So your time has finally come. The veritable God of Calibur stands before you. Spacing unparalleled, punishment razor-sharp. Rushdown like a tornado, defense an impenetrable fortress. You have no chance of winning against this opponent.
… but you do. You possess a gift- a small glimmer of hope in the face of this adversity. A weapon powerful enough to combat even the most invincible opponent. You, my friend, must never forget that you have the power of mixups.
What happens when you take two moves that have the same execution speed, but cover each other’s weaknesses? You have the classical “mixup”.
The mixup, often known as the “50/50”, is a tool that can be used to damage even the most prolific and skilled opponent. Its power lies in how it reduces the opponent’s options.
One move will have a certain property, and a specific weakness. The other move will be its polar opposite- its weakness is the other move’s strength. If Move 1 is countered, next time, use Move 2. If Move 2 is countered, next time, use Move 1.
A mixup is often used at advantage (preferably a high advantage, just below guaranteed punishment); and in this “bubble”, your opponent’s options are reduced to:
attempt to counter Move 1
or attempt to counter Move 2.
The counterattack method is different for both moves, and a mismatched counterattack will be ineffective.
The odds of your opponent successfully countering your move is about 50%. Hence, “50/50”. 50% chance of living; 50% chance of dying.
The Basic Mixup
Well, what are these moves, exactly? That usually depends on who you’re playing, but the classical mixup is mid/throw.
The mid is usually something quick, like a BB. Being a mid, it catches ducking opponents. It does respectable damage for a poke, and gives good advantage on hit, while not being the end of the world if blocked. The advantage gained on hit usually lends itself to recreating another mixup situation.
The throw breaks through an opponent’s standing guard (which they should be guarding if you are hitting them with BB all of the time). It tracks step, meaning that if the opponent tries to step your BB but you throw instead, you’ll catch them. The throw does good damage, usually 45-55 (this is normal 3B meterless combo damage for most characters) and some characters have good okizeme situations from their throws, which can enable them to attempt to throw again. In most cases, the person successfully throwing has control over the situation.
So, the basic flow of combat is:
- Use fast, quick pokes that give advantage on hit (AA or BB or the like). Try to outspeed your opponent, catch his rhythm, or hit him when he releases his guard, or when he whiffs.
- If you hit, you have advantage. Immediately apply your mixup.
- If you are blocked, you have disadvantage. Try to gain the advantage back (normally you do this by blocking.)
- If you have successfully blocked, you have advantage. Immediately apply your mixup.
This really cannot be beaten 100%. There is no definitive answer to it, which makes it a powerful weapon against any opponent.
Your opponent will not be able to guess right every single time. In essence, you are making things into a battle of attrition. Force mixups upon your opponent using frame advantage or his own hesitation. If you can stay alive while subjecting your opponent to mixup situation after mixup situation, he will eventually lose.
Past The Basics
Quick mid/throw is the general mixup for most characters. Not to say that you have to use a throw- you can also use a low (preferably one that fast enough that it is “unseeable”, or unable to be blocked on reaction).
Patroklos’ BB/1K is an example of this. BB gives advantage, and 1K also gives advantage, meaning that if he lands any successful hit he can just keep forcing mixups until he is repelled.
The original mixup character, of course, is Mitsurugi, with the 3B/2KB BE mixup. Both are about the same speed; 2KB BE hits low, and catches step, while 3B leads to high damage. In Mitsurugi’s case however, both options are unsafe, so Mitsurugi is taking more risk, or essentially “gambling” with his mixup.
Now, the truth is, I’ve been using the term “mixup” in a very limited manner. A mixup can also refer to any situation where you present a limited set of options to your opponent- because there are only a few choices, you can more easily predict which choice your opponent will use, and punish him for it.
There are many different types of mixups, and I’ll go over them now.
Vertical/Horizontal Mixup
Vertical attacks are the most powerful attacks in the game- usually hits Mid, your BBs, your 3Bs. Some lead to huge damage with or without meter. They are the main tools to end a fight quickly.
Because vertical attacks are so powerful, sidestepping becomes an equally powerful defensive action. Sidestepping, or “step”, causes most vertical attacks to whiff. The whiff can be punished with the aforementioned powerful vertical of your own. As such, sidestepping actually leads to damage (pretty big damage at that).
