I structure my team on that, due to Mummy B’s explanations in his Terry Thread on battery, User, and Anchor, and to Max out the damage on Hibiki’s CC’s and B&B’s so she puts enough of a dent in the opposing anchor so that my last character can turtle it out and capitalize on mistakes.
But you can still safely mix up the top tiers to get the same results if you think of the top tiers and their capabilities as ratios in themselves.
In some ways characters are stronger on the defensive and some are stronger on the offensive. Some are equal and play the same the whole match, a perfect set of balance.
1/2/1 really doesn’t affect K-Groove team structures too much, but to compensate for counter-teams maybe 1/2/1 could be a safe bet so long as you go by the model B posted, that your Anchor is meant to keep the lead that your user wins, and is easily very capable of keeping that lead or regaining it if some shit happens.
1/1/2 C-Groove teams/A-Groove teams/N-Teams are good because you get your powered up anchor (Usually C-Sagat or A-Blanka) who are easily hands down quite able to regain control and the lead of a match if things go sour.
C-Sagat will never truly suck so long as he’s used to sit on leads with at least a full lvl 2 super cancel at the ready or a full C-Groove Bar.
Still, all teams are susceptible to counter characters, and C-Sagat and A-Blanka are no exceptions–>A-Hibiki.
Yeah she’s a controversial character, but she will generally almost always put a strong dent in C-Sagat or A-Blanka’s armor, enough that my A-Rock can “sit back and relax,” even if they have a full bar since his defenses are so strong with either a lvl 3 (K-groove, though he could take advantage of the scare and rush) or a CC + RC’s at the ready.
Well anyway that’s the reasoning with my team.
****Another example is A-Are reversed.
****This is what I mean by application of top tiers in your 1/2/1 formula (sort of)but keep the 1/1/2 formula. As you can see it’s really matchup specific stuff, as CvS2 is really a matchup oriented game.
Blanka makes for a killer anchor. He’d also make a murderous hell-like battery, guaranteed to nearly kill off any battery he faces. Too bad you can’t have two eh?
Well, you have Bison centered as the user for one reason, if Blanka falls you get to keep the lead he’s earned since he’s Blanka and he’ll likely fuck up the battery and beat up (at least a little) the opponent’s user. You would want him as a user because he’s stronger here. If he’s your anchor and you’re behind he’ll have to take some initiative to land his CC, that means he’ll be open.
Bison’s a stronger threat when the opponent’s behind and must attack him, even knowing he’s got a full CC at the ready. So defensive wise he’s much more intimidating than A-Rock. But here as user, following a strong lead like Blanka it’s a sure thing here.
That and you want your last character to have a strong comeback potential.
Enter A-Sak (2) with her strong abusable RC’s and easily filled A-groove Bar. She’s undeniably better when she has a full bar or can quickly get one depending on what another character hands off to her. And regardless what anyone thinks she hands down beats any character in the corner, making C-Guile/Rugal corner games look like childs play.
All this, and she plays the same game regardless of whether you are ahead or behind, and yet it is still murderously effective. Whether as an anchor or battery, or user. However, as a battery she still falters IMO for this one reason, there’s plenty of battery-style characters that’ll run circles around her, litterally
coughRolento/Mai/Vegacough
(I say matchup oriented game, because you have R1’s out there able to destroy R4’s easily just because that R1 happens to be that R4’s counter character. Please keep this in mind when you review my post)
But generally, the reason I do this is to boost up the damage Hibiki’s got as my user and that she’s an able counter (or should I say near even matchup) to C-Sagat and A-Blanka, the most common, usually seen anchors practically everywhere, and has few, but horrendously bad matchups in those positions.
Though right now I’m still undecided about whether or not to stick with A-Rolento for my battery and trade him off for someone like A-Vega (thanks to Nick T.'s enlightening) or A-Mai (not too familiar with her bad matchups). A-Rolento doesn’t have particularly bad matchups with the top tier, they are winnable, but you’ve gotta work your ass off in comparison to A-Vega as a battery.
:badboy: