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Kuuhaku

[CSE] Rachel International Videos + Critiques

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here are a few matches from last night's danisen league;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkujC_p6udE

me vs noel at 9:50, vs hakumen at 12:50

l've been trying to be way less offensive and instead waiting for opportunities to come to me. especially vs noel, whom i've been treating as a slim, female tager. execution is still horrid though, midscreen pressure and wind managing too.

as always, all critique is hugely welcomed.

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Have you tried using TK iris in your regular zoning and pressure?

As long as you know that the opponent cannot get past the rod in the time it takes to activate TK iris vs regular iris, you should always use it since the +frames are ridiculous.

For example, you can push someone towards a rod with a random blockstring ending in 5b or 6b and then TK iris to get enough +frames for a relatively safe 4b or maybe even a throw.

If someone blocks TK iris during zoning, that usually leads to an unpunishable frog/pumpkin summon too (I'd have to test against Makoto, Jin, and Hazama full-screen DDs). The only times I actually use regular iris are after 3c or for frame trap purposes.

You can also maximize the time you spend zoning with windless lobelias. Try to visualize this:

1. Opponent blocks full screen winded 236c.

2a. Do TK iris (blocked) and 236c immediately after. Opponent cannot run under 236c.

2b. Do regular iris (blocked) and 236c immediately after. Opponent can run under 236c.

3a. Opponent blocks 236c. Do TK iris (blocked) and 236b immediately after. Opponent cannot run under 236b.

3b. You are forced into the neutral mid-range game (bad end :/)

4a. Opponent blocks 236b. Do TK iris (blocked). Set up frog/pumpkin (good end :3)

Unless you're facing someone with fast long-range attacks (Lambda, Noel, Litchi, Tsubaki), crazy mobility (Tao, Valk, Hazama) or people with dangerous supers (Jin, Makoto), these things can really frustrate your opponent or at the very least give you a lot of time to regen wind.

I realize I just named like half the cast there. Oh well. If you're fighting one of these characters though, blocked lobelia > TK iris can still lead to safe frog/pumpkin summons. Just have to be smart about it. This is also why characters like Ragna seem to just auto-lose to good zoners and why Carl, Hakumen, and Tager were given those anti-zoning tools to at least stand a chance. Those matchups were so laughably bad in CT.

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that seems really helpful. no l dont usually do tk iris despite the benefits. but since you put it in such a good perspective, a gameplan around it sounds wonderful.

hey kro, you know alot of stuff clearly, can you help me with my midscreen pressure?

alot of corner stuff dosent work as well midscreen that keeps her in close range and in a good position. lm having trouble extending pressure outside of 5b 2b 236a stuff. summoning pumpkin mid-string dosent appeal to me too much. so what should l do when l get in the foe's face (that dosent destroy the wind guage) besides the normal high/low/throw stuff, because people are starting to wise up and block well.

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Against defensive opponents, I don't really try to keep up pressure midscreen if I don't have a pumpkin or frog backing me up. It's honestly not that good. If people are determined to block and start getting good at blocking j.a overheads I like to end a blockstring with 6b, IAD back to summon pumpkin, and opt for a more defensive/baiting playstyle. Once the pumpkin is out, you can catch them the moment they let go of block.

Basically, you want to make them more aggressive by doing things that make them think you're gaining an advantage (i.e. summon frog, pumpkin, regen wind). They either let you do it or they attempt to stop you. It's also way more effective when you have a life lead. Outside of the murakumo units, no one can really out-turtle a Rachel.

So the next time you get them in a blockstring midscreen they might be prepared to chase you instead of looking for the j.a overheads, which will allow you to open them up. I play defensively by default so sometimes I have to be unexpectedly aggressive to make them respect my options.

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LK bodying me. Apologize for the video quality and shaky-ness, was using my cell phone.

http://youtu.be/AuLlm65qttg

http://youtu.be/MXlhlmPe2UE

http://youtu.be/ci6jVmv8hDw

Only watched the first match but how come you use j.2c so much like at 2:16? j.A, j.b, IAD back to summon something, 4b all actually would work better i think.

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It's kind of from habit. My blockstrings in general are pretty weak and I need to hit training mode to work on them more.

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thank you kro. l suppose stopping pressure to summon is a mixup within itself.

as silly as it sounds, l think watching testament vids will help me out with this since their traps are somewhat similar.

tofurr, l enjoyed the part where you did a blockstring into winded 3c, and after the 3c did j.2c for the counterhit. l was amazed actually. that was a neat way to take advantage of the +0 3c has. overall good play imo. as said above, j.2c in blockstrings arent that great, but you did some smart things.

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http://justin.tv/alex073088/b/291016727 omni

http://justin.tv/alex073088/b/291000277 chaz

I want to put them on yourtube but it wont let me. My matches offstream were far more brutal then these. After losing to omniscythe my first game i beat 5 other players then went omni again and lost. shaking my head makoto, i seem to never be able to get my wind back against her.

