The journey begins

Looking back on my journal, I found this written on November 12th, 2008:  "Recently I have been feeling stuck as a player I can never play to my standard any more.  I think this is because I am realizing the depths to my character Ryu, were not as deep as I would have liked to think."  At the time, my confidence to play well was just shot.  I started losing to player who I had never lost to in my entire time of playing...records of 12 and 0...would become 12 and 4 after 4 games.  It seemed like I lost my eye of the tiger.  Obviously over time, I was able to get out of the slump thanks to people like Deezo and Apoc.  Apoc made it very apparent to me that coming in with a sour mindset will be a huge deterrent on your actual game play...something I wasn't taking into perspective.  I suppose it was at this time, I realized how important it is to remain confident in your own skill.

After the pep talk, I went to the arcade and popped in my credit.  I sat down and said to myself "You are not bad at this game.  Your not the best, yet your not BAD at this game.  As a matter of fact your DAMN GOOD!  Now play this game to your standard!"  That night I left with something like a 30 win streak.  The win streak really doesn't matter, it was just the fact that the lesson was learned...whatever mindset you bring in before the match, is the same mindset you'll have during the match.  

However, I want to write about exactly why I felt I had plateaued with Ryu.  At the time, I had played Ryu like most of the other players who play Ryu...get the knockdown, try for a combo, and play all around solid through footsies.  Now normally I can wreck people with this type of play style.  Ryu's crossup is pretty good, and can be fairly ambiguous at times.  However when playing better players in my area, such as Deezo or Jason Cole, I started realizing that this style of play gets nowhere.  You may be asking "What the heck are you talking about!?"  What I mean is that once I get a knockdown on a player who is GOOD, they are content with eating a possible throw, and merely blocking a string.  When you get down to it, at low to mid level play, this style of playing is acceptable.  However at top level, Ryu can't hang.  Better players realize that Ryu does NOT have options after blocked strings.  Compare this to the rest of the cast, for example the other 2 shoto's:  Ken can use kara grab mixup after strings, and Akuma can use a demon flip or possibly s.hk to keep close.  These are just quick examples, but what it really gets down to is the fact that most Ryu's do damage from combo's, and to do combo's you need to have constant pressure up close.  All in all, Ryu's mixups and tricks are NOT good enough at top level play, instead a more practical and solid way of dealing out damage is needed.  

A few days ago, I watched a few more Daigo videos.  I swear to god, this guy is so inspiring to me as a player because I feel as if I truly understand why he does things.  I almost feel as if Daigo wastes NO movement or attack at all...everything he does has a purpose.  Anyways, let me jump off those nuts real quick and explain what I realized.  After watching matches, I was seeing that Daigo NEVER tries to pressure his opponent like most players do.  I mean, he likes to be in his opponent's face, and play them up close, however never does he try to go for a combo after a knockdown.  I think out of all the videos I've seen, I have witnessed Daigo crossover with j.mk ONCE.  So I had to question it "Why doesn't he pursue the knockdown and press the advantage!?"  I finally came to the realization that if I were to come to the idea that Ryu isn't good enough from the inside at a certain level of play, he MUST have had this realization as well.  However, unlike me, Daigo had already figured a more practical way of dealing damage instead of just combos.  Why crossover and have a blocked string, when you have a more consistent way to gain damage, through baiting, setups, and reading an opponent.  

The epiphany that I've come across is that:  Ryu can only be played at top level ONLY when the player is an instinct player.  What it comes down to is exactly what Mandel told me...2 things that I think I'll remember for a very long time:  "When you don't play to a particular script or anything, and play to your opponents, Ryu becomes crazy...Thats what great Ryu's do, it feels like everything you do is wrong."  Daigo is a player who plays solely off of instincts regarding his opponents.  By setting his opponent up to think a certain way, he baits them into playing into his hand so he can deal out damage.  At the same time, by reading his opponents, it makes it easier for him to set his opponent up.  Like Mandel told me "In the end, it all comes together."  By reading a players behaviors, baiting and setups become instinctual to you as a player, with setups and baiting comes damage.  

So thats it, that's the huge epiphany...the fact that if I'm going to become a great Ryu player, I need to play to my opponent, not to how I want to play...but to what is best against my opponent.  Thus, begins the journey to becoming an instinctual player.  

 - Mickey

It is a secret to everyone

So recently there's been a bit of hype concerning the "Umehara Kumite Special!"  But seriously, what the hell does that mean to you or me?  It means that earlier this month the Japanese held a special event where Daigo Umehara would fight 6 titans of terror in SF4.  The players that attended this "Kumite" were:  Nemo, Joe, Ino, Fuudo, Itazan, and Mago...All of which are very good players in Japan (some of the best).  In the end of it all, Daigo pretty much smashed up on everyone with the exception of Mago who beat Daigo 2-1.  Out of the 18 games, The Beast came out on top in 14 of them, while losing the other 4.  Luckily, I am one of some very few in the US that have seen some of these matches =D.  I'm just here to talk about what I learned from the matches.  