The one attack that can keep sidesteps in check is the horizontal (the A attacks). The horizontal attack covers a wide arc around your center, so that efforts to step to the side or “angle-off” are swiftly countered. Horizontals tend to be weaker than vertical attacks for the most part, the exceptions of which are under the condition that they must score a counter-hit- and wouldn’t you know, if you are hit during a step, you are granted a Run Counter.
So, the question is, in any given situation where I have advantage, will I use a strong vertical attack? Or will I use the attack that stops you from dodging my vertical?
Now, you do have to note that most vertical/horizontal mixups hit high or mid, and the entire situation can be shut down by blocking. However, this is not earlier games; we have a guard meter now, that will lead to big punishment if it bursts. You can’t sit there blocking all day- eventually you are going to have to move, which is when this starts coming into play.
Vertical/horizontal responses also factor in when the opponent is backstepping; some mixups can be completely denied by a backstep, considering a few factors (range, amount of advantage, etc.) If you have an anti-backstep option to stop your opponent from escaping your mixups, and it happens to be vertical, now you have this mixup- do I try to stop his backstep, or do I throw out a horizontal because he anticipates me trying to stop his backstep and sidesteps my vertical?
Are you still with me? Because of defensive options, the game progressed from mid/low to vertical/horizontal, just like that. It’s important to pay attention to these sort of things because you may have been stuck with a certain pattern (and it is costing you wins) when you didn’t realize that this sort of mixup existed.
Now, there are ways in this game to completely shut down backstep and sidestep (Pat’s 236AB up close, Ivy’s 3[A], Nightmare’s agA/6A/3A) but these “one size fits all” options are generally unsafe to compensate for the fact that you don’t really need to mixup anything but “will I use it or won’t I”.
The No-Mixup
Usually, the default defensive position for an opponent is standing guard. This generally means that most opponents are weak to attacks that defeat standing guard (throws or lows).
When your opponent knows this and is willing to duck to escape a throw or low, what you can do is stop using the other option entirely.
Just do the mid, over and over again. What you are relying on is your opponent to outguess himself; if he is scared of your low or throw, just the threat of it will cause him to hesitate. If you apply this right, your opponent will willingly duck right into your mids.
Of course, for this to happen, two conditions have to occur:
1) The opponent must be coerced into ducking. Give him a reason to duck by abusing your secondary anti-standing guard option. This is a no-mixup in itself- stop using the mid option entirely.
2) The opponent must have residual fear from condition #1, and become unable to adapt due to this fear. If your opponent becomes aware of your strategy, they will just start using standing guard again, and you may put yourself at risk, or at the least, not penetrate your opponent’s defense.
A no-mixup is valuable, in that it does considerable “mental damage” to an opponent when successfully utilized. Keep it in mind for when you are playing more educated opponents.
Time/Delay Mixup
One of my favorite things to do in this game, which is a subset of rhythm-based play (which I’ll write about in a future article). When you’re dealing with a mixup, but you’re not using frame advantage to assist you, your opponent is usually on the defensive, hesitating, thinking “block high or block low? Block high or block low?”
You might see them twitch duck, you might see them repeatedly duck, you might see just an out-and-out full crouch.
Well, what I like to do (I have said before that I love to spam lows) is that I run over like I’m going to do the low, and then stop. The opponent blocks low, realizes nothing happened, and then comes back up. In that instant, I do the low, right when they let go of their defense.
This is an excellent tactic for really getting into your opponent’s head, “pushing their buttons”. You let them know that it’s coming, and that they can’t stop it.
In the real world, abuse should be punishable in a court of law- but in the game, abusing your opponent is good, if you can get away with it. “Trolling” like this is really an effective psychological attack.
However, you can’t really get away with this if your opponent is too fast. You’ll have to scare them into defense first- if they’re retaliating quickly you might get interrupted. Remember, you have to “groom” your opponent, set them up first, before you can start laying traps and pulling puppet strings.
Reverse Mixup
This mixup involves two or multi-hit strings. One or more of the attacks in the string can be unsafe on block.
Take for example, Nightmare’s 3AA. It is unsafe on block (-20) and can be punished by characters with the range for it. Nightmare’s 3A is also -20 on block.
However, just using the 3A is a safer option than using 3AA. Why?
If you just use the 3A, the opponent has to decide if they will punish it or not. If they do punish it, you can interrupt them by finishing the string.