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decided to drop everyone and just practice rachel (and tsu), and I think sticking to one/two characters has improved what I should be doing, though I still have a long way to go before I can be consistant with the princess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b9Ra3-HdAc

a bunch of me vs zeth (ignore the first match if you want because im using tsu lol)

I studied this matchup and applied some of my strats, but even still he did open me up alot especially with 5c and command grab lol. also, I was trying to do some of my own made up combos, but my execution is just shitty. sigh

its 32 minutes so you dont have to look at all of the matches - but by all means if you want to youre going to make me a happy camper. so yeah... critique appreciated! and enjoy :v:

and of course thanks to zeth for uploading

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I've seen you do a few Baden Lily -> (Aerial) Tiny lobelia instead of 2C. Is that by accident or were you trying to set up a combo? I'm curious in case it was supposed to be a combo set up, what combo you planned.

I also saw a few slip-ups with comboing in air and finishing with 2C which is no critique but made me think of myself haha.

Also nice use of George, and rods

But really, dropping everyone else seemed to have payed off I guess. You're pretty good! :keke:

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Are you me? I dropped everyone but Rachel and Tsubaki too.

I noticed you maximized damage by getting those extra hits whenever you catch someone with George. That's good stuff.

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I've seen you do a few Baden Lily -> (Aerial) Tiny lobelia instead of 2C. Is that by accident or were you trying to set up a combo? I'm curious in case it was supposed to be a combo set up, what combo you planned.

I also saw a few slip-ups with comboing in air and finishing with 2C which is no critique but made me think of myself haha.

Also nice use of George, and rods

But really, dropping everyone else seemed to have payed off I guess. You're pretty good! :keke:

I'm not sure what you mean in your first sentence. If you're referring to the air lobelia j2c fatal trick, well that's a combo within itself. the lobelia is added because it has to be in order for the combo to work.

As for dropping j.2c enders, I was never good at ending with it for some odd reason. I'm usually too early, or too late. It is rather inconsistent in a real match, and I haven't been able to adapt to the different timings... since ct. lol

Thank you for the compliments. I have a variety of plans depending on the summons out, but my main plan is to get george out whenever I can. Then I can stay on the ground and recover wind, or launch winded seeds at the foe. I used to be very trap oriented but I'm liking the idea of aggressive zoning because it gets them into george or the corner (or both) rather quickly, and then I can do whatever from there.

Are you me? I dropped everyone but Rachel and Tsubaki too.

I noticed you maximized damage by getting those extra hits whenever you catch someone with George. That's good stuff.

lol.

I'm starting to get a feeling that I do better with short ranged characters. I absolutely suck with mu and litchi now, and i've been playing litchi for 2+ years and mu for most of cs. Tsu feels so natural as does Rachel.

I'm still trying to find an ideal george combo midscreen that can get more heat than the whole level 2 j2c bnb.

right now i'm working on this:

(frog hits, nearby pole) 3c(3) 214c walk jc 2d dj2c(lv2) 214a delay 5b 236a x 2(frog hits) 5b jc j214c (can do bbl ender from here)

It gains a shitton of heat and gives 4k barring bbl ender. The problem is whether it can be done consistently in a match as well as what I can start off with. Despite george being a core to my playing I still havent found the best way to get the absolute best damage from a george hit, so i'm just playing it safe for now ._.

Thanks guys for the comments.

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I'm not sure what you mean in your first sentence. If you're referring to the air lobelia j2c fatal trick, well that's a combo within itself. the lobelia is added because it has to be in order for the combo to work.

As for dropping j.2c enders, I was never good at ending with it for some odd reason. I'm usually too early, or too late. It is rather inconsistent in a real match, and I haven't been able to adapt to the different timings... since ct. lol

Thank you for the compliments. I have a variety of plans depending on the summons out, but my main plan is to get george out whenever I can. Then I can stay on the ground and recover wind, or launch winded seeds at the foe. I used to be very trap oriented but I'm liking the idea of aggressive zoning because it gets them into george or the corner (or both) rather quickly, and then I can do whatever from there.

(...)

Yes you're right, stupid of me. I was skipping through it and only paid attention to the last one.

I should've given a link. so people know what I meant.

But this is probably what you meant to do in the end in the first link.

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Well these two are combo movies I put together this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtC0HPu3hbQ

Is a multi-character vid with some of my best Rachel stuff, the combo afer lv2 J.2C into George is strong but hard to do online (or in general) and I am working on comboing another jumping 2C from it but so far has not worked.

The other one s just Rachel and was intended to be helpful and flashy but might be stuff everyone already knows (I am not that good at "inventing" devestating combos on my own yet).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArXXZf2M_wc&feature=related

I hope to help the Rachel forums in some way, she is definitely my favorite character and I am constantly trying to improve with her.

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good stuff. l noticed wuku's wind wasn't low very often, and it looks like his zoning is precise and based off of reaction. l also noted how dangerous random irises can be when scattered poles are left on the field, though the thought of not being able to shoot seeds because of 'perfect pole' positioning is a bit scary.

wuku might not know combos but he had some great basic fundamentals with rach, especially knowing when to get the pumpkin out and using her light weight to float until the time was right.

very nice. lf he got into the game there would be lots of good stuff to learn/watch.

as for jason d, well, l haven't exactly found the vid yet ._. but im looking.

