Here’s some shit I learned lately;
Backdash ultra, without focus, IS possible. for some reason though it’s ridiculously hard. I don’t know what it is, like the timing just has to be SO specific for some reason. Tatsu and i were talking about how it could be really useful but i don’t see the benefit of it coming around because it’s just that damn hard to do.
Finally found a way to deal with incessant crossups. i’ve become a lot more brave lately. One of my new tactics is full screen walk forward throw =). Just keep walking. They wait for you to stop, or jump… you throw. lol. becasue i’m working on that tick throw stuff i was talking about earlier with the st. lk and cosmic heel and etc., i’ve started applying that same strategy to crossups. Just walk under the jump, and punish their landing by mixing them up. This one Ryu keeps trynig to jump in at me, I use st. lk as soon as he lands, and I forec him to try to get lucky mashing option select tech. Of course Ryu can always empty jump SRK, but that’s the next stage of the mindgame. As long as you walk out of the range of the cross up and you punish their landing, you’re at a frame advantage if they either block or get hit by that standing LK and you can immediately turn a bad situation into a good one. This is remarkably important… If I can get people to STOP jumping in on me mindlessly… well.
How to punish Balrog’s dash punches. First of all, the overhead must be like -4 or something. Block the overhead; immediately begin charging db. punish the overhead with a c. jab, c. strong, EX FBA. The timing works perfectly, and gives you a 260 damage punish on an overhead instead of 110 from standign roundhouse. Balrog’s mixup game is destroyed when you also learn how to punish dash low. must be -5 on block, it’s easier to punish than overhead. Just use c. mp EX FBA, you’re already charging anyways. The one thing I need to do in this matchup is punish properly. Vega’s oki against Balrog sucks. He can throw out headbutts a lot without having to worry about much. Even if you safe jump and try mixing up, Vega doesn’t have movse with big enough frame advantage to beat shit like mash jab. couple that with any headbutt being and ultra, and corner, and death sentenec for Vega and you really don’t ahve options. That’s why if you can take Balrgo’s safest shit like those wto dash punches, and most valuable tool in this matchup for making a comeback in hsi headbutt and punish them as hard as humanly possible all the time, he is really suffocated for options. You can punish headbutt with close fierce ex fba. i mean you can’t oki him with FBA at all, as between headbutt and tap he’s got you completely covered. you need to rely on any opportunity for damage because balrog is so damn good at being safe so finding those opportunities is critical in this matchup.
lately my execution is exactly where i want it to be. it’s awesome. i’m confirming jump ins into c. mk ST, and yesterday i did slide under honda, c. jab, st. RH 3 hit combo on his wakeup. shit like that, with links and generally being offensievly aware. i’m really happy about that. the only downsied is that i’m TOO confident in my offensive game. lately i forget that if i have a 60% life lead there’s no need for me to try and finish the match. i keep losing against people lately because i’m too focused on trying to kick their ass and not get away with my usual cheese like turtling my ass off and EX FBA’ing right when they get me in the corner. jut remember guys, always remember that time is on your side, you’re vega, and that you run a hell of a lot more risk playing offense agianst people than just turtling it up, even if it’s easy for vega to get squashed in certain matchups.
also… honda is another one of those matchups where yuo need to punish properly. yesterday i let a honda take advantage of me because i only would block ass slams, not focus them. i swear he hit me like 6 times to me 23 and he won with 40%. honda is another one of those guys who like chun li and balrog can hang with vega easily in terms of footsies so you need to make sure you’re taking away the options he needs to get somewhere in this matchup. Those matchups it’s literally like, you’re at such a disadvantage that your biggest priority should be ending it in as few exchangse as possible. vega is not a scrappy character, you have to be precise, and part of this should be being an expert at when and how to deal damage and punish people’s mistakes. the only problem is, because you’re vega and have no oki options, your first objective is “Block” and not punish. i really think people should, in any trouble matchup they have, look at frame data for significant moves and ALWAYS think of the most damaging punish possible. Vega is, aside from zangief, the best punisher in the game. When you think about it, between the two of them they can punish absolutely everything. Vega has fireballs DOWN, long range, full screen stuff DOWN, but Zangief can punish anything greater than -1. Couple that with Vega’s unprecedented abililty to combo into 200 damage move off one action and you have a great punish character. it’s up to you guys to figure out exactly HOW though. some of them are pretty precise like punishing balrog’s overhead, whereas others are really straightfowrad like punishing blanka’s horiz ball.
one last thing; you guys should find ways to use cosmic heel and slide to get around in matchups. for those who have trouble against dhalsim, you need to figure out how to use these moves and their lengthy total frames to mvoe you in the right places and work in the right situations. Sweep is probably the best punishing normal in the entire game thanks to it’s ridiculous speed, range, and counter-poke ability. learn how to do shit like sweep dhalsim’s standing fierce. Counter poking with the sweep is amazing. Use it alot to get a precise idea of when and how it’s goign to work. I find that alot of times, my offensiev prsesuer game is enough that at a certain point people are afraid to try and punish me- vega of all characters. I literally get away with crappy Bareclonas in the midst of all the actual pressure i’m putting on juts cause people don’t know what step to take next. it’s because if yuo assert some kind of dominanec on the ground by creating untechable knockdowns every time someone tries to poke you, they’ll think twice befoer doing prettym uch anything and end up hurting themselevs in the process. Make srue you make the most of Vega’s incessant, annoying moves like the slide and RCF.
anyway… that’s all i have to say about my game lately. kind of hit a rough patch, not really producing the results i’d like to see, and i’m pretty sure it’s because i’m playing too aggrsesively. i mean my links are perfect right now. absolutely perfect. any time i rush someone down and they still don’t let me get hits in, i’m still cerating new patterns that fuck people over, it’s a great feeling to have a hold on that offensive game. but goddamn, this game jts doesn’t like offense smoetimes. you always have to be aware of what risks you’re taking. another thing im doing is makign a better habit of watching opponent’s meter to see just what i’m getting myself into when i get crazy up close. Also one other thing I do, is that even though my links are great, I still get a little jiterry when things are getting weird. like just make uncharacteristic decisions and stuff. Also, air grab for the FUCKING WIN, it’s been the reason i’ve been doign as well as i have for so long. air grab, EX FBA, no yuo cannot focus on yuor wakeup Ryu. =)
