Moy_X7

6C > 214D > chasing 2D > RC - I'd use it 2C FC > IAD j.236D > reverse 6C - I'd use it Those 214A mix-ups look like fun but do you really have enough time to empty jump like that? Couldn't they just do a quick jab and AA you?

Went ahead and opened the EX match-up threads since some people already have the game and others have access to it via arcade machines. The information in there will be minimal for now since we don't have access to the frame data and people are still figuring things out. The match-up format will go as follows: The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs His/Her Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs His/Her Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs His/Her Tools Offense Defense Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary All contributions to the match-up discussion will be appreciated

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs His Tools Offense Your Offense: His Offense: Defense Your Defense: His Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Your j.C beats her j.C in terms of speed and range, use it and abuse it as an air-to-air. Her 5B at max range beats anything you throw at her, your best bet here is to just block. Her 2B low profiles under your j.C and can hurt you because of its range so don't abuse that as a jump-in too much. Use 2D with caution but if it lands, hit or block, you're in. Her Cat Hammer works rather well here, she can use it to punish whiffed pokes and is fast enough to stuff your pokes. She can use Mystique Momo and the bombs as anti-air so be careful when you're high off the ground. Watch out for random Heart Cars if she has the meter and/or if you have your back against the corner. She can use her pogo stick (Air Persia) to jump over projectiles thanks to its projectile invul properties so be on the look out for that when using 2D/5D. Ice Swords work rather well in this match. Your j.C and Ice Swords can pop her bubble with ease if she dares to use it. If she does Mystique Momo Missiles (214D) then super double jump over them, super jump Ice Car D if you wanna burn meter and don't want to deal with it at all, or use Ice Wave on reaction if you have the meter. Use your best judgment against her bombs as those can be controlled now, Ice Wave makes them obsolete outside of oki though. Medium Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Your max range 5C beats most of her mid-range normals but her dashing 5A can stuff your 5C. Your 2A works pretty well as a poke here. Her 6A rapes your jump-ins at this range. Close Quarters: Your Tools vs Her Tools Her 5A just rapes you at this range. Try to avoid being at this range unless you're the one pressuring. Offense Your Offense: The match might as well be over the moment you start your pressure. She has no reversals outside of the bat and CDT. Abuse 2A x n and 2A stagger pressure, 5B > 2A x n, 5B > 2C/2B > delayed 5C frame traps, 5C > 2D if you get pushed out by barrier/IB barrier. You want your pressure to be air tight, don't give her a chance to jump out and make sure you use frame trap strings from time to time. Hell I'd go as far as not using throws just to not let her out of your pressure. If you see that she has the meter for a CA, bait it by using jump cancels in your strings. Her Offense: Her 5A pressure is pretty scary since 5A is +1 on block and all she has to do is dash back in to continue her pressure. She can also use 6B (like +12 on block if done at max rannge) and JC > j.2C > Swallow to reset pressure when she gets pushed out a bit so pay attention. If she's JC'ing to reset pressure then look out for Swallow > j.C if she still hasn't used Swallow once before, that shit hurts. Never, EVER try to roll out of the corner after 236B or else you'll get caught by Bubble oki and eat a 4K+ meterless combo. She can also squeeze under you with her 2A if you neutral tech for a cross-up. She can use the Cat Hammer as an instant overhead, which means that she can do long range high/low mix-ups with Cat Hammer/2B and 3C. Watch out for frying pan instant overheads. The frying pan instant overhead is punishable by 5B on block(?). The big ass fan (super frying pan) is positive on block(?) so don't try and push buttons if you block it. Remember that her hammer breaks two primers, the super hammer breaks three and creates an unblockable quake effect, and she can use both for IAD cross-ups. So if she has the hammer and you're down to two or three primers, then you better hold that barrier. Defense Your Defense: Your 5A/5B and jumps blow up TK Swallow mix-ups if they're not used during her 5A pressure. Use that with caution as she has an answer to both of those options. Use DPs with meter to RC just don't be too predictable. IB barrier is your best choice against her 5A pressure, just be careful when you jump out/back dash. Her Defense: lol what defense? Pay attention to her meter because a CA is one of her few options for getting out of pressure. The bat is laughably easy to bait since its vertical reach is non-existent, a simple jump is enough to bait it and it doesn't help that there's a sign that lingers over her which reads "Herp, I DP nao". She can use that to her advantage though, jump canceling in pressure leaves a hole in your offense which she can use to escape. She also has the option of IB > backdash and IB > barrier but if your pressure is as tight as it should be and you're not being auto-pilot, then you should be able to deal with that accordingly. Gimmicks and Resets The Quake (Super Hammer equipped/unblockable setup) - She'll most likely set this up after she knocks you down, if she has the bombs or missiles equipped then she'll do Mystique Momo > Item Install (Hammer) > Quake as oki. If she doesn't have the bombs or missiles then she'll just do Bubble + Quake as oki. There's probably better ways to do this but I'm unaware of those ways at the moment. Swallow Moon > mid-combo mix-up resets - I hope your reactions are good because she can reset those j.C > j.2C combos with Swallow Moon > j.B/j.C/2A/2B/Throw. She'll most likely do this if she's mid-screen and she starts off the combo with 5A, 2A, 5C, 5B (close), j.B, j.C, and j.2C. Command throw into random floating Bubble - if you're under pressure and you see a Bubble floating above or behind you, then chances are that Plat is going to command throw you into it for massive damage. Be ready to jump out. Match Summary Jin seems like he still has a slight advantage over Plat, nothing like in CSII though. That and Platinum's buffs will not make this match as easy as before. Ice Blades, j.C, and reaction Ice Wave at long range, 5C and 2A at mid-range, and try to avoid close quarters combat with her. Be careful of random Heart Cars if she has meter and you're near the corner. The match is yours once you get in and begin your pressure, it's all about conditioning her to act like you want her to act.

