S.MP recovers fast enough if you meaty it. s.LP is more all purpose since it recovers a couple of frames faster than any other normal makoto has including c.lp and s.MP of course. So if you got s.LP down properly it’s that fraction better.
I’m not as much of a fan of the “meaty and wait” approach in most cases. It can work if you think he will reversal, but you’ve been forced to be passive and see what he does. If he blocks or backdashes, you’re not in as good of a position as if you continued with what you were doing, because then you still have to take a risk to land a mixup after the meaty, and you no longer have the knockdown to protect you.
I like to use Tsurugi mixups on Rufus. It’s less safe-to-everything, but that’s fine because you start a mixup right away where not all of the elements lose to reversals.
The base is a crossup j.MK. His reversals are slow enough that you can hit it meaty, hit it shallow enough to be ambiguous, and still land in time to block EX Messiah/Ultras. But I usually prefer to hit it deep for greater frame advantage.
Makoto can get crossup/fake crossup mixup if you hit it shallow, but due to her walkspeed it’s tough to hit it deep and have it be ambiguous at all. That’s fine because she has Tsurugi to fill in the rest of the mixup, so you don’t need fake-crossup j.MK (although that doesn’t mean it’s not worth using.)
The other mixup options:
Fake-crossup: off the same setup that leads to crossup j.MK, an early MK or HK Tsurugi during the jump hits him meaty from the front when he’s expecting a crossup. Beats crossup blocking, decent against normal stand/crouch blocking, loses to reversal EX Messiah. Alternately you can just safe-jump with j.HK off of any of her hard knockdowns, although you lose the mixup potential.
Anti-reversal: A fairly late HK Tsurugi during the normal crossup j.MK jump will fly over his head if he does reversal EX Messiah. Beats reversal EX Messiah, beats backdash, beats normal stand blocking, decent against crossup blocking, loses to crouch blocking, loses to purposely delayed autocorrect reversals unless done with 1-frame timing in which case it beats them.
Empty jump: Besides jumping and not doing the j.MK into low/throw mixup, if you jump a little earlier, you can do crossup/non-crossup empty Tsurugi, and still have time to do a meaty attack. Preferable over a normal meaty simply because you have the same advantages but Rufus also has to block/input his reversal in the correct direction. Not super-hard to see, but not trivial either and anything that makes execution harder for the defender is worth doing, IMO.
I think stMp works a little better after scissor kick cuz it comes out in 5 frames unless its at max range. Also it takes some practice but it also stuffs honda’s headbutt clean once you get the timing down
I think “VS. Rufus” is one of the hardest matches to play, his dive kick is fast and has low recovery frames and give him a lot of possibilities after that. BTW…Let’s hear NinjaCW he is the one who can help us.
I’m not saying I would be playing passive but a lot of the time I knock Rufus down and I am left in that position so knowing if that meaty was good enough. Once I get the knockdown and they see what happens on the whiffed EX Messiah, my entire game opens up a lot more because now they are afraid to just throw it out on wake up. I don’t need to get around it as much no more. I like your options too though and outside the Empty Jump mixup option I do the others just not as often as I try to push people into the corner.
You guys used my post as the general Abel strat.
<3
rufus:
- I think OS anti-dive kick/throw.
- Crouched LP meaty
are the key…but its still difficult 
I have lot of problem against cammy too (canon strike/throw/crLK)
Very true, which is why it sucks but I have to bait Rufus to try to throw me so I can Tsurugi him. . .while OS’n to make sure I don’t die in 5 seconds rofl
Hey I was wondering what the use for the forward (headbutt) throw for makoto is. Is there a mixup involving mak post forward throw? I didn’t see Ninjacw use it at all (just as an example) If this has been discussed sorry but I didn’t see it.
it does 200 stun.
And kara-headbutt is a good thing after a hayate or a blockstring.
but watch out, opponent can mash lights between hayate and kara-headbutt.
But cannot mashlights between hayate and kara-normal throw (back+LK~LP).
Btw, hayate -> kara-normal throw is very good. You can have wakeup mixup after it. And if opponent straight jump to avoid it (or he thought you would do karakusa), you can land ultra1 after your whiffed throw.
What can we do against vega? i lost 100% of my matches. I really don’t know how to answer to his move and he keeps me away with his cr.MP.
