Axl v. Eddie

[Digital Watches]

Eddie

General Strategy:

This matchup can be very intense, and is basically a contest to see who can get the first hit in, as neither character can really get out of pressure very well, and both die from 1-2 combos from the other. So obviously practice your blocking, but most importantly, get rid of little eddie and RUSH THAT SHIT DOWN.

Defensive tactics:

Surviving Eddie rushdown is pretty much the same for most characters: Block extremely fucking well, and try to predict and get out of unblockables as best you can. So the only comment I'll make on that is that Axl has the unusual property of having an extremely narrow standing hitbox. While this probably won't net you a free escape from a blockstring, it has saved my life a few times when I guessed wrong against 5K (One of Eddie's main low options in his stupid endless blockstrings). Basically, to make 5K not combo into 5S, you should try to FD probably one move per string that'll push you back, then IB Mawaru's backhit as often as possible. This sounds (and is) hard, but if you can get the timing down, it can get you a few lucky breaks. You should still generally follow the block low, wait for overhead rule, though, since Eddie's fast overhead, 6K, is still 18F startup, which is well within the realm of "seeable." Watch out for tickthrows too! To get rid of little eddie, I tend to try to zone and fish with j.S, 2P, and occasionally rensen (Of course go for AA stuff if he jumps). Anti-air can be a little hard against Eddie, but not too hard. 2K will go under basically anything he can do, 6P is a good way to beat out j.K trickery, and you can do the standard long range stuff as long as you make sure to keep track of where he's flying. Housoubako and Benten (light) are semi-viable options to get rid of little eddie up close, just expect to get hit by a naked Eddie combo afterwards.

Arr Tea Es Dee!

Eddie suffers from the same problem Axl does: A lack of fast normals and invincible moves. While he does technically have a 5F normal in 2P, it's pretty weak in terms of hitbox and active frames, and 2K will even duck it! So here's your chance to pull out all the stops. Almost any frametrap that Axl can do will work on Eddie, as well some of the more longshot blockstrings (5K, 5H, 2D, Rensen comes to mind). Try to build guardbar if you can (Any jumping normal besides P builds 10, with 10 per hit on j.S, hardslashes build a ton, two-hit pokes build a ton, 5P fuzzy-guards, so don't worry if he tries to duck the second hit, and Kokuugeki FRC stuff builds a ton), mix him up with high-low-throw-crossup-unblockable-feint stuff, and just generally stay on him like alcohol on Mr. Mamation. With Eddie's terrible defense, guts, and a little guardbar, you can completely rape his lifebar like he rapes yours and everyone else's!

6H is an unusually good tool against Eddie, for use as a meaty, guardbar builder, and general overhead. It goes over several of Eddie's key pokes, and is difficult to beat on reaction for a character with nothing fast or invincible enough to really do so.

Pros:

-Extremely good AA can decently neutralize Eddie's powerful air game.

-A few nonsense hitboxes work to Axl's advantage (2K goes under a ton of shit, Dizzy animation can't be IK'd, narrow standing hitbox makes 5K-->5S not combo, Standard command grab-->Puddle combo doesn't work, etc.)

-Once he gets momentum, Axl can make it very difficult for Eddie to get out of lockdown.

-Axl has the damage/guardbar output to kill Eddie very quickly.

-Getting rid of little eddie is slightly easier with tools like long range pokes and 2F startup on Housoubako.

Cons:

-lol unblockables

-lol full stun combos

-lol Mawaru blockstrings

-lol tick-commandgrab

-Basically all the reasons Eddie is good apply to Axl (with the possible exception of air-to-ground superiority)

My opinion:

4.5-5.5, Slight advantage for Eddie. This matchup can go either way very quickly and easily, and it's certainly not Eddie's easiest or Axl's worst, however, the advantage is probably still his, for all the same reasons he rapes so many other characters.

Contributors:

Digital Watches, Teyah

So... feel free to discuss anything else about this matchup here. If something I or someone else here comes up with seems noteworthy enough, I'll add it to this first post.

[What?]