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs Her Tools Offense Your Offense: Her Offense: Defense Your Defense: Her Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs His Tools Offense Your Offense: His Offense: Defense Your Defense: His Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

Match Start If you both use 5C at the start of the match it will most likely end up in a trade unless your timing on your 5C is absolutely flawless. Your other option is to just jump towards her while holding Barrier and punish her whiffed 5C with j.B, just be ready to react to an air throw. Or course she can just do the same against your 5C, so be aware of that. Mus who don't want to use 5C will probably just IAD backwards or back dash so your safest bet at the start of the match is to just jump towards her while holding Barrier to see what she does. Neutral Full Screen From full screen, Mu will shoot out Steins in order to setup her ping-pong laser (236D). There's not much you can do to thwart her laser fortress, you can try and intercept her first attempt of shooting out a Stein but after that, the barrage of small beams will clash with your ice blades. Other than that, just try to IB the lasers and make your way in. Then there's Habaya... this move is annoying as shit. If you read the Habaya, you can just 2D her out of it. However, once that thing starts moving, you'll have no choice but to avoid it. You can try jumping or air dashing over it but Mu will probably have already recovered and will intercept your obvious areal approach as she sees fit. Air Habaya is easier to intercept thanks to DP B. Other than that, you always have your Ice Wave to get a lucky hit on her Stein/Habaya/236D start-up. Long-Mid Range She's at her strongest at this range, her 5C, 2C, 6C, j.C and j.2C (if she's feeling lucky) will intercept approaches from most angles due to their godly hit-boxes. You can crouch under j.C and use a low to punish it. You can jump over 5C and punish with j.B on the way down. You can bait and punish the 2C with a j.236D. You'll have to stop your dash with a Barrier in order to avoid getting hit by 6C. You'll probably just have to block the j.2C, that thing is punishable if she doesn't do it low enough to the ground even if she cancels into Habaya so you probably won't have to worry too much about it. Your 5C is faster than her 5C but it doesn't cover as much range as hers but don't be afraid to challenge her at optimal 5C range if you're free to do so. I would just be careful when backed into a corner and trying to challenge her with my own 5C because a 5C confirm from her near the corner is going to hurt a lot. Be really careful when using 2D at optimal range, if she uses 6C at around the same time then you're going to get hurt, REALLY hurt. That and her 5C covers about the same range as your 2D and it's faster than it. So yeah, be extremely careful when using 2D. You can try and challenge her in the air with your j.C. Your j.C is faster and covers about the same range but her j.C leads to a shitload of damage. Use proper judgment here. Offense and Defense Your Offense vs Her Defense Once you get in, do your standard Jin pressure, use 2A x N and 5B a few times and mix it up with 6A, 2B, and JCs. The 6A acts as a frame trap and grants you some damage + frame advantage (only the 5B > 6A gatling will work as a frame trap, she can mash out of 2A > 6A). The 2B is just there for people who guess-block the 6A and you can use it to frame trap people with 2B > delayed 5C. The JCs to bait the DP and to reset pressure (just don't get too predictable). As far as 6A frame trapping goes, if she IBs the 5B, she'll be able to mash her way out with 2A so be wary of that. If you're going for JC > pressure reset/cross-up j.2C, be aware that her 2C will AA you for free and that she can 2A your cross-up j.2Cs. If you're going to attempt to pressure reset after 2D, make sure that you're within 2A range, or else you'll just get mashed on. If you're going for a pressure reset or a mix-up after a freeze, be ready to bait the DP both in the air and on the ground. If you're attacking her and a laser is about to bounce back at you, jump cancel or special cancel into DP D if possible. Her Offense vs Your Defense The moves that gatling into her 6B are 2A, 6A, and 5B, so be mentally prepared to block the overhead after any of those. You can mash out of 2A > 6B with 2A on regular block and out of 6A/5B > 6B on IB only. Other than that, just DP if you want to avoid frame traps. Always IB the 2nd hit for free meter and more frame advantage on block. Low level Mus will auto-pilot 6B into Level 1 SoD, you can punish those people with 66 5B after IB'ing SoD . Mu can special cancel the 6B into her DP to keep you on your toes should you attempt to start pressure after the IB so be ready to bait those. She can also RC the 2nd hit of 6B to tag you with 2B as you prepare to block the 2nd hit of 6B for a gimmicky mix-up. The moves that she can JC are 6A, 5B, 3C, and 2C (on hit only) so be careful when DP'ing or Bursting after those. If Mu has 50 Heat handy, she might decide to do JC > j.2C as an overhead and convert it into a combo with an RC, so be mentally prepared to try and block that. If she does JC > j.2C without meter, she'll be at frame disadvantage if she doesn't cancel it into Habaya, so you can try to start some pressure afterwards. If she does cancel it into Habaya, you can knock her outta the air with a DP B. Basically if she doesn't land immediately after j.2C, then that means that she will cancel it into Habaya, so be ready to DP B her if you don't see her land immediately. Mu will be fishing for CHs mid-screen using her 5C. Sometimes Mus will auto-pilot 5C > 6C and either Stein cancel or special cancel the 6C. What you wanna do here is IB the 6C, dash forward and immediately cancel the dash with Barrier. You'll block SoD automatically if she cancels the 6C into that, if not then she'll probably cancel it into Habaya at which point you can 2D her out of it. If she cancels 6C into Stein and jumps/IADs backward, then all you can really do is chase after her. Speaking of SoD, don't take any chances against that thing since she can charge it to eat some of your primers or to make it harder to punish. Just back dash mid-screen and super jump Barrier in the corner if Level 1 SoD isn't used immediately. She probably won't want to use Level 1 SoD as that thing is punishable on IB but if she does, she'll probably do it as an auto-pilot or to try to tag you out of your jump in the corner. Gimmicks and Misc. Info Gimmicks Punishes and Useful Frame Data 2B: Neutral, mostly used to reset pressure. 6B: -1, can be special canceled only. j.2C: 10F of landing recovery, can be special canceled. You can punish the Habaya cancel with a DP B. 623C: -27, for punishment, if you blocked it in the air, land and do 66 5C. If you blocked it on the ground, do 66 2C mid-screen or 66C in the corner. j.623C: Vulnerable on the way down, 15F of landing recovery. SoD Level 1/2: -10, can be punished on IB with 66 5B if close enough to her or with 66 5C if you're too far away. 632146C: -32, the CH state wears out fast so you'll probably only be able to punish her with 5C/66 5C.

