Idol Showdown/Suisei Hoshimachi/Matchups
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Matchups
Aki Rosenthal-
- Extremely rough matchup until Suisei manages to go in and start pressure.
- Aki players will not hesitate to run away and slowly chip you down from fullscreen. Slowly walk forward while blocking her projectiles. Be wary of long range normals like her 6M and 3M when approaching.
- Watch the Crackin Atkins Aki guide to have a better grasp of how to navigate in Aki's deadzone.
- Get in and stay in. Exploit Aki's lack of fast normals and keep her blocking with fast and safe normals such as 5L, 2L and 5M.
- As tempting as chicken blocking sounds, it is recommended to stay grounded while closing in on Aki. Avoid reckless jump ins as well since she has a plethora of moves to easily beat you. 5M has head invulnerability on frame 1, 6M leads to an unblockable setup on air block with 3H, etc. Most, if not all of these lead to a full confirm and knock you back to fullscreen distance again.
- Don't be afraid to spend resources in order to start or continue pressure. Idol Step > 2L lets Suisei be 0 on block for 1 meter, and beat out any mash attempts from Aki with 5L.
- 236L is a great tool for approaching. It's a quick gap closer, and can be up to +2 on block if spaced well. Aki has little way to contest it unless she instant blocks.
- Aki's pressure is subpar at close range, and she has to commit to it with no way to quickly disengage. Her M normals are unsafe on block and her cancel options are limited. Watch for teleports and block/punish accordingly. Her 3H sweep is unsafe at point blank and any cancel options can be beaten out with your 5L and 2L. It may be worth to press 2M if it's blocked from further away to beat any teleport attempts, but it will lose to 214L MukiRose.
- Note that if Aki does not cancel her sweep, she is very unsafe but will cause any attempts to punish with 5L to whiff, allowing her to whiff punish you instead. It may be advisable that you use 2L to punish instead.
- Raw teleports can be OS'd by inputting 3M. Front teleport leads to counter hit 3M, back teleport gives you counter hit 2M, and air teleport will be slid under with 3M.
- Takes practice, but works even if Aki tries to cover her teleport with 214M MukiRose.
- Watch out for when Aki has 2 meter, as they will most likely call a collab to cover her approach on top of mixing you up.
- Easier said than done, but avoid getting bursted at all costs, even if it means you have to sacrifice damage to hard bait it.
Ayame Nakiri-
- Very even, if not (arguably) Suisei's only advantageous matchup. Both sides have potential to snowball their way to victory.
- 2M is your friend. Outranged by Ayame's 2H, but faster if you are in range.
- You can throw out 214M from midrange occasionally to chip away Ayame's health, but you will be punished by EX Oni Flip (214H) from anywhere on the screen for being predictable.
- Ayame's 2H will be her best poke in this matchup. Be careful of jumping in as this poke also has amazing head invulnerability.
- Avoid anti-airing Ayame preemptively. Your 2H can be baited and punished on reaction by her Heavenly Oni Flip (jS).
- On offense, keep Ayame guessing by staggering with fast normals like 5L, 2L and 5M. 2L being 0 on block lets you reset pressure as you can beat her 6f jabs with 5L. Alternating between command grab and frame traps with other normals is also a good option.
- Avoid using 6H in blockstrings when Ayame has meter. It always leaves a gap no matter what you cancel into, and Ayame can freely EX DP you for pressing the button at all.
- 6H>236S install can be gapless, but minus enough for EX DP to punish anyways.
- On defense, it's your turn to guess. Get ready for a taste of your own medicine as Ayame will be hitting you with similar strike/throw pressure, except you have the slight advantage of having a forward advancing 5f jab.
- Once Ayame goes into her rekka series, she has the option to frame trap your attempts at mashing out with its follow-ups, or reset pressure after the first rekka if you keep blocking.
- Rekka follow-ups are very unsafe without meter, and she loses her turn if you do mash at her pressure reset. There is a risk in both options.
- Ayame can extend pressure with her 22S at any point. She's minus, but you'll also have a bomb stuck on you that detonates after 2 seconds. Ayame players won't mind blocking for 2 seconds, and are more than happy to keep up the pressure if you respect it too much.
- Make use of these 2 seconds. You can armor through the detonation if you manage to hit her with 236M, and even completely negate it by landing any attack that goes into an animation on hit such as 22L, 236H, and 236G.
Botan Shishiro-
- A rough matchup mainly because of Botan's ability to do insane amounts of damage for winning any interaction.
- Botan has moves such as 2H and 22L to quickly gain distance. You have the chance to close the gap again after blocking or reacting to these moves respectively with 236L or 22L, but don't be predictable.
- Botan's 2H and j2H in particular are very good at keeping you out with their massively disjointed hitboxes, but both can be slid under semi-consistently with 3M.
- Slowly walk up while blocking Botan's projectiles. Instant blocking them may be difficult but ideal, since most of them do a lot of chip damage.
- 22L can potentially catch Botans that try to abuse j2H in neutral, but the lack of head invulnerability makes it inconsistent.
- 22L hops over rolling grenades and will not get hit by a high grenade following it, but doing this too predictably is exploitable as you are still stuck in recovery.
- Due to a bug, Botan's hurtbox does not shrink when she is crouch blocking. Using rising jH for your overhead during meaty 214[L] setups will hit and result in considerably more damage than rising jL.