Any advice against Eddie? I played against my first real Eddie yesterday, and I had absolutely no clue what to do at all, aside from die.

[Digital Watches]

From the Eddies I've played, I'd give the following advice: First off, never let him have an eddie if you have any choice in the matter. This may sound hard, but there are two ways to do it: 1. Keep the fuck on him. Keep the offensive initiative and NEVER let your pressure game get reversed. This is really hard, but Eddie has a similar problem to Axl in that he has a tough time dealing with rushdown. Use that to your advantage. 2. If you're feeling even ballsier, you can try to zone Eddie out. Keep in mind that this requires a lot of prediction and/or reaction time. Whenever I try it, I always end up doing it differently than against other characters. Usually, I try to keep pressure from far away using pokes and such. Against Eddie, your long range has to be completely defensive. If he comes towards you or summons an eddie, you have to predict or react as fast as possible in order to kill the eddie. Basically, you want to avoid having to block. If you ARE forced to block, there are some ways out, but it's not guarunteed by any means. It all depends on how the eddie is approaching it. My favorite approach is to try to instant block the back-eddie and a few normals, then throw when I'm free. I then lead into a combo into knockdown to get the momentum back in my favor. The only problem is that Eddie can easily avoid this by throwing his 236S (Projectile reflector) into his strings. This move is unthrowable, and a good eddie can fuck you up in your throw attempts, getting a free hit into combo into round over. If your opponent is smart enough to do that, you have to fall back to the more universal anti-eddie tactics. These include IB/Faultless alternations, wherein you IB the eddie and faultless Eddie's normals, forcing him to close the distance. This tactic has been rendered far less effective than it once was, due to the back-pulling eddie summon. Another option is to DAA. This can be a good way to get rid of the eddie, but it will often still leave you at a disadvantage, as all the Eddie player has to do is block (It's got over 20 frames of startup) and punish you. I've found that the most effective solution is to IB and mix up with reversals or pokes out of block. And by pokes, I mean 5K, f.S, and occasionally 2K. With those, housoubako, both bentens, and both raeisagekis, you have a good pool of options, but it still requires you to play a guessing game. Will you need low invincibility or high? Do you have enough time to fly up? Would Raeisageki (S) get you farther away, or just get you counterhit? (It helps to JI+FRC this, as it allows you to cover more distance getting away). Will housoubako hit the eddie or will it hit Eddie? You can even use IB+Tenhouseki, but this is very risky, as it's a free counterhit unless you guess exactly right, and it won't activate if hit by the little eddie. Lastly, this situation is the only place in normal, practical gameplay that I would advise actually using a super. If you IB+Super, it gives you a lot of invulnerability from frame 1, and it will guaruntee you that little eddie will die if he's on you. That being said, if you must use this, keep in mind that all normal risks of using the super apply. Try this only when you know that the eddie is done with its attack and that you'll be pitting the super against an attack from big Eddie. Also of note: Eddie's j.K and j.D are big problems, as 2S won't always beat them from close in. This is a good time to use 6P or high tenhouseki when on the ground, and in air-to-air, I've occasionally had Axl's j.K beat Eddie's. (Don't rely on that, though) Like any other character, to play against Eddie, you have to be able to block well, and it's not something you can really learn without playing one.

[Teyah]

The Eddie/Axl matchup isn't a steamroller like some of Eddie's other matchups. A big part of this is that Eddie cannot summon the shadow from neutral. A neutral summon can be killed off by a far-ranged Axl j.S or Rensen at very low risk. 2H is also viable, but Rensen serves the same function and is less susceptible to IAD. For prediction, using 2P/5P/2H to anticipate a summon can work well enough.

- j.S can sometimes even hit the shadow before it hits Eddie, and the j.S does not have a hitbox at its end so the threat of CH Nobiru -> death is nullified. It also keeps Axl safe from Far Drill knockdown as j.S will probably hit Eddie during its startup, though if Axl does eat the drill he can air recover since he would still be airborne.