Once they know this, you can use even unsafe moves like this on them, and they will hesitate waiting for the followup hit. Even though you are at a severe disadvantage, you are forcing a mixup on them.
In some cases, like Patroklos’ 236AB (-16 on both hits), your opponent can hesitate so much that you can 236A, come back down, and then throw them or AA them. The frames on this are completely whack but just the threat of the second hit can really lock down your opponent, especially in something like a high-pressure tournament situation.
This is the main reason why Mitsurugi’s 3B BE is in the game- to make you think twice about punishing 3B.
Now, faster-reacting players may be able to find ways around these mixups in some cases, so as always you need to use your own discretion. Remember, use the first attack and gauge your opponent’s reaction. If they punish, use the followup. Don’t forget that you are using unsafe moves, so your mixup will fall to pieces if you use the followup and they block all the way through.
Pattern Mixup (Conditioning)
In Reading and Adaptation, I touched on how all opponents have patterns, and how you can trick someone who knows this fact.
A “pattern” mixup, or conditioning your opponent, is pretty simple. Create a recurring situation- a step-in before a low, two BBs in a row- you want to make sure that you do these actions in the exact same way multiple times.
(If your opponent can hear your voice, you can even yell “Watch out!” before you use an attack.)
Right when your opponent starts to pick up on your pattern, abruptly switch to something else entirely. If you succeed, you’ll have dealt considerable mental damage to your opponent. Convert this into momentum, and you’ll surely have stepped closer to winning the match.
Now, remember, conditioning is meaningless if your opponent is blind to it. If you change your strategy (a strategy that was working) for something else, in anticipation that your opponent will change to counter your previous strategy- but they DON’T- things can possibly turn out very badly for you.
The powerful effect of conditioning is why you will see even top-level players spam shamelessly as if it were a one-bar online match. To change from an effective strategy when it is not being countered is extremely inefficient, and is not in your best interest. The opponent must be capable of adapting and delivering a proper counter-response before you even think about changing your strategy.
Defending Against Mixups
Now that we know a few ways of mixing up the opponent, what happens when your weapon is turned against you? Your opponent is guaranteed at least a 50% win ratio. How can you stop this?
Thankfully, mixups aren’t everything. The answer lies in the fact that your opponent is human- you must exploit his humanity to win.
Read your opponent. Watch his timing, his mannerisms, his patterns. Look for tendencies in your opponent’s play. Being truly random is near impossible- rest assured that your opponent does have a pattern. You just have to figure it out in order to win.
When you defend successfully against a mixup, if you can, punish it! Mixups are too strong to be left unchecked- you must provide some kind of deterrent to its use, and the best way to do that is guaranteed damage.
But don’t get greedy! Some mixups can be composed of very unsafe moves, but do not go looking for this damage if the prompt does not come from your opponent! If you are putting expectations on yourself, looking for that unsafe move because you want the big damage from the punish, you can be manipulated by your opponent!
If you are good at spacing, it can be a wonderful tool for mixup denial. Mixups are usually going to be applied at mid/close range- what mixups represent are options. It’s all options. At long range, characters’ options will shrink, and so they can become more easily predictable. (For example, against Patroklos, there’s no need to block low if he’s standing far away- whereas with Astaroth that’s a different story.)
![keep-calm-and-sweep-the-leg[1].jpg](https://8wayrun.com/attachments/keep-calm-and-sweep-the-leg-1-jpg.23600/ "keep-calm-and-sweep-the-leg[1].jpg")
In Closing
The mixup is a powerful tool for use against all opponents, even the strongest. Know its uses, know its limitations, and you will have yet another weapon in your arsenal, and be one step closer to mastery.
Mixups are usually always effective with frame advantage- the more the better. This is because- if you are at high advantage, your opponent’s options are severely reduced. If you can force your opponent into a corner, you can more easily control him, and thus the flow of the match.
Remember- the more options you can cover from your opponent, the better. If you can lead him into a trap where the only response is “do anything but X and get hit” that is the best-case scenario.
I’ll end this with a quote from one of our own, CheLivz (you should read this post):
“ALWAYS lead with low-level metagame.”
That means- use lows and throws, use full strings, unsafe moves, apply your “scrub-killers”. Before there can be mixups, you must put the fear of God into the opponent. Play dastardly and dirty and when your opponent moves to counter you, THEN the rest of the game will open up.
