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ehuangsan

My Ky Trade Secrets thread

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my first post after hiatus for 5 years :lol

just wanna say this is amazing thread, love it and really help me learn a new trick

especially the analysis really interesting one , love it

good job keep it up :D

Thanks.

The Art of Preparing Good Home Cooking - Part II

2) Developing alternate play styles/strategies

Sometimes, you may run into somebody who knows the orthodox matchup better than you do, and playing the matchup straight up leads to an all out loss. Or, they play in such a manner that the orthodox way of dealing with the matchup no longer applies. Famous examples include D.C.'s chuck all the coins and try to win within the first 25 game seconds style of Johnny, and, for those who play in the West Coast, PhaethonH's all out blitz and set the screen on fire style of May. Playing normally against such people may end up in losses as normal rules don't seem to apply anymore, even if they are playing "sub-optimally". After all, the game is played by humans, and sub-optimal strategies or play styles can certainly work against people who have never seen it before, or induce more errors from the opponent than would have happened had the match been played "correctly".

This is why I think it is a good idea to have one or two alternate play styles for a match, even if it isn't really the correct way to deal with the matchup. That way, if all else fails, you have a plan B which can swindle a victory if they aren't prepared to deal with it. This is especially effective if you can get a feel for how the other person plays, and switch to a different strategy to more effectively counter their playstyle.

Here's an example I prepared against Anji. I had played many casuals against Aquas where I would sit in the corner and play 100% defense, no offense just to see if he could initiate any useful offense. Sometimes he succeeded, other times he didn't. In the course of doing so, I created an alternate play style against Anji where I would not initiate any offense, but instead compel Anji to attack and counterpunch accordingly. This vid (from 2:49:37) is the result, and it's something I can keep in my back pocket if I find that I am failing miserably against Anji on offense.

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This is almost like the opposite viewpoint of creating chaos and variance correct?

I don't see why it would be; it is very in-line with that creating chaos writeup.

You can employ the alternate play style or strategy to create chaos or induce variance, as you are dragging them into someplace that is far away from the normal matchup.

Like that 100% counterpunch, no offense style against Anji isn't really the best way to deal with that matchup, but sometimes, when you stumble across an Anji player that knows a lot more than you do in the classic matchup and refutes every one of your attempts on offense with a lot of damage, you try that instead to see if you can drag him into your game. It's very high variance and rather chaotic since yes, he could crush you very quickly, but maybe you refute his offense with orthodox defense mixed with pure nonsense instead, (e.g. Ino Gambit VTs, air CSEs as he is coming in on offense, very risky slashbacks into counterhit, etc.), which could frustrate the Anji into making even more mistakes, which you pocket to result in a swindled victory against an Anji that was otherwise the better player.

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Eh-sama I would like to ask for a write up on the dreaded Baiken matchup and Venom as well. Though I basically follow your matchup template of Axl to deal with venom since essentially you must blitz both of them, due to their stronger zoning/keep away tools.

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Eh-sama I would like to ask for a write up on the dreaded Baiken matchup and Venom as well. Though I basically follow your matchup template of Axl to deal with venom since essentially you must blitz both of them, due to their stronger zoning/keep away tools.

Sure, I can do that.

Ky vs. Faust

Pretty standard 6-4 in favor of Faust. Faust is kinda like a better version of Ky, but with worse defense.

This matchup is also very straightforward, although somewhat bad for Ky, so I don't particularly have that much to say. It's basic street fighter of Ryu versus Vega in anything outside of SFIV, only Vega can throw arcing projectiles on the screen.

Neutral

Faust's pokes are annoyingly better everywhere, however, ground Stun Edge wins quite often as an abare. So basically you will abuse ground SE a lot in the neutral to look for your way in, and ground SEs will also prevent him from doing projectiles or doing FDC jump HS. If Faust doesn't provide an opening, then TK FRC HSSE into air dash will start some instant offense, but you have to find the right time to do that.

Faust will trade hits with you by walking under ground SEs to hit 2P or 5S, or whatnot. You can sometimes check him with 5S and 2S, but more often than not, Faust will win out ground exchanges, so just SE a lot, like 80% of the time, and run in 5S/6HS/2HS/2S/throw when Faust tries to avoid the SE. 2HS and jump K will stop the pogo, so use that in reaction to pogo, or 2HS when you think he will pogo.

Basically you will be staying at the ground, throwing SEs/2S/5S until you either FRC SE or TK FRC HSSE airdash to get in. Faust will hit you a lot with random pokes from this distance, which is why he is favored 6-4, but basically Ky will trade life away quite often for an initiative try.

You will not be jumping in at Faust very often, as even air S SE will just lose out to 6P. Jumping in at Faust in the neutral game is very often a ? or a ?!, because he has the best anti-airs in the game.

