Nice. I have been scheming on some things to do with Nova/Spencer and a third character. Right now I’m working on my Nova Task Spenc team. I just keep on finding more and more ridiculousness lol
I don’t know if anybody posted this video, but it’s a fantastic… you can really level up your Nova.
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Sweet video! I like the damage you did to Phoenix hehe.
So I decided to hit the lab with a Frank team some of you already play to kinda experiment a little. Nova/Frank/RR is one of the strongest teams for Nova/Frank in my opinion. Log Trap is so freaking amazing for Nova. It lets you confirm off of Cent Rush A and B (which gives you midscreen mixup), it sets up the instant overhead very nicely, gives you control of the air, and while chucking javelins you can annoy your opponent to no end. Anyway, check out some stuff I was working on. Sorry for the shitty quality 
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I spent quite a lot of time in the lab trying to figure out how to round out the Nova/Frank shell properly, and eventually came to the conclusion of Rocket Raccoon. Log trap does wonders for Nova’s/Frank’s neutral game (-especially- when Frank is level 1, gives him a fighting chance) and their synergy, not to mention RR affords several backup plans for leveling Frank and solid ways to combo extend for both characters.
Regarding the stuff you posted, the damage is nice on the first but the problem is you’ll usually pass up things like that in order to level frank (not to mention ideally you want to keep them in the corner for Frank followups/oki situations). The reset is nice (I’d actually looked into something similar), but you can get a stronger guard break by extending the combo a bit further then SJ cancelling a centurion H into the javelin; they flip out sooner so it provides tic throw opportunities while still having the javelin come down.
If you have a serious interest in the team and want input/knowledge though let me know; I’ve spent so much time working on the team that I have a rather large chunk of tech I rarely even get to use/practice lol.
It’s definitely a team I like playing. It’s a lot of fun! But obviously, if you don’t get a chance to level Frank your chances of winning drop considerably. It’s like my 4th Nova team. It’s a lot of fun because log trap is so amazing, but I don’t think it’s going to be my main one. Maybe for certain matchups? What matchups do you feel are the worst and best? I think Taskmaster and Doom are pretty tough. What do you think?
As far as the reset is concerned, Yeah that’s always a good guard break to go for, and it’s my go to reset when I’m playing Nova/Dante/Strider, but I wanted to show something different. The reset isn’t affected by throw scaling and nobody will ever expect it.
One thing that sucks about that team for Nova resets is you pretty much won’t use them until you get Frank leveled since that’s always your number one priority. The cool part is that once you do get Frank leveled, if Nova’s back on point and does throw resets you can use the unscaled glitch with Frank and kill characters.
As for matchups, a lot of it is about the overall strength of your neutral game versus your opponent’s. In a lot of matchups, assuming relative equal skill, not killing on a first touch isn’t a huge deal (though it’s definitely still a team weaknesses) because your neutral game is so much more overpowering that you can often afford multiple touches. A lot of teams that have the 2 point characters + coverage assist archtype falter to Nova/Frank/RR because shopping cart up close can beat them out of startup, and Gravimetric pulse can eat up most assist calls (leaving log trap unchallenged). Drones in particular are funny; eat all 3 drones, still hit sentinel (not to mention Nova eats Sentinel call with box jumps and air H rocket Punches).
When I think bad matchups, a few things come to mind. One, strong zoning teams can cause a struggle. Still entirely doable, but depending on the point character + assist, Nova will have to rush rather than control the pace of the match, and zoning is Frank’s primary weakness (that said, team loves Morridoom; barrel roll xx Funny face Crusher all day if Frank gets leveled and log trap eats 2 fists). Tatsu assist is troublesome if they cover it properly because it’ll eat your pulse unless you put it in the air and eats Log trap. That said, if they call it badly you can centurion H it, jump cancel, and kill Akuma. Regarding specific characters, unfortunately a good brunt of the top tier either needs to be respected or can be a hassle. for Zero, Log trap has some decent success thwacking him out of the air, but Gravimetric pulse doesn’t neutralize a buster (even though by the numbers it should, it’s very irritating). More importantly, you’re not killing Zero on one touch unless you get your hit on about 1.5 meters (slightly specific and unorthodox combo, I can show it to you if you want) unless you TAC. Dante and Magneto both have to be respected for Air play and Disruptor respectively. They can easily hit RR out of his assist calls so you either need a pulse up or you have to wait until after they’re done. Vergil’s a terrible, terrible matchup; he eats Nova for breakfast and even when Frank’s leveled it’s by no means free (probably only in Frank’s favor because Frank has more health and will always kill Vergil on a single touch).
That all said, leveled Frank matches very well against pretty much all of mid-high and below, and is at least 5-5 or better against pretty much all top tier. In particular, he crushes Spencer (can literally just stay on the ground and spam M for the most part), can out footsie Wesker and Wolverine, and shows zero that a pizza cutter is weaker than a chainsaw (runaway Dorm backed by a good assist can suck, but you beat his air normals if he tries to get in. doom has runaway but doesn’t do enough damage to win by attrition. plus chainsaws beat footdive. I haven’t had much Viper experience but I don’t think it’d be too bad). Pretty much any character who tries to get in Frank’s face when he has chainsaws + log trap backing him up are going to lose, and with Nova assist you’re going to get some fantastic damage per combo (and a great DHC with either character).
Agreed when it comes to Nova’s bad matchups. In particular, I feel in general, Taskmaster and Dante are his absolute worst matchups, in my opinion, but Nova can do okay vs anyone else, especially Wesker and even Zero who at first I thought was incredibly in Zero’s favor. Agreed about Vergil as well. Strong zoning teams are a problem for Nova/Dante/Strider as well. I usually play Nova/Taskmaster/Dante vs those.
