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Grimsley-San

[Xrd] May vs. Axl

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Quick Reference:

Kon (MA) vs Nagi (AX):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lHyg8uG7v0&feature=youtu.be&t=00h16m20s

Azesuke (MA) vs Yosuke (AX):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CEF_AAbSV8&feature=youtu.be&t=00h06m02s 

Though it sounds incredible, what you want to do in this matchup is actually zone Axl! Well, sort of. What you're actually trying to do is establish enough space to safely call summons without being hit. With the summons out there, you can use them as shields to get closer to Axl and poke a bit more substantially. Ideally, you get in far enough following the bouncing ball/sea mammal to stage a successful mixup into combo into the life lead, which you then protect by playing even lamer than Axl. But if you don't, just take the tension you get and start carefully working your way back out (baiting Axl's pursuit attempts all the while) so that you can put up fresh summons and try again. You do NOT want to be a hero in this matchup because Axl is much harder to fight at mid-range than he is if you lame him out. If you play lame enough you can actually out-turtle Axl.

If he corners you, Blitz Shield is absolutely critical here. You can kinda get away without it in MOST other matchups, but not with Axl. He just has too few holes in his pressure/anti-air tech traps to just IB and wait for a big negative number to sneak/mash your way out. If you want out, you gotta Blitz.

Critical:

The absolute biggest things you need to drill on are as follows:
(1) Mash out of 2H stagger > block 6H
(2) Block 2H > Blitz Shield 6H

It sucks but 2H > 6H is the idiot-check, both for you and the Axl player. If you can consistently get out of this low-level trap, this matchup gets dramatically better/less dumb for you. If the Axl player is good, they'll start mixing it up in 2H situations, potentially giving you more gaps to react and escape. (Even if they can counter-Blitz when you Blitz their 6H, you can at least use the Blitz recoil to escape the pressure situation.) If the Axl player is bad/predictable, even better, just bide your time for a 6H, collect your free Blitz punish into (hopefully) life lead and coast from there.

If you mash well enough, you have enough frame advantage to backdash the 6H (and NOT get hit since you did it later than if you IB the 2nd hit of 2H), which means you can Blitz Shield too, but backdash is safer.

 

Poking:

6P is actually pretty good against Axl's 5P. From just outside round start position (and outside his 3P range!) you can 6P through his 5P and hit him, creating a nice bit of space for summons. The only downside is that this only works INSIDE 2H range. :(

5H is a potentially great solution to 2P, At longer ranges it can safely clash, at closer ranges you can potentially CH Axl into a nice combo or at least massive frame advantage in his face. Just beware of DP/throw if he mashes out of the stagger.

Just outside of green chain range, you can react to whiffed green chain by calling a 41236S dolphin. If you do it at the same time the chain will destroy your dolphin, but with average reactions you will do the dolphin late enough anyway to not get hit by the chain. Release immediately for a minor hit on Axl, hold it down if you think he will chill after whiffing it and allow you to get a little closer. 

If you clash with the 1st hit of 2H with May's 5H, you HAVE to either RC or Blitz Shield (preferably Blitz Shield). There's not enough of a gap to safely do anything else, including block(!).

If you clash with max-range 2H with May's 5S the story has a happier ending. At longer ranges the 2nd hit won't even reach you post-clash and you can get a mostly-free summon while Axl's move recovers. Just watch out for Danger Time.

Anti-air/Air-to-Air:

From half screen and closer, jS from single jump or IAD can be beaten very consistently on reaction with 2H. You'll lose at longer ranges where you can't quite reach Axl's hurtbox, but that's fine because at extreme ranges you're better off just keeping your space (or backing up further) to summon more safely. 

From outside that range, you can 6P Axl's jS pretty consistently. With 50%, you can RC and run up for a combo, otherwise you can just take the knockdown for a free summon.

Blocking/Defense:

If you're in 2H hell, there's only one real solution and that's to ground block and wait for either a gap that you can escape from or enough tension to Blitz Shield 6H. If you try to air FD too much to avoid 2H hell, then you're spending a lot of tension that could otherwise go to a Blitz Shield that (if successful) could seriously transform the match for you. 

3P (the standing low chain) is plus on block. I know, it sucks, but once you block it, you're basically committed to blocking. Stay low so you don't get clowned by 2H and be ready to react to 6H, because that's where the pressure either resets or you escape to glorious-ish neutral freedom.

(coming soon: research on his corner tech traps after upchain and the like to see when/where teching is bad)

Punishes:

Sadly there's not a whole lot of stuff you can punish on block in this matchup besides Axl's DP. 2D > green chain can only be punished if you IB both moves and Axl doesn't do a followup, so don't bother trying to punish green chain, just make sure you block it. 

Blocked DP is a reasonably generous punish. It is air blockable unlike his chain anti-airs, but that's not a huge deal. From a vertical jump normal block (you get pushed back a bit), you can punish with 5K > 5S minimum. From a safe jump block spacing you can get cS (or 5S) > 2D > [4]6H, but you can't wait too long. If you IB a DP from a safe jump, you can punish with microdash Overhead Kiss > combo, but it's really tight. Still worth an attempt if you think Axl's gonna down-back rather than live dangerously after you block his DP close.

You can't punish his overhead special on block. IB'ing it makes it minus on block, but not enough for a normal punish. But on the upside, it's slow enough to air throw on reaction from neutral. If Axl does it out of a string like 5K > cS > 5S > 63214S, you can 6P (the opposite direction, where Axl ends up) and beat it even without IB. No combo afterwards, though, unless you RC. To save your meter, your best reaction is probably just to jump and air throw Axl for a knockdown.

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