As for the projectiles, double jump the bombs, air FD block the meteors to avoid 6HS shenanigans, air S SE to kill the mini fausts, dodge the rest. If Faust chucks a chocolate, Faust won't be able to throw any more items for a brief moment, so use that as an opportunity to get in.

Offense

On oki, you want to do star oki/Ain's Prison/Sensei's FB mixup/air CSE or CSE to ensure a katame pattern, as Faust's defense is rather bad close in. However, 6K should be avoided for katame, as Faust can 5D or FB out. SE katames can also be avoided by FBs, so you have to watch Faust's gauge carefully. Otherwise, Faust will be patiently blocking and looking for a way to 6P or 2P out. 5K will beat out Faust's 2P, so it's sometimes okay to use that as an abare.

Just like the Axl matchup, Faust will have some difficulty in keeping Ky out, so you don't have to do anything ridiculous. However, 2HS abares should be employed every now and then to go for counterhit.

Combos should end in 2D so you can jump cancel into jump K and do combos that way, if you don't have tension. Otherwise, go for damage with a HS SE FRC or FB.

Some lower level Fausts may try to super out. That is a ?? because you can jump over him and IK him when that happens.

Defense

Don't get overheaded by 6HS or FDC jump K. That's pretty big, and Ky's losses can often be attributed to this.

VT is almost worthless, so don't bother. Stun dipper sorta works for a counterhit abare, and greed sever may be slightly better. However, both options kinda suck. Jumping is also more or less banned, so basically, Ky will look for a way to just push Faust away without jumping and/or hit Faust with SEs/5S/2S to keep him out. If Faust goes for 2K, you can use that to FD him away.

This match is annoying in a similar manner to Ryu vs. Vega. I recommend playing ST or CVS2 Ryu vs. Vega matches if you are not familiar with the analogy.

Upcoming:

Ky vs. Baiken

Ky vs. Venom

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

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

(requests)

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Ky vs. Baiken

Part of the unholy trio of horrible Ky matchups. Arguably 6-4 in reality, but it would not surprise me if it is actually 6.5-3.5. In previous GG versions, Ky was actually a slight favorite due to various tools, but they took almost all of them away in AC while enhancing Baiken's options against Ky.

So the name of the game is to wage a war of attrition, with an occasional haymaker gamble, while realizing that Baiken can crush you very quickly if things go wrong or if she gets the chance.

Neutral

This is the war of attrition. Ky's goal is to ticky-tack life away and keep Baiken out. Occasionally he goes for a haymaker to see if he can catch Baiken sleeping. Ky wins or dies in the neutral game against Baiken, but Ky is luckily even or slightly better against Baiken in the neutral game.

At far distances, you will abuse lots of SEs and mix them between ground and air. This forces Baiken to respond with something other than jump backward door turtling. She can't guard cancel and hurt you at the far distances, and if she tries, you can react with something. If you have a life lead, then include JDs or air FBs to just keep her out and compel her to do something rather than initiate any offense. Baiken in the air is a lot less dangerous then having her run in close to you, and you can counter her jump ins with 6P/2HS/j.k as appropriate. If she doesn't respond correctly, then it's okay to be content with Faith Barraging her to death, but most Baikens aren't that bad.

At 5S distances, you will check her every now and then with 5S, 2S, and 6HS, but this is the distance where she can guard cancel you. So at such distances, you stop SEing and try to check yourself back to SE distance or bait her into doing a guard cancel. Basically, you will only put up token resistance and immediately back jump k or jump s to re-establish distance, for example, stutter step in close 5S into back jump k/s, or 6HS into back jump k/s. She may get impatient and try to guard cancel sakura or otherwise, but then you can punish with airdash slash or other things.

If you have 25%+ tension, then you will occasionally want to go for a haymaker mixup by an "oh fuck it" close the 5S distance run up and either throw or 2D into HS SE FRC. Baiken does not take damage well, so if she guesses wrong here you can deal some very good damage exceeding what you would normally expect from Ky. It's rather high risk/high reward and things can go sour very quickly if she guesses correctly, but Ky is unlikely to win off of ticky tacks alone so you just have to ante up and go for it every now and then, especially if you are down on life or if she has no burst.

If you are REALLY baller, you can punish whiff claw with stun dipper and RC into good damage. This was a lot easier to do in the previous versions of GG, but the timing in AC is very tight due to the slower stun dipper in AC.

Offense

There isn't much that Ky can do on offense against Baiken, which is why it's such a horrid matchup. So basically, you don't bother with offense too much and just kick it back to neutral.

When you knock Baiken down, you can kick it back with a pikachu to tack on damage (Baiken takes fair damage from this), or your favorite OTG combo, or CSE and do nothing.

Good Baiken players can do a reversal FD/guard cancel option against all of Ky's oki, so just let her be.

One ghetto trick to try is if you're up against a sakura happy Baiken, then you oki with 5K then 6P or stun dipper to counterhit. That will work maybe once.

