My Ky Trade Secrets thread

[ehuangsan]

this is the greatest thread in the history of dustloop. the ky forum has needed this tender love and care for so long. thank you for your contributions, sir.

if i might make a request... Ky vs Sol, please?

Thanks.

I'll make that the next writeup

Next up:

Ky vs. Sol

(requests)

FD Shenanigans

(Defensive Tactics with Ky)

Effective use of the Stun Dipper

Optimizing Damage in Endgame

Effective use of the Greed Sever

Ky vs. May

[ehuangsan]

Ky vs. Sol

I think this matchup is dead even, and pretty typical as far as Ky matches go strategy wise. Ky will try to hold back the tide with his superior spacing and ground pokes. Sol will try to establish katame, and end the round with one momentum run.

For those unfamiliar with katame, it's a situation where because you blocked something, the opponent gets a chance to end the round or gain a heavy advantage only because you blocked. Even though blocking is the incorrect move in a katame situation, it does occur rather often in matches. The most famous example is Eddie making you block something, which allows him to use a little Eddie to chain off the blockstun and possibly ruin you and end the round.

Although other ways of dealing with Sol also work (Mitsutoshi's wall-like Ky comes to mind), I personally play in faith's "negative-style" Ky. Faith was known not really for doing fancy things on offense or defense, but rather for an active neutral game using spacing and pokes to bait the opponent into doing something that would otherwise be normal for the character, but gets counterpunched by a perfectly positioned Ky. If you do this right, then your opponent will feel like he has no idea what to do anymore, as all of his normal offense gets completely cut off. I highly recommend watching any old footage of Faith to get an idea of how this works.

Defense

Keeping in line with Faith's negative style of Ky, you shouldn't really do anything fancy on defense since Sol can ruin you very quickly off of one hit into the sidewinder loop. Rather you should be looking for ways to honestly end his offense quickly. 1F jump/super jump into airdash, dead angle, 2P, creating space from FDing to escape, and other safe options should be your primary means of defense. VT is not really good since Sol's 2D will go under it, leaving you vulnerable to a sidewinder loop. Strangely, 5k will also kick Sol out from doing 2D or brashly running in, and you can autolink that into 5HS, but you have to be rather careful with sticking out 5k willy-nilly.

Sol should not be coming at you from the air unless he has forced you to block a FRC gunflame. 6P, 2HS and SVT will ruin pretty much all of Sol's air pokes. Non-FRC Bandit Bringer without the FRC gunflame is a mistake almost everytime and you should make him pay for it with a SVT just before it hits you, to counterhit Sol into the air. Non-FRC gunflame is also punishable by greed sever or IAD S, but you should wait and pause to confirm that there's no FRC before committing to it.

FRC Gunflame allows Sol to establish katame, and you should avoid blocking the gunflame if you can, although it is easier said than done. I try to backdash or IAD backdash away or if I'm in the corner, try to one frame jump out. Good sol players will do a block string off of a somewhat far poke into FRC gunflame to establish katame. From there, he has many options which could cause you to lose very quickly. He can do jump slash, jump attack feint land 2D into bandit revolver, jump attack feint airdash S D, etc.

Even if you defend correctly, you are still in block stun so he can then run in with either 5K (to ruin backdash and one frame jump), RC VV (to ruin any 2P or other poke attempts), or wild throw (to ruin blocking). Guessing right here just allows him to do a block string and possibly build enough meter to initiate another FRC Gunflame, so this is a very bad situation that should be avoided. If he hits you off of anything at either juncture, he can send you into a sidewinder loop, and you'll lose the majority of your life.

25% of this matchup depends on how effectively Sol can establish katame versus how quickly Ky can avoid or break katame. As Ky, you should try to learn to avoid or break this situation as it occurs.

Offense

I tend to keep offense simple against Sol. Rather than do anything special, I try to do various safe blockstrings and staggered pressure to try to get Sol to hang himself either with a desperate VV or grand viper or whatever.

