[CS2] Ragna vs Hazama

[Leonil_Requiem]

This is know as "The ground is hot lava!" Match-up in America. RTSD is the only way to go! Put an end to his plans and go for the astral when you can.

[Kalamity-X]

Annoying as hell when you have no patience whatsoever.

[Tong]

If he comes flying at you, AA CH 5A 5D will provide a nice combo, however it will sometimes lose to angled j.2C.

His close pressure strings are predicable, just watch for dat Gasaishou.

[YukiBlue]

When I mained Hazama, People kept running at me and jumping trying to dodge Chains.

Don't do that shit, You have to take your time. Let him Zone your shit and if he goes into "Lol 1337 Zoning" You can punish his 6D with Carnage Scissors. Although he can bait it. So watch out.

Other than that, Stop rushing and watch out for gdlk normals.

[LuminAbyss]

What Yuki said is true. Slowly approach him, make him get impatient and come to you. You have the advantage up close. You can punish most chain-ins with 5A or 6A, or even a well timed Divider. Be sure to watch and see how he's approaching if he decides to come in on a blocked chain (something he really shouldn't be doing).

When you have him under your pressure, do your best to keep him there. He has no real way out until he has 50 heat. When he gains 50 heat, BAIT AND PUNISH HOUTENJIN. That one move not only will beat everything you do except Divider, but it can also turn the match around in his favor, give him offensive momentum, and ruin your happy Ragna Rushdown day. If you can get him to waste Houtenjin, you can not only punish for a nice combo, but you also keep your offensive momentum.

Hazama's blockstrings are pretty simple. Watch out for his stance cancels or stance into flash kick. This will catch you if you decide to mash out of pressure unsafely. His stance into overhead is not too hard to react to, and I've had success just reacting with Inferno Divider everytime he goes for it. His stance low is slow, unlike his normal low, so don't worry too much about that. His 6A overhead is slow and easy to react to, but forces crouching, which can give him good damage with meter or corner. His normals are good, like Yuki mentioned, but lack the range yours have (minus 3C, which has deceptively long range).

Air approaches can be usually stuffed with stance flash kick or 2C, so be careful about those.

Basically, this match-up is all about who gets momentum first. Ragna has an easier time getting it at the start, but as the match goes on, Hazama gains options to easily turn it around. Even steven match up. One where you have to not only be smart and aggressive with your rush down, but also one where you have to know when to be smart on the defensive.

tl;dr Be smart about your approaches and pressure, match-up should be played as bait-n-punish once Hazama builds 50 heat.

[Rokunaya]

Only really shitty Hazamas use houtenjin at 50 meter, you should really worry about baiting it at 100%, that's when you have a legit fear, since the Haz will be FAR more willing to use houtenjin as a reversal to you get you out of their hair since they can be safe about it.

Honestly the biggest part about this matchup imo is IBing chains and mashing 5A should be decide to come in. You can make his time getting in relatively hard, as he can do the same to you, so just be smart and slowly gain ground against him, and let him waste his chains--- when his chains hit 0, it's time to rush him down WAY harder in neutral, since he can't just fly around anymore.

[Kalamity-X]

I agree. It really is a bait-n-punish game. Considering all his zoning options it pays to actually pay attention instead of the common rush-down approach. I wouldn't recommend an ID unless you yourself have 50 hit, just in case. And I would've suggested tossing a well positioned or distanced dead spike out there at the right moment to catch the Houtenjin but that's just unsafe altogether.

[ZeroRaider]

First you should test his zoning level, some are very heavy the zoning game while others may actually take the momentum in the match from you. (Because he can.)

His pressure and mixup are actually very good (Though most haz don't utilize it enough..) and shouldn't be taken lightly.

If they ARE being predicable, a good haz could make that a trap with jump canceled normal, look out for that, PLEASE. Hotenjin isn't that much great as a reversal anymore, don't make that priority when he has 50 meter, but always keep it in the back of your head.