[CP] Tsubaki vs Rachel

[Kiba]

Discuss the Rachel matchup here!

[Monarch]

I have a few things to say after playing this matchup more. It's important that you pin Rachel down as fast as possible and keep her in the corner (while baiting her cat chair). If it comes to the point where she's away from you and setting up Tiny Lobeia, things just got tremendously harder. Once she gets in, her pressure and mixup are a bit scary. Because of this, neutral plays a vital role here. So, lock her down and don't her breathe.

[Monarch]

Sorry to double post, but did you guys know 421D>236D beats Tempest Dahlia? I found that very interesting.

[TeeJay]

Sorry to double post, but did you guys know 421A>214D beats Tempest Dahlia? I found that very interesting.

O_O what? you don't mean the 421D>214D version? Because woah?

[Monarch]

I sure do. Granted you have to be quick about it since you don't want to get during the start-up of 421D, but nevertheless a free punish.

[Airk]

Yeah, but it's way more fun to Astral through it. :P

[Kiba]

Um yeah, 421D > 236D is projectile invulnerable (from when the ball makes contact with 236D) so, it'll beat any projectile attacks, including supers.

[chzchan]

I realize I am lost here. What are you supposed to do in neutral? Also you can't DP out of her wind mixup can you, or at least I can't.

[TD]

You're supposed to use your speedy basic movement to get in the Rachel's face. Charging times are difficult here as you will be constantly giving her time to run and setup with every tap, so you must frazzle the rachel into thinking you won't charge sometimes, let her think you're going to get aggressive and she will aim in front of you, or vice versa with charge, they expect it and they will aim directly at you usually or setup their own army, then you can strike her on recovery of you're close enough/have the resources. This is the gist of the neutral vs a solid rachel.

Tsubaki doesn't really have much besides speed, but she does have some interesting moves that prove to be just enough to not make this matchup free. 3c is long range and low profiles lobelia shots including her 236a, pumpkins (except low to the ground/2d/3d pumpkins) and bats; even beats most of her normals, just be careful of rachel 6b closer in. As said tsubaki is speedy, rachel can shoot stuff out but she has to be careful more here without a pumpkin or enough time. Surprise 236c to whiff punish had zoning.

I don't think fireball is great in this matchup, j236a is a little better but eh. Air to air, a bit difficult, both characters have short range but rachel has summons. You can sjd semi freely fullscreen, just don't overdo it. Dives are ok every once in a while for breathing room or after a charge. Try to bait 6a, jb, jc, b and c lobelias through a combination of air movement and attacks, and then punish her when she thinks she has your air patterns down.

Not sure what moves tsu has to kill frog outright, if 3c works then great, otherwise may have to jump over. I know hyper charging star kills him and everything else rachel has: speaking of, this is the primary way of scaring rachel, getting two stocks and threatening with 421d 236d since its plus and completely stop rachel from doing anything hit or block. It is easy for rachel to dodge but she doesn't like the air too much, especially useful if rach has low wind since this forces her into a crossroad of block vs escape via air.

Tsubaki has a TD of her own, it beats Rachel's, but rachel can avoid it by jumping toward it and 9d on time, even on oki. Chase her to the corner, or confirm block or hit and go from there.

Whoever gets the other first has a huge advantge. As said keep her PINNED because if she escapes you might regret it. Cat chair is 5f startup so any blockstrings with 4 or less gap inside should do (factor in ib and barrier as needed).. Bait counter assaults, it hits tsu's torso area, so maybe she can 3c under it in successful prediction.

Always watch her wind and try to take advantage of every opportunity offense and defense wise. If you get hit don't panic, hold the L maybe take a few ja mixups and gain meter (try to ib any patterns you see for the meter!!), so you can counter assault or threaten with it

Practice ibing rachel ja pressure, it's 5b 9 2dja jb to start, then this leads to djb or land 2b and both lead back to 5b, so it's lightning fast but very simple. Barrier hurts rachel decently. Always try to punish whiffed moves if you can.

Wrote way more than I was supposed to lol, this is a basic understanding from a tsubaki perspective. There is definitely more strategy needed than just this, but I would recommend always trying to stay one step ahead of both her and her wind meter.

[chzchan]

Thanks for all the info. This all definitely helps.

 

You say the fireball isn't too great but I sometimes try to cancel out the pumpkin using either. I guess that is kind of risky.

 

Yeah Tsubaki's TD is kind of a terrible idea in this matchup because she can just hop right over everything like Amane, though it does cost her some wind.

 

I can barely block Rachel correctly, so IB is definitely not something I will properly be able to utilize in the matchup. When I get hit with j.A it is usually when she goes for the wind mixup which means I would have had to guess correctly and IB. This is completely beyond me online at least. I wish I had some Rachels to fight offline.

[TD]

While 421 d does cancel out pumpkin, it's really hard to find use anywhere else. Everything else projectile wise that rachel has beats it or in frogs case avoids it unless on startup by Rachel's hands (it will eat the fireball for free on summon in this case). Also, since an unwinded pumpkin cannot go away until rachel winds it or is hit herself, this method is unreliable. Not entirely sure is fireball eats pumpkin or clashes with it but if it doesn't eat pumpkin, it's not a great advantage for you. I -may- be wrong here as I haven't tested this stuff in quite awhile, though I vaguely remember rachel not having much trouble with fireball. In fact i believe 236a beats it free.

In terms of ja pressure, she can literally only do it from 5a and 5b. 5a is the nago slap and 5b the wind vortex. It's so linear yet effective that you really should always expect a ja coming from point blank. Because of this is why I'm saying to ib, but baby steps there. If you cannot just yet that is fine, though if you see a pattern used over and over you should definitely try so you can mash dp os against it. Her lows are more dangerous than ja but if they are blocked it puts rachel in a riskier scenario where she may not be able to continue pressure without a summon around or using more wind. Barrier is an alternative way to get her off of you if you block the 5b and ja combo.

[chzchan]

One thing I forgot to ask about which is super important, how do you catch wind tech or what do you do against wind tech? I don't really understand what Tsubaki is allowed to do, but this is largely due to lack of experience.