Diary of a newbie.

I had a long, fun session against a Peach on unranked last night. I would love more exposure to this matchup. It’s tricky, but I think Doc has some cool things he can do in this matchup re: edgeguarding, comboing off b-airs, fighting the projectile game with pills and cape, and capitalizing on grabs.

The games started in my favor, but I got overwhelmed by the end. Some of it was basic dumb panic options out of disadvantage - I needed to mix up my recovery options instead of just jumping and pilling or d-airing ever time, I was getting hard called out several times. My ledge options in general need to be cleaner as usual, the Peach was getting away with some fraudulent ledge pressure since I wasn’t consistently using galint to force her away.

Even more critically, I felt unable to reliably capitalize on openings because she was constantly mashing A out of disadvantage, which turned into jabs or n-airs that stuffed my moves. Successful jabs or b-airs or up-airs regularly turned into trades or reversals.

I labbed the jab and grab scenarios a bit. Off a single jab, I should be able to consistently get a grab or down-smash. Off double jab, if they try to n-air, shield into grab or OOS up-smash is strong. And triple jab can win out if the spacing is close. This is all complicated by CC down-smash, which this Peach actually didn’t do much, but is always a threat. Basically, using shield options to extend pressure is key. Ideally that discourages them from mashing eventually, which opens up more straight-forward options.

Otherwise, I need to be less reliant to cape when pressuring the edge, it was very inconsistent even though it worked out a few times. I also need to figure out more reliable ways to win neutral, I was losing a lot clashes where her n-air or f-air cleanly beat my b-air or d-air. As usual, I need to be more aware of the threat range of dash attacks. And I need to practice grab conversions into f-air.

I got bodied by several Falco’s back to back to back a few weeks back. I need to dig into this matchup more.

Check out this set I had vs a high level Happy Chaos. I can’t believe I pulled out these dubs.

The Faust is definitely becoming more complete, but the Baikens continue to kill my vibe. This set from today really shows off my strengths and weaknesses. The first 3 games, even though I lost one, I felt pretty good about. But the final three really displayed my weaknesses.

Observations

• i need to use 2S more in situations where the opponent is above me. Relatedly…
• i’m way to reliant on 6P. I was whiffing it in my opponent’s face anticipating an attack. Which relates to…
• I play very passive when I’m itemless. I need to become more comfortable using my pokes to gain advantage in neutral
• i’m leaving opportunities on the table, either for damage or items, such as: whiffing Thrust off hits when I should Item Toss, dropping corner combos and wallsplats, other dropped combos, messing up my inputs for item super or just forgetting to do it, never using Bone Crush…
• in general, my use of aerials are off. I whiffed jK>jD on afro’d Baiken twice, and I missed an airdash>jS that got me punished. Plus whiffing other aerials while trying to escape pressure and not being comfortable with safejumps… I’m just not familiar that part of toolkit yet.
• not using Scarecrow RC when I’m in a tight spot

This set also showed the need to adapt and have a variety of ways to respond to tough situations. I had just labbed using j2K as an answer to Baiken pressure, but that was getting blown up later in the set by jS. I needed to have other options to cycle through.

The last month has been all school work all the time, so no GG at all. On spring break now so I can hop back on the sticks for a bit. Played a some Faust in the tower yesterday and slowly getting back in the groove.

Baiken has been the bane of my existence. I have no idea how to keep her out or push her out. Her jS and 2H are huge and terrifying, I have no idea when to challenge or try to escape her pressure, I haven’t tested any of her rope shenanigans. Lots to figure out there, but luckily the tower is crawling with Baikens. Check out the tape.

Honestly, her pressure was on my mind a lot after playing as this force I can’t deal with, but there were so many other things I was doing wrong before Baiken got in that I need to work on too. Reviewing tape is so good, I rarely see what I expect to see.

Few things I want to lab today:

• when to use alternate Faust anti-airs, 2S and 2K. 6P was not coming through sometimes
• when to challenge/escape Baiken’s pressure, including rope stuff
• practice not autopiloting item toss in bad situations. I was getting punished a lot for point blank items after block strings
• placing my j2Ks more intelligently
• testing air-to-air possibilities, esp. jK
• just not 5K-ing, almost ever, goddamn

Long term, I need to also practice setplay with item toss. Like, what even is my desired outcome after I land a 2K>2D>Item Toss? What items should I use to keep pressuring, when to back off, when to toss more items? Relatedly, remembering to use my Item super more is essential for maximizing meter use.

Still really liking Faust though, even as I’m struggling. Excited to figure this character out.

Haven’t had too much time to play as the semester has gotten rolling.

Messed around with Baiken for a bit when she released, playing against Lanxeared and Weather Report, but she doesn’t really suit me. Too slow, awkward pokes, not enough cool tether stuff yet.

I rematched Lanxeared’s I-No a few weeks back, and played some of the best Gio of my life. Check out the tapes.

Interested in trying to learn Faust. Was playing him a bit yesterday and he’s a lot of fun. The long pokes and kooky zoning is a blast. Fun second to Gio maybe.

Reviewing the tapes against Lanxeared’s I-no.

The first two games honestly weren’t terrible i guess. I can’t block for shit, but i was finding a few openings, kinda close, got a round.

But then I got increasingly scared and focused on blocking right instead of escaping or challenging. More 5p mash would have helped, instead of 2k or whatever the fuck I was doing. Trying to Sol Nascente in some more situations would have helped too, the pay off from that is huge. Just anything to make I-no’s life harder and not cycle through the same options again and again.

My bursts were so damn bad from the jump though, like ffffuuuuck. Honestly embarrassing, even as it was happening.

My own pressure needs work to. Focusing on spacing would help, by trying to end block strings at a further distance. A long range Sepultura or 5H can’t be punished and gives me a lot of options after. Or, more trying to close the gap to start c.S pressure.

I played against Lanxeared again today.

We went 3-5, Gio v. Jack-O, but then they busted out their I-no. I got wrecked. I cannot block against this character, and all my bursts were way too predictable.

I was hitting my RRC combos though :)

I don’t know how to deal with Jack-O’s sweep.

The other day I fought a Ky player. They handed my ass to me on a platter.

Run up 2p, tough to deal with. Who knew.

i gotta backdash less in those situations, hold my ground, contest with low committal options like 2k>buffered 2d