A Theory Battle if you will

[kPc]

First off I would like to thank slayer for picking up my slack on character threads. good shit dude.

Now to my fellow manly players, explain to me the mindset you go through when in an intense battle.
What would you do to open up a turtle, what would you do to fend off a pitbull, how would you test the knowledge of your opponent, and what do you think is critical to have in your mind during a critical match such as a tournament match (keep spacing, go on the offensive to strike the first blow, etc etc)

This siegfried thread has plenty of knowledge but now on to theory.......

 

[Stryker]

Now to my fellow manly players, explain to me the mindset you go through when in an intense battle.

I was off for a lot of time, but happy to see most Siegfried's players are still around; When I have a hard battle ahead I follow 5 simple rules:
1.- Fight on your own pace; some opponents try to set you to their own timming, don't fall in that trick.
2.- Defense is everything; protect every pixel of health with all your might!
3.- Don't get greedy; punish and guaranteed hits(on evade, step or after JG) are the best option.
4.- Know your stage; Ring Outs and WallSplash combos are your worst enemies while winning and your best buddies while looking for a comeback.
5.- Don't make the same mistake twice; common sense.

What would you do to open up a turtle

1k, 2A, aGA, throws are your best allies in this case.

what would you do to fend off a pitbull

Pitbulls in some moment deplete their stamina; just remember Ali vs Foreman all the time and remember that in some moment they will try an slow(and good for GB) move that you could dodge or evade.

how would you test the knowledge of your opponent

Pokes... and throws, and 2A+B just to test their reaction to lows... if they can deal with the pokes then is time to use the heavy side of the command list, starting with 3B and 66K.

and what do you think is critical to have in your mind during a critical match such as a tournament match (keep spacing, go on the offensive to strike the first blow, etc etc)

Never never never go straight to the battle... put your limits using the tip of your zweihander; the best is to study first and go for the hits later; trust me, you won't have to hit the opponent very much while using Siegfried...

 

[Slayer_X64]

First off I would like to thank slayer for picking up my slack on character threads. good shit dude.

eh dont thank me. i've hardly done anything at all in terms of typing up matchups. honestly when i get the time, im probably gonna give the entire SA a giant overhaul - i dont like how things are set up and organized currently. It's just unfortunate that now that im in uni, it takes up so much of my time.

of course, it would definitely help if we all made efforts to work together to complete everything. frame data is one thing, but matchups are all a very colossal task to tackle. if enough people are interested, maybe i'll set up a PM where we can collaborate and work on stuff for the SA.

Now to my fellow manly players, explain to me the mindset you go through when in an intense battle.

1) always try to maintain control over distance and movement of your opponent
2) force your opponent to respect their frames. they wont if you dont make it apparently clear that they're going to risk something for it. just be careful of moves that have incredibly strong evasive properties, which can TC under your horizontal mids.
3) poke ALOT. chipping away at your opponent is a really handy way to stay relatively safe while taking down their health by a good chunk
4) try to calculate the risks you take. read your opponent and try only to apply dangerous tactics in situations where you feel they have a high chance of being successful.
5) punish your opponent all the time. even if its not the strongest punish you can muster, always make sure you at least get something out of their mistakes.
6) keep your opponent on their toes. try to set up certain "canned" movement patterns to provoke certain reactions so that you can set up certain mixups out of the situation(ie. frontstep into grab/mid mixup)
7) always press your advantage, but mix it up with grab attempts to deter things like JG and GI.
8) dont get stuck in the trap where you go for the same thing over and over again, such as always fishing for CH. most tools have a time and a place, and everything depends on how your opponent reacts to what you do. some people are great for CH fishing, others you can grab to hell, some you will have trouble doing anything against
9) have fun with your opponent ;) see how well they know the matchip, and what they will let you get away with.

What would you do to open up a turtle

grab alot, flapjack alot, poke alot, iagA alot. try doing the movement thing listed above to create a mixup. if bad enough, perhaps try throwing out some SRSH at your opponent on oki and see how they react to it. a crush is a viable option, but its not something you should outright go for since you still need to get a steady stream of damage to force them to act - if it happens, it happens.

whatever you do, its probably best to try to refrain from relying on WR B/3B too much. the stance is free to players with a strong defensive mindset.

what would you do to fend off a pitbull

Check for openings in their defenses, make them respect their frames, try to CH fish alot, and aggressively zone them. if they like to run up G alot, force them to risk something for it by poking them or mixing them up for it. put a HUGE amount of emphasis on controlling their movement, and at the same time, be careful with how you move.

of course, sometimes you'll find yourself in situations where aggression must be matched with aggression ;)

even in such situations though, never become dependant too much on moves like 3B/WR B. they create reverse mixup on block, true, but it is also very easy to end up in alot of trouble very fast if using those moves in that fashion. try to refrain to only using them for TC, CH fishing, whiff punishment/punishment, and oki.

how would you test the knowledge of your opponent

watch their reaction to 3B on guard, watch their reaction to SRSH transitions on wakeup, check how they deal with fear advantage and strings, and look at how they act on oki - someone with decent knowledge will usually refrain from getting up immediately vs siegfried. however they wont abuse rolling because of 66B's presence when it comes to killing roll.

another great way is to look at what side they step to in neutral stance, and check how they move vs other stances.

and of course, check if they respect your obvious + frames, such as iagA.

and what do you think is critical to have in your mind during a critical match such as a tournament match (keep spacing, go on the offensive to strike the first blow, etc etc)

During a tournament, first of all its best to keep your cool. secondly its extremely important to be consistent. maintain your distance from the opponent and test the waters before mounting an offense - but dont turtle up unless you wanna suffer dealing with grabs and gimmicks. that being said, maintaining a defensive zoning/poking style originally is best, and adapt as the match/opponent calls for it. try to let them come to you and hurt themselves a little bit so that they are the one who is forced to be active, while you can sit back and try to react. most importantly, there are many different ways of playing siegfried(agressive CH/mixup based, conservative poke/zoning based, ect.) utilize the right style for the right situation, and dont be afraid to take advantage of opportunities that are presented to you during a match.

also, again, test the waters, and see what you can get away with ;) every little bit of garbage helps when you can get free results off of it - even if only once or twice.