Kizzercrate

DISCLAIMER: I didn’t play +R or anything like that in any competitive capacity. That said, read at your own risk. I’m pretty sure the matchup now is dead even. If it weren’t, then Kazunoko is absolutely nuts for picking Ky into MarlinPie’s Zato (from losers bracket, mind you, AND completely cold and out of nowhere as we haven’t seen his Ky resurface at any event since) at Final Round 18. Keep in mind that Kazunoko also won this set 6-0. So what’s the difference between +R and Xrd that evens it all out? That’s a really good question, since Kazunoko basically played Street Fighter against MarlinPie and crushed out. If you look at the set, it’s really the prototypical Ky/Zato matchup where both sides get opened up by silly stuff (up to and including air teching right into CH Nobiru). But for the rest of us mortals, I believe the answer is: Grinders. Grinders make it so we can actually control the screen and force movement options without worrying about lolDrunkardShade turning our offense against us. Guaranteed oki setups + Zato’s lack of defensive options + one of the few Dead Angles we can cleanly low profile = big advantage if we can get there. Re: Zato’s air-to-ground normals. We’re really only talking about j.K here, which is absurdly good. So good, in fact, that they had to run it back and give it to Leo too, lol. Now, there’s a really weird hitbox interaction that even caught me by surprise at the tip of Ky 2HS that I ended up getting clean CHed by it. 95% of the time though, unless ZT gets in deep with it, 6P AND 2HS will put us at advantage either by clean CH or 2HS trade, which we still get combo from. Furthermore, ZT j.K beats our rising j.K which is the go-to normal for air-to-air encounters; but ZT has no answer to air dash j.S if we’re at the same height he is. And while we’re at it, ZT is absurdly hard to air throw because of flight screwing with timings. If he’s flying directly over you, trying to 6P will either result in you whiffing horribly or getting crossed up and getting a 5P and dying anyway. Best options are either VT since it covers so much headspace, Blitzing if you feel comfortable calling out the dropping j.K, or just backdash/run away in the direction of choice and reestablish spacing. If ZT is mashing on your oki, either tighten your timing and set up a 2P>c.S frame trap for all the juicy CH damage, or call the 2S out with a GS (I generally look for that at all points of the matchup, to be completely honest). I’ll refresh my memory on Machaboo/Ogawa and edit or post later, but I do remember this one tidbit: if your opponent makes a huge mental mistake, you can take advantage of that moment and do something wild and take momentum. Ogawa made a bad burst, and Machaboo Greed Severed and caught Ogawa crouching.

