Match 1:
You often aren’t putting yourself in a good offensive position, and it feels like you are afraid of AcesReturn even though you play a very similar team. At the start of the match, you’re both going to be making a throw attempt with Nova and calling EM Disruptor. You need to play this game instead of backing away, because you get yourself pushed into the corner very early in the match with your choice.
You start the match at 0:18 by blocking even though you play the same setup as your opponent - why? Are you not confident with your offense? Marvel is all about not having to block. You don’t want to put yourself in a position where you have to play defensively.
After you pushblock your opponent from that opening blockstring, you hesitate. It looks like you crouch because you’re thinking about j.M or maybe Gravimetric Pulse H, and then you decide to go for airdash j.H instead. Nova’s j.H is undoubtedly fantastic, but it’s also predictable, and you’re facing another Nova. Your opponent mirrors your approach but comes out ahead. Likely, there’s not much you could have done here except for consider an alternate pathway. For example, Nova’s Flight time is a mere 10 frame startup. Why not air dash j.H, fly? You might say “that didn’t do anything”, but that’s the point. Top players do all sorts of things that have no chance of hitting the opponent because winning is all about out-psyching your opponent. If you do predictable things like air dash j.H with Nova against another Nova, you’re just hoping your j.H wins out. If you do strange things, it makes your opponent wonder what you’ll be doing next, which effectively makes air dash j.H more valuable.
At 0:25 your opponent drops his combo and you get another chance to go in, and you go for that air dash j.H again - it’s just too predictable. Being unpredictable is especially important in this matchup because you are EM Disruptor is not going to help you get in. If you had Greyhound, it would be another story.
At 0:30 you get him in a blockstring, and even though he’s blocking you end your blockstring in s.S. I’m sure you know this, but this is very bad. Make your momentum count. Cancel a blockstring into something with better frame advantage for Nova, like Gravimetric Pulse H (it’s -1, but that’s his best option with full health).
I rarely say this, but I’ll also say that I don’t care for your team or its order. Team problems:
- EM Disruptor does not do it for Spencer. Spencer needs something that lets him apply pressure, not just clear the screen.
- Nova is a bit like Super Skrull in that you sometimes want to make crazy, unsafe guesses. That means you need a safe DHC for Nova, and Spencer does not provide that.
At 0:45 you drop your combo. IMO, when it comes to combos you want to practice like mad in training mode, and in matches do the most basic thing you can do that you know will always land. Ease into stuff that you tend to drop.
At 0:51 you bring Spencer in, and your play confirms what I thought about your team structure. Spencer is playing in an extremely defensive manner. You are jumping back while performing j.H a lot because you are scared of an air grab, going for naked grapples, etc. This is not the way to play Spencer, but you’re limited because of EM Disruptor. EM Disruptor is best on characters that only need to get in, and then they can take care of the rest themselves, with teleporters like Dormammu, Vergil, and Dante, or with keepaway characters who need a quick “screen clear” assist. Spencer needs something that prevents his opponent from simply pushblocking him out when he zip lines in. Thus he is often paired with Tatsu, drones, and, most recently, Bolts of Balthakk. Spencer doesn’t need help getting in - zip line is free. He needs help translating that free momentum he gets into a hit. EMD is not going to do that for him.
I just watched your Spencer vs. Dormammu, and this further confirms my feelings. Dormammu is a good matchup for Spencer, but your team construction is making you struggle against him. Do yourself a favor and either drop Spencer for someone who makes better use of EMD, or drop Magneto for an assist that both Nova and Spencer can make use of.
At 2:20 you kill his point character and get an incoming mix-up opportunity. You put Gravimetric Pulse H out, which is a very good idea, but then you superjump, and it’s not clear why. Nova’s best option from Gravimetric Pulse H is to stay under it. If your opponent pushblocks, dash forward and go for an air grab. Use the threat of the air grab to make your opponent wonder whether an air grab will happen in the future (train him), and instead of going for an air grab, superjump ADD into j.L, c.L instead. It’s very effective.
Match 2:
3:16 you go for a Nova j.S. Why? It’s very unsafe, and it doesn’t look like you had a good chance to hit your opponent. Were you just trying to get back to the ground?
