I think Alexisdabomb is one badass motherfucker. But two things I’d like to add:
Elena: One thing Elena has that specifically fucks with Alex is her b.HK. Her b.HK is one of her best moves, it’s a great poke, and it beats almost every throw setup including LP Powerbombs (like Urien’s stHK but better). Once you understand that you’re dealing with a player who’s good at using her b.HK the match becomes interesting to say the least. Now you have to make a read, and there’s no specific advice to be given. Any Alex specialists; feel free to add something about that. I may have to bug Renic and see what he thinks. But in general you just have to read the player.
*I think Alex is overall a better character than Elena and I’d place him over her in the tiers, but the Tier List is kinda’ messed up and needs revising I think. I think Twelve is a far worse character than Sean for example.
The Shoto cr.MK (Low Foward): I agree with just blocking it as Alex. Often times (like 90% of the time) the Shoto is going to do the cr.Mk at the maximum distance that it can hit you. They almost never do it at point blank range. If they do it at point blank range they were dropped as an infant. This sucks because let’s say you parry that cr.MK at the maximum distance it can hit you, there is pretty much nothing you can hit them with that’s fast enough or close enough (like say LP Powerbomb or stMK). Because let’s say you’re fighting Ken and he does cr.MK, you parry and do EX Shoulder or crMP, Ken’s SA3 nails you. Same with the other shoto’s if they link cr.MK into EX Hadouken, not so sure Akuma but I would assume the Tatsu would easily beat it. About the only thing you could do is SA2 but as we all know the distance is everything when it comes to landing the last hit or you’re free. Sometimes it’s better to just block.