[CS1-CSE] Tsubaki Self-Improvement and Critique Thread

[NorseFTX]

I'm a beginner when it comes to BB and fighting games, and am looking for tips on how to improve my play. Since I was feeling gutsy, I've enrolled myself in the recent West Danisen online tourney, and videos of my newbishness have been uploaded for the world to see; if you've got some time, please critique to your content! Here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8AAlL-KxXM

The matches I am in are at:

2:00

6:54

14:26

17:45

I've started playing BB when Extend came out on 2/14/12 and have been practicing daily. As mentioned, I'm new to fighting games as well, so any general fighting game tips are welcome~

There are some really obviously silly things I did in there that I can only really blame on nerves (this was my first tourney for any game I've ever played as well =P). I've been having a lot of fun with the game overall, and look forward to working hard on improving.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Airk]

Just as a sort of general heads-up, before I watch any of your videos - if you're new to fighting games, I strongly recommend James Xie's Beginner Mode series. They start from the impossibly obvious and go through all kinds of aspects of fighting games in general and Blazblue in particular. Also, James is pretty entertaining, so even if you don't learn something from a given episode, you'll probably be amused.

Now to watch those videos...

[TheGreatReptar]

Arakune match - Work on antiairing. He was jumping in for free the entire match, never even trying to bait an antiair by airdashing. 2C will beat out any jump in clean if you do it early enough.

Mu match - You used 6C>623C>j.214C as an ender. Never do that unless you're sure it will kill and don't have meter for super. It puts you in a really terrible position, and you lose time to charge.

Tao - When you get a j.CC confirm, you can almost always land and then continue comboing. You canceled into j.236A>j.214C and gave up a bit of damage and charge time. Small things like this add up.

2nd Arakune- you were doing like 5BB>5CC>623B/C a lot. I don't know if that was intentional, but it kept making it so you lost out on charge time off those confirms.

You need to work on bursting in general. You saved them to the very end a lot, and several of them were blocked. Burst more during longer moves. Double green-bursting against Arakune is also a good way to throw away a round since he can guard break super easily. Also, work on just confirming into proper combos. You'll be amazed at how much easier matchups can get once you make time to get charges.

[Airk]

First comments:

#1: Your defense is way better than I was expecting! Go you!

#2: 2C anti-air is a crucial skill to learn. You need to be able to do this particularly against characters like Arakune that will otherwise jump all over you.

#3: Hsss,the lag, it hurts us, my precious.

#4: I'm not sure I really endorse the 6C> 623C> j.214D corner ender add-on there. It's not getting you much damage at all for that charge, and it leaves you in a less good position overall.

#5: Nice fatal counter 3C hitconfirm! I need to work on not mashing out the 3CC myself. x.x

#6: You're kinda mashy on wakeup in the Mu match - while it worked out for you, mostly, you need to be a little bit careful hitting buttons after teching, because folks can do a 'meaty' attack that will hit right as you finish teching, and get a CH if you're mashing. If you're going to 'wake up' with an attack, you want to do 623A.

#7: You're kinda too passive - while I'm not encouraging you to throw out random special moves to try to close in, you're getting pinned down and not getting much chance to mount an offense. Work on understanding the spacing for 5A/5B/5C and then try to dash in to use one (generally 5B, but whatever seems appropriate). Heck, just do some jump ins until your opponent demonstrates they can anti-air.

#8: You're doing 5BB>6A too much, so that Tao is just jabbing you out. You need to mix up 5B > 6A, 5BB> 2A, 5B>2A, 5BB>2A>6A etc.

#9: You probably don't REALLY want to be using j.236C for jumpins so much - it limits what you can do afterwards to j.214X, mostly, unless you get a Counter Hit. Try just jumping in with j.C

#10: Did I mention 2C anti-air?

#11: USE your charges for something!

More later.

[NorseFTX]

Thanks so much! I'll take a look at that beginner mode series thing. XD

Arakune match - Work on antiairing. [...]

I really do need to work on this. When I see an opponent jump, my reaction that happens without thinking (rather than 2C) is...to also jump. "Wait for me~!" XP Must break out of this habit.

Mu match - You used 6C>623C>j.214C as an ender. Never do that. [...]

XD Alright! Yes, I kind of felt in a weird position whenever I ended with that.

Tao - When you get a j.CC confirm, you can almost always land and then continue comboing. [...]