I know I don’t use it often but that’s because people are always hitting buttons/holding up so I just keep pressing s.mp lol. . .though don’t use me as the basis for Makoto play. I just have my own unique style and happen to be one of the few willing to use her exclusively in a tournament despite the odds. There are ALOT of things I don’t use but that’s because I’m still putting it together. V-Ryu also has very good stuff as well.
Against Bison:
After c.FP, do f.FK (hold) this will put your next to him right away. Hit s.lp, s.FK, if he does EX PC or EX SK it will trade doing practically no damage and if he does head stomp a punishment since it will whiff because of the s.FK. This has been mentioned already but that’s a pretty decent way to get the timing until you find your own.
The kara-forward throw takes longer than the kara-back throw? Weird.
Kara backthrow = LK~LP (or back LK~LP)
kara headbutt = forward LK~LP
neutral (or back) LK is cancelable quicker than forward+LK
Did some testing and this setup seemed to lose a to reversals for me. A more reliable setup I found that trades with both reversal ex pc and ex scissors was just cr hp, dash forward, st lk, st hk. Prob easier setup too.
If a Vega spams drill, punish with Hayates or F+HP.
If a Vega spams Barcelona, you can Fukiage, jump+HP/HK, or focus it, depending on whether or not he’s grabbing you or hitting you with claws. I tend to focus at first to figure out how good the Vega’s timing is, before adjusting, if I need to. If you focus, even if he lands behind, you can FADC towards him and follow up.
If a Vega spams ball, and does ground follow up, EX-Oroshi will generally punish his cMP.
If a Vega keeps spamming cMP, you can try to IA Tsurugi or reset the range with a backdash. Because sometimes his claw will catch your back foot on the Tsurugi, I usually reset the distance and work my way back in.
If a Vega back flips, a well timed EX Hayate will make him feel dumb. Or a dash to cHP.
Other than that, the usual applies. sMP is pretty hot, just watch for his cKs. If you think a kick’s coming, ex Oroshi. If you’re just barely outside his cMP range, you are just barely in range to do a dash to EX-karakusa. Avoid a lot of movement in case he EX Barcelonas, he’ll catch you when you dash. And finally, correct me if I’m wrong, but his jFP beats Fukiages, so unless he’s close don’t try to be saucy.
Anyone care to correct me?
THX!!! i’ll try that. standing RH works well too, i won a round with it.
Some random stupid stuff I’ve done in the last two fights I did.
Oroshi-ed a wall jump attempt from an El Fuerte.
f+MPed Akuma OUT of his U1.
I will post the matches soon, but my mind = blown.
The only other thing I could think to add is to use s.HK against his c.MP. You’ll trade or beat him out. Either way, it’s well in your favor. Just keep in mind the start up time needed for s.HK.
Oh, and against drills, you can punish with Fukiage also. Just use MP Fukiage as he hits the wall. You’ll actually duck down and uppercut him in the crotch. It’s comical. Also note about this: You CANNOT Fukiage (any version) of Vega’s EX drill. So be mindful.
You can karakusa Claw out of Rolling Crystal Flash. You just have to do it early. EX it if you want to be real safe. Also, reversal EX karakusa if he’s going for chip, assuming you wont die from the absorption.
You can also technically do a normal karakusa and grab Chun before the Hazanshu has active frames, but the timing makes it impractical. The best counter is to do a late IA Tsurugi and get the full combo/U1. You have to time it late so it’s even easier to react to, and takes no meter.
On a more practical matter, I’ve been messing around with a new option select against Rufus. Do a safejump and buffer an EX Oroshi. If he blocks, continue your pressure. If he did an EX Messiah, he’ll either 1) fly through you completely, or 2) you’ll take three or so hits and then fall out, leaving a window for punishing.
He can backdash out, but not in the corner.
The only thing I haven’t fully tested what punishes a whiff the hardest. Depending on how close you landed from the safejump, you may or may not get hit. Remember, he can still do the followups, so this makes things suck. If he does nothing, you can’t dash in and grab him, but if he does a followup, you can. Luckily MP Hayate seems to be punishing him consistantly, no matter what. Stick with that for now.
Also, if you think an EX Messiah’s coming out after you land a Hayate, dash back and either EX oroshi or U1. It stuffs it clean, and worst case you’re at neutral. Whatever it takes to make Rufus have some fear of using EX Messiah…