Caer-caveral

Because he was too far into the corner to do "proper" okizeme if he let him drop, and he had already gone past the point where you can get a sideswitch without it. It's not so much about damage as it is about proper setup.

Yes, of course it's harder from a counter. The counterhit makes the stop in the same place instead of being knocked upwards, making the second hit float them much lower to the ground that what's normal. Regarding the weird 1-hit looping, well it was probably just a fluke with distances, and I assume that there is a pretty low number as the maximum you can do before he can tech. I don't really think it's something all that good. Except for looking funny =)

Well, you can do whatever is easier for you, damage generally isn't that big a factor. Though I would say you should try and go for setup if you can, have them end up in the corner when you're done. Combos are in the first post. Exception is for light characters where it's generally good to just keep looping them.

Shinjin will be studying in Japan for a year, starting this autumn.

Only when I'm stopping by in Gothenburg (and he's not busy (which he always is)). SC#3 also marked a big moment for me, as it's the first time I've met Xzi in a final and not lost in a horribly humiliating way

Better late than never, I hear some famous guy said once. I thought I'd finally get around to upping the vids from Southern Cross 3. Q1: Shinjin vs SDF http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQvJDaBP7-8 Q2: Caer vs Nekomon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08XWcWgFaXE Q3: Yonasu vs Rensengeki http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do_UX5XkbiQ Q4: Nehle vs Xzi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZfGRofaI5s S1: Caer vs Shinjin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYhpwSOhE9A S2: Xzi vs Yonasu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc285iRW0Fc Bronze: Shinjin vs Yonasu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTFxXd7Vra0 Final: Caer vs Xzi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMUfWgfInYE We also had SC#4 last week, held in Gothenburg. Attendance was lower, but fun times were had by everyone present. No capping as the equipment was being a bastard. Results for that ranbat were: 1) Caer 2) Nekomon 3) Shinjin 4) Svampen Svampen is working up an awesome Bridget now. It's incredibly fun to watch. Final results for the entire season is as follows: 1:a Caer 7p 2: Nekomon 6p 3:a Shinjin 5p 4:a Yonasu 4p 5:a Xzi 2p With only 4 ranbats held this season, having varied levels of attendance and some upsets for characters selections, results may be a bit skewed. But it's been a blast having these large scale ranbats. How we'll ever get things done next year when official organizer Shinjin leaves us is still a mystery, but we'll try our best

Actually the best point about jS is that it doesn't increase your hitbox that much, but anyway... I don't believe in there being such an easy answer as one direction being the best. It's always dependant on your own and the opponents position. In quite many matchups the last thing you want to do is to retreat. I do agree however that of the possible choices, 9 would indeed be the one least used. So if we're only talking which one will probably be used the most, it may very well be correct. Still a pretty moot point though.

Antiair is always situational for Testament. 5P works very well when it does work, but you'll just have to try it against stuff to find out when to use it. For example, it will kill almost all of Ky's moves, but Chipp wins over it easily. 6K is good but may be a bit hard to use. It's all about getting a good sense for how your opponent moves. It's here that the net issue enters, as aireal nets may be easy to disarm, but they often require a a move to be used for that purpose exclusively, which means you are in a small way controlling your opponents movement. So the main goal here isn't really to keep them from being disarmed so much as to react well to when they are disarmed. And there is no single best way to use jS. It's all about spacing. If you want to get away, you use 7, if you want to advance, it's 9. If you just want to hold position, maybe after standing in a good spot in a well built fortress, it's just 8. And yes, that hitconfirm is very important.

throw combos are found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFWl_kZ5f1E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp4icZqH5sw Anyway, I don't really think about the tk timing that much. I do the motion pretty fast, and then it's mostly about pressing the button at the right time. Just mess around with it, you'll find it eventually. Good spot to practice in my opinion is to do a far gatling on baiken to 2D > BL > tk BL, because that's quite an important link in that matchup. If you can do that consistently, you won't encounter that many tk related problems.

moved HOS discussion to the matchup forum where it belongs.

Well, if I've understood the concept right, Slayer can get a fully invulnerable startup for DoT with a perfect bdc. So if you can do this, sure you can get it anytime you choose (you still have to IB 2D 2HS and 5HS though) but only if your bdc is flawfless. The other alternative would be to IB a lvl3 move and do DoT on the very first frame that blockstun ends. Possibly you could backdash away from it and Dot but that won't give a counter hit. This, fortunately, doesn't really seem reliable for Slayer.

yeah, that one works, and it's good for some of the more iffy characters like Johnny. On him, I have found that the combo you said, but with this added: 5S > jP > jP > jK > jS > BL(1) > 236P to be a good combo. However, in most cases, I find it preferable to do my standard 6P > S > 2D > HS EXE FRC > dash S > delay > jK > jS > jHS > BL 1-hit > sideswitch HS > net > tk BL > 236P The damage difference is small, it always gives you a curse, and for me at least it's much easier to do. You can also do it from even large distances from the corner by adding a bit to the aircombo. It's different for different character, but for example on Slayer you do jK > jS > djK > djS > djHS > BL(1), while on Sol you do jK > jS > dj S > dj HS > BL(1)

I find the easiest to be Slayer. I usually do throw > early 6K > delayed tk BL > HS (no dash) > BL > tk BL > 2366P I can get it pretty reliably on a few characters with that basic concept. About sideswitches, go here for a small essay on them (end of the post): http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3414

I haven't experimented that much but I'd say it's both character dependant and strict. It's easier if you start the combo while a bit further away though, gives you more time until they hit the net. I'm still not sure if it's actually useful. It IS quite difficult to perform, at least to do it consistently, and I'm not sure that landing a K-skull from that is advantegous compared to getting a corner knockdown and a P-skull.