a grimoire of self-betterment

[Cattfish]

i'd very much like to improve my skullgirls abilities over this summer. i suppose a bit of note-keeping would help the amelioration.

being as this is the first week that i am free from any school things, i'll label this the week one post.

general notes:

think more independently. i tend to confine myself into specific options without making fluid decisions by ear. i'm very susceptible to resets because i don't calculate every option.

relearn optimal combos for (most) every character. its been a while since my preferred combos were useful. specifically more mine combos with rfortune, gun combos with double, and stance combos with squigly.

messing up pbgc 33% of the time. that's far too much.

learning defense on keyboard. that's self-explanatory,

panicking when using a side character. matchup experience goes out of the window when i'm too worried about my own character and not the opponent's.

_____________________________________
robo fortune notes:

restrain random s.hk . proactively using overheads works best in slower games. not so much in sg.

use the nyandroids more. they're usually an afterthought and would do well to aid my neutral game.

neglecting level 3 and atomic collider super. i never use either. a modicum of change would help.


____________________________________

double notes:

less panic. guns are never the answer.

create better resets. all current resets, yet tried and true, could use some vitality.

don't pick the ugly colors beforehand. have some decency for the opponent's eyes.

____________________________________

parasoul notes:

f.hp > napalm shot is not consistent. this week should focus on tightening this.

find a fun use of midscreen s.hk that isn't big band assist related. big band is not fun.

____________________________________

painwheel notes:

learn fly combos on keyboard. sigh.

fiddle with a lame painwheel. take to the skies and enjoy the scenery whilst robo fortune fires beams from below.

use nails in situations that are not incoming.

____________________________________

beowulf notes:

learn chairless combos.

explore the best accompanying assist beowulf has so that he doesn't get coerced into the point character every time.

____________________________________

steam is ibelievein720. you too can believe. my connection isn't very good, admittedly, but i still try. apologies if my internet has caused anyone to foam out of the mouth.

 

[Cattfish]

week two update; albeit a rather tardy one.

goals achieved:
more proficient at pbgcs
learned the necessary universal combos
slowly pressing less buttons in the neutral

notes to work on this week:

experiment with robo fortune/fukua. perhaps even make it a trio. i like the mine conversions you can make with h drillationship assist, and the good burst punish combos with fortune level three. fukua does not seem that difficult to learn.

play more squigly. squigly and cerebella together feel like a harmonious duo, so use the both of them together. i'm going to use f.hp as the squigly assist; cerebella may profit off of the overhead. all guard stuffs c.hp assist with instant elbow drop and is most likely punishable.

parasoul still needs a lot of work. botching the input for pillar occasionally and still not maximizing corner combos with s.hk > tear toss.

get more matches in than this week. it was a rather poor playtime this week around.

 

[Sinclair]

I can help you with r fortune, it would help a lot if you could post a video of you playing her !

 

[Cattfish]

I can help you with r fortune, it would help a lot if you could post a video of you playing her !

i'm in the process of acquiring some video capture tools and uploading matches here. the aid would be appreciated immensely.

 

[mcpeanuts]

play more squigly. squigly and cerebella together feel like a harmonious duo, so use the both of them together. i'm going to use f.hp as the squigly assist; cerebella may profit off of the overhead. all guard stuffs c.hp assist with instant elbow drop and is most likely punishable.

Wouldn't Bella get more out of a low assist? Bella only has one combo starting low, her c.LK. She's got a few different options for overheads between elbow, instant j.HP, and Pummel Horse. Moreover, Squigly f.HP has slower startup and doesn't go as far as c.HP, which I would think would make it awkward to use for those times where you just want a lockdown assist and don't really care whether it's hitting high or low.

 

[Cattfish]

Wouldn't Bella get more out of a low assist? Bella only has one combo starting low, her c.LK. She's got a few different options for overheads between elbow, instant j.HP, and Pummel Horse. Moreover, Squigly f.HP has slower startup and doesn't go as far as c.HP, which I would think would make it awkward to use for those times where you just want a lockdown assist and don't really care whether it's hitting high or low.

i've taken a bit of time to experiment with both; as it stood the range on f.hp has not perturbed anything. however, s.hk > c.hp assist > pummel horse has worked out far better though, so i've changed my stance on the better assist. thank you coming in and giving advice.

 

[Cattfish]

yet another weekly update. this one should make up for the previous, deficient one.

i've officially settled on my main team.

double (cilia slide) / robo fortune (h theonite beam) / fukua (h platonic drillationship)

double on point is to ensure that robo fortune tags in at an advantageous postion. fukua's assist gives double excellent coverage, and beam works as a good long range pressure tool. i expect to have someone point out double's odd assist, but it does several things for robo fortune.