2K, 2P, 5P, 2S, 5S, are all pretty effective against Sol for pressure. If you pressure him enough you can do some other irritating things like FD brake throw, or FD forward slide throw (I'll explain in the FD Shenanigans section) to get him to do something. Keep in mind that Sol can VV out of some pokes pretty much on reaction (6H, 6K) and he can also grand viper under SEs and CSEs so those should be used rather sparingly. If you block a grand viper, you can actually throw Sol out before the last hit connects, in case if your opponent likes to RC on the last possible hit. That may work for a surprise or two.

He can also grand viper or VV out on reaction to an okizeme CSE or air CSE, so you have to be a little careful with respect to how you use them. In this case, I think the FB CSE works surprisingly well on oki, as well as safe jump S, star oki, Ain's Prison, and safe air backdash S mixup.

If you do manage to get a CSE out before he can do a reversal, sometimes a forward sliding FD will bait Sol into doing something stupid.

Ky's offense really only wins this matchup 25% of the time, as most of the time you are simply trying to goad him into hanging himself.

You should also learn the Sol specific punish combos, as he is kinda weird. For example, VV lands as crouching, so 5S into 6K -> HSE is one combo to practice.

Neutral

I think 50% of this match is decided in the neutral game. It will really be a battle of holding back the tide versus the tide breaking through. The better footsie player in this situation will tend to win the match.

Both Sol and Ky will mostly be deciding this on the ground, as neither can really jump in on the other due to their effective AAs. Sol's 5K and VV pretty much beat all of Ky's air pokes, whereas Ky's AAs will beat pretty much all of Sol's air pokes. Sol is slightly better air to air with his 6p, but this situation should not really occur that often. Sol's effective options are far S, 6H, 2D, 6P, gun flame, VV and grand viper. Ky's effective options are 5S, 2S, 5H, 5k, very occasionally SE or 2H, and 6P.

Keeping with faith's negative style, you will mostly be playing an active neutral game not to establish your own offense, but to cut most of Sol's offense off. You should keep yourself just about 5S distance away and stay lock step with Sol to cut off his options. Ky's ground pokes are superior so primarily, you will be deciding the battle by effective spacing and counter punching his attempts to do something on reaction because of your spacing.

From this distance you can react to a lot and goad Sol into doing something. For example, feinting a 5S -> SE string with 5S -> 2S instead can sometimes bait Sol into doing a grand viper, so keep that as an option. If Sol screws up a FRC gun flame, this is the perfect distance to react and punish with an IAD S. If Sol tries to super jump over you, well, that sends him into the air, which isn't a place he wants to be against Ky.

5S and 2S check Sol from running into you, and occasionally, stun dipper will as well, so you should use as needed. If Sol does an IAD, either 6P, 2H or 5H can counterhit him into sadness. If Sol starts randomly VVing from that distance, then you've pretty much mind screwed him over.

Good Sol players will try to patiently push in with far S, 6P, 2D or gun flame. Sol's far S and 6P will beat out Ky's 5S, so you may have to switch to 2S or intermittent SE. That's where the guessing game really begins, but Ky has an advantage in that his pokes will tend to win out.

Sol has some ghetto tricks like random grand viper or riot stop FRC into grand viper. For Riot Stomp, the FRC point is pretty close to where he leaves the wall, so you can pretty much wait until it's on top of you and then 6P. Same with the Bandit Bringer and Bandit Revolver, you can 6P or SVT CH out. As for random grand viper, again, the guessing game really is to dash brake versus 5S versus 2S versus an occasional stun dipper, but the risk versus reward is not really in Sol's favor.

Overall, the match is even. As long as you can use your superior ground game and effectively space yourself to cut off Sol's options on reaction, then you will definitely have at least even chances to win. However, if Sol does manage to get katame, he gets his chances to end the round very quickly.

I think this match vid of mine (@ 3:24:15) gives a good idea how simple offense and an active neutral game in a negative style can seal out Sol. Luckily, Spirit Juice doesn't really play and isn't very good at establishing katame, as my defense was pretty godawful here....

