Okay maybe I wasn't clear. It has nothing to do with playing to win. It has to do with me basically fighting a script. Yes frame traps and everything are in the game and should be used. But Brazillian players just use them just to be using them. Their entire game relies on basically setting up a bunch of gimmicks. I played this Akuma player in Alpha 2, had a nice CC. He tore me up the first few games with it. After awhile I started thinking "when I anti-air him, he's just going to tech roll/activate". And basically that's the only setup he had. After I recognized it, his entire game broke down. he had no footsies, no zoning abilities, no nothing. All he had was a one dimensional rushdown game. Basically mindlessly trying to get his combos and CCs and playing with no real strategy. He wasn't even playing against me, he was just trying to do his moves.
This is a gimmick player. It isn’t playing to win, because the entire basis of his game relies on a one note strategy. Doing moves just because they’re there and because they look fancy does not equal skills in my book. It just equals someone who went to training mode, practiced a few combos, and one setup, and decided to run amok on GGPO/2DF or anywhere with the same rinse/wash/repeat bullshit. It’s a limitation to my game that I didn’t adapt after the first round. But this is what I mean.
The Japanese player I played this morning certainly was a different calibre of player. He had SOLID rushdown game. And I mean he didn’t just walk forward spamming 1 block string. He had mixups, and made me flinch. And if I counter poked him, he had solid defense, and superior tech throwing abilities. His setups were all solid, and he knew his character’s option tree well. This is GOOD gameplay, because the guy beat me with a lot of fundamentals. Even if I was able to antipate his setups, his game was still solid overall. He made me feel I really had to think to beat him. Brazilian players are more like = beat my 3 gimmicks and you basically got me figured out.
. And you won’t even MM anyone else.
2-0 >.> we both got knocked out in the first round. team tre’s car pool bringin up the rear!