Ronove

Block C-5: Nagakura (Carl) In regards of Block B-7... it was initially reported on the jBBS that Dora apparently won the qualifier final but it was corrected by others saying that Goro did win it. I guess in this case we'd better wait for the official results at the Tougeki website to show up. Other things worth mentioning: - Isa apparently showed up at a local qualifier in the Hokkaido region, and won. For those of you who are not familiar with Japan's geography, it's the big island located at the north of the country. While we don't know his motives for being there (family? vacation?) we do know that Hokkaido could be considered a convenient place to easily qualify compared to tough regions like Kantou, Kansai and Chubu. Ironically though it was a local Valkenhayn player who won the blue ticket final, and not Isa. - The number of Tsubaki players winning red ticket local qualifiers has been increasing, meaning the character can effectively be considered among those able to actually be decisive at tournament level. - We have the first Ragna to have won a red ticket local qualifier: Kuma in block C-4. So far he's the only Ragna player in the whole country who has a chance to try and win a blue ticket. - No Platinum players have managed to even win a local qualifier.

Update: Block B-2: Kyaku (Carl) Block C-1: Izayoi Matoi (Taokaka) Block B-2 was quite the show of the big guns, Kyaku came on top in a block where the opponents were Fumo, Isa, Goro, R-1, H.H and Kouya. Mad props to him. As usual the full results and coverage of each local qualifier can be found here: http://arcade-extreme.forumfree.it/?t=55676254#entry454693181

I think we could have a whole thread dedicated to her blockstrings and tachimawari, I think it's worth discussing it and analyzing it in details rather than just making a short list of "do this, do that" and having people mechanically learn that rather than trying to understand why it's better to use a certain setup in a specific situation and how to make proper use of all of them.

j.B isn't exactly supposed to be a jump-in tool, though on certain characters it might still hit them. Her j.B is regarded as amazing as an anti-air move because it comes out fast, has a good hitbox and on CH it can lead to really good combos+corner carry. If you're looking for an aerial move to hit crouchers just use her j.C©

"Priority" isn't exactly a an exact term to use, in my opinion. What you're looking for is for moves that have a good hitbox and come out fast enough in order to help you getting in. on ground it's her 2A from close range, and 5B as a poke. On air it's her j.A and her j.B. If you get countered it only means that you need to learn to play footsies and improve your fundamentals, just being near the opponent and pressing a button doesn't mean you will automatically hit and get in, other characters have moves as fast and as reliable as Makoto's pokes. You need to learn to efficiently move on ground and "sense" the moment when you can catch the opponent with your pokes before they do anything. Only by playing and praticing you'll gradually learn when you can dash in and hit 2A and when likely you're going to trade with something or get CH'd. Besides, I don't think she's slow at all. Her dash 2A is pretty much amazing.

Well about time they finally brought this on consoles. I've been playing this on coin-op and it's one solid game. Nothing "amazing" but it's still pretty damn nice.

An other stupid easy combo to use when Makoto is like 3/4 of the screen (still in "midscreen" position but not too far away from the corner): 5Aor2A＞5B＞5CC＞6B＞5C＞5D>dash 2D>2C>214B~D>236A~D>walk back 5CC>JB>JD>5D>orb okizeme it pretty much deals almost the same damage as regular corner combos off 2A/5A I'm really liking how flexible her combos are so far.

Sure: http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/bbs/read.cgi/game/45148/1292242991/801-900

If anything I'd swap Arakune's and Litchi's matchup numbers. But this is what I got from the jBBS. The matchup chart has been compiled by one of the top Makoto players (gotta find out who, for instance the Hazama matchup chart is done by Buppa, Noel's done by R-1, etc) so it might still be somewhat biased.

Tao's CS2 matchup chart according to the japanese (source japanese BBS): vs ragna 5:5 vs jin 4.5:5.5 vs noel 4.5:5.5 vs tager 6:4 vs tao - vs rachel 4.5:5.5 vs arakune 6:4 vs litchi 5:5 vs carl 5:5 vs bang 6:4 vs hakumen 5.5:4.5 vs lambda 6:4 vs tsubaki 5.5:4.5 vs hazama 4.5:5.5 vs mu 5.5:4.5 vs makoto 4.5:5.5 vs valk 5:5 vs platinum 5.5:4.5

Can't remember if it was posted, but this is Makoto's matchup chart according to the japanese players (source is japanese BBS): vs ragna 5.5:4.5 vs jin 6:4 vs noel 5:5 vs tager 5.5:4.5 vs tao 6:4 vs rachel 5.5:4.5 vs arakune 5:5 vs litchi 6.5:3.5 vs carl 5:5 vs bang 6:4 vs hakumen 6:4 vs lambda 5:5 vs tsubaki 5.5:4.5 vs hazama 5.5:4.5 vs mu 6:4 vs makoto - vs valk 6:4 vs platinum 6:4 I'm actually surprised by matchups vs Tao being in Makoto's favour (I always considered it to be even or slightly in favor of Tao) and Litchi being Makoto's best matchup (I guess it's because of j.B and parry?)

