Low Tier Hero: Neutral Game, Footsies, and Patience with SYN | Jaegar

Jeff Kotuby,

February 20, 2018 9:50 PM

Being effective in the neutral game is the foundation to a successful round in any fighter. Whether it's 2D or 3D, anime or tag, and everything in between, having good footsies requires patience and an understanding of the big picture. Twin Galaxies sits with SYN|Jaegar to discuss this important aspect of fighting games.

Combat in general is all about struggling with your opponent to gain the upper hand, and fighting games are no different. However, there needs to be special emphasis on getting and staying in an opponent’s face, and the path there is often treacherous. Some characters excel greatly in the neutral game, utilizing strong normals and special moves to dominate your character, and allow themselves to take over matches. A great example of a character with a strong neutral and footsie game (these terms are generally interchangeable with some slight variation) is of course, Ryu.

VIdeo Courtesy of Total Sagat 

Notice how Ryu players utilize their normals, like crouching medium kick and standing medium punch, to establish control and start playing their game.

But I’ve given too much love to 2D fighters over the past few weeks, and it’s time to show some love to 3D fighters. For this, I reached out to my good friend Dan “SYN | Jaegar” McMahon for some insight on how important the neutral game is in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.

Jeff Kotuby: Thanks for giving me a few minutes, Dan. To start off, who did you play in DoA?

Dan “SYN| Jaegar” McMahon: Thanks for having me! My 2 mains are:

  • Rig:  Rig is a rush down character that excels at close range. The main focus of Rig is to utilize his wide arsenal of strings and frame advantage to crack the armor of the opponent’s defense.
  • Phase-4:Phase - 4 is an extremely fast and hard hitting powerhouse, possessing  excellent environmental interaction, in order to maximize damage potential. Phase is a character that can easily decimate an opponent's health bar in a little as two combos, especially if they are counter hit.

JK: How important is the neutral game in Dead or Alive?

DM: In Dead Or Alive the neutral game is extremely important, mainly because when you’re counter-hit, you’re placed in a stun state and have to react/guess the opponents mixup options. Against a skilled opponent, you can lose up to 50% if not more against some characters and depending on the stage if you get critical bursted for a max threshold BNB(Bread and Butter, an easy but effective combo the player knows they can routinely perform) Most of the time, these situations lead to a okizeme (a Japanese term which is usually translated to a player’s actions after they knock down their opponent) situation where you need to play solid defense to not get stunned again and get stuck in a loop. DOA is a game which revolves heavily around momentum, which is why it is paramount to play solid neutral and not give the opponent an easy stun. There can and will be rounds you lose just because of a whiff punish leading to a huge combo, not to say the opponent doesn't have to work for that damage once they get the stun, hich is where conditioning and mind games come into play, but meticulous spacing is key for winning at high level DOA, especially since the higher echelon of players have extremely solid defense, especially the foreign players.

JK: At that point, how important is patience in Dead or Alive?

DM: Patience goes hand and hand with neutral in DOA. Against certain characters like Ayane, you have to play super patient against her long-ranged spacing options, otherwise you will get counter hit and mixed-up. Impatience in DOA makes you easy to read and will lead to a quick loss - careful manipulation of neutral and adapting to your opponents neutral/spacing, focusing on throw and whiff punishment goes a long way in DOA and is the cornerstone of solid play in any fighting game for that matter.

JK: How do you normally approach opponents with a strong neutral game and a strong sense of patience?

DM: I keep myself in the mindset play a solid neutral game and remind myself not to get frustrated when and rush in recklessly, rather play tight and safe. I try to walk my opponent into a corner/wall if necessary and whiff punish when opportunities present themselves.  Also incorporating tick throws (a throw performed immediately after quick light attacks, used to ‘throw’ your opponent off guard) against a patient opponent can really mess with their mind set, and this will help set up counter hits in the long run. Next, once I find a stun in neutral, I’ll launch immediately, but instead of going for max damage and putting the opponent full screen and resetting neutral, I like to go for a setup or okizeme situation, to leave myself at an advantageous situation, while forcing my opponent to react to your mixup once again. By doing this, you never give them a chance to catch their breath and never let them get into the pace of how they want to play. Also incorporating unholdables (similar to a unblockable; a situation where the opponent can't hold your attack because it hits on the first frame of recovery) into your force tech okizeme game is almost necessary at high level, by doing so you are basically putting your opponent in a 50/50, which usually leaves you at advantage on block.

Caption: Dan "SYN|Jaegar" McMahon, readying up for the next match. 

To put a bow on Dan’s awesome work, patience and neutral game/footsies, to me, are the foundation of good fighting game play (it’s almost like I should have started with this chapter, right?) You can always get better at footsies and being patient, and the two aspects can be worked on simultaneously because they use different (for the lack of a better term) “muscle groups.” You can work on your neutral game in the lab, and against other players, but your level of patience comes from within yourself. Staying positive, confident, and poised are the keys to not losing your patience and going on tilt. And, like I’m sure many of Twin Galaxies veterans will tell you, going on tilt is the worst thing you can do.

Interested in more from Jaegar? Check out the other part of our interview when we discussed the state of Dead or Alive 5: Last Round! 



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