Wake up super for Baiken is a ? or ??. If for whatever strange reason Baiken does this and you happen to be there (why would this happen?!), IB the first two hits, then backdash out of the third hit into an immediate 2D > HS SE FRC for good damage.

Defense

All Ky can really do is basically FD her out and try to super jump air dash away. Don't let her initiate anything.

When Baiken has 50% tension, then she has a very stupid instant overhead/low sweep mixup, where guessing wrong leads to 40%+ damage, and she can initiate this mixup off the block string. If you let this happen, especially in the corner, there is a very good chance that you will die very quickly. You can sorta mitigate this if she's approaching you from the ground with a wakeup FD to try to push her far enough away so that the instant overhead whiffs. If she safe jumps HS though, you just have to guess after the ensuing tatami, land and pause, instant overhead or 2D. If you IB the HS and then IB/slashback the tatami, you can try to Ino gambit out with SVT to pray for a counterhit, but if she reads that and blocks into immediate guard cancel, you are probably going to die.

Her jump HS will also counter hit trade Ky's anti airs in her favor, if spaced properly at close range, and most Baikens cancel into tatami straight afterwards and as close to the ground as possible to initiate offense.

If you are baller, you can slashback the jump HS and counterhit her out of the tatami with a 5P. I would recommend practicing this, because this happens quite often.

Overall, this matchup is quite bad. Basically, don't fuck up in neutral. Or switch to Sol if you suck at neutral.

Upcoming:

Ky vs. Venom

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

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

(requests)

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I'll post my woes with regards to the Potemkin matchup here since this is the most active thread.

Ky v. Potemkin

Neutral

ON neutral I don't have to much a problem, except trying to get in close and determining when/if I should fire stun edge. But it is specifically Hammerfall that gives me a hard time especially when I fire stun edge and Hammerfall eats and leads into a CH combo on me. Also dealing with this move on a whole gives me a hard time and I have a hard time reacting to Hammerfall if it catches one of my pokes, I know you're supposed to jump but it's hard to see it coming.

I also udnerstand that Hammer Fall is unsafe on block but when ti is frc'ed or broken in mid-dash I'm unsure of what to do.

Offense

On offense I find I hard a hard time pressuring Potemkin for extended periods of time, I know I should try and find opportunities to grab him but I often find that I will quickly start eating IB>PB or back dash>PB and I am not sure if I just lack variation or pressuring Potemkin requires me to pressure differently. Personally Potemkin and Sol give me the hardest time on offense since they shut down Ky's basic mixup game. While I don't bother to really mixup Sol and often end my pressure strings with either Lightning Sphere or stun edge, I don't know what to do against Potemkin since I am supposed to stay on him once I get oki on him from my understanding. Any advice on this issue?

Also it's been difficult determining when and how get close to potemkin since he destroys your health once you're knocked down.

Defense

Defense is when Potemkin gives me the hardest time since I am not sure when I should block or bask dash, this is due to Slide Head. This move feels REALLY ambiguous to effectively defend against and once it catches me occasionally on neutral I usually get blown up by this move and Hammer Fall. Dealing with Potemkin on wake up gives me a hard time and I usually don't survive.

I've been investing a lot of time in watching Ky vs Pot, but these specific problems seem to give me a hard time.

Also does anyone have advice for performing tk-stun edge, I've been at it for a few days now and it feels different from other tk motions found in other fighters. I frequently just end up doing sj forward with either s or hs :/

Thanks in advance anyone who responds to my questions.

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I'll post my woes with regards to the Potemkin matchup here since this is the most active thread.

ON neutral I don't have to much a problem, except trying to get in close and determining when/if I should fire stun edge. But it is specifically Hammerfall that gives me a hard time especially when I fire stun edge and Hammerfall eats and leads into a CH combo on me. Also dealing with this move on a whole gives me a hard time and I have a hard time reacting to Hammerfall if it catches one of my pokes, I know you're supposed to jump but it's hard to see it coming.

I also udnerstand that Hammer Fall is unsafe on block but when ti is frc'ed or broken in mid-dash I'm unsure of what to do.

On offense I find I hard a hard time pressuring Potemkin for extended periods of time, I know I should try and find opportunities to grab him but I often find that I will quickly start eating IB>PB or back dash>PB and I am not sure if I just lack variation or pressuring Potemkin requires me to pressure differently. Personally Potemkin and Sol give me the hardest time on offense since they shut down Ky's basic mixup game. While I don't bother to really mixup Sol and often end my pressure strings with either Lightning Sphere or stun edge, I don't know what to do against Potemkin since I am supposed to stay on him once I get oki on him from my understanding. Any advice on this issue?

Also it's been difficult determining when and how get close to potemkin since he destroys your health once you're knocked down.

