Xortberg's notes as he climbs to the top

[Xortberg]

So I've got 33 hours logged in Skullgirls. Most of it (like 25 at least) is just me hammering out some basics in training, mostly with Cerebella. I've got a bit of work done with Ms Fortune and Squiggly, but they're definitely at a much lower level than my Bella play right now. As such, right now I'm only going to have a Bella section and a general section for what I'm working on and need to improve, and I'll add more characters as I progress to using them.

Spoiler: General

Spoiler: TO DO

1. BLOCK LOW, REACT HIGH. More attacks hit low than high, and ground overheads tend to give you time to react. Raise to high it they jump in. Problem with this is my turtle mindset that lets the opponent walk up and grab me. Which means...
2. Be more aggressive. Caution and patience are good, but not taking opportunities can bite you in the ass. If I'm blocking and they're walking, attack instead of letting them get in on me.

I've got a generally good understanding of how combos, IPS, and undizzy work. I also understand restands and sorta get the idea of resets, but the idea of intentionally "dropping" your combo and hoping the opponent isn't ready for it seems weird to me so I'm definitely gonna need to work on them some. That said, the biggest things I need to work on are:

1. Blockstrings. UPDATE: I'm beginning to get a bit better at the whole deal. I'm still barely learning to walk, but with the new knowledge that LnL is only -6 on block I'm starting to get more aggressive when I'm being blocked, which is doing a lot for my pressure game on Bella. I'll just have to find some decent beginner strings for Fortune as well when I start adding her to the mix. Still got a long way to go, but I'm starting to wrap my head around it.
2. Guarding. I'm generally pretty patient when blocking and waiting for a punish, but I do tend to take opportunities the moment I catch them without considering the idea that I'm being tricked and wind up getting punished for it*. I also just don't know move properties well enough to always know if I need to block high or low, but that'll generally come by just playing the game. Points I REALLY don't quite get are PBGCs and, by extension, the finer points of pushblocking. I know, at the very least, if you pushblock at the right time you can sort of return the game to neutral, but there's a lot more to it than that. Which segues nicely into...
3. Neutral. I like to think I'm somewhat competent at the neutral game as a whole, but like with dealing with high/low mixups, I just don't know enough about most of the cast to really know how to deal with them in neutral. UPDATE: I'm trying to rely less on jump-ins, with mixed results. I do still make use of them, but sometimes I'll just approach on the ground or retreat with a big-hitbox aerial. Both work sometimes, but since I've only just started fiddling with it I don't always get it right.
4. General frame precision. I try to time my presses now instead of mashing, but there's a lot of precise links I still have trouble with. This is also really just something I need to play more of the game to get better at, but I'm listing it here so I can monitor my progress.

*Maybe that's something to think about when learning about blockstrings? On top of looking for a chance to hit with a mixup, end your string on a move that's + on block and let them try to punish, then counter-punish them? Worth considering.

7/21/15 Notes:

Why the fuck did you tech backwards into the corner, Xort? What were you thinking? He dropped, you should've teched out. That let him catch you with an overhead and combo all over again. And THEN, you didn't tech at all. And it happened again. Come on, me. Get it together.

More fuckin empty jumps, man. You don't HAVE to try to attack them every time. In fact, that's bad. That lets supers counterhit you when you could've reacted and blocked. That means you can't fake them out and keep them wondering if you're coming in to attack or hit them with a cgrab. Empty jump. Do it.

I also still drop a lot when I shouldn't. I could've potentially (not likely) won match 4 if I hadn't dropped on the assist after killing point. I carried them both all the way to the corner and got Robo Fortune to ~20%, but once I got there I just outright missed her with my attack. Aaand then I got almost immediately bopped by Eliza since I was hella low, but who knows? I might have won if I'd boosted my confidence/shaken his with a Happy Birthday.

Spoiler: Bella

Spoiler: TO DO

1. Practice tumbling run. UPDATE: I can do a run pretty well when not under pressure now, and about 40-50% of the time when I try to do it under pressure. Aside from that, I also have quite a few issues with runstop. I either manage to stop, but then fumble my inputs after that, or put the inputs in correctly but forget to stop. However, I DID learn that starting a run with a lk+lp macro cancels it very quickly, thanks to also hitting lp at the same time. With precise timing, you can still get out one of the other options, but if I find a combo where I need to runstop cancel I can just hit my grab macro, which is nice.