That's because the Tougeki website hasn't posted the result yet. I got it from the japanese BBS.

My source is the japanese BBS, and of course Tougeki's website. But sometimes at Tougeki's website they're slow with the updates and they often tend to forget to post a couple of results.

Yep, they work perfectly fine on characters on whom you can't normally go for 236CC > 5D~A

Spot B-6 is likely going to be toughest one for Kantou area. Also a couple of qualifiers between Kansai and Chubu areas are going to overlap, things might get even harder for Tsujikawa and other top players who hang around both regions.

Current list of qualified players for the national finals: Kantou Region B-1: Konan (Tsubaki) B-3: Keita (Makoto) B-5: Kazuhira (Taokaka) Chubu Region C-2: R-2 (Noel) C-3: Yoshiki (Lambda) (Nao-san Aishiteru = Yoshiki) Kansai/Kinki Region D-2: Galileo (Litchi) Chuugoku/Shikoku Region E-1: Eruo (Jin) E-3: Kiabui (Lambda) Kyushu/Okinawa Region F-2: Wataru (Makoto)

Stan McJeeves, for the 3C corner routes add these two to the first post: 5B -> 3C -> dash 5B -> 5C -> j.8D~A loop (x5) 5B -> 3C -> 236C(1) -> 5B -> 5C -> j.8D~A loop (x4)

He might have entered for the B-3 qualifiers and simply couldn't win a local qualifier for all we know, afterall it's in his area and it would be weird if he hadn't tried. Chiba prefecture has plenty of big names playing, it's not like he had a guaranteed chance to make it through... Look at Tsujikawa, he's already tried twice and failed at winning one of the block finals. Izayoi Matoi even traveled to (E block area) Chugoku region to try again after having failed for C-2 block (Kansai area) and yet couldn't win the E-1 qualifier (won by Eruo). Players who appeared to be strong candidates in the end are facing difficulties because the overall level is pretty damn high and CS2 so far seems to be a more balanced game. Moreover the 1v1 format is pretty unforgiving, and I agree with the local players who complained saying that the tournament organization should have made it 2v2 or 3v3 instead. With the 1v1 format areas like the Kantou, Kansai and Chubu region are going to become a true warzone since the majority of the top players play in these regions and the qualifying spots are limited. A lot of big names won't likely make it because they'll be eliminating each other. It's also pretty ironic that the first players who qualified for Kantou region (B block area) are Keita and Kazuhira, who despite both being really good they were usually considered to be sort of underdogs compared to the plethora of other big notorious players who were almost given for granted to qualify (Goro, Buppa, Fumo, Dora, Ren, Dio, Kyaku etc) From what I recall reading months ago they are holding a separate event for these games, like some sort of side tournament.

Tetsuwo won a local qualifier on Block B-5, but as we already know the block final was won by Kazuhira.

No idea... the qualifiers in Chiba prefecture (where Buppa hangs around, it's the area of Roppou Game Chariot and Anesaki Game Chariot arcades) have already been played, it's the block that Keita has won.

E block area is Chugoku+Shikoku regions. E-1 block in particular is the Okayama prefecture area. F-2 block qualified player is Wataru (Makoto). If Soniti doesn't mind I can help with the tournament coverage, I'm already doing it extensively at the italian community forum (here) with red ticket and blue ticket qualifiers updated with results and location of each arcade center.

Bottom point is: 3C is not as safe as it used to be when used to avoid projectiles/pokes, it's now become a high-risk/high-reward tool. Given how the move is slow on its own I don't think that it's really worth it investigating on all moves that can be evaded with it, we already know what we need to know about it (that projectiles and pokes punish it), that should be more than enough info to warn players about the risks of using it.

Loving Oni-i's way of playing Makoto. While he doesnt' look as solid as other top japanese players, I like the way he freestyles with her combos depending on her position on screen, oki, health, character matchup. It feels like he comes up with most of them right on the spot instead of playing typical flowchart/textbook Makoto.

Easy combo for those who are still practicing 2366A and still want to do decent damage and end with oki: 2A>5B>5CC>6BC>5D3>dash 2C>214BD3>236AD3>2C>2D3>JD3>5D>orb oki We should get started with a CS2 combo thread btw, latest batch of vids (especially those with Oni-i playing) have a lot of interesting stuff. It's been confirmed since the first location tests 7 months ago... Don't use 3C to move around when the opponent is on the ground. The only occasion when it might be safely used is when you're trying to approach on an airborne opponent who's actually falling down away from you. But then again dash 2A/dash 5B is hundred times better than 3C to close distance.

If the combo has started off 2A or 2B it's pretty unlikely that 66236A~D will connect after 214B~B>JD, it's almost mandatory to use 2366A in that specific case. On the other hand, if the combo started from things like 5B, 6B, 5C or others then it is possible to do 66236A as well in both cases. I'm still having a tough time landing 2366A consistently, I havent' found the exact window where I have to input the motion, sometimes the orb comes out and other times I get a dash 6A/dash 5A instead