I'd been putting this off for a long time. Have a lot of information, but finally got around to fixing it up and distilling it into something usable. Copied and pasted for your enjoyment. Here’s the quick and dirty version, because there’s a LOT of little things you have to learn about this matchup since Chipp fights on a completely different axis than the rest of the cast (yes, including Millia). -It only takes three solid hits to end the match. However, it’s really easy to overextend yourself to get those hits. Chipp has the toolset to punish you greatly for it. -Stay mobile. Of course, you’ll never reach the level of Chipp mobility, but if you try to play traditional wall style, you’re a sitting duck. The way I was told to handle this was to keep moving and fill the space where you just were with something. Teleport YRC is a frustrating tool to deal with, but with backdashes, airdashes, and YRCs of your own, you can stay away from getting airthrown + oki setup. -Followup: if/when you jump, try not to commit to an option until you see Chipp do something, so no big buttons and no needless air dashes. Once you lock yourself into whatever you do, it becomes extremely easy for Chipp to choose the proper reaction option and start his game immediately. -Chipp is very fast, but his mobility can be used against him. Oftentimes some really wild stuff will come out of Chipp if you make him whiff or just aren’t in the spot he expects you to be when he makes his move. If you’re ready, hilarity will ensue. -Burst the upkick in the corner. Safest place in the world to burst vs Chipp. -j.HS (the falling 2-hit flippy thing) is tough to deal with. With time (and lots of getting hit), you’ll be able to generally tell if he’s falling in front of you or going for the really ambiguous crossup. The next thing to do is IB both hits and then backdash. Backdash is safest because the “usual” throw attempt that follows IBing a falling attack can actually be baited or beaten by Chipp anyway. -f.S and 6P are good options to win the ground war. The thing about f.S, however, is that it can and will fall victim to Chipp 6P, which is a great "just do it button" for them. You can also do the typical Ky things of 2K/2S/2D for footsies and ground pokes and be fine, but be aware... -...Chipp 2D is just like Millia 2D in that it’s low invul (though with a janky hurtbox that sometimes leads to clashes) and can blow up traditional footsies like 2K/2S/2D. Treat it as such. *cough cough Greed Sever cough cough* -If Chipp gets underneath you for whatever reason (you jump, you get launched, etc), be very careful and fall with FD. You don’t wanna eat that CH. -Late neutral tech is best tech. Prevents tech traps (Chipps eat early techs alive). -Exception: OTG teching. You can tech forward and j.S Chipp to catch him off guard and seize momentum. -FD is your friend against Rekka chains. If you can FD the string and get Rekka 1 to whiff, you can Stun Dipper Rekka 2 (btw, if you’re like me and didn’t know he can do Rekka chains even on whiff, now you know). The other Rekka 1 followup is usually 5S. -YRC Stun Edge is always good if you can get Chipp to engage in a ground battle. -Chipp 6P is the best. It just is. Remember this well. It even squeezes through CSE if you’re on top of him in the corner starting oki. -Try a frame trap. See if Chipp knows 2P is 4f. If you get mashed out, fuhgeddaboutit.

Re: the above video, I'll probably cry the day that happens to me. So the matchup is pretty bad for Leo, but it requires some...specific answers and being intimately familiar with Leo's options. I'll try to keep this short and basic though: -Keeping Leo out is priority one. Stun Edges through grinders take away Leo's FB options to get in (on hit. CH grants you a free approach and push towards the corner). f.S and 6P are good against his ground movement and pokes (though please be careful of Leo f.S that cancels into 5HS on whiff, which is actually surprisingly good at stuffing Ky air approaches). S Stun Edge YRC stuffs dash/236HS attempts. CSE YRC practically forces a jump, which means air throw time. -Also, 2HS is really really really good. -Problem is, if Leo gets in, Ky is not winning this matchup without IBs and FDs to create space in frames (IB) and actually making Leo whiff (FD) to get out of pressure. IB Rekka 1 > throw Rekka 2 is level one. IB 6K > mash 2P is level two. -Stun Dipper is hilariously efficient in this matchup, much like you'd use it against Slayer. It does much better against Leo 6K than 2K/2D since he basically goes right over those and puts a knee in Ky's nose. -Once Ky gets hit (and it will happen), prepare for the most intense game of Rock Paper Scissors ever. Blitz and VT beat BT 5K/5P; Poke/throw beats BT H; Poke/throw also beats when Leo decides to do the MC Hammer Shuffle and LR mix you up on oki/reset; Waiting a moment and c.S grants CH if he decides to D parry. But if Ky guesses wrong...well, don't guess wrong. -Last point: If Leo misses/Ky baits flash kick, it's party time: 5HS > 6K > 236D > DC Sacred Edge (could squeeze in a microdash 2D before if you're nasty). If near/at the wall, Ky gets 6P > 2HS(1) > HSVT, c.S > 236D for a half million damage and DC CSE oki.

Some stuff I learned last night from getting waxed by Sol: GF YRC in corner: just block. If he tends to Fafnir behind it, don't jump. Strings can be FD'd and then you can attempt to do something like super jump IAD out, but that carries its own set of risks, like getting air thrown and back to square one. If you're feeling froggy, if you do space Sol out with FD, you can play the yolo 50/50 special game: If you think he'll GF again, Greed Sever. If you think he's autopiloting blockstrings, you can get CH Stun Dipper. If you guess wrong, however, you're just actually dead. And if the Greed Sever is misspaced, you eat CH Gunflame and die. Again, not recommended as a first (or second!) option, but they are options. Or you can do the smart thing and "reset" the situation after reestablishing space and react to Sol's next approach with block/FD/6P/VT or poke out with f.S or Stun Edge YRC if you have the meter.

