Mitsuru vs. Sho

[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.

Sad to say, no one uses this guy in netplay. 99 times out of 100 you will face Minazuki. However I did somehow find that 1 fellow and he was quite good with Sho, so I'll go over things the best I can. Sho plays out similarly to Minazuki. They both have crazy good normals. Low health. And that annoying smirk. The interesting part about Sho is that he has superior mix-up. Most of Sho's gameplay revolves around opening you up with various cross-ups and pseudo-overheads that can lead to some consistent damage. Unlike Minazuki, Sho's damage is around the level of Mitsuru. Not so good, but you can get good damage if your opponent messes up. Also, because of how Sho's combos work, Mitsuru is the right height for his combos to work consistently, though that doesn't change the match up in any way.

Sho's pressure is pretty similar to Minazuki. He will stagger 5As because they're 0 on block. Though just like Minazuki, you can punish this because of Mitsuru's superior range. Another thing to watch out for his is 2C. It's a downward strike and makes him airborne and he can use this to bait throws but also if you block it he's +6. His 2C its mostly to reset pressure, but it can get some good damage if you're caught mashing. It's all block, so don't get tripped up thinking its an overhead. The way Minazuki opens you up during pressure is that he can teleport to the other side of you at any time so you may want to practice cross blocking so you're not vulnerable. I know it can be tempting to DP here. It's actually not a bad idea since Mitsuru's DP hits in the back as well, however he can still block. So toss out a DP to keep him in check with his pressure. But don't get crazy with it. Another funky set-up I've seen Sho use is j.236AB, Destruction Fang. He does it as he's about to land to make you think he'll go for a low, but instead goes for this quick high. So his pressure is pretty potent at times.

Since Minazuki uses a lot of teleports, he can also use it as a means of covering his approach. Such as air dashing and then teleporting to the ground. His teleports cover a good distance but they do have a decent amount of recovery and you can easily punish him if he screws up the spacing. So go into training mode and test the range of his teleports. You'll find the appropriate distance to deal with any one of them.

Since Sho has low health you can easily defeat him in a combo or two. Unlike Minazuki, Sho can't follow up his DP with a super until he lands, so you don't have to worry about the guessing game here though don't be too slow with your punishes. Since Sho tends to be airborne to set-up approaches from teleports you can snag him with 2D because he uses the ability. The same goes for if he tosses out a knife, 5D can catch him if you time it right. Like Minazuki, watch out for his j.B. It's crazy good. Also, Sho has 5D/j.D where he dodges your attack, so don't do something with crazy recovery on it. He doesn't use it often because of the whole throw game Persona is now, but you never know.

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