Thursday 5 May 2011

Cody VS Zangief Matchup


Matchup Difficulty: 6/10




Intro

To win this matchup with Cody takes immaculate spacing and footsies. You have to know how and when to use each of Cody's normals (and they're all useful in this matchup), you need to know when to use Bad Stone and when to use fake Bad stone and you have to have perfect anti-airing (Gief can alter his jumping arc with different air normals and you have to be able to tell the difference). He shouldn't be able to jump at all TBH.

One knockdown could mean game over for Cody so you have to play the matchup perfectly.

What not to do:

- Jump at Gief (unless it's a 4 frame safe jump on wakeup)
- End blockstrings with any special move
- Attempt to frame trap Gief

What you should do:

- Use true blockstrings (prevent Gief from mashing SPD) [will list Cody's true blockstring]
- Stay within EX Green Hands max range (1.8 Squares in training mode, try to memorize the spacing)
- Use Ultra 2 for; chip options, punishes (will go over them) and as an anti-air when Gief has low health
- Use the knife (Very useful tool in this matchup)

Strategy

You want to keep Gief out using Cody's Bad Stone, normals and the knife. The main objective is to zone Gief and staying in EX Green Hands max range where you can use fake Bad Stone and Cody's superior long range pokes to keep Gief away.

Cody's anti-airs are:

- b.MP (Most commonly used)
- c.MK
- c.HP
- c.HP (with knife)
- Far st.HP
- Far st.HK
- Close st.HK
- HK Ruffian

Knowing which anti-air to use for different jump ins is essential. You don't ever want to let Gief get a free jump in on you, you don't even want to trade! Be selfish! b.MP can be used for most of Gief's jump ins but b.MP only hits above Cody's head which means... If the opponent decides to short jump/ empty jump then b.MP will miss and you'll get punished.

It's important to know when to NOT use b.MP and what to replace it with. Here's a list of when to use each anti-air:

b.MP - For jump ins that are above Cody's head.
c.MK - For jumping normals with horizontal hitboxes (Gief's j.HP)
c.HP - For jumping normals with big hitboxes (Gief's j.down+HP)
c.HP (with knife) - For jump ins that are in front of Cody (best to use it early)
Far st.HP - For jump ins that are in front of Cody (Gief's short jump and empty jumps)
Far st.HK - For far jump ins
Close st.HK - For cross up attempts (Not on wake up!)
HK Ruffian - For any jump ins in range (Range differs depending on if they use a normal or not)

If the chance arises to pick up the knife, do it! The pokes Cody obtains with the knife are like anti-Gief normals. The most useful normals to use during footsies are; st.MP, c.MP and st.HP (The best poke against Gief that Cody has). There's a range where you can stand and spam st.HP and it will cleanly beat most of Giefs normals and prevents him from getting to LP SPD range, this doesn't stop jump ins and EX Green hand however.

Additionally, if you have a full bar of meter, you can option select LK Super with st.HP and if Gief tries to counter poke and gets hit, you'll connect super for 470 damage and send him to the corner. Not forgetting that the knife also does chip damage (every little helps!)

If you manage to push Gief to the corner you can keep him there by standing just outside his LP SPD range (0.7 squares, memorize the spacing) and counter poking him, best to use st.MP, st.MK, st.HK, c.HK without the knife and st.MP, c.MP and st.HP with the knife. If Gief attempts to jump out of the corner, send him back with HK Ruffian and follow up with; f.HK, EX Criminal Upper, Zonk, EX Zonk, MK Ruffian or EX Ruffian if you can.

Cody can use Bad stone to keep Gief from advancing. You should use LP Bad Stone from it's max distance against Gief. By using the LP version if Gief attempts to jump, you will recover in time to anti- air with HK Ruffian. When Gief gets one bar of meter using Bad Stone from anywhere within his EX Green Hands max range is dangerous due to it's long startup. This is where fake Bad Stone is very useful! Using fake Bad Stone at EX Green Hands max range recovers quick enough to block and punish.