Mm, alright. I tend to mash C in the air without thinking, and sometimes I need to delay the second one a little so that I can combo when I land; I'll keep this in mind.

2nd Arakune- you were doing like 5BB>5CC>623B/C a lot. [...]

The 623C was intentional; not doing anything after that was not. XD When you see that, it's a failed >j214Bw. =P

You need to work on bursting in general. [...] Also, work on just confirming into proper combos. You'll be amazed at how much easier matchups can get once you make time to get charges.

XP Alright. And yes, I'll try to end with the ground 22B or something like that so I have some time to charge. I have this habit of going in the air with everything.

#1: Your defense is way better than I was expecting! Go you!

Ah...! Thanks! I still have trouble with crossups, however. =P

#2: 2C anti-air is a crucial skill to learn.

#10: Did I mention 2C anti-air?

Hahah, right! I will work on this.

#3: Hsss,the lag, it hurts us, my precious.

It does. =P

#4: I'm not sure I really endorse the 6C> 623C> j.214D corner ender add-on there.

XP I'll try to avoid it in the future.

#5: Nice fatal counter 3C hitconfirm! I need to work on not mashing out the 3CC myself. x.x

I did the air combo rather than the timing-strict double IAD one after 6C that can do ~3400-3500. =P I think it was possible to add a j236A before j214C, too, but bleh.

#6: You're kinda mashy on wakeup in the Mu match [...] If you're going to 'wake up' with an attack, you want to do 623A.

XD I need to work on this. I'm terrible at DPs or reversals in general.

#7: You're kinda too passive

I freak out mid-match easily and start playing defensive until I realize I'm in the corner and I have to do something, and at that point, I think panic sets in 'cause I start mashing. XP I'll...try not to let that happen too much.

#8: You're doing 5BB>6A too much, so that Tao is just jabbing you out. You need to mix up 5B > 6A, 5BB> 2A, 5B>2A, 5BB>2A>6A etc.

Right--! I figured I shouldn't do it again when Tao poked me the first time. Head not working =P

#9: You probably don't REALLY want to be using j.236C for jumpins so much - it limits what you can do afterwards to j.214X, mostly, unless you get a Counter Hit. Try just jumping in with j.C

Okay. I don't know why I like j236C so much.

#11: USE your charges for something!

This I must do. I sit on them based on some inexplicable "I'M SAVING IT FOR AWESOME" mentality and never end up using them sometimes. XP

[Airk]

#11: USE your charges for something!

This I must do. I sit on them based on some inexplicable "I'M SAVING IT FOR AWESOME" mentality and never end up using them sometimes. XP

This is pretty much the opposite of me. I have this "A charge?! Egad! I must use it, forthwith!" thing going on where I pretty much immediately burn my charges on either approach or the next combo I land.

[Kiba]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8AAlL-KxXM

Ok, my turn! Though there isn't much to say since these guys covered the bulk of it.

vs : You can dodge Arakune's air super by jumping or blocking low. It's quite a pain to block against Arakune when he has you in curse mode but in the likley case where he does achieve that, you generally just have to block. If you try to attack him, you could get hit by a bug which would earn him a full combo and will possibly earn him his win.

vs : Try to vary your blockstrings a little. It wasn't the first time you used 5BB > 6A, and once players catch onto that, they can start disrespecting you even more.

vs : Yea, the disrespect with the blockstrings happened right in this match where the opponent was 2A'ing you out of your stuff, and this is why you've gotta mixup your blockstrings. Like Airk said, 2C is your friend against Tao. She has better air normals and mobility which makes fighting her air to air dangerous, so you'd want to say grounded.

vs 2nd : Again try to vary your blockstrings.

You're off to a good start. Your defense is good, and you have the combos down, and it was nice to see you use 6B > 22C > 6CC > etc. As TGR said, it's better to end with 22X rather than going for the 6C > 623C > j.214C followup because being on the ground give you better oki options against your opponent, for example, using unblockables, high/low mixup etc. You also have more time to charge, and being in a good position prevents your opponent from having an easy time from getting out of the corner. If you're far from yuor opponents, again like Airk said, charge a lil more. You'll find that her drive specials can be very beneficial to you in most matchups.

Hope it helps.

