ahh lost 3 games to a couple diamond players. kept messing up my VT2.

LP is like 25600-700ish. i forget where. Today was a little bit of a write off...lots alot games purely to VT2 fails. I kind of thought i'd just get the hang of it, because i can do it in TM np. but i will need to play more casual matches with it first, i guess(borrrringgggg).

anyways i can't take these losses too personally because they were due to just executional failures. wasting emotions and time and points on it. Might take a day break so that i can learn some stuff before trying again. DUNNO.

Okay, i lost alot of points messing around with VT2 in ranked the last couple days and it derailed me and i felt they didnt count because it was just messing me up and hindering my focus. overall decided i don't like VT2 too much. I go down to like 30% by the time i can use it, and then if i guess wrong once they get a full punish for the kill. Going to stick with VT1 and try to keep this practice going. Going to stop posting point gains n losses tho, and keeping track of points all together, because that needs to be something i dont want to worry about, and its more about the matches themselves. Probably will also stick to doing 1 matchup per post so dont feel like i have to keep going right away so i can finish the post or worry about saving it else where so i don't lose it somehow.

21. Breezydrake - Ultra Diamond Abigail
2-1
*well i finally beat an abigail with cammy. first for everything. I stayed out of his HP range trying to whiff punish, but never really got THAT whiff punish. However i clipped him trying to get in other ways like dashing. I managed to anticipate and react to a Giant Flip and CC it with st.HK, it kept him standing which i wasn't actually ready for. I baited his parry attempts to counter my dive kicks by going with an empty jump straight into crush counter. Alot of call outs i really had to go for in order to land some actual good damage. I made sure not to do my corner combo, either, as it whiffs on this mofo.

Game 1
+After walking back a bit trying to keep space and attempt whiff punishes, watching him move forward i made the play to dash in and caught him with a combo
+He activated VT off a punch so the first thing i tried to do was jump forward in the air to make it whiff, i did dive kick and cross over him, but failed to punish
-He neutral jumped in my face and i was a little late trying to AA with b+MP, He took 60%
-got me cornered and unblockable'd me
+got a soft jump on him
-he woke up with forward jump and esacped my throw attempt
-He canceled his blocked cr.HP into run. He has to cancel that move or else it's super punishable, to perhaps by an answer to that, andbe ready for it
-He tried to break through my block string with EX run, but i stringed into DP which broke it
-was late on his st.HP whiff to whiff punish with drill
-wasnt paying attention to his V-gauge, and he went for one last unblockable attempt which succeeded. i could have ran it out or anticipated him getting closer to do it

Game 2
+after blocking a giant flip, he did cr.LK to use the advantage, then he tried to dash in to keep the momentum, i reacted with cr.MK luckily scoring the counterhit canceled into SA to reverse the pressure.
+my basic mid, low, mid block string worked again. I should not neglect this string, seems to work against some high lvl ppl, and if its works once, itll probably work again.
+st.MK corner pesturing seemed to provide effective. His normals are maybe all so slow that he can't really challenge it very well.
-He did cr.HK blocked into activation. and went for delay command throw. maybe going for the offensive throw here is not a bad idea
-He did cr.LK into crHP charge unblockable. perhaps i should be mashing back dash after most buttons when he is in VT
+scored a EX dive kick when he whiffed HP
+scored another EX dive kick when he seemed to be trying to close the gap again
+after DP i walked up and whiffed a throw due to him forward jumping, but i was still able to walk backwards in time and AA him with st.MP. Perhaps this is some real tech.
+st.HK CC'd a Giant flip

Game 3
+Whiff punished a st.HP with Spiral arrow
+kept going for meaties because he kept trying to jump. good read.
-keep doing cr.MP counterhit into blocked st.MK. wasting counterhits..
+after landing so many dive kicks on him, i finally went for empty jump st.HK

Conclusion: Cammy has the pressure to pin him down for good, it seems. So if i ever get one touch i gotta make it count. Challening his meaty pressure with cr.LP once in a while might be good, because he might not be able to get his cheeky shit out all the time frame perfect. Being aware of his options is what I will need to improve on. Make sure to stop his giant flips and backdash away as often as it is safe to when he has VT stocked.

This post was edited by nate321 on Jan 21 2018 09:56pm

-fought Grand Master Rashid BushinStyle, I won the first game and then he quit. Maybe it was laggy for him, which would make sense because lives in SoCal, i think. 1 sided lag makes the game kinda gay as one person thinks they are the shit when the other person was at a huge disadvantage. Nothing really to analyze in one game. He used his VT2 but i didn't really get to see what it did. I'd imagine he blacklisted me right after :P. I do the same so I don't blame him.