Don’t forget this. I have lost many times because I thought I could just play by using 66B for spacing and whiff punishment and neglecting my basic 1K and throws.
When you don't know your opponent- play like a scrub first (as strange as that sounds). Do not change because you feel like it. Make your opponent earn your full power.
… but you do. You possess a gift- a small glimmer of hope in the face of this adversity. A weapon powerful enough to combat even the most invincible opponent. You, my friend, must never forget that you have the power of mixups.
What happens when you take two moves that have the same execution speed, but cover each other’s weaknesses? You have the classical “mixup”.
The mixup, often known as the “50/50”, is a tool that can be used to damage even the most prolific and skilled opponent. Its power lies in how it reduces the opponent’s options.
One move will have a certain property, and a specific weakness. The other move will be its polar opposite- its weakness is the other move’s strength. If Move 1 is countered, next time, use Move 2. If Move 2 is countered, next time, use Move 1.
A mixup is often used at advantage (preferably a high advantage, just below guaranteed punishment); and in this “bubble”, your opponent’s options are reduced to:
attempt to counter Move 1
or attempt to counter Move 2.
The counterattack method is different for both moves, and a mismatched counterattack will be ineffective.
The odds of your opponent successfully countering your move is about 50%. Hence, “50/50”. 50% chance of living; 50% chance of dying.
The Basic Mixup
Well, what are these moves, exactly? That usually depends on who you’re playing, but the classical mixup is mid/throw.
The mid is usually something quick, like a BB. Being a mid, it catches ducking opponents. It does respectable damage for a poke, and gives good advantage on hit, while not being the end of the world if blocked. The advantage gained on hit usually lends itself to recreating another mixup situation.
The throw breaks through an opponent’s standing guard (which they should be guarding if you are hitting them with BB all of the time). It tracks step, meaning that if the opponent tries to step your BB but you throw instead, you’ll catch them. The throw does good damage, usually 45-55 (this is normal 3B meterless combo damage for most characters) and some characters have good okizeme situations from their throws, which can enable them to attempt to throw again. In most cases, the person successfully throwing has control over the situation.
So, the basic flow of combat is:
- Use fast, quick pokes that give advantage on hit (AA or BB or the like). Try to outspeed your opponent, catch his rhythm, or hit him when he releases his guard, or when he whiffs.
- If you hit, you have advantage. Immediately apply your mixup.
- If you are blocked, you have disadvantage. Try to gain the advantage back (normally you do this by blocking.)
- If you have successfully blocked, you have advantage. Immediately apply your mixup.
This really cannot be beaten 100%. There is no definitive answer to it, which makes it a powerful weapon against any opponent.
Your opponent will not be able to guess right every single time. In essence, you are making things into a battle of attrition. Force mixups upon your opponent using frame advantage or his own hesitation. If you can stay alive while subjecting your opponent to mixup situation after mixup situation, he will eventually lose.
Past The Basics
Quick mid/throw is the general mixup for most characters. Not to say that you have to use a throw- you can also use a low (preferably one that fast enough that it is “unseeable”, or unable to be blocked on reaction).
Patroklos’ BB/1K is an example of this. BB gives advantage, and 1K also gives advantage, meaning that if he lands any successful hit he can just keep forcing mixups until he is repelled.
The original mixup character, of course, is Mitsurugi, with the 3B/2KB BE mixup. Both are about the same speed; 2KB BE hits low, and catches step, while 3B leads to high damage. In Mitsurugi’s case however, both options are unsafe, so Mitsurugi is taking more risk, or essentially “gambling” with his mixup.
Now, the truth is, I’ve been using the term “mixup” in a very limited manner. A mixup can also refer to any situation where you present a limited set of options to your opponent- because there are only a few choices, you can more easily predict which choice your opponent will use, and punish him for it.
There are many different types of mixups, and I’ll go over them now.
Vertical/Horizontal Mixup
Vertical attacks are the most powerful attacks in the game- usually hits Mid, your BBs, your 3Bs. Some lead to huge damage with or without meter. They are the main tools to end a fight quickly.
Because vertical attacks are so powerful, sidestepping becomes an equally powerful defensive action. Sidestepping, or “step”, causes most vertical attacks to whiff. The whiff can be punished with the aforementioned powerful vertical of your own. As such, sidestepping actually leads to damage (pretty big damage at that).