Next up:

(requests)

FD Shenanigans

Defensive Tactics with Ky (maybe)

Effective use of the Stun Dipper

Optimizing Damage in Endgame

Effective use of the Greed Sever

Ky vs. May

[whistle]

I made a dustloop account just to tell you how awesome you are.

[ehuangsan]

I made a dustloop account just to tell you how awesome you are.

Heh, thanks.

FD Shenanigans - FD sliding throw/block

I'm sure that most people know about the FD brake, which allows you to stop instantly without gaining any forward momentum. This allows you to do some cool tricks like run up, FD brake, throw, because the green aura flash sometimes brain freezes your opponent.

However, if you FD but immediately let go, you still keep some slight forward momentum, but will immediately revert to neutral. This allows you to do some odd things like sliding forward in a crouching block animation. This doesn't sound all that useful, but it actually gives you a whole lot of options, particularly when pursuing a CSE or pursing someone on getup.

For example:

5:23-5:27 Off of a CSE, you can do a FD slide to bait the other guy to do a dead angle, burst or super, then punish. This happens quite often.

If he just blocks, then the forward momentum will allow you to pursue a 2s into 6k or something else anyways.

6:52-6:55 On opponent's wakeup, FD slide crouch block to bait the other guy to wake up super. If he doesn't, you slide into range for a throw, so you throw him.

30:12-30:15 Even if your opponent tries to do something like wakeup throw or wake up mash buttons, you get to block. If you do the FD slide right, you will be out of throw range right after he gets up, and will slide into throw range, but if he tries to immediately wake up throw, he'll get a HS instead. Although you forfeit the initiative this way, it's a good sign when you've convinced your opponent to mash buttons on wakeup.

Surprisingly, I may be the only GGXX player that does this, as I have not seen anyone else do this. So I want people to give it a try because:

1:10-1:19 - this occurs so damn often in matches that you should etch this pattern into your mind.

Next up:

(requests)

Defensive Tactics with Ky (maybe)

Effective use of the Stun Dipper

Optimizing Damage in Endgame

Effective use of the Greed Sever

Ky vs. May

[ehuangsan]

Defensive Tactics - "Psychic" RTL

RTL is a rather mediocre super, but it is still a super with some invincibility, so it can bail you out in bad situations on defense. However, using it on wakeup is somewhat risky since it's unsafe and quite a commitment.

One way to mitigate the risk is to always have it buffered on wakeup to punish bad oki. A lot of players forget that Ky has this super, and may do something reckless on oki or something that wouldn't be punishiable by VT. On wakeup, buffer the RTL by doing a half circle back motion as Ky is getting up, and then watch your opponent. If he does an unsafe oki, punish it by hitting towards and HS to activate the RTL. This is especially effective against people that don't bother to hide their intentions on oki.

If he doesn't do an oki or does something safe or doesn't give away what he's doing, since you are already holding back on the stick with the half circle, just hold back or down back, depending on what the oki is. This allows you to cut down on the execution time for the RTL, which makes your RTL look psychic when you punish bad oki, when in reality you are cutting down on the execution time.

Another way to confirm RTL is to buffer the motion and then watch your opponent's hands, if they're sitting next to you. If your opponent presses a button, immediately react with the 6HS to activate the RTL and punish the oki.

Here's an example at 0:58. If your opponent doesn't bother hiding his oki intentions and you have an RTL available, then your opponent is doing a ? or ?? move, and you should punish it accordingly.

Next up:

(requests)

(Defensive Tactics)

(Offensive Tactics)

[ehuangsan]

Defensive Tactics - Ino Gambit

There is a school of thought that you should treat your lifebar as an indication of how much you can gamble on offense or defense. Such players will sometimes try to do something very aggressive on defense, if they feel that they can afford the life loss should it fail. Such tactics usually involve trying to inflict either a lot of life by counterattacking something that is seemingly innocent, or a mindscrew attempt like a "psychic" DP/super in the middle of a blockstring.