You’re definitely right about the resets being not so useful because you’re usually leveling Frank. It’s just when Frank is dead or Nova’s on point that you’d even try them. Nova/Frank/RR is just so fun to play though.
I don’t run into good Taskmaster’s enough to really have an opinion, but I’d personally base that on their assist. Out of shield skills range I’d just put up a pulse and try to wear him down/force him to come to me, then make him eat shopping cart. On paper it doesn’t strike me as terrible, but in application could be a different matter.
Zero I’d consider a great matchup if pulse neutralized buster, but it doesn’t (instead they trade twice and the buster keeps going, which really, really sucks because it usually means you’re gonna get hit then lose the last pulse hit). Infrit did a good job in EVO going Air to Air with Zero when buster was on charge and obvioulsy had some success, so Nova can deal with it if you play smart.
Nova and Dante is like comparing toolboxes; Dante has a better one. Nova can fight him, but you have to put in a lot more work and play smarter to win. reading the right time to try to jab bold pressure cancels can be hard, and dante can zone nova easily (and devil trigger to make speed tackle punishes ineffective). It’s doable but Dante’s a stronger character. I’d still give top billings of worst nova matchup to Vergil though; can pushblock/punish nova strings for free if you don’t reduce them, cut through pulses and can just S you out of box jumps (not to mention cut through log trap).
Thing with Taskmaster though, a good one, is that his arrows blow through any pulse. Which means you can’t outzone him. You’re forced to play his game. Any airdash towards him means he can punish easily with a j.H, a well timed shield skill, or even super. On the ground, his normals all beat yours. That matchup sucks, especially if he has really good assists. FML if he has missiles or Tatsu.
I play Flocker all the time since we both live in SFL and the Zero matchup is hard, but it’s not as bad as you would think. I think Flocker should’ve beaten Infrit. He was just way too nervous/hyped from putting Chris G into losers (his demon who eliminates him usually twice from every tournament). He actually dropped combos and played overall pretty terrible. I’d prefer Zero though to Dante any day. Dante has airplay which neutralizes any dash attempt. He has stinger which goes through any Pulse/Javelin you’re going to try and setup, and he has better normals. It’s a really tough matchup, but it’s Marvel and any matchup is possible if you can get your assist to put them in blockstun ever. Also, the Dante has to be good for the matchup to be hard. I DESTROY Dante if he’s not solid, but when I play Green Ace/Jago/Yipes. It’s pretty fucking hard.
Taskmaster arrows shouldn’t go through any pulses by themselves. Non-red health Pulse is 3 frames x 3 durability; Task arrows are 3 arrow of 3 durability each. They should neutralize each other, whereas red health under 200k should have 1 frame of 3 durability left, red health over 200 2 frames of 3 each. That’s one of the nice things about pulse is that pretty much all typical coverage assists either lose or get neutralized. The killer is smaller single projectiles; 3 durability projectiles will equally be nullified by projectiles of a smaller durability (so for example if you hit Nova’s pulse with an effective 7 durability, the 6 and 6 will trade, but then the 1 remaining durability will nullify the pulse even though Nova “should” have 2 durability left). Deadpool’s guns for example tear through pulse because they’re single hits of .8 each. Even a red health pulse loses to deadpool gunshots because of how trading works, even though deadpool guns only have a total of 8 durability. Long explanation, but the jiist is Nova pulse should nullify Taskmaster arrows cleanly. I’ll test that when I get home to double check.
While I haven’t played Infrit, I did have the pleasure of meeting and playing Flocker when he came to UFGT8 (great guy, you’re lucky to have him in your scene). I managed to do alright against his alt teams but pretty much anything with Zero on it smacked me around lol. I’d agree that it’s by no means in Nova’s favor, but he at least has tools to have a chance, even if it’s against him. Gotta pray that log trap hits, lol.
Yeah, Dante is a diverse enough character that he has an answer to pretty much everything Nova does and his normals are better. I personally don’t find the matchup crushing, but it’s by no means in Nova’s favor. Really a situation where you want to hope that your matchup knowledge or neutral game assists are better,'cause if not at an equal skill level you’re going to lose. My main training partner is a Dante player, and some days that shit just feels way too brutal.
Hmm, I think you’re right about the pulse. I forgot to mentioned that the Taskmaster I’m thinking of has Hawkeye arrows as an assist, so that combined with Taskmaster’s zoning makes it hard. So pretty much, a Taskmaster on point with any half decent assist is tough. And Yeah, Flocker’s a great guy.
Log trap is the best. Lol. I wish RR was a better character.
Oh, it’s on now.
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Can anybody transcribe the first part of this combo?
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Side TAC into Nova, ADDF, L Rocket Punch, j.LH H Gravmetric Pulse, j.LH, Fly, j.MH, L Rocket Punch, j.LMMH, [L Rocket Punch, j.MH, land, j.MH]
-After the ADDF, the L Rocket Punch done with the reverse command, since you’ll be crossing them up
-There may, or may not be an unfly after the j.LMMH, but I doubt it, given the how long the combo has already been in flight.
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just a little tiny preview of the upcoming video
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Final video. I know that I missed A LOT so, PM me with ideas ! =) If I can get a lot of material, I will definitely make a part 2
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My friend recorded some money matches of me vs some people at EVO. First one I have is vs Knives. I’ve gotten so much better with my team since then, but alas check it out! Also I was using my friends shitty stick so you’re going to see a ton of dropped combos. I money matched Fanatic right before this and beat him in a first to 10, 10-6. That unfortunately wasn’t recorded 
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And here I am vs Mine.
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AHHH THAT SUCKS…you beat the man thats suppose to be unbeatable in long sets and no1 recorded =(