- Rensen's 3 hits can take care of the shadow while putting Eddie in blockstun to keep Axl safe. Eddie also can't really punish this too well; Far Drill isn't available as he is in blockstun (or getting hit), and an IAD can get stuffed by Rensen followups or Rensen FRC -> 2S -> big combo.

Some other things that help Axl in this matchup are his 6H going over Eddie's best pokes (2P, 2K, 2S, drills), as well as the occasional wakeup flame super to save Axl from Mawaru rushdown (you can even do this in-between hits of Mawaru).

From the Eddies I've played, I'd give the following advice:

First off, never let him have an eddie if you have any choice in the matter.

This may sound hard, but there are two ways to do it:

1. Keep the fuck on him. Keep the offensive initiative and NEVER let your pressure game get reversed. This is really hard, but Eddie has a similar problem to Axl in that he has a tough time dealing with rushdown. Use that to your advantage.

2. If you're feeling even ballsier, you can try to zone Eddie out. Keep in mind that this requires a lot of prediction and/or reaction time. Whenever I try it, I always end up doing it differently than against other characters. Usually, I try to keep pressure from far away using pokes and such. Against Eddie, your long range has to be completely defensive. If he comes towards you or summons an eddie, you have to predict or react as fast as possible in order to kill the eddie.

I would agree on #2, but doing #1 can lead to you getting killed. Rushing Eddie might seem like a good idea, until you get hit by a random 2P-2D into 80% of your life via triple unblockable. Or at the very least, a Mawaru mixup series. And if you block that 2P, it's a free, in-close summon for Eddie which puts Axl at risk of having to block/escape the shadow correctly.

So yeah, intentionally getting close to Eddie is not worth the risk from what I've seen in this matchup. Keeping Eddie out of your face and in a position where he cannot summon is the way to go, and Axl actually does have to tools to do this.

[Shoto]

random stuff since I lack time (and am tired :P).. hope it adds to the discussion.

btw.: nice to see we have input from an Eddie player on that topic^^.

- Eddie cant block while flying, making him vulnerable for all of your anti air attacks. DW is right if he says that 2S need some distance / time to work but usually you should have this (it should at least trade). J.6P should help as well air to air.

- Destroying little Eddie on range with Axls 2hit moves is quite easy, as Teyah already mentioned^^ . So don’t expect to see little Eddie outside of rushes that much^^.

- Axl 5K snuffs Eddies 2S if he does it at max range (yes that means you will do the 5K in a distance where it usually would not whiff) and you can go on with the gatling into 2H to even follow up the CH with a little combo..

- Axls 5P is faster than eddies drills; so if you mash them he will always eat a CH if he trys to do them.. If your in place for a short range drill you may even go for a 6H if you anticipate it; from there you will get a CH and a free combo (so this won’t happen if the Eddie players knows the matchup).. of course that doesn't count for FB Drills (be carefull with them as well if you try to poke at Eddie with j.S [what should go over normal drills [or hit Eddie and thus end the drill] if the spacing is correct, as Teyah already mentioned]). Btw.: If done right you should get the same effect with a low j.6P (even that I'm not a too great fan of that tactic it seems to be okay against charas with a high standing hitbox).

- I don’t see the problems with Axls DAA that DW sees. If done during his little Eddie rush he just won’t be able to block it as he has to command “two characters” and he can’t really do that while holding back.. the only chance for him is to end attacking, what would be have the same affect as the DAA. Even if it gets blocked you should have enough time to break free (DAA gives +2). Only if you do it against his 6P you will get a clash an are likely to loose to the second hit (or if he ducks it, but I guess the only move that does that is his 2P).

- For the rushdown I say it is the same as in many other matches. Go in close range if you have the clear advantage, but don’t push it. Rushing him is of course a bit easier as he has no reversal except his OD. His 2S beats your S(f), so if you expect him to try to break free with that move use 5K.

- If Eddie has no Eddie meter (like after you destroyed the symbiont), there is really nothing he can do to pressure you. So this is the time where you should go hunting and play a bit more agressive (just be a bit carefull with is 6P, that works quite well against all Jump Ins that Axl has to offer, even a j.S if he does it low (= in a way that he can start pressure / can comb from it).

