Taira's Trickery and Other Tales from Tougeki '07

Since I'm light on material for an SBO '08 preview post I thought I'd get this SBO '07 review post up instead. Below you'll find some Dictator trickery and behind-the-scenes notes on 2on2 tag strategy.

The various Dictator techniques below are listed character by character. Covering other match-ups where they might be useful (endless throw loops ought to work vs. some O.ST characters, for example) is beyond the scope of this post. For an explanation of the terms "near corner" and "far corner" check over here.

Most of this information came from Arcadia (SF2 correspondent: Gian) with some extra details from Leynos.

Psycho Magic and Other Corner Traps

CE Dictator vs. ST Dictator
CE Dictator can pin ST Dictator in the corner with the following loop:
double knee press -> crouching strong -> standing medium kick -> double knee press -> etc.
Double Knee Press AKA Scissor Kick. Unless they've got a super ready, the ST Dictator player can only pray that their opponent makes a mistake somewhere.

ST Dictator vs. CE Dictator
By the same token, ST Dictator can use this loop on CE Dictator:
standing short -> double knee press -> standing short -> etc.
If either side gets backed into the corner they're dead meat.

Psycho Magic
The general form for the "Psycho Magic" corner trap is as follows:
standing short -> crouching strong -> strong psycho crusher -> standing short -> etc.
This works on various characters but it's limited to the near corner. The most important thing is that the Psycho Crusher gets blocked twice.

ST Dictator vs. ST Dhalsim
At the SBO '07 semifinals Taira broke out a new type of Psycho Magic that works against Dhalsim when he's in the far corner.
crouching jab -> crouching jab -> standing short -> strong psycho crusher -> crouching jab -> etc.
When done properly, this Psycho Magic is airtight. The Dhalsim player must hope their opponent mistimes a jab so they can throw or teleport.





"Taira Nage" - Taira's Tickery

ST Dictator vs. CE Guile (mid-screen)
Taking advantage of Dictator's superior throw range and Guile's inability to tech throws, Taira had this throw loop ready to go for SBO:
cross-up medium kick -> standing strong -> throw -> repeat

ST Dictator vs. CE Guile (corner)
Although Muteki was careful to avoid getting knocked down mid-screen he wound up getting caught in Taira's special corner variation:
safe, vertical jump short -> standing short -> throw -> repeat



For both of these throw loops, Guile's only way out is to stay in a crouch so that he can stop the throw attempt with a reversal Flash Kick. If the Dictator player is on the ball, however, they can convert the jump attack into a combo.

Road to the SBO Finals

In addition to playing brilliantly, Kurahashi and Nuki got a good read on their opponents' team order throughout the tournament.

In the third round Team Kuranuki anticipated that Shiki and Tama would go in that order and since Nuki had been practicing against Kurahashi's CE Guile all summer he was ready to take out Shiki Guile. Kurahashi sealed the deal vs. Tamashima and they had their revenge for losing at the Sugamo qualifiers.

The only match where they were caught wrong-footed was versus Sako and Nekohashi. It seems like both sides misread the situation. Kurahashi thought Sako might run O.Hawk and was eager to take him out. Nuki, on the other hand, was extremely confident vs. any Ryu except ShootingD and also wanted a piece of Sako. When Nekohashi switched from CE Dictator to ST Ryu and Sako brought out Chun-Li that lead to one of the stranger battles of the tournament.

In the finals Taira and Shiro apparently anticipated that their opponents would run Nuki (Chun) then Kurahashi (CE Ryu) so Taira switched from ST to CE Dictator to better deal with Kurahashi. CE Dictator is a fine choice against ST Chun-Li, too, since a properly timed Psycho Crusher works well as air defense.

Taira and Shiro had the right idea: Kurahashi did want to run Ryu, but Nuki talked him out of it. Convinced him to stick to his guns. So the trap was set and all that was left was for Team Kuranuki to drop the hammer.