See, that’s interesting.
My biggest problem, as a player, has always been that I tend to make the “proper” choice at almost all times. That’s why Shiro looks so right to me. Problem, for me at least, has been two-fold. For one, I top out at a certain point. I can beat most players, and I can even beat top players… but I can’t do it with any consistency. So, while most times I play somebody really good, I usually take a match myself… the games are close… and sometimes I win the set… there are very few top players I beat with any consistency.
On the other hand, picking the best option all the time, I also had a tendency to lose to players I thought I was much better than, because maybe they lacked game knowledge, or maybe they just didn’t give a fuck, and wouldn’t do what I felt to be the smartest shit, so my game didn’t account for it. Now, my definition of “smart” involved handling whatever is thrown my way effectively, and safely, if I were to guess wrong. Problem with this is that A) the safe option isn’t always the best option and B) I get pretty predictable, so the “best” option isn’t really the best option after a while. Side: for anyone interested in my development as a player (you shouldn’t be), I had a similar discussion a while ago here.
That all being said, in my transition from CvS2 to SF4 (and my subsequent transition back to CvS2…), I made a decision to stop playing like that, and if I were to describe my game based on the 3 Japanese Abels described, I’d say I’m most like AC… Or, probably more accurately, I’m most like Shiro, but trying to trend more to AC’s style. I’m still too stiff, IMO, but I think that AC’s style is the way to play Abel.
For all Abel has, I don’t think he is fast enough, or his shit is that tricky, that he can just go in, commit to whatever he wants, and beat a knowledgeable opponent consistently. I think you can start almost any set that way, but at a certain point (and fairly early against most good players, IMO) Abel has to stop doing that, and start seriously accounting for the opponents’ most likely reactions. Here’s where I think Shiro and AC differ (and this is the border I run along). I think Shiro gives opponents the utmost credit, and just assumes that he can’t go in and freestyle at all. So his game looks slower until he sees something and takes advantage. I think AC will just go at first, but after a while, even though he may not ever slow down, his offense switches from brute aggression, to a more false aggression, where he does shit, just to roll out of the way, or dash in and block, or whatever, just to bait a reaction to punish hard. I play sort of a mix (well, when I play SF4…), and I think a style fitting more with AC, and maybe leaning more into Shiro, is the best way to play. Honestly, watching you play, I’d put you in the same category. Definitely less like you describe Oida (though, I haven’t watched those matches, myself)…
Something Justin told me a while ago is that he thought Abel was a lot like Magneto. While I originally rejected the idea, I came around to it once I thought about it more. The way I was thinking about it, Abel can’t just go in like Magneto can and fuck people up. The more I thought about it though… neither can Magneto. Now, I never played Marvel seriously (which is probably why it took me a while to figure the whole analogy out), but it seems to me that even Magneto, probably the trickiest offensive character in Capcom history, can’t just go in and do whatever the fuck he wants. A good Magneto goes in with the goal of baiting the AAA, avoiding it, and either taking advantage of the assist call for double snap, or taking advantage of the assist call, so he can work his shit in the window where the assist is no longer available… possibly snap the assist in… or make the opponent think calling the assist is a bad idea… whatever. Magneto is only abel to really go on the offensive, and stop giving a fuck, once he snaps the assist in, or mindfucks the opponent into not calling the assist for a while. Until then, he always has to play a more deceptive offense that looks all rushdown crazy… but really isn’t.
I think Abel is the exact same. Just replace AAA, with whatever reversal your opponent has, and you can liken a snapped in assist to somebody like Vega/Sim… a character that just doesn’t really have good reversal options.
Incidentally, I made money back in 2008 betting on you, using the same thought process. It was you against whatever Texas nigga you were money matching (Toan, maybe? I don’t remember…). The general consensus from the Texas kids in the crowd was that you were gonna get raped free since the dude’s Magneto was crazier than yours. The phrase that kept getting thrown out there was “Combofiend’s Magneto is slow” or “he doesn’t move well” or something to that effect. I had seen the other dude play a little bit, and he did well, but it seemed too openly aggressive to me. So I made the bet… you won… and I think (again in my limited Marvel knowledge) it was because he tried to get too aggressive with Magneto, and wound up fucking himself over and over again.
That’s just my take. IMO, if Magneto can’t really open up teams with blunt force consistently, there’s no way you should rely on Abel to do it.
