GGACR/I-No/Matchup/Axl Low

The General Gameplan

This is a seemingly complicated matchup that actually boils down to a lot of coinflips where I-No has to work much harder than Axl to earn the reward when she guesses right. You really need to understand the ranges at which certain moves are worth the risk.

The biggest entry level question is "What do I do about 5P?!
Easy there. It's not so bad. The move has a lot of hurtbox to it, so if you're standing at about round-start range your 5P beats it without committing a whole lot. You wont get anything, but you can deter him from just mashing 5P without taking on the risk of using a move like STBT. From slightly farther away 5K beats it, and still leans under it from really far away. From really far away if you have time for the full startup you can f.S, which will either counterhit for knockdown or at least pop him into the air, and either way you get a note on the screen (though if it's counterhit he has no hope to dodge it and you're getting oki). If you TK Hdive low to the ground, it beats his 5P clean.

The real threats are Rensen Geki (the green chain special move with the FRC) and 2H.

• You cannot directly challenge Rensen because it's a projectile with no hurtbox. You cannot STBT under it. TK Hdive would have to be done "too high*" to reliably cross over Rensen. You must jump over it, and then play a game about whether or not he FRC'd or did the up-chain follow-up... but in a lot of cases you can punish with jump to Sdive and score a pickup with 5K > HCL 6FRC6.
  • By "too high" I mean that it makes it possible to accidentally beat it with his other chains, and forces you to fall further to recover which makes it punishable on block.
• 2H has very little extended hurtbox (like right near his body), and you cannot STBT under it. You can TK Hdive over it, and that actually works at the same vertical position as going under 5P. If your horizontal spacing is right around the maximum for his 5P/2H then it'll be even on block (remember his fastest normal is 6f), and it'll link to 5K on hit without the FRC, allowing you to get a HCL 6FRC6 confirm.

If you can understand how to get around those two moves on the ground, and are not afraid of Rasho Sen hitting you (with experience you can dodge it even at round-start distance on reaction), he has very limited methods to get you to jump. If you're not jumping, 5P is actually not scary. Not only do you have various low-risk ways of dealing with it (such as crouching), but your more committed tools lead to plenty of reward. And if you're at the ideal horizontal range, TK HDive is actually a worthwhile risk.

This must sound like the kind of detailed breakdown that belongs lower in the guide, but you need to treat this as the starting point in this matchup. You typically want to be close to Axl or completely outside of his range so he has to commit to movement to punish notes. Otherwise he's going to harass you to death. If an Axl isn't reactive enough, they're giving you opportunities that they shouldn't and you can take advantage.

One more thing! Generally shoot notes just above Axl's 5P height and drop them on his head. If you don't do this he can extend a hurtbox into the note to pop it prematurely and then go back to harassing you.

Your Opponent's Gameplan

Harass I-No with long range attacks until he can get a knockdown, then move in just close enough to put on pressure without overextending. If he's at around the maximum 3P range he can much more easily challenge I-No's buttons and push her out if she blocks correctly, to keep her from getting too close. Axl also doesn't want to let I-No get outside of the range of his chains because he'll give her opportunities to shoot notes.

When Axl scores a knockdown or forces I-No to block Rensen FRC, he's going to run in to about max 3P range and run a mixup with the advantage. Pressuring I-No and running mixups at about the round start range is ideal for him. If he pushes her out to long range he gives her opportunities to work with. He wants to be relatively close where his mixup and pressure options are strongest, but not so close that I-No becomes more dangerous.

Spacing & Advantage (By Screen Position)

Up Close

Since Axl's fastest normal is frame 6, if I-No is in range for 2K to make contact and actually cancel into 6P with that move also making contact, I'd say she's close enough to be at advantage. Both characters can hurt each other at this range, but I-No can take advantage of more scrambles since she doesn't have to commit as much as he does at this range.

• I-No can TK dives from outside of Axl's 2S range, and crouch under his anti-air chains and punish them on reaction with knockdowns at the very least, or big damage confirms.
• TK Dives and "random" j.D can blow up 2H and Rensen. The meterless reward is better for I-No than it is for Axl most of the time.
• Watch out for Axl getting a counterhit 5H. It's a great anti-air move that's underutilized by Axl players.
• Don't forget that there are two versions of Bentengari. The S version is active on frame four, with above feet invul and throw invul, and an FRC window of 7~8. Though this is mostly used on wakeup, Axl can also throw it out in neutral at this range if he thinks it'll help him beat one of your moves. He may also use either of his catch counters, though neither of them can catch projectiles.
• Hachisubako is an attack with autoguard frames, similar to some of Anji's normals.

