Orrax

Discuss the Yosuke matchup here.

Discuss the Adachi matchup here.

Discuss the Teddie matchup here.

Discuss the persona-less Sho matchup here.

Discuss the Shadow Labrys matchup here.

Discuss the Rise matchup here.

Discuss the Naoto matchup here.

Discuss the persona Sho matchup here.

Discuss the Marie matchup here.

Discuss the Mitsuru matchup here.

Discuss the Margaret matchup here.

Discuss the Labrys matchup here.

Relevant posts from the general discussion thread:

Discuss the Ken matchup here.

Discuss the Kanji matchup here.

Discuss the Junpei matchup here.

Discuss the Elizabeth matchup here.

Discuss the mirror (or Chie vs S. Chie) matchup here.

Discuss the Akihiko matchup here.

Discuss the Aigis matchup here.

I think Sakura has replaced that use now, and it's even faster than P counter in AC. So, when I say that P counter is better, I'm thinking as an anti-air, because Sakura has effectively replaced its use on the ground.

Baiken's counters have improved considerably in +R (P counter is better, Sakura is better, K is about the same, H is worse), but I think it's the combined total of all of her changes that really made a difference. She lost easy knockdowns, and as a result got compensated in a bunch of ways: better and faster normals, more damage output, more combo routes. As a result, her neutral game better, her confirms into damage multiplied and improved, and the changes to her counters made her strong defensive game a little stronger. Each of these things alone are not that significant, but together they make her good. So, the sum total of Baiken's improvements are what makes her good in +R, not any one thing alone. Honestly, I think the biggest trouble most Baiken players have is that there is now a LOT of stuff to know about and remember on the fly in a match, much of which has a significant execution requirement, so she has a steep learning curve.

Baiken's chain move used be 12 frames, so it could still get counter hits on lvl 1 moves (since the moves still have some recovery). A perfect buffered counter used to counter hit Sol's 2P iirc, but it was a pain in the ass to do consistently. Also, keep in mind that you can low profile Sakura's hit-box (unless that's changed too, but I don't think it has). So, moves like Sol's 2D will still go under it. And Sakura's not invulnerable anymore, so Sakura FRC can be a bit harder to utilize in making the move safe. And you can still throw Sakura attempts. It's generally unsafe to abuse Sakura, and no matter how good your timing is, you will not land perfect buffered counters every time. Even if you could, your opponent won't time things the way you think all the time. People mess up oki timings, and the flow of match makes perfectly timed buffered counters impossible to do all the time, or even most of the time. People can also delay their attacks slightly (like a just slightly delayed oki) and get a counter hit against Baiken's 2S (Sol, for example, can do this with with a delayed 6P on wakeup, and that leads to lots of damage). Then again, I think Baiken should be able to option select that with FD (since the first two frames of 2S can be cancelled to FD), but she can still be thrown. Of course, she can also add in a jump there, but then she gets vulnerable to lows. Baiken's got ways to abuse Sakura but there are answers to it, which Baiken has answers to, which have their own answers from Baiken's opponent, and blah blah theory fighter. The point is, the move isn't full-proof, and the application of how to beat the move is anything but impractical -- in fact, the answers to Sakura tend to be easier to execute consistently than Sakura itself. Overall, I don't think Sakura is broken, or even close to it. It's strong, but there are ways to deal with it. And my own simplified tier-list opinion: A bit better than everyone else: Zappa, Faust, Dizzy, Millia Everyone else: Everyone else A bit worse than everyone else: Robo-Ky, Bridget, Venom

Went to another tournament, and made quite a few errors. Not to mention dropped combos (so many combos that I shouldn't have dropped). So yeah, if anyone's willing to do more critiques of my Minazuki, I'd appreciate it. Rath (Margaret) vs Orrax (Minazuki): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCDQkCHhxw&list=UU4n3mpDrD-noB7uMkKSD00Q#t=935 - This one is particularly bad, I think. It was my first match in the tournament, and ugh what was I even doing. Wrong follow up to the auto-combo, missed an input on the way to super and got a terribly timed dp. Dejixal (SLabrys) vs Orrax (Minazuki): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCDQkCHhxw&list=UU4n3mpDrD-noB7uMkKSD00Q#t=3540 - I don't think either of us knew this matchup very well. I kept throwing knives into SLabrys' persona, which wasn't very useful. I start to use more 2D instead by the end, though. [Loser's finals] Zeromus (Naoto) vs Orrax (Minazuki): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bpH-LDxpxw&list=UU4n3mpDrD-noB7uMkKSD00Q&index=4 - Part of the first match was cut off, and an entire set I played against another player seems to be missing. Rath said he was going to reupload these because some stuff got cut off, so I'll fix the links when he does. I think there were also a few streaming issues, because some of this match is choppy. [Grand Finals] Rath (Margaret) vs Orrax (Minazuki): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bpH-LDxpxw&list=UU4n3mpDrD-noB7uMkKSD00Q#t=499 - I managed to reset the bracket, but then... dunno, guess I just fell apart, because I didn't win a single round after that. Or maybe Rath just got more serious about it, heh.

GGs everyone! I'm sad I couldn't win Persona for Tucson's Mighty Minazuki Army, haha. Congrats to Ryan for winning Blaz and Persona, and to HF for taking first in UNIEL. And thanks to Ryan for running it.