Now being a Ryu player, I watched Daigo's matches very intently.  Lets be honest, there aren't too many better to learn from then the guy who has the best record in Japan.  The first thing to be in awe of is that Daigo has an amazing ability to read his opponent's.  From psychic dragon punches, to psychic hurricane kicks, Daigo shows that he can read his opponent's tendencies and habits in a matter of one round.  The set of videos were very entertaining, however there was one thing that I took out of this set of videos that has changed the way that I play.

The match that I was very focused on was Nemo vs Daigo, a Chun/Ryu matchup.  I watched this match very closely as I personally have troubles with Deezo's Chun every time we play.  I figured that maybe by watching Daigo and how he plays the match, I could get an idea of what I am doing wrong.  After watching Daigo, it all became clear...I think that not only did the Chun/Ryu match became clear, however matches that I have trouble with in general became clear.  It's something so basic and logical that I don't see why I couldn't have come to this realization myself.  All in all, it had to do with the simple idea of limiting options.  

In every one of Daigo's matches, Daigo limited his opponent's options to a degree that the opponent became dumb founded, and had no other way to play.  Against Itazan, Daigo uses hadokens at a very close range to limit Zangief's pokes, lariat's and even ex green hand.  Against Joe (Viper), Daigo goes uses neutral jump mp to stop Viper from flame kick'ing around.  By doing this Viper has very few options to gain ground as she does this best in the air.  Now these may seem like very basic ways to limit an opponent's options, however it brings me to the Fuudo (Ryu) and Nemo (Chun) matches. 

Lets look at these 2 characters really quickly.  Chun has incredible mixup, it's pretty much where most of her damage comes from.  At the same time, by staying at full screen/half screen distance she can use kikoken's and pokes to maintain a good set plan to obtain knockdowns.  Simply put, her ground game is solid enough to where it makes the opponent NEED to think of ways to get in on her.  At the same time, Chun's anti airs are very lack luster and sometimes unreliable.  Now lets look at Ryu.  Ryu has devastating combo's at close ranges, however unless he hits them, his options are very limited after a block string.  At full screen ranges he has a good hadoken that can zone his opponent's with.  His pokes are par at best, meaning that he'll trade (or be beaten) with any other character who has better pokes then him.  All in all, his main source of damage comes from his hard hitting combo's.  

So now, we are brought back to the Daigo matches.  Lets talk about Daigo vs Fuudo (the Ryu player).  Now Fuudo makes it apparent that he gets his damage from the inside (just like I said earlier).  So therefore, it's safe to say that Fuudo's prime situation would be to be pressuring his opponent.  So what does Daigo do?  He keeps him out via hadoken's.  Fuudo's only option is to throw hadoken's back or take a risk and hurricane kick over them.  In the match, Fuudo decides to throw hadoken's back, however Daigo (who plans, baits, and reads his opponent) is able to read some of the time's that Fuudo throws hadoken's and jumps in at just the right time to combo.  All in all, Fuudo's goal was to get inside...but was fine with remaining outside, however Daigo made it so that he limited Fuudo's options to get inside, and forced Fuudo to play an outside game in which at times he (Daigo) capitalized on.

So this brings us to the Daigo/Nemo (Chun) match.  During this match, Nemo controls a lot of the play field by good pokes and kikoken's.  However you'll notice that Daigo wins by playing an up close battle, something that Chun has a very hard time with.  Daigo uses a lot of jump ins to close distance since he knows that Chun's anti airs aren't very good.  However during the second round the majority of the match is played from half/full screen distance.  At this range Daigo has quite a bit of trouble, his hadoken's don't really do much to help him in this situation, and he doesn't jump in much because at a full screen range.  Also, at this range Chun's anti airs have a bit more validity.  Basically, since Nemo fought more of an outside battle, Daigo loses this 2nd round.  Since Ryu can't cope with Chun's pokes or kikoken's, Ryu can't win from outside.  In the last round, Daigo turns it into a close up match once again by jumping in more, and eventually takes the match.

