Mitsurugi vs Maxi: Stance Guide

Belial

Belial

King of Hundred Swords
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Guide to Beating Maxi Stance
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Maxi has 5 stances, which have been remade in SCV to become very powerful, it is very hard to keep track of them all if you're not using Maxi yourself, so if you have a high level Maxi player around I suggest you take the time to play a bit of Maxi yourself to get a grip on whats going on.

Each Maxi stance has an aGI (B+K) and 3 different moves. Since you will face it both on hit and on guard I will first explain how moves from each stance work on block (in case you've been hit by something ending in that stance) and then explain how to stop stance mixup if you guard the transtion.

I had to cut some stuff not to overload this guide with info, but I believe as it is, this guide will prepare you for Maxi in a way you wont have any difficulties countering even advanced strategies not covered by it.

Right Cross

RC is a great stance for interrupting attacks, its AB will go through 2A's for massive damage via BE, sweep will TC for good damage, while B will jump over lows. If you hesitate, Maxi can quickly enter BL via stance shift (6) and apply mixups.

Best basic transitions to RC are 4BB, BBB and AA.

RC moves:

AB - Two mid attacks. Safe on block, and very powerful interrupt. Can be BE'd. Mitsurugi can 4B the normal version before last hit. You can JG both versions for free 3B.
B - jumping move, than ends in LO (see below), on block you can
  • Use 1K to stop nearly everything (at far range will get hit by RC A)
  • 44B (beats aGI, LO K and LO BK)
  • 236B hold (beats aGI, LOK, LO AK)
KK -low sweep, that ends in a somersault. On block you can 4B before last hit.

Dealing with RC on block:
  • B+K only loses to aGI
  • 236B hold only loses to AB
Notes: Also see LO counters on block, as it covers 4BB and BBB even better.

Right Outer

Right outer is a great offencive stance, which has the most damage potential, so its especially important not to mash in this case! Its also the best way to setup BL mixups (see below).

Best transitions to RO are 1B, 6A, FC 3AAA, 44B

RO moves:


AK - quick step hitting high, followed by mid kick. K can be delayed for GB. On block you are left in mixup range, where BB will hit backdashing opponent. You can JG the GB atack for free BB.
A~BL - BL is a very unpleasant stance with a 50/50 mixup, it will be covered below.
B~RC - Maxi takes a slight step to his right and does a downward strike that lead to stun and lots of damage. If you block this you can punish with BB.
KK - Arc jump with an axe kick, followed by another axe kick looks exactly as 11_77K. You can step last hit either side and punish with 3B
KA - Same as above, only ending in low chucks sweep, that will hit step. You have to either jump or JG this for free 236B

Dealing with RO on block (or in case of FC 3AAA - on hit):


236~B (you need to let Silent Step begin before pressing B) only loses to RO B (which leads to some serious damage though)

Side step 3B beats RO B and RO K

Side notes: For 1B you can stop it with 2A after blocking first hit. Also you can 4B or duck and use FC 1BB after blocking first hit. (Maxi can still work around this!)
6A can be punished on block by AA.

Left Outer

LO is somewhat weak stance on its own and most commonly used to mix up between LO BK and LO B~RC AB (i.e. 4BBK mix up with 4BB~AB).

Best transitions to LO are 4B, BB, 9B_RC B, 22_88B hold and BL BB (see below)

LO moves:

LO BK - quick mid, followed by high kick that TJ and good position on guard. You can duck the last hit and punish.
LO B~RC - Very dangerous move on CH, even worse, if you duck expecting BK you can not interrupt RC AB. Remember you can JG or 4B last hit of RC AB (check with RC section above).
LO AK -You can punish by 4B between hits. On block you can mixup for free.
LO K - Can be blocked on reaction and punished with 2A or JG and 236B

Dealing with LO on block:

4B and BB
  • 1B will beat all options except aGI, in case of BBB clash will happen, but you are left at major adv.
  • "wait and see", react to aGI flash with 3B. If you miss, handle LO like you would on hit (see LO moves section just above)
  • Note, that 4BB and BBB are listed as entrances to RC stance, so learning to counter 4B and BB will help against RC too!
9B_RC B see RC section above.
BL BB - see below in BL section

Left Inner

Best transitions to LI are 22_88A, 66B, RC AB*_6A+B*, and 6B~4G

LI moves:

LI A - a quick, long range punch, very unsafe mid that is almost impossible to step, punish with 66BB on block.
LI B~LI - maxi takes a step to the side, and does a wide downward arc with his chucks. see "dealing with LI on block"
LI K - high hitting kick, looks similiar to standing K. Grants advantage on block. It can be stepped, but its safer to duck and punish.

Dealing with LI on block:

22_88A~LI, 66B~LI and LI B~LI
  • 4B+K will evade everything Maxi does from LI. MST KB is probably the best damage you can get here.
  • 3B - Once Maxi figures you out he can either switch stance to LO or do nothing. Both of these are low reward high risk, so if you think you've read him, throw in occasional 3B. It will also beat LI B.
6B~4G:you can QS left 3B to beat everything Maxi does from LI or LO automatic shift.
6A+B*_RC AB*: Advantage is too much.