1. provides a meterless throw combo
2. provides a ridiculously strong reset/mixup.
3. provides robo fortune with a plethora of burst bait options
4. allows robo fortune to chain all hits of s.hp with hk danger
5. provides an easy air throw confirm
6. allows robo fortune to get good midscreen damage off of one mine with select characters
7. on an unaware opponent, the blockstring of robo s.hk > cilia assist works well

fukua's drill assist supplies robo fortune with a corner raw tag combo ala the one mike demonstrated in the robo fortune combo thread. it's also very functional in general.

i find fukua the best anchor of the three; as i may swap r fortune's and double's positions from time to time, fukua's third position is well cemented.

_________________________________________________
list of things i am proactively working on

i am learning both ms fortune and eliza. to continue, i like their synergy: particularly how stuff and lazydiablos utilize them. considering i voted eliza in to the game, i might as well enjoy her. i strongly believe that fortune is the best character in the game and that it might be fun having that much power.

i am learning fukua's resets. i know basic 214MK cross-under resets, but i lack necessary burst baits.

effective nyandroid gaining strategies with robo fortune.

big band combos and super parries. i can parry most air attacks and basic blockstrings but shademoneh has opened me up with fukua fireball super that has odd timing after parrying one or two ranged attacks.
_________________________________________________
list of things i should be working on

experience and patience. i normally never have the conscience to swap double out before she dies. being as she's integral to robo fortune's setplay, i've done a terrible job. i cost myself a lot of games because of it.

parasoul corner combos. particularly low air throw combos into light tear toss that hits the ground.

cerebella run stop combos and big band emergency stop combos (the latter off of throw).

the filia matchup in its entirety. back in SDE i was capable of fighting filia (as i played filia myself) but i'm no longer able to keep up.

 

[Cattfish]

almost one full month later, i'm back to update. this may come across as a character crisis or complaint post? interpret this as you will.

i feel like what i need is a ft50. a long set either greatly exposes my flaws or makes me realize how to adapt much quicker. either one would honestly help my mentality, as i feel like my biggest flaw is my neutral. playing one-and-done via quick match and or lobby play does nothing to set my composure straight.

i'm hopping around with different characters because currently none of my characters feel as complete as my parasoul. i have no fear playing solo with her, a large switch from when i was consistently satisfied with my solo double.

Characters

currently i can still only play "SDE-brand Peacock", chucking bombs and item drop without learning too much about the combos. unfortunately i can't make a lobby that says "beginner" and play peacock because then i win and it makes me look like a tool. i've slowly gotten the j.mp > j.hp > ADC > j.lp timing down but my air throw combos are non-existant. i'm really stuck on how i can learn peacock when there's no friendly environment for it.

i feel like i'm not ready for ms. fortune yet. i like playing her, and i like her movement and options, but i'm not ready to dive head first (or head off) into online play. i think i'll keep looking for a solid guide for her.

i'm slowly realizing how powerful eliza is. the beginner resources thread still lacks an eliza guide so i'm a little trapped feeling her out whilst trying to take notes while fighting Ward. regardless, i love axe and throne assist and would love to add her onto my roster. she's very overpowering and it'd be nice to play a character that's a little bit more offensive minded.

i'm creating a robo fortune guide. i'm no mpgame or liam but there is really not enough data about this character around. nothing optimal spread around, not many resets, not a lengthy discussion on her gameplans; from an outside view she looks too linear to discuss. she has so much capability and people are sleeping on her. new players interested could certainly use a boost in the right direction. i hope to make it a video and not a text post but first i need video recording software. i updated my two posts in the robo fortune compendium and i'm honestly very proud that i found an optimal HCH in the corner and that good air throw conversion. i hope to continue to find a good midscreen HCH soon.

beowulf. i can't say too much more other than he's my biggest matchup weakness. i don't understand him fully but i understand how good he is in the right hands. i've played rabbleflaggers quite a bit and he's got a highly impressive beo. i think it'd be good to settle down and complete learning him too, although chair less wulf intimidates me more than headless fortune.


What I should be/What I am doing:

I am studying mpgame's sets versus duckator and cadenza to break down robo fortune's neutral. she zones approximately 60% of the time and the other 40 should be j.mp or j.hk with assist backup. the way mpgame plays robo is that she is not the character to destroy an entire team, rather, she is there to whittle away an opponent's team before his real show (Val/Wulf) steps in. she is expendable but she can go beyond her expectations. i play with a large focus on robo fortune, and i think i need to reconsider how much weight i put into fukua and double.

I need to study fukua players. my fukua gets results but i have no idea what i'm doing. i need to learn the air fireball mixups, the weird conversions, the correct way of zoning. she is by far my weakest character. there is almost no need to have her on my roster except for the assist.