• Responding to pushblocks in my strings: Tumbling Run xx Run-stop>cr.lk to punish/restart the string. Might be ineffective depending on how good they are at PBGC
• Condition opponent with 1-2 normal blockstrings (end on +, start new string from the beginning) and then bust out runstop>DDrop
• If doing c.lk bait and they don't take it, can runstop>DDrop after?

NOTE ABOUT TUMBLING RUN: If I cross under an opponent and then do a battle butt/pummel horse, Bella will turn around automatically instead of continuing in the wrong direction. Maybe useful, maybe I'm better off not bothering with it. We'll see.

2. COMMAND GRABS. I did my first day in the SG Get Good group on Steam today, and that was the biggest piece of advice the commentators had for me. I know that cgrabs are really strong and I can control a lot of space with them and pressure my enemy/reset/all kinds of cool stuff, but I just haven't picked out places to use them and committed those places to muscle memory yet. Once I've got that somewhat automatic, I can start trying to look for other places in neutral or when I'm being pressured where I can make use of them, but for now I'll practice some resets and the like with them.

Spoiler: Matchup info

Spoiler: Beowulf

j.hp outranges basically all of my aerials, as far as I can tell. LnL can hit through it if I can predict it or react fast enough, and maybe Excellebella will be able to hit him out of it? Needs testing. c.mk and c.hp might also hit him when he jumps in with it, but would probably trade instead of being anything I can confirm.
UPDATE: If I can see it coming, LnL's armor will punish Beo here. Others still need confirmation.
UPDATE: j.HP is still wrecking me, despite the fact that I know ways to deal with it. I think this one is just a matter of conditioning myself, rather than doing anything special. I saw firsthand in match 5 that LnL armor punishes it nicely, though I really can't convert off of that.

Chair throw/slide takes some getting used to. Slide hits low, which isn't bad since I should be blocking low as a rule anyway, but the toss comes back as an overhead and I don't always know where it's going to land.

Lots of Beo's stuff seems susceptible to armor, so run/LnL could be good tools in getting in on him.

Downbacking is still important, but he can punish it very easily. Hops mean aerials as overheads, I believe, and he also has a charging grab that I need to be able to react to.

Is his little standing stomp a low hit? I'm pretty sure I was blocking when it caught me, so make sure to transition to downbacking as I hit the ground. HOWEVER, this opens me to grabs. Perhaps, instead, I try to upback or just jump straight up?

Spoiler: Peacock

Deflector is a godsend. I can now do it about 50-75% of the time under pressure, and even though it can be blocked/teleported away from, it's a great tool to use.

On the subject of deflector, if I manage to block the initial beam from Argus I can reflect the little shots. I almost always take at least one hit in the process, but it nullifies a lot of chip damage and does a bit of damage and lets me approach. Plus, it makes me feel pro as fuck.

Jumping forward and gliding before I reach full height can let me slip between Air Show and the rest of her projectiles. Can be slapped with Shadow if I try it at the wrong time, so practice to recognize the right moments to go for it.

My glide approach can get stuffed by her little shotgun aerial. Not sure about its hitboxes, but if I see it coming I might be able to beat it out with the clap.

Spoiler: Fukua

Low shadow breaks run armor

Practice the fuck outta grab techs. Preeeetty sure command grabs can't be teched, but if I condition myself to tech on what I suspect to be a throw attempt, I might be able to grab first since her cgrabs have startup. They might be throw invincible though.

Diamond Deflector is a good tool if she tries to zone. It can also catch shadows, I believe, so that can counter the advantage she gains from being able to break run armor. Just don't rely on it too much. Also spend time learning ways to approach without it.

Spoiler: Big Band

DP assist needs to be respected. Maybe bait it by empty jumping and blocking?
Also, as a note on my playing in general, downbacking needs to be done more. I got caught by a lot of lows from BB DP assist that I could've avoided. One of them cost me a chance at a comeback.