Defense is when Potemkin gives me the hardest time since I am not sure when I should block or bask dash, this is due to Slide Head. This move feels REALLY ambiguous to effectively defend against and once it catches me occasionally on neutral I usually get blown up by this move and Hammer Fall. Dealing with Potemkin on wake up gives me a hard time and I usually don't survive.

I've been investing a lot of time in watching Ky vs Pot, but these specific problems seem to give me a hard time.

Also does anyone have advice for performing tk-stun edge, I've been at it for a few days now and it feels different from other tk motions found in other fighters. I frequently just end up doing sj forward with either s or hs :/

Thanks in advance anyone who responds to my questions.

You have the right idea, so work on that.

For hammerfall, just work on reaction upback or hitting another button. You have the time to. For HF FRCs, you have to kind of just hold that. You could DP after a hammerfall FRC for a retardedly risky ino gambit, but that's that. You can mash hammerfall break unless it's a point blank instant one, in which case you hold that too. If you're getting hammerfalled on a SE that you didn't FRC, you were...wrong, and it sucks. You should probably be careful where you stun edge and FRC or just bait the hammerfall. Potemkin's got decent answers to SE if it becomes predictable.

On offense, you need to be patient. That means learning the magic rainbow of sadness that ehuangsan mentioned and living by it. Do NOT go for the throw or get close to him unless you are confident and have garnered the utmost respect from your opponent. Sol, Baiken, Pot off the top of my head have amazing defensive options so you gotta stick to safe patterns. SE FRCs, TK SE FRCs, S/H pressure, occasional dash jab/kick mash to catch hammerfall/backdash. You can keep pot in the corner as long as you keep your distance forever, so no rush at all. For OKI, star setups into safe jumps or CSE into more pressure work fine. It can be your turn forever, as long as you accept your turn not being you going apeshitham since his defense disallows that.

If you get meaty slideheaded, learn to reversal backdash it. DP is risky since it'll whiff a differently timed slidehead. Learn to block Potemkin 6K, mix up your FDs and IBs, and general GG defensive advice. Potemkin's offense is very scary on wakeup. He has his low, his high, his ticks, his safe jumps, and you can DP if you wish, or just hold his mixup. Either way, if you're wrong, you're going to get chunked. Pot's strength as a character shines in his close range game, both offense and defense, and though you can avoid his defensive infight, when he's on offense, he's going to force himself on you and you better be ready.

In neutral, IAD over slideheads (watch for 6K bait *USA USA USA*) and the same applies to hammerfalls (FRC, upback, mash harder). You can stun dipper under flicks (ballsy) and just in general use your good pokes and your two angles (air and ground) to play your ticky tack game.

The most important thing is to be patient and have steady fingers! If you make an execution blunder or such, Pot is on the list of 'characters that will fuck you up for it' sitting near the top.

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Thanks for the timely response.

I will work on as much of these things as I can in training mode to work on my reactions to these things.

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Yeah, I agree with the above.

Also to add as written in the Pot matchup, he shouldn't really be catching your SEs too often as your primary weapon should be j. HS to keep him guessing, as Pot should be devoting most of his mental energy to doing something about that and not worrying about the SEs.

And, if he hammerfalls you in a poke (say 5S), practice autochaining into 2S-5HS to hit him out. If he brakes or FRCs, then that's okay since he'll just block.

Your SEs should be rather sparse and somewhat unpredictable, as if you're Ryu trying to yomi footsies with fireball rather than zoning with it.

The vid at 17:17-54:ish is a good example, even though I was playing troll Ky most of the time.

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Ky vs Venom

Arguably 6-4 in favor of Venom, feels like 6.5-3.5 when playing. IMO, Venom has been Ky's worst matchup in every version of GG since XX. Ky is forced to set the screen on fire and keep Venom doing something. Good Venom players can make decisions on ball setups very quickly, and Ky will try to push Venom to making decisions constantly.

Neutral

Letting Venom set up a ball setup unmolested is a ?, so Ky must always force Venom to react to something. HS SE and Air TK HS SE constantly and aggressively to prevent Venom from creating a ball setup. The goal is to force Venom to react so that you can move yourself within Greed Sever distance.

At closer distances (like 5S distance) use S SE and air TK S SE aggressively to push your way in as well.

You have to set the screen on fire and force Venom to constantly make a decision at every moment of the game. If you don't, then Venom can lock Ky down rather effectively from full screen, and you will be compelled to do stupid things like IAD -> IB a ball -> air dash again to push in. So rather than letting that situation occur, don't be afraid to trade hits with the balls to force the issue.

Offense

Venom does not have particularly good defense, although his 2D will beat lots of Ky's pokes and specials. Which is why you should stay just inside greed sever range at all times and again, force Venom to block or put him to decisions at all times.