- I’m a bit sceptical with the IB super or counter stuff that DW posted. Even with the IB the gap is still very small and you have to IB, then go for the input. Inputting a 623P after an IB is nothing I think that can be done reliable, the same counts for the much more complex OD input. If you manage to IB certain key moves in his rush you can either backdash or 1frame jump.. and I’m still not sure where you had to IB his rush to be able to throw him. Btw.: Eddie has only one low hitting move that allows him to do something from, his 5K. So your 623S gets much more valuable as reversal in this matchup. So I’m not quite sure in which case I should go for 623H (which despite the lower body inv. is still damn slow)

- This is not Axl specific (and quite basic), but Eddies rush has two key mixups. His 5K and his 6K. So keep blocking low and only stand up for 6K (try to ignore 5K as well, just concentrate on 6K and throw attempts). Should he fly up, well yeah block high as well till he lands again, but I personally find that even easier to block than the 6K (which still isn’t that hard to spot). After 2 reps of this game it’s his last chance to go for the unblockable (of course he can do it earlier, but since he may want to hit you with his normal mixup or at least raise your guard gauge so that the UB will do more damage he is likely to go for the mixup first, except you have shown immensely good ad dealing with that stuff :P), so chances are good he will, if he has the tension. Shouldn’t he have 25% tension he is likely to go for a throw, keep that in mind. There is a discussion on breaking free from unblockable setups in the Chipp forums: (http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1316&page=24). Have a look at it.

[Mitsurugi]

Not an Axl player here but :

- Eddie cant block while flying, making him vulnerable for all of your anti air attacks.

He can't block while flying but he can FD. Anyway as far as anti-air are concerned, whether he can block or not is almost useless to know because he should FD anyway since every ground normal must be FD when blocking airborne. Except if you plan a aerial AA such as j.6P.

The few good ED players I met were all ready to FD on reaction/not flying headlong, knowing they are "vulnerable".

Keep up the good work guys !

[Shoto]

Hm.. good to know.. never relized that til now .. so it's the same for him against Axl as for all the others as you have to FD Axls long range anti air stuff anyway.. Well then I just say he's quite slow / predictiable in his movement while flying and thus an easier target in many situations^^ .. or something like that..

[Teyah]

Axl's worst positioning: Right above him.

Wish I had read this earlier. And not posted so much earlier.

What DW said about rushing Eddie can actually work, as I discovered last weekend when he made the trip up here. I couldn't find a great answer to Axl's 6H in close - it goes over all of Eddie's best pokes. Eddie's other pokes such as 6P, 5P, 5S, are either too slow to fill the gap between blocked attack -> 6H, or they lead to nothing useful if they hit (ie. no knockdown), which leaves risk/reward on Axl's side. If that 6H hits, or one of the following hits connect, that's a high damage Bomber Loop you'll be eating, into a corner knockdown.

Other annoying things I found were the low and back hitbox on Axl's 2K - even Eddie's 2P had trouble hitting that move - and frame advantage off of seemingly everything, in-close. Stuff like 5P(2) and TK Downbomber, which one wouldn't otherwise expect to give advantage...

[Kobayashi]

Teyah: Dealing with 6H, block it. If the 6H doesn't hit with Axl's arm downward (extra meaty), you can probably poke him before he can poke you. Guaranteed when you IB the 6H.

[Teyah]

Yeah. Though, I found that oftentimes the 6H wouldn't hit on its first active frame, meaning that it gives extra frame advantage. Coupled with the fact that Axl has quite a few ways to avoid Eddie's poke of choice (2P) at neutral, poking out doesn't always work out so well. For instance, 5K and 2K both move Axl's hitbox out of range of Eddie's fast pokes, and you likely get CH. But IB would definitely help, I agree.