Matchup is dead even. Plugging my own mixtape here vs one of the best in AKA at Combo Breaker: https://youtu.be/DWI8mixjS1g?t=4m3s Ignoring all the dropped VTs, here's things you should know: -Block drill. -Zato 2S is a great button, but loses handily to f.S and Greed Sever. -Don't be afraid of Drunkard Shade (reflect). You can still use all the fireballs we have to control Zato (zoning Faith-style with full-screen Enhanced Stun Edges is especially good). -Kill Eddie, but don't overextend yourself doing so. -j.D cuts off a lot of Zato's aerial flight paths. 6P also beats a lot of his approaches clean. 2HS too, obviously. -Speaking of flight, Zato j.K is really really good (even stuffs rising jump buttons and 2HS at certain angles), but all of Ky's buttons are amazing in the air against flight. -Stun Edge YRC, as usual, is amazing in this matchup. -Zato's defensive options are pretty terrible. You can pressure with 6HS all day for oki and do whatever you please. Dead Angles can be low profiled all day long if you're ready for it (but it can also be used as an anti-air, i.e. if you're trying jump in or IAD mixups off of DC CSE YRC). -I was willing to play neutral rather than holding my burst to get out of the unblockable (which is another very valid tactic), so I bursted rather early in corner pressure. -Puddles can and should be killed. Also, air S Stun Edge is really good at Eddie sniping once you get used to it.

There's a lot of nuance to this matchup, but here's the quick and dirty version: -Don't get CH by pin. -Sit on it or otherwise deny Millia from getting pin back. -Don't commit to anything big, which includes certain S and HS normals. Millia is very, VERY good at whiff punishing, and then we get ran. -Don't get freaked out by her movement until she's actually doing something to threaten us. -Millia 2D is a problem. It's low invul (lol). If you can whiff punish or call it out with something like Greed Sever, you're in there. -Learn combos that guarantee knockdown on light characters. If there's one character you don't want roaming free, it's Millia. -You too can be mobile, but again, don't commit to anything big or even a reckless air dash forward. She can react and hit you and it's all downhill from there. This includes all fireballs. -Good news is her defensive options are crap. If you get the pressure game going, just watch out for Dead Angle and you can end it. -You know that string that ends in whatever that sideways giant hair dreidle is? 214K~HS, I think? If you IB it, she's in CH state. Go nuts with your Slash button combo of choice (depending on distance it definitely will change between c.S and f.S, so be ready for it)

My main training partner is an Axl, so we've been learning together and bouncing ideas back and forth off each other. Here's what I've got: Green chain (Sickle Flash? Rensen? Whatever you want to call it) is one of the few moves that efficiently deals with Stun Edge. Incidentally, it even eats enhanced Stun Edges if timed correctly. It also blows up ground Ciels even at full screen. Proceed with caution. The up followup to it also discourages jump-ins and IAD attempts, so there's that as well. Axl 6H blows up Stun Dipper. Period. Speaking of crossups, the big one (63214S?) can be thrown or air IB punished, but even if you ground IB it, you get nothing unless they come down mashing and Ky picks up a CH (which does happen). Axl grounded normals don't have hitboxes. Air normals are a different story. 6P is hot here, as is j.D, surprisingly. Axl DP is a special case with a special case: Axl not jumping (causing more pushback so you can't get stupid close) + his skinny hitbox = Ky can't consistently get a full punish, even on IB. Usually a DP punish looks like 5HS > 6K > 236D > (optional f.S or 5HS) > DC Sacred Edge > 6P > 2HS > HSVT > c.S > 236D. Problem is, even if you IB, DC Sacred Edge uncombos at max mash. So, I mean, I guess you could go for the full punish and continue it on black beat, but be aware that problems can arise. Blitz Shield is your friend. If you enjoy massive damage, so is S Vapor Thrust. One more thing--at a certain range (think round start), Ky f.S, 5HS, and Greed Sever all grant a massive CH against Axl 2HS. Okay, I lied: two more pieces of food for thought: Ky's 3HS can be used to call out certain moves and get CH. And if you can ever convince Axl to do round start 6P, half of his life can go away if you call it out with 6HS. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AGxWiacWLc Actually, there's a lot of good stuff from both sides to learn here.

