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Grimsley-San

[Xrd] May vs. May

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General

I've only played this matchup really once of note but by mirror standards, it doesn't seem too bad. Mostly seems to be about getting the life lead and turtling smartly, like many of May's matchups. Dance around enemy summons, protect your airspace, counterpoke smartly. Don't be a hero unless you need the life lead back. The good and bad news about this matchup is May has an easy time anti-airing herself and struggles a bit to counterpoke herself.

Depending on your style of May, this mirror may feel a bit like a mismatch sometime. This is especially true if your experience with the mirror (like mine) is conservative turtle-y May vs shenanigan-oriented offensive May. This is why it's important not to live too dangerously in this matchup, especially if the opponent has summons out and you don't. Applause dolphins and beach balls can make a lot of shenanigan moves like vertical dolphins much harder to punish, so if your opponent likes to do dolphin-assisted scumbaggery, just be patient and keep blocking. Don't be ashamed if you get crossed up by vertical dolphins or don't react to like whiff vertical dolphin > OHK the first time you see it. Just try to catalog all these different shenanigans so that you can practice blocking/evading them in the lab -- and possibly use them yourself, in moderation! 

Specific notes:

- Blocked vertical dolphin is annoying as shit to punish if it bounces back. Best you can usually get is f.S, too far to combo anything afterwards (even [4]6S) without RC. 

- If you block [2]8S or [2]8H crossup, it's a much better story. In that situation you can do slightly delayed c.S (hopefully air hit) into full combo.

- You can Blitz Shield 2D > [4]6S on block if you IB the sweep, but it's tight. Almost certainly worth practicing, though, because autopiloting into [4]6S on block is a common bad May habit. (Not that I, uh...know anybody like that...*sweats* *looks around nervously*)

- 3K is a VERY consistent solution for f.S > Applause on block. If the opponent doesn't YRC, they can be hit out of any Applause version by the sweep. Just don't do this unless you know the opponent can't/won't YRC in that situation to either pressure or bait the slide.

- At neutral, jS can be beaten pretty consistently with 2H to attempt a counter-hit combo. Even if done safe-jump deep, you will frequently win and occasionally clash or trade, so long as you react properly and don't get hit for throwing one out without watching to see what May does first.

- May's small size, especially when crouching, makes her obnoxiously hard to cleanly do combos/blockstrings involving [4]6S > Ride on Dolphin without accidentally sailing over her. Try to release your dolphin later and/or air dash cancel later to compensate, though you risk dropping your combo if you overcompensate.

- It seems pretty much impossible to me to 6P her f.S, even just outside its maximum range. May just can't get close enough to the hurtbox on it without entering the move's range. So if you're afraid of 6P in this mirror, f.S seems like a pretty safe poke. 5K and c.S trade more consistently with it, but it whiffs fast enough that May can't really punish it on reaction (even [4]6S runs the danger of whiffing despite its speed) unless you just predict that it's coming and throw something faster into the lane. 

- You also can't 6P her f.S inside its range, because the hitbox reaches down too far.

- You can 6P her 6K, though if you whiff, the other May can punish with an immediate [4]6S if close enough.

 

- 5K is the standard answer to pokier Mays who are gonna try and prod you with 2K and 2D.

- Barring protection from summons, you can easily react to spaced-out vertical dolphins and hit 2H early or late-ish with little fear of losing. Collect your counter-hit combo on hit.

- Easiest punish starter on blocked Ultimate Whiner is c.S. You're pretty much always in range for it, just delay it very slightly so you don't miss the punish window by inputting c.S too fast.

- Minor word of warning: If you are FDing the Whirlwind super and attempt to interrupt with Ultimate Whiner just as the other May calls the orca, the orca will hit May out of Ultimate Whiner after the invulnerability expires(!). A very minor thing but it's something to keep in mind. This won't happen to Dead Angle, obviously, because Dead Angle is invulnerable for days.

- If May calls Yamada while you're at neutral, you have enough time to call your own whale if you want to force a trade (assuming no YRC). Most meter wins here. Keep this in mind if you want to humiliate your opponent for calling the whale at neutral. :D

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I always vertical dolphin right into a beach ball like a dumbass. Hardly anyone plays May so I can't help it!

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