Daigo's Notes (Volume 2)

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[AGAIN, THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE AN ESSAY. Just scattered notes that Daigo went into full detail on the stream. The archive with the full breakdown (and Audio Delay ;;) is here; starts at 28:30- https://www.twitch.tv/daigothebeastv/v/56669803 ]

This time I would like to discuss how to develop a strategy against Nash. In order to construct an effective strategy, you must first break down the strengths of each character. In this match-up, Ryu's advantages are:

1) Damage
2) Health
3) Invincible Reversal

Nash's advantages are:

1) Strong Neutral/Footsies
2) The Potential of his V-Trigger/V-Reversal

In order for Ryu to overcome his disadvantage in neutral, he must close the gap, initiate a close range battle, and win through his destructive power.

"Well then, how do I get in close?" you may be asking, but generally speaking, even if you get close to Nash in the mid-screen, it's still difficult to beat him. Since he has a very long backdash and access to the Jump Grab Option Select, it's very difficult to keep the pressure on him at mid-screen. Therefore, it's not enough to simply get in close to him, you must also bring him to the corner.

Because of his disadvantages in Damage and Health, Nash will often play a runaway style that will eventually bring him to the corner. But just getting him there once is not enough for Ryu to win; this is because Nash can easily use his V-Trigger or V-Reversal to escape from the corner. For this match-up you need to fight while balancing your focus between bringing your opponent to the corner and worrying about their V-Gauge, so it's rather difficult.

First off, I would like to explain in concrete terms what to focus on in regards to your opponent's V-Gauge. Simply put, you cannot let your opponent activate V-Trigger more than twice per round, and in order to do that there are 3 methods.

1) Seal your Hadoukens at long range. Play like Ryu does not have a Hadouken. Even at mid range, if you are at mid-screen, try not to use them.

2) Before you opponent stocks up his second V-Trigger, defeat him quickly with super. (On the stream, Daigo explained Nash has 950 Health, and taking 860~ Damage is enough to gain his 2nd Full V-Gauge if 0 meter was wasted).However, if your opponent V-Reversals more than once then feel free to super whenever you can.

3) When your opponent stocks up his first V-Trigger, do as much damage as possible before he uses it.

The first point goes without saying. If you throw fireballs from full range, then there's a high chance for your opponent to activate V-Trigger 2 or even 3 times per round. The second point is like the Super Finish Strategy from last week. If you made Nash V-Reversal already, then there's not much of a chance for him to use V-Trigger twice in the round so feel free to use Super even if it won't kill. For the third point you want to do as much damage as possible while your opponent is sitting on full V-Gauge, so in order to do this you need to prevent your opponent from easily activating V-Trigger and extend the time he remains in full V-Gauge state.

If you've got these points down, then next I would like to explain the method of bringing Nash to corner. Bringing your opponent to the corner is a winning strategy, but if you sacrifice too much life in the process, then obviously you will not win. Therefore you must conserve your life as you bring your opponent to the corner.

The main strategy is pushing your opponent to the corner by walking forward and blocking. If you do this, you will take away Nash's midscreen positioning and force him to respond. When battling for position, Nash will use Forward Roundhouse, Forward Dash, Moonsault, Scythe Kick; all of these moves can be defeated by Ryu's standing Roundhouse. Use parry against Moonsault (Daigo showed that early standing Roundhouse cleanly beat everything, and you could react during the Roundhouse and parry if your opponent tried to Moonsault over.) Once your opponent's movement becomes predictable, aim for a counter.

If you don't keep a close range, then Nash can forward dash after throwing a Sonic Boom and regain a great amount of position so be careful. Using Shoryuken's to anti-air from close range is difficult, so use Jump Light Punch or Parry to anti-air. If you opponent looks like he won't do anything, use that moment to dash forward. Jumping forward is OK, but if the Nash is proficient at anti-airing then he can beat everything with j.LP so this won't work at high levels. Once you've brought your opponent to the corner, you can now remove the seal on fireballs and use them again, but you can no longer jump. It often happens that a player has cornered his opponent only to jump and end up finding himself in the corner instead.

Once you have your opponent in the corner, rather than focusing on quickly defeating your opponent in a rush, put priority on preventing your opponent from escaping the corner. ( Check the stream for ways to do this.)

Finally I would like to show off an anti-Nash pressure string that I'm very proud of. It's not especially amazing, but I've gotten good at it and would like to share it. (Check the stream for the break down, it's actually really good!)

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