Wohoo!
Congratulations on the master rank!
Sako’s Kage is so nice.
I was finally able to get some online rando matches going this weekend, post character crisis. Being tempered by BL matches with everyone recently helped speed up some of the on-boarding of playing a new char, but I still have a lot to work on.
I’m locked into Casual matches now until I get my feet under me again. I’m doing better than I expected but still have a low win rate especially when you look at whole sets. Its gonna be awhile before I re-learn match ups with this character, get familiar with this character, and re-acclimate to playing online randos in short sets again (haven’t done that since late last year).
For the first time in a long time though I feel excited and motivated to play. I really like Kolin, and with her kit I feel a lot more comfortable in the game in general even if that isn’t translating into gameplay (that is probably the part where I’m still sus as fuck on a lot of things). I have a lot more faith in my wins and feel like I can understand where and why I’m losing a lot more clearly (that may be general experience on top of the char switch).
I’m going to try to keep up the momentum I have now and play at least a little every day. It isn’t too hard to sneak in 3-5 sets (what I usually try to play in a sitting) even with SFV being slow as hell in general to spin up matches. Playing the MK11 beta has made me really jealous of how fast that game can get going and the infinite rematch feature in casual matches (though I think it would be near useless in SFV; people would run after they felt like they got scouted even faster than MK11). But I’ll take what I can get.
The biggest problem I actually have is that this game sticks in my brain too hard. I’ve had this happen with other competitive games too - I turn things over in my head until I’ve picked apart every little thing I could have done differently or can note about a match. Great way to learn but it really sucks when it is 11:00pm and that is still happening, and my work alarm goes off at 5:00am.
Still haven’t figured out the best way to clear those thoughts out so I can actually wind down when I need to. Maybe I just need to type shit up a lot more to get it out of my head. Even just taking notes on match ups can help.
Speaking of that, having turned my matches over in my head and watched some replays, here are some things I need to work on (spoilered because this is already long enough):
Summary
- AAs are getting better but I still zone out on them too easily. It doesn’t take much to distract me and then I start missing easy AA opportunities (Kolin’s cr.HP has dead zones similar to Laura’s st.MP so I don’t mind missing deeper jump-ins but I’m letting frontal jumps just come on in and that shit has to stop).
- Ditto for dashes/dash related shenanigans
- In general I think I still need to figure out what to do in neutral. I’ve had some matches where I feel like I manage it well (these are also probably not surprisingly the sets I’ve won) but in general I think I’m doing too much (hitting big buttons, moving in without understanding opponent tendencies or doing any conditioning) or too little (just sitting there, not moving, not contesting space). One of the reasons I feel a drive to keep playing matches is that this is the kind of stuff I need to practice more.
- My HP confirms suck. I either need to get way better at them or stop trying for them so often. At least once a round I give up HP xx HP/EX Para instead of actually confirming. Amusingly some people don’t even know to punish these fuck ups but for the most part I’m eating shit because of it and rightly so. I’m being greedy; I know the CC confirm is easy but I don’t want to miss out on non-CC hit damage and oki. Current plan is to keep drilling it and working on it. Although I give it up too often (read: at all) when I get the confirm it is very satisfying and rewarding. Plus its not actually that difficult, I’m just too damn jumpy.
- Need to continue to work on general confirms. It is getting better across matches but I’m still either missing CH combos that happen or auto-piloting the confirm and paying for it.
- Still dropping combos. Less so than before, but Kolin’s combos aren’t hard so there isn’t any excuse for beefing them up. In the highest grade of shamefru dispray I have fucked up nearly every stun combo chance I’ve been given. Added salt that I usually lose those rounds (not too surprising given how frazzled I am after fucking up the combo).
- My pressure sucks. Or at least it feels like it does. I have a hard time telling sometimes in this game if I’m not pressuring as much as I can, or if I’m doing the right thing and not overextending. In general though I need to build better button sequences. I’m starting to notice where people are poking through gaps I’m leaving so I need to tighten those up just a bit to catch them getting antsy.
- Throw baits. Need more. I had points where I was doing them during BL matches and they sort of float around as something I need to do in my mind but I don’t engage using them when I probably should.