MGR reset can get stuffed by SSJ. Keep in mind that he's got a great reversal super.

Spoiler: Double

Not much to add here because the one I fought fuckin wrecked me, but downbacking will help me here too. She has lots of dangerous lows, and I believe her cat heads hit low too? Getting hit low during heads cost me a potential comeback

Spoiler: Squiggly

Fullscreen run can easily get snagged by Silver Chord. Only run at midrange or if she's doing something unsafe/charging the other stance

Ending a blockstring unsafely is hella dangerous. She can coffin super me and start a combo from crumple. Always end safe or with minimal -frames.

Keep an eye out for her HP overhead. It's got startup, and if I can recognize it it's easy to switch guards and/or punish it

Spoiler: Ideas

End blockstrings with s.hk. Gives me two hits worth of time to charge tumbling run, second hit is an overhead, and if they block that correctly I can cancel into run or LnL. If they pushblock it, it'll be one of the easier moves to PBGC, but I'll already have a run charged and can hopefully make use of the 1-3 hits of armor I get from running to punish them. If they don't do anything after the push, I can runstop and restart the string

Alternatively, try to end strings early and catch them crouching or backdashing with MGR. Uses OTG, but with a reset I can get great damage and even without MGR+ the rest of the combo is painful anyway.

So I've got some basic bnb combos down, no problem. Did that within 10 hours of the game and I can now do them pretty reliably.
My main things I need to work on are:

1. Tumbling Run. It's a great way to cover a lot of ground quick, you have several good options on how to end it that keep the enemy guessing, and it's even useful in some more advanced combos that I'd love to learn. Unfortunately, I have lots of trouble with charge moves, so even trying to do it on its own in training gives me hell.
2. I definitely need to use more command grabs. Only one I use even semi-regularly is Excellebella. MGR is a great mid-range option for me to take the enemy to the corner with if I can learn to land it and then convert, and DDrop is fast and could potentially be really good if I try to catch an enemy with it after a blockstring while they try to punish me?
3. That motherfucking j.lpx3>j.hp restand. UPDATE: Can do the restand a lot more reliably now. Up to maybe 60-75%. Still fuck up after it all the time, though.

On the more self-congratulatory side, just today I discovered a nice little burst bait

Spoiler: Burst bait combo

c.lk>c.mp>c.hp>j.mk*>j.hk
OTG >c.lk>c.mk>j.mp>j.hk**
RESTAND >s.lpx2>c.mp>c.hp>j.lpx3>j.hp
RESTAND >c.lk burst bait

*j.lk on light characters is easier; mk is possible, but timing is tight
**j.mk on light/small characters is easier; hk is possible, but timing is tight

As long as they take the bait, I can punish it. A 0-frame burst in training doesn't always work in my favor, but even setting it to 5 frame delay let me avoid and punish every time so as long as I don't abuse it and get predictable, it should be really useful. Punishing with c.mp gets me a nice counterhit to start my new combo with.

There are two main problems with this whole deal, though:

1. I need to be at least midscreen to do it. If I take them to the corner before I can bait, then they'll be too close to me and I'll block the burst instead of avoiding it. This limits its utility, but not by too much
2. I have no idea what to do if they DON'T take the bait. I've toyed some ideas, like going for a MGR or just going immediately for a new blockstring, but I've only started to put this bait into practice in training today so I'll need a lot more work before I really learn what to do.

Updated with notes from my quick matches on 7/21.

 

[Fumako]

I can get pushblocked away totally stump me and idk what to do.

I don't really play Bella much, but I find people who Tumbling Run xx Run-stop cr.lk to be very annoying. Not very effective with people who get consistent PBGCs though, unless you've got an assist to keep up pressure.
Just end blockstrings with L Lock 'n Load, you can also armour through their pbgc with M/H Lock 'n load and stay in, you could also convert in corner with Dynamo. Fortune's L rekka's first hit is safe too, don't really know anything about Squigly though.

You attack and keep attacking while the opponent blocks you, looking for a chance to mixup high and low hits to keep the pressure on

I thought blockstrings was just keeping the opponents blocking 'till they messed up...
Just do low/throws. IAD j.lk L Axe Kick (Maybe don't?) cr.lk Cerecopter Assist-call IAD j.lk is always fun too.

