Heavy_Mental

It would help if you elaborated on this bit instead of the lower bit. You still seem to be mainly emphasizing some insurmountable barrier. You seem to be saying time seems to be the factor that's out of one's control. Your example seems a bit extreme though. Obviously, the difference between the skills and experience of the two players is far too great for the inexperience player to catch up in a limited amount of time. I have to say that time I don't consider time that much of a factor though. Players improve at different speeds. I started playing Blazblue about a year ago and only started taking fighting games more seriously in the latter half of that year, but I can hold my own against all the players that used to wreck me, and can even destroy some of them on occasion. Bear in mind that I play Tager, whom as everyone should know, has some horrific matchups. Also, it's worth mentioning that all the people I play are a good couple years older than me, youngest are in their early to mid 20s. They all have more fighting game experience than me.Anyways, my point is that where players start out is much less important than what they do with their "quest", so to speak. Sorry if my point's not too clear. Not sure how to respond since yours wasn't either. How about you explain your ideas in basic terms instead of attempting analogy?

I think diospyros misunderstood your post. I don't blame him though, as it was worded in a way that suggested some people are simply better players than others AND that there is no way for players with inferior natural ability to surpass them. My interpretation of your post is that it's about acknowledging that some people are indeed better than you and figuring out what they are doing to make them better, but not about resigning to a mentality of hopelessness, which is what diospyros seems to think. Think you mean "predetermined".

Lol, that's your problem asshat. Seriously though, was just trolling, having my fair share of LULZ YA KNOW?! No disagreements there. Sounds like the next logical step would be to find new opponents and/or get new friends. Fighting against the same 'ol schmucks, especially schmucks you can get regular perfects on and only lose once in a blue moon to, is not going to get you to the next level. You need to find better opponents. The harder they curb stomp you the better, at least in my case, because that strongly motivates me to step my game up. It's good for your gameplay and your ego. I agree with your fighing game philosophy though and approach my matches the same way. Might not win all my matches, but as long as I learned something, s'all good.

Good work man. Seeing those unmagnetized 3K+ combos has assuaged some of my fears of CS Tager being an uncharacteristically low-damaging grappler.

No u.

You mean safe block-string enders? That shouldn't be too hard to figure out as long as you know Tager's gatlings. Most everything can gatling into 4D and 4D is neutral on block.

Alrighty then. By the way, I'll be playing some CS this Saturday at my friends. Anyone need any combos to be tested out?

I'll remember this the next time I go over to my friend's place to play CS. Little fucker has Astroll Finished me a couple times; need to get back at him and let his Ragna know what's what. Does it work on all characters?

I'm all ears brah.

Wrong. And I hope the 8 or 7 extra "a's in "same" was a bizarre typo on your part instead of some attempt to emphasize my hypocrisy because my kid brother in the 2nd grade does the same thing when he tries to accuse me of hypocrisy. Hate to put you on the same level as that glue-sniffer. Seriously though, you missed my point. You guys sound like a pair of geeks who just discovered your first Nietzsche book and are now attempting to speak in a manner which adequately conveys the lofty intellectual heights you think you've ascended to. In other words, you two sound like pretentious 'tards. Just had a mental image of a white guy with dreadlock implants sitting on a beanbag talking about gateway drugs and how drugs are the key to reaching different planes of consciousness. That wasn't meant to be a compliment sweetheart. But yes, I would most certainly like to feel your mango. To be on topic even if only a little bit, I think anyone serious about playing fighting games competitively should strive for continuous improvement. Always looking for new things to improve has kept me motivated and interested in playing fighting games.

Pseudo-intellectualism on a fighting game forum, now there's a first. Not to completely dismiss Mizzet's otherwise painfully mundane observation put forth in such carefully wrought phrases such as "exact composition" and "difficult to determine empirically" and Infectellect's attempt at imitating his favorite philosophers and speaking to the human condition - there are some grains of truth in your posts, but Christ, you guys make it sound as if we're discussing existentialism or Kantian theories of perception. Can't entirely fault you gentlemen though, this thread seems to invite everyone to engage in some pseudo-intellectual philosophizing of their own. Oh wait, that was what this thread was all about to begin with wasn't it? My bad.

Mhm. Playing only to get a valuable reward - totally not shallow brah!

2C doesn't hit low if I remember correctly. Go with 3C. Any "air-to-ground pressure land 6B" seems to work pretty well. People generally don't expect overheads to be thrown out at the beginning of a combo. Hell, just rushing up and doing Gauntlet Hades can work. It's pretty darn worth it as well, since Ragna can get 4K off of it.

Glad to hear you got something out of it. =D I've never actually considered that option because the immediate burst puts them at such a low height I doubted Collider would drag them far, if at all. I'll have to give that combo video another look.