22. Noodle_Eater - Diamond Guile
2-0
*A little bit of a tough battle. He played a really good first round that was tough for me to crack open, and almost stole it back from him but did an unoptimal combo which gave him another chance. From there it was getting 1 bar, getting in with EX SA, and trying to analyze how he reacts after i press certain buttons. I was able to get both a dash in read and two st.HP xx SA reads on counter his booms

Game 1
-bad cr.MK confirm
-Should have spent 1 bar to kill.
+st.HP after he blocked cr.HP to stuff his boom
+After hitting a cr.HP you went for a dash in.

Game 2
-should have backthrown for stun
+took advantage of his boom relatiation attempt after blocking cr.HP, again.
+Waiting around for him to come to me
-let him jump out of the corner.
-did VT > Super. This is not optimal meter usage anymore unless it's going to kill.
-didn't panic and understood what he need for a comeback, and block his offensive upside down kick.

Conclusion: Understanding a bit more that beating guiles has alot to do with their habits of reacting to my buttons on hit and block. On top of that was reminded that an okay strategy can be to play passive and patient and let guile try to come to you instead. These are some things I need to implement in many matchups.

This post was edited by nate321 on Jan 21 2018 10:34pm

23. xAMKiddPC - Ultra Diamond Ryu
2-0
*My best results yet vs this ryu player. He has lately been Master rank, but i can imagine Ryu life is tough and inconsistent by nature. I played my best, tho, and this time it was enough. He won some rounds and it was hard fought, so there should still be plenty to learn from this set. I played clutch with the life lead in the final round with the counter ticking down. I had meter so he knew i could go threw his fireballs, but it was obvious he wasn't going to do one easy to react to, and on my end, i was not going to let it take all of my attention and focus. I made sure to be aware of his ability to jump and dash in, He blocked alot of my normals as i tried to catch him low, in hindsight, I should have been slightly less buttonsy as 1 f+HP could have spelled the end for me. Once he started getting close enough to make something happen with 10 seconds left we traded jabs and i won the round. Leading up to it i feel i did a good job of not being too predictable with my ariel approaches. Using dive kicks when he was closer range with the high change of him pressing a button or throwng a close footsie fireball.

Game 1
-Let him out of the corner like usual, but got a st.MP to take a litte life at least.
-He uses EX fireball up close alot to retract his hurtbox
-didnt use resources to kill
-went for a jab to purposely counter tic throw
-whiffed dive kick in his face. frustrated attempt in after he was throwing some fireballs
-let him dash in
-trying to backdash after jab, getting combos for it
-countered his tatsu escape attempt with LK DP
-did instant air divekick meaty to mess up how he wnated to block

Game 2
+Kept your string tight to frame trap and confirm his jab.
-He is backdashing after your LK, just like your habit, this can be thwarted by a continued string or st.HK CC.
-let him jump out after blocking a st.MK
-Kept challenging him with jab and losing
-Kept calm and patient with significant life lead for 60 seconds. I wonder if i can do this more often with real life leads. He had no safe way to approach me

Conclusion: He likes to throw EX fireballs upclose, as the retracted hitbox is great for dodging normals. Perhaps i can make Ryu waste his meter here. I'm starting to think in certain matchups like this, I can play extra lame with the life lead. I am wondering if i can start doing this more in general. This strategy will probably work best when they do not have V-Trigger stocked. This probably won't work well for people who can close the screen gap in an instance and activate VT, however maybe i need to be aware of those more, too, and bait them. So much to learn.

24. MookMonster - Super Diamond Fang
0-2
I got bodied super hard. couldn't win a round. He AA'd me 100% and completely controlled the ground. I messed up some inputs which costed me some life, but it didn't really matter because i could get nothing going, and when I did, he guessed right on defense most of the times with is defense. I suppose I should have shimmied more than going for st.HK, as sometimes the st.HK whiffed and i just got thrown.

Game 1
-took damage trying to build meter
-He waited to block dive kick when cornered and used that to escape with V-Reversal
-probably mashing too much after being thrown
-can we punish coward crouch on reaction?
-got thrown for trying to CC his throw

Game 2
-After doing a block string, don't press something else right away, his normals reach super far and smack you for it(unless you are going to press st.HP when you are not that minus as that was hitting him before.
-just getting hit by a bunch of shit...i dont even know.

Conclusion - I am pretty overwhelmed even by the replays. All i can think of is stop trying to win in footsie range. Be more patient like vs dhalsim, and do normal dive kicks MORE. Don't Dive kick when he is in the corner with a VT or EX one, as he'll just block and V-Reversal to escape. Also be more patient on defense. Also shimmy more. you were whiffing your st.HK and getting thrown after. Big loss. Might try to review how it went again later....

This post was edited by nate321 on Jan 22 2018 10:54pm

25. Dangerang - Super Diamond Fang
2-1
*ahhh another fang. Why is this so tough for me. Things i changed from the last set...i did normal dive kicked more. that was the biggest helper. Definitely got me alot of mileage. I used EX drill ALOT this round, where i didn't use it at all the round before, to go through his strings canceled into fireball trap. I still got tagged in footsie range a bit. His st.MP still going further than i anticipate. I need to definitely just relax more against this character.

