Man Birdie is so slow sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if it’s my reaction time but it’s not. Like when trying to do cr. MP anti air. If they are too close you can forget about it even if you know it’s coming. Depending on the type of air strike they use you are gonna get hit and if lucky maybe you’ll trade. But that happens a lot of times. I realize that I got combo’d or trounced because Birdie was too slow to get out of the situation or strike at a certain time. He’s very easy to frame trap. I still love em to death though. If I can’t play Birdie, I don’t wanna play SF5.
The only time Birdie’s anti-air hasnt worked for me, is when I’m too slow or they do a deep cross-up. Because even on most cross-ups his cr.mp hits.
Blame the input lag. never had a game where i couldnt consistently block crossups or anti air when ever i wanted.
I think birdie can seem really slow sometimes if you aren’t focusing on the right buttons. A lot of his footsie buttons are pretty slow and the ones that arent super slow arent exactly lightspeed, but if you initially show opponents youre willing to use his quicker buttons you can really get in their head.
Try keeping people in check on the ground with cr.lp, its relatively fast (5f) and it has great range for how quick it is. You should also focus on pressing less buttons in general if you are having trouble anti-airing. Its easier to anti-air if you have some time to react to a jump-in, which is hard if you just finished pressing a button. cr.mp is a great aa imo, and has a fast startup (6f). Its no jab aa , but i would definitely not call it slow. Just literally wait for them to jump in, and if they try walking forward too much just cr.lp them. Once they’re weary of your cr.lp then you can start using birdies slower normals with ease.
Also, avoid doing any form of the chain or eating food until you have felt them out with jabs and footsies. Ill try and post a video soon for reference.