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs Her Tools Offense Your Offense: Her Offense: Defense Your Defense: Her Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs His Tools Offense Your Offense: His Offense: Defense Your Defense: His Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs His Tools Offense Your Offense: His Offense: Defense Your Defense: His Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs His Tools Offense Your Offense: His Offense: Defense Your Defense: His Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game At the start of the match, Hakumen has a few common options: 4C: You can use your own 5C to beat it 3C: This one beats your 5C but it will whiff if you don't push any buttons 214A: This one shrinks his hurt-box, so your 5C will whiff and you'll eat a CH into a small combo. It punishes backdashes if you start out the match with those and it's +1 on block. 623A: This one has head and body invulnerability starting on frame 5 and ending on frame 14. If timed correctly, it will go through most of your pokes and you'll be forced to block and tech throws. Your best bet at the start of the match is to just stand in place and IB whatever he throws at you. 3C will not reach you as long as you don't push any buttons and you can punish it on whiff with 5C > 5D. Just bear in mind that if you're too late to punish 3C, he can 2D you and believe me, most Hakumens like to cover their mistakes with Counters. For 623A, you'll need to react to the incoming mix-up of throw/2B/6B. If your reactions are good, you can trying 5B'ing him or throwing him. During neutral, he can use most of the aforementioned moves to control space or get in. You can low profile under 4C with your dashing 3C for a CH and an easy hit-confirm. Your 6B crushes his 3Cs if he's being predictable with them and you'll get stupid damage for a correct read. You can low profile with most crouching moves under his j.Cs if he's being predictable with them. Most Hakumens will usually run away and try to zone you, waiting to intercept your approach with the aforementioned stuff, his anti-airs, as well as his Counters. Don't be predictable with your pokes, (3C, 5C, j.C, 2D) as he can just Counter them. Don't be reckless with your approach either as he has plenty of tools to intercept you. Make your way in slowly, using your pokes as best as you can. You have to know his and your attacks' hit-boxes, his neutral game rivals yours so you'll have to outpoke him to the best of your ability. Once he has built a bit of meter, he'll try to get in on you. His 623A is extremely good at getting him in because of its I-frames and how fast that dash is in general. He can use 623A > A as an extremely good anti-air if you find yourself in the air and he can jump cancel it to make it safe. He can also try to get in on you with j.2C/IAD j.2Cs. The main threat in the air is his j.B, the only things that beat that thing are your DP A and B. Only use the B version if you know that you won't make it on time with the A version. I would refrain from using ice blades in this match unless you're using them to either reset pressure or when he won't have enough time to cut them. If he cuts them, he'll create the Void, which renders most 2D poking attempts obsolete and makes it harder for you to poke him effectively. You can try tossing some B ice blades from across the screen to pester him but that time is better spent in trying to get in. His Offense Without meter, his pressure and mix-up is not really threatening. His pressure mostly consists of 2A, with the occasional 6A and 214A to get him back in. His mix-up is throw, 2B, 3C, and 6B. Your best bet is to IB Barrier his 2As until you push him out enough to the point where 2A will no longer reach you. At that point, you can try and IB + jump + Barrier away. You can also try and IB > backdash but be careful with that as it can be punished with things like 5B or 214A. If you get tagged by 6B, and you're finding yourself trolled on wake-up by that shit as it's pretty damn fast, then you can try to wake-up > backdash to avoid it next time. If sure as hell beats getting your wake-up DP baited. With meter though, his mix-up becomes a threat. Zantetsu does ridiculous damage on its own and he can boost its damage by canceling it into more special moves. Don't try to guess block on him as his Renka does a shitload of damage as well. As mentioned before, he can use 623A to close the gap and attempt a throw. He can jump cancel his 5B and 623A > A and go into the dreaded j.B, in the other hand, you can use that chance to escape pressure. Moreover, he can do a fuzzy guard with a deep j.B > JC > j.B and hit-confirm into Tsubaki. That or he could just do a fuzzy guard with j.B (or any air normal really) > Tsubaki. Speaking of Tsubaki, TK/hop Tsubaki does ridiculous damage near and in the corner and its damn near impossible to react to. If you feel a Tsubaki coming, then this is the one instance where I would encourage you to push buttons/wake-up DP/up+back+barrier, whatever it takes to avoid that thing other than guess block. That thing is too fast for the average human to react to lol. Fear this move, it's Hakumen's most powerful mix-up tool. Be wary of air throws, 2C, or Hotaru when you tech in the air. Hold that Barrier and react to the throw attempt, don't risk pushing a button because he'll fuck you up for it. I don't really encourage the use of IB > DP when he doesn't have much meter as it's easier for him to bait it through the use of 2A pressure but when he does have meter, I would advice you to throw those out from time to time since he'll be a lot more aggressive. His Defense Hakumen is one of those characters that can turtle you to death. His counters are usually active on the first frame and require a single button push to activate. Because of the nature of his counters, you'll be finding yourself in doubt as to when to push a button and he'll use that indecisiveness to his advantage. In the other hand, his counters are vulnerable to throws, so you too can force him into guessing games of your own. If you can get in on him to the point where you're at throw range, then you've done a good job. He can use his counters as anti-airs and to nullify your pokes. Most Hakumens will be able to counter your 6B and 6D on reaction, so don't abuse any slow moves here. His counters shit on your cross-ups but you can use that chance to try and bait them for big damage. Hakumens will usually cover their whiffs and moves that are negative or punishable on block with counters. Don't be too eager to try and get in or punish, scout for counters and throw him out of them. Only attempt to punish something if you're absolutely sure it will be punishable. Hakumen can bait your DPs with counters, predictable DPs will get you hurt. Use a lot of throws during pressure to discourage him from mashing counters. Some Hakumens will be trying 2D/5D on wake-up but that's a huge risk for him to take as a wrong guess will hurt and a throw will fuck him up either way. Here's a free 6A CH combo for you if you guess correctly lol. However, Yukikaze catches both highs and lows so you'll only be able to throw him out of that one. Once you condition him into not abusing counters, then you can finally mount some pressure and mix-up on him. His anti-airs include 5A, 6A, 2C, 623A > A, and Hotaru. 5A is not head invulnerable but it's fast and has a decent enough hit-box. 6A has head I-frames starting on frame 6 through frame 18. That thing has a pretty crappy hit-box so you could bait it with a simple double jump. 2C doesn't have head invul. but it has an amazing hit-box, it's highly punishable on whiff though. I already covered 623A > A in the past but it's a pretty good anti-air. While Hotaru costs two stars, that thing does a ridiculous amount of damage on FC near the corner, has an amazing hit-box, and is jump cancelable on block. Since it can be used in the air, it also works as an amazing air-to-air. You can bait all of them except Hotaru with ice blades. Just be careful when has two stars because he'll make you regret pushing a button in the air. Speaking of Hotaru, that thing can be used as a pseudo DP in the form of hop/TK Hotaru. Hotaru has full body I-frames on frame 1 but he's vulnerable during the jump start-up (4 frames I believe) and a couple of frames until he's free to cancel the hop into Hotaru. He shouldn't be using that move during wake-up, as a proper meaty will tag him during the jump/hop start-up, right? Wrong, through the use of his counters, he can create guessing scenarios. If you try to throw him during wake-up anticipating a counter, you'll get tagged by Hotaru. If you try to use a meaty anticipating a wake-up TK/Hoptaru, you'll get tagged by the counter. Fucking guessing games... Frame Data: Advantageous, Disadvantageous, and Punishable Moves Neutral/Advantageous Moves: 5A: +3 5B: Neutral 2A: +1 2B: +2 6A: Neutral, gatlings into 6B and counters. 4C (Max Charge): +3 214A: +1 236B: +1 Disadvantageous Moves: 5C: -3, this move can be special canceled so be careful when trying to push buttons. 6B: -4, gatlings into counters. 6C: -6, this move can be special canceled so be careful when trying to push buttons. 6C: (Max Charge): - 9, same as the above. 4C: -10, same as the above. 3C: -4 Zantetsu: -2, same as the above. Punishable Moves: [*]2C: -17, if you have an extra air option with Jin, you can do air dash j.A > j.2C to punish it if you're relatively low to the ground. This move can be special canceled so be careful when trying to punish. [*]6B: -4, punishable on IB only with 5A/5B. This move gatlings into any of the counters, be careful when trying to punish this move. [*]4C: -10, punishable on IB only with a perfectly timed micro-dash 5C or if used outside its max range. Gimmicks and Resets Don't push buttons after an air tech! More to come! Match Summary Coming soon!