To go for counterhits against Venom 2D or other moves, lean towards 6HS, Greed Sever and 2S to go for counterhit rather than going in close that often. Keep the pressure up, but also let Venom have a chance to hang himself.

Against Venoms that like to 2D in between chains to SE to hit Ky out, chain into Greed Sever instead. It's counterintuitive, but like, 6HS -> Sever will work against 2D happy Venoms.

Defense

The huge reason this matchup is so bad is because of Ky's crouching hitbox, which is extremely wide; almost as wide as Potemkin. Ky cannot break Venom katame of up ball to perpetuity without doing a standing FD/IB/slashback in the corner. If Ky does crouching block, Venom can up ball to infinity in the corner. So anytime Ky is sent into the corner by the Dark Angel super, Venom can keep him there to perpetuity unless Ky does something risky to get out.

Even if you FD/IB/slashback standing against up ball, Venom still has frame advantage and can simply block or win any ensuing attack. If you try to one frame jump out, then the up ball will make you block anyway, and then Venom can do a 6HS.

So basically you will have to watch for an upball and do a standing FD/IB/slashback against it, so you can try for a trade with 2S/5S/2D to push him out a bit and seize the initiative back, or try for a one frame FD jump and hope Venom doesn't take all your tension away with a 6HS. Venom usually wins out here by choosing to 2D or intermix other things with the upball instead which will trade or win in his favor. Unfortunately, there isn't really much else you can do which is why the matchup is so horrid, so you just have to ante up and try something off the standing FD.

Against Venoms that attack instead and don't know any better, 2P, selective FD and one frame jumps will break Venom's offense, and stun dipper will go under stinger. Most Venoms that I have encountered are not that bad though.

Yeah, this matchup is garbage. What can you do.

Upcoming:

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

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

(requests)

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I'm currently trying to to learn Ky's simple I.D combo: 5d>double jump>jhs>[land]>dash>s>2hs>js>js>jhs>VP.

While I have no problem doing the double jump currently, since i realized you must delay your jump after a successful 5d in order to get your double jump to go forward. I am having problems preventing the enemy from teching in the air, and I know that a truly successful I.D should prevent the opponent from teching at all in the air. Sometimes they don't sometimes they only fall half way, and sometimes they tech right before touching the ground.

I think a second delay is necessary before jh after the double jump or something along those lines. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, if I figure it out I'll post it up. But I was wondering in the meantime if someone could provide any advice for performing this combo.

Eh-sama would you be able to provide: a matchup write up for Jam (all I know is to make use of 2s), Anji, and maybe a write up of effective ways of using Vapor Thrust to interrupt your opponent's pressure, since I'll be participating in my second GG major ever? If you're not too busy of course.

Thanks a lot for what you have done so far in the Ky forums Eh-sama.

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I'm currently trying to to learn Ky's simple I.D combo: 5d>double jump>jhs>[land]>dash>s>2hs>js>js>jhs>VP.

While I have no problem doing the double jump currently, since i realized you must delay your jump after a successful 5d in order to get your double jump to go forward. I am having problems preventing the enemy from teching in the air, and I know that a truly successful I.D should prevent the opponent from teching at all in the air. Sometimes they don't sometimes they only fall half way, and sometimes they tech right before touching the ground.

I think a second delay is necessary before jh after the double jump or something along those lines. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, if I figure it out I'll post it up. But I was wondering in the meantime if someone could provide any advice for performing this combo.

Eh-sama would you be able to provide: a matchup write up for Jam (all I know is to make use of 2s), Anji, and maybe a write up of effective ways of using Vapor Thrust to interrupt your opponent's pressure, since I'll be participating in my second GG major ever? If you're not too busy of course.

Thanks a lot for what you have done so far in the Ky forums Eh-sama.

Actually, the double jump is done almost immediately after the 5D, like, as soon as you see Ky go into the air.

As for VT to interrupt pressure, it's generally not that great of an idea unless you are trying to go for an Ino Gambit. If it must be done as a guess and not on reaction, depending on the situation, SVT is used to try to get a counterhit into air combo, and should be used if you yomi a ticky tack or a jump-in, HSVT is used when invincibility is more important like reacting to May 6P or yoming Ino's super.

I'll see what I can do for the Jam and Anji matchup.

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The Power Of Choosing To Do Nothing

Young players calculate everything, a requirement of their relative inexperience. - Samuel Reshevsky

When having an edge, Karpov often marked time and still gained the advantage! I don't know anyone else who could do that, it's incredible. I was always impressed and delighted by this skill. When it looked like it was high time to start a decisive attack, Karpov played a3, h3, and his opponent's position collapsed. - Vladimir Kramnik

In pretty much any game, be it GG, chess, tiddlywinks, or whatever, your chances of making a mistake will go up with the more moves you have to make from non-forced decisions. So for two players of equal skill, if one player is compelled to to make more non-forced decisions than the other player who can opt to pass and simply not have to think, the player making more decisions will tend to make more mistakes, and the player who can pass without consequence will make fewer mistakes and thereby tend to win more often.

