A.B.A vs. Justice

[Skeletal Minion]

"I like girls... But now, it's about Justice!"

My roommate Eshi mains Justice, so I've been getting a good bit of experience with the matchup. Figured I'd get the ball rolling on its thread.

Overview

The first thing you should know is that the matchup sucks. Justice is a very simple character, but her tools have anti-ABA written all over them. The matchup tends to go like this: either she keeps you out all day or she keeps you out until you get in, at which point you must go full ham and crush her. You NEED to capitalize on opportunities like this--if she's allowed to push you back out, any damage you dealt can be negated pretty easily by Justice, either by cranking up your guard gauge (which JU is surprisingly good at) and capitalizing, or by simply nickel-and-dining your tension, then health away via missiles. To make things worse, nearly any hit she connects can be confirmed into Michael Sword, which sends you flying full screen for a knockdown. If/when this happens, you're back at square one, only now you have 1/3 less gauge.

Things you have to watch out for

f.S - The long multi-hit stab. Beats all your pokes in both modes (except 5K, which it sometimes trades poorly with). Annihilates non-FB Danzai and can easily punish either version. Can be cancelled into Michael Sword for full screen knockdown. Fast for its range, tough to punish. You can Slide under it, but depending on the timing, she might be able to throw you before you recover. Fuck this move.

6P - Tall karate chop. Two hits, both overhead, the first of which comes out in 10 frames, but will whiff crouching A.B.A. The second hit also comes out fairly fast and has decent range, so watch out. Cancels into Michael Blade for full screen knockdown. Oh, and it's her upper body invincible move, so it's godly anti-air.

j.K - Poseiden trident. Giant hitbox, fast, beats your air options clean. Cancels into air Michael Sword for full screen knockdown.

Missiles - A;LSKDJFLAJEJFGL. When Justice hits 22+button, a missile comes out. There are five different ones: knee level, head level, and differing high arcs. Each has 7f startup and the button can be held upon performing the move. The missiles will explode upon direct contact OR when the Justice releases the button. This makes missiles incredibly hard for A.B.A. to get around since triggering them via button release essentially means the Justice can choose when and where to make their hitboxes huge, which gives her an AMAZING space control game. It also can lead to deceitful situations where you might appear to have enough room to maneuver past it... until the Justice makes its hitbox 5x bigger. You can Slide under the low missiles, but not their explosions, so the option is moot. All missiles are three hits and she can have up to five on screen at once. You can't slashback the first hit and block the rest--I tested this by SB'ing the first and immediately blocking. You'll still get hit by the 2nd and 3rd hits, so if you're going to slashback a hit, you should SB the third only, but even that is difficult since each hit comes in rapid succession. If you block one up close, she can have another out quickly, and if you trade with an explosion, it will likely be unfavorable. Because of this, they're a legit poke when you're close. Missiles have an untechable time of 60f. If you jump and get tagged by a missile high up, you can land on other missiles on your way down, like a game of Plinko: Fuck You edition. She can also tack on Michael Sword if there's enough time before you land. If all that's not enough, all four missiles have an FRC just as the move goes active. The one saving grace is that they all immediately disappear when Justice is hit... unless the explosion is coming out, in which case you'll still unfavorably trade. I hate these and if you play A.B.A. you probably will too.

Michael Sword - Sword swipe special, can be performed in air. Big hitbox, can be used to directly control space. More likely, you'll see this confirmed into from random hits. Sends you flying full screen for huge untechable time and knockdown. Even if you're high up, if you get tagged with this, you probably won't be teching. The air version is even worse, since it's hitbox is MASSIVE (like, 2/3 of the screen) and she can perform additional air attacks even after whiffing it (probably j.K since why not?). The air S version also has an FRC point just as the swipe is coming out. The differences between S and HS versions are mostly negligible (S versions groundslide while HS versions wallbounces), since they both do the same thing: knock you out of the park.