Ino (CvS2 player, not the GG player) was the absolute master of this type of assessment. One of his specialties was to seemingly interpose a non-sensical DP or super off of a JD (or even off of nothing or in a neutral situation!) and it would strangely connect. To Ino, if he feels that the risk is justified or that he could mindscrew his opponent over that way, he will go for it, and oftentimes, he was right.

The Ino Gambit is basically just that; off of one or two JDs, interpose a DP or super somewhere in the middle of an opponent blockstring and not care if it fails. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Lesser minds would try to throw or hit low short or something, but 1) the damage may be too low (K-Groove meant that he didn't always have meter), 2) that doesn't inflict that much stun, which is what Ino goes for, 3) you might get stuffed out anyway as it's a JD and not a parry, and 4) a DP/Super is more psychologically mind blowing to your opponent. I highly recommend watching the Ino-Daigo or Ino-Combofiend CvS2 match videos to get a good idea.

So how does this apply to Ky? One way to attempt an Ino Gambit is to interpose an IB against a heavy hit, the tail end of a multi-hitting blockstring/situation, or a jump-in, and then go for an SVT, consequences be damned. If the SVT counterhits, then you can do pretty good damage and get a knockdown (e.g., ch SVT, land, 5S->2HS, insert favorite combo). Even if it doesn't counterhit, you can go into LJ as needed as counterhit is rather easy to visually confirm. If done right, the SVT will seem like it came out of nowhere, and it adds psychological pressure, as all of a sudden seemingly innocent things are getting SVTed for no reason.

32:37-32:43 is a good example.

You could also do slashback into SVT, but slashback kinda lets the cat out of the bag since it's a bright yellow flash that your opponent may react to. Most people don't notice an IB, or don't care even if they do notice.

This is a gambit, so it should be used sparingly and in situations where it would have the greatest effect.

[BladeOfJustice7]

Good post^

[ehuangsan]

Defensive Tactics - Pushblock and Punish

I thought that this was common knowledge, but evidently it is not, given how many people either choose to never FD on defense or hold down FD on defense. Few people seem to selectively FD.

I have alluded to this in previous posts (see the Ky v. Johnny post), but I'll spell it out here. Pretty much everybody has one or several auto-pilot block strings that they would employ on offense. The idea is to watch for a poke or somewhere in the middle of the block-string pattern that would kick them out if it was FDed, and then punish the ensuing whiff if they are auto-piloting. This is a tactic that is routinely employed by MvC2 players.

For those that are not familiar with the concept, I would recommend watching old MvC2 videos, particularly Cable match vids, as a staple tactic for Cable is to pushblock into AHVB.

With Ky, the idea would be to selectively FD in the middle of the block string and then either Stun Dipper or Greed Sever (or maybe even SE, 5HS or 6HS) the ensuing whiff, hoping for a counter hit.

Here's an example at 1:45:23-1:45:26. One of the block strings that BBZ likes to employ is to do the forward moving kick, and then 2HS to take advantage of the frame advantage, hoping for a counterhit against a wayward poke attempt. So I waited for the forward moving kick, FDed it back and then went for Greed Sever, for a counterhit on the 2HS. I didn't get the counterhit, but at least I got the initiative back.

[Surf]

These 4 pages are the work of God. So insightful and so amazing. When I first clicked this thread I was skeptical but did you blow me away. I just started playing seriously in AC+ with the PSN release and I was hoping on how to improve my Ky, and as I player overall. And you helped with both of those areas. So truly, thank you. Here to hoping we get 4 more pages of this gospel.

[AyaImmortal]

Yeah this tread is pretty dope... he should do some ky vs testament stuff. that match owns my soul

[ehuangsan]

Thanks for the comments.

I've been busy as of late, but I'll do Ky vs. Testament next.

[Surf]

Take as long as you need. Will you still be doing effective usage of Stun Dipper and Greed Sever or are you just sticking to matchups now since your too busy

[ehuangsan]

I was going to integrate those into Offensive Tactics. I can do those next.

Ky vs. Testament

Most people believe that this matchup is 6-4 in favor of Testament. I personally think that it is 5.5-4.5 in favor of Testament, but I think it could be argued that it is 6-4.

