Spark
[Downback] x N

How bad or good would you say the matchup against Rachel is?

Thanks for the reply. It's great to have your input. :]

Heya Spark! We've been having a big discussion in the Tager matchup thread. If you're willing to contribute it would be really appreciated!

We're currently more or less thinking it's a 5-5 matchup. Any opinion on that?

You can't run so on block if you can't reach him with 214A or 4C you can't realy punish it, especially if you FD it when you're jumping at him. Hotaru can win if you delay it a lot, but you have to get in at a low height for it to work. IADing in after a combo is almost useless on Hazama, it's easy for him to just AA with 2C or stance DP. I usually normal jump at him so that he's in j.C range so the only thing he can do to deal with it is 3C. So the neutral game is I do j.C which is safe against stance DP, 2C, and 236236B, but it loses to 3C. And if he decides to do 3C I can low air dash over it at the last second instead of doing j.C into j.2C/j.B CH the 3C into whatever.

Yeah that part after 6A I messed up my inputs. I meant to do Renka after it but somehow it didn't come out. I figured he would be scared enough for me to get back in with 623A or at least it would dodge some moves but he went right for 3C instead. How do you deal with his DPs? Not just Hotenjin but the kick he does off his stance. A lot of the time after I do a midscreen combo and IAD after him to get in on him, he will do a quick get up and do that move, and it stuffs all my approaches. So then I am forced to pretty much back off and not take advantage of my knockdown. Actually that move is a huge pest overall.

The stuff at the beginning was a little odd, 6A CH into 2B and 623A after a blocked 3C. A few risky IAD j.2Cs, but they worked out for the most part. Not sure if the extra corner push is worth spending the star after 2D, but that's more of a perference thing. If you get hit missing a counter it's going to lead to more damage than getting command grabbed anyway. Not much you can do about Hazama chaining around it's just the way the match up is, you can try to j.2A the chains, but if he's being careful the void doesn't do much for you. Overall it's probably in Hazama's favor since he can control how the match is going to go, you are at an advantage though if you're just out of his 5B/5C range. Your 3C is faster than his 3C and will out range everything else at that distance. Only thing to watch for is the IAD j.2C over your 3C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=H0La3Q-wQsA

Can you see if there's anything here that jumps out at you that I could do better?

Yeah it isn't really worth the risk, but I don't want him to get in either because then he can open me up with command grab and it's even worse. What do you do if he just tries to zone with chains instead of getting in? Against Ctrl he loves to go directly above me where I can't even see my character on the screen anymore because he is so high and just chain around forever, and it's practically impossible to get him when he's doing that. You either get hit out of what you are trying to do or just block forever and let him reset his chain count.

Also how does the matchup overall feel? Favorable, unfavorable, etc. I feel like he beats us up close and far away.

If you IB the chain you can always 623A under his attack. I pretty much never use 6D against the chain follow ups, the reward for landing it isn't worth the risk.

If you do the enma follow up it'll beat most of what he can follow up with.

Also what about the command throws.

You won't get hit out of it? I'll try it out.

Usually I block a chain, then it's a mini mixup between 6D and 6A based on how quickly he gets pulled in. If I 6A and he comes in fast I get hit out of it, if I 6D and he's not coming in ASAP then the 6D whiffs. And of course he could just come in empty too. Once I add 623A it might change that.