[CP] Izayoi vs Azrael

[Velvien]

Discuss the Azrael matchup here.

Pros

Cons

Details

Ratio

[crimsonstardust]

Updated 2/3/14

broke it down to 3 sections so its not one huge wall of text.

Pros

-your movement is better

-can bait his "get of me move"

Cons

-has a number of ways to escape pressure (growler and dashes)

-has good overall normals

-strong pressure

-has a strong high low mix up game

-can absorb fireballs and use his fireballs to beat yours out

Neutral

Try to give yourself some space against this guy, your gonna be playing footsies in this match and if he gets in its gonna be a tough fight. At the start of the round if you know opponent likes to twitch you can open with a 236C to give yourself stocks and create space but it can be risky as they can just jump of it at the start. Use your sonic sabres sparingly as he can absorb them on reaction from full screen, mid screen its still possible but he creates the risk of you getting in for free. In the event he does absorb a fireball you still get 1 stock from it and his fireball will beat both variations of sonic sabre. Using 5B and 236C are gonna be your poking tools in this match and 6C isn't a bad one either and can be made safe with stance cancels or a sonic sabre and the GA counter part is pretty safe to throw out also and is pretty good for whiff punishing, and use 523B/C accordingly as well. During midscreen neutrals this is where he's got advantages on you, his 5C has some huge range and if he does a Gustaf its really safe even with an instant block, if you see 6C (the wheel kick move) you can stuff this with 623B and if your not feeling as confident with your timing using 6A is another viable way to stuff that attack and create space agan. When your in GA mode this is where it can be hard to approach cause using a Sonic Sabre to D teleport approach becomes pretty risky cause he can growler it on reaction. Your gonna be weaving in and out a lot to look for an opening as it is really easy to swat her out of the air during her hover dash if you are not careful. Careful with his dive kick as the paused start up will mess with anti air spacing and timing, better to avoid it if you can cause its safe on block also. Azrael's jB can stuff a lot of Izayoi's air normals, jA has a pretty good chance to trade or beat it, just depends on when its done.

Defense

This is where its gonna suck, hes got a lot of safe normals and a really annoying high low mix up game, on top of that he has his teleport dashes for cross ups too. The things to keep in mind with this match is to try and react to the overheads and the one fake one that goes low, there's no easy answer to this as he has two drives that have identical start up animations and they only have a 2 frame difference in speed, the over head variation is sightly slower so try to react to him doing an axe kick on you. Another thing to note is his drives only go high or low. This part of his mix up if you can instant block them more power to you can they are much more punishable if you score one. In the event he tries to cross you up with dashes and delayed 1A+B+C barrier throw tech option select will catch him low with a option selected 2B. Waking up with Justice Phorizer has 3 risks to consider, if he isn't pressing buttons against your wake up, he can 6A through this move and that move has invisibility on it, the second is I do believe he can growler the move and absorb it, and the last one is if he teleport dashes on you its a full punish. If you have thoughts to use mashing 2A as a way to get out be somewhat careful with that as his 5D he does a small hop that avoids lows. His 3C (drop kick) is pretty safe at max range so watch for his spacing and try to punish that move as best as you can, even better if you can instant block it. Be sure you have 50 meter on you as much as you can cause if you are marked high and low the only way to escape his unblockable set up with 5C into black hawk stinger is to counter assault out. There are instances where you may have to gamble using 6A or 6B against his drive mix ups to disrupt the high low game. You can avoid some low normals with backdash but it will not help as much against some mid normals.

Offence

Your most likely in GA mode if your ready to get in his face. As usual stay on him and bait wake ups and really vary your pressure on him. Unless Azrael is mashing for growler in between strings that are not air tight, you can use Sonic Saber A to keep strings safe and use the D version to get pressure going. On a meaty wake up using the air version of D sonic sabre he will not be able to growler out of it as its already hitting him so he has to block it or eat it. In the event you are in normal mode you best bet to open him up is trying to frame trap him with moves like 236B, which is a little risky to use cause its not as safe as the C version, don't forget to stance cancel also. You probably can sneak in some throws and get stocks like that too.

Useful tools

6A

5B

236C

623B/C

236C/D

Ratio

4/6 Azrael's favor

[crimsonstardust]

Alright I'm getting steamrolled really bad in this match these days and my previous assessment of the match is pretty dated now that the game has been out for awhile, this character has just really really stupid normals and pressure and approaching him feels like a death wish sometimes. ): Let's talk about this match cause I'm just getting sick of seeing loosing to Azrael and more people I know locally are starting to band wagon Azrael meaning I really need to know this match up.