I also just don't know move properties well enough to always know if I need to block high or low

Block low, react high.
IAD stuff is kinda hard to see at times, but you should be fine doing that, just remember that if there's a longer-than-usual delay the move's probably a high.

end your string on a move that's + on block and let them try to punish, then counter-punish them?

End with a move that's + on block then immediately do your fastest normal/move, if they block it you get another blockstring, if they tried to mash anything then you get a punish. You could probably be punished by DPs (I can't remember are they fully invincible from the start or is the start-up vulnerability assists only?) and things like SSJ.

DDrop is fast and could potentially be really good if I try to catch an enemy with it after a blockstring while they try to punish me?

Again, don't really play Bella much, but maybe doing 1-2 blockstrings to condition the opponent then suddenly ending one with Tumbling Run xx Run-stop DDrop could work.

1. I have no idea what to do if they DON'T take the bait. I've toyed some ideas, like going for a MGR or just going immediately for a new blockstring, but I've only started to put this bait into practice in training today so I'll need a lot more work before I really learn what to do.

How high-up are they?
Could you dash/tumbling run under them?
If yes, you could mess with them using that.
If no, you could probably run-stop DDrop or Excellebella them from jump start-up.
Oh, oh, Grab Bag them out of the air!

E:
I don't know how laggy it would be, but I could help a bit better if you play a few matches with me.
You also get valuable match-up experience with lesser used assists!

 

[Xortberg]

I don't really play Bella much, but I find people who Tumbling Run xx Run-stop cr.lk to be very annoying. Not very effective with people who get consistent PBGCs though, unless you've got an assist to keep up pressure.
Just end blockstrings with L Lock 'n Load, you can also armour through their pbgc with M/H Lock 'n load and stay in, you could also convert in corner with Dynamo. Fortune's L rekka's first hit is safe too, don't really know anything about Squigly though.

I'll definitely work on run-stopping after getting pushed, but damn those charge moves just kill me. It'll take a lot of work. Lock 'n Load feels a tiny bit risky since it's -6 on block, but it could be worse. I'll give it a test run and see how it goes. Maybe I'm just severely overestimating the danger of 6 frames.

I thought blockstrings was just keeping the opponents blocking 'till they messed up...
Just do low/throws. IAD j.lk L Axe Kick (Maybe don't?) cr.lk Cerecopter Assist-call IAD j.lk is always fun too.

IADs are a thing that I'll definitely be adding to the list of shit to work on with Fortune once I start really adding her to my roster. In my short time attempting to learn a combo of hers that required one, it was near impossible even at 50% speed. That's one of the main reasons I haven't really added her to my team yet.

Block low, react high.
IAD stuff is kinda hard to see at times, but you should be fine doing that, just remember that if there's a longer-than-usual delay the move's probably a high.

My big problem with block low, react high is sometimes I get into a sorta turtle mindset where I want to guard until I can punish something they do, so I don't take free attacks as they just walk towards me and grab. That's on me, of course, and is a hole in my own skills that I just need to fill.

End with a move that's + on block then immediately do your fastest normal/move, if they block it you get another blockstring, if they tried to mash anything then you get a punish. You could probably be punished by DPs (I can't remember are they fully invincible from the start or is the start-up vulnerability assists only?) and things like SSJ.

Good advice. Thinking on this, I realize another problem I have with blockstrings (aside from just not having an intimate knowledge of all of Bella's attacks that are +) is that I have trouble reigning in my muscle memory and stopping a string before I go all the way into unsafe heavies. Definitely something to add to the list of shit to do. Though, if LnL turns out to be safe enough to end a string on, I suppose could sometimes carry a string to the heavies and hope that they try to punish and throw one out with armor.

Again, don't really play Bella much, but maybe doing 1-2 blockstrings to condition the opponent then suddenly ending one with Tumbling Run xx Run-stop DDrop could work.

