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In Medias Res

Things I need to work on:
  • Execution: I feel like I have my inputs down, but then I'll drop something every once in a while. I shouldn't be dropping anything.
  • Rushing In: I'm rushing into invincible moves too often, as though my enthusiasm will somehow beat their priority. I'll set up a good frame trap, but then fail to anticipate a napalm pillar, things like that.
  • Overall Defense: I often fail to properly block the second overhead in IAD stings (Filia j.hp > j.HK, for example). Better than I was, but still not solid enough. I also crumple under high-low mix ups to often, need to work on that.
 
  • I need to train against more big bands. I'm still at a disadvantage, even when the opponent is substantially worse than me.
  • I need to drill my double snaps.
  • I need to either pick double or big band as my anchor, and then actually learn their combos.
 
  • I recently spent some time in the lab, developing new Cerebella mix-ups. Results were good, and did the trick on several good players, meaning they should work once or twice in a tournament match.
  • I've also tried to just play more, period. I've been streaming more than I've been playing, so my muscle memory waned a bit, weakening me. I'm almost back to 100%, though.
    • Played a long set with Krye, recently, beat him 17-4. While were were still 3-3, he said, "Man, remember when you used to beat me really badly?" Jinx'd himself :P
    • Played a set with evilben, ended up 8-6 for me. Longer play might have turned that in his favor, not sure. He had to go take care of something, so we didn't find out.
  • Fukua is interesting, and seemingly easy to play, but I just don't see how she'd fit into my current Ceresoul team. Choosing Big Band as a 3rd has worked alright when facing Peacocks, so I may start learning him a little more to make him more than just an assist.
 
Several sets with SG friends and associates:
I'm moderately happy with my performance in these, particularly against RickoniX.
 
7:23 & 11:19 of FT7 w/ DDB. So dumb. So awesome.

Also I want to note that Napalm Pillar xx Bikes super in the corner isn't actually safe. People don't realize it, but the Bikes super is punishable when Parasoul is furthest from the corner where the bikes spawn. I don't get why, but people just don't jump the bikes or throw Parasoul into the corner. In the corner Val can just jump over Parasoul and j.hp, killing the last 3 of the bikes and scoring a full undizzy counter hit for good old MDE corner combos. But I guess it's fine to do it until people catch on...
 
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Fedora_Ninja said:
7:23 & 11:19 of FT7 w/ DDB. So dumb. So awesome.

Also I want to note that Napalm Pillar xx Bikes super in the corner isn't actually safe. People don't realize it, but the Bikes super is punishable when Parasoul is furthest from the corner where the bikes spawn. I don't get why, but people just don't jump the bikes or throw Parasoul into the corner. In the corner Val can just jump over Parasoul and j.hp, killing the last 3 of the bikes and scoring a full undizzy counter hit for good old MDE corner combos. But I guess it's fine to do it until people catch on...
I actually didn't know that. I was under the impression that if your timing was right, it was safe, though the corner thing does make sense. Noted.
 
April 19th, 2014

It was a wonderfully beautiful day outside, so I took a walk with the family :)

meandkiran.png
 
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April 20th, 2014

Got in a good set with fenster, it honestly went much worse than I thought it would. I finished ahead of him 35-27, I think) but I lost both the FT7 and the FT10, and I was forced to pick Assist Band to counter his willingness to stay far, far away. Things started to turn pretty heavily in my favor as things went on, but it took nearly 50 games before I felt like I was firmly in control. I'm not going to blame my early losses on just having woken up. It just took me too long to adapt, plain and simple. The recent huge nerfs to Napalm Pillar didn't help, either.

The length and tone of the set illustrated that I needed more options in my resets, as they almost exclusive rely on throws or unsafe specials. I worked on some lab stuff after the set, and I now think I've got some good low options for when people start to jump out of the throws.
twitch.tv/nightphyre/b/521823709

Me and Kiran worked in the studio together :)

10302471_10203941576085640_8069211653197221763_n.jpg
 
Night Phyre said:
Got in a good set with fenster, it honestly went much worse than I thought it would. I finished ahead of him 35-27, I think) but I lost both the FT7 and the FT10
Look on the bright side, you won the FT20 and the FT30. :PUN:
 
So, UFGTX is now behind me, and I didn't make it out of pools. I got stopped 1 win away from making it into top 16, and by a guy I normally beat. Such is life, though, he brought it and I didn't.

For me, UFGT was my EVO, so I imagine my playtime is going to kinda fall off, a bit. I've also cut off my regular daytime and weekend streams, it was simply taking too much time away from other things in life. I'll still play, but just not as much as before. It's been fun, and it'll keep being fun :)
 
Night Phyre said:
\I've also cut off [...] weekend streams
:(

SNS won't be the same without you.

GGs, and thanks for the streams/commentary/games while you were around regularly. Hope to see you around!
 
