you mistakes will live on this thread forever
I’ve come to the conclusion that Vega can only be played brain dead online. Dem 1 frame links, online? Yeah… No.
After not really using him since Super, I can’t play properly while the other guy is all LOLYOLO! What a waste of 3 hours training mode. 
2 frame linkable jabs should help that.
Although I agree with the braindead part. For me tho it’s not just online but offline too. It’s not braindead because he beats all the options. He just lacks options. It’s easy to make a choice when given only 1 or 2 options.
wat?
I believe I am being trolled, to be honest. But in case the 9+1 (plus?) is a joke and all the rest is “serious”:
Vega beats Dhalsim by 9-1 and LOSES to Dudley and Dee Jay 4-6?
So, I got trolled or I misunderstood the matchup chart completely?
couldn’t make the +'s stay -'s lol.
That’s how I see the matchups from my perspective against online opponents. It’s factoring in zero objectivity.
And yes Duds and DJ really kick my ass lol. I struggle with those. No matter how hard I study that Zeus video you linked… it’s not helping much. And the only advantage I’ve been able to use against DJ is the fact cHP beats his jumping short. Problem is that it doesn’t work up close and NO air to airs beat it at all. I’m forced to block and then it ends up just being it’s own little vortex I can’t seem to escape out of. I have way better results against Akuma’s vortex.
crMK under his stupid knee. It works wonders in that case.
The cases that you can’t crMK its pretty obvious which side its going to land.
Do no treat DJ like Guile. You zone DJ. Not the other way around.
Get the life lead and stay away from his jump range. When he jumps you have free kara throw/frame trap pressure.
Very early ST works really well against jump ins, but it’s not very likely that you will have the charge.
Practice punishing his crMK with crMP xx EX FBA.
Remember, you have a free crMK in his wake up. (He can only wake up ultra or wake up LK Sobat).
Punish the whiffed slides heavily. Hell, you can even Ultra that “poke” on whiff. But normally you will end up crMK crMP FBA.
Get the knockdown, either whiff LK ST and walk back or go for free chip with clHP xx MP RCF after safe jump… and walkback.
You are in the corner? Big deal! crMP xx LK FBA to midscreen and watch him suffer.
even my bad matchups has their own level of bs 
I think I need to up my use of cMPxx EX FBA against DJ. I almost exclusively use either cMKxx EX FBA or cLP, cMPxx EX FBA. I tend to assume that if cLP doesn’t hit it then cMP wont hit it either.
As for Duds, other than obviously blocking the overhead that nails me a lot, Ducking is my main problem because Duds will frame trap me then Ducking while I’m blocking to get in and mix up between block punch and throw.
#1 I can’t seem to find a solid answer to it.
#2 I can’t seem to recognize it in time even when I’m looking for it.
dudley’s main strength is close range just like how akuma is to KD. what makes dudley a weak charcter is his ability to get in on most characters. cr.mk stops him cold, even stops ducking. he’s forced to jump. avoid his strength as much as possible and you’ll be fine. use the 4 button tech against these sort of characters. or even a kara stand tech
You can c.MK under DJ’s jumping bazooka knee?
Thank you for this. It made my week.
cHP also works on cross up non meaty jLK. Is Just that area in between that wasgiving me probs. I’ll use cMK for that.
I play Duds as a secondary character and believe Vega has the upper hand in the matchup so maybe I can help you out.
You state that ducking is your main problem. The truth is, ducking is easily avoidable by predicting when it’s gonna be used. I know that it is easier for me to do that because I am well experienced with the character but it’s not hard to predict after understanding how Dudley applies his pressure.
My best advice to you is to train yourself to EXPECT the duck under when he is within range. Dudley has a large amount of push back on his blocked normals.
After 3 blocked lp., he is no longer in comboable range. 2 blocked cr.mp’s places him outside range. 1 blocked st.HK places outside of range. This means that any normal he tries to use afterwards will whiff, (except for cr.HK and st.HP which are both unsafe moves to use and can both be focus back dashed). You are free to back dash whenever he is out of range. Understanding that his pushback is very severe means that you should start anticipating a duck under after a string of 2 normals. For instance, after 2 blocked cr.lp, feel safe to back dash or focus back dash.