Because it's fresh in my mind and I want to get a couple of things down: -Landing safely is of utmost importance. Easiest rule here would be to just not jump; Faust's suite of anti-airs and the resulting air combo make sure that you're no better off at getting in while missing chunks of life. Second easiest rule would be to make sure to FD on the way down either from the air combo or just from jumping in general. -Ky 6P is a great answer to f.S. CH 6P > f.S > Stun Dipper is good damage and corner carry, which we can't complain about. -Yeah, he can crawl under Stun Edges, but we can also use that to just get in and create pressure. 2S is great for this, especially if Faust likes to 2P as you run in to catch you slipping. -Just hold that 2K oki. Block low and then see what else is going to happen next. It's JCable which means bursting is a huge problem if he reads it. It's 3 hits, which is absurdly good. It hits pretty high so it also works as an anti-air. Oh, and it low profiles Vapor Thrust. My big question though: is there a consistent answer to j.2K? Jumping and IBing is probably the most consistent, but is near impossible at lower heights. Depending on height, j.2K can stuff and CH our regular AA normals for big damage.

I'll strike first. I keep saying the match is "even until Ky gets hit": realistically it's a 6-4 only because of the damage disparity. It's a chess match; Ky's normals and footsies match up well against Sol, and Sol's tools are good at disrupting Ky's normally rock solid defensive options. It's just that eating a bad CH as Ky leads to 50%+ and a nasty oki situation. I'll say this much though: learning the Sol matchup will force you to play Guilty Gear properly, using everything and anything that system mechanics have available to you to save your bacon.

