Ibuki Victory!
Over the weekend, I took 1st place at the Alamo City Gaming Championship in San Antonio which had about 70 registered players. This was certainly a bit of a windfall; I was expecting to do OK but definitely not thinking about winning the tournament! I think a lot of people were surprised by the result. Hey, it may have been a while, but don’t doubt the duck! 
Some archives of the stream:
(My 5th round match with Mexiwont at 1:32:16)
http://www.justin.tv/monsters_arcade/b/267280728
(Winners Finals and Grand Finals are here)
http://justin.tv/monsters_arcade/b/267283274
Against Fuerte in the first vid,
- I didn’t know that Ultra 2 was a grab; I thought it was low for some reason. I got punished by it for doing a meaty kunai in the first match, so in the second match, I did a safe jump short as soon as he had ultra meter. I baited out the ultra and blocked low; little did I know it was a grab. I wonder if that jump short would be safe if I held up.
- I still don’t really know what I should be doing to get out of his oki mixups. I feel like I just have to get lucky to escape.
Against Honda, I kept a few key things in mind:
- HP Raida beats Honda’s neutral jump fierce, one of his favorite moves to spam, which leads to a safe jump setup.
- EX Kazekiri beats both normal and EX Headbutt, so I can option select safe jumps with this move or simply do it when I’m expecting an EX Headbutt close up.
- Jump short is a reliable jump in, sometimes beating headbutts.
- If I cross up Honda on wakeup, he has trouble keeping a charge. Sure enough, RH Teleport on wakeup threw off his rhythm.
Against Seth, I kept two main things in mind:
- I can regular neckbreaker under Seth sonic booms!
- b.MP beats Seth’s stretchy jump fierce.
Apart from that, I had the advantage of using Seth as a secondary, so I sort of know what that character is wanting to go for. Nonetheless, the Seth player adjusted a lot and took a lot of effort to break down. I was fortunate to have such a strong opponent in the finals; it felt like I earned the win.
I’ve still got a lot to learn with Ibuki but I’m really happy with her now. I do believe that she is the strongest of the 10 new characters in Super SF4. I did use her at Evo as well and went 4-2, losing to a Blanka and an Abel in my pool.
I’m organizing a new event soon for the arcade, so hopefully I can make another strong showing in the near future. I’ll stick to what worked though; no expectations–go in with a plan for each matchup and play by the book.