It's time to face the cold, hard truth about my MvC3 team: It's not working.
I have leveled down from 5th Lord to 5th Ranger, simply because I am diving into Ranked matches at every opportunity. I was doing relatively well, beating a lot of high level teams, but falling flat against a number of opponents who were within my skill range. I'm not plummeting by any means, and my technical skills feel stronger than ever.
Taskmaster and Tron do ninety percent of the work in a given match. I can't envision winning any matches without that duo. Aim of Hawkeye and Gustaff Fire assist allow me to deal huge damage on characters trying to get in. Once in close range, Tron's assist confirms into big Tasky combos. It's solid, and I feel confident playing Tasky/Tron against virtually any team that comes up. I've been tacking on Hulk or Dormammu as anchors to make those dramatic Level 3 X-Factor comebacks, but ideally I would be in fewer dire situations if my team didn't rely on the anchor so heavily.
The tragic flaw of my Tasky/Tron/(Hulk or Dormammu) team is that once Tasky falls, I can only do so much with Tron. Normally I just fish for hits and go for damage while trying to earn and save meter for the anchor. Tron dies, anchor comes in, hopefully avoids the initial mixup, and then uses level 3 X-Factor and the stored meter to wreck shop. Great, when it works. But when a team kills off Tasky and then lames out Tron, well, not so great. I end up with a team that has no potential to open up the opposition, and runs out of time or dies trying to get in.
Also, with the UMvC3 changes being a looming reality, I have to consider that: (1) the DHC glitch is non-existent, so the big damage Tron/Hulk combos I've displayed in this space before are worthless, and (2) aerial X-factor makes my Dormammu chip setup less viable. I first pondered a new anchor, but then began to look for a different team concept, one favoring a scenario that involves me winning.
After watching Evo 2011, I'm taking a page from the book of PR Balrog, and opting to go for two strong, synergistic point characters (Logan and Dante, in Rog's case) with a powerful defensive assist (Tron) in the anchor slot. Once the first character is defeated, the strategy changes very little, still using the remaining point character to engage, backed up by the Tron assist.
I am starting to learn C.Viper, and hope to have a competitive Viper/Tasky/Tron team at some point. Becoming proficient with Viper is a daunting task. I've started at page one in the SRK forum Viper thread and I feel like I'm beginning to grasp the mechanics behind her combos. Theoretically, this team has all the tools to win, and with more lab time my Tasky and Tron will definitely be where they need to be, but the variable is whether I can get my Viper up to snuff.
So there's the big announcement: my official declaration of my intent to learn Viper. What follows are some notes I've gleaned from the aforementioned thread, that I will keep handy on my blog for future reference.
First off, learn to rapid fire Seismos. It's simply Seismo, super jump cancelling into another Seismo. Duh.
f, d, df + Atk, [f, d, df, f, uf + Atk] x n
Next, learn the box dash loop. Similar in principle in that we're using a super jump motion to cancel out of the Seismo, but in this case allowing the super jump to come out, and immediately airdashing forward into H, S, land and link M, H, Seismo, repeat. How easy is this?
L Seismo, IADF j.H j.S, (land) M, H, L Seismo, IAFD j.M, j.S, ...
Third, learn this throw/air throw combo with Tasky assist from Chrisis. Gotta be able to get damage off a throw. Will have to learn to H Thunder Knuckle~Feint on Hit as an alternative to S launching. Okay.
Throw/air throw, L Seismo, IADF H, S, (land) M + Assist, H, M Knuckle (Task hits), H Knuckle~Feint, jc, j.M, j.M, j.S, dj, j.M, j.H, j.S, EX Burning Kick, (land) S, j.M, j.H, dj, j.M, j.H, j.S, (land) L Seismo xx Burst Time (DHC)
Finally, step up to Viper guru Gottnoskill's execution exhibition. Two H Thunder Knuckle~Feint loops and two box dash loops, with a relaunch. Nothing to it.
Tri-dash j.S, M, H, S (1st hit), H Knuckle~Feint, M, H, H Knuckle~Feint, M, H, L Seismo, IADF j.M j.S, (land) M, H, L Seismo, IAFD j.H, j.S, (land) M, H, S, j.M, j.M, j.H, dj, j.M, j.M, j.H, EX Burning Kick, (land) S, j.H, dj, j.H, j.S, (land) L Seismo xx Burst Time (DHC)
I'll be in the lab for awhile. Don't bother calling.
Oh yeah. Don't forget to learn the infinite.
And here is some gratuitous girl-on-girl (MarlinPie vs KBeast FT5 at Evo2k11).