[Digital Watches]

Kobayashi, what you say is true, but there are a lot of ways to make 6H hit meaty (or just space it to be safe), and Eddie's crouching hitbox is low enough that if it hits him there at all, it'll give you a combo. Though I actually wonder whether 6H or 5H was giving Teyah a harder time, since 5H seems to be a lot more safe. Either way, I'd assert that the way this matchup plays out is mostly due to both characters being terrible at up-close defense, having no viable reversals, and both can take down about 80%+ life in one combo with a little guardbar. Most of the time I was playing Teyah, one mistake meant the round for either of us, so you really have to be cautious about getting hit solidly, but more importantly, force Eddie into a corner (both literally and figuratively.). Neutralize little eddie, and force an opportunity to get that round-deciding bomber loop. One good specific thing I noticed is that during typical eddie blockstrings, Teyah often had a hard time landing anything on me after a 5K, which could either be his mistake, or more likely (Given how often it happened), due to Axl's standing hitbox being very narrow. That doesn't mean don't block low, but it's a good thing to know. Also: I was able to block a lot of unblockables, usually by a quick switch from 4 to 1 (or vice versa) or by blocking low (in the case of the pool unblockable). It could be, again, due to messed up unblockable, but I imagine that strictly perfect timing on that is very hard, so you could probably get away with blocking it often.

[magus1234]

If he's getting really obvious with the 6H just Slashback it, otherwise just defend it to be at equal most of the time. BTW 2HS is quickly becoming my favorite poke.

[Teyah]

I actually was trying to SB that 6H most of the night, but apparently my SB timing is absolutely terrible... DW: It was the 5H -> 6H/Rashousen/fake Rashousen that was tripping me up, I think. As I talked about above, Eddie can't really poke out with anything meaningful and IB doesn't help much in that regard either. There are likely much better solutions for Eddie than what's been discussed, but due to my inexperience in this matchup I've yet to find them. About 5K- that's strange, I actually don't recall having much trouble with 5K -> unblockable stuff that night. Except in a few cases where I went for fly mixup: If I would do a j.K and then go low, I would have to do 5K-2S (due to Axl's narrow hitbox as you mentioned), which leaves little time to get the next 2P in to connect with the rest of the series. The thing with the puddle un-unblockables was me trying to be fancy sometimes and using fly + j.H, which I didn't have the timing/spacing down for. Later on I switched back to just regular j.S, which worked fine enough. Anyhow, matches were played well enough for the most part by both of us. I'll see what I can do about getting some of those vids up sometime when I'm not too busy with school.

[Digital Watches]

I actually was trying to SB that 6H most of the night, but apparently my SB timing is absolutely terrible...

DW: It was the 5H -> 6H/Rashousen/fake Rashousen that was tripping me up, I think. As I talked about above, Eddie can't really poke out with anything meaningful and IB doesn't help much in that regard either. There are likely much better solutions for Eddie than what's been discussed, but due to my inexperience in this matchup I've yet to find them.

Well, I don't know much about your timing, but since you don't have VV, and 5H is level five and gatlings into it, I can vary the 6H's timing a hell of a lot with almost no risk, especially since it'll catch a jump attempt for a huge combo, and go over low pokes. Needless to say, I vary it quite a bit, so it would be difficult to learn to SB it consistently. Keep in mind that I can also gatling into sweep from that, so it's a high-low-unblockable-fake unblockable-Crossup (Raeisageki, though I used that less against you than I should have)-rensen (more blockstun and possibly a tickthrow) ambiguous situation with you in a ton of blockstun, probably one of the worst situations Axl can create for a defensively weak character like Eddie. (Another bad one is low TK Bomber).

About 5K- that's strange, I actually don't recall having much trouble with 5K -> unblockable stuff that night. Except in a few cases where I went for fly mixup: If I would do a j.K and then go low, I would have to do 5K-2S (due to Axl's narrow hitbox as you mentioned), which leaves little time to get the next 2P in to connect with the rest of the series.

Yeah, maybe I was just seeing things. I dunno, I thought I got hit by a lot of 5Ks during blockstrings and was able to block the next thing no problem. Maybe it was my imagination.

The thing with the puddle un-unblockables was me trying to be fancy sometimes and using fly + j.H, which I didn't have the timing/spacing down for. Later on I switched back to just regular j.S, which worked fine enough.