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December 20th, 2014

I started picking the game up more seriously again, about a a month ago. Not as seriously as before, but hopefully soon. Beowulf is presenting some real problems, for me, as I can't find even the simplest of universal combos that reaches undizzy. Move properties may change to help in that regard, but right now, the closest thing I have is a tackle-based combo that is highly situational and has tight (for me) links. It won't suffice for serious usage. I'm going to keep experimenting, but my beo is weak, for now.

10872746_10205903470331770_6698850168987731901_o (1).jpg
 
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That pic is so Christmas and such family man, I just wanna hug something now.
 
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December 28, 2014

My hands are starting to get back into the shape they were before my sabbatical, but my brain isn't really there, yet. Far too much up-backing, not enough creative resets, and I'm somehow even worse than before against runaway opponents (fighting peacock/bigband is an automatic loss against all but the most incompetent players). Against any character newer than Big Bang, I'm free to almost any reset. To counter this, I'm starting with Fukua and working my way through the DLC characters I'm unfamiliar with (Eliza's next, etc). Hopefully learning to use the most common resets will help me avoid being hit by them.

Things aren't going well. I'm losing to tactics that are incredibly basic/cheesy, and my own tricks aren't on par with high level play. I guess I just need to keep grinding.
The Interview was pretty terrible. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I got a movie written by 14 year olds :/

Pretty sure the song I just wrote is the best I've made in the last 6 months.

10898302_10152467133797397_2355508142170220705_n.jpg
 
Jan 13, 2014

Music moving slowly forward. Having a toddler doesn't make for a very open writing head space. Never enough time for anything.
So, I really need to work on my neutral. I pretty much get hits only at random, and my approach on distant opponents is extremely weak. Matches today with Flotilla went poorly (6-20, I think), and he really didn't even need to break out of his normal game plan at all. Parry, DP, i am ded. The tools required to beat BB with Bella/Para are plainly evident, but I'm not executing them.

Also played with @joshb911 and @Bit_Strife for a while, that went better but also pretty bad, I think I only won half of those matches. 100% free to Josh's Fukua, which is frustrating, and any wins I got against Bit felt completely random, as though it wasn't me that won, but he who lost.

I don't think I'm getting it, right now. I'm trying, but I think I need more specific match up experience with Big Band and Fukua? I really don't know what I should be training on to get better. Did not have fun today.

Saw this just now, though, so it's ok :)

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10206188098927307
 
To be frank I'm a very unique Fukua so it really doesn't matter how many Fukua's you play mine is unique. I press way to many buttons which makes me very susceptible to punishment. If you want to learn how to fight against Fukua I would suggest you work on understanding the shadows and stuff. Other then that it's just trying to get her in the corner and unable to start a vortex
 
So I've been trying to work on my Parasoul more so she's not just a DP assist that I know a full undizzy combo for. I learned a few key resets and tricks, and then I cut Cerebella from my team to just focus on Parasoul and Big Band... and I did better than when I had Cerebella :/

Managed to take rounds off of SwiftFoxDash and Elda Taluda (both admittedly unused to Beta), and won against @Bit_Strife 99% of the time when I left out Cerebella, while losing to him 99% of the time I included Cerebella. {feel free to chime in here with any observations, Bit}

Is my neutral with Cerebella so bad that it's holding me back? :*( I feel like my tricks and resets are way better with Cerebella, but I'm getting way less chances to use them than with Parasoul. Am I... a Parasoul main!?

10942490_10206328470556510_1241711326204664568_n.jpg
 
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Was going through some of the matches on the archive. I noticed you got more from your hits with Parasoul. When you did get hits with Bella I generally was able to get out of your resets. Which was from your lack of reset variety those games. I also think your neutral was better with Parasoul today. It had the right amount of aggressiveness but still knew when to be passive and let me get hit by Beat Extend.
 
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ParaBellaBand is working out great, and I've integrated a good number of nice (albeit simple) resets into my Parasoul game to give me some more heat. Overall, I feel a loot more lethal with Parasoul than I felt with Bella, and finally making a three-character team permanent has only yielded positive results. I'm also going for (and getting) snap kills more often, something I've long been attempting to make a regular part of my game. I'm just playing more aggressively, overall, and it's working out so far.

My defense still feels anemic at best, though, and I'll often be on the receiving end of a 3+ reset kill string because I'm doing something stupid like mashing a ground super in the air, or just plain not anticipating a mixup. My defense needs serious, major improvement.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10206523103822220
 
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I've added a universal combo (7.6k) to my Big Band play, something I desperately needed to do. Also learned a few more burst setups for Parasoul, things that might actually work in a match.

Also, been trying to do the special move + assist call button combos, to make things safer/more pressuring. Not going so well, but I have to drill it to expect it to work. Less than two weeks until Combo Breaker, and getting out of pools isn't likely, but I'd at least like to put up a fight. At the moment, I do better when I just go autopilot and do what few tricks I know, and trying to work on some of the newer stuff just makes me play worse. I need to turn that around, do some lab time to get muscle memory solid.
 
