SF4 tourney - back for more?

[waterisgood4you]

Yep, ready for this evening, probably around after 7.30.

[FurryGreenMonster]

Ooh. Are you taping this one?
I wanna watch

[Psyduck]

Well, the ordeal is over. Captured on video in all its "glory".
Finished 3-2 to myself, and in a similar vein to our RLLMUK league match it was rather cagey. I took the first game, but lost the next two, and so had to resort to the rubbish tactic of hit and run. I managed to win the last two games via 4 time outs in my favour.

I'll post the vids in a bit, though they're rather big! Also, they're far from spectacular viewing. Blanka has no attacking options at all against gief, so all the "flash" comes from him really, with his clever whiffs into spd/ultra, and a very nice FA -> dash -> ultra off a misplaced rainbow roll. A nice tactical affair though, but you probably won't want to watch all 22 minutes of it!

[FurryGreenMonster]

I managed to win the last two games via 4 time outs in my favour.

*throws tomato*

[Psyduck]

I was throwing them at myself, don't worry! Tell me what other options there were though and I'll promise to take em next time...

[FurryGreenMonster]

If in doubt........ Taunt!

[Psyduck]

[waterisgood4you]

Was the right way to play against me though, will have to think more about this match up! Still, was alot better from my previous match with Psy where I was totally lockdown. Fluffing those ex-gloves are still fresh in my mind

[Morph]

Well congrats Psy winner once again, nice video quality but the match-up was never going to be the most exciting to watch. Water I think you need to try and gain some ground after a blocked ball using green-hand, you started to counter those Blanka balls with lariat after the first couple of games but I'm sure Gief must have some normals that may also be good for stuffing these. As for Psy I really can't think what else you can do against Gief except maybe mix-up up some ground pokes, try to get him to jump at you then use vertical/horizontal balls - empty normals just in front of Gief may help you here. Unsafe moves are sometimes safe if your opponent doesn't expect them.

For Psy -



and for Water - (seems like I was right there's the normal you're looking for, looks like a timed standing MK)





Still what do I know given the fact I lost to both of you so any of you have any suggestions on what I can improve on?

[waterisgood4you]

I do try to react to horizontal blanka balls with lariat but they're harder to pull off online. Normals like s.mk tend to trade with me as well.. Mostly down to my turtling mentality that I dont make up the ground that I need to and Psyduck knows what to expect from me

Anyways I'll definately switch characters next time, I've hit a wall with Zangief recently and need to freshen up the experience.

As for Akuma against Zangief, defensive neutral jump air fireballs beyond ex-glove range and mixing up demon flips have become a problem with me, so there must be something there and don't do more than 2 blocked normals when close to gief, you can be sure they're 360-ing that pad/stick like mad actually after the 2 hit, just neutral jump mk to avoid the missed SPD and start off a combo when you land.

[C']

Congratulations to Psyduck.

Whilst I agree it wasn't the flashiest SF4 battles, it was actually really intriguing to watch. Was a very tactical and tense matchup with both players seemingly on the very edges of what they were willing to risk.

It was a very compelling match and I think both players can be proud.

[Psyduck]

Problems are:
any kind of poke can be stuffed by ex hand
at least one of his jump ins beats normal upball, and need to save ex bar to escape corners

From water's point of view, pretty much any normal will beat blanka ball (if timed right), and jab will do it comfortably. However, slide will beat any spammed normals. So most of the time I don't think he's too many options.
What I reckon would swing it though is going into aggro mode when I'm out of ex bar and either down or in the corner or both. You've loads of options there and I've got to guess the exact reply to get out of there...

Morph, I've played very few akuma's that give me much trouble to be honest! The only I can think of can beat me with gief, honda, sagat, ryu, ken too so he's not a specialist, he's just really good.
I don't think teleport -> ultra or jump -> ultra or any other "random" ultra trick is a good idea, except once in a "tie" as a desperation move maybe. Like gief, pressure when blanka has no ex bar. Try to move round to make me give you a blocked blanka ball for a free ultra. Wake up pressure in general is good. Mix up rush downs and running away...