Sophisticat

New vids from that NASA tourney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXfedapRYys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzKTriuwChs Posting because the combos are interesting and the Haku is good. Note the combo at the end of the first vid for something we haven't seen in action yet.

J.C also now has less untech time. It was nerfed.

LK, could you please evaluate this Litchi: Winner's Finals. Bad Q. Bear with it. Grand Finals Better Q, but it's a blowout... I've been wondering how he fares in the eyes of the master. He's the local powerhouse. :] So you agree that Makoto isn't low tier anymore? :P

^ Haku's counters. @Ryoko: That's a bit of a depressive, though interesting read. On the other hand, Haku's going to be more fun this time around. Would you say he's worse than in CT now? Back then we had 6a/b and meter/dmg was decent. Doesn't look like he's got much going for him now...

I see, thanks for the explanation. Nice to see I was right with him respecting Arakune too much, though I should have known it would be part of something larger. And lol, I half expected you to bust out with "dudes, he mashed Hotaru, wtf is wrong with you?" (Which he did, actually. Those air Hotarus should have been air throws imo. >_>)

^ Note: His Renka(1) -> Enma bnb changed to that. What I'm not sure of is whether it supersedes his standard enma bnb assuming you have 3 stars on you.

Good Haku matches, times are in the description. v. LA <- lol @16:56 v. BA, LA v. MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QFIk0MVREk <- lol @16:56 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtm3GrvG4N4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UJCmQ4q8uQ

You don't need Hotaru to win. Downing and uping. Can't cut up the vids for some reason, but whatever. I'll edit this post with YT links.

He is broken. That's why he got toned down so much. -_-; I don't want to cause a flame war, though, so I'll leave it at that.

^ It's the new Haku BnB. More damage that way. The rest of that guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AksAEEmeh4s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJnA-mSbvog <- Gdlk moment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-BEjKw0xU0 If he weren't so counter-mashy he'd be very solid. That's his one biggest flaw. Otherwise legit Haku. EDIT: This kind of play is now the play to beat. I'll no longer post JP Haku vids in here unless they demonstrate a similar level of play or something demonstrably interesting. Doesn't stop you guys from posting everything under the sun, though.

Guys. Guys, guys, guys! I think we've got the Haku we've been looking for! :D Check this dude out from the recent Chariot vids posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LSyddF3nT8 Ain't he just pringles? There's more vids to come, so he should be in them since he won that match. Can't read his name, though. Who is it? There was another Haku, but not quite so efficient: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJEdJyf3F6E Nice to finally see him beast. He had me worried there. Good shit.

Posting Hakus from the new vids: Buppakumen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnmjAhyHTyc Mizonokuchi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5fLin0C4jk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NDWTNNDlDE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKGAUuJLvFQ

Too many/bad use of counters. He also let the Arakune faceroll over him when he should have had him respecting his space. Zoning seems a bit disordered and without a strategy in mind, but that might just be me. I saw a couple spots where meter was blown for no reason instead of setting up mixup, too. Technically, good Haku, though execution seems a bit rough in some areas. I'd also have chosen different combos in some situations, but whatever. I'm guessing this was a tourney setting, so not too much judgement on my part here. Everyone drops combos come tourney time. That's about how I see it, basically.

He's hardly random, but he is sort of new to offline meets. Already had decent netplay cred if that counts. And yes, it is Vice-Taicho. Beast of a Litchi player.

Fien. Revised Matchup Chart Better characters: Litchi, Bang, Hazama, Tao, Arakune, Valkenhayn. Good Characters: Hakumen, Ragna, Carl, Mu, Lambda, Makoto, Jin. Ok to not-so-ok: Noel, Tsubaki, Tager, Rachel. Horizontal placement is not significant. Disclaimer: This matchup chart is 100% correct. There's your revised matchup chart. Let's nip the inevitable flame war in the bud.

Meh, who cares about CS1 anyway, CS2 is looking much better all around. No more BS big damage combos into mixup -> death. Besides, the tiers are pretty much decided by this point: Better characters: Litchi, Bang, Hazama, Tao, Arakune, Valkenhayn. Good Characters: Hakumen, Ragna, Carl, Mu, Lambda. Ok to not-so-ok: Jin, Makoto, Noel, Tsubaki, Tager, Rachel. Making an order out of these is useless nitpicking. It would be better if everyone learned the matchups instead of bickering about whether there's a .5 advantage or not. -_-;

Nini... I thought we were bros, man. Why would you do this? Why? ;_;

On the topic of thought process and strategy, how exactly does one come up with a proper strategy, and what kind of mindset are we talking about? This is personally the one thing I've been struggling with recently because I find it hard to make a strategy in such a fluid environment as an FG. It's not chess where you have plenty of time to think about a move. You also can't predict which move of yours will land a hit, so thinking about the big picture is sometimes difficult. Any tips?

^ That's actually some guy called FT, not Gozaru. Here's the followup to that vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_tyOgQk6Q0 Good Haku, but nothing exceptional. Where are the Tenchi/A-92/Suzumes at?