ZhePrime

Yeah well sure, only played Hazama for about 50-60 matches but here are 2 matches: vs Carl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bieLTm5gppI vs Hakumen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-FL-SIROtM

How do I time 6D~A, 6D(~A), 623D after B+C? I have no problems with his 4D~A, 4D~D midcombo or his dash 3C after 623D, yet I find it incredibly difficult to time the [6D~A, 6D(~A), 623D] part after a neutral grab. Any pointers?

After a blocked 3C a Venom Sword (236D) should come out.

I find it easier to simply use 4D~D to pull yourself in instead (and after you've learned that you can throw in 1-2 4D~A before 4D~D), i.e. [ 214D~C, 5C, 2C, 4D~D, j.Cx5, dj, j.Cx5, j.214B ].

You asked for a good normal that could be jump cancel'd. But no, blockstrings aren't exactly her forté. Her mixup isn't mindblowing either.

Her 5A is very good, almost as good as Bangs, her 2A is also good.

Remember than you can just jump to avoid his command grabs, if he starts doing his AA grab (Atomic Collider) you can spam jumping A, it usually hits him out of it. Hazama isn't exactly one of the easiest characters to play in BlazBlue, so you might want to sub maybe Ragna or Jin to get the feel of the game before delving into you main, Hazama.

Tager is pretty much only trouble in the beginning when you're not used to fighting him and his gimmicks and traps. Only if he combos into them. The green "!" signifies it's a normal grab and you can escape it (like in SF) by pressing B+C. If you throw in any (even command) grab in a combo your character will get 2 purple "!!" above his head, meaning you can break out of the grab. The difference between the green and purple one is that the purple one has a bigger window for you to press B+C and escape. Most of it comes from experience. It would help if you could mention what specifically you have trouble with.

Yeah, i.m.o. Makoto's 3C is crap. Would be okay if she didn't do a double spin on the ground, makes it too slow and punishable.

Not much to say due to my lack of experience in this, but avoid Asteroid Vision and do a lot of jump in + barrier. Maybe try parrying her D's and doing the followup to dash in? Just speculating. Well at least it goes under her 5D and sword rain DD

People throw out BBS not as a punish and PF at random and not in a combo!?

Might've been mentioned, but something that's a little hilarious (but effective) is 236C'ing Tager's 360's and 720 after a Gadget Finger. This works due to your invincibility during his grabs active frames and since you're magnetized his grabs will pull you in within 236C grab range. I also find j.A to be good after a GF, it even beats collider (which has been mentioned), which I also find a bit hilarious.

Parrying is very important in this match. So is barrier blocking.

Barrier blocking, the rest is usually too unsafe.

Yes, if you do her 3C early. Which you only do if you try to be psychic, do it at random or you know it's coming (like if you recorded it in Training). Normally you don't do something so unsafe at random or try to be psychic with it. If you use 3C it should be used as a punishment for him doing a 5C or 5D, which doesn't work since you have to see the 5C/5D startup and if you input 3C it will be too late and he can catch you in a 360. Her double spin on the ground is more than enough time for him to react and do a 360 (or even a 720!). That's a good punishment... for Tager, not Makoto :8/:

If you use 3C on reaction to TG's 5C/5D then he will whiff but also recover and be able to land a 360 before your 3C attack hits. Doing the moves at the same time means you're doing 3C at random, not on reaction. At random 3C can get punished and that isn't exactly ideal.

Personally I like Lv2 2D (if you catch them in a CH), you can literally do whatever you want, you can even run up and just do Particle Flare for some lazy damage as he comes down. edit: for that matter, 3C goes under and hits tager during 5D. and if you do it before or at the same time, 5C

After a little experimenting I came to the conclusion that your safest bet is to just block if Tager does a j.D and you're in the air, if you're close you might wanna do a j.623C. On the ground I find Makoto's 2D to be much better at punishing certain air attacks, like Tager's j.D, then Makoto's 6A. Since on CH at Lv2 you get the same bounce as a gold burst and a Lv3 you get a Fatal CH, it's also easy to land. His j.B should be punished with 6A, though. Tager's 5C and 5d have an annoying range to be sure, and neither Asteroid Vision, Comet Cannon nor 3C are "good" options. Instead I found that Makoto's Lv3 5D is one of her best bets. Even at Lv3 the move is too fast for Tager to be able to react and punish (altough TG's 5C and MK's 5D can trade, but you get a Fatal CH an he doesn't), on block he can't punish you due to block-stun and pushback. Not an amazing option, but the best i.m.o. in the poking game vs Tager. And it really doesn't matter much i.m.o. if the Tager player is sharp, since Makoto is mostly too fast to be able to react and punish, so it's down to a guessing game. If Tager guesses right you can eat maybe 3k on average tops, but if he guesses wrong he can eat +4k. But again, gonna playtest and experiment some more.

This isn't really a "problem", since this is very common vs Tager anyways, i.e. Tager trying to guess and punish. There's a 50% chance Tager is gonna eat it. If you're quick to react you can punish almost any move Tager does with Big Bang Smash and while Tager has range, he is also very slow. She has moves she can punish his 5C and 5D with, even a bunch of normals like 3C should work. Tager's j.D can be countered with an attack with a low hitbox (maybe even 2D? haven't tried that yet) or her Corona Upper. Gonna experiment more on these counters when I get home. No one will guard crush Tager in CS, you're just supposed to cross and mix him up. If the Tager player can't IB->Punish you're gonna have a field day. Sounds like every Tager matchup. But I'm gonna experiment with this matchup when I get back-

That's not really my impression. She's a fast rushdown character with a lot of tricks. Any predictability from Tager and she can parry and punish it, she also has a DP to help her get out of certain sticky situations. During her pressure she can cancel into Asteroid Vision to either confuse or avoid grab punishes Tager throws at her. Asteroid Vision is not like Noel's "assault through", since even if you predict it there's a risk you guess wrong in your punish (she can dash at 3 different heights with different followups, as well as blocking). Her damage potantial is a lot higher than Tager's as well, from what I can tell (fully charged Particle Flare in combos is nasty) and her DD Big Bang Smash can be used as a very effective punish due to the time-freeze (it literally stops time when you do it and pretty much activates 1-3 frames after the freeze). I'd say Makoto is mid-tier at lowest and Tager shouldn't really be that much trouble. But well, it's a bit early after all, just my initial impression.

A PS2 controller. Just get a PS2 to PS3 Converter. Cheaper than buying another Six-axis or Dual shock.

Don't worry, he can't rely on that later. I know since I've faced a bunch of good Ragna's with my Tager and it forced me to drastically improve, since there's not a whole lot Tager can do then. Heck, I learned Instant Blocking to 720 for this matchup (which isn't at all something you learn overnight), so that should give you a small hint at how troublesome this matchup can be for Tager. Just ask if there's anything else.

Yup, it's a guessing game, these are you options and his counters (basically): Backdash, Tager catches you with 6A or 720 Jump, Tager catches you with Collider Standing attack (like 5A spam), Tager catches you with 360B (he only needs to hold it since it auto-grabs, so you won't hit him) or 720 The one that guesses wrong, loses. Personally I'd avoid the 5A spam and do a rock-paper-sciccors with Backdash, Jump and DP and hope for the best.

Infernal Divider. Stay out of SledgeB and 2D range and punish on whiff. 2D doesn't have super armor and Sledge only protects him from projectiles (only projectile Ragna has is Dead Spike). During his "pressure", don't barrier block if you intend to punish, since it increases your block stun. Tager feeds on mistakes, once you stop making mistakes and learn the matchup, it gets A LOT harder for Tager to do anything.