Last night I tried out Haggar/Strange/X-23 in the labs, tonight I tested it against another SRK guy online. Both tonight and yesterday I was flabbergasted. The team is amazing.
Haggar gets bolts for…well…everything. Extension is easymode and very powerful, with or without ground bounce. X-23’s ankle slice allows Haggar to combo off most of his throws midscreen or corner without the use of a ground bounce, which is very nice. They extend for days, from all sorts of confirms. Haggar also gets headbutt and ankle slice unblockables, which are fucking awesome. Strange gets an otg for scrub extensions if you don’t yet have those FoF loops, like me, and unblockables, those are good too. He also gets spin which keeps him much safer when trying to set up eyes or daggers, and even though he has no projectile assist, his ranged game is still good, and close up he gets lariat+teleport mixups. X-23 anchor is amazing, I don’t care what anyone says. So, without gimmicks, this team has fun and powerful neutral all around, which I tested a tad today. The THC is awesome with 2 or 3 meters, with 3 you can aim for an air throw afterward, but no extension. Still, you most likely won’t need it, this team gives Haggar some damage.
Now we get into gimmick/theory fighter territory. Haggar touches, hopefully with something other than a normal throw, and then he goes ham and racks up a bunch of damage, TAC to strange, have him deliver the kill through FoF loops, or do a reset, really whatever, just have Strange deliver the kill. He’s most likely using up at most one meter, and that is enough meter built, without a super or with a long neutral beforehand, so that Strange is in with 3 meters on the kill, TK an eye of agamotto so they’re forced to block it, tag in X-23 and call bolts and go into dirt nap. Bolts and the eye keeps them all sorts of still, touch them, and go on the rampage, pop XF if necessary, it may not be, but she will get the kill if you do, Haggar’s spin relaunches in XF1 with ankle slice, it’s convenient, and you can get Thorkills with just Haggar assist and XF1 without the dirt nap beforehand. Their third character is forced to eat a scary X-23 incoming mixup, even stronger with the help of lariat or bolts. GG.
Without gimmicks, and even without momentum on your side, still a good team, and one that really showcases Haggar resets(tk’ed eye into command grab stuff is great too, and dropkick plus ankle slice pops them up into that hoodlum H reset territory).
Downsides I can see:
-No safe DHCs from a lariat into rapid fire fist, so that may have to leave your system if you’re playing this team.
-Everyone does like X-factor, so it’s a shame to see it go (Haggar gets them kills easily with XF1, Strange can go Vishanti into palm loops with XF, and X-23 with XF 1-3 is death on this team), but whoever you pop it for, make sure they open someone up, and it will do a lot of damage
-It requires learning X-23 and Strange, not usually characters everyone plays (I’m a terrible strange, but I love me some Laura)
Not too bad considering the perks with or without crazy team touch-of-death stuff. I really really recommend it, and if anyone has some Haggar/Strange tech to share, I’m all ears, I’m day 1 with the pairing.