A lot of beginning to mid-level players will oftentimes avoid allowing an advantageous situation go to neutral, for fear of allowing the opponent out of the box or giving an opponent a turn. However, if the only decisions the opponent is allowed to make are forced moves, then good players will simply choose the forced move without having to think, be it block, DAA, or whatever. So sometimes, and especially if you are Ky and you have your opponent in the rainbow of sadness, it can be better to simply do nothing or something non-committal and basically pass your turn, and let the opponent do something. If Ky has the opponent in the rainbow of sadness, a lot of those choices presented to the opponent can be rendered to be a mistake.

From a strategy point of view, it's also effective because you don't really have to think as hard as your opponent, which is almost always a good thing:

1) Present your opponent with lots of choices from a myriad of options

2) Make small tactical moves to make most of those choices wrong, like moving in and out of the rainbow of sadness

3) Let the opponent hang himself

Your decisions are easy because you get to pass, whereas your opponent's decisions are hard, because he has to choose to do something among many choices, a lot of which are wrong.

A lot of negative style players will try to enter into these situations as often as possible. One of the big tell tale signs of a good negative style player is when you see lots of situations where he seemingly does nothing or innocuously safe/non-committal moves, and then his opponent suddenly inexplicably commits suicide. What looks like a complete blunder was actually induced psychologically from allowing the opponent to make the wrong decision.

Here is a vid example from 25:08 onwards:

25:09-25:16 - off of a simple block string, since Pot is in the corner and in Ky's rainbow of sadness, Ky passes his turn and just stands there. Pot tries to escape with a suicide dive, which Ky picks off with a 6P without having to think.

25:16-25:31 - simple tactics to put Pot back in the same situation - 2HS abare with the intention to either jump cancel SE if blocked or S/HS to place him back. Once back in, Ky pretty much does a whole bunch of nothing since he has Pot in the rainbow of sadness, Pot again tries to get out, and loses lots of life trying to do so.

25:35-25:44 - Ky just stands there again and passes, Pot does another suicide dive, though Pot FDs the ensuing 6P. Doesn't matter since Pot is back in that situation. Ky essentially passes some more by jumping around in the rainbow of sadness, Pot does a slide head which Ky punishes with air dash.

25:51-26:14 - Ky again pretty much does a whole lot of nothing without really thinking near the rainbow of sadness, Pot tries to do things but gets hit on reaction by Ky. Eventually Pot tries another ill-advised slidehead, which Ky punishes.

Though, pretty much the entire Ky/Pot set has good or hilarious examples of Ky doing nothing and Pot committing suicide in front of Ky.

Upcoming:

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

Ky v. Anji

Ky v. Jam

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

(requests)

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At this point I have a fairly good feel for most of Ky's matchups and eh-sama's write up of playing negative really helped my game. However I have a few simple questions against characters I still haven't really played yet at a high level:

What moves should I avoid blocking from eddie to prevent his katame?

How am I supposed to block May on wakeup? I typically guess wrong everytime.

How am I supposed to play the Chipp/Millia neutral game since they’re always all over the screen?

How am I supposed to deal with Jam on neutral and defense due to her rekkas?

Are there any moves I should be weary of against OrderSol/Dizzy/Faust/Anji?

Sorry if I seem demanding, but thanks in advance to whomever can help me with these questions :)

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At this point I have a fairly good feel for most of Ky's matchups and eh-sama's write up of playing negative really helped my game. However I have a few simple questions against characters I still haven't really played yet at a high level:

What moves should I avoid blocking from eddie to prevent his katame?

How am I supposed to block May on wakeup? I typically guess wrong everytime.

How am I supposed to play the Chipp/Millia neutral game since they’re always all over the screen?

How am I supposed to deal with Jam on neutral and defense due to her rekkas?

Are there any moves I should be weary of against OrderSol/Dizzy/Faust/Anji?

Sorry if I seem demanding, but thanks in advance to whomever can help me with these questions :)

Quick and dirty answers:

1)You don't. Eddie can initiate off of anything, so you don't block stuff if you can avoid it without getting knocked down.

2)Not sure what the problem is. If it's 5D/fake D, just hit her out of it, otherwise, just block stuff.

3)Space yourself correctly and let them try to attack you. It's pretty difficult for them to approach you safely if you are doing it right.

4) Block or hit 2D/2S as needed.

5) Anji is Fuujin, Faust is everything, Dizzy is whatever, and Order Sol is FB Fafnir I guess.

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Quick and dirty answers:

1)You don't. Eddie can initiate off of anything, so you don't block stuff if you can avoid it without getting knocked down.

2)Not sure what the problem is. If it's 5D/fake D, just hit her out of it, otherwise, just block stuff.