Grand Finals: vs. Koichi purple I-No Remember what happened to the other I-No? How tournament nerves created botches that created I-No getting bopped? Same thing here. Koichi gets KD, gets the note, messes up the air dash which leads to a clash with Ky 6P instead of oki, which leads to Ky getting damage and I-No’s burst. I-No keeps composure and gets an air throw which leads into a small combo that ends in STBT(?) which leads to Ky air tech j.S j.HS 2D(whiff) and I-No’s mashing super (wat). No harm no foul, back to neutral. Trade turns blocking, and Ky hits a super solid AA 6P > c.S > 2HS(1) > j.S j.S > RTL (helloooooo midscreen knockdown). CSE oki afterwards looks weak though. She just jumps out and goes back to business as usual. STBT RC HCL YRC air dash overheads all get blocked. Low > overhead finally does the trick, and Machaboo ends up in the corner. After watching this next sequence a few times, I think I finally get why Machaboo does what he does. I-No throws a note and goes for a fake out by air dash landing (implying low) and goes for another air dash. Machaboo chooses to press 5H after seeing I-No land a bit farther away than would be comfortable for her to go low. He is rewarded with a MASSIVE CH which he follows up with dash up c.S into short air combo RTL. Round 2: No, seriously, what’s up with the random Psycho Crushers? Guess it doesn’t matter too much ‘cause ayyy we finally got I-No combos! 5H trades with I-No (He must do it on anything he reads as late or delayed setups). H air Stun Edge CH into 2P pickup (nice), but misses the air throw afterwards. I-No gets going again (which gets Ky burst) and then they have a weird momentary standoff which ends in I-No getting 6P’d in the mouth again. He doesn’t end his air combos with VT on purpose, it would seem, and this time he pays for it by eating I-No j.H on the way down. Ayyy, combos. Round 3: Finally gets the 2H he’s been fishing for, and catches tech with air throw. I-No pressure starts again but Machaboo rips a HSVT to regain control. From there, it’s just classic katame an a sexy air throw to close it out. vs. Karinchu Millia Karinchu should have been a quarterback. His ability to throw is ridiculous. Seriously, watch this match without a critical eye and just look at how many times he just chokes it up. Round 1: The metagaming starts early. Two people jump upforward, and Ky gets a throw. This doesn’t happen in the real world lolololol. 6HS hits clean and Machaboo recognizes the situation and goes into 2P 2P burst safe route, but Karinchu holds burst. Doesn’t matter--half his life is gone anyway. Karinchu wiggles out and gets an air to ground confirm only to drop it (1). It costs him his burst. After another entertaining neutral dance, Karinchu lands a pin and confirms it into...nothing (2). Millia goes Roll > Throw > Disc > TKBM and Ky properly responds with HSVT. Then a weird sequence occurs with Ciel, Stun Edge YRC jump instant block land throw that I still don’t understand. Then Karinchu decides to jump right into a 6P and die. Ooooooookay. Round 2: Karinchu, please block low. Gets hit by two 2Ds for no reason. After getting poked around quite a bit, Pin into confirm into...5D? (3). Machaboo then decides to donate 50 meter doing some weird air confirm (maybe he forgot he wasn’t Sol and can’t get VV > Followup? lol). Millia throw, sets disc and goes for acrossup. Machaboo Gold bursts, lands and blocks. Finally Millia gets the hit, takes him to the corner. Throw reset? Run it anyway. Midscreen Secret Garden setup into Chroming Rose to do Karinchu stuff (my mans loves his installs--you should watch his Sol play!). Machaboo whiffs the Stun Dipper, runs into a rose, and hits the most ridiculous 2D I have ever seen in all my days. Who’s hitting a button there? Certainly not me. Then Machaboo does a burst safe combo (Millia bites, and then bites the dust). But seriously, that 2D tho. vs. Ogawho? Round 1: Rule #1: don’t end up above Zato. Machaboo got caught up trying to air throw Ogawa and got caught in an air throw. Then Eddie time starts, Machaboo IBs something (wtf did he IB? I can’t even tell) and gets a throw into the corner. Machaboo jumps and Ogawa reverses fortune with another sweet air throw. Reversal VT kills Eddie ultra dead, but Ogawa goes for the command grab into oki to buy time for Lil’ Mans to come back. Oki into pressure into Break The Law to dodge Stun Edge but he misses the YRC point (????) and gets swept for his troubles. Three sequences of Ogawa trying to jump out later, he finally gets a throw to get out of the corner. Machaboo bursts to try to take the round. It doesn’t work as backdash dies to buzzsaw. Round 2: Quick string into pressure leads to Ogawa in the corner again, but he flies out and only has to eat a j.S for his troubles, but he’s back midscreen. Machaboo rides deep on a Stun Dipper right into CH Nobiru and Ogawa converts. The pressure is on. Ogawa goes for the Evo-winning setup (lol) but Machaboo jumps the Dead Man’s Hand and whacks him with j.HS. Back in neutral, Ogawa goes for a cheeky air throw setup with YRC, but Machaboo IBs the j.HS that comes out instead and gets a ground throw. 6HS, then Ogawa tries to blitz whatever comes next and has to hold the massive CH for guessing wrong. Round ends quickly after that. Round 3: Machaboo decides he’s not going in until he gets a hit, and he gets his full screen Stun Edge (lol, c’mon) and goes in. Ogawa gets a couple of hits but misses the Nobiru and gets Stun Dippered. 6HS keeps pressure, 5HS...5D. A tool he’s kept hidden from the entire team until he finally needed it. And then a Stun Edge. Tip of sword 2H. And then the grandaddy of them all: a massive Greed Sever (RC’d to block the “pls no bully” burst) and das it mane.