I also need to study akindhobo. I've played him and am constantly destroyed by his double. i could use to learn more about double through his matches.

I am realizing how many buttons i'm pressing in neutral and how i need to cut that out. what mpgame excels with is being patient with his buttons. beam is not called immediately after j.hp, air buttons are not thrown out everywhere. with double i jump and j.hp but i don't wait my turn and hop in evasively. the less i press, the more there's success.

i should stop playing so many characters at once even though i'm no longer comfortable in general anymore.

Players I want to fight more
(More or less people I've fought but felt like I play smart against)
ShadeMoneh. Something about playing Shade is nice; I can't put my finger on it but I feel like with enough practice I can pull even with him.
Zidiane. Back on SDE PSN I could easily go toe to toe with Zidiane but the year+ hiatus has put me behind. He's definitely a challenging fight but I feel like his Bella keeps me wary and patient.
Ward. Ward's team is overwhelming; his Eliza absolutely stifling. I would love to record matches against him and break down where his strength comes from. I have the least success against him versus the aforementioned other two; and its always very intense having to stay on my toes when i fight him.
Sydoh. Purely because his team's synergy is so fascinating to watch in action. it starts out like a clean neutral and devolves into pure offense as soon as I block a fortune c.lp .
Raz. His Bella is probably the best that i've faced online.
Gllt. I've played a lot versus Gllt recently and of course I've always looked up to him with Parasoul. I guess I'm just intimidated when we play; his team combinations are so foreign and beautiful when their tricks are finally used. i doubt i can take a match against him anytime soon; so i would probably need to wait before voluntarily going for another round on quick match.
Any good Squigly. I could use some matchup EXP for the guide, plus some EXP for myself.

______________________________________________________________
Will eventually compile some guide notes here later.

 

[Cattfish]

deleting the post from last night because it was shoddy and i can do much better than that. Again, don't play in a tournament when you stop playing a game for a week on top of playing other fighting games with different movement speeds and mechanics during that timespan.

Match One: catfish_blues (IBelieveIn720) vs Bang Camaro (Wario Weiner)
Link: https://secure.twitch.tv/dekillsage/v/78107876?t=44m56s

Spoiler

Game One:

45:03 I watched Bang's match vs Alcoholic Robot and saw that he did a variety of things on Round Start like Wulf Shoot and c.HP. I neglected to remember his Big Band assist call which took 1/6th of Fukua's life in the start.

~A whole lot of not blocking Wulf Blitzer

45:14 Beowulf is my worst matchup imo, but I'm always opened up by overhead when I play against him. I lose to regular c.LK a lot in this set.

45:28 I thought it was going to be the crossup chair, honest mistake.

45:34 A few seconds ago I got hit low because I expected a throw, jumping out again because I figured Bang would use it roughly at about this time (I avoided a mixup god bless).

45:36 Is just me being slow and forgetting to confirm

~I jumped around so much. Two random jumps and calling assist to save my butt. Also something that dekillsage points out, I give up the corner way too easily i.e when I just keep backdashing with RFortune. I lost with Fukua GGs.

Game Two:

47:16 Predicted Wulf Shoot but I didn't neutral jump because i suck. Also I use a lot of j.LK with Double and I don't know why? I don't.

47:25 Always holding upback made me block that wasn't even good defense on my part.

47:34 I didn't go for a throw and got bodied by high low.

48:00 -ish I called Fukua assist three times, two that connected and got me a combo and once that got me happy birthday'd.

Game Three:

49:00 I predicted that Bang would back off so I went for luger; it almost worked out. Bodied by Blitzer Count (2)

49:09 Bodied by Bliltzer Count (3)

49:15 I thought he fully read me with the lows so I blocked low for once. Got hit by overhead.

49:24 Why did I press a button.

49:47 Not respecting Chair yet again.

49:56 As I said in my last (albeit deleted post) I forgot how to play Fukua. She's still my newest character on my main team. I didn't need to level three at all; I blew myself up for the rest of this set because I forgot everything.

Match Two: cattfish_blues (IBelieveIn720) vs Verkir (Verkir)
Link: https://secure.twitch.tv/dekillsage/v/78107876?t=52m57s

Spoiler

Game One:

Honestly, I was pretty confident that I would've won this set if I played like normal. I didn't. If I was a little more together I think I would've won because I would've read one key mistake: Verkir kept reversal'ing. I got hit with every Pillar and reversal Level One.

53:05 I watched Verkir jump around a lot in his previous games (I think we both jumped a lot in all of our matches) and I got the early air throw.

53:12 I forgot how to Double Vortex (I was thinking about the Big Band reset s.MK(2) > Luger instead of c.MP cilia slide)

53:24 I liked to grab so much. I think I just like grabs too much in general.