The Neutral Game At the start of the match, Tsubaki has the option to do 22A as her opening poke. 22A will beat your 5C and net her a decent combo on CH, you also won't make it in time for a dashing 5A, 2A, 5B and even if you do, a trade will be in her favor. You'll either have to jump over it and punish it if you read it or just hold back and see what she does next. If you block it, then you can try and start some pressure since it's -9 on block. Pretty much the only normal that will aggravate you during neutral is her 5B. Her 5B has pretty good range and a fast start-up. She will probably also try a random 3C from time to time if she has the meter to RC it. If she spaces is correctly, then that move is not punishable but it still puts her at a disadvantage. The one thing to be aware of is that you should be careful with your j.Cs as her 3C will low profile under it and net her a FC combo if she times it properly. Now here's when things get tricky. Most Tsubakis will run away and start charging her Drive meter. In the air, she can cancel her charge stance into her dives and into her j.236X series. Here are your options in order to intercept her: Dash > super jump > throw: If Tsubaki is getting greedy with her j.D charge, you can throw her out of it. Throws have a retarded ass hit-box in this game, so it works wonders to catch her out of her charge. Max range j.C: it works just as how you imagine it would. Max range DP A/B: Normally, you'll want to dash and space yourself just right so that you can make use of DP A/B's maximum reach. If she dives, she'll get tagged by either of the DPs. TK j.236C: This is the safest option. If she keeps charging, she'll eventually have to let go, block it and you can use that chance to get in. If she tries to be clever and dodge the ice blade with a dive, then you can read that and intercept her with DP B. Block the dive: If you block the dive, then you can punish it with 66 5B(1)/5C CH. Aside from that, if she did super jump > j.D then she'll have an air option left but DP A works pretty well when spaced correctly and will usually tag her out of an air dash and force her to Barrier block if she decides to jump again. On the ground, she can stop charging and try to intercept you with her 5B, 22A, or the 214X series. 214X series are head and body invulnerable starting on frame 8-10 and they have a certain amount of I-frames depending on which version she used, so she can use it as pseudo anti-air/reversal. If you don't want to deal with that, then you can just toss a B ice blade at her to stop her from charging. Her truly annoying shit comes in the form of 236C/D (CHARGING STAR). Tsubakis who just don't give a fuck will use the 236C version, that thing is punishable outside of its maximum range with 5A/5B and on IB on its maximum range. Tsubakis who give half a fuck will use 236D. This one is only punishable on IB with 5A or 5B but your timing must be flawless This one will cross you up but if you have decent reactions then that shouldn't be much of a problem. She can always DP after getting her 236X series blocked, so be on the look out for that. If she has Drive stocks, then she can cancel the 236X series into 214D or 22D on block so you need to be careful and mindful of her Drive meter or else you'll get frame trapped. Just do a lot of dash > Barrier to fish for 236C/D and don't forget to IB it, which is not that hard when it comes to these types of lunging moves. Your best bet is to just block after blocking 236X if she has Drive meter as both of her follow-up options are negative on block. Her Offense Tsubaki will be doing a lot of 5A and 2A for pressure. 5A hits crouching and 2A is neutral on block. She can cancel a lot of her normals into a Drive to reset pressure. Her pressure is relatively strong and she'll be fishing for frame traps. Be patient and look for an eventual gap in her pressure. She can jump cancel 5B and 6C on block if she wants to reset pressure so use that opportunity to intercept her if you read her or use that chance to escape. It's worth nothing that she can use her j.B > B and j.C > C gatlings as fuzzy guards, so be careful when blocking these and try not to switch block until the second hit. She can gatling the following normals into her overhead (6A): 5A, 2A, 5B/5BB, 2B. Be on the look out for the OH when she uses any of the aforementioned. I've actually had a handful of Tsubakis reset me with 6A; be on the look out for it when you're getting combo'd. Tsubaki is one hella gimmicky character and it can't be helped since her damage output sucks. She can add some range to her throw by doing kara cancels, so be ready to tech at a range where her throw would normally not reach you. Now, for the one move that you should truly fear: 22D When held for 33 frames, 22D becomes an unblockable. Tsubaki can set up the unblockable in numerous ways... after a knockdown, during pressure, or as a reset from a combo. It is vital that you learn to react to this and DP D it. You can risk it and try to jump and push a button but smart Tsubakis will set it up so that if you try any of the aforementioned, you'll get tagged during the start-up. DP C can fail you because of it's shitty horizontal range. So really, your best best is to learn to react to it and DP D it. Her Defense Tsubaki has one of the best anti-airs in the form of 2C. It has godlike reach, the I-frames kick in starting on frame 7, and it has a 13 frame start-up. You'll have to be careful when approaching her from the air and you'll need to try to discourage her from abusing that move by using the various ice blades and well spaced j.Cs. As mentioned before, she can use the 214X series as pseudo anti-airs. These move her forward depending on the version she uses so she can tag you out of j.C if you wanted to use it to beat 2C at max range. Her DP A is kinda sucky, it has a low amount of I-frames and will usually trade with whatever you throw at her. Tsubakis can try and be clever by canceling any of the DPs into j.236D (the slow moving orb) on block but the way to beat that is by running directly below Tsubaki and doing 5C. If she does nothing after canceling the DP into j.236D, she'll be in counter hit state in the air and you can hit-confirm the 5C CH. In the other hand, if she tries to dive into the orb and you're in her blind spot, the 5C will tag her the moment she lands from the dive and she'll be in counter hit state for an easy 5C CH hit-confirm. If she cancels it directly into the dive, then you can punish the dive on block. If she doesn't cancel it into anything, then you can hit-confirm the 5C into Sekkajin. Bear in mind that you can only punish her DP D with 66 5A/B. Aside from just baiting DP A with the traditional block, in the corner you can opt for the j.2C safe-jump after a DPC/214A knockdown. In a similar light, if you have the meter to RC, you can bait a wake-up DP with your own DP C. If they push a button or use a DP, they'll get tagged by the slow ass DP C. If they block, you just RC it and continue to pressure. Frame Data: Advantageous, Disadvantageous, and Punishable Moves Neutral/Advantageous Moves: 2A: Neutral 6B: +1 j.236D + j.214D: Unknown but highly advantageous Disadvantageous Moves: 3C: normally -13 but it has less disadvantage if used at its max distance. 236A: normally -7 but it has less disadvantage if used at its max distance. Be careful when she has Drive meter as she can cancel it into 22D or 214D 236B/C: normally -13 but it has less disadvantage if used at its max distance. Be careful when she has Drive meter as she can cancel it into 22D or 214D 236D: -4, be careful when she has Drive meter as she can cancel it into 22D or 214D 214X Series: -7, be careful when she has Drive meter as she can cancel it into 22D 22A: -9 22B/C: - 5 22D: -7 Punishable Moves: [*]3CC: -26, does not gatling or cancel into anything. Punish guaranteed. [*]6CC: -15, does not gatling or cancel into anything. Punish guaranteed (lol, who'd use this move?) [*]236A: Punish guaranteed on IB. Be careful when she has Drive meter as she can cancel it into 22D or 214D. [*]236B/C: Punishable if not used at its max range. Punish guaranteed on IB. Be careful when she has Drive meter as she can cancel it into 22D or 214D. [*]236D: Punishable on IB only. A perfectly timed 2A will beat both her 214D and 22D follow-ups on IB. [*]214X Series: Punishable on IB only. Be careful when she has Drive meter as she can cancel it into 22D. [*]DP X Series: All punishable by 66 5B [*]j.214X Series: Punishable by 66 5B(1)/5C (CH) Gimmicks and Resets 22D is bad, 6A is bad, more to come! Match Summary 5B and well spaced 3C will give you a bit of grief during neutral. 236C/D are not much of a threat on their own but if she has the Heat or Drive meter to cancel them, then that's when you need to be careful and know when and when not to push a button. It's a huge guessing game once she has the meter and she'll use that to her advantage to get in on you. 22D is scary so you have to learn to react to it and DP it and expect it at any given point in time. Tsubaki is a pretty gimmicky character that thrives on your indecision to push buttons. Just know her options and the various ways to deal with them and you'll be fine, for the most part.

