Inspired by Shinmastalv1’s video and F.Champ’s & Chris G’s keepaway, I decided to give Strange’s zoning another look. I was big detractor from Strange’s keepaway game when UMVC3 was released, but since then I’ve had a pretty big change of heart. Coupled with Missiles, his zoning can be impeccable. He has so many tracking projectiles and high-dura beams that it makes him a nightmare for tri-dashers, and perhaps even teleporters.
I decided to make a quick little flow chart (literally 10 minutes of thinking):
A1
l.DoD
EoE + IP
®G + FoF
EoE + IP + A1
(rg) + FoF
EoE + IP
m.DoD
EoE + IP + A1
xxxxxxx Repeat from (2)
*A1 = Missiles
I’ve been testing this in practice mode with repeated playback, and I’m having a hard time even getting a touch on this very static pattern. Imagine if it was in the hands of a human mind who can be dynamic and adjust to situations? The beauty of Strange is that he can HC any little touch into SoV or he can 7RoR if the opponent wants to try to clear the screen with a projectile super.
Here is a video excerpt of me trying to open up this flowchart. I’ve simulated human panic of trying to negate Strange’s projectiles with Plasma beam and using Photon Array to clear the mine field. I even got lucky as to land a dive kick near the end but alas, missiles were there to bail the CPU out. Besides, Not every character has the luxury of having Doom’s godlike divekick.
[media=youtube]dsNhtQKpa9s[/media]
I’ve seen projectiles combo upwards to around 25 hits with this (I’m sure to be unoptimized) flow chart.
Edit: I have not done any XF testing, but I imagine he can have Dormammu potential chip.
wow, that was… so beautiful!
just one question, is this viable without doom or without any assist? hidden missiles really makes anything better, but it strange’s zoning by itself looked solid. i imagine you could probably do 2 reps of that, then throw a teleport somewhere and have a pretty good chance of crossing up.
I think it can be viable solo for, like you said, only a couple reps. The more I play against this playback, the more I realize that the trick is (for both players) to realize that Strange’s projectiles disappear once he gets touched so to have sustain you need backup such as missiles or a similar assist that can help bail you out.
I think if people want to play Strange/Missiles this way, they should utilize TP once they lull their opponent to sleep and also really really capitalize off of EoE hits with jump loops as well as being liberal with using SoV off of hit confirms.
The thing with Dorm and Morrigan is that they both have built-in failsafes with 2D/1C hands (dorm) and Astral Vision fireballs hitting from behind (Morrigan) so if they do get touched, they needn’t rely on missiles to bail them out. The tradeoff with Strange not having a built-in failsafe is that he can so easily combo off of self TP mixups and people jumping into EoE.
The thing is, his most vulnerable spot is on top of his head since projectiles come out in front of his body (except DoD… but that has dreadful startup.) You need air support, if you get touched everything will disappear.
Also, no naked FoFs are used. If you look closely, every FoF is preceded by 1® so that it tracks. I chose that and DoD since mystic swords don’t track.
Lastly, I don’t really think you can strategically place graces when playing keepaway with strange. Everything has to be done within fractions of a seconds; you don’t have time to pick your spots. Once you lose apm(lol) it becomes less airtight meaning it’ll be that much easier to get in on him. He can build a very very solid wall but at the end of the day, this is Marvel where rushdown is king and you** will be opened up if you’re not completely airtight with keepaway.**
Why else does no one have the success of Champ and Chris G at keepaway? it’s because no one is as brutally nonporous as them.
You really need to make sure that there are literally no gaps in your zoning patterns such that the opponent is has to block something within the next couple of frames. Sometimes I’ll alternate between 1R and 1Y depending on if my opponent is jumping. We should discuss zoning patterns for different situations.
Mine looks like:
Call Magneto, TK DoD M, Lvl 1 Flame, Eye of Agamotto, (1Y/1R depending on if the opponent jumps), [Palm]Flame, repeat
If the opponent is at normal jump height, and attempting to boxdash over to Strange, I can use Bolts and Disruptor assist as an easy confirm into super
If the opponent is trying to zone with projectiles, do …EoA, Mystic Sword M/H, Call Magneto, Flame, repeat or 7 Rings
Opponent at super jump height approaching Strange --> this is where it gets a little iffy because I don’t have an anti-air assist like Missiles or Vajra. Just pray that they press a button and SoV will hit, or they land and Mystic Sword M pushes them back
Of course if you have a beam or projectile assist of some sort that goes fullscreen, don’t be afraid to throw in some mixups just to keep your opponent in check. If it works out, make sure they’re dead and you get your incoming character setup. Missiles (to my knowledge) is the only assist that will allow Strange to combo after a cornered ground throw.