53:29 I dropped that throw combo because I suck I'm sorry Sage.

53:50 I don't block Shadows at the ends of Blockstrings because I'm bad.

54:16 I got hit by the crossup RIP me.

54:19 I call assist in the corner unsafely. I didn't even call Fukua I called Cilia Slide what was I doing.

54:51 I dropped that combo because sometimes (I don't know if online?) it doesn't work? Maybe I pressed j.mk too early.

54:49 I pressed c.MP which is dumb, I don't know why I did that.

55:00 I didn't run up combo because I was afraid I was going to drop it I'm sorry Sage.

55:27 I did that because I figured Verkir didn't respect another wakeup Super.

55:33 LP Fireball didn't come out and I got teabag. The rest of this set is just karma. Deserved.

Game Two:

56:07 I predicted the jump correctly but it wasn't a very horizontal jump.

56:11 I give up the corner.

56:15 I press c.MK for whatever reason. Also I didn't confirm that c.HP for whatever reason?

56:30 I drop my happy birthday which is the most basic happy birthday. I can do that consistently but not without warming up a bit.

56:55 I knew I wouldn't be punished so I went a little ballsy there. Also hi instant Double call.

57:00 That random mine call sums up how I played. I forget what I pressed but I remember being really upset that it happened.

57:10 that exchange happens twice and that was the time I didn't get bodied.

57:25 waited for the throw and got out.

57:28 the second time I didn't confirm s.HP

57:48 Double j.lk

58:00 bodied by mash.

58:37 I played Street Fighter the most this week. Cross up j.MK doesn't work in this game.

Game Three:

I played my Parasoul team. Low-key think my Parasoul is my best character.

59:29 Did the Liam round start special but didn't confirm.

59:34 that burst bait was on the fly actually I don't know why I did the tear drop combo.

~destroyed by wakeup pillar.

59:56 That incoming was sick RIP me.

1:00:03 I get clipped by assist a lot. And then instead of pushblock I get backdash CALLED OUT

1:00:22 I wanted CatHeads but they didn't come out.

1:00:34 I mash

At the end maybe I could've PBGC'd into level three before Sniper was called? My execution wasn't good enough for that.

Game Four:

I hate watching this game. Don't watch this game.

TL:DR I stopped using my brain and it was dumb and there doesn't need to be criticism because I basically didn't do anything to fix myself.

So with that my tournament ended 1-2. If I was ready I probably would've went either 2-2 or with notes on hand I maybe would've scraped by Alcoholic Robot somehow and made it to GF. I'm hungry for a stronger placing now.

Skullgirls Get Gr8 Set

Some backstory behind this. The night before the bracket was announced I played Sunset Radiance on QM and with my real team came back from 0-2 down, winning with a pixel of health on the last game. Essentially I just shut down the game because I couldn't just recover after that set. I woke up the next morning and found out that my match would be against Sunset, of all people. I had mentioned in my application that I'd run Peacock/Eliza/Double but I kind of psyched myself out before the match because it was a very crazy runback on stream and I would be playing a very beginner Peacock. I just played...like I didn't know what I was doing. Both Eliza and Peacock both jumped around with random buttons, and I feel like I just wasn't ready to use them yet. I blame it on the lack of expertise with these characters.

cattfish_blues (IBelieveIn720) vs Sunset Radiance (Sunset Radiance)
Link:

I'm a bit winded from writing so much but the basic jist is:

I didn't block low because my MU experience with Squigly is just overheads.
I didn't confirm into Argus after one of my Double assist calls.
None of my Peacock combos worked and I didn't even item vortex with H Spiral assist.
I jumped a lot and didn't use Peacock's backdash.
My Eliza is....eh?
I was too broken down to play Double after getting my first two characters trounced.

I've played more in the past few days and I'm getting back into it (it takes me a while to recoup back into a game). Muro is definitely a Peacock inspiration and I really need to learn the Beowulf matchup.

If anyone wants to critique more, help yourself!! It's not the best footage of my play since I was a little out of whack but it's there.

 

[mcpeanuts]

cattfish_blues (IBelieveIn720) vs Sunset Radiance (Sunset Radiance)
Link:

I'm a bit winded from writing so much but the basic jist is:

I didn't block low because my MU experience with Squigly is just overheads.
I didn't confirm into Argus after one of my Double assist calls.
None of my Peacock combos worked and I didn't even item vortex with H Spiral assist.
I jumped a lot and didn't use Peacock's backdash.
My Eliza is....eh?
I was too broken down to play Double after getting my first two characters trounced.

I've played more in the past few days and I'm getting back into it (it takes me a while to recoup back into a game). Muro is definitely a Peacock inspiration and I really need to learn the Beowulf matchup.