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs His Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs His Tools Offense Your Offense: His Offense: Defense Your Defense: His Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools You pretty much have to guess which sword she will use at this range. If you get a correct read on her 5D, then you can either do TK 236C and the Ice Blade will go over 5D or you can do 214C if you have the meter to RC it on block. If she uses 6D or 4D in this scenario then you're screwed. If you're not trying to play guessing games, then just do dash + barrier and dash jump forward + hold back to slowly work your way in. If she guesses wrong on your approach while you're dashing and she uses 6D, then you can punish the recovery with dashing 2D. If she guesses wrong with the 5D while you jumped, then risk it with the j.C or land and resume your approach IB all of the sword follow-ups (5DD, 6DD, 4DD) for free meter. Some Lambda's are daring and will try to hit you with either 236B or 6DD after you block 5DD; IB the former and react to the latter. Some are hella daring and will try to get you with 236C; that move is punishable on IB with 66 5B. Sometimes they'll use 236A to attempt a quick mix-up (usually a throw). Then there are others who will use 236D and 236D~C to trap you for a mix-up. The way to get around all this is simple. After you IB 5DD, block low and wait for 236A/B. If you don't feel any hit-stun when she dashes towards you, then she's going to go for a mix-up so get ready to react to the throw attempt. Alternatively, if your reactions are decent, you can DP D her as she's dashing towards you to beat both 236A and B. Now if nothing comes out immediately after 5DD, then dash forward. If she tried to do 236D~C then you'll run right past the saw blade and be able to punish her with 2D. If she tries 236D to stuff your approach after you IB 5DD, then react to that and either jump over it or do 214C to punish it. If she does 236C after 5DD then you'll have to react that as well and hit that Barrier in order to stop your dash and block it. If she's using 214D to try and approach then react to it and nullify the protruding swords with TK 236C. Alternatively, you can react to it and punish it with Ice Wave. The thing is that if she used it while you were jumping then you have no choice but to block it otherwise you'll most likely trade if you try to push a button or you'll get punished if you try to use an Ice Blade. Lambdas like to use 214D~C when they're getting close to the corner so they can use the protruding swords as shield while they dash forward to escape. React to it with Ice Wave or get her during start-up with 236B or 214D if she did it while you were grounded. If you're in the air and she's starting up 214D~C, then use j.C for a CH. The problem here is knowing which 214D she will use; if she uses the short version and you use j.C to try and punish then you'll trade and she'll recover in time for a follow-up to CH 214D. When approaching, try not to super jump or double jump. You're just giving her more time to react with 2D or even worse, she'll use that chance to dash under you to escape. Medium Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools If Lambda feels the pressure on her then she'll most likely try to apply some pressure herself at this range with 66 2B or 66 4B(1). Close Quarters: Your Tools vs Her Tools Offense Your Offense: Her Offense: Defense Your Defense: Her Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