The one attack that can keep sidesteps in check is the horizontal (the A attacks). The horizontal attack covers a wide arc around your center, so that efforts to step to the side or “angle-off” are swiftly countered. Horizontals tend to be weaker than vertical attacks for the most part, the exceptions of which are under the condition that they must score a counter-hit- and wouldn’t you know, if you are hit during a step, you are granted a Run Counter.
So, the question is, in any given situation where I have advantage, will I use a strong vertical attack? Or will I use the attack that stops you from dodging my vertical?
Now, you do have to note that most vertical/horizontal mixups hit high or mid, and the entire situation can be shut down by blocking. However, this is not earlier games; we have a guard meter now, that will lead to big punishment if it bursts. You can’t sit there blocking all day- eventually you are going to have to move, which is when this starts coming into play.
Vertical/horizontal responses also factor in when the opponent is backstepping; some mixups can be completely denied by a backstep, considering a few factors (range, amount of advantage, etc.) If you have an anti-backstep option to stop your opponent from escaping your mixups, and it happens to be vertical, now you have this mixup- do I try to stop his backstep, or do I throw out a horizontal because he anticipates me trying to stop his backstep and sidesteps my vertical?
Are you still with me? Because of defensive options, the game progressed from mid/low to vertical/horizontal, just like that. It’s important to pay attention to these sort of things because you may have been stuck with a certain pattern (and it is costing you wins) when you didn’t realize that this sort of mixup existed.
Now, there are ways in this game to completely shut down backstep and sidestep (Pat’s 236AB up close, Ivy’s 3[A], Nightmare’s agA/6A/3A) but these “one size fits all” options are generally unsafe to compensate for the fact that you don’t really need to mixup anything but “will I use it or won’t I”.
The No-Mixup
Usually, the default defensive position for an opponent is standing guard. This generally means that most opponents are weak to attacks that defeat standing guard (throws or lows).
When your opponent knows this and is willing to duck to escape a throw or low, what you can do is stop using the other option entirely.
Just do the mid, over and over again. What you are relying on is your opponent to outguess himself; if he is scared of your low or throw, just the threat of it will cause him to hesitate. If you apply this right, your opponent will willingly duck right into your mids.
Of course, for this to happen, two conditions have to occur:
1) The opponent must be coerced into ducking. Give him a reason to duck by abusing your secondary anti-standing guard option. This is a no-mixup in itself- stop using the mid option entirely.
2) The opponent must have residual fear from condition #1, and become unable to adapt due to this fear. If your opponent becomes aware of your strategy, they will just start using standing guard again, and you may put yourself at risk, or at the least, not penetrate your opponent’s defense.
A no-mixup is valuable, in that it does considerable “mental damage” to an opponent when successfully utilized. Keep it in mind for when you are playing more educated opponents.
Time/Delay Mixup
One of my favorite things to do in this game, which is a subset of rhythm-based play (which I’ll write about in a future article). When you’re dealing with a mixup, but you’re not using frame advantage to assist you, your opponent is usually on the defensive, hesitating, thinking “block high or block low? Block high or block low?”
You might see them twitch duck, you might see them repeatedly duck, you might see just an out-and-out full crouch.
Well, what I like to do (I have said before that I love to spam lows) is that I run over like I’m going to do the low, and then stop. The opponent blocks low, realizes nothing happened, and then comes back up. In that instant, I do the low, right when they let go of their defense.
This is an excellent tactic for really getting into your opponent’s head, “pushing their buttons”. You let them know that it’s coming, and that they can’t stop it.
In the real world, abuse should be punishable in a court of law- but in the game, abusing your opponent is good, if you can get away with it. “Trolling” like this is really an effective psychological attack.
However, you can’t really get away with this if your opponent is too fast. You’ll have to scare them into defense first- if they’re retaliating quickly you might get interrupted. Remember, you have to “groom” your opponent, set them up first, before you can start laying traps and pulling puppet strings.
Reverse Mixup
This mixup involves two or multi-hit strings. One or more of the attacks in the string can be unsafe on block.
Take for example, Nightmare’s 3AA. It is unsafe on block (-20) and can be punished by characters with the range for it. Nightmare’s 3A is also -20 on block.
However, just using the 3A is a safer option than using 3AA. Why?
If you just use the 3A, the opponent has to decide if they will punish it or not. If they do punish it, you can interrupt them by finishing the string.