3)Space yourself correctly and let them try to attack you. It's pretty difficult for them to approach you safely if you are doing it right.

4) Block or hit 2D/2S as needed.

5) Anji is Fuujin, Faust is everything, Dizzy is whatever, and Order Sol is FB Fafnir I guess.

thanks eh-sama :)

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I have two questions:

1. I got blown up kinda hard at locals last night in the Robo-Ky MU. It feels as if once Robo-Ky gets on the offense, it's near impossible to stop him. What is Ky supposed to do in this MU? I would appreciate it if I could get any tips on fighting this guy so I don't get bopped as hard next time lol.

2. What utility does 6K have? I don't think I've found a use for it as yet.

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I have two questions:

1. I got blown up kinda hard at locals last night in the Robo-Ky MU. It feels as if once Robo-Ky gets on the offense, it's near impossible to stop him. What is Ky supposed to do in this MU? I would appreciate it if I could get any tips on fighting this guy so I don't get bopped as hard next time lol.

2. What utility does 6K have? I don't think I've found a use for it as yet.

Quick answers:

1) Depends on what he is doing. If he is using chains into bazooka too aggressively, then you can selectively FD and punish with stun dipper. Greed Sever is also pretty effective against Robo-Ky if you guess he is coming in low.

2) 6K is a very good move. It moves Ky forward, is plus on block, chains off of lots of stuff, counterhits quite often and cancels into a special move. Many chains involve something into 6K into 5K or HS SE depending on the situation.

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Ky vs Anji

I think it is 5.5-4.5 in favor of Ky. Anji gets his chances once he gets a momentum run going, but Ky isn't really compelled to do anything at all for a lot of the match, so the matchup must be at least even for Ky. The theme of the matchup from the Ky side should be "few chances for me, zero chances for you."

Neutral

You are given a lot of leeway as to how you want to approach this matchup in neutral. The burden is on Anji to demonstrate something dangerous, but it is rather difficult for him to do so unless you allow him to attack you. Ky has a lot of tools to fence Anji at his leisure in neutral. 2S, 2HS, 2D and intermittent stun edges give Anji headaches.

The main dangers from Anji are HS Fuujin, his GPs and maybe air dust shenanigans. For the air dust/confusion tactics, it's okay to just guess with 2HS or sometimes j.k if you are not sure what is happening as it will hit more often than it should. 6P may lose out to air dust shenanigans, but 2HS rarely does. HS Fuujin can catch your whiffed pokes, but if you are patient and don't give out too much for him to Fuujin, then you can react to the Fuujins with 2D, 2HS or 5K into sadness. Same with the GPs.

Anji will be compelled to set the screen on fire and will try to compel you to do things by confusing the situation, but again, you don't have to commit to anything until you want to for most of the neutral game, so it is difficult for Anji to break in. Anji can turn the match around very quickly off of a GP or HS Fuujin, so the negative style of making fewer decisions should be emphasized.

Offense

The reason why I don't think this matchup is 6-4 Ky is because Anji has many ways to break Ky katame and Ky's offense. In fact, I think over half of the damage that Ky takes in the match is because Ky tends to overextend against Anji on offense, and then Anji counter attacks into a lot of damage.

So again, offense should be rather non-committal by keeping a wary eye for GPs and HS Fuujin, by using sliding FD shenanigans, 2S/2D mixed with 2HS into jump cancel, etc. Anji can HS Fuujin or GP through a CSE, in between a 6K or 6HS katame, a stun edge, and many other situations. Keep it safe, don't commit to much and don't give much. There is no need to create chances by taking risks in this matchup, so take the safe options and give him no options for counterattack.

Defense

Similarly, Ky has a lot of ways to break Anji's offense very quickly. Against butterfly oki or even FB butterfly oki, Ky has many options. He can simply block and selectively FD out the butterfly and random Anji pokes to mess with Anji's timing, or, depending on the Anji player, you can block the butterfly then automatically reversal VT. Either you hit Anji with the VT, or it doesn't hit and you eat the butterfly in the air for a kurainige, which ends Anji's offense right there. On a blocked HS fuujin, if your reflexes are sharp enough to react to the FB continuation, you can auto 2D->SVT->LJ into VT loop before blocking the FB fuujin.

So Anji has to resort to a lot of confusing shenanigans to keep a decent offense going, which is where the skills matchup begins. For example, he can do HS fuujin into kick hop for a throw or overhead hop, butterfly into HS fuujin, butterfly into the large overhead hop (FRC airdash crossover, or land throw etc.) etc., but most of these can be patiently reacted to and countered accordingly. The question is how much can Anji confuse the situation versus how much Ky can pay attention and filter out the nonsense. If you keep calm and don't get frustrated into overreacting to the nonsense, then it can be very hard for Anji to keep you on defense for long.

