Raphael Video Discussion

Had some online casuals today with Partisan, and saved the replays of the matches that didn't disconnect. Note that most of the ones that did disconnect were ones where he had the upper hand, but disconnects don't let you save the replays. I feel I did much better than I usually do, however. Same as with LAU, I've already gone through and seen the obvious stupid stuff I've done (missed CE opportunity, bad post break combo), so I'm looking more for style critiques than anything.

Note that I play with Partisan extremely often, and when you play someone frequently, you'll sometimes do things that make no sense to an outside observer. Thus, my caveat is this: anything you see me do in these videos does not necessarily what I feel is the best option for the general situation, but instead what I feel is the best option for the specific situation that also takes my opponent and his tendencies into consideration.

And finally: 1P SC4 color edit is the best color edit.

 
You're a beast. And I'm glad somebody else knows the power of Raph 2K! You just played really smart in general and earned your wins what can I say? Made really good use of Raph's range and spacing. The only problem maybe is you never did 22B into CE. I think Raph should spend the CE there whenever he can unless he's really sure he gets the round but you already know.

I wish you played on Xbox Live.
 
What happened to my more detailed comments posted last night ?

All raphael users should watch these matches imo to watch how "simple-at-first-glance" play can be highly effective.

To sum up what I remembered, your ability to keep 2K on hit into QS while maintaining just enough spacing so that her 2A would whiff was really key for your dictating the pace of the match imo. 2K has better tracking than most people give it credit for, and will be + on CH if you catch them stepping. You rarely use 2K as a panic tool (which, if used as a panic-tracking tool, is outside the range of most of your opponent's setups and blockstrings which will make the move appear unreliable) so good on you for patient play. Also, because you space your 2K into 22B properly, she cannot always punish with AA. She whiffs her 1st and you can just 4(B) the 2nd hit and cause your opponent to take a hit psychologically.

I would like to see a game where Raphael handles rush down from a very aggressive character. You managed to be pretty much in control of the game from what I see as it turned into a poking match, and your 2A, 2K, wrB seemed to discourage her fairly easily.

Lastly, 33k BE isn't even that great on block sadly. All those + frames on guard get wasted because they get pushed so far that AA doesn't appear to connect, and most of the time they'll just opt for the step-guard (and I don't like risking 66A or 4A unnecessarily).
 
After a blocked 33K(BE) I usually opt for a 44B, or a 236B. The reason being that in the majority of MY cases people chose to either back-dash to further use the push-back for their own range, or rush back in for a counter. On that note, 33K(BE) isn't useless on block, making the chance for a hit worth throwing the rare "empty" one (no whiff punish etc)

I am just a casual player, but have been since SC2, so take my advice with a pinch of salt. Step-guard can crush this, but I play a very aggressive / mix-up based Raph which usually (for some odd reason,) makes people turtle even less.
 
Reptile said:
You're a beast. And I'm glad somebody else knows the power of Raph 2K! You just played really smart in general and earned your wins what can I say? Made really good use of Raph's range and spacing. The only problem maybe is you never did 22B into CE. I think Raph should spend the CE there whenever he can unless he's really sure he gets the round but you already know.
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I agree. I should start learning to do 22B ~ CE, but I never learned the muscle memory for it pre-patch and thus my brain never considers it with 22B on hit. Against Ω especially, it's a good use of the abundance of meter I always seem to build up.

Reptile said:
I wish you played on Xbox Live.
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I do own a 360, but I just never renewed my Gold. If and when I do, I'll be sure to add you if you'd like.

WuHT said:
All raphael users should watch these matches imo to watch how "simple-at-first-glance" play can be highly effective.
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You flatter me with your praise.

In general, I prefer to be much more flashy and visually impressive with my play, but there is some amount of flair in pragmatism. Raphael's basics are fairly strong, and compliment his spacing game fairly well.