Some words of advice: 1. Don't do random shit at the beginning of the round. You're pretty lucky you got off with a CH j.A and not something else. One knockdown is all Bang needs to start pressure/mix-up, essentially giving him control of the match's pace which you absolutely do not want. Bang is very difficult to get rid of once he's up and in your face. 2. Full/half-screen j.2C is just asking for it. Not only is it retardedly easy to punish (on block, whiff, or mid-move), you're not likely to land a followup combo unless it's a CH and that's only if your opponent fucks up real bad. 3. Do not blow your Spark Load the first chance you get. I'm sure everyone's been there. Your hands are sweating, your adrenaline's kicking in, you've just bursted, you've only got pixels worth of health left, your Spark meter is full, you're itching to get that one single hit you need to make a glorious comeback to seal the round and possibly the match. There's just one problem: Any player who's halfways decent is going to block it. If you know it's highly unlikely you'll be able to land a hit off Spark Volt, at least get into a range where a blocked Spark Volt will allow you to get in and pressure/mixup him. If you're desperate or have the meter to burn, blocked Spark Volt RC 2D will do the trick. Otherwise, just hold onto the Spark Volt. Most players will play defensively when they see your Spark meter is full. Use that to gain some ground. 4. Don't burst like a retard. Sure you've got a sizeable life-lead but one good combo can take that all away. Even if you are confident that you can catch your opponent, remember that you are playing Tager and that most of his matches are spent preventing from getting whomped instead of whomping. Ragebursts do not help. 5. Anticipate those bursts. Though it didn't happen in the matches, people typically burst after getting hit by Spark Volt. Some do it as the wallbounce sends them flying back towards Tager, some do it after getting hit by followup 5C/2C, and the smarter ones do it the moment they are hit, which instantly stops their momentum and puts them at a distance from Tager. The first sort of burst can be remedied by simply blocking and waiting for the burst or by MTW. The former option will allow you to either 5C/2C them out of the air or 360 them when they land provided they are close enough. The downside to this option though is if you guess wrong, you just (partially) wasted a Spark Volt and a good chunk of damage. MTW on the other hand will eat right through the burst and most likely kill 'em on the spot. The downside to this is if you do the MTW too early and they happen to do the 3rd type of burst I mentioned, then MTW will whiff completely and you will feel like an utter dumbass. The trick is to buffer the 23626 motion but only hit B until they are flying towards you. The second sort of burst is probably the easiest to punish. If you are feeling like Mike Z, you can cancel the 5C/2C into Voltic Charge right through the burst and 720 them once they land.Done it a few times myself and I'll be damned if it ain't one of the most satisfying things 'bout playing Tager. Unfortunately if they don't burst, you'll have again wasted Spark Volt and good damage. The safer but equally effective option though is to simply RC. You can choose to RC immediately or choose to RC slightly later. Go with the first option if they're packing a Gold Burst or you're confident they'll burst and go with the second option if they've got a Green Burst and you've got the reactions to catch it or if you're not entirely that they'll burst and don't want to burn the meter. The good thing about this option is that even if they don't burst, you can still continue the combo and at least get some decent damage off the Spark Volt hit. The 3rd sort of burst is the hardest to punish. I haven't worked out a guaranteed punish for this myself as it's a hard situation to set up without a partner, but RCing the Spark Volt into 2D and B-Sledge has worked on occassion. Doing B-Sledge immediately after Spark Volt hits will work as well, but if he doesn't burst then you just wasted Spark Volt. Doing a non-RC 2D will at least put you closer to him. I would suggest doing RC B-Sledge and non-RC 2D. The B-Sledge you can combo off of and 2D will allow you to go for mix-up. Most people seem to jump, so your best bets are Collider or 6A. The latter will also catch backdashes. The other situations where people burst require less analysis. In the situation where Bang bursted after getting hit by OTG B-Sledge can't be reliably punished unless you have 100% meter, where it would be B-Sledge RC MTW. Otherwise, at best you can only RC, IB the burst, and hopefully catch him trying to backdash with 5C. I've managed to land the 5C following the burst occasionally though I'm not sure if it's because it came out fast enough or if they were mashing backdash. If you do land the 5C, you can follow it up with 5D or Spark Volt if you have it. In the final situation where he bursted, you had just hit him with a j.2C, which is a great combo starter. You should've just gone for 6C MTW instead of B-Sledge. The MTW would've killed him if he'd bursted. Even if it didn't, he'll still lose a good chunk of his life. Plus, the MTW will put you close enough to him for you to land an OTG 2B, which you can either 360/Collider/blackbeat 2C->Collider followup depending on if he neutral/forward-backward/doesn't tech. I think 2B recovers fast enough for you to block the burst. 6. Don't do random backdashes. Tager's backdash has plenty of IFs but it's also stupidly long like hangover. Bang's D-Nails will catch it, as will him running or jumping around throwing his fists and feet in your face. Don't do it unless you know it's safe. 7. Don't throw out full-screen Colliders. As demonstrated, Bang's D-Nails will hit you out of it for a nice free CH combo. Wait for him to come closer and if you anticipate an IAD/Jump-In, then pluck the little fucker out of the air, by all means. Otherwise, full-screen Colliders can get you hurt against Bang. This is true for 2C -> delayed Collider tech-traps/resets as well. Good players will watch for that and use D-Nails to punish you. 8. You need to work on your mixup game. I noticed Bang wasn't blocking low too often. Make him pay for that with 2B. You can go followup with the standard combo or you can go for the 360B mixup. Do option one if you can put Bang in the corner, do option 2 if he's already there. 9. Learn to IB. IBing is absolutely critical to learn if you want to get anywhere good with Tager. IB the D-Nails like Axis said. 5B->2B->2C->623B is a common Bang blockstring and is easy to IB. 5B->2B is also a very common Bang gatling; learn to IB at least the 2B if they just threw out 5B. Crossups are fairly easy to IB, just wait until the last-moments or when he's falling down. I've just gotten serious about learning how to IB myself and am practicing IBing Bang's blockstrings myself. Working on IB'ing his 5A->2A->5B->2B->tk.D-Nails x N currently. It's just a matter of nailing the proper rhythms, commiting it to muscle memory, and then recognizing the blockstrings and gatlings and acting accordingly during the actual game. 10. LEARN TO TECH PINK THROWS! No further analysis needed. Hope this advice is of some use to you. Didn't bother to write up a tl;dr because I assumed since you bothered to record your video in HD, post it up online, and ask for advice from strangers on the Internet, you'd be willing to read a couple paragraphs or so. Cheers.