[NorseFTX]

This is pretty much the opposite of me. I have this "A charge?! Egad! I must use it, forthwith!" thing going on where I pretty much immediately burn my charges on either approach or the next combo I land.

XD I probably need to try to do that a little more, since otherwise I'm wasting the time I spend charging.

vs : You can dodge Arakune's air super by jumping or blocking low. It's quite a pain to block against Arakune when he has you in curse mode but in the likley case where he does achieve that, you generally just have to block. If you try to attack him, you could get hit by a bug which would earn him a full combo and will possibly earn him his win.

Right--when I watch people fight Arakune, I see matches turn around quite often when Arakune lands an attack with curse up. I'll be careful. XP

I notice pauses in some Arakune players' pokes during curse, almost as if some of them seem to time their overheads so that if it hits, it'll go into something that does like 6000+. I don't know what the timing is, though, and I feel like I probably should learn it so that I'll know when to watch for the hit.

vs : Try to vary your blockstrings a little. It wasn't the first time you used 5BB > 6A, and once players catch onto that, they can start disrespecting you even more.

vs : Yea, the disrespect with the blockstrings happened right in this match[...].

vs 2nd : Again try to vary your blockstrings.

Alright! Yes, I probably should. I do practice different blockstrings, but for some reason, in the midst of a battle that I'm particularly tense in (or if the opponent does something that catches me off guard), I stop thinking ahead. And when that happens, I suddenly can't think right at all. At that point, it just becomes, "Ah! Th..they're crouching! Must press overhead button!"

Then, the moment I see the slow 6A animation play out, I think, "Agh! What am I doing!? I just did this a second ago!" XP

[Kiba]

Right--when I watch people fight Arakune, I see matches turn around quite often when Arakune lands an attack with curse up. I'll be careful. XP

I notice pauses in some Arakune players' pokes during curse, almost as if some of them seem to time their overheads so that if it hits, it'll go into something that does like 6000+. I don't know what the timing is, though, and I feel like I probably should learn it so that I'll know when to watch for the hit.

Be advised that they may also opt for lows or crossups. He has an instant overhead that's difficult to react to, and it's safe on block too (since you'll have to block bugs). If you see an opening though, a good idea would be to get away (air backdash), or if they gap is that big you could hit him, but be careful. If you catch him on block you could get attacked by bugs. It's really a learning exp and depends on the player, but most of the time, it's not worth attacking.

Alright! Yes, I probably should. I do practice different blockstrings, but for some reason, in the midst of a battle that I'm particularly tense in (or if the opponent does something that catches me off guard), I stop thinking ahead. And when that happens, I suddenly can't think right at all. At that point, it just becomes, "Ah! Th..they're crouching! Must press overhead button!"

Then, the moment I see the slow 6A animation play out, I think, "Agh! What am I doing!? I just did this a second ago!" XP

I know exactly what you're talking about. Most people do go through that phase, and it's just a matter of playing more. It used to happen to me a lot, and there are even times where I would get confused because I think too much about doing one thing, so eventually something stupid comes out.

[Airk]

Is it just me, or is the timing on the midscreen 6CC > 236C > 214A combo part really fidgety? If I cancel as early as possible, 236C just goes right under them, but there doesn't really seem to be much time between when they are low enough for 236C and when they tech out. @_@

This seems like an important combo piece though, because without it, you don't really get any damage off a midscreen air throw without charge? And it's also part of the better no-charge counterhit punish combos?

[Kiba]

The 6CC > 236C link needs to be be delayed but not by that much. It's 2.9k midscreen.

Alternatively you could opt for Air throw > 5C > 2CC > Ender instead. Easier, but less damage dealt and less corner carry.

[Tecta1Eastside]

E3vE3 Waz HEA vs TectalEastside http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L_pG_IPokQ&feature=plcp

Even if you win you still need advice. I don't have another match of me playing with tsubaki.

[Kiba]

When you baited the DP a better punish than 5B would've been 5C > stuff or 3C FC.

Also, avoid using the air combos if you can not finish them off with j.214D. You would be in a better offensive position if you ended with the 236X > 214X > 22X.

Lastly just out of curiousity, why do you use 236A > 214A in a combo when you hit Litchi crouching? It may have been better for you to use 236C > 214C > 22B. It's not that much of a big deal, but the C versions give you a little more damage, and the 22B ender has better recovery than 22A.

