Impatience and zoning in MBAA

[Alfonse]

I consider myself an average player who had more or less grasped the mechanics of MB since MBR, the first game of the series I've played. However, having little experience facing off against decent human players (roughly 90% of my playtime is against AI), I was destroyed 1-3 when I pit myself against an average C-Warc recently. It's only then I realized that my level of play is still shallow and I have to step it up.

His approach was semi turtle-style - playing keep away with aerial bloodrings (which I tend to run into all of the time, damn) and pulling off a combo or EX-bloodring whenever he sees an opening. I'm also the unfortunate victim of Warc's arc drive-and-block cheese. A few minutes into the match and having lost nearly half my health and unable to find an opening through all those bloodrings, I began to feel frustrated and ended up losing the round. It's then I realised throwing random projectiles/attacks and being unpredictable is an important aspect in stepping up my game. I'm still sore about being clobbered, but looking at it from another perspective I'm also gaining versus play experience at the same time.

C-Warc easily zoned me using bloodrings. My main and sub are C-Akiha and F-WLen respectively. What are the zoning tools they have at hand that can keep an opponent at bay and/or instill fear in them?

[LivingShadow]

Warc's bloodrings aren't too hard to shield if you can anticipate them. Otherwise just memorize the angle that they come out and the size of the rings and try to get in around them. In the air Warc's a rings are probably the worst for you since they protect her jump ins/outs. However, the b (and c) rings stop her aerial momentum so you might be able to get a hit in with Akiha's aerial flametounges.

My suggestion would be to go with C-Akiha and try to zone your opponent using the a and b aerial flametounges. Maybe a flametower or two.

[Benny1]

I don't know too much about F-W.Len, but you have a fullscreen, and FAST, projectile, while C-Warc does not (excluding air eye beams).

As for C-Akiha, I have no idea if that matchup is as frustrating as it was back in MBAC, but in MBAC, Warc could j.B through any air move Akiha had.  It probably isn't quite that bad anymore, but you're going to need careful air flametongue spacing, and good hitconfirms when you do manage to get in to win that matchup.  You do have a good life advantage, so just try to keep Warc pressured and on the ground, I think.  If this is anything like MBAC though, this is not an easy matchup.

[Alfonse]

Yeah, it's something I discovered just a moment ago through netplay. What the fuck is up with her aerial priority over Akiha's aerials? 

[Tempered]

Warc j.b isnt as good as it was in MBAC, unfortunatly i still think akihas air normals are generally not going to win vs it. Your best bet would to be under warc before the 2nd hit of her j.b came out and tag her with j.c. Blood ring zoning isnt too hard to deal with, just have to be patient and block as you move in.

[Benny1]

Warc j.B is faaast, and it has a really good hitbox and such.  Akiha's normals aren't bad, but they're also not near as fast and don't really have the sheer range and hitbox.  It's just hard to deal with, yeah.  I mean, a well placed j.B will beat freaking flametongues.

[dakanya]

iirc c-akiha's aerial normals suffer from the following problems

j.A is weaker now due to priority system
j.B does not really hit behind her at all and will not combo into 2A unless its deep
j.C is slow and the active frames are a little lacking

also c-akiha's ribbons are kind of ass now but you can combo off of j.236BEB with airdash j.C now

for air movement remember that you have air dodge. but its really risky now since the recovery and afterwards is entirely ch state

backdash air dodge momentum is good for pulling away to safety and you can use j.236a as well.

this matchup sucks but basically just remember that you have a super doublejump and know how to utilize your air dodge options effectively. your air normals are subpar and ribbons suck now but a super doublejump can give you some leverage to work with and saving your airdash option will allow you to get back to neutral when you couple it with an airdodge and/or a j.236a

early j.a is probably a good option to keep in mind as well