Synthesis

With the amount of SoD that Mu uses in blockstrings, he's not going to have a full guard meter when she starts to zone. That's just not plausible. Also, Throwing out steins and using 236D before you fall prevents him from sparkbolting you and comboing you because her 236D laser DOES NOT GO AWAY WHEN SHE IS HIT. Why on earth are you going to waste a sparkbolt just to have her magnetized when you then place yourself in a very very risky scenario? A counter hit 236D laser leads to a standard BnB which will send him back to the other side without his sparkbolt, and possibly without Mu being magnetized. Also, about using a reversal to beat his sparkbolt, I'm not sure if when I did it it just clashed, but I just tested it out again and it does indeed magnetize even then. My apologies.

You can delay how you fall for a very long time when you jump by placing steins. This forces Tager to guess when you are going to land or guess when you are in range for sparkbolt. He also has to guess whether or not the laser will hit him out of his sparkbolt. Also, when Mu lands from jumping an placing steins, she can land and DP on reaction if he sparkbolts. Waiting for sparkbolt is NOT a viable tactic. Stacking steins on him using 6[D] will break his guard fast when used in conjunction with 214D, so he MUST approach. He can't simply block or wait you out to get that sparkbolt. And that being said, if his only answer to Mu's zoning is to hope he lands a sparkbolt, then that only solidifies this as a horrid matchup. One gimmick isn't enough to even it out.

Mashing DP is rarely ever good at all! It's just good if you know the situation. Also, in reference to using 6C in blockstrings, you can do it every once in a while to catch a Tager off guard, but I would never suggest using it regularly because that guessing game is indeed a risk. I'm just saying that if you want to use a 6C instead of a SoD so you can cancel it and place steins, then go ahead but do it seldomly. If he sledges the 6C, reversal. This places Tager into a guessing game after 5C of whether or not I'm going to 6C or SoD. If he attempts to sledge because he thinks I'll be doing a 6C instead of a SoD, I send him back to the other side of the screen. That's what the occasionaly 6C is for.

DP will beat 360 or 720 if he cancels into that after the dash. His 421 is a different story, and so it comes down to guessing at that point, but most Tagers won't cancel into his charge move for fear of cancelling into a 3C which will lead to some pretty retarded damage.

I watched the video, and that looks fantastic. It seems to even be safe against MTW (if you use DP, it will clash, so use DP again and it will cleanly beat MTW). Very nice.

Mu's air-to-air is much better than Jin's. I wouldn't be to worried about stuffing him in the air.

Here's another fun fact: Tager can sledge through your 6C in blockstrings. Here are things Tager players don't know about Mu. If Tager uses an A sledge, Mu can reversal upon reaction and either beat or clash Tager's sledge. If it clashes, hit another DP and you'll knock him to the other side of the screen and he'll have to make it back in again. If he does a B sledge, you can cancel into SoD for a counterhit and send him to the other side of the screen. He'll have to run the gauntlet again. If you're doing anything and he uses SB, you can reaction with her reversal and negate the hit AND the magnetism. You just need to pay attention. This is horrible for Tager. Tager has options, yes, and Mu can make mistakes, but these pure and simple options against him make the matchup worse than 6-4. By a reasonable amount.

Mu players need to also keep in mind that although the matchup might be 7-3, this is just a chance to win based off skill level. If two players are of an even skill level, the Mu has a 70% chance to win (with proper matchup experience)

Considering that Tager can guess correctly when he gets on you is like saying I can win if I guess correctly. Guessing can go both ways, and in this case, Mu benefits the most from guessing correctly. If she does, she goes back to zoning and forces Tager to run the gauntlet again. Because of this option, Tager MUST make many less mistakes than Mu when he gets in, and since that is the case and Mu can react everything Tager does while zoning, this gives her the advantage by a large amount. We aren't saying it's impossible for Tager to win, but because his only means of mixup is a guessing game and Mu has so many options out of it, I'd place this at 7-3. His chances to win aren't great, but it isn't terrible. He just had to consistently guess correctly.

That they are! Must learn them!

Do you know what keeps Tager out especially well? 63214C. If you 5C 6C, and you see him sledge the 6C, just cancel into DP or 63214C if you think you can hit him out of it in time. Tager can't punish a blocked 63214C unless he has sparkbolt. On wakeup, just space a max range 6C. If he sledges, cancel it the same way you do again. If he 720s, you get a FC and get to do stupid damage. Never rush him down. Just hit him from max distance using your pokes to beat him out. He won't be able to get to you and any time a 5C, 6C or 63214C connects, you knock him down on the other side of the screen and reset the gauntlet. I'd say this matchup is at least 7-3 in Mu's favor. Tager has no options, but the only reason it isn't an oh my god I'm losing matchup for Tager is because he still has the opportunity to get in if you make a mistake. Also, 2C beats all of his air options.

Just a question, but are you implying this is another zoning match where you just need to stay away? No rush down needed? If that's the case, no wonder I had some problems with her. I would always set up oki and try to 5C max range meaty to hurt a bitch, but Litchi's pokes are retarded and destroy yours so even if you get her to start blocking, it feels like you can't keep it up.

