(xrd) Potemkin vs Axl

[younghou]

Please use this thread to share your thoughts, experiences and advice on how to deal with this match-up.

 

[dot_Nova]

Neutral and Defense

At Full Screen, not much you can do in this MU except to be patient and approach slowly. The only attacks that will reach Potemkin at this range is 5P, Rensen and sparrowhawk. Slidehead is very risky as Rensen will hit Potemkin's extended hurtbox as he finishes his slidehead however it will go under 5P if done preemptively.

If he goes into sparrowhawk stance, be patient and block the (maximum) 6 chains that come your way. During his recovery, you can get in a free slidehead.

Regarding Sparrowhawk Punishes:

Because there is a hurtbox in sparrowhawk's chains, it is possible to punish him by taking a risk.

1. Trishula will punish the mid and high chains. Low chain will beat trishula. Axl cannot link the same chain more than once in a row so after blocking a low chain, look to use trishula. It can be punished if he waits to do another low chain. (YRC will keep you save in that situation)
2. Hammerfall is another option as the armor will eat the hit and punish his chain as it immediately stops at the extended hurtbox. YRC hammerfall > hammerfall is an option for 2 instances of armor and a full screen travel. Reversal Hammerfall to stop meaty sparrowhawk attack will not work however as he will get 2 hits in before you have time to YRC or hit his chain.
3. If you are in the air and above the high attack's hitbox, ICPM can punish Axl as he begins in stance. Be wary of him PRC'ing out of stance.

At Mid Range, he'll be fishing for multi hit normals, his overhead, crossup, be using rensen a lot. This is probably the most difficult range to deal with as Potemkin.

Note: You cannot whiff punish Rensen with a jump> falling normal. The up followup attack will punish you before you can land. It is only punishable this way if he used Rensen while you are already falling onto him.

• A preemptive Forward Megafist will whiff punish Rensen and his lows. Take an occasional risk and flick in neutral to flick back his Rensen or his 5P and other extended hurtboxes. (Against 5P > Rensen, you can IB the 5P then flick/megafist forward punish the Rensen)
• Make use of blitz a lot at this range if he's being predictable with his normals or doesn't have meter to YRC his crossup and his overhead (6H).
• IB'ing his crossup leads to a free PB only if he's within range, be cautious of the spacing. IB'ing his 6H will make it -2 on landing which is not enough time to PB if he's already holding up.
• Blitz is very strong against Axl's 6H and crossup if he has no meter. Otherwise, use blitz sparingly as he can YRC both of these moves and punish your guess.

Specific Defensive Notes: 

• Against IAD j.S 2 hit > j.P > 2K ... If you IB the j.P, you can punish his landing with a PB. (He can do 6H to punish PB)
• If you get hit by 6H, he cannot go into a combo without RC. Be ready to continue blocking or watch for a reset/gimmick.

Important Note: Do not tech towards Axl. 6K and 2S will catch you on the way down. Either tech late and close to the ground or backwards to get out of the air unblockable range. Always FD as you fall.

 

Offense

Once you're close, the only thing you need to worry about is his DP artemis hunter. After knocking him down with 2D, you can super jump > falling normal as a safe jump against the DP. His DP has a long startup (9f) so it is very easy to time your safe jump. Axls tend to use the DP during blockstrings so feel your opponent out and see how willing he is to use a DP. Use backdash to bait it and then punish accordingly or, because it's a single hit move, use hammerfall to eat the hit and punish Axl.( example: 6K > delayed hammerfall > RC...)

Potemkin Buster > 2K > heat will work on Axl in the corner.

 

Most Important Tip: BE PATIENT

[dot_Nova]

Update: As of 1.1 you can flick rensen now. Praise be.

(I'm not sure if you were able to 1.0 but I don't recall being able to)

[Circuitous]

Rensengeki was flickable in 1.0, but his Overdrive (Byakue Renshou) wasn't, like all Overdrives for some reason.

[jak d ripr]

Yea, found out it was flickable by mistake last week, it's pretty hard to do, but least it's another option in the match-up. How do you guys punish his dp when you safe jump it? It usually do 2.s, 2.d because I'm usually too far for anything else, y'all got anything a little more damaging?