If anyone wants to critique more, help yourself!! It's not the best footage of my play since I was a little out of whack but it's there.

Youtube is the only video player that works for me on this computer so this is the only set I watched. Even though it's 3-0 it doesn't feel that one sided. Feels more like you came out on the wrong side of a close game 3 times in a row. You probably could have won if you just did like 2-3 things differently in each game. I have a few suggestions.

-You jump into Napalm Pillar assist a billion times, mostly in game 1 as Eliza. You need to play the game differently against someone using a DP assist: you can't using jumping normals until the assist is on cooldown. You can try baiting it out by jumping forward at them and air dashing or double jumping backwards. Once the assist is out you can tag it with something like Double s.HP or Eliza H Upper Khat > upback (Peacock doesn't have a great option to punish, but Peacock doesn't really have to play around DP assists anyways so whatever). If you do this a couple times and they don't call Pillar, then maybe it's safe to actually jump at them and press a button. If you want to test the waters, you can empty jump forward while blocking and calling Hornet Bomber, then wait until they're in blockstun from your assist to actually try to hit them.

-You call H Hornet Bomber like it's a DP. You really should only call it from half screen or further away, generally speaking.

-I don't think you press j.HK as Peacock enough. I only saw you do it like once. I would say this button is by far her best neutral tool and you should be doing it all the time. You can watch me or TJ or Lawnba play to get a sense of how to use it, but in short you want to jump backwards and j.HK to set the projectile out like a wall that stops the opponent from advancing. Once they're not advancing, THEN you throw out your bombs and items and whatnot.

-Game 2 your Eliza is running low on health so you tag to Peacock. Don't ever do this. You even had the life lead at the time and you were just kinda like "here's Peacock, hit her with whatever you want". A safer option would be to combo into Eliza s.HKx2 then tag to Peacock. If you can't land a hit at neutral and you just want Eliza out, you could do Eliza's air super then DHC to Lenny.

-I don't really like the team change in game 3, just because like, in general I don't like team changes that feel like "oh, that didn't work, let me try this instead". It's fine to have multiple teams but you should have a plan for them like "I will use this team against THIS sort of opponent". I can't say which team you should have used against Sunset since I don't know what's better between Eliza v Fortune and Parasoul v Fortune. I've heard that Fortune is a hard matchup for Parasoul but I don't know what it's like for Eliza (probably also hard (man, Fortune's real strong huh)).

-You got hit with Parasoul's sniper while zoning with Peacock. This should basically never happen, because sniper has like 40 startup frames or something, and there shouldn't be a 40 frame gap in your zoning pattern. Try zoning in training mode with the dummy set up to block everything and do sniper as a reversal, try zoning as long as possible without getting sniped. Also, remember that you have a zoning option that you can do while simultaneously blocking: Hornet Bomber assist. If you're ever up against one of those characters with a full screen anti zoning option (and like half the cast has one .__. ) you can always call Hornet Bomber while blocking and wait until they're in blockstun from that to use other projectiles.

-The last game I don't think you should have used a puddle on incoming. I would have saved the bar and tried to combo into level 5 for the touch of death combo. Learn the level 5 touch of death combo if you haven't already, btw.

 

[Cattfish]

thank you for all of the advice! looking back I played a lot worse in that set than I realized. Peacock definitely won't become a character I'd play with in high level casuals, but there's a lot of good I can use with this. Some quick replies without quoting its entirety:

The start of round Horus Call in round 2 was for the pillar assist but I messed up on getting more damage, but yeah that assist destruction was a good call. Should I counter call Bomber on those?

I use Double's j.HK for a wall but never Peacock; fixed.

I switched to HK Bomber now because that was MK and useless.

I'm screaming internally because I can do basic Nehkbet Breaker into Lenny and Car into Lenny s.HP > teleport combos but I didn't even think about the safe dhc.

-I don't really like the team change in game 3, just because like, in general I don't like team changes that feel like "oh, that didn't work, let me try this instead". It's fine to have multiple teams but you should have a plan for them like "I will use this team against THIS sort of opponent". I can't say which team you should have used against Sunset since I don't know what's better between Eliza v Fortune and Parasoul v Fortune. I've heard that Fortune is a hard matchup for Parasoul but I don't know what it's like for Eliza (probably also hard (man, Fortune's real strong huh)).

This wasn't for any other reason other than "Oh hey my Parasoul performs really well versus Sunset I should play a character that gives me a morale boost for the last game." (it's a flat three game set) This was pretty much an experimental thing that a plan wasn't really necessary. Neither of the two teams that I use consistently would ever involve Eliza or Peacock so I just played this without much team synergy.

-The last game I don't think you should have used a puddle on incoming. I would have saved the bar and tried to combo into level 5 for the touch of death combo. Learn the level 5 touch of death combo if you haven't already, btw.