You have to play Duds with the mentality that EVERY Dudley player wants to get in. Duck under is super unsafe but we risk using it randomly to keep the pressure. If you start learning to predict the duck under, you can reaction punish it with many of Vegas light and medium pokes as an alternative to back dashing.
As a Dudley player myself, I like to test my opponents knowledge of the duck under. If most of my duck under shenanigans go unpunished I know that the person is inexperienced with the match up and I pretty much have freedom of movement. The matchups that I play against opponents that understand how punishable the duck under is, I have a harder time getting in on because I use duck under far less.
On the offense, you should place Vega right outside of his kara throw range. Duds have limited tools to get in within that range, while you have long range pokes and anti-airs to keep him out. Remember that once you have him outside of his already limited range, ALWAYS look out for a duck under. Good Duds will try to keep duck unders to a minimum, and try to use it unpredictably. Under circumstances that he does get in, remember, that after two blocked pokes, we’re already thinking of ways to get back in, in order to continue our pressure game.
Ok… but that last part puts me at my 2nd main problem…
riding the fine line between giving up space/getting predictable with cancelling normals into backflip, and dealing with focus forward dash or focus crumple at that range. Remember that every step back and every backflip puts Vega closer to the corner. Not exactly a happy place to be against someone with a comboable overhead.
Duds ends up shutting down my poke game almost completely due to (fear of) focus. This is part of how duds gets me to stop pressing buttons. If they get predictable or careless with it I have answers. It’s when used smartly in conjunction with ducking that really fucks me up. 1 wrong guess and instant corner carry, and lucky if you land in the corner with less than 1/3rd life lost.
Dude, you have to overcome that fear and just say, “fuck it” sometimes. The seesaw/back and forth mind games between players is the reason why we continue to play the game.
I hope you try my advice and remember to count his pokes. You’ll see that you’ll be able to react better to his duck unders, whether it be back dashing or counter poking.
Yes I understand the seesaw. The problem is the other guy is a lot heavier than me and I end up stuck in the air only to crash down when he gets up.
There’s no shortage of dudley players on PSN. Ran into a few already and it’s helped… though the damn focuses really hurt.
we kind of have an all or nothing kind of thing with space. if we land ANY knockdown, we get to reset the spacing in our favour. not many characters have that kind of ability on EVERY knockdown
How the hell do you fight Gief? That fool just jumps at me and I die.
Punishes for his lariat: standing MK (at midrange), jump back HP (use it sparringly, especially if ultra 2 is stocked), throw (spinning lariat can be thrown during start up. if you find your opponent abusing it once he gets in just throw)
To play Gief and win consistently you must play lame. Keep him out at all costs and utilize Vegas long range poke attacks).
If spaced properly, cr. HP and st. HK are great tools to keep him out.
I find that punishing his ex. green hand with st. HK works great because while its not max damage, the added push back of the move creates the space that is needed to keep him out.
Learn to watch out for empty jump ins. Scrubby Giefs use that move so often hoping to pull off a hale mary ultra victory.
Gief is too slow to play against vega on the ground…his jump ins should be contested…I expect to lose some health here…but you can chip away at his health the whole game.
walk up and poke him walk back out, hes so big all your normals are good here, just dont whiff too much cuz it lets him get in easier.
…once hes scared feel free to do “agressive poking like dash in c.mk” , if hes trying patience and to slug it out footsies…thats pretty good of him but you should win…
here he’ll mix in randomness like whiff palms, whiff hk > spd …all should be tried to punish on reaction…not too hard…you have too much range. Pick your poison, Always have St for throw invincibility
once he cant walk forward without giving health… prepare to anti air at every range…he jumps from far to gain space exfba, CH, closer c.hp , sthk. too close focus backdash…or air to air contest…worst is reset…
until u2…if risking air to air do it fast.
dont get cornered, start thinking about getting out of corner before you get there…ugly against good gief.