Moves Key:
Seitenrengeki: Ascending Staff Spin. DP + P
Sienbu: Tri-Monkey Attack. QCF + P
Nyoi-Bo: Some FAQ’s name for the staff. QCF+PP
Wall Climb: QCB+K
Enou: Super Saiyan Sonson (Giant Monkey Super). GCB+PP.
I originally discovered this strat / pin with Sonson when I was fighting Magneto… It isn’t 100% guaranteed to kill your opponent, and there are ways around it, but it’s a good weapon in most people’s repetoire.
Endorsement: Magneto players at my arcade find this so unpleasent (even when it turns into a trading damage scenario) that they switch Magneto to Cable ASAP. This doesn’t work on Cable… I’m sure you’ll find something that does, though.
1.) The Pin
The essence of this pin is rather simple. First, drop an assist that stays on the screen for a while… Tron Bonne, Dr. Doom, Sentinel, or even Sakura. Do this fairly close to the opponent, so even if the assist does not connect, it gets in the way of ground dashing. (This can be done without this assist… but it’s not as effective. Then, it’s almost runaway.)
Next, normal jump backwards until about half jump height, and LP Sienbu (tri-monkey attack is about the cleanest American name). The three monkeys will begin flying across the screen, rather slowly. The opponent will probably block because the monkeys practically form a wall.
Land, and immediately Wall Climb (QCB + K). You’ll probably need some practice using this move, but essentially, you want to adjust the angle so that you strike their character… but don’t be so consistent that they know exactly what part of your character they will hit.
If they’re ducking when you kick (they want to launch you), it’s your lucky day. Press kick, connect with the incredibly fast, incredibly high priority overhead, cancel into Seitenrengeki, cancel into the Nyoi-Bo Slam. Instantly, you deal major damage against your opponent… a little less than 1/3 of Magneto’s life.
If they’re standing, try to hit high on the character, then immediately follow up with: c.lk, c.lk, c.hk -> sj (air combo). Or, if you can do the combo off of “the Sonson Guy’s” tournament match… c.lk, c.lk, c.hk, Seitenrengeki, Nyoi-Bo Slam. Again, major damage. Be wary, though… If the c.lk, c.lk are both blocked, Sonson will be pushed too far away from the opponent for the c.hk to connect. While hard to punish, whiffing that move is potentially painful. In addition, if you hit too low on the Wall Kick, you’ll whiff the launcher.
If they try to jump, they might get caught, and knocked back. Sometimes this combos with the Seitenrengeki, sometimes they fly to far away. A lot of the time, though, they just hit one of the flying monkeys, or all of them. That can either make a combo work better (if they combo into the Seitenrengeki) , or screw up a combo that would have worked fine (If they stop a launch or a Seitenrengeki. ) Either way, this is completely and totally impossible to punish.
If they completely block… Immediately call the pinning assist (to their horror), and start from the beginning. Sometimes, you’ll even have that last little monkey on the screen… so that if they try to jump back, they walk into the goofiest projectile this side of Servbot.
2.) What People Try
If people try to dash-in, either during the opening assist, or any time after the Sienbu, they will be hit either by the assist or the little monkeys. The assist will cover just long enough that if Magneto tries to air-dash in to Sonson and attack, she will hit him with all three, knocking him back. If he tries to dash under her, the height of the Sienbu is just low enough to hit him… which stops his attack pattern flat.
If Magneto tries to EM disruptor you during the Sienbu, worry not… your monkeys have 3 hits, and completely negate the EM disruptor… though the HP version might get one hit past. Which makes you able immediately wall climb-kick, or just dash-in and punish.
If Magneto tries to combo your assist, he’s guaranteed to be hit by the Sienbu, and probably the Wall Kick too. Not fun for the Master of Magnetism, but not devastating.
Oh, and the Magnetic Shockwave? Ha. If he does it during the Sienbu, it should give you time to block… if he does it during the wall climb, it should give you time to press HP and block… if he tries to catch you in the Wall Kick, chances are he’ll miss, or (this happened once), you’ll connect, and dodge the super.
3.) Stuff That Works
Yes, eventually, people come up with Stuff That Works. Here are a few common things that work, and some solutions.
a) Assists.
1. Iron Man. Uni-Beam called at the right time catches Sonson in the Wall Climb. Solution? Time things a little better… try again after you mix things up a little.
2. Captain Commando. Kills Little Monkeys (Sienbu), when done right. What happens? Well, either you hit Commando alone with the Wall Kick, then block… you hit Commando and Magneto blocks… or you hit both Magneto and Commando. With the first, STOP and block. With the Second, be careful… Calling the Seitenrengeki (hits hold Magneto in place) into the Nyoi-bo hurts Commando lots… but gives Maggy the slightest opportunity to counter. Hyper Grav doesn’t work well… Sonson crosses Magneto up as soon as he stops blocking. Note that Sonson can air-dash immediately after her super. Do so, you can block then. Blocking = good. If you hit both… have fun!
3.BlackHeart. Be careful… start this tactic right before Blackheart leaves, so if he does show up, his assist either misses during the kick, or he laughs at Magneto being comboed.
4. Storm. Typhoon. Kills Monkeys… it’s hard to deal with. If he times it wrong, it doesn’t help any… the long startup is what you need to take advantage of here.
5. Dr. Doom. Rocks. Yeah, right. Just don’t kick against this guy… doing so is death. If you feel goofy, you can attempt to assist, then Enou (Super Saiyan Sonson, QCB+PP), and blast away at him. Generally, punish Doom with assists… because Magneto’s just waiting for you to slip, so he won’t be aggressive until he see’s that you’re blocking. Remember, Enou can get you killed against Magneto… so be very, very careful with it.
Assists are the most effective strategy against this pattern.
b. Super Jumping.
Great, he’s in the air. Woo. Now, either hit him as he lands, make him land in an assist, or just re-start from the other side. If you start the Sienbu at the middle of the Super-jump screen, it won’t happen while they’re there… though you won’t be able to use them to pin. Much. The lowest might go just low enough to hit standing.
Other tactics, they will discover on their own.
4.) Notes
This works best on Magneto, but not only on Magneto… it has been known to work on all non-super armored, non-Cable characters. Be careful vs. Cyke and Iron Man if you use this.
Finally, in order to even use this tactic, you need to get a little room in order… if you never make Magneto give you a little space, you can lose without a fight. Doing that, however, is up to you.
Thanks for reading… I hope this is helpful. If you have trouble with this tactic, I apologize… but remember, a neither a single strategy or pin will win most games.
Tron Jon