I actually toyed with that very idea and it worked... somewhat, against a training dummy. I'd get a better if I could reliably run>runstop, even at lower speeds, but it's worth considering. It'll also help deal with pushblocking, since (especially if I anticipate the push) I can maybe cancel into a run to cover the distance before they even finish the push animation. Of course, if they PBGC that'll probably fail, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

How high-up are they?
Could you dash/tumbling run under them?
If yes, you could mess with them using that.
If no, you could probably run-stop DDrop or Excellebella them from jump start-up.
Oh, oh, Grab Bag them out of the air!

They're on the ground right after a restand, so running under them is right out. I could also possibly just dash in and start a blockstring, or even get a reset if they screw up and let me have one. I'll take notes of your suggestions and throw them in with my ideas and see what works.

I could also POSSIBLY bait with c.mk, since I already used it, which WOULD pop them into the air and maybe let me cross under them if they don't take the bait. I must test this sometime.

E:
I don't know how laggy it would be, but I could help a bit better if you play a few matches with me.
You also get valuable match-up experience with lesser used assists!

I'm definitely down for some matches sometime. Right now I've only got one friend who's put in a comparable amount of time as me, and I usually go like 8-2 in our sets, so I definitely need to find new opponents. I'm off to bed soon, so not immediately, but I'll definitely take you up on that.

 

[Fumako]

Maybe I'm just severely overestimating the danger of 6 frames.

You definitely are, I think you can't really punish it unless you're Band and mashing SSJ whenever you block Lock 'n Loads :P
Fortune's cr.lp is really fast, but it's either not fast enough or it's really tight.

That's one of the main reasons I haven't really added her to my team yet.

Just learn a decent bnb, maybe learn headless if you want to, then play.
Work on your neutral and match-ups before you spend ludicrous amounts of time practicing combos and bursts baits and resets.
Hell, I spent a hundred hours just using St.lk St.mk(2) J.lk J.mk(2) as my bnb for Big Band. The combo sucks, but it forced me to think about the match-up and improve my neutral rather than depending on getting stray hits twice and being able to convert to a 50%+ combo each time.

My big problem with block low, react high is sometimes I get into a sorta turtle mindset where I want to guard until I can punish something they do, so I don't take free attacks as they just walk towards me and grab. That's on me, of course, and is a hole in my own skills that I just need to fill.

When you're blocking, don't think of punishing, think of pushing them away enough to get some breathing room. Once you have some breathing room assess the situation a bit and act from there. I know it's a really bad habit, but up-back will ease some pressure off of you if you're scared that you can't even block a mix-up to absolute guard, or if you'd rather not take the risk. Just don't use it too much.

is that I have trouble reigning in my muscle memory and stopping a string before I go all the way into unsafe heavies.

If that's the case you may want to start practicing doing your heavies while holding [1] or [4]; this way, even if your muscle memory takes you to the heavies your muscle memory also makes sure you already have a charge for tumbling run. From there you can punish with whatever you want or run-stop.

Of course, if they PBGC that'll probably fail, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

You might eventually be able to condition yourself to do the ram-horns thing in reaction to the one-hit of armor of tumbling run being used.
or you could do what I do and react to the slightest change in idle/blocking animation frames to punish on reaction

I'll definitely take you up on that.

Words of caution, we're a SIGNIFICANT distance apart, so it's going to at least be 240 ping or worse.
It's usually pretty smooth on my side, albeit with a few hiccups, but I've heard (and seen) worse on my opponents side...
If it doesn't work out you could always just post match videos and we could analyse that.
Also, I'm bored so I'll try to make a cerebella burst bait, burst baits are fun to make~ c:

 

[Xortberg]

Got 15 matches in with my buddy earlier. Unfortunately, he was pretty seriously off his game tonight, so I went 15-0 and didn't get too much matchup practice, but I DID get to test my burst bait in a real fight and try out some of the other shit I've been fiddling with.

As I thought, the bait works but gets pretty easily predicted if I use it too much. That's fine, I wasn't expecting it to be a beat-all secret weapon. Just as long as it's something I can add to my repertoire and threaten people with. The real problem is, I still haven't practiced the ideas for what to do if they don't take the bait, so that's my current priority.

