Well about taking risks it’s kinda more like a gamble. I’ve air-thrown people with Vega where the animation’s so close to the ground it looks like a perfectly Tigerkneed Air-Dark Smasher, and have since been wary of jumping at Vega’s. Add to this his other anti-airs vs Hibiki and shrewd Vega’s pretty much close the door on everything she’s got. It doesn’t help that her jump’s slow.
She gets meter those jump ins become more… lenient. You can jump on his head quasi-freely then, knockdown, mixup once and kill with a Custom or near it and kill with the mixup after. The threat of activation, in this case, is enough. (Why waste the meter after knocking his claw 'n mask off? Aren’t his “advantages” over Hibiki nullified without? Sit on the claw and run the clock or move so that the claw’s off screen)
Random jumps doesn’t seem to be the brightest of ideas but I’m sure people do them because at the time its probably the most “unexpected” thing to do in an enviroment where most people tend to set up jumps.
You ever do this, back someone into a corner and dance out of range knowing they’ll get frustrated and jump out only to be knocked back in so you can get close and mixup? Well, they should know that would happen and resort to battle their way out on the ground right? Funny though in my experience this was Nako vs characters like Ken or Chun, and generally this example should’ve been the other way around but if Nako does her job right caution dances in your opponents brain and they make mistakes when they get desperate due to things like the clock running on them, guard meter, etc.
The smart thing to do, especially when your opponents anti-airs are on point like that, is bait and punish, or perhaps even play mid range footsies and work their guard bar so they make mistakes. With Hibiki vs Vega, this Spanish Bullfighter bastard outscores Hibiki on both of those.
Perhaps Vega, knowing that Hibiki’s slash’s leave her vulnerable on hit/block misjudges distance (because u know this 2, and forward slash at max or near max range) and goes for a slide/d.mp. You got a slightly faster jump startup in A so jump on his head when he whiffs the expected move as he recovers; he’s got little to defend him when she’s right on top of him. Thing is he’s got the walking speed so you’d have to play those slashes in concerto with his rhythm. I know she recovers in time to block, CC, whatever, but the jump thing I don’t know.
—HOWEVER If he see’s or knows the slash is coming he could either JD or ROLL on reaction (the latter especially when walking back) for certain punishment since the slash whiffed is worse than his shitty Roll. d.HP works better blocked but his roll beats it too and he can stuff it with his d.MP IIRC.
I have no experience in this matchup just yet like yourself but this is what I’d aim to do when I first engage it, unless I have meter or play K/N/P (which I won’t, though AC’s, counter rolls are nice) Unfortunately it looks like these risks are purely one-trick pony’s vs people with a clue. Fortunately in this case it only takes one mistake for Hibiki to lay down the pain.
As for the s.MP that’s the same range as her d.LP isn’t it? All of these moves are beaten by Vega’s d.MP, and it’s you can’t buffer specials out of it (Although supers you could, a plus for K/N/P/C…S)
Anyway in A-groove I generally feel safer when there’s meter backing her up to allow her to take more risks. Actually that seems to go for just about any character in A with good customs.
Hey good points though you’re making my scub-tacular brain think:rofl: (should I put this stuff in the Wiki?)
About game experience, while what you say is true there’s no sub for experience, in my situation until I can get some new matches down with some people nearby all I’ve got really is knowledge and execution combined with practical situations to familiarize myself with.