This is what I’m trying to do. I haven’t used a kunai in ages - litterally. I just safe jump - ambiguous crossup + OS and I manage to win most of my matches.
I also tried not to put any pressure. But then I’m not having fun. What’s the point on playing if I’m not enjoying it ^^
Basically what I need now is a gdlk player pwning me so hard that I’d really have to step up my game. That’s what Saunic did. He just 10-0’d me with… Rufus. But now I’m a bit too far to play him online.
That’s also what rekkaTEC did, until I eventually understood that playing Seth does not require any brain at all =) (and I seriously hope he’s reading these lines ^^ )
I’m pretty sure you can do that as well, out of reading your messages I can see that you’re the opponent-reading style rather than the full-rush-no-thoughts style, right? Whatever, when I play against somebody who correctly knows Ibuki and won’t get caught by any stupid autopilot vortex I do, I usually end up loosing because my ground game is not strong enough. Problem is, most of the players don’t know enough of Ibuki, so I end up sometimes thinking I’m gdlk because I just stole a few matches to a top player. And then I met the japanese players @ WGC and got pwned so hard I felt I was a complete rookie at this game (hello Tokido).
I’ll try to meet Dieminion next time I go to next level and play him, this should teach me a lot. Who else is god-tier in this neighborhood?
Playing online against random people starts to be pointless since I manage to win most of my matches without even thinking, and, you know, I win, so why should I change my strategy when I’m 5-0’ing a random 4000 PP guy?
I know out of experience that I’ll most likely never learn & consistently win if I’m not enjoying what I currently do (this does not only apply to Street Fighter of course).
So I play for the three of those, I don’t feel like they are not compatible.
I have fun when I just do my best.
As an example, I am having a lot of fun playing a guy incredibly superior than me who is pwning me, because I’m obviously doing my best to face him, and I learn very quickly how to adapt (I learned more things during one week-end in the WGC than during a whole month of playing online). Moreover, doing something good against this kind of player is extremely satisfactory, which is another fun source. I got extremely pwned by Mago @ WGC but I somehow managed to corner him once and vortex him until I was about to win the round (and then he raped me) => This was fun.
I am also having fun when I pwn somebody very hard, of course.
And I am getting annoyed when I have to change my playstyle fore the sole purpose of “learning”. Changing it to win is interesting (which is why I play Ibuki as well, you won’t play a Blanka just like you play a shoto, everything’s different, even the combos, antiairs and setups you’ll use).
Moreover, when I try to play to learn, and change my playstyle for this matter, I end up very angry because I know I can do waaaay better than that if I’m just sticking to my regular plans (even if I’m still winning).
This mentality probably comes from my sports experience, but I feel like as long as there is a way to improve myself without quitting the way I am, I am having fun. I tried to remove some stuff from my game so I could improve but I got annoyed, and then I saw Sako who’s obviously having an enormous amount of fun doing all of these full-bluff gimmicks (U2 - neckbreaker - throw is JUST delightful. Seriously. I laugh every time I do it.)
So the almost only way for my stubborn personality to improve is to play against somebody way stronger than me. I actually started playing Street Fighter seriously when I met Saunic, who pwned me and brought stars in my eyes when I was watching him playing. Then I joined the arcades, got bodied by every single player there, so I trained, and now when I go there I usually body people (again, that is fun)
(PS: This post is labelled “cool story bro-proof” )
I’m still updating these – everytime I spoiler is a short critique.
F-Word vs. Neurosis (0:43:00)
[details=Spoiler]F-Word isn’t cancelling his Ageman still, and is focusing on scoring a knockdown with cr.HK despite Dictator’s options for escaping. Launcher mix-ups/high-low and frame-traps is the best way to beat Dictator – F-Word isn’t making him lose charge after knockdown.
EX Kunai to dash up Kazegiri was nice. I didn’t know he still does random neckbreakers in tournaments…[/details]
F-Word vs. Poongko (1:55:30)
[details=Spoiler]I hate this because I told him about the Unblockable in person and he just laughed, and now he goes to a tournament and does a set-up which isn’t even a Safe-Jump, and OS Neckbreaker even though Seth can recover after the backdash.
It looked like Poongko was trolling in the second round because he could have won if he chose to do Ultra after the crumple. In the second match, he did an unsafe Kunai after the EX Kazegiri. NEVER throw a Kunai after EX Kazegiri. You can’t see the end because the video cuts off, and the next part shows Poongko winning. F-Word didn’t win a match.[/details]
[media=youtube]y5muw9zC7rI[/media]
EDIT: He also played Ash (Yun) and won 2-1. I’m trying to find the match now.
Izuna yes it was me I learnt so much just over the few days in the tourney… I’m liking the dictator match now as I’ve had a lot of practice here. Gonna keep playing more.
That doesn’t quite convince me that Claw is Ibuki’s worst matchup. It just seems like you don’t know when you can/cannot should/shouldnot be pushing buttons.
Also I think st.MP xx U2 option select is easier, but whatever works I guess.
Niko you could have punished so many of those EX Wall Dives with jump-back HK. I don’t think Claw is one of her hardest match-ups, but it’s definitely slightly in his favour.