Splitting this in two parts. Forgive the slop as I'm con company time (lol). Semifinals: In which top players find ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory: Semifinal 1: Machaboo vs Victim #1 (Hasegawa, green I-No) Machaboo starts out pretty fast and loose, relatively speaking. I-No kinda turtles up until she’s forced to S(?) dive out of the corner (which Machaboo IBs!). Machaboo meets each note with a Stun Edge to prevent giving I-No a free way in. This cycle repeats until I-No does HS Dive, aka Psycho Crusher, which was 99.9% input error. Machaboo punishes appropriately and is rewarded I-No’s burst. I-No finally starts some pressure up until she does HCL, which Stun Dipper conveniently goes right under. Machaboo chooses to PRC and go nuts with 5HS and takes the combo but curiously doesn’t DP at the end (??). They go back and forth for a bit until Machaboo does 2P 2K 2S 6K. The resulting CH allows him to push more towards the corner and go fishing with 2HS, which doesn’t pay off twice. I-No finally gets in a j.D which is burst IMMEDIATELY. I-No techs and air dashes forward directly into j.K and an air punish (doesn’t end in DP because of range). I-No lands and gets HCL YRC and starts to go in. Machaboo badly whiffs the VT reversal, but (1)Hasegawa doesn’t get the punish. A couple of seconds later, I-No gets tagged with 2K and loses the round. Round 2: We see what happens when I-No notes start getting in. Machaboo gets pushed into the corner and then I-No does ground dash air dash (?????) and gets VT’d. CSE run up throw to switch positions, CSE into mashing a bunch a lows which works for some reason. Then the light show begins. It’s not exactly the best performed mixup we’ve ever seen, nor does he get the abare 2HS to catch I-No’s jump out. She squeezes out and gets HCL YRC and (2) drops the punish. I-No begins rolling though Machaboo does an amazing job of IBing everything high and getting out a 6P (and the following 5D lol). Reset neutral, Ky gets her to the corner and starts harassing with f.S. I-No gets a sick reversal of fortune air throw to start pressuring Ky in the corner right up until the beautiful 5P mash (5P 5P c.S into air combo) to close out the match. vs. Sharon Elphelt: Round 1, aka Spacing Goals 2015: look at how much damage Machaboo does -just- with far pokes and one throw on air Bridal. The 5P into combo to poke out ground Bridal is absolutely absurd. He converts it into full VT loop, btw. The following oki setup turns out to be too high on the air dash as he gets thrown into the corner. El botches the first combo, but starts converting the second, which leads us to our first important lesson: Don’t burst shotgun stance. This is what usually happens. Round 2: Super active 2D beats a curiously late button from El. Pressure leads to throw which leads to pressure. A bit of dancing and jostling for position (and lots of Slashes from Ky) leads to a raw Stun Dipper, and a moment later, f.S > Stun Dipper RC run up c.S 5H HSVT. Pressure, read jump out Bridal, throw back in the corner, more pressure. El reads the S Stun Edge and 2HSs under it. Remember that can happen. Yolo reversal VT magically connects (#spacing). CSE YRC air throw closes the round. Super Turbo at its finest. Round 3: The Doren Special: Shotgun in neutral. Machaboo is in Hellfire before he gets first damage in. No meter, no burst. The only things he has at this point are movement and -hope-. Falling j.HS. Side switch j.S 2D (Sharon blitzes here, but I don’t think that’s a critical error. 9 times out of 10, that connects and the game ends).. Trade pokes. j.S 2D again. c.S, whiffed 6HS into 3HS GS (this is either calculated genius or massive autopilot--someone smarter than me can tell us), but the important part here is 3HS CHes and GS misses wildly. So wildly, in fact that (3) what normally would have been a routine burst from Elphelt turns into a massive whiff and leads into a deadly corner situation. A whole bunch of VTs later, Sharon has a pixel left and manages to tech out of the corner (don’t you love combos on light characters?). Thankfully, c.S is a really good button and catches El crossing over and closes the match. vs. Zadi (that really good Sin player) Round 1: Space the slide. Space the slide. Run out of space and get hit by slide. Now begins the back and forth space battle which features more movement than button presses. Sin eventually gets Ky to the corner, gets a 6P, and begins deleting lifebars. Then he strolls up and throws because why not? (4) Except throw RC combo drop is not exactly what he wanted. Reversal of fortune throw into the corner, begins pressure, tries to get him with the Kizzer special of mashing low blockstrings into 5D twice, gets a random 3HS CH (should we really practice confirming off of that, you know, just in case?), gets a couple of 5Ps because lol air unblockable, Stun Dipper RC please feed me your burst? No? Okay. Gets bursted across the screen for his troubles. Machaboo goes for the naked CSE which gets slide punished as it should. Scramble ensues, but Sin comes out on top. Round 2: Falling j.S is really really really good. You know what else is good? c.S trading with an air normal, but dashing up and picking up the combo with 2P(!!). You know what’s not good? Getting your CSE IB’d and running headlong into Hot Bacon. Machaboo immediately turns it around with a very nice Stun Dipper under Beak Driver. Pressure, baits Dead Angle, kill. Clean. Round 3: The dance begins anew. Don’t get hit by CH Beak Driver wall bounce though. Damage is nuts if they convert. Ky 6P is a great choice when he hits it as it’s fantastic as anti-air and sometimes just flat stuffs ground pokes. And now comes the interesting part: two throw OSes actually turn into massive CH c.S. I don’t think either of them were expecting it, though Zadi gets the worse of the trade as his burst quickly becomes irrelevant.

