Just to echo what Mike has said: especially in the Gold ranks no one is playing footsies. I can count the number of non-SRK folk I’ve run into online that tried to play footsies on both hands.
What people do way, way more often here is run game that they are very familiar with and has worked for them consistently in the past. Sometimes it even may look like they are doing some clever shit but if you start randomly pausing during matches you’ll catch that they are just flowcharting what has worked because in x situation players tend to y so I do z and I look gdlk.
One of the reasons the Gold ranks are hard, at least for me, is that I’m trying to learn to play the game in general but also having to download all these shenanigans in order to keep up. Which is good in a way because the shenanigans never stop being dangerous, but it can be frustrating over time.
When I sit down for Ranked I’m in a vastly different mindset than I am whenever I play anyone here. Ranked is more like trying to win a bunch of WarioWare games in a row.
That isn’t to say that developing fundamental skills won’t help you. It will. But if you’re inconsistent in Gold (like I am) it is because you haven’t gotten quite good enough yet at reading the opponent and adapting. Losing to some random BS is inevitable (that is part of how you learn about it) but the aggregate should see you winning more than losing.
If you want shoot me your CFN and I can watch some replays and see if I can give any Laura specific info.
Also @Akhos I should be around for games. Thought I was gonna meet up with a buddy tonight but haven’t heard from him so we should at least be able to play until/if that happens. I’ll probably be ready to go by like 6:15pm ish. I’ve practiced G a little bit since we played so my goal is to do combo.
Also also I don’t buy the Abigail pick. You seem to gel really well with Ken/Ed or someone mobile like them. Abigail is a big 'ol meat wall which is fine but you already have a lithe, massively more irritating wall with Menat. Just my $0.02.
You have to consider even the startup, HK Koku has range, but can be used strictly from max distance where the opponent can’t jump over it and the recovery being slightly worse than Ken hadoken isn’t exactly something to be happy with. MK Koku starts 7f slower than Akuma gohadoken,can bypass it, but still. Grams have their uses, but Zeku will eventually be forced to switch to YZ to finish the job. St.HK and cr.MP have good range, but they’re mostly pokes, the normals of YZ I’ve mentioned before outside st.MK/cr.HK have combo abilities. OZ st.LK is underrated, but YZ st.lk is comboable (again),faster and +3oB. Personally I like OZ normals now, but it’s the meta of the game itself at making them less powerful than on paper. A good Zeku player needs to take advantage of using everything of his double form, but definitely the form who looks more SFV-like is the Young form,hands down.
I’m definitely more afraid of Y.Zeku’s normals than O.Zeku’s. The range on Y.Zeku’s normals aren’t that bad at all and he has Chun Li speed forward and back walk so he can clearly play counter poking well with them. Like Akuma you don’t need Birdie long buttons if you can just walk well with shorter, low recovery/confirmable buttons.
I’m at the point where I can’t try to punish Kolin’s V-Skill unless I know for sure it’ll connect. I always seem to get punished on what looks like a clear opening.
Yeah for sure. Now is the time for experimentation. We still have a 4.5 patch coming that could fuck up all of our hopes and dreams so mightas well have other characters at the ready.
Not really sure who Menat’s bad match ups look like now. Even if Ken doesn’t cover them the stylistic change could be good. Go from having to carefully whittle the other person down to being able to blow them up in a few exchanges. Though it isn’t like Abi can’t also blow people the fuck up real quick.
Startup is an issue however you can mix up the light bushin gram which is quite difficult to punish. You can also mix it up with normal tekis and their ex tekis. Which the opponent can only punish by dashing in. Lastly the light bushin gram protects the area just outside of o.zeku cr mp. So depending on the char you’re facing you really arent forced to use the slower versions.
I wouldnt say cr mp is just a poke either. On hit you are plus 5 allowing you to link into st lk into m dp. Lastly for more experienced players since the main fear is that the opp will jump. You can deal good damage if you use l dp early against a jump in, you get a juggle allowing you to dish out big damage. Cr hp also crush counters giving you a juggle where you can use heavy teki into gram.
Lastly y zeku long range normals are a commitment. St hp has ridiculous recovery ( same as st hk old zeku and it has much less range and it’s -3 ob effectively ending your turn). If you hit the second button you are -8. St lk isnt possible to combo from almost half its range. You have to be a 1/2 from max range to combo into l hozanto. I utilize it as a poke into st hp or ex run mix up. Whereas lk for o zeku can always combo into m dp now. Or you could just throw it out and on ch you can combo into l gram.