Counter - Justice hangs her tail forward for a catch-counter. The startup isn't immediate (frame 9), but it's got a fat catch window (frames 9-28). Only catches mids/highs, so if she's abusing it, 2D > Rekka loop to deter them.

Lightning backflip - Foot invul on frame 1, meaning she can beat meaty 2Ks for free. Yeah, I know, what the fuck. Fortunately, the foot invul is only up close; if you need to tag her with a low, just do 2D since it's too long range for her to avoid.

FB Dash - Justice does a quick offensive dash. It's mostly used to get her out of the corner once she's pinned, but if your pressure is tight, she won't have the chance. It's got a little bit of invul in the middle, but it's nothing to worry about. If you ever see a Justice do the aerial version above you while you're in Moroha, snipe her with 2S for juicy CH damage.

Michael Blade - Sword swipe super. Invincible through frames 1-15, floats. This is Justice's reversal. It's good, so watch for it when she has meter on wakeup. If she doesn't have meter on wakeup, stick to her like glue--it might be your only chance to take the round.

Cyclops beam super - A beam fires from just above Justice's head and sweeps the screen. If she does this while you're jumping in, you're either losing all your tension, taking mad chip damage, or both. Haven't seen this as much so I otherwise can't comment.

Match Flow

The typical match flow goes as follows.

Opening:

She has - f.S, missile, backdash, tk Michael Sword, counter

You have - Slide, block, jump away

Right out the gate, you're in for some shit. The simple explanation of the meta here: Justice really has no reason to open with anything other than f.S, since it beats everything you do, is fast, and can be confirmed into Mike, giving JU a chance to open with some damage and full screen KD, giving her the perfect opportunity to start setting up missile spam. The only thing you can do that can address f.S as a opener is Slide, which will go under it and put you in a position to throw > dash > Keygrab, which is beuno for ABA. The timing on the throw seems a little iffy though--sometimes it seems like ABA can throw first, other times it seems like JU throwing ABA before Slide completes is guaranteed. However, JU has options that will obviously blow up Slide as an opener; early release missile being the easiest one, as it's still useful if you didn't slide and can possibly be confirmed into f.S > Mike for advantage. As for your other options, DO NOT backdash, her f.S is so active it will clip your recovery > Mike, and even if she doesn't confirm, f.S knocks down on low air hits. Jumping away is less risky, but still bad if you were slow enough to get clipped by f.S, since you don't have barrier to chicken block at the start of the round. The opening of each round is completely out of your favor--honestly it might be best to just start off blocking and take a wait-and-see approach.

Friendzoned:

So let's say you draw the short stick and get hit with whatever > Mike. You're now waking up fullscreen, she has time to set out some missiles, and if you're in Moroha you just lost a third of your gauge. Now what? In either mode, BE PATIENT. Thinking you're gonna be slick and IAD j.H that bitch a thing or two is going to lead to you getting hit with one or more missiles > Michael Sword. At the same time, you can't afford to be too patient. Missiles can really wreck guard gauge surprisingly quickly and faultlessing through multiple three hit missiles will chew through your tension. The best option is to actively try to get back in, but be smart about it. Don't mindlessly jump or IAD, really try to pay attention to the patterns the Justice player is using with the missiles. In which order do they typically do them? Do they try to blow them up a little early so you'll run directly into it, or do they blow them up before you reach them as roadblocks to corral your movement? You have to take tiny, seemingly insignificant gaps or irregularities and turn them into great gains. You must learn to run across a tightrope here.