Happened twice at the end of the set against Sin. Happy accidents ftw.

First inclination is that 6K > delay Ciel definitely will not work if 6K gets IBed, which I -think- is even on block. That would enable at least an FD jump out.

Apparently I write a lot. Obligatory tl;dr warning. Ain vs. Hase (SL) @ 16:38: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys8Ylj_Cyr4&feature=youtu.be&t=998 General idea: Space, space, space. Keeping Slayer at f.S range makes it much easier to manage. With f.S being great at dealing with most of Slayer’s movement shenanigans, as well as 2D being super duper active and killing dash movements and Stun Edges making him think twice about his movement, and Stun Dipper being good at catching CHes and bad movement, it’s a decently manageable matchup, with the caveat that you only get to make two mistakes, because each time you do, Slayer takes half your health. Watch Ain do everything at pretty much max range. The goal in all of this is to avoid having to deal with silly left-right mixup. Remember: Slayer was Leo before Leo was Leo. Slayer 6P is really good at stuffing f.S and leading to good damage (17:38). Ain’s backdashes serve two purposes: to deal with Slayer’s dash range putting Slayer in left-right mixup territory, and to properly space 2D to fish for knockdowns. There’s two ways other than blocking to deal with Slayer 2D (big bat wing stomp): Take it and tech back > IAD j.S or tech forward j.S like Ain does, or yolo Greed Sever and enjoy your CH and momentum. Notice how cleanly Ain plays these rounds. But Hase, capitalizing on a couple of mistakes (and a cheeky YRC at the end of round 2) is able to consistently catch up and close it out. Round 3, Ain gets IAD j.S j.H after setting up CSE grinder oki. This is a very common burst point because it leads to big damage. I personally bait here more often than not. Round 4, around the 20 minute mark, Ain hits a dash VT combo to push Slayer to the corner. He gets paid for it by another quick combo into super to close out the round. Round 5, notice at the end where Ain goes for babby combos with lots of punches in here to burst bait. Notice he doesn’t get the bait on either of those combos and eventually pays for it with his life. Sometimes it’s not worth giving up the damage if you have the inkling that your opponent has decided to seal their burst for this exact purpose. Ain vs. Mugen (SO) @ 1:06:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys8Ylj_Cyr4&feature=youtu.be&t=3986 General idea: Play chess, except any “pawn” strike from Sol can instantly be promoted to Queen status. Our job is to shut down Sol’s options against us in each situation that presents itself. First things first: We can’t do anything about round start f.S from Sol. Just jump away or IB it. From here, note Ain’s patience and willingness to block. If it becomes a battle of recklessness from both players, Sol benefits greatly. Ain chooses to FD most of Sol’s strings to create space and prevent RISC gauge jacking (because if he hits you with a jacked bar...lol). 