in those next 20 frames. Against Nu with plenty of multi hit attacks that's not too hard to get (ie. the video example of Nu's 5c) As 4r5 said it's not gonna kill, so it wouldn't be worth it since she was pretty much dead anyways. Mostly though I don't ever really use it so I just forgot. And that combo after the hotaru > falling j.C was supposed to continue with landing 2C, but I missed the input. An aside: Since Nu had bursted I suppose I could have done CA>falling j.C>5C>charge shippu. She'd be at 1 hp with no barrier so chip would kill. An interesting idea but didn't occur to me at the time.

It may not seem like it, but j.A does gatling into j.B. It's just really late

The last Seasons Beatings was a pretty big success IMO, if anything the venue was a little small, but we had enough TVs for everything and a tighter room just meant a higher density of hype. I am likely going to this, so I'll just leave this here for now: Jack "JackG" Grannan GGAC, BB, Jackie Chan (which should obviously be included)

Money Tournament this weekend at Arcade Legends, Saturday. Sadly no GG it looks like, guess there just wasn't enough interest http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=209159

BladeofJustice: Ragna's is faster, so that is correct. If you're both on the ground, invulnerabilities don't come into play and you only factor speed. Savageshell: Personally not one of my favorite matchups, due to the fact that his 5B outright punishes any C move on whiff or block (ordinarily you can space it against chars to be safe, but against Ragna his 5B pushes him forward and is quite fast) and outstuffs other moves we got too, such as our 5b. My main problem with Ragna is his moves are about as big as hakumens, but in general are faster and more importantly can gatling. Ragna has lots of free ins against hakumen, and it's pretty hard to approach ragna. The best success I have with this matchup is just playing ultra defensive and 2D'ing unsafe approach (5B> 5C (IB'ed) > 214A can be 2D's before the 214A hits you)