Defense

This is difficult because Testament can ruin Ky very quickly off of one or two wrong guesses with the overhead into badlands loop. If Testament ends it in Master of Puppets, then the large trees will make it even more difficult to attack Testament in the future.

All you can really do is to try to fuzzy guard the overheads or 1F jump out of of the gaps when they appear, or maybe even DAA at appropriate moments. If Testament really does his offense correctly and he's in your face, it will be very difficult to do much else, which is pretty much why Testament is top tier. Basically, try not to let this situation happen, though it's easier said than done.

If you have lots of tension, you could also go for an Ino gambit like manuever by HS VT -> RC, Air slash SE -> FRC -> Air dash. That should be a last resort option though.

Some Testaments will try to ghetto you with poke into forward EXE beast over and over. This is not legitamate. FD or IB the poke and then either 1F jump out or, if you're bold, Greed Sever over the incoming forward EXE beast for an attempted counterhit.

Neutral

Testament has a slight edge in the Neutral game in that Ky is compelled to not let Testament do what he wants. Once Testament gets a decent web and tree configuration going, it will be difficult to earn the in that you need to attack him, so you have to prevent that. You can accomplish that with TK SEs, ground SEs, and generally staying slightly out of forward EXE beast range to attack Testament at a moment's notice and get your in.

Testament will counter with reverse EXE Beast, and possibly poison counter to start his in, or maybe even a random badlands. Just remember that both the poison counter and the first hit of badlands is a burst point, so you can auto-burst there and be okay unless he RCs.

If you stay at the right distance, you can earn an in with a TK air HS SE, FRC dash, as Testament will have immense difficulty in preventing Ky from getting in without a web/tree config to protect him.

Offense

The reason that I don't think it's 6-4 is because Testament is rather hopeless on defense against Ky. In XX, #R and Slash, it was 6-4 in favor of Ky because Testament was hilariously hopeless on defense with Ky. The front EXE beast gives Testament an extra defensive option that swings the matchup in his favor, but it's still not that good of an option. Ky can choose to do anything and everything he wants once he's in, including nearly free jump-ins as Testament has a very difficult time dealing with well timed jump ins from Ky. Testament is pretty much restricted to dead angle, FD, one frame jump, poison counter, forward EXE Beast, and super, which aren't very good options. You can take higher risks on offense here than normal, simply because of Testament's rather poor options.

The forward EXE Beast is Testament's best option, but after awhile, you can get a sense as to when the Testament player will throw an EXE beast or not, and counter accordingly. Jump slash, or TK air slash SE FRC air dash will ruin Testament very quickly if he gets too EXE beast happy. If you can't figure out when the Testament player will throw an EXE beast, you should guess towards counterhiting Testament with 5HS, 6P, 2HS or HS SE in gaps where Testament may throw a forward EXE Beast, as the trade will be in your favor.

The round at 50:14 is a good example as to how quickly Ky can destroy Testament on offense, even when you screw up multiple times.

Overall, Testament has a slight edge because of the rather difficult neutral game and because of his absurd damage when you're on defense, but again, I think it's draw odds at best.

Although this is an #R vid, I consider this match vid to be required reading for studying Ky v. Testament. Mitsutoshi is known for a generally passive and riskless Ky, but takes some risks here simply because it's Ky v. Testament. The important things to note are the difficulty Testatment has in playing defense, the rather absurd things Shonen is forced to do on defense to fence Ky out once Ky has an in, and above all else, Mitsutoshi's rather godlike tactics for ruining people for FDing on defense.

[BladeOfJustice7]

I've been reading through this thread avidly now that I'm comfortable with playing GG and Ky again. I hope I don't seem demanding but I would ask for a matchup breakdown of I-no and Potemkin.

Thanks.

[ehuangsan]

Sure. I guess I have a to do list now:

Upcoming:

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Greed Sever

Ky v. Ino

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

Ky v. Potemkin

Defensive Tactics - Kurainige

[ehuangsan]

Defensive Tactics - Kurainige

Gonna do this one next because it's easier to do.

