IM vs MSP
I’m sure alot of people thought IM beats MSP because he fights decently against Mags…but i like you have a tough time against it. I actually switch to IM/Sent/Cyc for this one, but i’ll try my best to help u out.
MSP is going to be tough because Mags has psy, limiting your air-to-ground game, and IM is slow ground-to-ground so Mags will have an easy time getting in close. He also has Storm as his backup, and a metered Storm w/ the lead, beats IM. What you wanna do, of course, is make it as hard as possible for Mag to get in…and as easy it is for you, to know where he’s going, so can attack him, and hopefully get him into inf. Dont bother chipping Mags too much with IM, unless you’re 100% sure you wont get punished, because Mags is too fast for your unibeam. He can even Erm disruptor u before ur beam comes out. If you need to chip, use Doom.
Take it to the air. Mags cant hurt you much at the top of the screen. SJ, AIRDASH UP, SB, and drop with your bombs. Mags cant really punish, and he’ll have a hard time crossing you up w/ Psy because of the bombs. From there, it’ll give u an opportunity to see where he’s going to attack you from, or give you the option of adding more shit on the screen…u can then…
- You can call doom, and repeat the SB sequence, to add some chip. Doom will be vulnerable, but so will mag if he tries to attack him. Just watch out for Psy. It’s going to be a “chance” attacking him, but theres not much IM can do safely. Hopefully, your SBs will cover you, or cover space for Doom, allowing enough time for the rocks to come out.
If he calls Storm, hopefully the SBs will hit her, giving you enough time to drop on him without the fear of Psy.
If he tries to avoid Doom and go after you with a SJ, Kneedive down and use a mixup game while he’s trying to land (in fact, this is what you want. it’s the safest way of getting in on him. try to force him into the air and attack him when he can’t use psy). Or attack him in the air where u can use ur fierces, shorts, and jabs.
- Dash back, and throw a ground missle+doom. If u get a missle out, it’ll force Mag to attack you from the air…or block the missle while getting some chip. If he “regular jump” x airdashes fwds, Cancel into Flight and use the range of an aerial fierce…it’ll beat out any normal he tries. He can still use Psy but he would have to call her further away, before he gets hit. If u anticipate Psy, unfly and attack him without her. If you anticipate wrong, unfly, and take it back to the skies, and try again. If he calls storm before the airdash he’s going to be verrry vulnerable, unfly, and mixup
if he “SJ x ad fwd”, he wont even be able to use psy. unfly and attack/mix him up before he lands.
If he SJs to avoid everything, mix him up again as he’s coming down.
- While in the air, u can also knee x ad, call Doom. It helps because Mag cant call an assist during SJ…giving u the edge of having an assist w/out the fear of counter assist Psy. Having Doom out will give u time/options, which is what you need to stay alive in this match. Watch out because U cannot block coming down, in that case, try dropping towards Dooms rocks to cover u. Use flymode to drop down faster.
----These are just somethings you can do with IM that i wanted to point out directly against MSP. Alot of things i said about Sent (“know your IM and matchups”) applies the same to this. I just pointed these scenarios out because u should really try to limit Mags coming towards you with Psy, and u need to find ways to attack Mags safely ground level, and setup ur own offense. If you find urself in a bad sistuation (getting crossed up) or if mags is just rushing your ass down, there’s not much IM can do if he’s in your face. IM is too slow to do anything safe ground lvl. Standing fierce is defensive but slow, jabs and shorts - mags’ cr short is too fast, IM’s launcher can avoid lows; but it has really short horizontal distance…use it at ur own risk. Keep unfly mode to cancel ur slower attacks safely so u can block. But dont try to block too much or you’ll find yourself getting mixed up. Instead, move, run, hide behind doom and let him absorb the damage…just dont let him gain momentum. Cable’s AAA can help somewhat. It can help stop Mags dashing in with cr shorts, it can help against his quicker triangle jumps, it can help somewhat - if he tries to jump x ad w/ an assist (that trick is a pain). If he triangle jumps high, use that opportunity to sneak in a launch, or mixup up by dashing under.
Just remember if u can consistently keep crap on the screen, u’ll make it harder for Mags, and u’ll know when/where to attack. In short, take it to the skies w/ SBs to stay safe from mags/psy. play really safe ground lvl, and force him to jump. Do your damage by assists, long range, and defensive mixups. Anticipate.
A bigger problem in that team is Storm. She can really limit ur ground options, and she can limit you in the air because of Hailstorm. With IM, u cant really setup an offense, u just to fight her head on. Make her burn meter by using her hailstorms. If she has no meter, use that opportunity to pin her down with SBs and doom. If she tries to run/fly away, use IMs fierce range to slow her down. Use Cable AAA to slow her down in the air as well.
If your IM built 5 meters, and u see Mags/Storm SJing away, u may want to tag in Cable. Cable with IM AAA can really help against rushdown because of the zone. Like i said, u can really maneuver with Cable once IM is called out. Use that time wisely. The only sure way to stop IM AAA is if u hit him before he comes out (sometimes they’ll get lucky with a trijump, but most times they’ll eat the AAA). Use Rocks too, because a 1 random rock can lead to a dead character. Dont be afraid to burn meter to keep momentum.