After watching these matches, I realized the importance of how to play an opponent based off of their habits mixed with solid matchup knowledge.  Take for example Guile, a character who uses sonic booms and zoning as his main tool to deal damage and create opportunity.  Now if a player was pressuring Guile during the majority of the match, it's safe to say that this limits the way that Guile needs to play.  He needs to figure out a different way of dealing damage and figure out also how to get out of this pressure.  At the same time, there are different ways to play Guile...Say that I come across a Guile who likes to pressure and rush down more then he likes to zone.  In this case, it would be imperative for me to make a decision to try and out zone the Guile player from rushing me down, or possibly play to this player's rush down style.  By knowing the player's tendencies on how he rushes down, and combining it with the knowledge of the matchup that you have as a player, one could build a solid strategy and plan out exactly HOW to fight this type of style of play.  

Here's another quick example.  Lets talk about matchups for Ryu.  Lets look at 5 cast members (out of random):  Blanka, Chun, Viper, Abel, Bison.  Now, lets look at how these characters do their damage...better yet, not so much how they do their damage, but where do these characters want to be in a match?  What is their prime position?  With Blanka, he wants to be full/mid screen.  With Chun she wants to be up close however can do very well from full/mid screen.  Viper wants to fight up close.  Abel wants to be up close.  Bison can fight from afar, however does best when he pressures, thus saying he wants to be up close can be a pretty good deduction.  Now take into where these characters want to be, and fight to their opposite.  If Blanka wants to fight from full/mid screen, it would be smart of me to put him out of his comfort zone and fight him up close.  If Abel wants in, I have to do my best to keep him out.  Chun does well from outside?  Fight Chun up close.  Bison wants in and does most of his damage from inside?  Keep him out.  

By playing to your opponent's tendencies AND to the matchup, one can build a strategy for any type of play style.  

Throwing in SF4

I can't stop writing ideas down or thinking up new stuff, thoughts just keep popping up!  This blog gets pretty analytical, but hopefully it'll be a good read for others.  This piece has to do with throwing and it's importance in the game.  Personally, I look at the "throwing game" as a a game of roshambo.  Blocking is beat by throws, throws are beat by attacks, and throws can be stalemated by tech'ing.  This blog goes over tech'ing, how you can use throws to your advantage to possibly get an opening, and my personal ideas about SF4 and throws.  All in all, this blog is about learning how throws can be used to gain advantage.  

Why throws are used:  Throws are used to break an opponent's guard and gain opportunity for ourselves.  When an opponent is sitting there blocking all of your strings, other ways of breaking defenses need to be used.  Simply put, you gotta go back to the drawing board, something isn't working.  This is why we have throws.  Throws beat blocking, thus a person who is blocking all of my strings can be beat by a cleverly set up throw.  A throw can be set up in a variety of ways, the most common being "tick throws."  This is a very effective way to throw because you are essentially using 2 ways to break a defense, attacking and throwing right after.  The opponent expects to block a possible string, yet you are "one step ahead" by throwing instead.  

The mentality of throwing:  Certain thoughts come with throws.  For most players (myself included), teching throws can be very difficult.  I find that I don't start tech'ing throws until I've been thrown once or twice.  However, good players will be able to read telegraphed throws, and be able to tech on command.  Note how I said that I feel as if I start tech'ing throws after I have been thrown once or twice.  All in all, I wasn't threatened until my opponent forced me to be scared of it.  This is essential to "learning" how to tech throws well.  Basically to tech throws you must be looking for the throw at all times, it's not enough to merely react.  By tech'ing throws, it limits the opponent's options.  By proving that you can tech efficiently, you make it apparent that they must think of different ways to gain advantage.  Thus, it becomes a battle of who thinks ahead first.  

The risks of tech'ing:  When an opponent is constantly tech'ing throw attempts, and is blocking all my strings, options seem exhausted.  The alternative becomes attacking during their tech.  Say that an attempt to tech is whiffed.  This would make my opponent stand (the animation happens), and also give me time to punish during the recovery of the throw.  Nonetheless, it hammers the idea that my opponent needs to second guess himself (to tech, or possibly eat a combo).  This is a bit of an "advanced" way of thinking, however it is needed at top level play.  

Throws come out real quick, in 3 frames meaning jabbing out of a throw attempt is nearly impossible...at times I'll even hear my jab come out and still get thrown.  It's even more stupid when I attempt to c.mk out of it and SEE my c.mk animation come out however STILL get thrown.  Basically if you don't want to get thrown, you must tech.  The main challenge with tech'ing in SF4 has to do with when to tech.  Think about it like this, on tick setups it becomes very difficult to realize when to tech after a set amount of blocked hits.  Do I tech after the first tick?  The second?  Or do I tech after the crossover?  This becomes important to know because if I choose to tech during the wrong time, I could potentially set myself up for 1 of 2 things: getting thrown after my mistimed tech, or potentially setting myself up to be combo'ed.  Basically a mistimed tech can give my opponent options and opportunity.  

I think this'll wrap up my thoughts on throws for now.  There are still things that I need to test out and learn about however I think this is a pretty good start.