A staple defensive tactic that the Japanese use sometimes is called "Kurainige", which means "take a hit on purpose to run away". Not a terribly difficult concept. Sometimes, when you don't know what's going on or when you wan to try to quickly reset a situation to neutral when you're down, it can be good to purposely take a hit in the air just so you can tech out and reset the situation.

This is often done by the Japanese during some oki or pressure situations, where they will purposely backdash, or 1F jump, or sometimes, normal jump to take a hit. The result is that you sacrifice some life to get out of a disadvantageous solution which may have costed you more otherwise. The idea is that your opponent will most likely not be expecting you to be in aerial state, and will try for a ground chain that will whiff.

Here's a good example at 3:31-3:35, where instead of defaulting to blocking, I jumped to take a hit in the air just to reset the situation and prevent Slayer from having an initiative, which can be rather devastating to Ky.

Here's another example from 1:24-1:27, where May is a little too far to do good oki, so I backdashed to either 1) cause a whiff to counter with stun dipper, or 2)take a hit and reset the situation. I felt that was better than 1F jump, which risks a May airthrow.

There are certainly many possible situations where kurainige can be used. However, this shouldn't be employed too often, as your opponent may catch on and start chaining into something that leads into an air combo instead. I personally think this should almost never be done outside of a midscreen footsie situation every now and then to avoid the risk of eating a damaging air combo.

Upcoming:

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Greed Sever

Ky v. Ino

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

Ky v. Potemkin

(requests)

(Offensive Tactics - Corner Katame with Ky)

[Surf]

So I've been performing Kurainige all this time and I was none the wiser. It's an interesting tactic to say the least. But its actually backfired a lot more times than it's worked for me. Especially if someone has the reflexes to do directly into an air confirm combo.

[ehuangsan]

Yeah, there are some people and some characters like that, who can react or smoothly go into a damaging air combo.

Ino, Sol, and May are examples of characters where you would do it rarely, since it's not terribly difficult for them to transition into an air combo.

It's not something you would do terribly often, just once in a while to catch them off guard.

[Mike Z]

Ernest, my thanks to you. I'm going to be linking to that "go analyze your matches afterward" post forever. This thread is really good!

Looking forward to correcting your Ky v. Pot. (^.-)

[ehuangsan]

Ernest, my thanks to you. I'm going to be linking to that "go analyze your matches afterward" post forever. This thread is really good!

Looking forward to correcting your Ky v. Pot. (^.-)

Heh, thanks for the kudos.

I will await your critique on my upcoming Ky v. Pot, when I get to it. m9(｀･ω･´)

BTW, play Aquapazza! That game is a laugh riot. I would like to see the hilarity that you come up with for that game. It also has Tamaki, the best grappler ever made in the history of fighting games.

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Greed Sever

A lot of people dismiss Greed Sever as a worthless move, or as a combo only move, especially when watching Japanese match vids, where the move hardly ever seems to make an appearance. Such people dismiss it even to a point where they never use it, and laugh at people who do. And yes, as a straight up overhead, it is quite bad because it's a bright flashy move with Ky screaming "GRREEDO SEBA---!", which many people will block easily.

However, it does have some value for counterhitting or attacking whiffed moves. Especially, when your opponent does things like whiffing because of pushblock, IADing too much out of aggressiveness, or pushing a frame advantage situation a little too hard, then it is a perfect opportunity for Greed Sever. The reason you don't see that too often in Japanese match vids is mostly because Japanese players tend not to make these kind of openings, so it's somewhat rarer for Ky to punish such things in a Japanese match, though they do exist. That is also a sign that the Japanese respect the Greed Sever somewhat and try not to let that be an option.

So it may be good to either 1) notice when your opponent is hitting too many buttons and pushblock/Greed Sever, or straight greed sever as a yomi, or 2) induce such whiffs with a jab whiff throw/crossover Greed Sever mixup or other tactics.

Two examples here from 2:14-2:22, where Slayer was just being way too aggressive and gets caught up in several Greed Severs for his troubles.