[Tecta1Eastside]

Oh I didn't know that about the whole 236c thing. The only reason I use 236a is because its easier for me to link. Thanks though

[JaguarMcGuire]

I cant for the life of me get IAD combos to work. im sure my question is all too common. if so, instead of an answer, a link to someone in the past who had a similar thread or a thread that goes a bit in-depth with them would be outstanding. I cant even get 2CC > IAD CC > 5C to work a single time. im tired. ive been sitting here for hours looking at videos and am at my last nerve trying to do it.

[Errol]

delay j.cc as much as possible. That's all there is to it.

[Kiba]

I cant for the life of me get IAD combos to work. im sure my question is all too common. if so, instead of an answer, a link to someone in the past who had a similar thread or a thread that goes a bit in-depth with them would be outstanding. I cant even get 2CC > IAD CC > 5C to work a single time. im tired. ive been sitting here for hours looking at videos and am at my last nerve trying to do it.

Well for one thing, the wiki has the information there which should be useful.

In addition, this part of the tutorial video provides visual aid on how to do the combo and the problems that can arise.

[Airk]

It'd be easier to give useful answers to this question if you told us WHERE in the combo you were having trouble, but here are the usual trouble spots:

#1) IAD doesn't come out - assuming you're doing even vaguely the right motion, the problem here is that you're inputting it too soon. The cancel window on 2CC is actually fairly late, and if you find yourself getting jumps instead of IADs, try delaying a little.

#2) j.C whiffs - you probably hit them too low in the air with 2CC

#3) j.CC whiffs - you probably hit them too high in the air with 2CC

#4) They tech before you can land 5C - either you did j.CC too early, or you are inadvertantly delaying 5C; I have the latter problem sometimes, because I get a sort of rhythm to my button presses to get the delay between 2CC > j.C > j.CC right, but if you try to use that same slow pace for 5C, it'll whiff as they tech. You need to do 5C the instant you hit the ground, more or less.

[Airk]

I'm trying to work on the 6CC > 214214D > 623D > j.236D > j.214D > Stuff punish combo, because it does a gruesome amount of frontloaded damage even if I screw up later on in the combo, and being able to get a huge payoff when I successfully bait a DP or something is really nice, but I'm running into a weird problem where sometimes after the 623D, the orb from j.236D just hits them before j.214D comes out, and this messes up the combo something fierce. Is this me doing something too late? Too early? Does this combo just flake out on certain characters? (Never managed to get it on Tager.)

Advice?

[abadlime]

Pretty sure for certain characters it might hit before the j.214D if you get them airborne. I think it happens with Tager and Relius. I haven't problems with anyone else. Just hit the 214214D after 6C.

[Airk]

Pretty sure for certain characters it might hit before the j.214D if you get them airborne. I think it happens with Tager and Relius. I haven't problems with anyone else. Just hit the 214214D after 6C.

Hah, Relius was the character I was trying on right before I posted and I was thinking "What am I doing wrong here?"

So I can just skip 6CC on those two? That'll help. Thanks!

[abadlime]

You can do 6C, just the second C has to be skipped to prevent them being airborne since it puts them high enough to get hit by the orb.

EDIT: It seems i may issues with Arakune as well so maybe i'm inputting too slow or him too.

[Airk]

You can do 6C, just the second C has to be skipped to prevent them being airborne since it puts them high enough to get hit by the orb.

EDIT: It seems i may issues with Arakune as well so maybe i'm inputting too slow or him too.

Right; That's sortof what I was trying to say, it just wasn't clear because I probably used the wrong notation for "Do 6C, but don't do the followup".

And yeah, I think I actually tried on Arakune and had this problem on him too, so he's probably another fringe case. I've been training with random different characters lately. I get tired of Hazama/Ragna.

[pktazn]

I think it's because of their hitbox that they get hit by the orb before j.214D can come out. Tager is obvious but Relius and Arakune are probably just big enough.

[Airk]

I think it's because of their hitbox that they get hit by the orb before j.214D can come out. Tager is obvious but Relius and Arakune are probably just big enough.

Seems entirely likely. Well, Relius isn't a big deal anyway, because I can't imagine what he could do that I could punish with a raw 6C (unless I'm super awesome and IB a gear super or something) but Tager and Arakune both have a couple of things that I might be able to punish with this, so I'll just have to try to remember not to mash C. x.x >doomed<