It looked like Jozhear was getting hit by a lot of really unsafe and silly tactics, that if he adapted Ibuki would be screwed. I’m not sure what he was doing but it looked like he was having a million execution errors in the last video or he was fishing for a specific set-up. Those matches were really casual.
OS U2 in that situation is not a good idea (I’m sure you know this), it’s a waste of meter and you don’t have a proper set-up after it. It looked very nice though.
OS u2 is a great idea, anything you can do to punish my backdashes consistently is an absolute necessity. I told niko the same thing. Create an incentive that forces me to block more often and your mixups will automatically be better. AFAIK there is not another consistent option select to punish a backdash so if you have one and it’s ultra 2 then you should make using that a priority. like anytime ibuki hits me you can get an untechable knockdown anyway and she does huge damage so i don’t think ultra 2 being stocked for combos is THAT necessary. use it for OS imo. good tactic, but figure out a post u2 knockdown set up and it’ll be even better
I also focus ibukis kunais and dash out. niko you said it was that ibuki has to rely on unblockable but that’s not true. you also said ibuki can’t punish vega’s focus dash outs, that’s also not true. I’ve played ibukis who just get on the ground and sweep me on the way out of that mixup pretty consistently. It’s not guaranteed cause i can wait, and use the invincibility of my backdash to avoid the sweep, but you have nothing to lose if i’m getting out of that mixup as consistently as i was.
I started pressing a lot more buttons cause you were throwing less and doing ghost-dash more. it’s not safe and since you weren’t frame trapping me out of your basic strings (for example stuff like your c. lp into st. mk, you always do that, sometimes you should wait more before st. mk, or back off, counter hit c. mp xx neckbreaker buffer, etc) i had little preventing me from getting away with pressing buttons.
as for the jump back hk’s that could beat my izunas, all i have to do is steer towards the opposite wall and if ibuki jumps back for ANYTHING (most commonly air grab) , i’m just going to beat her, there’s nothing she can do. obviously she can do things to beat that, but it’s a coin toss at all times. for a lot of matches i was consistently punishing attempts at air grab, because it is simply the most common punish people use to counter wall dives nowadays. you have to be a part of the mindgame - there is no consistent punish for wall dives unless you are blanka, bison, or balrog. If I whiff stuff, you can punish with neckbreakers, if i’m too close, you can ex tsumuji, hell you could ultra 2 as well. Main key here is, if i guess wrong, punish HARD. you have to essentially make me not want to do it anymore.
i play a gen in my local area who consistently just U1’s my izunas and yeah i just don’t do them anymore. the risk is too much. chances are you have some tactic that can make no wall dives a possibility , my guess is ultra 2.
Some dudley’s i play, when i come down for izuna, they duck out of the way, and make my wall dive whiff, then they punish with EX MGB. you can do ghost-dash into ex neckbreaker, or ultra 2, etc etc.
I think the main thing was like i messaged you about, you backed yourself into the corner very quickly each round. you just can’t do that. Ibuki is one of those characters with an extremely narrow optimal range and vega’s is pretty much twice that. you put yourself into the corenr, and all i have to do to maintain that range is an air grab here and there and some well-timed pokes - no movement required, since you can’t, especially if i air grab you enough or counter poke enough df+mks. you need to maintain a midscreen game, and capitalize off of any knockdown.
My personal thoughts on the MU are that ibuki definitely wins it. Main reason why is any knockdown can totally write vega off in this MU. you have like 10000000 set ups that are really hard to track and do some serious damage. My advice, capitalize on stun, capitalize on damage - you never have to sacrifice damage to get a solid knockdown since pretty much all of them are untechable, unless you want to do some weird stuff with tsumuji FADC and the target combo jump-cancellable stuff.
just keep grinding on the mu, i could be wrong about vega winning it, but I DOUBT sincerely that vega wins this mu. yes he does tons of damage and he has good normals, but getting knocked down just sucks way too much. I was happy I beat you cause i always struggle with ibuki, since any ibuki can kill me off of one random neckbreaker or etc. I just had a lot more success with offense against you than I think I should have a nd a lot of that had to do with you backing into the corner so quickly.
The problem with option select U2 however, is that Ibuki might go through you and completely whiff for a free punish, if you do the PPP command backdash. Huge damage? If Ibuki does not get the full ultra animation, the damage will be anything but huge. Maybe around 150dmg if you’re lucky (get all juggle hits). For less effort and unblockablol setup you can option select Neckbreaker instead, which does 120dmg and infinitely more stun (which is incredibly useful because Claw has low stun rating, at 900stun). Lastly, it’s been over 2 years since we’ve toyed around with post U2 knockdowns, and I’m sure most of us agree that Ibuki cannot continue the same kind of pressure compared to her other knockdowns.
Sounds more like the Ibukis you’re playing are simply autopiloting cr.HK or TC10 (cr.HK xx st.HK) after the kunai, under the assumption that you’re doing to FA dash. Many Ibukis do this, including Sako, simply because it is very very hard to react to wakeup FA. An easier (and far more rewarding) way to deal with wakeup FA is to simply spam the unblockablols, with/without air target combos.