I also managed to throw some tumbling runs into my gameplay. Mostly it was just tossing them out in neutral to cover distance, so I still can't pull them off under pressure or as part of a blockstring or combo, but I'm able to at least pull it off pretty reliably so now I just need to solidify that and be able to use it without much conscious thought.

I'll edit my OP with more solid details of what I need to do in a bit, but for now I'm just glad my shit was generally successful and will leave it at that.

 

[Fizzxwizz]

So, the way pushblocking works is, you do it and it pushes the other person away. However you will only push away a multihit move if its the last hit in most cases, so if you pushblock something like filia jmp or painwheel jmp, they'll still be in your face unless you pushblock the last hit. This can work out in your favor in the case of a PBGC. A pbgc is when you pushblock to cancel your blockstun, giving you an opportunity to reversal during your opponent's offense. (this explanation is missing some stuff but it should be sufficient, if you're still confused theres a video somewhere).

Basically just pushblock and then do a special, but it'll only accept the input once the pushblock animation is ended, so you either have to mash good or get good at the timing.

As fortune, clp is not a move you want to rely on often, although its kinda fast and it lets you low profile a bunch of things, you're better off using slp instead. It's in the "fastest normals in the game" club and has a huge hitbox for a slp.

I don't think shk is a viable blockstring ender for bella, cause its kinda slow and will leave you open. One of the scarier things bella has in regards to dealing with pushblocks is baiting them. if you end a blockstring early, and your opponent tries to pushblock and instead gets a backdash, they are open to getting yanked by MGR, which will set them up for more bella fun.

I'd also suggest checking out your local scene if you haven't yet. One of the best ways to get better is to play other good people in person and stuff.

 

[Xortberg]

I don't think shk is a viable blockstring ender for bella, cause its kinda slow and will leave you open. One of the scarier things bella has in regards to dealing with pushblocks is baiting them. if you end a blockstring early, and your opponent tries to pushblock and instead gets a backdash, they are open to getting yanked by MGR, which will set them up for more bella fun.

I'd also suggest checking out your local scene if you haven't yet. One of the best ways to get better is to play other good people in person and stuff.

Yeah, I was thinking about s.hk because it gives me a bit more time to charge my run, which I could then use to counter a pushblock or if I'm not pushed, I can then cancel into LnL, but I'll keep that in mind. Of course, I'll need to start getting a feel for when pushblocks come in my string, so I can anticipate and end early to catch backdashes.

As for local players, I honestly hadn't even considered the possibility. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and still haven't quite adjusted to the fact that I live near people now and the possibility that they might also play the games I do.

 

[Xortberg]

Had my first ever on-stream event match today in the Get Good group, which was really fun. Started out shaky because of stream nerves, but I kinda fell into my groove for rounds 2 and 3 and did pretty damn well. Unfortunately, Beo was in every fight so I didn't get to practice my other matchups as much as I had hoped.

I have a pretty big issue of fumbling things under pressure. Even once I got over the nerves, there were a few big combo drops and some fatfinger issues like running down Beo with a raw Battletoads, instead of runstopping like I wanted to.

On the plus side, though, I have Bella's taunt 100% committed to muscle memory. And really, that's the most important thing to take away from this.

Anyway, all I know from what I caught on stream after my matches is that the commentators want me to use way more cgrabs, but once the videos are on Youtube I'll scrutinize them more closely to see what all I did wrong.

 

[Xortberg]

Update on command grabs: I've put work into the j.hk restand > MGR reset in training mode, and it's easy enough for me to do which is nice. In addition, assuming - and this is a few pretty big assumptions - that the enemy takes my burst bait AND I don't fuck up some tricky inputs near the end, I can do a pseudo touch of death in a 1v1 match by comboing after the burst bait, MGR resetting, and then ending that combo with pummel horse>s.mk>c.hp>Grab Bag. It's even quite meter positive, so that's very nice.

Of course, the opponent might not take the bait. They might anticipate my reset and jump out (assuming they can, I dunno for sure if they have enough time? But I tend to assume that if it can go wrong, it will) or use a throw-immune move. I might (probably will) fuck up the inputs, especially since I still haven't tried to do it under pressure, but still, I'm quite proud of myself for finding a way to do that much damage as a solo character in one sequence. I've gotten a taste of real power.