WuHT said:
To sum up what I remembered, your ability to keep 2K on hit into QS while maintaining just enough spacing so that her 2A would whiff was really key for your dictating the pace of the match imo. 2K has better tracking than most people give it credit for, and will be + on CH if you catch them stepping. You rarely use 2K as a panic tool (which, if used as a panic-tracking tool, is outside the range of most of your opponent's setups and blockstrings which will make the move appear unreliable) so good on you for patient play. Also, because you space your 2K into 22B properly, she cannot always punish with AA. She whiffs her 1st and you can just 4(B) the 2nd hit and cause your opponent to take a hit psychologically.
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A pretty much spot on analysis. A centimeter here and there can mean the difference between being punished and being completely safe. Partisan wants to murder me for all of his whiffed 2A.

WuHT said:
I would like to see a game where Raphael handles rush down from a very aggressive character. You managed to be pretty much in control of the game from what I see as it turned into a poking match, and your 2A, 2K, wrB seemed to discourage her fairly easily.
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There were some other matches Partisan and I did with my Raphael VS Patroklos, and...it didn't really go so well. Patroklos is basically built around rushdown and aggression, where as Raphael's is more supplementary to his spacing game. Raphael can contend with Patroklos at close range in terms of frames and move properties, but Patroklos out-damages Raphael up close at a ratio that feels like 100:1. I need to work on that match-up a bit more

WuHT said:
Lastly, 33k BE isn't even that great on block sadly. All those + frames on guard get wasted because they get pushed so far that AA doesn't appear to connect, and most of the time they'll just opt for the step-guard (and I don't like risking 66A or 4A unnecessarily).
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That's what I'm starting to like about the move. My general rational for using the move is thus: "Yeah, I'm not fond of fighting at this range anymore. Let me just make you block this and we'll back off, alright?" What's nice about it is that it's essentially a 50/50 mid/throw mix-up, and the mid is actually pretty powerful. When using this move in this fashion, you generally have four outcomes:
  1. You hit 33k(BE), do damage, and get a free entrance to SE if you want from 6B(B)
  2. You get a Side Throw, do damage, and either automatically reset spacing or get a KND to do with as you wish
  3. They break a side throw, fall back a ways or get KND, and spacing is reset
  4. Something goes terrible wrong and you got CE'd or something. Tough break.
If you read your opponent sufficiently enough, the last one will almost never occur. Essentially, 33k(BE) is a way to use meter to get out of close range fighting if it's not going your way, and it takes you out of the fray even on block. The post block offensive mix-ups aren't so hot, but you can almost always just back away and end up quite a ways away from your opponent. Think defense.

Mr.Hai said:
So now I know who is resposible for Partisan's Raph knowledge.
Also Taunt into 236B is tech.
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Haha, yeah, Partisan and I play a shitload together.

Raphael's taunt is very good for him because of the fact that it moves him around so much. On certain KNDs, you can K+G into 50/50 mid/throw mix-up range.

Fendante said:
Good use of 2K Heaton. Very good zoning, spacing, and other techniques. A beastly Raph I agree. Love how you safely taunt in battle and mock them when she's down. This is what Raphael should be like lol.
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Thank you very much. Provocation is one of Raphael's strengths that isn't entirely gameplay related. He has a lot of ways to annoy an opponent, and the fact that's he's "garbage tier unviable worse character ever" (yeah right) can cause people to get pissed that they're losing to such a terrible character, and thus lose focus that way. Doesn't work on everyone, but it's worth a shot.

Fendante said:
Btw what's up with Raph and the ladies these days?? Is Raph getting lonely after years of looking after Amy and searching tirelessly for her?? Why not forget about Amy and settle down with one of those other chicks you're fighting Monsieur Sorel lol.
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What part of "Raphael is Amy's father" do people misinterpret as "Raphael is fucking Amy"?
 
Heaton use zwei next so I can see how well you do and see zwei's potential :/
 
i love the spacing focus raph. it was solid and you managed to control space so well. My only critic would be to use more meter. raph seems to build meter pretty easily so always going for the CE in a combo is usually a great idea and when those opportunities do not arise for a while use more GIs. ive been trying to work on that myself cuz i keep finding myself w full meter after a few rounds.
 
