Kagura vs. Tager

[MikelAL93]

Discuss the Kagura vs. Tager matchup here

[-Seo]

I'd personally put this one very slightly in Kagura's favour, pretty momentum based, as both characters have the potential to kill each in 3-4 hits.

Orbs, 5C/2C/6C/j.C, 5DA and 6DA can be a pain for Tager to deal with. Ideally you want to play this at max 5C range, as it sits just outside his 5D range and gives you enough time to react to a 2D. Not getting magnetised is key here, as magnetism will completely mess up your 5C spacing and make throwing orbs more hassle than it should ever be.

5C>A/B orb on block or hit is great, don't risk a 5C/2C 2DB unless you know it's going to hit or else you will get command grabbed. If you do find yourself in this situation, 2DB>6DC will CH a 360A/B attempt, but will outright lose to GETB.

You can counter sledge attempts through orbs with 5C if you're at a good enough distance, or you can 5DA right through it and score a fatal, this can be a little tricky to time if he's doing B sledge as it's chargeable, but you really should be 5C'ing him if that's the case. It is possible for him to Hammer through the 5DA if you're a little late with it, but you can also counter this as you can still go into another drive move, with 6DA. If he chooses to jump over orbs, he has no choice but to block a 5C in the air, letting you instantly throw out another orb too, if he super jumps, you have more than enough time to either attempt a 6C or simply run under him and keep him at a distance again. 5DC is also an option if he jumps, but more of a way of shutting down any j.2C attempts he may try if you attempt to run under him. If you do find yourself having to block sledge though, it's punishable on instant block by 5A, but this can get caught by him doing hammer followup, if you think that's the case you can 5B him to beat hammer, as it loses to lows, but this is a guessing game situation really. You can beat all these options by instant blocking sledge by sliding from 1>2>1, if he does no followup you can punish with 2A and combo, if he does hammer your 2A will get guard pointed, but you get enough time to react with a C fafnir to CH him. Just be aware of his meter, because he can rapid sledge into 360B to catch your 2A attempt on IB though.

j.C is always an IOH on Tager and is a great way to condition him to block high so you can get 5B/2B/3C starters. Just be cautios not to used it too much and be aware if your meter, you'll get punished easy if he blocks IOH j.C and you don't have meter to rapid it. You can also do IOH j.B in some situations, but it usually requires a VERY deep j.B to begin with, but you can combo off it meterlessly with j.B>j.C>5A>6C>3C>etc.

5A also hits Tager while he is crouch blocking, which is pretty good for pressure.

Tager's oki is actually pretty scary this time around, especially so for Kagura, outside of gadget finger, his common combo enders are 2D and 6BB iirc both of which put you in a knockdown state that will force you to roll tech if you're trying to keep fafnir charged. I'm not 100% about 2D tech chases, but 6BB>Sledge will catch back rolls, if he ends his combos with this, forward roll can get out of it (I believe?), but in some cases you're better off giving up on charge and neutral teching.

That's about it for the matchup, play safe and play lame, try not to get magnetised too often and if you do play even lamer. Bully him with IOH j.C and then 3C if you're in that range.