Match Start His 5A will beat everything you throw at him at the start of the match. Your best bet is to just retreat as soon as the match starts so you can start poking him Neutral Full Screen You can throw some Ice Blades at him to try and get a response. There's nothing he can do to you at this range unless he has Spark Bolt, at which point you need to stop firing Ice Blades at him and try to bait it. Long-Mid Range Some Tagers will try to super jump towards you to try and close the gap. What you can do is attempt an air throw, try to anti-air him with DP A or B/2C, air-to-air him with jump away j.C, or just run under him to attempt a cross-under or to simply just widen the gap between you and him. Other Tagers will attempt to close the gap with a B Sledge. The more he charges it, the further it will travel so it is imperative that you know just how much distance a charged and a non-charged B Sledge covers so that you can punish him accordingly. If he's at non-charged B Sledge range, you can try 5C'ing him. If he's at fully charged B Sledge range, you can just ram him with an Ice Car or do 66 5C if you're feeling confident. When in doubt, just super jump out of harm's way. Other than that, just poke him with 5C, j.C, and 2D. Just don't be too predictable with j.C or 2D because he can 2D you out of air-to-ground j.C if timed correctly and he can B Sledge through 2D. You have to be careful when trying to poke him when you're magnetized since his D moves will pull you towards him, successfully increasing their attack "range". Offense and Defense Your Offense vs His Defense Once you get in on him, try to keep your strings tight enough so that you don't get 360A'd or eat a 2C mash. That means lots of 2A/5A staggers and some occasional trapping with 2B > Delayed 5C. You really don't want to be in Tager's face longer than you need to, so don't try risky pressure resets such as 5C > 6B/2D or anything > 6D, it's just not worth the risk of eating a Buster or a 2C mash into dumb damage + dumb GF shenanigans. You can try some JC pressure resets from time to time but just remember that his 2A beats your j.B for free and there's always his 2C mash to be aware of. He can also Sledge through your 5C > 2D strings so don't be too predictable with those. Here are your options after you score a 214B/C knockdown on him: 1) If he does an emergency tech immediately after 214B/C, do a micro dash 5A (66 5A) as oki. He'll get tagged by 5A if he attempts a 360A or if he pushes any other button on wake-up. If he does wake-up > back dash, let the 5A whiff and use 5B immediately thereafter; it will tag him out of his back dash. You can just auto-pilot the 5A > 5B for a confirm, to tag him out of a backdash or to start pressure. 2) if he DOESN'T emergency tech immediately after a 214B/C, then use 5C. He'll get tagged by 5C if he tries to roll forward and backward or if he tries to do a quick rise > buttons. The only problem here is that if he does a delayed neutral tech, your 5C will whiff and you'll be forced to retreat as you've lost your frame advantage. You really have to be careful when attacking and pressuring him when he has 50 meter. Hell, you'll probably have to avoid being close to him at all after 214B/C knockdown when he has 50 meter as he can play guessing games on his own wake-up with 720 and Atomic Collider. If you finish a combo in the corner, then you don't have to worry about wake-up AC but you still have to worry about 720. His Offense vs Your Defense Gimmicks and Misc. Info Gimmicks List of Punishes