@wuht 11K is another reason why most people stand still at close range :) against me usually they don t step that much, they try to block low instead -.- (eating many 66B, 22B).
 
Is K+G cancels actually a better way to dash forward than his forward dash ? The forward dash of raph is so short ranged unlike his backdash. Totally opposite of his SC4 properties.

Just think how much faster the matches would have ended had 88B still connected to 3B combos, considering how many he actually landed in his matches.
 
WuHT said:
Just think how much faster the matches would have ended had 88B still connected to 3B combos, considering how many he actually landed in his matches.
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Landing 22B 3 times a round was too good now that I think about it (at least, too good given how Raph plays).
11K seems to work wonders, I've been scared of its frames, but the fact that is can catch step, and mixup for 33k(BE) and 66B seems worth the risk.

Heaton said:
the fact that's he's "garbage tier unviable worse character ever" (yeah right) can cause people to get pissed that they're losing to such a terrible character, and thus lose focus that way.
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Doesn't work on X players, having good frames and good pressure seems lowest tier for sure.

zwei next...
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I don't understand why people think Z.W.E.I is bad, he has a decent rushdown/pressure game and it's pretty scary.

Fendante said:
Amy. She gets so much attention that it's kinda of making Raph's storyline dull imo. But let's stay on topic and focus on gameplay, shall we?
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No. Fanfic incoming.
Really?
 
Sometimes, when I play Partisan, he picks Patroklos.

Terrible things happen.

 
patroklos and mitsu may be the worse matchups for raph...even if you get a decent reading you will lose by random crouches, poking and in patrokos case lot of random whiffs and 1K/1B/3B/66B.

Its the same known problem, opponent can poke you better and in case of need gamble a TC to get half bar.
Also, any blocked prep will result in certain half bar punishment.

Pat CE also is something horrible with early invincibility frames long RO and good speed.
I prefer facing astaroth all day.

Btw i think some of you underestimate raph close range game....
we have:
2K
2A
11K/22B mixup and following
A+B/A+B,A (if opponent jump you can get some decent damage if he 6B/6K and you stop and step)
1K <=== (this move is risky but really strong)
66B/66(B) (i think they cannot predict if you stay instane or not, turning this into another decent mixup)

and in case of need 3A will get the distance we need.

imho as ever.
 
Fendante said:
Again, Mitsu is still solid, but at least he's less of a problem with his relic stance gone. Omg relic stance....I almost wanted to rage quit whenever I struggled with that anti-Raph stance. With Pat, it's another one of those bad "Alexandra" horrors for Raph. The Greeks were always bad matchups for Raph. I couldn't stand Sophie and Cassy and now we have Sophie's son lol. Well, PS favors them, so we'll have to cope with it.
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As it is is almost impossible...
Old mitsu was really a good matchup because between 4A, 4B and 2K you could really stop easily his stance....(to tell the truth raph in scIV had plenty antirelic and antimitsu tools).
One of the best italian mitsu lives near me so we played a lot....
Mitsu was also my secondary...

What really piss me off is losing to awful players just because they use mitsu....proof of that is winning just switching to siegfried despite knowing at most 4 moves -.-



About raph...
I like forcing opponent into moving....movement takes frame and we should capitalize on that.
So ifwe can play both at midrange and at close range helps us having opponent backstepping and eat 236B or having chances to make him block a 66B etc
There is no 11/33 QS that is good for us.
 
That was some exceptional gameplay! I only had time to see the first two games, but they were really nice!

I loved you're use of 44A(B) on wake up. You may have used it a bit too much as a mix up, but it payed off when it worked. I feel like you kept your distance at the ideal range most of the time too.

It's nice to see someone in the big leagues representing Raph. Keep up the good work!
 
i try to ask it again cause i got no answer last time...

Is there a reason because most videos comes out in 2X speed or even faster @__@ i find particularly difficult to follow a vid at that speed.....its quite common i dunno why....maybe to spare some space.
 
yes everything is normal speed for me. It's odd that you see and your pals all see videos at 2x speed.
 
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