[CS2] Tsubaki vs Taokaka

[Ginseng]

Discuss the Tsubaki vs Taokaka matchup here.

Things to watch out for:

Her air mobility is way better than yours.

She can duck under your 5B while crouching.

Things you can use:

2C works very well against Tao, most of them will not space themselves.

If you get her blocking on the ground, it's your advantage usually.

[HajinShinobi]

Ummm...how is this matchup suppose to be played out? This is like the one character I've rarely been coming across online, seeing as how Xdest practically raped me..

No idea on how to really fight or approach Tao. Other than not jumping in the air..

[Airk]

Ummm...how is this matchup suppose to be played out? This is like the one character I've rarely been coming across online, seeing as how Xdest practically raped me..

No idea on how to really fight or approach Tao. Other than not jumping in the air..

Tao is basically a question of who can turn a couple of random hits into damage first. If you can actually pin her down into blocking, you've practically won the match right there. :P As for "approaching" Tao - just stand still a moment and she'll be close enough.

In all seriousness though, most Tao players space poorly, so you can toss out the occasional almost-random 2C and see what you can get. You can also stuff a lot of air approaches with careful 214X usage, since there is literally nothing Tao can do in the air, Drive or otherwise, that will hit 214X during the invulnerability frames. 214D is of course preferred, but getting charge can be tricky against Tao, so 214A/B may be your go-tos here (214C just takes too long to get its invulnerability frames on). Against a really GOOD Tao? cross your fingers, block, counterassault, and try to pin her down after that. You don't really have good tools for controlling a lot of the screen (Though 214X and 236X help) so your best bet is to be patient, block well, and make the most of whatever opportunities you can get. I know that's not good specific advice, but Tao just sortof "does stuff" and while none of her stuff is particularly deadly in and of itself, most of it is pretty safe, and sooner or later something hits... so you kinda just have to defend well and try to random her out. There really aren't any "punish" opportunities in this match unless your opponent does something really stupid or you block a Hexa Edge DD or something.

You're right about staying grounded, but sometimes you can land a 'raw' j.214D because Tao is zooming around up there so much.

[BatousaiJ]

A strategy I like to use against Tao is to block, block and block.

Get them frustrated enough to break their tight strings for things like throw, over head and air crossovers then take advantage of those holes and start a block string of your own.

The reason why you don't really want to play footsies against Tao or try to mash her out is because you'll... lose.

Tao should be taken care of like you would Lambda once you get in on them. They have no reversal outside of their DD and it's free season on cats unless try sacrifice the heat or burst to get you out of their face.

You can try to throw 236/214 moves to hope to catch them but it's actually easier for them to bait those moves out of you and then punish you for whiffing them entirely so I wouldn't suggest randomly tossing those out there.

Be ready to throw out your 2C anti air for when she goes for a air crossover in the middle of block strings and you can also beat out her overhead with 2C as well if you time it well which results in a nice meaty 2C CH you can continue for a full combo.

It's also worth noting that after many of Tao's BnB, you'll be able to tech really high in the air that allows you to get some free charge before landing safely with j.214x.

[HajinShinobi]

Blocking alot was what I was basically doing in the matches. I caught onto the crossups and caught em with 2C a couple of times, but he kept his crossups fresh afterward you could say (adding more jumps, dashing forward/backward, fake crossups). It was pretty hard trying to anticipate with 2C whenever he'd try to dive in at me alot lol. But it was Xdest and I havent played him since BBCT, soooo yeah lol...it was the first time I've played a Tao in CS, period.

2C can counter-hit Tao's 6B? Hmm, That's very note worthy because I its know + on block for her. I need to study the framedata some more..

Thanks for the advice guys.

[LunarSelenia]

Okay I think I need some more tips (if any) on this matchup >.<;;;

Getting blown up by Mystic D's Tao and I don't know what to do.

I have no recordings but hopefully 2 weeks from now I'll have something on my YT on it (Mystic won't be @casuals next week)

I feel like the advice I need on this matchup has already been posted but I'm not applying it...but basically a few things:

-I cannot for the life of me make her block ._.;; And I'm not perfect at blocking so eventually I'll get a CH or Tao will get a hit in that leads me to a corner + 2-3k damage. He spaces well and will jump at the last second to avoid/bait my 2C so it's rather hard to get any hit in. And DP trades, and I'm stupid and I KNOW you're not supposed to mash, but...I end up mashing buttons anyway in panic (which I know is REAAAALLY stupid and probably why I get CH) hoping to get out of pressure.

Few questions: How do I get out of Tao pressure...just block and find her unsafe moves to punish? Or just block forever? X__X;; And should I be prioritizing 2C in this matchup instead of 5B? I feel like I throw out way too many 5Bs compared to 2Cs in this matchup.

-He's gotten smart to my charge + j.214C after his combos.

Few questions: Is it wise to alternate between the other versions of j.214x? I tend to default to j.214C to get away as much distance as possible. Though even then I feel when I fall he's always right in my face or close enough to drive charge at me for another hit. I haven't tried the other versions, I was autopiloting today a bit, so was using just j.214C, or falling into the corner and getting punished. I assume after using j.214A/B you're closer to the corner correct? How good is this? (granted you don't stick to one variant like I did >>;; ) ? There were even random times where I actually hit Tao during the j.214C.

There were times in some matches where I got him to block, but my pressure sucks already and I haven't been playing BB in awhile thanks to Catherine, but this was a good wake up call to start hitting training mode and playing a bit more to learn something new about Tsubaki than "letting myself plateau" as I'd like to call it ._.;; The monitors at our casuals also had around 2 frames of lag, which was screwing everyone's games, (even for him, I know he can do his combos + super consistently so it was strange), but I have no idea what I'm doing here, other than trying to 2C him everytime I see him drive towards me and block forever.

If what's been posted is really what's all to this matchup then......I got a lot of work to do XD I just lack the right mindset on how to approach this, I'm still unsure exactly what I'm supposed to do other than just block and...then what.

In any case, hopefully in 2 weeks I'll have something to post in the "Self Improvement Thread" about this >.<;; I do know I have to increase my pressure game by tenfold, hell, my neutral game by a hundredfold, but if there's anything else that can help, I'd greatly appreciate it >.<;;;

[Fallacy]

Regarding 5b, it kind of sucks vs tao she can crawl under it and its definitely not gonna get you out of any pressure.

I like to match my version of j.214x with whatever my opponent is doing if they retreat and try to catch you from the other side of the screen you can do j.214a or not do anything.

Once you're in tao pressure it's fairly hard to get out, I like to use 5a and counter assaults.

I've experimented alot with 2c and it usually ends with me getting counter hit.

You really have to play good in neutral and pressure really hard once you get the chance. It's a little harder once tao gets 50 heat and you have to bait distortions, so I recommend getting on the offense early.

It should be noted that all of my Tao experience is vs XDest and I have very little success vs him.

[Airk]

Yeah, I'm in the process of discovering the problems with 5B in this matchup myself. Not only does it go over crawl, but it goes over 2A into you getting counterhit. 2B is starting to become something I use more and more, since a ton of Tao's stuff has no range, so she's going to be right up in your grill anyway if she's not flying through the air.

At long range, 236C beats most of her crazy flying air stuff; It won't get you a combo, but it will at least you a knockdown for pressure.

I haven't even really seen many videos of this match, so not a lot of input.

[LunarSelenia]

Thank you both for your input.

The hardest part of this matchup is that Mystic D's Tao pressure is so hard to deal with >.<;; it's just simply hard to survive. I'll be sure to try and try these things out the next time I play mystic. Hopefully I'll get some vids too ><;;