EoA, call Doom, IP the Eye if the opponent is at 3/4 screen or full, Grace (Y recently,shreds online, plus I hate it when they jump lazily out of the way to avoid the flame, IP Eye if not beforehand, if already done, summon new EoA, immediately IP it, TK Daggers M or Mystic Sword M, typically mystic sword for pushback, chip, projectile shutdown, and annoyance, repeat.
Works very well against non teleporters. Hulk, and Cap have to be approached with caution though. Only drop an EoA at 3/4 or full screen. Their invulnerability on charging star and gamma charge run out just as they meet the Eye a lot of times. Brain dead confirm.
Teleporters I do a roughly similar pattern, only with more delay between steps at random to try and bait the teleports. If you TK everything, you could probably throw on reaction to a teleport from all those moves except for Mystic Sword M and EoA because of how long it takes to get onscreen.
okay, so i’ve been having a lot of luck with using EoA>I.P.>(red, but might switch to yellow) grace, FoF, :l: daggers, teleport online. all those projectiles just makes the opponent block. a.k.a. making teleport>combo much more effective.
just wondering, what sort of pattern should i start doing if i want to keep throwing projectiles instead of teleporting? i’ve also thought about using the first EoA as a shield to set up some graces, but i know the eye doesn’t beat everything.
What is everyone doing after they hit someone with a SOV that doesn’t kill a character?
Example - A doom jumps then does a foot dive at me, I SOV on reaction (and choose not to XFC cancel…)
Obviously the opponent recovers in the air - then what? I’ve found you don’t quite have enough time to put out an EoA before the opponent falls on top of you and clips you with an air attack. It feels like theirs quite a bit of time to do something - but i dont know what? Try and stuff there air attack with L swords? Teleport at last second behind them? I feel like a sitting duck after I’ve clipped them with a SOV and it doesn’t kill.
There must be something I can setup or do before they fall on my head once more?
Also lets assume I don’t have an AA assist to call - or Strange is the only character left
I’m pretty much just asking what people do when a character super jumps at you ;p
Suggestions welcome, and I know Strange is weak when people attack from overhead - but I’m struggling.
good question. i talked about this in the other doc. strange thread. if they air recovery towards you, which i find most players do, then you can anti ait them with a good ol’ cr. >cancel that into :l: mystic swords, and you’ve got yourself a jump loop combo! a member made a list of the things that cr beats and loses to in this thread.
i’ve tried teleporting after a non-K.O. SoV, and i find it keeps you safe but doesn’t get you a combo.
i thought :h: mystic sword would be good to use after SoV, but it seems to not travel at the right angel.
if this SoV thing happens in the corner, i’ll go for an air grab. it’s kind of hard to time at first because it takes dr. strange like a second to recover, and you can’t see when dr. strange recovers. just go into training mode, get the dummy in the corner, use SoV, and try to super jump as soon as you can then just press F+:h:. i don’t think it works if they recover forward. this works even better if you used daggers>SoV instead of just SoV at the end of your combo.
if a SoV *almost *killed the opponent, but not quite, i’ll use bolts of balthakk right before they hit the ground because i know they’re gonna try to hard tag. i’ll end up either chipping the character out before they hard tag, or i’ll get the incoming character in bolts+SoV.
Ok cool, thanks for the info - interesting to see that cr.M beats Wolverines dive kick - will have to test it out in training and practice the timing Thanks heaps!
Before SOV, i’ve been doing EOA XX SOV. because as they are falling, you can smack EOA before they even touch you and you can mix-up. Or DOD m XX sov. DOD hits after SOV and it helps set up easier AA game.
Its not just good for further mixups, its also good for DHCs, the EOA has a vacuum effect allowing some DHCs that otherwise wouldn’t work because of the SOV hitbox direction. For example, i can: s.S, air series, land in the corner, EOA, SOV, DHC into Mighty Tornado and it all connects in every character because both the EOA and Mighty Tornado keep the character there, the tornado alone drops.
Shoot a flame of the faltine out when Wesker is mean mugging you from across the screen. As long as that FoF is there he can’t interrupt your EoA.
Not necessarily, look up a random bunch of projectiles and see how many low priority points they have and you’ll see why EoA is such a good defensive and offensive tool. 10 low priority points is nothing to shake a stick at. And when you IP the EoA, it creates a brand new Eye with 10 fresh durability points.
just tested it myself. FoF and wesker’s gunshot cancel each other out.
also, wesker’s gunshot hit EoA and then hit strange. if the EoA is hit with i.p. some projectiles go through it >.>
teleport online. all those projectiles just makes the opponent block. a.k.a. making teleport>combo much more effective.