DP isn't an end all to pressure, guys. Sure it's good, but her DP flat out loses to Litchi's j.B. I'm not even joking. DP is very unsafe on whiff or block. Why are you throwing out risks that could get you killed when you can simply block and wait to get out of pressure? And I'm talking about at neutral. I'm NEVER going to DP at neutral because that is the most retarded idea ever. I rape Ragna's that do that all the time.

No, because he'll continue to guard point them for the entirety of the explosion.

Litchi's 5B will beat anything you throw at her. Her 5B is faster than 5C but 5C has slightly more range.

I agree with pulsr. Always play safe and never risk anything, though. If you call a ID on wakeup, pop your steins in his face. It will destroy ID, be a good oki setup, and I believe carnage scissors gets hit too. This gives you good damage and you're on your way to condition him to just block. Once he blocks more, you essentially get free rush down and this match gets significantly easier.

So, I was in a ranbat today, and I literally lost to a Bang and a Litchi. I got 3rd overall. The stupid part here is this: On oki, I set steins and did a max range 5C to bait his jump out and to keep pressure on him. I planned on using a block string such as 5C 6C 214D (he was near a stein) so I could rush back in and pressure, but to use 5C to stay safe from a distance. What does the Bang do? He his 5A when he gets up and COUNTER HITS my 5C at absolute max range, my lasers for protection disappear and he gets a full BnB that won him the game. This matchup is retarded, and it is by far her worst matchup. You could have used 6C in that instance to bait mashing, but mashing is never a viable option, so baiting mashing is a much worse idea than to prevent jump outs. I don't know. This matchup feels like Mu just loses. I don't see a way around Bang anymore.

Well, for stein explosion setups, off Oki there's always that threat, but the best setup I've seen in order for you to consistently use steins in combos is 5D 4D and then if they're patient enough or you think you can get away with more steins, do j.2D IABD 5D. This gives a ton of steins at a level where the opponent can't just get out of 214D threat range without jumping. To Pulsr: About that setup using the IAD j.B. I probably just play extremely bad people, honestly. I constantly play people who don't respect oki or rushdown or safe setups and I get easy combos and setups from it. This makes a problem for me, though, since I expect them to learn, but they simply don't so instead of learning trickier setups or respecting them, I have to just punish mash out attempts. I think that's why that j.B oki worked. I mean, I raped someone just by doing 5D 214D and they WOULD RUN AT ME UNTIL THEY GOT HIT. I mean, seriously. I don't see why people in this game are so impatient. Play some Melty, man.

I agree with Aginor about the Bang matchup, but I don't believe she's mid tier. I think she's high-mid to high tier. Her matchups aren't terrible and the threat of 6C FC combos is just too much to handle. I've landed those combos far too many times these past couple of days. Also, her j.B is a good air to ground tool. It will lose to certain ground attacks, but you could always do j.2C with a stein to protect your landing if it's blocked for air to ground. For wakeup air to ground, just do j.B. Her 2B cross under is just crazy. It's so ridiculously good. If Mu ends up being mid tier or lower, I'm going to assume it's because people/players figured out her setups in and out and found guaranteed ways around them. Her setups and strings are just so varied that I have literally found at least 4 ways to make unsafe things safe and to punish other players. An example: 6C 5D 6D IAD j.B Depending on the timing of the j.B, you'll either cross up or not, but the laser from the 5D will hit meaty. That being said, if you cross up, they'll have to anticipate it and block correctly to block the laser. This is midscreen. I don't know know many characters that have this sort of mixup midscreen.

I say it's in Mu's favor but it's an annoying matchup. Just space your pokes correctly and she can't just charge to get near you. I don't even know how many times I punished Tao's from rushing in by punishing them with a FC 6C

Fun setup: 6C 5D 6D IAD j.B It either crosses up or doesn't depending on how far away they are after the 6C and the lasers will protect you even if you get hit, say if they mash.

Can't you bait her air super by just zoning all day and canceling stein placement on reaction by jumping if she does an air super to punish? The same reason you wouldn't spam 236D in this matchup if she has meter is the same reason you wouldn't spam it if Tager had a sparkbolt stocked up. If you spam stein placement intelligently, she'll have to run in to hit you, in which case you'll have to play defensive or poke her out to keep her from hitting you. There is a problem with this, though. IAD air super is really good. If she IAD's at you, just block or backdash away. Don't try to anti-air because any good Noel worth their salt is going to have already buffered in the super so they can hit it if they see you try and anti-air them. This leads to stupid damage, you being knocked down, and then getting rushed down for a bit. EDIT: By spamming 236D in this matchup, I mean don't use it if she has meter. Just use the regular steins to inflict damage and take away primers. This match just revolves around being patient when Noel has meter. If they're a bad Noel, feel free to rock their face without any effort.

I love you, but lets keep this thread on topic, please. Hotenjin hurts. Don't use 6B against him if he has meter. He can reaction a FC hotenjin. T_T

I think someone needs to learn some notation lol. Mu doesn't have a 612C, 41236C or a 236C. Bad notation, but I think I understand what you mean. Anyways, the 63214C is good for smacking Hakumen out of the air, methinks. Someone should try this after a stein if he IAD's it.