That's really smart; I was just worried about not having enough meter by the time the runback was complete (I have those yes).

 

[Cattfish]

Okay, I diary post where I talk more. This is correlating with GUTS 4, as it seems to be quite the buzz lately (spying on that tournament concentration thread from afar).

Man I'm worried that I'll miss out on this tournament. I still have to figure out if I'm going to crash at a friend's place for the Friday/Saturday because I do not have enough to afford a room. I've never done Connecticut traffic alone but maybe I can do a dry run somewhere beforehand? Maybe travel to a New England monthly around Sept/October-ish. Also figuring out how much I need to take off from work/switch shifts because I work Saturdays and Sundays with the occasional Friday. (Hi speculated streamed exhibition running on either Saturday or Sunday night I hope that's sorted out soon.) It would be nice to have someone in Vermont willing to play offline so that this tourney didn't hold so much weight on me staying and maximizing time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

On topic of playing! Mostly pointed at preparing for GUTS now. It's looking a little bleak, because I'm decent but I'm not Sage/Cadenza/CloudKing etc levels of play. Since competition is so small/concentrated, it's going to be really tough to not be 0-2'd. For right now, I play strong but I'm not NEXT LEVEL strong. I've played high competition sports for so long that I don't think tournament nerves even exist for me anymore. I have 4 months to prepare, but it's hard finding that next area of improvement to hit NEXT LEVEL.

Working on:

Corner to corner doublesnap combos ever since I dropped it vs Bang. Fukua has the best assist so there's no reason why I can't do it with Robo.
Midscreen assist kills with Fukua & Robo Fortune.
Oki and safe setups with all of my characters because I never have dabbled in opponents teching certain ways before.
Reactions. LK Danger! loses a lot and I don't know if that's because of my reaction time?
Resets off of Beam assist for Double like how PME does with Fortune.

Robo Fortune conversions off of PBGC s.HP > HK Danger! > Magnet.
Robo Fortune setups off of j.HK
Robo Fortune HCH midscreen (does she even have those?? How do I even begin to combo theory that she's so linear)
Robo Fortune's 9.5k HCH corner combo hitting 100% of the time.

Fun tidbit: If you j.HK, slide under with c.MK and let Filia Gregor out, you can get a HCH after using magnet super to drag her back. I don't know how reactable that is but for a hard read it's really successful.

I gave up on Peacock but I'm playing Big Band again now that I have 159man combos

 

[mcpeanuts]

Man I'm worried that I'll miss out on this tournament. I still have to figure out if I'm going to crash at a friend's place for the Friday/Saturday because I do not have enough to afford a room. I've never done Connecticut traffic alone but maybe I can do a dry run somewhere beforehand? Maybe travel to a New England monthly around Sept/October-ish.

Can you afford it if you split the room with other people? Most people who go to these events get like 4+ people in a room and split the cost evenly. There were a few people in the GUTS 4 thread looking for roommates, maybe you should hit them up.

 

[Cattfish]

Can you afford it if you split the room with other people? Most people who go to these events get like 4+ people in a room and split the cost evenly. There were a few people in the GUTS 4 thread looking for roommates, maybe you should hit them up.

I probably can if nothing comes up, Im keeping an eye on how much I need for food/other too. A concern about splitting a room is that I may bring a UVM non-fighting game friend down with me because she lives nearby ( said possible crashing place) and like hell we're both missing out on that good good Foxwoods buffet. By the time we figure that out all of the rooms will be split.

 

[Cattfish]

At the rate most of my diary posts, this may very well be the last for a sizable time?

i'm not headed to GUTS this November. 95% sure because the logistics are a bit too hectic and there is a personal engagement this November without a specified date, and Murphy's Law dictates that it'll be that weekend. Going through character crisis and just general underperformance lately would probably just be a disaster anyways. It's the closest tournament that I could feasibly make (that I know of) so oops bye. /end lament

Beta thoughts
This is the part where I have to separate hating change from legitimately disliking some of the specific new things.

I don't have any intentions on using Robo Fortune anymore. The tools that she's been given do not benefit the way that I play. I've tried to use her as a "this character doesn't technically exist on your team just build meter and annoy your opponent lolololol" and that's not what I'm about. I still think she's a weaker zoner than Peacock, has less mixups than Peacock, and questionably less damage than Peacock. Which means why would I ever use Robo Fortune when I can just play a better character. Why wait and call a head and use RAM when you can toss a george, just threaten lock down with SOID over someone's head instead of the opponent just waiting out missiles, instant super confirm with argus, etc. Perhaps there's another style that I'm just not seeing but like, why play her outside of her assists

With that being said I'm interested in trying R. Fortune (H Beam) - Eliza (Chair) -Fukua [M Shadow]. M Shadow vortexes can still apply with Robo s.HP and just in neutral it's decent. If Robo isn't meant to survive then she doesn't need a DP assist.