He has an arguably easier time getting in now with better oki (though if you ask me Gadget Finger is pretty shitty outside of getting the guy magnetized, and you still have 2D for that) and buffed 5D. His damage took a big hit and outside of 2C FC combos, resets, and certain setups like CH j.D, he hardly hits for more than 3.5K. He is able to get in and land combos more consistently now though, so it isn't all that bad. His AA is a little better with the buffs to 2C and Atomic Collider, though they are still rather situational. 2A is a decent AA if spaced correctly. I think the main things that prevent him from being higher tier are all the buffs to other charactes. He still has tough matchups against pretty much everyone and several of them got a lot tougher, namely his matchups with Ragna, Bang, Litchi, Hakumen, Tao. Each of them can output greater average damage than Tager and can safely pressure/zone him

Jumping against Bang works decently. I'm far too conservative to throw out 360s unless Bang's magnetized. I played a Tao last night. 2A and 5A worked rather well.

I tend to throw out my 5C at 6C range. Great for catching people trying to rush in and reasonably safe from most punish attempts. Anything closer than 6C range though and I'll use 5A, though only on Ragna, Bang, or Tao. Most other characters' pokes outclass Tager's at that range.

50 meter plus a Spark Volt seems like a pretty steep price to pay for a gamble, despite it being potentially game-winning. Then again, this is Tager we are talking about and people do tend to lose their cool if they get hit by Spark Volt. Whatever works I suppose.

Impressive stuff, but he could've buffered the 720 in both of those situations. Standing 720 is considered impractical for a reason.

This is useful info. I'll try them the next time I get a match in.

I guess I'll just be using that combo on Rachel, or at least go for a simpler version on most characters. Tested CH j.2C>2B>2C>Collider>B-Sledge>Followup(RC)>5C>Collider Does 6K damage provided the j.2C is done immediately before landing or slightly before that. Works on normal hit if j.2C is instant. Neat combo, not too situational. Got any combos to follow up on Collider resets?

Tried the combo on Taokaka and only managed to get it to work once. Can't get it to work on Noel but I suspect I'm doing something wrong. I can never manage to get the 5C to hit since they're nearly always grounded after the second j.2C.

I'm pretty conservative when it comes to meter usage so I rarely throw out Spark Volt unless I can put the enemy in the corner for a tech trap or if I'm planning a reset. My big damage combos usually just use Heat since I wanna save that Spark Volt to keep my enemy on his toes and hopefully get in. I was messing around yesterday and managed to pull off a 7K combo but I quickly forget how it went. Wasn't probably too meter-friendly but it's fun to see 60% of your opponent's lifebar dissapear in one combo. Mind posting yours? A 6A CH isn't too hard to pull off actually, provided the opponent's been magnetized and you watch your spacing.