4:00 You Bionic Arm, and it’s not clear why. I noticed in your last match that you were a little “Bionic Arm happy”, but this confirms it. This move is extremely unsafe, so be more cautious with it. You then X-Factor to save yourself, but stand still with Spencer. Have a plan! c.L, command grab, f.H, anything is better than nothing. You also had a bar of meter saved up, so you could have DHCed to Magneto to save Spencer instead of burning X-Factor. I think it’s a good rule that X-Factor is not worth burning to save a character unless you absolutely need to preserve the matchup.
4:18 How laggy were the matches? I’ve played AcesReturn plenty, and I’m surprised he missed Chaotic Flame XFC Dark Hole.
Your Magneto seems pretty rocky, haha. Lots of dropped combos from both of you.
Match 3:
Why so many dropped Nova combos? Is it lag, or…?
Stagger your c.M to c.H with Nova. You go straight from c.M to c.H, and it just gets you pushblocked. It’s better to go for a frame trap between the two moves, because c.M doesn’t cause a lot of blockstun, and people will be desperate to pushblock you out, which can lead to you catching the ground dash.
6:30 Nova gets hit by Dark Matter. It happens, but it shouldn’t happen often with Nova. Dark Matter is only effective if Dormammu’s opponent is on the ground. Stay in the air! The typical setup, which AcesReturn uses, is to make you block Purification to have you return to the ground, and then go for the teleport mix-up. On one hand, you can just block the other way as soon as you land, but that’s assuming your opponent only ever uses one setup. Ideally, what you should do is air dash between those Purifications.
So, what happened to you is this:
Purification (hit)
Purification (blocked)
Dark Matter x Teleport, Nova dies.
What should have happened is this:
Purification (hit)
Purification (blocked)
You air dash.
If Doramammu goes for another Purification, Nova’s j.S is extremely effective at avoiding it. I also think you should go for Human Rocket here and there against Dormammu to make him more respectful of your Nova. Right now he’s not giving two damns about your options.
6:40 Another random Bionic Arm against a Dormammu standing on the ground.
7:06 Don’t use zip line across the horizontal without an assist covering you. You’re just asking to get air grabbed, and you did. Every Dormammu player knows to watch for this, because it’s the only real offense Dormammu players get on Spencer, haha.
7:20 Awesome zip line out of the Dark Matter mix-up. Unfortunately, you follow it up with another random Bionic Arm.
7:30 Magnetic Shockwave is not safe to DHC into if Dormammu has meter. He didn’t, but just an FYI. Magnetic Tempest is the better option.
Match 4:
8:30 You perform the blockstring of c.MH, f.H. This is extremely predictable, like going c.LMH, f.H with Spencer. Everyone is watching for it, and c.H doesn’t provide enough blockstun to make f.H matter anyway. It only works if your opponent doesn’t understand Nova and doesn’t up-back. The best Spencer and Nova players do something like c.M, f.H mixed with c.MH, so sometimes they need to stay blocking low, sometimes they need to up-back. Right now your offense is very predictable.
9:10 Never, ever run from Stalking Flare unless your last character has too little health to eat the chip. It’s not going anywhere, so you’re only prolonging the inevitable. Always jump into Stalking Flare while blocking. It’s your best option. Well, unless you’re playing Nova. Are you aware that Human Rocket completely destroys Stalking Flare? Spend the meter and get it out of there. You had 2 bars.
9:30 Random Bionic Arm, this time after a failed blockstring. This is not what you want to frame trap with. Use f.H if you must. Even better, take a tip from Yipes and zip line away from your opponent. Sometimes it’s best to retreat and regroup.
9:37 That unsafe Magnetic Shockwave bites you in the ass.
Dropped combos and random, unsafe hypers lost you this match.
Match 5:
It seems like this entire match is a series of poor decisions. Turning Spencer getting hit as an assist into a happy birthday for your opponent, trying to be fancy in an XF3 Magneto mirror with 5 bars instead of ABCing into his level 3, etc. Watch match 5, from 11:50 onward and say to yourself “I will never let his happen again”. It helps to watch your failings and see the error in your thought patterns.
Well, I’ll end it there. If there’s another match in the video you want me to take a look at, I’m glad to. I wouldn’t want to type out commentary for an hour long video but have no one read it, haha. I hope this was helpful.