I like playing Double/Band now, although order and assist is undecided. I've used L Luger (What If Big Band had a Gun) and it's surprisingly good for BB's neutral. No H Brass > MK Bomber assist there, but it's handy for times that I need it. On the topic of both characters, I find Double and Big Band both pretty fine with their changes; no complaints there.

I enjoy every change that Parasoul goes through because it means different combo routes each time. I may build my main team(tm) around her instead of fortune this time.

I don't know how to play Fukua so I could care less about her changes. Any setup off of throw is nice though.

Non-BETA

Just work on new Big Band things, really. Unlearning j.MK(2x) combos are gonna suck. More throw >emergency brake practice.

Figure out character specific zoning strategies for R Fortune. Find good resets with RAM and good placement strategies for Mine. Figure out an HCH midscreen combo.

Stop mashing thow. (Shoutouts to everyone on beta that I played and mashed throw against.)

 

[Cattfish]

So I've been getting back into my old forte of Guilty Gear and some Ultimax lately and primarily focusing on my Venom versus any other fighting game. With this being said, I may drop Skullgirls (again).

I like the setups that I play with characters outside of Skullgirls (Rachel/Venom/Naoto) but I haven't enjoyed myself with SG in the past month. I strived to work with Robo Fortune and come up with new tech, but she's just so linear and zoning based that I don't see much in her for myself. Obviously Parasoul is enjoyable still, tear combos are still enjoyable, but I just wish there was more to her besides resets (do I press an overhead or do I press low slightly late ooooh the options). Double feels boring now, to that of which I can't be bothered to elaborate on. I'm just...not interested anymore. I want a game revolving a bit more on knockdown and less about resets. Which leaves me ready to head back to my roots with Revelator here and Central Fiction drawing near.

I may only dabble with Skullgirls now to make Parasoul or Robo Fortune combos, resets, or setups. This thread will be repurposed into posting any particular findings. Now that I'm learning how to use Bandicam, I will hopefully put everything to video. Outside of this, I'm afraid that I won't really be participating in online weeklies/tournaments. Prior to keninblack's most recent tournament, I hadn't touched the game since before Fukua's MShadow was changed. If I lack the drive to prepare my best for a tournament, then I shouldn't be participating. I hope that CEOtaku is a huge success, as is GUTS. Keep going strong, SGC.

 

[Cattfish]

Leaving a Robo Fortune combo damage flow chart as a reward if anyone finds this. Here are the most optimal combos per scenario (but not if the opponent is Double). Besides that I think it's all universal but not all of them are tested. FWIW these combos all use the two-frame link Robo has which is a pretty easy link.

Did you get a non-counter Midscreen hit?

Spoiler: Y

Do you want to build heads but don't want to spend meter?
5082 damage s.HK ender (builds two heads)
Do you want to use meter, prioritizing damage over heads?
6607 damage s.HK > CCAlpha ender (builds one head, costs one meter)
Do you want to use meter, prioritizing heads over damage?
6082 damage s.HK > Magnet ender (builds two heads, costs one meter)
Do you want damage but no heads?
7001 damage HK Danger! > CCAlpha ender (costs one meter)

Using a mine in a regular combo is suboptimal.

Spoiler: N

see below

Did it heavy counter hit? What button was it?

Spoiler: c.HP

Do you have a mine to use?

Spoiler: N

Do you want to build heads but don't want to spend meter?
5623 damage s.HK ender (builds two heads)
Do you want to use meter, prioritizing damage over heads?
7273 damage s.HK > CCAlpha ender (builds one head, costs one meter)
Do you want to use meter, prioritizing heads over damage?
6623 damage s.HK > Magnet ender (builds two heads, costs one meter)
Do you want damage but build no heads?
7542 damage HK Danger! > CCAlpha ender (costs one meter)

Spoiler: Y

Do you want to build heads and spend no meter?
5975 damage s.HK ender (costs one head, builds two heads)
Do you want to use meter, prioritizing damage over heads?
7605 damage s.HK > CCAlpha ender (costs one head, builds one head, costs one meter)
Do you want to use meter, prioritizing heads over meter?
6975 damage s.HK > magnet ender (costs one head, builds two heads, costs one meter)
Do you want to use meter but build no heads?
7914 damage HK Danger! > CCAlpha ender (costs one head, costs one meter)

Using two/three heads in a combo is unoptimal.

Spoiler: s.HK

Do you prioritize building heads over damage?