- I was thinking about all this and realized that one of the reasons I’m so inconsistent (aside from needing more practice) is that I’m all the fuck over the place in terms of what I’m trying to work on. AAs, spacing, checking dashes, pokes and counter pokes, etc, etc. All of that is floating around at the same time so its no wonder that I’m coming up short on all of it. I know the goal is to get all of these things working in tandem. It would probably be best to work on individual things then piece it all together once I feel more comfortable with the components. May be what I try in upcoming sets.
- Generally, patience. Getting better at it but I still do too much when I don’t need to. Part of why I miss things is because I’m too busy doing something else. Hang out outside of poke range, wait for the dash, the jump, or the neutral bypass move. Its Gold, one of those things is coming. The other guy isn’t going to engage in a poking war.
- Counters. First time “seriously” playing a char with a reversal so time to figure out when the legit good times to use it are. Right now I’m hitting it mostly in obvious spots or randomly and none of those are working because duh. Also need to use the AA counter periodically to blow people up.
- CC Combos. I’m not sure what it is, maybe online, but I miss the CC follow up for st.HK way too often. Need to practice timing the dash so I don’t do it too late. And, this is gonna take awhile, but I need to remember that when I’m in VT2 I have a whole different, delicious combo route off of st.HP CC. People tend to clam up when that VT comes out but when I do manage to land it I can make it count for a lot more than I probably am now.
Back at it tonight, sleep deprivation be damned. 
Also separate post because I didn’t want him to get hit with that wall: congrats to @DevilJin_01 on hitting Master rank. 
We need a Dime emoji on this forum too.
Find something you can relax to and make a pause from time to time to cool a bit down.
It’s for everyone different, weirdly enough I’m able to cool down, by turning on Death Metal and playing a different character for a while.
Yeah a very good point. I mandate breaks every couple of sets or when I feel like I’m getting too turnt up.
Where I absolutely fucked up yesterday was when I felt the powah after having a surprisingly good set against a Guile. I was getting close to the end of my time and I said “fuck it one more!” That last set wasn’t bad either but I think it was riding that adrenaline that kept things rolling around in my head.
Also didn’t get any chance to decompress after with training mode or anything (played right up until the minute where I had to eat then head out for class). So something else to be mindful of.
Nothing wrong with using Death Metal to unwind. Sometimes I doze off to it.
I always instinctively look for it but then remember we don’t have one. 
Take on knitting. It works to relax between sets/matches.
You helped me get there. Still going to replace my hard drive eventually to see if that fixes the lag/desynch issue certain people say they get vs me (and add some RAM), but yeah. If that doesn’t work I can just switch to PS4 vs those players and deal with PS4 frame drop crap and longer load times. I know from playing PS4 that if it desynchs vs a PC person it gets really twitchy even if the connection would be otherwise decent.
That stomp juggle is real nice.
Been watching more Poongko VT2 highlights. Basically save up super, demon. If they jump make them take 200 to 250 damage AA.
The way they use Stomp as a block string and continue pressure, is that even real? I though Stomp was - on block.
That is a good point. If it wouldn’t be such a pain in the ass to set up I could paint in between sets.
May also just do what Frost said forever ago and just do exercises in between sets. Could help me cycle down a bit and even if I’m not getting better at SF at least I can be getting a little less tubbo. 
So you made Master. I guess we are going to have to hear about how Falke doesn’t have to deal with things even more now…
(Seriously though Congratulations)
Oh I forgot it’s the 2.4
That means it’s Squirrel girls Birthday.
Guess I have to host today a Makoto only Lobby.
Punching people into the moon (and cracking it in the process) will be fun.
Exercise works too, and I do me some barbell squats and deadlifts between sets, or sometimes sit ups and push ups as well.
Gets the endorphins running.
But knitting helps me relax and focus better.
The only problem is that in the future I may be finishing an ugly sweater every 5 days of ranked grind!
I swear Bea is gonna look like one of the Snu Snu broads by the time SF5 ends.
I don’t like Falken dealing with things, so I play a character that doesn’t have to deal with them.
I didn’t want to have to deal with DeeAncer’s UGM Fang, but I somehow won that ranked set. He was probably the first or second GM I won the set vs that helped me get there. I was the GM killer last night.
Joey 900 using Rashid instead of his main? Oh yeah I won that match and I seem to be Master so I’m gone, bye. Joey said he’s ready to drop Falke for Birdie so screw him. Nah he’s cool.
“Don’t learn matchups! Learn Falke!”
-DevilJin_01, 4/2/19