Up Close and Anti-Personnel

After closing the gap, you're essentially no better off than when you started, since even a single mistake is going to lead to Michael Sword and a complete reset of your progress. I think Normal mode is perhaps slightly preferable, since 1. your options are equally shitty in Moroha mode, and 2. You have access to FB Slide. Regular Slide isn't so great since you can't low-profile explosions, but FB Slide does dat work. Use it, and you're in, period. FB Slide > Throw > dash > Keygrab > you're golden, or FB Slide > command throw Keygrab if you can. You also might be able to start an offense, albeit a mediocre one, by getting close but slightly out of throw range--Justice's normals are fast for their range, but less useful against faster attacks up close. In Moroha, you can try dash > FD Brake to defend against missiles, but beware of f.S and tk.Michael Sword. ABA's f.S definitely loses a lot of its normal utility here since JU's f.S destroys it, and your new 5H is nigh useless as a footsie tool in this matchup since it's just too slow. 2D is good to keep in mind since it has enough range and speed to compete, but is far from free. Don't airdash in either mode since you'll be wide open; if you need to jump, normal/double jump is recommended, FD'ing if you get within JU's normal range. Danzai is usually a bad idea due to f.S. Also, in either mode, beware of Justice's throw range, since it's better than yours.

IT'S TIME

This is that happy place where you got in, you're in Moroha, and Justice is knocked down. Before you get to dig in, you need to keep in mind how you transformed. If you pack'd beforehand or were already in Moroha before scoring the KD, look at your bar and make a mental note of how much you have to play around with. If you landed a strike Keygrab, beware of its recovery increase in +R. You'll have time to mount an offense, but not much, and you probably won't have time for more elaborate setups (j.S fuzzy or FB Bloodball unblockable). On the flipside, if you managed to land the command grab Keygrab, you can do pretty much whatever you want since its knockdown time was increased. Whatever the case, once you're on top of her, ANNIHILATE. Fuck up her guard gauge and roast that bitch. Moroha gauge running low? Burn 50% and a Bloodpack on a Goku Moroha frame trap to refresh your bar and become even scarier, or go for command Keygrab > Keygrab. Just watch out for Michael Blade, throw, counter, and DAA; she doesn't have much else (well, backdash, but if she gets into a habit of this, use 5H more in your pressure. Does a great job of scooping her).

Random wrap-up

Odds and ends of this matchup:

- Justice's hurtbox is fat and she's a middleweight. If you land a starter, she's essentially a combo dummy.

- Her health is a hair below average.

- Unfortunately, she's tied for highest guts in the game at 5 (with Anji and Baiken). Combined with the universal health buff, this means she soaks up damage really well starting below 50%. Taking out those last few percentages can be like pulling teeth.

- Justice has a Potemkin-esque backdash: slow and mad invincible, but with slighty more recovery on the end. Plan accordingly and murder her.

- Her ground and air throw ranges are quite large.

If I think of anything else later, I'll post up.

[Skeletal Minion]

Small update for a few additional findings:

- MM 6H is REALLY useful in this matchup. At max range it's surprisingly effective at beating missiles as they're being launched, and will sometimes even beat some of her better pokes (f.S!). Note that this is far from guaranteed, but hey, in this matchup, it's something.

- Goku Moroha mode, as with most (if not all) matchups in +R, shines here. Not only because it makes your normals and movement faster, making it easier to compete in the footsie game and/or capitalize on mistakes, but you can superjump > [airdash]x2 to gain a ton of ground quickly. You can pretty much go over missiles immediately and come down almost on top of her, but be wary on the way down since you still have to deal with anti-air missiles and her stellar anti-air game. If you land a hit, confirm into whatever corner carry you like > damage > setup. If she doesn't have 50% for Michael Blade or DAA once you've driven her into a corner, it's time to go Shounen Bat on her ass.

- A cute little gimmick/option select Justice can do is to Michael Blade FRC, then immediately throw. If you're baiting it, don't stand in her giant Potemkin-sized throw range! Stand slightly away so you can block and punish as usual.

- NM 5H is decent-ish in the footsie game now too since it knocks down on CH. Throw it out if you think you can trade with a f.S since it sets up a rare favorable situation for you, where you can cancel the 5H into Bloodpack and get on top of her.

- She can IK basically for free nearly any time you go into Suka motion ;_;

- 2nd Rekka can sometimes weirdly go under head-level missiles since it lowers ABA's hitbox juuuuuuust enough if timed correctly. It's tough to set up, but is worth keeping in mind.