Round Start Range

I'd say this range is even. I-No has fewer options that work from this far away, but she can still create scramble situations that go well for her. It's just that Axl is in a position to do the same, so our options went down as his went up.

• I-No 6P will beat Axl's f.S at exactly round start range, but no further. You can also beat this normal via STBT.
• Axl can go for S Raiei Sageki (the crossup overhead) as a decent gimmick round opener to keep your mental stack high. If you jump to try to beat it via j.P or airthrow, he could have just stood there and pushed an anti-air button on reaction, and now you're eating 30% and getting knocked down. Not a good start to the round.
• 2S > HCL is commonly a good round start option for I-No and it works well enough here.
• Don't be afraid to block his first string to see what he's doing. Without meter to Rensen FRC he has to leave a gap to make something happen, so he's probably happy to just push buttons willy-nilly to see what you're going to do. Look for opportunities to punish that.
  • IB if you can since it'll help you get to 25% for a real confirm or a dangerous mixup once you take control.

Long Range

This range favors Axl, but not all is lost.

• Careful with Note, HCL, and f.S. All of them can be effective, but if you do any of them at the wrong time Axl can whiff punish you pretty bad for it. You'll also get clobbered by Rensen going under your hitbox and hitting you.
  • You can HCL to stuff Axl trying to move forward or stick a chain out at the wrong time.
  • f.S can be used to control the space where his 5P or 6K are going to be and fish for a knockdown, but you're going to get clobbered by anything else.
  • As much as you want to shoot notes, this is a bad range for it. You should try to be far enough outside of the range of his chains that he has to move before he can push a button to stuff your note startup.
• If you're near max range of his 5P/2H, as mentioned above you can TK j.236H ("psycho crusher") to beat both of those moves and get in on an Axl who tries to control space with their normals mindlessly.
  • Axl can be patient and then 6P or 5H you on reaction... but if he's waiting for a chance to do this, he's giving you the chance to back up or get closer to him, which is what you really want.
• You can STBT under Axl's 2P. There's maybe one situation where he can kinda justify using 2P in this matchup, which is on Oki from too far away to do anything better, and even that runs the risk of wakeup Desperation clipping his chain for 1 hit and a knockdown. It's expensive, but then we get 5-hit note oki so it's worth it for I-No.
• Axl's j.S covers a nice downward angle, but is actually pretty easy to beat clean with 6P and convert with f.S into either an airdash string or j.H for knockdown.

Full Screen

This is probably slightly our favor again, just because we have the opportunity to shoot notes without getting bopped every time. Just be careful about it. Hit the extended hurtbox on his chains when it's the right time for that, shoot notes when you can do it safely, and block when you have to. Again, Axl needs to get close for damage to be threatening. He can try to Rasho Sen you from all the way over there, but with experience you'll be able to react and FB jump every time. Even if you take the unblockable, it's not a lot of damage - what's scarier is that he gets to get closer. And actually, from this far away you can even delay your jump to visually confirm he didn't feint so that you don't waste meter.

• Reward for the TK j.236H strategy is lower since you wont land at the perfect spacing to link 5K > HCL 6FR6.
• Getting a note onto the screen safely means you can pressure Axl's position pretty well.
  • Again, be careful of him extending chains into the note to pop it prematurely. You can probably call out this behavior with HCL:E to knock him down though.

Button Interactions

• 5P:
• 2P:
• 6P:
• 5K:
• 2K:
• 6K:
• c.S:
• f.S:
• 2S:
• 5H:
• 2H:
• 6H:
• 5D:
• 2D:

• j.P:
• j.K:
• j.S:
• j.H:
• j.D:

Escaping Pressure

Common Axl pressure strings include:

• Whatever > 2H > 6H/2D/5D
  • If you IB the 2H you can 5P or 5K (depending on horizontal spacing) a 6H.
  • Just block the 2D and 5D on reaction. He'll follow up the 2D with Rensen most of the time, but sometimes he'll get cheeky with Rasho Sen or maybe the crossup.
  • He can't special cancel the 2H, so his options are actually very limited.
• 2P > stuff (WIP)

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