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs Her Tools Offense Your Offense: Her Offense: Defense Your Defense: Her Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs Her Tools Offense Your Offense: Her Offense: Defense Your Defense: Her Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Medium Range: Your Tools vs Her Tools Close Quarters: Your Tools vs Her Tools Offense Your Offense: Her Offense: Defense Your Defense: Her Defense: Gimmicks and Resets Match Summary

The Neutral Game Long Range: Your Tools vs His Tools His dashing 2A will beat your j.C all day if you're not careful and 2B low profiles under it, other than that, j.C is still a pretty decent poking tool. It's actually not that common for Ragnas to attempt 2A and 2B AAs but it is something to keep in mind, if he doesn't AA you then he'll at least get in on you and start his pressure. Your 3C low profiles under his max range 5B. You can still zone the crap out of him with Ice Blades (TK j.236C usually) though. Use 5D sparingly. He can actually get a pretty decent combo off a 5C CH now so be careful when using your own 5Cs and 5Ds. 5B still shits on your 5C though from what I've seen. I would keep the use of 2D to an absolute minimum, he can really fuck you up now if you're to whiff it. j.C is still a godly air-to-air tool and will beat most of his stuff in the air. Medium Range: Your Tools vs His Tools I'd refrain from using 2A to poke, if he's a couple of frames faster than you with 2A or 5B then you're in for a world of hurt (/Task). 2A low profiles pretty well against his j.B. His j.C still looks pretty godlike as a jump-in tool, I'm placing my hope on the new 2C with EXTRA head I-frames to at least try and stop it, but we'll see. He can AA you out of your j.Bs all day with 5A and 6A so keep the j.B jump-ins to a minimum. Look out for random GHs. j.B is a pretty useful air-to-air. Close Quarters: Your Tools vs His Tools 5B, use it and abuse it. For the love of all that's good, sharpen that reaction time of yours in order to block 6B. You do NOT want to get hit by 6B at this range in this game, at all. Offense Your Offense: You're going to have to be on the look out for IB flashes as that's usually your cue to JC whatever you're doing and bait ID. Try to force him to push you out with Barrier block or you push yourself out with 2A pressure, that way you'll be able to do max range 5C > 2D where you'll be out of ID's range and you'll also be able to reset pressure. His Offense: Be mentally prepared to react to 6B after 2A and 2B at close range as well as during wake-up. He can gatling into 6B from 5A and 2C but that's not as common as the two former gatlings. He'll most likely go for Gauntlet Hades after he has pushed you out a bit, the odds of this happening are higher if he has the meter to RC as GH is rather unsafe on block. Speaking of RC'ing, he'll most likely RC Hell's Fang and Gauntlet Hades follow-ups to mix-up, reset pressure, frame trap you or all of the above. Be wary of 6D > j.D as he can do j.D close enough to the ground, feint it, and do a dashing 2B instead. If he sees that you have the meter to RC a DP, then he'll most likely space his Death Spike just perfectly so that he isn't hit by any of your DPs. To add to that, if he finishes a corner combo with Hell's Fang > Follow-up, he's at a perfect range to use Death Spike and have it so that all of your DPs will whiff. Although it's usually rare for Ragnas to use Hell's Fang during block-strings, be ready to play rock-paper-scissors with the guy here if you fail to IB it. Rock - He'll use ID since he's at a frame disadvantage and can use that to his advantage. Paper - He'll condition you into baiting ID and reset pressure/go for a mix-up. Scissors - He'll go for the follow-up which results in a pseudo-frame trap. If you IB Hell's Fang then just punish him with a jab or 5B for acting the fool lol. Defense Your Defense: You should try to IB DP D as much as possible, just bear in mind that he can JC 5A, 3C, and 6A on block to bait your DPs, 3C being the most common JC'd move. The second hit of his 6C is JC'able as well, he'll most likely go for a JC Barrier away since that move is unsafe and easily IB'd. Not really something to worry about since Ragnas hardly ever bait DPs off JCs. They will try to bait your DPs from things like 22C stagger, 2C, j.D, and j.C on IB so exercise caution. One would think that a good time to DP would be after IB'ing 2B since it's not JCable but be careful as that can also be used to bait DPs. If he does, you IB it but you don't bite with the DP, then he just lost his pressure. If he's getting greedy with 5B/5C > Death Spike at max range, then IB his 5B/5C and go for a 5C CH > 2D combo. If he's doing back to back