Yeah, I noticed you got better at those, but was hesitant to say it was the setup, since I don't know a ton about Eddie as far as individual moves go.

Anyhow, matches were played well enough for the most part by both of us. I'll see what I can do about getting some of those vids up sometime when I'm not too busy with school.

Yeah, definitely some good shit on your end, looking forward to seeing those matches, however sleep-deprived they may have been.

[Shoto]

@ Teyah A (fake) rashousen after a blocked 6H? Or did you mean the two things that you had problems with were 6H and the rashousen feint? For 6H.. if done during a rush (especially after 5H) just block it. If you screw up you’ll get a CH which means big damage. Nevertheless even if you block wrong only the 6H will hit and you can still block whatever follows (yes there is a spacing where you can combo on Eddie from a normal hit but I only get that if I do it meaty or standalone and end up near max range of 5K,2D; if one of you guys knows good setups for the proper spacing please share this wisdom^^). Some methods to counter 6H or to escape after it: - Block it, then backdash immediately . Axl won’t be able to follow up with his usual 5K / 2K stuff (nevertheless he could work against it with 2H if he expects it). - If your opponent gets repetitive with this move, yeah SB is an option (kara SB is even better), but I guess one should practice this a bit in training before going for it in a real match (nevertheless the only really safe place to SB a 6H is after a 2H as there Axl has no low hitting mixup left) - IB. If he doesn’t do it from far away (= a distance where 5K, 2D will whiff if done afterwards) you can IB and throw. - Should he do it from far away and can only go on with S©, Eddis 2S will win against the S©. Nevertheless if the Axl Player expects this he can counter with a 5K which will get him a limp CH into 2H, 6H. - I don’t know it this can be done if the 6H comes after a 5H but after a S© or if done from some distance (in that case it should work as well if the 6H comes after a 5H) you can jump, air block (no FD needed as Axl is airborne doing 6H), land, recover before Axl, throw. Vids would be great, since just lately I had finally the chance to get lots of Eddie experience and would love to see how other Axls deal with this matchup^^.

[Digital Watches]

@ Teyah

A (fake) rashousen after a blocked 6H? Or did you mean the two things that you had problems with were 6H and the rashousen feint?

I think he's referring to the situation after the blocked 5H, where he was having a hard time telling if a 6H or rashousen would follow.

For 6H.. if done during a rush (especially after 5H) just block it. If you screw up you’ll get a CH which means big damage. Nevertheless even if you block wrong only the 6H will hit and you can still block whatever follows (yes there is a spacing where you can combo on Eddie from a normal hit but I only get that if I do it meaty or standalone near max range; if one of you guys knows good setups for the proper spacing please share this wisdom^^).

It's weird, I seem to be able to get it off on crouching eddie nearly every time. I'll look into it.

- IB. If he doesn’t do it from far away (= a distance where 5K, 2D will whiff if done afterwards) you can IB and throw.

This is true, but I would note that there are fuzzy guard setups that make the 6H hit "meaty," as well as weird character hitboxes that just do it without any special effort.

[Shoto]

It's weird, I seem to be able to get it off on crouching eddie nearly every time. I'll look into it.

Me too^^ maybe I just lack practice..

[Teyah]

If Eddie is doing 2P, 2K, or 2S when Axl does a 6H, he will be hit crouching. Not saying that Eddie should do this often, but if you manage to connect in close on any of these it can be devastating for Axl. Same goes for his 6H, really. Also, I don't ever recall seeing DW fail a post-6H combo when I got hit crouching by Axl's 6H.

[Digital Watches]

Incorrect. Like I mentioned before, the 6H has to connect when Axl's arm is downward for it to mean anything--on block, or on hit. CH 6H during any part of its active frames, including the first frame, will combo into 5K even when the opponent is standing. However, on normal hit, you won't always hit 6H on crouching opponent the right way. Again, if Axl's arm is not downwards when you hit them with 6H, they can block or even reversal out before your 5K connects.