Spoiler: N

8426 damage HK Danger! > CCAlpha ender (builds no heads, costs two meter)

Spoiler: Y

Do you want 3 heads/spend 1 meter?
6082 damage s.HK ender (builds three heads, costs one meter)
Do you want to prioritize damage over building 3 heads?
8026 damage HK Danger! > CCAlpha (builds two heads, costs two meter)

Did you get a non-counter Corner hit?

Spoiler: Y

7351 damage (costs one meter)

Spoiler: N

8728 damage [HCH off of c.HP] (costs one meter)

 

[Cattfish]

Placeholder.

-learn peacock/robo/Eliza
-learn PW/Robo/?
-Figure out peacock dash jump j.MK >j.HK again
-Post Robo Fortune's Head Guide
-Post new RF resets
-figure out character crisis
-play online

 

[Cattfish]

New placeholder to add onto the other one, a month later.

Current team is:
Parasoul/Robo Fortune/Beowulf (H shot/Beam/Hurl)

Other possible teams before I have to learn Pain wheel and Peacock:
Robo/Squigly/Eliza (knockdown oriented team)
Robo/Eliza/Big Band (I like this team but has terrible dhc options)
Robo/Double/Band (Cilia Slide vortex team)
_____________________
I like that I can get 8k combos with both Robo and Soul with Hurl, and that Hurl is also a DP assist.

I like how amazing H Shot is with Wulf and Robo

I like how Beam gives everyone conversions and mixups.

I like how many DHCs this team has. Unlimited potential.

I complain about Beowulf a lot so it's about time I play him the smart way. Unfortunately I'm jumping back into him at the time of the Beowulf Beta patch but oops okay. Ethernet cord is back starting tomorrow for online. Practice time is now.

 

[Cattfish]

January 2017 Update.

My current team is still Parasoul (H Shot)/ Beowulf (H Hurl) / Robo Fortune (H Beam).
After playing Beowulf for a few months, I understand the struggles behind him a lot better; he's still an intimidating character to fight, but I have much better awareness of what his weaknesses are. He's very fun to use on the offensive, however my team lacks good HKD setups off of EX Canis Major. I don't expect either Robo or Parasoul to be alive when I use Beowulf, so the overlapping assists don't harm me.

Parasoul has some incredible incoming setups that I'll group together in a video down the road. I'm going with less burst baits and more tear-explosion setups/mixups because at this point it's practically useless to use burst baits anymore. Incorporating Beam assist into more combos is a must.

Robo Fortune has some untapped potential, but moreso in zoning patterns versus offensive setups. She still doesn't > Peacock in any scenario, but she's carving her own niche as a character to worry about. Experimenting with heads is still slightly disappointing, but patterns are developing well with 2 heads. Ending a combo with Hurl and setting up a Headdrone RAM setup for the tech chase is really good. If Robo had Brass Knuckles, I think she'd excel more. Setting up a mine guide is on my wishlist, but it may take some time as life/other games have kept me busy.

I'm starting fresh with the Robo Fortune Compendium, now that the game is no longer being updated. I will probably need feedback and help with this, but I'd love to have this out by spring. The current outline of the guide is

Spoiler

Robo Fortune Guide


Overview
How to Play/Playstyle

Movement
Tag
Throws
Snapback
Normals
Specials
Taunt
Supers

Combos
Resets
Setups (Incoming, etc)
Defensive Options
Zoning Strategies

Matchups

Placement
Assists
Team Synergy

Who to Watch
Additional Resources

Closing

If all goes well, it'll be a good staple in a relatively small Robo Fortune information pool.


My Skullgirls-related 2017 goals are to attend at least 3 monthlies down in Natick; travel to 2 New England area tournaments; and participate in one of the online Skullgirls leagues. Guilty Gear may keep me a bit occupied but we'll see!

 

[Yomabuddy]

FWIW I think redoing it completely would be kind of reinventing the wheel. If you have ideas/notes I can add those to the one in the forums already.

 

[Cattfish]

FWIW I think redoing it completely would be kind of reinventing the wheel. If you have ideas/notes I can add those to the one in the forums already.

You're absolutely right; not all of it is going. It's going to be fully compiled into a Google Document first! The goal is a (really long) video, but that involves a lot of video editing knowledge which would/will take me a bunch of time.

I'll eventually be asking around for things to comment about the Matchups chapter, because everyone has their own input when it comes to those.

 

[Cattfish]

All of the 3v3 combos leave me terrified so I'm learning some duo on the side. Fortune+ Double has been really fun for playing and making setups for. This is a safe high-low guessing game except for if it's messed up: you may be able to land cancel. Setup 3 is interesting because it assumes you will respect it (you can air throw it) but you also can't land cancel after j.HK because Avery hits too high.

And to break down Setup 2 and Gato's preblock if you hold up back.