Dance with the Claw: Vega Match-up Guide/Discussion

Classic Fighting Games Ultra Street Fighter IV
1421

Naw it worked, the freakin c.MK c.MP xx FBA didn’t work for all the times I did it. But I use Rose so I know the tricks to the woman. It was just that Vega doesn’t do enough damage, to keep up with her shenanigans.

Most of the time I’d telegraph the slide and just focus fish for it, there’s a range where Rose really can’t do anything about a good focus attack other than maybe a guessed soul spiral (you can release the focus inbetween c.MP xx Soul Spiral), throw, or jump but since I got the guy crouch teching like no tomorrow, he pressed buttons right into it.

1422

oh, well that’s interesting. That, what I explained was happening to me like 2 weeks ago with one of the better Rose players in LB, from what ive heard. the usual spacing wasn’t as effective, but Rose can’t do shit about cr.mk from the right distance.

But you really think Rose has the advantage? With out Ultra 2 Rose is beyond free on wake up. And she goes toe to toe in the footsie department. I don’t think the match up is disadvantaged. Feels even.

The ability to bully rose on wake up is greater for you than she can you.

1423

i usually hate fighting with claw against rose :\ i usually switch char for this mu. for some odd reason i have major success with boxer in this MU

1424

Rose’s stuff is safer, drill pressure is better than RCF pressure, and with my style of Vega (punish heavy footsie style) it’s really a hard when my combo doesn’t work, I’m going to have to find my way around it maybe just cMK xx EX.ST.

I’m have to play against the guy again and readjust how I see the MU, in retrospect I felt like after a win streak I went on auto-pilot. But when I posted my original message it just made me really salty that my combos were missing and he streaked on me. (but I won two more matches before I left lol)

1425

Cody seems to be a problem…some help on this mu would be nice.

1426

This match is all about what not to do rather than what to actually do. I generally play an offensive-based Vega, and I find myself switching to a more defense-oriented style of play when I fight Codys. This match boils down to counters and hit-and-run maneuvers. Cody’s Zone Knuckle is a constant threat in this match-up, due to most of Vega’s moves having below average recovery. Stick out an otherwise safe st.mk in this match and you might eat ZK>FA>U1. Cody’s neutral jump is also dangerous, be wary of whiffing throws, especially if he’s in the air. Cody’s nj.hp>cl.hp>CU does heavy damage an stun. Your best bet, as it is in a lot of ther matches, is to use your god-like walk speed and back dash to bait mistakes and punish. A lot of Codys will tend to jump in on Vega, attempting to take advantage of his weak reversal game. That gives way to perfect opportunities for air throws. Cody is better fought on the ground, because even though your pokes are unsafe in this match they’re not useless.

A few tips:
cr.mk shines in this MU. It is usually too fast for Cody’s ZK to punish and is good on hit or block

st.HP is one of my fav normals,powerful albeit slow. Punish Cody’s whiffed CU with it if you have no charge

ji.hp will beat Cody’s AA normals, and it will even beat his ruffian kick if he hesitates for a second to get it off

1427

this is all I have to say

Zangief.

yeah, im feeling taht stupid ass piece of shit nonsense nerf real bad.

1428

Lol which one, man? There are several to choose from.

1429

The only one that matters actually, Cosmic Heel. Doing a Cosmic Heel at near max distance, the distance where it would have been +2 in Super kept getting SPD, even if I jumped away. sigh, its not that the match up is in his advantage by that much, but that pissed me off so much today. I just hope they fix st.hk and cr.hp, and hit boxes. If they do that, I won’t give a fuck about Cosmic Heel.

I swear though, the space where a max range cr.mk hits is like Zangief’s sweet spot for initiating a jump in attack. Not hard to deal with, but gets annoying quick status.

1430

I appreciate the read, very helpful, though I disagree on the Vega controlling the air bit. Greyninja told me the same thing and I tried some of it out.