1:06:45ish: Bursting during Sol’s BnB air combo is a really bad idea. It’s a free burst bait if they read it and you’re put in ANOTHER terrible position upon landing AND you’re likeley screwed for the next round too. 1:07:20 Ky tries to poke out of the corner with sweeps. Ain gets Mugen to block j.SPS which can be continued to the ground to ensure a safe landing, BUT Mugen IBs all three hits so Ain backs off of the combo. Why? See Sol’s j.HS come out? That’s an air throw, actually. IB+Air Throw is a common and effective counter to those kinds of strings (Sol j.PPPPP is another one that you can do it to). 1:07:32 Ain gets maaaaaaaaaaax damage off of 6HS, though I don’t recommend the RTL extension for three reasons: 1) it does booty damage at the end of such a long string, not to mention Hellfire, 2) it doesn’t give a knockdown anyway (ohai Sin), and 3) you’re missing an extra 50 meter to do mixups and YRCs with after Sol decides he’s not going to die. Start of round 3, Ain gets Mugen to fall onto a j.D, but he notices it’s not a CH and backs off (very smart). Soon after that, Sol gets his second reversal blitz on Ky 6H, which we should all be aware of being an easy and viable (and irritating of course) tactic. And right after that, we get an infinitely long demonstration as to why you never want to be in the corner against Sol. Ain then gets a Greed Sever CH into dash VT combo but misses the Ciel ender. So instead of being at a massive advantage, we’re back to neutral. 1:08:55: Remember when I said bursting was a bad idea against Sol’s BnB? Mugen baits it again, but Ain doesn’t bite this time. So instead of just closing the round, we’re back to neutral again, and Ky still gets to hold on to his burst. And Ky eventually takes the round off of the scramble. Lesson: burst baits can make you look like a genius or backfire horribly. 1:09:23: Ky enters Katame mode, aka fishing for 2HS to catch mistimed jumpouts from the corner. 1:09:32: another air IB string sequence where Ain again notices and backs off before getting air thrown. 1:09:35: Ain does Ain stuff. Converts a very random air CH 6HS on Sol’s divekick, converts into a dash VT, and goes for the air conversion ender for damage. Man, he’s good. 1:09:49: don’t get hit by CH Gunflame. Please. Just...don’t. The long drawn out neutral dance sequence at the end of round 4 is the essence of Ky/Sol, to be quite honest. It gets kicked into overdrive when Mugen senses Ain tighten up and gets a Wild Throw out of it. This is very common and something you need to be aware of when you’re in a tight situation or on defense. Also lmao at the buzzer beater f.S to catch Ain running away with Stun Dipper. Start of round 5: one Grand Viper will put you into the corner. Ain does well to immediately escape the situation, because it can go from 100-0 real quick for Ky. 1:11:25: max damage punish (plus Ciel KD ender!) on a whiffed VV. We’d do well to learn this. From here, Ain exerts more excellent pressure and converts more damage. Note how Sol having a burst here doesn’t really matter. To end it, Ain plays patiently, hits max distance 2S, max range 2K>2S which makes burst whiff, and f.S to close it out. No combos, no walking forward, just patience and letting Sol hang himself because of Ky’s life lead.

Has this matchup felt any worse for anyone else in 1.1? I don't think I've ever worked this hard for as little reward as I'm currently getting. Any CH in the air for her leads to full punish with hard KD and an ensuing mixup that can lead to an Overhead Kiss Setup.