I still definitely need to use cgrabs for more than just resets and the like. Between MGR, DDrop, and Excellebella, I can be nigh-unapproachable if I just use the right throw for the job, so I have absolutely got to get better about that, but that'll come with more practice. I still have a week till this month's Get Good tourney, and I plan to use it well.

I also realized that I don't need to wait for the VoDs on Youtube of my matches. I can watch them as many times as I want in the replay theater. Youtube will still be nice since I can slow the video down and rewind specific parts, but I had totally forgotten that I enabled replays so that was a nice surprise.

 

[Xortberg]

So I made my first foray into online quick matches. I got bopped pretty hard in 2, lost but put up a decent fight in 1, and won 2 more. Pretty fun, and it's nice to finally get my ass kicked. Having only played my friends and the Get Good this Sunday, I've been on a pretty solid winning spree since I started playing. I learned a fair bit about what to do when I'm at advantage doing that, but getting beat taught me a lot more.

Namely, MAN my defense is subpar. I can block semi-decently but I have trouble anticipating and reacting to low-high mixups, corner resets, and crossups. A lot of trouble. When I was at neutral in the 2 matches I lost badly, I wasn't great but managed to do alright at confirming off of pokes and doing some damage, but when they put the pressure on me I fell like a house of cards. I'm probably gonna just go into training on Nightmare dummies and try to defend as long as possible without getting hit at some point, but that'll only get me so far. I've already noticed just how predictable the computer gets, so probably sooner than later I'm just gonna have to practice defense against actual people.

I also had quite a bit of trouble approaching a character playing keepaway. I've known for a while that I have trouble with Peacock, but Squiggly was able to kite me all over the field even in the match I won against one, and Fukua was a problem as well. I didn't realize that her low shadow breaks tumbling run's armor. That fucked me up.

I'll rewatch the replays later today and compile some notes on general issues, Bella-specific issues, and matchup info, since I did get to play a pretty good variety of enemies.

 

[Xortberg]

UPDATE: I have signed up for this month's Get Good tournament. I've got 4 days to practice beforehand, and while I don't particularly expect to win, I definitely wanna put up as much of a fight as I can. So, matchup practice aside, here's my big checklist of things to work on in the coming days:

1. Play a lot of online matches, because:

• I still drop combos under pressure, need to get better at that
• I need lots of defense practice, and lots of people online are better than me and will force me to practice my guarding
• It'll give me plenty of matchup practice as well, which I need badly

2. Cram command grab practice. Not just j.hk restand>MGR reset, but DDrop resets/mixups, Excellebella antiair, all that jazz. Maybe just spend a whole day in training mode learning all the hitboxes and incorporating them into mixups.

• Runstopping into a cgrab might be good? Try it.

3. Practice the fuck outta s.hp>Pummel Horse and linking into more hits. I can sooorta reliably land the Pummel Horse, but with the dummy set to shake out of stagger I have a lot of trouble getting the link. Human players might not be able to shake out of stagger that fast - especially some of the people in a tournament about getting good - but I should be able to link it at that speed anyway.

And probably more stuff, but I'll focus on those three.

 

[Xortberg]

Kay, so I haven't posted for like a week and a half, but that doesn't mean I've been slacking off. (Well, there was that playthrough of Persona 3 that I blazed through that took a lot of time I could've been practicing, but whatever). I've been putzing about in training mode figuring new shit with Bella. Some of it seems practical, some of it doesn't, but it's all fun anyway. So, a quick rundown of what I learned about her:

1. My personal favorite, but also probably the least useful, is that I LOVE tumble running after a Ddrop and trying to anticipate where they'll tech to and punish with another grab. If they're close to me I can Ddrop again and repeat the process, and if they're farther away I can MGR and combo into it. For added bonus points, after the MGR I can do the j.lp>j,hp restand and Ddrop reset from there if I'm feeling really cocky. Unfortunately, my track record for correct guesses is less than impressive, and even when I get it right I sometimes fumble the inputs in my excitement.