Some people also try Stun Dipper FRC -> Greed Sever. It seems like a ghetto trick, but there are certain types of people where it will be pretty effective. However, that's more towards understanding Stun Dipper tactics, so I'll explain it then.

As I mentioned, it is bad as a straight up overhead, but one exception is when your opponent screws up in an "OH SHIT" moment and defaults towards blocking down back, backdashing or hitting a 2p/2k in a frame neutral/frame disadvantage situation. That is where Greed Sever as a straight overhead may work.

1:45:39-1:45:43 is a hilarious example.

Upcoming:

Ky v. Potemkin

Ky v. Ino

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

(requests)

Maybes:

(Offensive Tactics - Corner Katame with Ky)

(Vid study - Faith (Ky) vs. MSY (Eddie))

[Surf]

Nice write up Eh-San. I usually use Greed Sever when

>Im staggering with 2P or 2K close enough so it will cross up

>On their wakeup for crossup overhead

>Throw baits

>To avoid certain lows/whiffs

I don't use it too often in blockstrings but I do every now and again. Just wish he got better damage off of it though. I haven't seen much use of it in any videos but how is FB Greed Sever in +R compared to the original other than being much faster. If you know

[ehuangsan]

>Im staggering with 2P or 2K close enough so it will cross up

>On their wakeup for crossup overhead

I can't really recommend using greed sever purely as a cross up overhead, as the risk/reward isn't really worth it. Especially in the first case, because your opponent is presumably blocking already, so he's not going to be inclined to hit any buttons.

That is why it is important to entice your opponent to mash buttons, so you can get a counterhit factor in.

I don't use it too often in blockstrings but I do every now and again. Just wish he got better damage off of it though. I haven't seen much use of it in any videos but how is FB Greed Sever in +R compared to the original other than being much faster. If you know

I have not tried +R so I do not know.

From my understanding of the match vids that I've seen, I think the reason it isn't used is because it's just a knockdown on hit, unless it counterhits.

Useful, perhaps, in replacing VT as a defensive option because of its invincibility and because it's safe, but dunno if it's really worth the tension on offense.

Especially since the Japanese are not really inclined to mash buttons on defense without a good reason.

[Surf]

Ah ok, that makes sense. Ive only seen FB Greed Sever about twice in all the +R videos Ive seen. It really comes down to wait kind of player Im fighting when it comes down to my Greed Sever uses. If someone is inclined to try to poke me out of my pressure with 2x normals i usually go for it to train them to stop. But Im usually trying to induce them to press buttons as well with throw baits or just walking forward slowly. But Im usually not doing that unless I have meter and have seen the players habits

[ehuangsan]

Ky v. Potemkin

This matchup is a clear 6-4 in favor of Potemkin, as Ky has the same problems that Chipp has in this matchup. Ky is the fly that is trying to ticky-tack the flyswatter, with the knowledge that one momentum run could end the round. Not quite as mistake intolerant as Chipp, but you also don't have as many attack options as Chipp either.

Opening at round start

Unlike most other characters, for Potemkin, there is only thing to consider in the start of the round: Do I 2D or crouch block? There are no other decisions to consider. 2D beats everything Potemkin has except for Mega-fist. If Potemkin tries to Hammerfall, you jumpcancel the 2D when it hits into an air FD block, then land and punish.

Because Mega-fist is Potemkin's only option to beat 2D, he may do that sometimes, which is why the only other decision is to crouch block. If he does it, you can respond with gold burst, or if you have sharp reflexes, HS VT.

Neutral

Your best poke in the entire match is surprisingly, Jump HS. You should space yourself just outside of jump HS range and use this, and intermittently do far S, 2S, 5HS or Stun Edge to keep Potemkin guessing. Potemkin only has one real answer to jump HS, and that is 2S, but he has to slowly inch in and get it. If he starts to do that, then you can do counterhit air S SE, FRC, airdash to suddenly seize an initiative and do some actual damage.