Anyway, this topic is moot because no one should be crouching when Axl does 6H.

Um... dude? What I'm saying is that Eddie's crouching hitbox is so short that it will always hit low enough to combo. Tested and proven. And what are you talking about? Are you saying that no one gets hit by overheads? On the contrary. If someone EVER gets hit by 6H, they're more likely to be crouching than not.

If Eddie is doing 2P, 2K, or 2S when Axl does a 6H, he will be hit crouching. Not saying that Eddie should do this often, but if you manage to connect in close on any of these it can be devastating for Axl. Same goes for his 6H, really.

Also, I don't ever recall seeing DW fail a post-6H combo when I got hit crouching by Axl's 6H.

Yeah. Eddie's crouching hitbox is super-short, so even when Eddie is neutral crouching, the 6H will hit meaty enough to combo afterwards.

[Kobayashi]

Match start position, 6H, without forward momentum, Eddie crouching, normal hit. 5K does not combo from 6H without RC. I'm also doing this on 1P side. Maybe it's different in 2P side? Although I thought they fixed that issue in the NA release.

[Digital Watches]

Match start position, 6H, without forward momentum, Eddie crouching, normal hit. 5K does not combo from 6H without RC. I'm also doing this on 1P side. Maybe it's different in 2P side? Although I thought they fixed that issue in the NA release.

No wait, you're right.

So it doesn't work from match starting position, but one character width closer will work.

Not quite as good as I thought, but still useful, since you'd need to be that close for a blockstring anyway.

[Digital Watches]

Eddie

General Strategy:

This matchup can be very intense, and is basically a contest to see who can get the first hit in, as neither character can really get out of pressure very well, and both die from 1-2 combos from the other. So obviously practice your blocking, but most importantly, get rid of little eddie and RUSH THAT SHIT DOWN.

Defensive tactics:

Surviving Eddie rushdown is pretty much the same for most characters: Block extremely fucking well, and try to predict and get out of unblockables as best you can. So the only comment I'll make on that is that Axl has the unusual property of having an extremely narrow standing hitbox. While this probably won't net you a free escape from a blockstring, it has saved my life a few times when I guessed wrong against 5K (One of Eddie's main low options in his stupid endless blockstrings). Basically, to make 5K not combo into 5S, you should try to FD probably one move per string that'll push you back, then IB Mawaru's backhit as often as possible. This sounds (and is) hard, but if you can get the timing down, it can get you a few lucky breaks. You should still generally follow the block low, wait for overhead rule, though, since Eddie's fast overhead, 6K, is still 18F startup, which is well within the realm of "seeable." Watch out for tickthrows too! To get rid of little eddie, I tend to try to zone and fish with j.S, 2P, and occasionally rensen (Of course go for AA stuff if he jumps). Anti-air can be a little hard against Eddie, but not too hard. 2K will go under basically anything he can do, 6P is a good way to beat out j.K trickery, and you can do the standard long range stuff as long as you make sure to keep track of where he's flying. Housoubako and Benten (light) are semi-viable options to get rid of little eddie up close, just expect to get hit by a naked Eddie combo afterwards.

Arr Tea Es Dee!

Eddie suffers from the same problem Axl does: A lack of fast normals and invincible moves. While he does technically have a 5F normal in 2P, it's pretty weak in terms of hitbox and active frames, and 2K will even duck it! So here's your chance to pull out all the stops. Almost any frametrap that Axl can do will work on Eddie, as well some of the more longshot blockstrings (5K, 5H, 2D, Rensen comes to mind). Try to build guardbar if you can (Any jumping normal besides P builds 10, with 10 per hit on j.S, hardslashes build a ton, two-hit pokes build a ton, 5P fuzzy-guards, so don't worry if he tries to duck the second hit, and Kokuugeki FRC stuff builds a ton), mix him up with high-low-throw-crossup-unblockable-feint stuff, and just generally stay on him like alcohol on Mr. Mamation. With Eddie's terrible defense, guts, and a little guardbar, you can completely rape his lifebar like he rapes yours and everyone else's!

