Ayane 10/13/12 vs Christie 9/11/14
Up close, Ayane has a 10 frame jab (P), two 13 frame mids (6P/6K), and a 12 frame low jab (2P). Christie has a 9 frame jab (P), an 11 frame mid punch (6P), and a 14 frame low jab into a string (2PPP). 2PPP starts low, goes high, then ends with a mid punch.
Right off the bat, Christie has slight advantage up close due to her speed. However, as I always say, faster speed does not dominate Ayane anywhere. It just means you are not going to be combating faster characters with your fastest mids too often, that's it. When fighting characters with mids that are much faster than yours, you need to make an offensive breakthrough or know the exact amount of frames opponents are at in order to poke out with a 6P.
When fighting Christie up close, you need to be patient and pay close attention to her as she tries passing through your defense. If she's pressuring you with jab strings, block, just block and watch her carefully. She is going to do one of a few things;
- Jab poke you while free cancelling: She will attempt to do anything here, more jab pressure, alternate her attack height, attempt to throw, delay strings, use JAK for mix up (if you see Christie using JAK against you up close OUTSIDE of stun, your answer is always 4P, always).
- Jab(s) into throw
- Jab(s) strings into JAK
- Jab(s) strings: Finishing them immediately or delaying. Delaying her strings can result into her actually delaying or free cancelling.
If you see that Christie is opting to pressure you with jab strings so often, Ayane's crushes will play a huge role here then. 8K, 4P, 1P, 2P, especially 8K and 4P will counter hit her clean.
Christie also has some fairly good high crushes too, not including JAK stance.
- 1P, 1PK
- 2P, 2PP, 2PPP
- 2H+KP, 2H+K H+P
(I may have left something out, sorry if I have)
1P tracks, 2P and 2H+K do not track. Christie's 7K is a good "get the fuck off me" move as well.
Versus Ayane, Christie JAK stance is only dangerous while Ayane IS IN CRITICAL STUN, because if she's not, then Christie is going to get blown up by 4P often (only if you're reacting to JAK stance). Christie becomes a big problem (for any character) once she hits and has you stunned, because you are not going to be stagger escaping out of Christie's stuns. She is too fast and has good deep stuns to keep you locked up.
So if she hits you then goes into JAK stance, you have to guess her 50/50.
Ways to deal with Christie up close;
If Christie is opting for her mids (6P or 6K, 6K is a 13 frame mid kick) more than often, then your jab(s) come into play here, as well as side step (just the side step, do not use a side step followup or you will get counter hit), and your holds. If Christie goes high often, you have your high crushes that I mentioned before. Christie is not winning the low jab pressure route with Ayane, unless you are being slow.
What a lot of Ayane players don't realize, is that our low jab, 2P, is a very important tool up close. It's -4 on block and +0 on hit, and it can change the momentum in our favor all too often because it forces opponents to worry about it. That alone allows us to poke with our mids when we can, or make opponents respond how we want. That's why, when you see me playing, I'm not spamming 2P for the sake of it. I do it to break my opponent's offense AND defense so I can shake the momentum or match in my favor.
You just have to be aware of both your speed and your opponent's speed in order to know how effective your low jab pressure can be in a match up.
Ways to get into Ayane's Comfort Zone safely;
P and 2P, or high crushing.
- P > BT8P: This tactic is golden in any match up and at any moment (unless your back is to the wall).
- 2P: A low jab on counter hit pushes opponents back and gives you breathing room. It's up to you decide whether you will start an offense immediately afterward, or back off a bit in neutral and play a range game or do something defensively.
- If you're high crushing with 4P (or any high crush that will net you some offense), you obviously just scored a counter hit high crush, some solid damage and a scored a knock down. Now it is your chance to go offensive or play defensively. That decision is yours because everyone plays differently.
Fighting at a distance;
Here's the deal here, most players who play this game do not have very good fundamentals or have poor footsies (even some solid competitive players in this game lack good footsies). What makes Ayane a very strong character in this area is not because she has range tools, because anyone can easily run in at you and be in your face again, ignoring your tools. So, that's far from the truth.
What makes Ayane a strong character while at a distance is that players who have a solid defense and strong fundamentals and footsies will take advantage of her range tools and movement because you know how and when they need to be applied in a given situation. You NEED to force opponents to realize that they cannot just run in on you for free whenever they want. You NEED to force them to respect your range and what you actually have and are capable of doing there.
Ayane has solid whiff punishers and great range pokes that compliment her stylish yet viable movement abilities. A combination of the 3 including strong footsies need to be taken into consideration here when playing Ayane's range game. Because it's very easy to run up to her again if you lack the ability to do any of these things.
I am saying this because Ayane dominates Christie at a distance. Christie can make for solid footsies as well (almost any character can) but her options at range are outshined by Ayane's. Ayane doesn't care about Christie's JAK stance at this rate. Christie can be pretty deceptive with JAK options at range, but Ayane's 3H+K and 236K can hit all of her options at the right distance (except for the low sweeps from JAK).
And, Christie has her running low slide kick, but Ayane should be facing forward if she sees that. Christie has 66K as well, and 3P+K options. But, you're not going to try beating out any options at range, you just want Christie to press buttons and/or make a mistake somewhere. So that you can punish her for whiffing, getting sloppy, or getting something blocked or held.
Ayane's range pokes;
- 3P
- KK
- 3H+K
- BT2P
- BT2K
- BT 4H+K
- BT6P
- BT6K
- BT 3KK
- BT PP
- BT PP6KK4: Excellent way of getting in as long as it's blocked.
Ayane's whiff punishers;
- 4K
- 3H+K
- 236K
- BT4K
- BT 4H+K
- BT6P
- 1P+K P
- 1P+K K
- BTH+P
- BT 6H+P
- 7P+K: Yes, you can whiff punish players with a Power Blow (when your PB is activated, obviously).
If I have to label the match up, I'd say it is about 5-5. Ayane can keep Christie out fairly well, and she can fight her up close too. But Christie has better mixups up close and better pressure as well. 4P hurts Christie's JAK stance a lot up close outside of Critical stun. But Christie is very difficult to deal with once she hits you. Neither character totally dominates the other, but both character's strengths work well here as well.
Both have very good damage output so neither really outshines the other in that area.