Went 4-2, and tied for 17th at Combo Breaker (out of 104). Pretty ok, though the success of my run was largely dependent on errors made by a key few.
  • played @doubledark first, and although I was decidedly shaky against Beowulf, I was solid enough to put this one away convincingly, 2-0.
  • next was @Mr Peck, a match heavily in his favor under normal circumstances. I did end up taking it 2-1, though, a feat only made possible because it was on stream, something that severely rattles his nerves. Had we played off-stream, I highly doubt I would have won.
  • played @Skarmand next, and while it looked like I might get another upset, he came back after his first loss and sent me to losers, 1-2.
  • faced @doubledark once again in loser's, outcome same as before, 2-0. Learned enough from the prior match to be more effective in this set.
  • won against @LSP in a nail-biter (2-1), entirely due to two critical mistakes that cost him a character each in the final match.
  • faced @Skarmand again in loser's finals, but he'd gotten enough info out of me during the last set to guarantee victory, eliminating me 0-2.
So like last year, I got booted out right before making it out of pools, but I feel like I did a lot better this time. More tricks, consistency, and better decision making, for the most part (save for a few boneheaded moves). In the last few weeks since, I still feel pretty uneven in my play from day to day, but I know I'm better than I have been in the past, so that's something. I'm looking forward to Frosty Faustings VIII next, here in Chicago, and I'll be sure to keep sharp. I'd love to jet around and play in every major and hang out with the skullfam, but I've not the resources. I'll just have to watch from home :)

http://skullgirls.com/forums/index....lgirls-is-a-metaphor.2841/page-30#post-288328
 
I've leveled off, a bit, something that I know happens for me in the late summer/early autumn (outside of my personal tourney season). Unlike last year, though, I've been staying consistent by playing a few hours a week. Though it's tough squeeze it in, I try to not let it slide, and stay on top of playing and streaming.

My ParaBella front is still decently strong, I've got the same old tricks and resets as before, but my neutral is ever-so-slightly better than days past. Unfortunately, I've become prone to raw tagging to Cerebella when Parasoul is getting combo'd, because my ability to reversal or counter with her is so weak. I also need to sit down and learn some Big Band resets, for competency's sake, and on top of that, I feel like I've finally got the hang of basic Beowulf play, but need to learn some actual resets, instead of just hoping I catch them with deer-in-the-headlight gimmicks.

I'm going to try to play BeoBand for the next few weeks, and make sure I can confidently manage them in a real match. Hopefully, I can wring something beneficial out of that.
 
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I started posting more sets, in the last few weeks, and I'll continue to do so for January, in the run up to Frosty Faustings VIII. I don't have a training plan, yet, I need to develop some sort of idea of what I should be training myself on. Just playing more often is good, though, so I'll start there.
  • I have a some Big Band reset material, now, enough to last through a FT2 or FT3, so hopefully it'll be enough for tourney matches.
  • I expanded my options with Parasoul, so there's a few more resets there, too.
 
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For the lead up to CB2016, I took the advice of many helpful people, and switched from ParaBellaBand -> CereSoulBand, so I could have a safe DHC option.

I drilled my resets and combos leading up to the tourney, and in the end, played what I thought was pretty well, for my skill level. I overcame what I considered to be the largest realistic challenge of my bracket, by beating @ninja-nutria in the first match, which went all the way to game 5. It was hard fought, but one of the most satisfying tourney wins I've ever had, it felt very honest and not due to opponent error (as was the case with last year's wins against @Mr Peck and @LSP). After round one, came a loss to @mcpeanuts, a win against Cai (whose handle I forget), and then a loss against @FuLLBLeeD. 2-2, this time around. I'm ok with that, considering there was a very real possibility of going 0-2.

Not totally sure where to go from here, growth-wise, but I think I have some idea. I think I need to work on resets that are safer, and bursts that are less obvious, as well as whittle away at my bad habits in neutral. I'd welcome any advice on how best to move forward.
 
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Kai said:
Not totally sure where to go from here, growth-wise, but I think I have some idea. I think I need to work on resets that are safer, and bursts that are less obvious, as well as whittle away at my bad habits in neutral. I'd welcome any advice on how best to move forward.
I think the best way for you to train if you are serious about it, is to find someone a little bit better than you but not way out of your skill level and then play a million games when you have time.

Healthy grinding where you feel like you're coming a little short each time, but winning is not impossible.

I think most of the issues I came up with while watching some of your pool matches are just polish and decision making which will come quickly if you invest a lot of consistent time into playing.

You don't need to make your gameplay complicated to get things done so you just have to keep looking for matches to find that neutral experience.

Maybe Duckator since he's so close?
Fighting Valentine is nice sometimes because she lets you move around when she's playing neutral so it usually feels like you got outplayed when you are hit.
 
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Skarmand said:
You don't need to make your gameplay complicated to get things done
This right here, everything I do is a catch phrase as easy as possible.
 
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