Ways of thinking, read if you a noobie

I completly agree here. It’s like when i’m in training mode I can get a hit rate for my Fierce DP FADC into ultra of 60-70%, but as soon as i’m actually playing against someone i get all mash-happy. Of course the CPU is alot more predictable than playing against an actual human being. I’ve been trying to play online but all i get are flowchart kens and being noob myself i always get baited into the whole jump in then get my ass beaten…

To the TS, that was a really good post. Enjoyed reading it and will definetley take some pointers from there. Thank you!

Maybe it’s a person-to-person interpretation then, because quite honestly, I feel the same as when I play Yipes in MvC2 as I do when I play Afro in ST or Justin in 3S. I just feel they’re better players than me. When I first started fighters and I’d lose in A3 or Tekken Tag, I knew that they were better players, regardless of how I lost. Shit, I played a bunch of games at Evo 2k7 with various people and some guy beat me in ST with DJ’s jumping jab… that’s it (Maybe a mk somewhere too)… and my thoughts - Shit, he knows how to use that jab well. I used to play MvC2 and lose to Sentinel, flying back and hitting HP all day… Once again, a single move.

It’s just that MvC2 is a different kind of game, it doesn’t change the fact that if a player is better than you, they just are. I suppose a newbie could understand why they lost more easily in MvC2, but in the end, your opponent was just better than you.

I think you way misunderstand his point. He’s talking about from a complete newbie view point. When you beat some scrub with basic tactics in ST they think you just got lucky. They don’t understand all the set ups, traps, spacing and proper poking you used. But you kick their ass at marvel they see flashy combos and supers and are all amazed. Of course you understand the skills required to play ST because you’ve been around and actually played and learned from good players, but he’s talking about from a scrub point of view…

I guess. Either way you still don’t know exactly what you lost to, and that’s coming from a newbie’s perspective. Whether you lost to Ken’s C.mp in 3S or Magneto sticking his tri jumps in your ass. You can just assume in MvC2 that you lost to this or that, but most of the time they’re wrong. Players don’t lose to Magneto’s Rushdown, they lose to Magneto’s priority and lack of blocking skills (even in high levels). Essentially in the 3S Ken situation, you lose to Ken’s c.mp’s priority and your lack of blocking skills.

The way you can justify that the rushdown itself doesn’t win you the fight is that there have been many times where an opponent’s blocking is so on point, they block everything. It’s the priority and the mind-over that wins you the fight. You mind fuck your opponent using the character’s tools. Tri jumps don’t win shit. They’re just a tool.

Bump cause it might help someone.

Nice read.
I definitely have to learn how to actively think about what I’m doing during matches. I either auto-pilot, or can’t think quickly enough about a solution mid game.
I hope that this comes with experience. I havn’t been playing for long, only a couple of months.

The best way to think is to not think, but you must first learn various ways of thinking then apply those thought patterns to expected outcomes in certain situations. You train in various thought patterns for long periods to gain experience and after enough experience, you must learn to break down the patterns that you have learned, so that that you can apply them at a later time any time you want. Once you have have achieved the no thinking, you will have become unbeatable.

Comes with time and playing better players. I used to auto pilot way back when as well.

@RagingStormX Great read, but referring to the last 2 recent posts; do you think new players should be trying to implement these advanced strategies and thought processes as soon as possible or focus on other fundamentals like anti-airing, developing a ground game, blocking, etc. ?

I ask because of what FAI_CW said - “can’t think quickly enough about a solution mid game.”. I have the same problems. When my brain is focused on things like “he’s close enough to jump so I gotta be ready to AA” and “I just got knocked down, holy shit wtf is he going to do next”, thinking about things like mind games or doing things in the sonichurricane link seems like astrophysics.

Do you think a player should focus solely on fundamentals and get beat down until the reach the point where fundamentals become second nature and THEN work on developing things like advanced footsies and mind games?

OR

Start thinking about the advanced stuff as soon as possible, even if 90% of your brain power is focused on AAing a jump in or landing a punish combo? Would that payoff twice as much in the long run (even if the beat downs last twice as long) or are we stunting the development of fundamentals if we dive into the deep end too soon?

You always want to start at the basics, but sooner or later you have to challenge get yourself to the advance stuff. Advanced things won’t be useful if you don’t have the fundamentals.

I think now more than ever with the addition of SFV is this post relevant. I hope the '16ers get a look at your post.

I’m pretty much an SF newbie. Only played for a few months on and off.

Back when I played SSF4/USF4 I did a lot of autopilot nonsense and didn’t realize the importance of adapting. Not to mention doing moves with some sort of reason.

Also I really like the bit you mentioned on training mode. I’m guilty of just going in to learn combos, but becoming more familiar with situations would help me react to them better in matches.

This post was a great read though. The info will be helpful to us new players jumping into SFV.

That’s the main reason for the bump. When this was on the front page of srk years ago, a lot of people said it really helped.

Oh fantastic! I never thought of Street Fighter as if it was Action Chess.

I do not think that is always the case. In GGPO where you play mostly 10+ matches against the same person, sometimes the journey is more interesting than the goal.
Even if you win 20-0, some interesting, funny and spectacular things might happen in the few rounds you might lose.

I mean in the case where you are blatantly outclassed, if you are new to MvC2 and go play Justin Wong in his prime you aren’t going to learn anything.

Yea, I played an Akuma recently that just completely destroyed me.
I don’t have the match recorded either, so I don’t know what to take from said match.
All I remember is that the Demon Flip mixup got me hard and his hit confirms were on point.

The way you handle losses is what ultimately will decide how good you become as a competetive SF player.

That’s true, but you still need to understand why you lost also.

Good read, i this should possibly be a sticky as it’s helped me and many others reflect on the approach to matches