max range Death Spikes and you're on the verge of getting guard crushed, then throw out a 5D if you expect another Death Spike as that will beat it cleanly. Only use 5D if you absolutely believe that he'll be spamming Death Spike, otherwise he'll fuck you up with 5B and 5C. Of course, the safest way to deal with Death Spike is to just jump forward and over it. It's not an air unblockable move so there's not much to worry about. He might try to reset pressure by JC'ing 3C or 6D, be ready to AA with Fubuki, j.A, and air-throws or simply use that gap to escape pressure. He'll also try to reset pressure by doing 6D > j.D and as mentioned before, that's an easy IB and if you're gutsy, then try using a Gold Burst here if you IB j.D. Reason being is that you don't run the risk of getting a DP baited AND you can turn the tide since Gold Bursts are positive on block. However, if you don't time your Gold Burst perfectly then you'll get a Green Burst, something that you don't want to happen. That and the Gold Burst can be baited. The other way to deal with 6D > j.D is to IB Barrier both 6D and j.D, if not, then just IB Barrier j.D. Another option for using Gold Bursts, is to use your Gold Burst after recovering from a 22C stagger, most people don't see it coming. Don't expect for every Ragna to react in the same way, some Ragnas will look for a reversal/Gold Burst, bait it, and continue to pressure. List of Ragna's moves that are negative or neutral and/or used to reset pressure if you're too respectful: 5B max range (-7) - Ragnas throw this out to poke and sometimes without gatling into anything on block but they usually confirm it into 5C on hit. Be careful if you wanna push buttons here because you can get frame trapped. 2B max range (-3) - same as above, they'll be throwing it out to poke and sometimes they won't gatling into anything. Same as above, could be used as a frame trap. 2C (-2 on IB) - an easy move to IB, they can use it as a frame trap just as the above. 5C max range (-5) - this one gatlings into 2D at max range and can be special canceled with GH for a high/low long range mix-up. If they don't gating into anything then use that to your advantage to get in on him. 2D (-4) - this one has no gatlings and can't be special canceled. This is your cue to reverse the situation. Use whatever feels right depending on the distance at which he has used this. You're at a huge advantage if you IB this. Beware of RCs. 214A (-4) - as mentioned above, this is your chance to turn the tables. Dash Cancel (-4) - if you IB before the dash cancel then this move is punishable by 5B. No decent/good Ragna is going to use this one though. His Defense: Ragna is the master of IB > DP but luckily for you, most of your normals are JC'able on block. So once again, look out for the IB flash and be ready to bait DPs. This is specially true if he has the meter to RC out of it, the same deal goes for wake-up DPs. If the Ragna has good reactions, then he'll most likely use 5A/6A to AA you if you're getting too greedy with those j.B/j.2C pressure resets. Speaking of AAs, be careful when doing IAD cross-ups as he can just 5A you out of them. Don't get too greedy with 5C > 2D as he can just dash out of 5C block-stun if he IBs it and he WILL. FUCK. YOU. UP. You do not want to whiff 2D against him, EVER, as that's an easy 4K+ for him now. Gimmicks and Resets Gimmicks Here's a list of all of his common gimmicks thus far, say thanks to the nice opposing Ragnas lol: http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?12309-The-Funny-Things-I-Do-With-Ragna Resets As far as resets go, he'll most likely try to attempt a reset using something like 5B max range > 5C > Hell's Fang (no follow-up) > reset. Not too common for Ragnas to go for resets outside of that, just the common air throw vs air tech. Match Summary This match-up is going to suck now. Ragna hits fucking hard in this game and we've lost a good chunk of potential damage thanks to the 6C and j.C nerf. Other than that, the match-up is fairly similar to what it always has been. Zone him, and zone him hard. R A few words regarding the overall matchup from one of our Ragna mods:

Haven't tried it, I always do Bubble oki after 236B because of the sliding effect that gives you enough time to set up the Bubble AND TK Swallow.

I got a $5 off a $60+ purchase coupon for Play-Asia if anyone is interested. I won't be needing it and it will expire on January 13, 2012.

Alright, we Jins got it way too easy as far as combos go compared to other characters. I'll keep em' as is then.

Democracy rules but they'll stay as is until I see more complaints lol

Well that's a relief, it would have sucked if 6A had a worse frame disadvantage now that it no longer breaks primers.