[dot_Nova]

Yea, found out it was flickable by mistake last week, it's pretty hard to do, but least it's another option in the match-up. How do you guys punish his dp when you safe jump it? It usually do 2.s, 2.d because I'm usually too far for anything else, y'all got anything a little more damaging?

If you block it, he has 22 frames to recover. Depending on how far you got pushed back, you should be able to walk up and pot buster him. Otherwise, I opt for 5S > 2S > 2D just for the knockdown then safe jump again. People tend not to try to DP on wakeup 2 times in a row without meter.

 

Fun fact: Because it hits only once, you can hammerfall through it. So if you're feeling ballsy, you can do a hammerfall during his reversal timing and eat the DP. You can either YRC or break before hitting him or hit him then RC.

[dot_Nova]

Rensengeki was flickable in 1.0, but his Overdrive (Byakue Renshou) wasn't, like all Overdrives for some reason.

Can you flick it at any range or do you need to be at the edge of the move? Like can my whole body be in the resen and still be able to flick it?

[Circuitous]

Can you flick it at any range or do you need to be at the edge of the move? Like can my whole body be in the resen and still be able to flick it?

 

Yeah, when F.D.B. successfully reflects a projectile, Potemkin goes into a strike invuln recovery. Even if the created projectile doesn't eat the other hits (it usually will), he's invulnerable to them anyway.

[Reki]

Matchup wasn't as horrible as I thought after playing hundreds of games with 2 axl players here.

Imo the best places to position yourself in this matchup are [locationA] in the maximum range of axl's rensen and 5P and [locationB] the maximum range of pot's 5H and forward-jump H (no double jump).

You have to fuck around in [locationA] while ducking, jumping (don't doublejump too much unless axl times an attack on your landing spot) and backdashing axl without losing life or tension. What you should be watching out are for axl's tendencies:

1) when does he seem to be charging back for rensen or when does he usually follow it up from (frequently after 2P or 5P for example)

2) How eager he is to hit you out of the air to the point where he abandon's charging back for rensen and steps forward to get into his 5P or 6K range

Once you have enough information, it's time to get some work started:

STEP1:
Using that information, quickly but carefully haul your fat ass to [locationB] by jumping over a rensen or hammerfall break (hfb))axl's whiffed 6K as soon as you land or using slide head to low profile axl's 5P. Chances are improved if you timed this when he's not charging back for rensen.

STEP2:
Once arriving in [locationB] and axl is currently recovering from a whiffed something earlier, you can start things off by pressuring him with repeated 5Hs cancelled into optimal hfbs [4]6P+H while maintaining that distance outside of axl's dp. At this point, you are forcing axl to push you out of [locationB] using rensen. Once you learn his tendency to do this, you can jump early and score a counterhit j.H, then do whatever pot things you like to do like 2D to start pot's safejump play. Personally after the counterhit j.H, I like to land, 5H, then hfb to pot buster's maximum grab range then do pot buster after axl recovers from stun. Total damage from that reset is hillarious.

Some things to be aware of:

1) While fucking around in [locationA], always be aware of sneaky sparrowhawk activations. That's one of the reasons why I recommend to not always double jump so that you can catch him in the act then either land and depending where you are , you immediately slide head or go up higher by doing a your second jump forwards then ICBM. I think yrc will worsen sparrowhawk's stance's startup but I haven't tested it yet (I usually spend that yrc on ICBM)

2) Keep a very tight watch on axl attacking you from the air. Axl's j.S has around 80% hurtboxes so you can 6P it most of the time. If he's spacing it properly then avoid it with backdash or jump or even do an early hfb to go under it.

3) Another thing that you should be doing once you learn his tendency to rensen is flicking it back. The life points it cost you for screwing it up once or twice during the matches is worth it to achieve fucking setplay pot.

4) Save meter. Use meter mainly for airblocking and hf. Don't even use it to fortress sparrowhawk if you still have a lot of life, you pussy.

[dot_Nova]

Updated Axl post with current thoughts and lab findings. Let me know if I missed anything or made a mistake.