2. On the note of Ddrops, I've gotten quite good at c.lk>c.mp>Ddrop blockstrings. If the opponent doesn't pushblock me, it usually works and lets me start my little Grab-a-Mole game. I could probably do better by just normal grabbing and chasing them to the corner, but Ddrop is what I'm working with now because I'm just trying to add more cgrabs to my repertoir period. I could also maybe end it in a way that puts me at range for an MGR. I'll have to see if I can do that.

3. c.mk to pop the enemy up, then jump over them and j,hk. With the right timing, it autocorrects for an overhead crossup that I can then combo from. Not 100% effective, since I've had computers jump out of the way in time and if they see it coming they can block accordingly, but that can be remedied by empty jumping instead of jumping over them. They can still beat it by blocking high, so it can't be done too often, but if I throw in a c.mk > wait > c.lk reset or two as well, I can keep them guessing. I managed to do it vs Peacock in today's Get Good, but I fucked up the combo afterwards because I'm bad at video games. Still, good to know it works.

4. c.mk>runstop is a pretty easy crossunder, which I can use in conjunction with the above crossup to keep the enemy guessing even more. I've yet to get it perfected, though. Normally, using my grab macro to start the run immediately stops it as well, but sometimes when I'm trying for the crossunder it doesn't and I don't quite know why. I'll probably drop the macro and instead just start doubletapping lk, but I am curious to see if I can figure out what the deal is.

5. Bella's elbow: this isn't something I've messed with much, but an enemy Bella did fuck me up with it pretty badly. Whenever I tried, I couldn't move my stick fast enough and would always jump higher than I wanted, but the guy I fought was able to do it basically immediately. Hard to react to, overhead, and if you're low enough when you can do it you can OTG. Definitely need to practice that.

On another note, I tried learning some Fortune stuff but IAD stumped me, so I moved on to Squigly instead. It's still veeeery rough - my neutral game it pretty shit, I'm not good at stance cancelling or even really using my specials at all outside of my combo, and I don't know any resets - but I do have a 1 meter, 7.5k combo (with H LnL assist call) that ends in a burst bait no matter where you do it on the screen. It also doesn't use any OTG so I could probably extend it, but it also ends right at max undizzy so Idk. I'd need to do something about that, Counterhits would do it, but I can't guarantee one so we'll see where it goes. Still don't know what assist I would want on Squiggly, either. I toyed with Center Stage to help me deal with zoning, which is one of my biggest hurdles, and Drag 'n' Bite for pressure in blockstrongs and combo extension, but I've not settled yet. Center Stage is especially nice for Bella since with just a bit of forward movement, it puts the enemy in range for a MGR, but it's only really useful against keepaway teams so I'd want an option for general use as well.

All in all, I'd say I'm definitely gonna be picking up Squigly before Fortune. IAD stuff is pretty integral to Fortune, from what I've seen, and I just can't really do that with my current skills. Takes a lot more frantic button slapping than my fingers can keep up with. I just need to get my Squigly neutral a lot better - my Bella's isn't all that great, but even it's miles better - and learn more than just one BnB with her. That'll come with time and practice and study, hopefully.

On top of all of that, this week's Get Good taught me a fair bit as well. I lost 0-3 because I had to fight Peacock/Robo Fortune, and zoning is the bane of my existence, but I feel like I put up a decent fight and got some experience in using my Deflector as well. Problem is, I have a lot of trouble closing in AFTER the deflector. If they're at full screen, a dash>jump>glide gets me close but they break out of stagger by then. I could possibly do a tumbling run, but I've yet to try throwing that after a deflector so idk how easy a time I'd have of it. I'll have to set that up in training and try it out. One of the bits of advice I got in the chat was that Center Stage assist would be great post-deflection, letting me do one little dash and be in range, so I'll also try that for sure since I was already considering it.

The stream also had a little video of unusual things you can deflect, like Big Band's h Giant Step shockwave. I thought that was very cool, so I'll be practicing that as well.

Anyway, it's been a moderately productive couple weeks while I was absent. I use more cgrabs, I can deal with zoning considerably better than I could before, and I've learned a few new tricks. Now I just need to get them all down in training and take them online with an improved Squigly in my team and hopefully be good.