The worst position to be in, against Gief, is in the corner. If Cody is in this position, the best option is to use your long range pokes to keep Gief out of LP SPD range. You should also throw out c.MP/c.LK OS MK Ruffian/EX Ruffian just in case you land a hit. If you land a c.LP/s.LP always hit confirm into MK Ruffian, this way you'll push yourself out the corner. If the Gief player manages to land an EX Green Hand in the corner and crosses up to keep the pressure on ALWAYS use Bad Spray. In the corner, Bad Spray stops all cross up attempts. If you find yourself being outpoked at every attempt NEVER result to just blocking, that's what the Gief player wants. Against Gief, especially in the corner, you need to always be pressing buttons.

A common problem Cody players have, against Gief, is pressuring him on wakeup. There are two options to choose from that you must mixup to pressure Gief on wakeup. Those options are:

- Execute a meaty normal and, if it hits, confirm into a combo or, if he blocks it, perform a true blockstring. Also, you should always OS sweep just in case he decides to backdash.

- Execute a meaty throw.

Both of those options cover all of Gief's wakeup possibilities. A meaty normal OS into a sweep beats; reversal LP, MP and HP SPD, backdash, reversal EX Green Hand and loses to; reversal Lariat, EX SPD, Super and Ultra. A meaty throw beats; reversal EX SPD, reversal Lariat, reversal EX Green Hand and loses to; reversal LP, MP and HP SPD, backdash, Super and Ultra.

By mixing the two options, Cody can pressure Gief and land damage in more ways than just pokes. This doesn't mean rushing Gief down is the best option, it just IS an option but it must be done a certain way.

Punishes

- Any version GreenHand on block: c.HP, c.HK, HK Ruffian, EX Criminal Upper, Ultra 2
- LP GreenHand on hit: c.LP, c.LK, s.LP, s.LK, c.MP
- MP GreenHand on hit: c.LP, c.LK, s.LP, s.LK, c.MP, s.MP
- HP GreenHand on hit: c.LP, c.LK, s.LP, s.LK, c.MP, s.MP, c.HP, c.MK, c.HK, Ultra 2
- EX GreenHand FADC Backdash on block: Ultra 2

- Any Lariat on block: c.HP, c.HK, c.MK, s.HK, s.HP, Ultra 2

True Blockstrings

- c.LP -> c.LP -> c.LP -> c.LK
- c.LP -> c.LP -> c.LP ->st.LK

9 comments:

  1. It's also worth mentioning to end combos with mk. ruffian against grapplers because pushes them pretty far away.

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  2. I did mention that in the third to last paragraph, you probably missed it but it's there :)

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  3. What I notice is that many Giefs try to lariat out of rock pressure but spaced out correctly you can lk or ex ruffian for some easy damage.

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  4. usually when they try to crossup i will slide out and jump back to evade lariat or spd/ultra or counter ex green hand.

    can i combo from a jump back fierce? i cant find a combo that works.

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  5. If you hit the jump back fierce really deep then you can combo MK, HK or EX Ruffian, EX Criminal Upper, EX Zonk, Ultra 2.

    That situation shouldn't really occur very often and if you're able to c.MK out of Giefs crossups then the Gief isn't jumping in correctly.

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  6. Hey packz is there a save cross up against gief? I've crossed up many giefs and wake up with mk and it has stuffed wake up lariat A LOT. But there are times it hasnt. Now my question is, is there a "perfect" timing to have cross up j.mk be safe everytime? or were those gief players timing the lariat wrong?

    Does the PPP lariat have different startup properties than the KKK version? I'm thinking this might be it too.

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  7. Bit late to the party, but I made a 10K BP Zangief rage quit yesterday when I zoned him hard with only far s.HK. Pretty funny.

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  8. Give him THE BOOT!

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  9. Packz, your gief tips helped me alot yesterday in this matchup !

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