6H is an unusually good tool against Eddie, for use as a meaty, guardbar builder, and general overhead. It goes over several of Eddie's key pokes, and is difficult to beat on reaction for a character with nothing fast or invincible enough to really do so.

Pros:

-Extremely good AA can decently neutralize Eddie's powerful air game.

-A few nonsense hitboxes work to Axl's advantage (2K goes under a ton of shit, Dizzy animation can't be IK'd, narrow standing hitbox makes 5K-->5S not combo, etc.)

-Once he gets momentum, Axl can make it very difficult for Eddie to get out of lockdown.

-Axl has the damage/guardbar output to kill Eddie very quickly.

-Getting rid of little eddie is slightly easier with tools like long range pokes and 2F startup on Housoubako.

Cons:

-lol unblockables

-lol full stun combos

-lol Mawaru blockstrings

-lol tick-commandgrab

-Basically all the reasons Eddie is good apply to Axl (with the possible exception of air-to-ground superiority)

My opinion:

4.5-5.5, Slight advantage for Eddie. This matchup can go either way very quickly and easily, and it's certainly not Eddie's easiest or Axl's worst, however, the advantage is probably still his, for all the same reasons he rapes so many other characters.

Special thanks:

Teyah for reminding me about 6H

So... feel free to discuss anything else about this matchup here. If something I or someone else here comes up with seems noteworthy enough, I'll add it to this first post.

[Teyah]

Good review overall. Maybe add info about the neutral / far-screen game? It's also important to note that 6H goes over Eddie's best ground pokes, those being 2P, 2S, and drills. It also flat out beats 5P at medium range. 6H also builds a ton of guard guage for you in the meantime, and leaves you about even and in close, where your 5K and 2K can avoid Eddie's close-range pokes (2P/5P/5Sf) quite easily. Eddie can't reactionary 6P an Axl 6H, because it hits deep enough to go through the upperbody invul. It's also very difficult to react and beat a 6H with a mid-range poke such as Eddie 5P or 5Sf, since those pokes are both sort of slow at 6F of startup. That means you have to react in 16F or less to the 6H if you want to beat it out, which is very difficult and not worth the risk. This leaves Eddie with only random early 2H or 5Sf to punish this move, which are both easily baitable by doing anything else. Oh, you also forgot to mention that Axl cannot be IKed out of his dizzy animation. That's a big plus.

[Digital Watches]

Good review overall. Maybe add info about the neutral / far-screen game?

It's also important to note that 6H goes over Eddie's best ground pokes, those being 2P, 2S, and drills. It also flat out beats 5P at medium range. 6H also builds a ton of guard guage for you in the meantime, and leaves you about even and in close, where your 5K and 2K can avoid Eddie's close-range pokes (2P/5P/5Sf) quite easily.

Eddie can't reactionary 6P an Axl 6H, because it hits deep enough to go through the upperbody invul. It's also very difficult to react and beat a 6H with a mid-range poke such as Eddie 5P or 5Sf, since those pokes are both sort of slow at 6F of startup. That means you have to react in 16F or less to the 6H if you want to beat it out, which is very difficult and not worth the risk. This leaves Eddie with only random early 2H or 5Sf to punish this move, which are both easily baitable by doing anything else.

I knew there was SOME crazy magical tool I was forgetting. 6H also can hit a neutral crouching Eddie and link into 5K for a combo, so definitely some good stuff to mention, thanks!

Oh, you also forgot to mention that Axl cannot be IKed out of his dizzy animation. That's a big plus.

Yeah I did! It's in the "Pros" section.

[Teyah]

Oh there it is. One more nonsense hitbox problem you can add is the basic Eddie command grab -> puddle combo not working in the corner against Axl. You have to do it like a #R-style mine unblockable, otherwise Axl gets OTGed immediately by the puddle because of his spread eagle air hitbox. As with any Eddie j.S + something UB there is always a slight chance for error on Eddie's side, and Axl's chances of escape are better since he can wakeup super through the UB attempt. Though Eddie will usually land and block in time, it's better than getting dizzied and killed.