Tsurugi nerf confirmed for both LK and MK from the Japanese arcade final changelog:
EX Oroshi throw invincibility was a lie up to the end. I’m sad.
Looking at this with the January changelist in english side by side, doesn’t seems like anything changed.
-3 on Tsurugi sucks tho. Damn.
Forward/Neutral Throw range increased from 0.9 to 0.95
(buff?)
Back Throw range decreased from 0.9 to 0.85
(nerf)
Standing HP hit stun increased by 1F on crouching opponents (now matches the hit stun time when used against standing opponents)
(buff)
Crouching HK stun increased from 100 to 200
(buff?)
Jump MK hitbox slightly expanded, easier to cross-up
(buff)
L, M, H Karakusa recovery on whiff increased by 4F
(NERF)
EX Fukiage now hits grounded opponents, jump-cancellable on hit only; damage reduced from 120 to 80; stun reduced from 200 to 100
(highly unsafe)
L and M Tsurugi block stun reduced by 2F; at lowest height is -3 on block
(nerf)
Seichusen Godanzuki (UC1) damage decreased from 480 to 440
(NERF)
Abare Tosanami (UC2) after the freeze now fully projectile invincible until landing
(BUFF)
To me, this reads as a downgrade
The ex fukiage hitting grounded opens up a lot of reset potential as well as great corner push mid screen, so that one is definitely a buff, not sure why you didn’t say so. Why break the nerf/buff trend by just saying highly unsafe? Think of it as akin to throwing out DP on a shoto without hit confirming, which hey, you have to hit confirm pretty much every combo as mak anyways since all her specials are unsafe on block. This change also opens up possible 3 frame punishes with 6-lp x ex fukiage.
The biggest nerfs for me are probably the Tsurugi change and the ultra damage nerf. The back throw range nerf will take a bit to adjust to as well. As for the karakusa recovery, that isn’t even really worth mentioning, you were going to get punished for whiffing choke anyways against anyone decent, so that extra recovery time isn’t that big of a deal.
I’m going to have to really work on not auto-piloting with tsurugi now though…it’s definitely my worst habit as mak.
I have to agree about Karakusa. -50 and -54 are still in the realm of “dead if you whiff” regardless. How often have you whiffed Karakusa and just barely been able to block their punish?
Arguable.
Really good:
- Standing HP hit stun increased by 1F on crouching opponents (now matches the hit stun time when used against standing opponents).
- Jump MK hitbox slightly expanded, easier to cross-up.
- EX Fukiage now hits grounded opponents, jump-cancellable on hit only; damage reduced from 120 to 80; stun reduced from 200 to 100.
- Abare Tosanami (UC2) after the freeze now fully projectile invincible until landing.
Marginally good:
- Forward/Neutral Throw range increased from 0.9 to 0.95
- Crouching HK stun increased from 100 to 200
Really bad:
-3 on Tsurugi. Your pressure is over sir.
Marginally Bad:
- The karakusa recovery increase is marginal IMO. If you missed it before you got punished anyway, its just became 1/15th of a second easier to punish.
- The nerf to EX Fukiages damage/stun is understandable considering the buff.
- Seichusen Godanzuki (UC1) damage decreased from 480 to 440 its really not THAT bad
I try to consider all possible factors when evaluating the value of a move, and EX Fukiage’s changes make it a very complex thing to consider
Hitting grounded opponent’s?
Buff
Jump-cancel on hit only?
Nerf
Reduced Damage?
NERF
Reduced stun?
Nerf
Considering everything you’ve said, though, perhaps a better evaluation would be (situational buff), more so if the opponent is grounded, or it’s part of a combo
Double post, please to be ignoring
You’re only looking at it as a special move by itself. Overall our mixup is going to be improved because of it which will lead to more opportunities to land damage. So, yeah. The damage/stun is a nerf to that move but overall its way better.
That axekick nerf really really suck tho. 
Axekick on block ? DP in the face. They won’t have to think about it at all.
Does anyone know what H Tsurugi is on block? I almost never pressure with it but I might have to start working it into my pressure game now. I think it is -2.
It’s -2. You can be punished by Ryu’s super but not his DP as in v2012
You don’t get as much reward from it tho, not by a long shot.
I guess we can still pressure with HK to show them they can’t DP that one, and switch to MK after a failed punish from them.
It’s hard to notice the difference in strength for people.
I’ll trade having a real 3 frame punish and cr.lk confirm combo for having to switch to hk tsurugi anyday.
Aren’t we ignoring the lp plink tsurugi trick? Since we can do it lower to the ground we could potentially make it plus.
does the ex fukiage buff we get make hayate cancels much stronger?
ok, can someone explain the tsurigi nerf for me! like, what does this mean as far as disadvantage on block from instant versus non instant. does this mean that any height lk or mk tsurigi is now dp punishable? so neutral jump mk tsurigi is no longer an option?
why is she getting nerfed so badly??? we have to work so HARD for the win…!!!
Makoto is not getting nerfed badly, although I don’t understand the Tsurugi block stun reduction. A whiffed Karakusa will always be punished by good players so an extra couple of frames aren’t going to make that much of a difference. I’ll miss the extra damage on EX Fukiage, but the ability to reset midscreen off a hit confirm is well worth it. Keep in mind that the FADC’d DP change improves resets across the board. I’m loving this toward throw range because Makoto can already squeeze a lot of mileage out of kara throw. Back throw will be old news anyway since safe jump setups won’t be as practical.
Makoto got pretty buffed if anything. The only real nerf she has that makes anything close to a difference is the Tsurugi nerf, and I’ll glady take that in exchange for the gigantic EX Fukiage buff.
Seriously, people are underestimating how much of a big deal this is. She doesn’t have to be in the corner to deal 380 damage/700 stun for two bars any more.
Haitani was too brilliant during last year tournaments,people starts to think Makoto she’s too strong already… They don’t think about the work behind it,they don’t asked themselves why outside Haitani there’s not many Makotos around at high levels tourneys. She’s getting stronger DEFINITELY,the Tsurugi nerf isn’t that heavy if you mix it up with our new j.mk crossup,isn’t that bad if you’re not that kind of Makoto who relies too much on Tsurugi. I don’t see Makoto in top 5 how many people said since even our mixups from UKD get heavily nerfed. Who cries about Makoto are who don’t use her and in a defensive game like SF4 we need all the offensive help we can get. Also we don’t gonna see many Makotos rise up because the character is still hard to learn and use it at very high levels,so I don’t believe in a possible tier-whoring using her especially in a cast full of characters with safe moves and more easy to learn. She’s still a Lambo without brakes,now we get some nitro and they remove the steering wheel. People are afraid about Makoto players still able to ride that Lambo. I can understand them,but I’m gonna kick their asses even more.
I need to get my hands on the game to actually see what i think about these changes, they look like they can go either way.
The axe kick nerf sounds very crippling if it actually is -3 no matter spacing/height. On the other hand, the EX Fukiage change might make up for it. I just hope that Makoto wont devolve into EX Fukiage > reset, rinse repeat.
Personally I wouldn’t mind if they had just given some of her AE stuff back but i guess that would be boring.