Game 1
+instant air dive kicking is really good for countering his coward crouch when he wants to get back in
-He back dashed my throw. I should have just mashed DP as an OS like the pros do
-Trying to do something after his throws. I shouldn't be so scared afterwards
-He was mixing up his Defensive tech really well. I should have done a "iknow you know" mixup.

Game 2
-got hit by EX escape, and got CC'd by sweep. This always happens. i should stop trying to challenge it if im not ready for it.
-i need to block low more. He goes for sweep into VT activation. Need to be aware of that more

Game 3
-When i hit him at all and his poison balls are out, i should cancel into DP immediately so at least he too gets knocked down(given you dont have meter for EX SA)
-got hit by sweep activation again. We just gotta learn what these Fang want to try and do with their options.

Conclusion: I'm thinking similar to guile, we need to take him out of his element. I was thinking VT2 might be good for the mixups, but then i also figured VT1 SA's can prevent him from fireballing full screen. Maybe i can waste time into baiting him to move forward and lose charge, then he can't put up his poison wall and i should be more free to dive kick in. Other than that, i need to be ready for his attempts to activate of Sweep. Save my meter for escaping fireball mixups rather than dive kicks. Even tho divekicks payed off in the last game, i think overall saving them for EX spiral arrow will be better

This post was edited by nate321 on Jan 22 2018 11:25pm

25. Gumbee - Master Menat
1-2
*lol this game sucks. Her mixups are way too good and you can't whiff punish her normals. Her wakeup frames look fucking weird, so if i try to manually time a throw i miss it by a mile. I tried VT2 in this matchup it it also didn't do much damage, and my chance to mix it up i failed to utilize. Probably should just stuck with VT1 and scare her with it's ability. Anyways it was actually kind of close and I didn't feel completely out of it. Anyways, getting in is basically all luck. The best way i managed to just not do a whole lot, then pick a AA, dash, or V-Skill option to throw at her and pray for the best. It seemed to have worked well enough, but definitely gave up some pressure with whiffed throws. I guess the next step will be learning to block her mixups

Game 1
-Counter hit by st.mp after my far range cr.MP
-didn't punish st.HK block upclose
-EX hooligan seems to work well as an upclose mixup vs her

Game 2
-did high dive kick and got punished
-whiff punish st.HK from far with SA?
-block more when getting hit by her orbs. If you are blocking, try backdashing
-got in but went for hooligan mixup and lost advantage/corner push
-probably challenge her frame data more when her orb is far away, if she tries to recall it there will be a gap
-going for raw activation of VT2, should probably go for air throw especially if you want to land super for the win
-She escaped corner with a dive kick. Can probably drill punish
-random drills might be effective on her
-Pressing too heavy of a button when she is still doing her shit

Game 3
-i forgot to seperate. #3 is part of above

Conclusion: Like alot of my other matches that i am unfamilar with like Fang, just chill more of defense, or DP. Perhaps if we have a life lead we can play a run away game a bit more. If we give her a gap we have to respect the st.MP into VT activation. Testing her pressing st.MP after blocked normals: cr.MP, st.HP can counter hit it, Max range cr.MK, i can take a step back and spiral arrow whiff punish.

This post was edited by nate321 on Jan 23 2018 12:12am

26. Danggief - Diamond Zangief
1-2
*ahh losing alot today. Very tough. I had a pretty clean first game vs him, and then after that it went down hill really fast. He was scoring alot of crush counters, i guess i wasn't looking for his activation attempts.

Game 1
-Game one i played fairly well. got some dash in throws and spaced him out with st.MK as well as kept AAing him. Landed a couple EX dive kicks and it was a pretty clean textbook win

Game 2
-Didnt AA with DP, you used st.MP. turned out okay but dannypham would have SPD'd you
-didnt convert of knee recovery. Its nerfed more now
-your EX dive kick got read and armored
-tried to activate VT rather than AAing

Game 3
-Had good st.MKs and AA's but then your st.MK was too predictable and got coutnered
-Probably don't use cr.HP in this match. If armored he gets a big punish
-too slow on AA. maybe re-learn to crouch DP

Conclusion: We need to stay the F away from him when he has VT stocked. It's instant death of his move hits you at all. Other than that, we need to AA with DP 100% of the time from now on. Don't use cr.HP in footsies, and try don't rely on EX dive kick too much. Make it an bonus, not a primarly gap closer, too risky vs him. Use cr.MK when you are scared of his counter. Be more confident in your Knee whiff punishing. Biggest mistakes of now and past is definitely letting him hit us and pop VT. Note: he still gets a mixup off VT2 Air spd....lets not get hit by that..

kind of got bored of this and just grinded. got master



but i do think this way i was practicing helped me in the grind as well, as when i would lose, i would be able to reflect fairly well on the loss and i would usually still do better the next time.
next goal is grand master. maybe i will start that mission with slow training like i was doing here, again.