Once they know this, you can use even unsafe moves like this on them, and they will hesitate waiting for the followup hit. Even though you are at a severe disadvantage, you are forcing a mixup on them.
In some cases, like Patroklos’ 236AB (-16 on both hits), your opponent can hesitate so much that you can 236A, come back down, and then throw them or AA them. The frames on this are completely whack but just the threat of the second hit can really lock down your opponent, especially in something like a high-pressure tournament situation.
This is the main reason why Mitsurugi’s 3B BE is in the game- to make you think twice about punishing 3B.
Now, faster-reacting players may be able to find ways around these mixups in some cases, so as always you need to use your own discretion. Remember, use the first attack and gauge your opponent’s reaction. If they punish, use the followup. Don’t forget that you are using unsafe moves, so your mixup will fall to pieces if you use the followup and they block all the way through.
Pattern Mixup (Conditioning)
In Reading and Adaptation, I touched on how all opponents have patterns, and how you can trick someone who knows this fact.
A “pattern” mixup, or conditioning your opponent, is pretty simple. Create a recurring situation- a step-in before a low, two BBs in a row- you want to make sure that you do these actions in the exact same way multiple times.
(If your opponent can hear your voice, you can even yell “Watch out!” before you use an attack.)
Right when your opponent starts to pick up on your pattern, abruptly switch to something else entirely. If you succeed, you’ll have dealt considerable mental damage to your opponent. Convert this into momentum, and you’ll surely have stepped closer to winning the match.
Now, remember, conditioning is meaningless if your opponent is blind to it. If you change your strategy (a strategy that was working) for something else, in anticipation that your opponent will change to counter your previous strategy- but they DON’T- things can possibly turn out very badly for you.
The powerful effect of conditioning is why you will see even top-level players spam shamelessly as if it were a one-bar online match. To change from an effective strategy when it is not being countered is extremely inefficient, and is not in your best interest. The opponent must be capable of adapting and delivering a proper counter-response before you even think about changing your strategy.
Defending Against Mixups
Now that we know a few ways of mixing up the opponent, what happens when your weapon is turned against you? Your opponent is guaranteed at least a 50% win ratio. How can you stop this?
Thankfully, mixups aren’t everything. The answer lies in the fact that your opponent is human- you must exploit his humanity to win.
Read your opponent. Watch his timing, his mannerisms, his patterns. Look for tendencies in your opponent’s play. Being truly random is near impossible- rest assured that your opponent does have a pattern. You just have to figure it out in order to win.
When you defend successfully against a mixup, if you can, punish it! Mixups are too strong to be left unchecked- you must provide some kind of deterrent to its use, and the best way to do that is guaranteed damage.
But don’t get greedy! Some mixups can be composed of very unsafe moves, but do not go looking for this damage if the prompt does not come from your opponent! If you are putting expectations on yourself, looking for that unsafe move because you want the big damage from the punish, you can be manipulated by your opponent!
If you are good at spacing, it can be a wonderful tool for mixup denial. Mixups are usually going to be applied at mid/close range- what mixups represent are options. It’s all options. At long range, characters’ options will shrink, and so they can become more easily predictable. (For example, against Patroklos, there’s no need to block low if he’s standing far away- whereas with Astaroth that’s a different story.)
In Closing
The mixup is a powerful tool for use against all opponents, even the strongest. Know its uses, know its limitations, and you will have yet another weapon in your arsenal, and be one step closer to mastery.
Mixups are usually always effective with frame advantage- the more the better. This is because- if you are at high advantage, your opponent’s options are severely reduced. If you can force your opponent into a corner, you can more easily control him, and thus the flow of the match.
Remember- the more options you can cover from your opponent, the better. If you can lead him into a trap where the only response is “do anything but X and get hit” that is the best-case scenario.
I’ll end this with a quote from one of our own, CheLivz (you should read this post):
“ALWAYS lead with low-level metagame.”
That means- use lows and throws, use full strings, unsafe moves, apply your “scrub-killers”. Before there can be mixups, you must put the fear of God into the opponent. Play dastardly and dirty and when your opponent moves to counter you, THEN the rest of the game will open up.
Don’t forget this. I have lost many times because I thought I could just play by using 66B for spacing and whiff punishment and neglecting my basic 1K and throws.
When you don't know your opponent- play like a scrub first (as strange as that sounds). Do not change because you feel like it. Make your opponent earn your full power.