Potemkin cannot recklessly jump in because Ky's jump p, jump k, 2HS, and 6P will keep him out. However, special mention should be given to jump D, which you should either 1) backdash out and punish with 2D, or 2) if you are very sharp, run past him and 5HS for air counterhit.

If he does a fireball reflect, you have to make that a non-issue quickly by either blocking or double jumping over it. Sometimes, you can stundipper underneath it to surprise potemkin as well.

If he slide heads, airdash HS will earn a combo. If he hammerfalls, depending on your situation, backstep away, do the weird 5S->2S->5HS string to hit him out, or block, in reaction to FRC/hammerfall brake/full hammerfall.

As indicated above, basically you are fencing him out and trying to hit him with a ticky-tack if he tries something.

Offense

You have to attack as if you are a fly trying to attack a flyswatter. Essentially, your play should be riskless, and you should pick up ticky-tack damage off of Potemkin by constantly moving and keeping him guessing, and going for various katame patterns. Especially, on knockdown you should either go for the safe air mixups (e.g. air backdash S), or from a throw, a CSE and then attacking with a katame pattern.

One example katame pattern is, from 2D distance 6HS -> jump D/FB D -> air CSE, and occasionally mixing it up with 6HS -> 2D instead. Potemkin has to guess which one you're going to do, and either 6P or block. If he 6Ps and you 2D, you can combo immediately into ground HS SE for good damage, so Potemkin is forced to be somewhat at a watch and wait mode. If he tries for heavenly, you can actually just gold burst in reaction.

Another katame pattern is 2S -> 5HS and either SE or not SE. Potemkin has to guess, and if he guesses wrong, you can run up and do it again. You can't really pick up that much damage from this, but again, you are really trying to just ticky tack him to death.

Though you have to push the initative when you have it, don't push it too hard. Again, the main concept should be riskless offense by sticking and moving for low damage.

Defense

The goal is to escape quickly with backstep, or one frame jump and to re-establish your distance back into neutral.

However, RTL is also a surprisingly effective option against Potemkin. If Potemkin does a slidehead from half screen distance or less, then that should be an automatic punish with RTL by using the "psychic RTL" trick that I mentioned. For example, if he tries to slide head on your getup, then you can auto wake-up RTL. If he does it off of a 6HS or mirror, IB the 6HS/mirror, then RTL or backstep out.

VT FRC is also somewhat awkward for Potemkin to deal with, though this should be used sparingly, and only in reaction to movement or pokes.

If you get caught off guard by the slidehead and can't react quickly enough from 6HS/mirror, you can actually DAA or burst to avoid the slidehead, if you time it right.

Don't be afraid to part with meter or burst to end Potemkin's offense, as you can pretty much die off of one momentum run. Again, always go for a a stick and move type of play.

The first match of this vid is a good guideline as to how Ky should handle this matchup. Overall, this match will be long and drawn out with you hitting potemkin a lot, and potemkin trying to land a haymaker to end the round.

Upcoming:

Ky v. Ino

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

Offensive Tactics - Sensei's FB mixup

(requests)

Maybes:

(Offensive Tactics - Corner Katame with Ky)

(Vid study - Faith (Ky) vs. MSY (Eddie))

(Vid study - Machabo(Ky) vs. Ogawa (Eddie))

[Surf]

J.HS huh, and here I was poking with 5/2S most of the time. In this matchup I usually just keep away and annoy Pot and wittle down his health in the process. But my poking was occasionally punish by that rushing move he has that has super armor. But usually i could stun edge on reaction if I see him doing it and punish. Its still a dangerous situation though so Ill stick to zoning with j.HS from now on. Im also usually using my meter to lay out FB Crosses to keep him in place or to discourage him from getting in. Many times has it saved me from him getting a confirm off slidehead. Pot wouldnt be such huge pain in the ass if it werent for slidehead, that move is retarded on so many levels. I also found it really really hard to anti air his jump ins. With 6P im usually trading with him and with 2HS Im CH before the normal even comes out. But maybe intercepting him with j.P or j.K is stronger?

Thanks for the writeup btw Eh-san