I’ve been putting some thought into match structure with firebrand teams. Viscant wrote a great description of match structure as a response on brokentier, which can be viewed in full here. TLDR? Match structure refers to how the match goes ideally after you land your first hit. Where does the meter come from, when do you go for a reset vs a TOD, etc.
The lineup I’ve been toying with lately is firebrand/doom(beam)/sent(drones). Ideally I:
1. use the beam to get in with FB, at which point I go for a bnb into unblockable reset using drones. 2. The reset leads into a BNB which ends with a. a snapback if the anchor is scary or b. a hyper / DHC to kill the point depending on which is more threatening.
**3. **Unblockable setup on the incoming character, be it the anchor or second. Blow xfactor for the kill.
**4. **Now I either have a dark version of an anchor assist character to deal with vs my weakened firebrand plus doom shell or their second character backed by their weakened point.
Most of the time it won’t look exactly like that but that’s not the point - if everything goes right–which it should after you land a hit–you don’t want to get caught with 0 meter when you need the kill.
I feel that it’s worthwhile to stand back and look at match structure for firebrand. This is the case because oftentimes it’s tempting to look at firebrand play as fragmented sections when in fact the big picture may not go as smoothly as these fragments do in training mode–doing work with firebrand can guzzle a lot of meter and opportunities.
Post your FB team and the ideal match structure. I want to know how the structure is different for teams that focus around setting up unblockables with DHCs and stuff.
GAMEPLAN:
Know that you’re not looking for damage as Firebrand against the other person’s first character. When you touch them, you want to get in their head. For the first time I play somebody, I’ll use only non-unblockable resets on them: this gives them less time to figure out how to beat it, and getting that first V can really shake people.
When the second character comes in, look for a chance for a raw touch or unblockable XF’d-- a juicy combo will do around 900k in XF1, so that with a little neutral play or DHC should do it for anyone. Go to the Fanatiq principle when you choose when and where to XF: even if you have the momentum, nothing will save you from XF3. Character 2 is an easy death when Character 1 goes down.
Make sure you know whether or not they are capable of overcoming the unblockable by the time you touch Character 2 the second time, by the way-- whether or not they know what to do against it, I mean. If they don’t, go to town, and it should be pretty obvious from the way they play what their next try is. Two touch death for most characters if you do it right. If they do, use your side setups to mess with the way that they get out, baiting invincible supers with command jumps and punishing those who bite the bullet with early swoops. Most people only try one way, so as long as you’re creative enough to fight off their ace in the hole, you’ll kill them in two or three touches. Playing Brammy is like playing any grappler: your goal isn’t the big hit (unblockable/SPD,) it’s to punish them for avoiding the big hit.
Your incoming choices will determine your fate against Character 3. If you see a swing for the dog in your future, you want to hit him right away before he can get to Fbrand or do too much to Ammy, or that character is dead shit. Gaurd cancel XF can be fought against by using the M … f+H os and the air M… f+H buffer BV os. Scoring this touch before the other player gets the chance to XF is what makes OCVing a team with Brammy is just so dang hard. Your best chance is the BSS, because extended, independent blockstun trains can’t be countered by an XF gaurdcancel. Also, because you used XF on character 2, you should have enough meter to do your ridiculous, stupid, Dante-style anime game combos to whatever degrees you wish. The third character death should be a simple one touch or BSS setup away.
Ideally you should kill at least one character with Firebrand. FB has a plethora of okizeme resets with Drones and Tenderizer so this shouldn’t be too difficult against most of the cast. You’re primary objective is to build some meter for Super Skrull to wreck havoc with. But if the match-up is annoying for Firebrand (Morrigan, Trish, Doom, Hawkeye, Vergil, Dante etc) then feel free to derp it out with Skrull/Drones early.
Also, feel free to switch to Skrull during a DHC (if the oponent’s character is killed). Skrull/Drones is fucking godlike on entry (Those Safe Elastic Slam Setups HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG)
But the key component is saving Level 2 X-factor for either firebrand or skrull (preferrably skrull) and running away with Firebrand when the opponent activates XF.
I run Firebrand/Hulk/Ammy (although am starting to use RR in the lab)
I would say that depending on the character depends how I approach the match
If its a fast character w/ low health (i.e. Wolv/Vergil/Strider etc.) I normally start going away from them at first and just throw safe fireballs and do keepaway till I get almost 2meters. Then normally I keep doing keepaway until they come in/do something unsafe and punish, and dhc into hulk or TAC, which normally kills them. THen I proceed depending on the other chars, start with an unblockable, do some fuzzys, or just keep doing more keepaway (I dont know, it doesnt do much but I feel firebrand’s keepaway game is underrrated). Also depending on the character (if they are big) I have found I can kind of do some loops with Cold Star after Bon Voyage, and if i dont fuck up the execution I keep doing that ad infintum.
Hulks assist (Beta) is great
If they are low mobility characters with not that great assist I just mainly run away until they fuck up chucking fireballs (ideally)