Daigo explains blowout victory against Xian at Mad Catz Unveiled, wanted opponent to spend meter on FADC combos
Posted by Jon 'Catalyst' Grey • August 31, 2013 at 1:13 p.m. PDT • Comments: 146
MCZ|Daigo Umehara had a blowout victory against the EVO 2013 SSF4 AE v2012 champion, DM|Xian, during Mad Catz Unveiled at PAX Prime 2013. He explained how he was able to accomplish this in an interview after the fact.
We've made a bullet list of points that Daigo mentioned in his interview, hit the jump to read them all.
• One of Daigo's main goals was to have Xian spend his meter on FADC combos, to help avoid Super into Ultra setups, where Gen can net more than 600 damage.
• Sometimes Daigo would purposefully run into Gen's cr.MP canceled into Hands so that Xian would follow that up with an FADC combo, and spend his meter.
• Daigo practiced against all of Gen's ambiguous jump in setups relentlessly, by looking at footage and practicing in training mode. He noted that was why his blocks on Gen's ambiguous jump ins were so effective.
• Sometimes Daigo would purposefully run into Gen's cr.MP canceled into Hands so that Xian would follow that up with an FADC combo, and spend his meter.
• Daigo practiced against all of Gen's ambiguous jump in setups relentlessly, by looking at footage and practicing in training mode. He noted that was why his blocks on Gen's ambiguous jump ins were so effective.
• Daigo had previously had trouble blocking Gen's ambiguous jump ins during the Topanga League and the South East Asia Majors.
• Once Gen loses his ambiguous setups, he's mostly footsie-based and a super into ultra character, and Daigo had a strategy to nullify those things as well.
• Umehara didn't practice with Japanese Gen players to prepare for the match, because Xian's Gen is so different, he felt looking at footage was a better idea.
• Daigo was practicing all day for the match. When Zhi spotted him before the event went down, Daigo had sweat pouring out, and Zhi said it reminded him of a training scene from a Rocky movie.
• Xian won only 2 out of 22 rounds total, and landed no ultras during the entire set.
Some details from Beast Note.
• Once Gen loses his ambiguous setups, he's mostly footsie-based and a super into ultra character, and Daigo had a strategy to nullify those things as well.
• Umehara didn't practice with Japanese Gen players to prepare for the match, because Xian's Gen is so different, he felt looking at footage was a better idea.
• Daigo was practicing all day for the match. When Zhi spotted him before the event went down, Daigo had sweat pouring out, and Zhi said it reminded him of a training scene from a Rocky movie.
• Xian won only 2 out of 22 rounds total, and landed no ultras during the entire set.
