Mitsuru vs. Akihiko

[TheRealDMac]

Please use this thread to talk about the matchup!

I'm currently filling in the gaps for Mitsuru, and may contribute notes to the thread myself once I'm finished doing my personal matchup grind.

[AchedSphinx]

I suppose I will give a somewhat thorough analysis of this match up. My gameplay is specific to netplay only, so if you're an offline player your experiences will vary. Also, I am at best an intermediate player, so take my info how you will.

Akihiko is an interesting match up. If you don't have experience against one, I suggest you find one because it can lead to some intense games. In my opinion Akihiko plays like an all-or-nothing type of character. He waits for his chance and then goes for it non-stop. Mitsuru's plan is to stop that from happening. The key to succeeding in this match up is being really good at spacing and neutral. A less skilled Akihiko player will toss risk vs reward out the window. In the match-up, Akihiko's risk vs reward is better than Mitsuru's because he does a lot more damage. However Mitsuru can consistently gain rewards vs Akihiko because of her superior range such that she can eventually whittle him down toward victory.

Now then, let's just get this out of the way, Akihiko will mash. That is how they play. Netplay, offline, doesn't matter. Mashing is a staple of his because his pokes have decent range and they're fast. His health is also fairly high so he can take the risk. Higher level Akihikos will pick the best moments to mash. They will be reluctant to mash during Mitsuru's pressure because her 5B is incredibly scary and he can't adequately punish it. I'm not saying you should just mash 5B because he could do Kill Rush for instance if he knows you're going to do it. Akihiko's will take risks like this because that's his style of play. So during your pressure, keep him at near max range 5A at all times. You will need to vary up your pressure because any gaps you make is an opening for him. However if you make him think he has an opening, you can very easily snowball the match-up because of corner pressure.

Akihiko's pressure is very scary. Mostly because of the variety of ways he can open you up. He can do staggers, throws, or even AoA if his cyclone level is high enough. Things to watch out for are his overheads. They do a lot of upfront damage, but he can't combo afterwards. It's commonly used to confuse the player with overheads since lows and throws are what he wants. If you block his overhead, you can't punish him hard or anything, but you'll be back at the advantage. Akihiko can backstep his overhead, which'll make him at about even on block, but his 5A doesn't outrange yours so you can apply pressure at that point. If he doesn't backstep, he's minus on block, thus your 5A will land and you can auto-combo. Just like Aigis and other characters with 5f 5As, he can mash after your auto-combo to beat out your 5A so be wary of that.

Now for the tips. If Akihiko does j.C just think of it as an early birthday present. If you block it you can reach him with Droit for the punish. SB droit is doable as well. He's in crouch state so you'll be able to follow up with 5A. Just remember that SB droit was used in the combo, so using it a second time will end the combo. So OMB isn't a bad idea since it'll do some sick damage. Don't try to 2B Akihiko unless he's being really obvious with his jump ins. Akihiko has a low jump so it's difficult to hit. But if he's high in the air, he can do j.C which stops his momentum. This is mostly meant to expose lower skill level players.

Overall, I would say the match up is 55/45. Mitsuru's favor.