[+R] Johnny vs Baiken

[4r5]

[qwerty]

Hi. I play Johnny, but I fight a lot of Baiken players.

I think Baiken struggles pretty bad against Johnny now. I might go as far as to say 6-4 for Johnny.

In AC, the match was basically even; Johnny had the advantage of range and the ability to bait counters with good spacing, and Baiken had the advantage of reducing Johnny to one move blockstrings.

In +R, however, I feel that the scales have tipped pretty heavily in Johnny's favor. The reasons for this being:

- Faster Mist Cancels: Makes baiting counters that much easier.

- Faster Forward Dash: Makes throwing you that much easier.

- Upcoin: You already had to worry about anti-air coin any time you jumped against Johnny, now you have to worry about another coin arc that beats some otherwise convenient jump-in arcs.

- Mid Mist Finer: This really seals the deal. It's a poke, it's an anti-air, it's a way to beat counters, and now it scores knockdown. Just because Johnny didn't immediately Mist Cancel that 5H you just blocked doesn't mean you should feel free to Sakura him for it; you may just eat a Mist Finer to the face.

This is and always has been a very spacing specific matchup, so if I were a Baiken player I'd figure out ways to avoid getting hit by Mid MF at every range you can think of (at neutral as well as in blockstrings). This is easier said than done to be sure, since we're talking about a move that hits slightly further than Johnny's f.S and doesn't extend his hurtbox.

Figured I'd share my thoughts since I know how scarce discussion like this is lately, and I have a good amount of experience fighting this character now so I feel somewhat qualified to comment.

I really do think this matchup is awful for Baiken, but you have to watch out, as well. You don't wanna get caught pressing buttons at neutral, because razorcrane is no joke now. You also don't want to be recklessly jumping in, because that new alpha counter beats jump-ins without committing to a typical anti-air. The only way to beat it is to immediately cancel into KJ FRC, but it's not a free punish by any means.

In short, this is a Street Fighter matchup. You're gonna be walking back and forth, and she's gonna be figuring out how she wants to approach you. It's up to you to stop her from getting in on you; and now that Mid Mist Finer is ridiculously strong, you can make her respect you at damn near full screen now. If she whiffs anything on the ground, you can punish it with Mid MF and get a chance to reposition yourself for oki. If that isn't the definition of 6-4, I don't know what is.