Ghost dash, lol. That’s new. Usually we call it command dash.
I agree that Ibuki does well in the matchup, or possibly wins it. This matchup seems very similar to the Chun matchup, except you have a kara throw (big whoop) and some decent damage options, at the cost of having possibly the worst reversal options in the game, which is not good when you’re playing a heavy rushdown/vortex character like Ibuki. Once Ibuki is in, there’s not much you can do but hope she option selects wrong on one of your mash command backdashes.
I think really the only thing stopping this matchup from being 6-4 Ibuki favored is that Claw’s hitbox is absolutely retarded, so Ibuki can’t get max damage (Tsumuji loops) everytime she hits you.
Ok, well lets see if I can cover a few specifics that I know about the match up.
1 - It is very hard for Ibuki to approach Vega without getting hit by a jab, cr. forward, or cr. strong. This is why I would always play footsies with you just outside the range of that hop kick and your slide. I know there is no way in hell I’m going to beat those buttons and if you have meter its going to really hurt if you land a combo.
2 - If Vega has the claw he gets to jump in on Ibuki all day and pressure her for free. If Ibuki tries to anti-air she gets ch into a jump in combo. I’m pretty sure you know this and I was actually surprised you didn’t jump in on me more?
3 - I’m pretty sure Ibuki has no options for a “meaty” Izuna drop. If its not meaty then yes she could punish it with the correct read or you could punish her if you guessed right. Maybe you can tell us about the properties of the Izuna drop?
4 - There’s times when Vega’s fadc a crossup and I can’t punish it. I’m pretty sure this is one of your safest options against Ibuki’s mixups because of how fast Vega recovers.
In general the pace of this mu seems to be controlled by Vega and not Ibuki. With Vega’s superior walk speed, normals, and his ability to just jump in on you whenever he wants. Ibuki really has to wait for the Vega player to make a mistake and capitalize in order to win.
It’s not a good idea because Ibuki has other ways to OS your backdash and cause an untechable knockdown with cr.HK, or maybe OS with Neckbreaker after st.MP for a much better knockdown. The damage Ibuki gets from a juggle U2 is rubbish. It’s also not a consistent punish for backdashes since one of Claw’s backflips with make Ibuki whiff (maybe - depending on the spacing I guess).
Ibuki’s Kunai Vortex isn’t bad at all in this match-up so I don’t know where Niko is coming from, against a character like Claw I would rather end my combos with HK Kazegiri as well to add other mix-ups. If Ibuki starts hitting Claw and she can hit-confirm with either TC10 resets, HK Kazegiri set-ups or Untechable knockdowns, then she doesn’t have to rely on any one thing.
Holding the focus to stop Ibuki from punishing your backdash is something that I used to see at the Arcades, but as Mingo said, no Ibuki player can react to that, not even Sako. But as far as I know, Ibuki can just do st.MK to hit Claw out of the backdash or focus anyway and then cancel into whatever she wants.
Yes, but in this video Niko could have punished it on reaction. I think you would have to get hit by the j.HK before you see it coming. Ibuki shouldn’t be trying to air-grab here since she can cause a knockdown after j.HK. I know you’re pretty much the best Claw out there, but I’ve never come across a Claw player who was allowed to do random Wall Dives without me punishing it with a knockdown. Perhaps we should play to experiment. I usually punish it with j.HK until the Claw player tries to counter it, and then as you said, it’s a mind-game. Though I don’t think any Claw would want to do so many random EX Wall Dives and waste meter in a tournament match.
It’s a hard match-up once you get meter. Claw’s hit-boxes makes zoning in on him very difficult, and certain set-ups can’t be used since he has a really good crouching hit-box. We can’t use our Target Combo 4 (LP~MP~HP) for example. When I played in Japan I started to use MK Tsumuji, f+LK against Claw a lot because otherwise I couldn’t get much damage if he crouched, but that’s a 1-frame link.
The other reason why I think it is a difficult match-up for Ibuki is because she will lose too much health trying to get a knockdown, and when playing patiently Claw will be slowly building a bunch of meter from long reaching attacks. His walkspeed allows him to control the match until a knockdown happens. His Okizeme is pretty scary for Ibuki too, though not as scary.
I don’t think it’s hard in the sense that it’s 6-4 for Claw or something, but like Makoto vs. Ibuki: even though Makoto wins that match-up on paper, in practice it’s too difficult to play it properly consistently so Ibuki will always end up winning.
One day if I get an Arcade Stick within the next few months I’d like to play against you. I would like to compare you to Makoto (the Japanese Claw player). I only managed to play him in two matches, but I always thought that Claw should be harder for Ibuki, and from watching you play, you may be the better player.
Just because you don’t know how to use any other antiair besides b+MP doesn’t mean Claw gets to jump in for free. Spend the meter and use EX dp if you have to. Go air to air with air throw, or nj.MK, or FA.
You make it sound like Ibuki gets jumped on worse than Chun.
I learnt so much just over the few days in the tourney… I’m liking the dictator match now as I’ve had a lot of practice here. Gonna keep playing more.