Behind Lower

BL is, I think, the best of Maxi stances, as it now has a mixup. Thankfully, most of BL transitions cannot take advantage of this.

Best transitions to LB WS B+K, RO A, 33_99B, 4A

Moves in BL:

BL A - Maxi takes a step back, while swinging chucks horizontally. Maxi is pretty far, but if you read this move you can punish it on wiff heavily. On block you get 6B9.
BL BB - you can punish this on block with 1B either after blocking 1st or 2nd hit.
BL B~LO - in case you're using 1B it will wiff and maxi gets a free LO B. It is safer, however, to just wait: if Maxi does LB BB - punish with 1B. If Maxi does LB B~LO you can see this on reaction and backdash or 4B.
BL KK - low,high, that's been scaring people since the start of SC, I think. You get a free 236B hold after ducking second hit of this.

Dealing with BL on block:

You can punish all LB transtions with 6B9 on guard (Maxi can cancel stance and block). RO A is probably the most dangerous of them, as it has an options of uninterruptible kick followup to set up BL mixups. Check RO section above to anticipate RO A and interrupt it. Once they get too happy on RO AK, you can block and get a free mixup.

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Nice guide Belial :) I feel good that there's a thread devoted to beating Maxi.

Just some little things to contribute

Under Right Cross section you have RO instead of RC.

RO B stuns on ANY hit, not just CH. So be mindful of that as well

Also be mindful that Maxis will bait you into trying to counter RO stuff on entries into the stance by just going to neutral and do something defensive like step etc. 44B and 1B are safe on block. It's very important to note I think

After 4B on block, Mitsu's 1B fails to LO A. Also you require QUITE a bit of reflex to instantly respond or eat LO B on CH

Best entries to LI are 88A and 6B~4G and 6A+B BE. LI is tricky to deal with, so I'll have to give a devotion paragraph for advice where it is concerned:
The maxi player when he enters into LI, if he wants to do the LI attack he has to anticipate beforehand and do it IMMEDIATELY or else a SPLIT second too late, and he will automatically shift to LO. Now this works to Maxi's adv, because the attacks that lead to LI give good adv. If you were to 4B+K into MST....you will eat almost every LO attack on CH. Other shifts for eg 6A+B BE can bait 4B+K with a PSL2 into BL, and we both gain space or potential whiff punishing with BL attacks. What i want you to take from this is, do not reflexively try to counter LI because there are no mixups to be afraid of. Instead wait and see if an LI attack is done, if it isn't expect a LO attack and counter accordingly.

LI K gives Maxi adv on block, but is high. Most maxi players will opt for this option to get out of the stance game otherwise he will go into a series of loops from LI-> LO -> RC automatically. We have no choice, unless we attack from once of those stances. We can't guard at all.

On the positive side, LI B is very steppable if you want to risk it because Maxi will also have to risk LI A to stop step. But remember that LO natural shift. It's a very quick one....especially when mitsu is at disadvantage.

BTW Mitsu's 4B and I think his MST move where he absorbs attacks, works well vs Maxi.

Anyway thanks for the info, it will help me plug the holes in my own Maxi ;)
 
Most of BL transitions like WS B+K or 33B are safe on block against Mitsu. Also you should look out for PSL transition to BL, they're generally far more dangerous than the predictable direct transition.
 
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hotnikkelz said:
1 Also be mindful that Maxis will bait you into trying to counter RO stuff on entries into the stance by just going to neutral and do something defensive like step etc. 44B and 1B are safe on block. It's very important to note I think

2 After 4B on block, Mitsu's 1B fails to LO A. Also you require QUITE a bit of reflex to instantly respond or eat LO B on CH

3 Best entries to LI are 88A and 6B~4G and 6A+B BE. LI is tricky to deal with, so I'll have to give a devotion paragraph for advice where it is concerned:
etc

4 BTW Mitsu's 4B and I think his MST move where he absorbs attacks, works well vs Maxi.
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You're welcome and thx for the input. I've corrected some typos.
1. Yes, but I didnt want to make the guide overly complicated. Its just I tried to organize it in a way anyone could understand and apply to a certain degree. I think once people master what's covered in the guide they can work from there on their own.

2. Yes, but "wait and see" covers that. If you really have to, you can 33K quickly between 4BB, LO AK will still evade but get blocked and free mixup for mitsu.

3. I forgot about 6B ( . Redid the LI section, thank you!

4. It works well at first but its more like an easy "mash" options. In reality they dont evade all that much.

Saitoh said:
Most of BL transitions like WS B+K or 33B are safe on block against Mitsu. Also you should look out for PSL transition to BL, they're generally far more dangerous than the predictable direct transition.
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Yes, thanks, I just didnt want to overload this guide with info. its possible to mix up between 1B and 2KB on block.
 
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I found something really interesting!
When you duck 4BBK is think you cannot even sneak a 4KB in, it recovers fairly fast
however if you 236~Bhold you can punish 4BBK! It takes a bit to grasp the timing, but its not even hard.
takes risk/reward to new levels
 
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