[CP] Mu vs Kagura

[pochp]

Discuss the matchup here. This post will get updated with relevant information eventually.

[Zeromus_X]

Got to face a few decent Kaguras on netplay. He's slow so it's easy to outmaneuver him, but his okizeme is good enough to where he can seal out the round just by getting in once.

-His sonic booms come in A and B versions. A version is faster but can get popped by Habaya and any stray stein lasers. B version is weird in that it has more durability the farther away it is, but less the longer it travels. Habaya will trump it in either case but it can go through Totsuka and several Habakiri.

-His flash kick DP can't be crossed up since it's a charge motion, and it is air unblockable, so make sure to respect it. If you hard bait by running up and airdashing back, it is a bit difficult to always get a 6C FC because it doesn't have that much recovery. 5C CH > 6C > etc. is a more consistent punish in this case. Need to test and see if there is some kind of safejump we can do against it.

-Always be aware of his 6D~C "Coup Droit" move with super armor. It can easily catch you getting complacent at midrange by ramming through all of your projectiles. Non-projectile attacks can beat it, but if it's already active you may get into an unfavorable trade as it wallbounces on CH. One thing to keep in mind is that he still takes some damage from attacks he super armors through, so if they're at a sliver of life left, you can feel more safe to set up the laser fortress.

-If he gets in, good luck, you probably need to use a burst or Counter Assault at this point. His B sonic boom oki is almost perfectly spaced to just ignore Mu's DP as a reversal option. Once you have to block, you get to deal with a command throw (5D~B), a crossup stance that works in the corner(6B~D), and a 17F overhead (2D~A). He can get a combo of all of these that ends in the same situation, and he can pop an OD for 4k+ unburstable damage off the command grab. Thankfully the frame advantage on a lot of his moves is poor and he has a lot of gaps inbetween his chains, so his offense is usually short bursts of mixup rather than extended pressure. Also take advantage of the fact that our DP clashes pretty often against his stance attacks so get ready to mash like Jesus.

[bakahyl]

I thought 6D~C only has a guardpoint against projectiles because i have been hitting him out of it with j.2c

[Zeromus_X]

You're right - edited my post. I forgot about j2C since I would always trade with it, but pre-emptive j2C, 5C, and 3C are all good options.

[susano]

He hits like a truck but he's not impossible to beat.

[DaiAndOh]

Try getting hit by B Sonic Boom via not teching and air tech out right away...it's worked so far for me, but Kagura could have evolved past that...

[bakahyl]

Overall his neutral is worse than Mu's. Eventhough his c normals outreach Mu's, however it's startup is almost as bad as Mu's 6c. You can't misspace your normals against him, because his 2c and 5c will then beat your whiffed normals

You can't always start the round with 5c because i have seen his 3c beat it a few times , due to the extended hurtbox

edit on this: i have tried replicating this in training but it seems 5c does beat out his 3c most of the times. So i guess i was just too slow on netplay

j.c and j.2c seem good to keep him from approaching because his air normals seem to suck at fighting people in the air and his AA primarily hits vertically and it's really slow. He can't exactly dp you while trying to run in your face , because it has a charge motion. So it's fairly safe being in the air.

Because he is so slow, you can easily outrun him

His dp is however really annoying, you can't even punish that if you barrierblocked it in the air

Placing steins in the air works untill he does 6d~c, but like zeromus said that can be beaten with Mu's normals or avoided if you saved an airdash or double jump. Worst case if he caught you while setting a stein in the air, use a dp.

Don't go into a fireball war against him on the ground if he starts it unless you are at fullscreen. While habaya beats his "sonic booms", he still recovers faster than you and in worst case he can go through the habaya with 6d~c while you are recovering

[Runis]

Had quite a few matches against my friend's Kagura and he said that he can't actually DP on emergency tech since there's not enough time to charge? Doesn't that just mean we should aim for emergency tech setups most of the time?