It’s been a while, my play time of late has gotten cut back a bit.  But no matter, I’m still just as excited to play.  My return to the game was welcomed by several beatdowns though.  Trying to find information about Sakura is a pain, as there aren’t too many videos of her online, and only a few people posting matches.

As predicted, as time moves on, alot of the casual SF players have stopped, and those that want to progress and have the drive and skill to are setting into their ranks as G1 starts to fill and maybe a few have made it to S?  I’m proud to announce that I’ve moved up quite a bit though since last time, from G2 D to G2 B with a little over 8000 GP!

In my return, I’ve noticed a few things about my play style that I’d like to work on.  I think I’m primarily defensive.  I wouldn’t say I turtle, but the ability to mash out of block strings really makes me more cautious.  Combine that with Ultra’s and I feel like fear can really set in for both sides during a match.

I’m not using the short tatsu link as much as I’d like to.  It looks sweet, but I always felt the damage was negligible.  I should get better at it just for the sake of applying pressure.  Taking advantage of any attacks that she has that might be meaty is something I don’t do.  From distance, I often throw out roundhouse as people wake up, and usually that seems to apply nice pressure, especially in corners.  I’m not quite sure how meaty cr. Fierce is, it looks like its pretty solid, I just need to practice that timing.  Meaties on opponents waking up seems way too risky if they have ultra.

One match up that lately has me puzzled is C Viper.  When I see an opponent has picked her, I either think I’m going to destroy them or vice versa.  Her flame kick has a nice cross up, and the pressure she can apply with the electric dash punch is really impressive.  It’s even stronger when you consider it armor breaks.  Again, I have a similar tool in the light tatsu, I just need to work it into my game more.

Hopefully, focusing on being able to play more aggressively will help me out as the competition stiffens.  Things will only get harder as the games life moves on.  Its nice to see new things being discovered (like Gen’s forward>hand poke) that will hopefully allow this game to continue evolving the way Third Strike has over the years.  That game has only recently been believed to be maxed out, and Street Fighter IV has to prove that it can carry that torch.

G2 Grade B 8000 GP!