Am I the only one who thinks flapjacks are overrated?
Let's see here:
i19 with very little range.
-16 on block (punishable by everyone I think from FC)
Only 30 damage.
Breakable like all grabs.
Predictable at the ring edge.
Don't get my wrong, I still use them. It's just that I'm very conservative with this move. I mostly use it for the flapjack/WR B mix-up, that's about it.
@wandarian. Not sure how much you value my opinion, so here goes. I don't think I ever once saw you do 22A. It's a nice safe mid horizontal that's only -8. 22AA on the other hand isn't safe. I also don't think I saw you doing much 6K. It's a nice interupter, and on CH it leads to GS kBE. Not to mention this move is i14, safe, and has some pushback.
But basically in a nutshell, IMO you have to be at least somewhat aggressive with NM, by putting that "fear" into them, you can cause them to over-turtle. His unsafe mix-ups can be "safe" if you mix up your options. For example: Say my opponent punishes me for doing 66K to GS to FC. Well I can condition him to react this way after 2-3 times, then all of a sudden change it to 66K to GS A, which could catch them off guard and remind them that they have to guess on interupters. And if they chose not to guess, and just hold guard, you can always FC K or grabs.
His mix-ups aren't "safe" in the traditional sense. They only become "safe" if you condition them to react a certain way, and then switch it up. And then they start reacting to your new tactic, and then either go back to plan A or go to plan C. Always keep them guessing. Try as hard as you can to not form patterns. But this is more or less true for every character, characters like Sieg and NM are much more Yomi-centered than most of the cast. It's all about getting into their heads.
Also, one of NM's biggest strengths is his guard damage. I say this because he has several safe moves that deal crap loads of guard damage. Things like 66B, GS B, 4B (4BB isn't safe though), Aga, and 66A come to mind (although 66A can be ducked on reaction, it's still very decent on frames and guard damage). This fear of getting guard crushed from safe moves can drive a person to act spontaneously, and this is where you go for CH fishing.
NM is a beast in the right hands. Despite him being one of the most unsafe characters in the game, he has quite a few safe moves with enough variety to keep them guessing. He probably has the best spacing in the game, hands down.