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OK I really need some help. From me wasting my wind hoping for hits, to me dropping my combos altogether.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEfqL7aU-oY&feature=feedu

Do you Rachel pros think you could go over the video above and tell me what I should work on? I could use all the help I can get.

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OK I really need some help. From me wasting my wind hoping for hits, to me dropping my combos altogether.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEfqL7aU-oY&feature=feedu

Do you Rachel pros think you could go over the video above and tell me what I should work on? I could use all the help I can get.

Other players here can probably offer better advice than me (or correct/refute some of the stuff I said), but hopefully I'm not too far off the mark with my comments. Take everything I say with a large grain of salt, though.

From the first few matches:

- work on recognizing the height at which you should go for lvl 2 j.2c combos and the height at which you should instead be doing alternative air combos (j.c 2d JC j.c, or a standard air bnb)

- practice your 2c CH combos

- stop doing 3DC unless you're definitely going to end with frog oki or something. instead do 5D3C or 6D3C, seeing as how 3DC is, from what I can remember, not something you can combo off of normally.

I feel like some practice towards learning what ranges each combo/move works at is probably a reasonable idea in general, as well, seeing as how you were leaving weird gaps in your blockstrings and dropping combos because Ragna was too far away.

On a less Rachel-specific note, are you comfortable with barrier cancelling your dashes, playing footsies, baiting, and other such stuff? It's very helpful overall. :P

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l only watched a bit of it, but from what i've seen:

- he was ib punishing your 3c. its -3 on ib. by throwing he would make your 5a/2a/2c/throw etc completely useless. if he ib doing this, right after 3c do a j2c to catch the throw, or hold 3c to throw him off. lol

after bbl ALWAYS end with ground oki unless the air combo will kill.

your blockstrings were pretty autopilot. you might want to sneak in 4b's often. then, start frametrapping with 2a/2b 6b. always keep your strings fresh to open the foe up, and take a look at wind while pressure so you'll know what you can do to confirm/keep safe. for the most part ending strings in 236a is pretty safe.

keep a very sharp eye on your foe and trust your instincts/reactions. dont fall for the same trick over and over. note it and be ready to deal with it any time the situation arises.

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Okay blakmaphia. Going to post tidbits as I watch the replay. I'll number my points as I write them down.

1) 6CD during a blockstring really does push the opponent but it is also IB bait and gives your opponent a lot of meter. That one wind spent doing 6CD could be used for high/low mix-up instead. Perhaps you were afraid of Ragna DP but if you never give Ragna a reason to use ID then you cannot bait ID either.

2) At the beginning of the match you should summon pumpkin as soon as you can. Instead you opted for a jump back j.236C. I would normally only use this if I run out of wind and anticipate an approach. Otherwise just superjump back and summon pumpkin.

3) After 2C CH you had at least 50 heat so you could go for 5k+ combo.

4) Just finished watching first match. There was not a single pumpkin summon in that one. It's really important you get one out.

5) Watching 2nd match. Any type of Lobelia opening move can be beat out by one of Ragna's normals. After seeing the first match and how Leonil started his rounds you had low-risk of just doing IAD back and pumpkin. I don't know if anyone uses this but you can superjump backwards and do a backwinded IAD and summon pumpkin + frog right away and you have a safe setup. If they come towards you you wind pumpkin downward hitting them out of approach and often times you will get frog hit right after.

6) Leo is just getting in there. Use 236A if you notice your opponent is just running in.

7) Again. Weak mix-up is why your opponent is not going to open up. Use 4B! Go for 2D j.A mix-up. If he DPs then that's one more read you have on him.

8) Great. You landed BBL corner combo. However, don't end it in the air! This allows him to tech and get out of the corner for free. Instead end it with 5CC > frog. This opens up all sorts of options for Rachel and is where Rachel is the scariest.

9) Yes 3rd match. Finally a pumpkin summon. Don't be afraid to use wind on getting the opponent to block it. If you confirm block you can go straight into mix-up.

10) Learn how to hitconfirm what kind of 2C CH you get. If they are too high up then go for a j.C air combo instead. The optimal damage comes from a tricky j.[C] combo but even a simple j.C > j.C > j.236A would suffice. At times you can also go for sj.C > lv.2 j.2C combo.

11) Don't forget that you have Tempest Dahlia. Use it sometimes. Great for refilling wind. Use it for guard break opportunities as well by keeping an eye on your opponent's primers if you have enough wind for higher level TD.

12) Where you j.236X you could have also summoned pumpkin safely. At this point only go for j.236X if you have no wind.

13) Ouch. You got tech roll punished by Ragna 2B. You have to respect Ragna on your teching options. Just neutral tech and block. Occasionally you can go for the neutral tech + wind > stuff.

Well that's as far as I got for now. This should be more than enough to take in.

Oh and don't post in this thread if you have nothing to contribute Dorian.

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Thanks everyone who posted. I am working on my blockstrings and 2C CH combos currently. I'll post a newer video with some improvement...hopefully.

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