Although I think Ky does get draw odds, both sides get a lot of leeway to choose how they want to implement their strategies. So it's pretty much a matchup based more on skill than on particular theoretical knowledge, and the player who has a better grasp of how the other side plays will tend to win out.

Upcoming:

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

Ky v. Jam

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

(requests)

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I'll resume the writeups after EVO, as I am presently fixing my godawful execution and preparing some home cooking instead.

It will be the first time that I have seriously touched training mode in like, four years lol.

I will write about the home prep stuff after EVO ;)

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Alternate Oki - Stagger/run up 5K OTG -> FRC CSE

I revived this specifically for EVO and Dogura's Robo-Ky to refute the Robo-Ky delayed getup, and also as a surprise. It's merely okay in reality, but could be fun to toss out every now and then.

In the XX days over a decade ago, Ky players would occasionally do this. When #R came out, however, people abandoned this setup completely because Ky's 6P got worse, which eliminated the forward tech refutation. It was discarded and promptly forgotten about for almost a decade. Now that Ky's 6P is good again, there is nothing really wrong with this setup, other than the fact that it costs 25% tension. I think this will work okay in +R as well.

The idea is that if your opponent is downed and right next to you, then you can 5K OTG to space them at the perfect distance for a katame setup, and cancel into FRC CSE. As they're getting up, they will be forced to block the CSE and Ky gets a free mixup attempt at high or low. If they back or neutral tech, then Ky still gets the free setup. This can be useful to knock Robo-Ky out from the delayed getup, as he may not be watching for this. This can also be used off of a VT loop combo, a throw with a botched FRC, or even off of a stun dipper if you run up.

The problem occurs when the opponent is sharp enough to forward tech immediately after the 5k, from which two possibilities can occur. One is if the opponent reacts too slowly, which causes the forward tech to pop him straight up. In that situation, Ky can immediately j.k or j.p to seal out the air dash attempt and retain the initiative. The other possibility is if the opponent techs extremely quickly, which pops him forward and may allow him to air dash away, depending on the character weight. This is actually not that bad of a situation as Ky can retain the initiative by chasing after him from the ground if he gets the air dash in, and doing a 6P or 2HS as he's falling down. If he doesn't air dash and tries to attack instead, it becomes a perfect setup for counterhit 6P, 2HS or air throw instead. So although Ky retains the initiative, he forfeits 25% to enter into this situation, which may or may not be desirable depending on how you play.

Two examples in this vid: one @ 13:30 where no tech occurs and Ky gets a free katame, and another @ 34:02 against a slow forward tech which pops the opponent straight up.

Oddly enough, I did get to play Dogura in the winners final of my bracket, but he ended up choosing Venom instead of Robo-Ky because the matchup was much easier to win with Venom. Ha.

Upcoming:

Offensive Tactics - Effective use of Stun Dipper

Ky v. Jam

Other EVO prep stuff

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

(requests)

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Eh-sama could you provide a write up for the Ky-May matchup, I honestly don't know what to do here no matter how many times I play against this character.

And coudl you do one for the Ky-Jam matchup as well?

Also, what are your thoughts on ACR Ky, compared to say #R Ky and AC Ky? I found the use of 3hs to be incrementally useful to Ky's pressure/oki game personally.

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Sure, I could do that but it would be for AC as I don't really know how the changes in AC R will affect the matchups yet.

IMO ACR Ky is marginally better than AC Ky and a lot better than #R Ky. My impressions so far are that 5D is now bad to the point where it's almost unusable and 2D proration is bad, but now Ky is a lot more dangerous in the corner and the FRC lightning strike solves a lot of his endgame problems.

3HS is mediocre because it's slashback bait. People can almost auto SB the second hit after normal blocking the first hit and counterhit Ky which really sucks, unless you mix it up off the first hit, which doesn't leave Ky in a good position. It's still has its uses though.

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Sure, I could do that but it would be for AC as I don't really know how the changes in AC R will affect the matchups yet.

That's perfectly alright, no one drastically changed that whatever advice you'd provide would be deemed useless. And any changes made to characters, examples Chipp and Order Sol, is obvious enough for most players to take those into account when you have matchup write ups now.

IMO ACR Ky is marginally better than AC Ky and a lot better than #R Ky. My impressions so far are that 5D is now bad to the point where it's almost unusable and 2D proration is bad, but now Ky is a lot more dangerous in the corner and the FRC lightning strike solves a lot of his endgame problems.

3HS is mediocre because it's slashback bait. People can almost auto SB the second hit after normal blocking the first hit and counterhit Ky which really sucks, unless you mix it up off the first hit, which doesn't leave Ky in a good position. It's still has its uses though.

I find overall Ky has an easier time maintaining pressure with the vacuum affect of lightning sphere, and the inclusion of his old 6hs (ballerina slash). Also him becoming more of a threat in the corner makes him a more threatening character like the rest of the cast.

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