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DaRealZil

Leo vs Slayer

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Leo advantage

  1. Confidence in my matchup experience: very high
  2. Players I've played against: MacBlunts, LoliZero, Daymendou, Grant
  3. Slayer is a very evasive character who relies heavily on counter-hits and high meter confirms in order to do significant damage. In other words, he requires specific situations to convert into high damage. Slayer is weakest in situations where he is forced to anticipate the opponent's options. Leo does not need meter to do damage, he only needs good positioning. As a general rule, what makes this matchup positive for Leo is that while Slayer can contest the spaces Leo likes to control, Leo will do significantly more damage and run much stronger oki off meterless confirms than Slayer can.
    1.      An interesting part of this matchup is that Slayer can basically escape most of Leo's offense if he's willing to BDC K Dandy YRC, BDC jump, and BDC bite. Leo has to make tough and timing-specific callouts (like backturned super on a guess)  in order to stop Slayer from avoiding the 50/50's. However, ultimately this really doesn't matter because Slayer can't actually threaten Leo with anything worthwhile from this defensive position. Running away against Leo only allows Slayer to determine when the engagement happens, not necessarily how it plays out. As long as Leo is not over-eager to chase Slayer, Leo can methodically advance forward and force Slayer to the corner.
    2. Slayer can escape canned 50/50's better than any character in the game. If Leo gives up the idea of mixing up Slayer, he can instead focus on chasing him and putting him in defensive situations where Leo will get the better off the trade. Leo's dashing 5P 5K gatling makes an excellent meaty string against Slayer because if Slayer does BDC Mappa, Leo can get a full 5K cl.S 5H combo. Slayer can beat this with BDC bite, but that option will lose to delayed Leo 6K. Once Slayer inevitably agrees that he has to block, Leo can pepper in some oki.
    3. In this matchup, Leo's 2D is actually a very strong normal because of its high number of active frames. The most important interactions is that it will consistently crush Slayer's 2H as well as stop poorly spaced Dandy Steps. Slayer 2H is a low attack designed to beat low attacks from other characters. Unfortunately for Slayer, Leo 2D does the same thing but better. If this was the only thing that Leo's 2D beat, then this wouldn't be a big deal, but Leo's 2D will also beat Slayer's 2D and sometimes can beat his 6P depending on timing and spacing. Slayer also cannot punish Leo's 2D on block for significant damage unless it is spaced very poorly or on IB. 
    4. On the flip side, Slayer's 6P will beat almost all of Leo's normals and can CH them at almost any range, leading to a 50% damage combo even midscreen. The only normals that will consistently beat Slayer's 6P are Leo's 2K and 2S. Whiffing 2S is a mostly safe counter to Slayer's 6P, except that you'll lose clean to Slayer's 2H.
    5. Anti-airing Slayer can be a huge pain. His j.H has a bit hitbox as well has his j.D. Many Slayer players will use Slayer's j.2K to essentially float above Leo and attempt to mess with Leo's anti-air timings. If Leo is backturned, he can whiff bt.P as many times as necessary until Slayer commits and gets hit. If Leo is front-facing, he can whiff a 6P and block any followup against Slayer j.2K weirdness. The most consistent answer to Slayer is of course H Eisen Sturm, but it shouldn't be a go-to option by any means.
    6. Slayer can't really run any consistent offense on Leo. If Leo just does wakeup 4H, Leo's 5H/throw will beat most of Slayer's Dandy Step shenanigans. H Eisen will consistently beat Slayer's close-range options like Helter Skelter, and Slayer can't mess up Leo's Eisen inputs by crossing him up. Slayer's 5K or 2K > K Mappa string is extremely unsafe against Leo on IB because Leo's jab leads into a full rekka confirm.
    7. Leo's S fireball is incredible in this matchup for controlling Slayer's movement. At neutral, S fireball YRC is essentially unpunishable on reaction while also punishing most all of Slayer's Dandy Step tricks at neutral. Slayer can YRC to stay safe but he can't even turn it into an advantageous situation then. Slayer still has to block and Leo can assert pressure. Without YRC, Leo S fireball is still strong but the threat of Slayer IAD j.H is scary.
    8. Leo's backturned offense is very good against Slayer because Slayer's only actual reversal without super is BDC bite. Leo's bt.P is throw invincible and Bloodsucking Universe is a throw. If you use a meaty timing then bite can actually beat Leo bt.P by throwing Leo during recovery, but if Leo is willing to play a little loose with his move timings occasionally he can make BDC bite a big risk, which is actually pretty atypical. Dashing through Slayer is also not that risky. The worst that will usually happen is a throw. Slayer can do strong damage with throw RRC, but the throw itself is risky for Slayer to attempt with Leo's throw-invincible normals.
    9. This is a matchup where even though Leo should have a slight advantage, Slayer can win quickly with high damage off mistakes Leo makes at neutral. Even if Leo is playing perfectly, Slayer can still win with hard calls executed correctly, but Leo's kit makes him very well suited to fight Slayer even on Slayer's terms.

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