I don’t know if I agree with this, I play Big Marcus fairly often and he also plays Vega himself. He told me and exhibited how Vega does and doesn’t control the air.
He said jumping on Bison is only good at close range where ST.HK won’t be able to do anything because you’re already in his face. He said aside from his jump in Mix-ups while Vega is on the ground after a knockdown, there’s no point in him jumping at me or using non ex Headstomp (EX, Shits on airthrow and you eat about 15 - 20% it seems.)

He also pointed out in the Case of Vega VS Bison Air game Bisons J.MP is absolutely fucking retarded and most likely leads to eatting Psycho Abortion. If he thinks you’re going to jump he can early press MP and just blow Vega out of the sky.

So information is crossed up or I’m just playing Big Marcus and he knows whats up. Either way, I fought him in Losers this week and I actually managed to take 2 rounds off him and make him work for it.

That match up is Rough against an experienced Bison for sure.

1431

Thanks scarlet rabbi.

1432

Ok so a few posts ago I was bitching about the Rose match up and how it is now. I played the same guy in Super (aka Chocolate) SF and pretty much mopped him. Which brings me to what I originally said, Vega just doesn’t hit very hard anymore and thus my playstyle is considerably weaker because of it.

1433

How would y’all suggest going against Sakura? She appears to have some sort of invulnerability to my charm and good looks (she must be a witch :P)…
I don’t really know how I should approach this match-up.

1434

Pokes, pokes and pokes. Gotta have your block game down on this one, and try to avoid falling at all costs. Her cr.HP beats FBA and all obvious jump-ins, so use st.mk to frustrate her into doing something dumb. Dont try to punish her EX Hurrican kick and don’t ever try to scrap Sakura up close, her link/combo game will shatter you like the glass cannon you are. If you’re on your job though she’ll have a hard time pinning you to one spot, our aerobics are quite suffice at dealing with her gimmicks.

Basically my game plan is annoy the hell outta her until she takes a swat at you, then punish. St.mk and well-spaced CHs work wonders in this match-up. First person to get impatient usually loses, dont be afraid to poke her up a few times and then let that clock drain out. She’ll eventually have to come after you which is what you want. A desperate Sakura lacking the life lead and the time against her. You’ll rarely win this MU if you lack the ability to frustrate.

1435

An early jf.hk beats cr.hp. With that said, why are you jumping, and why are you willingly giving up space, and for that matter, risking health by jumping in? If you need to initiate an offense, and you feel the urge to jump, you aren’t spacing yourself right. The only thing losing Cosmic Heel has thought me, is how to scoop people better for trying to poke me, when i approach them.

1436

Am I missing something? Who said to jump in on Sakura? Are these rhetorical?

1437

you said

cr.hp beats all obvious jump ins, that isn’t true, so i said what I said. But then followed up with that rhetoric because, in the event, that if for some odd reason whover reads my post decides to use it to mount an offense on said Sakura, he needs to know that he is doing it wrong.

so it meant to be some general knowledge, that isn’t very practical.

BTW, i should be clearer on my posts.

1438

Oh Ok. I’ll take your word for it that her cr.HP will lose to Ji.HK…that literally sounds unbelievable lol. Do you mean on her wake-up? I play as Sakura a lot and I can’t remember the last time anyone beat or even traded with my cr.HP on a jump-in, let alone Vega. She has a boss hitbox on cr.HP, its very perplexing to find out Vega’s early ji.hk will beat it. I thought if you had great reaction time nothing could beat it. This is great news if true. Gotta hit the training room up soon. Anything else we got that beats cr.HP if timed right?

1439

the way that works is quite simple. Its about looking at hit box interaction.

Vega’s jf.hk has a long vertical hit box. so you time jf.hk in a way where its active before sakura’s cr.hp is active. theres this space where sakura has to cr.hp to cleanly beat a lot of jump ins. a move like jf.hk activated early has enough frames that it will hit sakura out of her move if done right, because Sakura will run into that move.

Hit box interaction is my favorite part of this game.

1440

Am I the only person who thinks Bison is the worst match-up for Vega? Even a child beats me with Bison where I don’t have any problem with any other character. Well, with Dhalsim a little.

I already start every battle when I see my opponent is Bison, saying “Oh, I have lost”