- Botan can armor her way out of your meaty 214[L] setup with her 22S shopping cart, and if you block it, proceed to mix you up instead when she has a superchat bar.
- Mashing 2L after instant blocking the final hit can beat out many of her cancel options, but mostly depends on Botan's cancel timing.
- If you can react to the superfreeze, you can jump back to make the shopping cart whiff, giving you enough time to run up and punish with 2M.
- 236M beats low sniper 214L, low grenade 236M and roll 22L.
- Forward jump covers every conventional cancel option, and gives Suisei a chance to punish.
- If you have 2 meter to spare, meaty 2M>236S install breaks her armor and knocks her back into the comet, giving you a full punish.
- Check out Koushun's tweet for some examples
- Don't get hit.
Coco Kiryu-
- Grappler matchup. Hope you're good at guessing!
- Do not autopilot your blockstrings. Coco's 2L can low profile both 5L and 5H on frame 1, making it an extremely good mash option if you're predictable.
- It is possible to frame trap Coco mashing 2L by delaying your attacks in blockstrings that are normally gapless, such as 2L > dl.5M > dl.2M. Successful frame traps can lead to a full punish and discourage further mashing.
- Be careful when you're within her 214X range. They're very minus on block but safe from near max range. Use it as an opportunity to approach and/or start your offense.
- If you can stay right outside of fire breath range, 236L lets you whiff punish Coco trying to stuff your approach. You can get a full punish if you're willing to spend the resources.
- Occasionally throwing out 214M from midrange can help chip down Coco's large pool of health, but do it sparingly as Coco has a selection of moves to go through your projectiles.
- A well-spaced 236L can leave you plus on block and out of range of her 2L. Keep up the offense with pokes like 2M.
- Going for rising jL during meaty 214[L] setup will let you be safe from Coco's wakeup super, though it makes you much more predictable and easier to block.
- When blocking Coco pressure, pay attention to how far away she's pushing you. Prioritize blocking low once you're out of grab range, as Coco is likely to end a blockstring with a sweep.
- You can also fuzzy jump if she does go for a grab from a distance with 214X.
- Thanks to the jump arc-altering properties of jS, it is a great option for punishing Coco's whiffed command grabs, even if you jumped backwards.
- Alternatively, you can beat Coco's command grabs with your own 236G. This is completely read based, but will be successful on correct reads more often than not due to 236G having more throw invulnerability than Coco's command grabs for being slower.
- "Trades" will happen from time to time, where both sides invul through each other's command grabs and get stuck in recovery. Fortunately, Suisei recovers just slightly quicker than Coco, making you more likely to win the next interaction by mashing 2L.
- Ending a combo with 22G leaves Coco minus. Mashing either 2M or 3M on wakeup is quite good for catching her trying to meaty you.
Fubuki Shirakami-
- Shoto matchup. Going around Fubuki's plethora of defensive tools will be your key to victory.
- Fubuki has a large selection of moves that let her skip neutral and start offense, all while evading your attacks. Do not be predictable.
- Do not try to contest Fubuki at roundstart. Her 5M both outranges and outspeeds your 2M. It does not have an extended hurtbox at her feet either, which causes Suisei's 2M to miss even if she presses it late.
- Her tatsu series (214X) is both projectile invulnerable when active, and places her above ground so your 2M would whiff. Poking with 2M too much could prompt Fubuki to force her way in with this move.
- This can be used against her, as tatsu is very unsafe on block. Watch out for if Fubuki has superchat and meter as she can cancel into other moves to beat your attempts at punishing.
- Fubuki's 236X fireballs can be low profiled quite consistently with 3M.
- Alternate between 236L and jS during approach to stop Fubuki from consistently stuffing either out.
- Fubuki players can and will abuse her amazing jH in this matchup. It's active until landing, crosses up and wins air-to-airs. Her hurtbox also shrinks during the move, making it very hard to punish with Suisei's 2H, which is the worst anti-air in the game.
- Her 2S is a frame 1 head invulnerable anti-air that can potentially lead to a full combo. Do not jump in recklessly.
- The SSR version is also fully invincible. Beware of Fubuki mashing it if she has a burger install.
- Although Fubuki has a fast and fully invincible 22H that is cancellable on block, pressing 3M shifts Suisei's hurtbox backwards fast enough for the reversal to completely whiff, allowing Suisei to punish it with a strong starter such as 5H.
- This can be done for both meaty and pressing it on reaction to her superfreeze, assuming that Suisei is not already in the middle of another move.
- Fubuki's 2L is an improved version of your own. A fast low that's 0 on block and links into itself on counter hit, making it great for both stagger and tick throws.
- Mashing 5L on block trades at best and gets you counter hit at worst. Do not attempt this unless you instant blocked her 2L beforehand.
Korone Inugami-
- Shoto matchup similar to Fubuki. Korone has (arguably) less defensive options, but much stronger offense that can potentially keep you blocking forever.
- Do not autopilot your blockstrings. Similar to Coco's 2L, Korone's 3H low profiles both 5L and 5H on frame 1. It can even go under moves such as Suisei's 236M and 214H with relative ease.
- Frame trap Korone mashing 3H by delaying your attacks in blockstrings that are normally gapless, such as 5L > dl.5M > dl.2M. Successful frame traps can lead to a full punish and discourage further mashing.
- 3M can low profile her projectiles.
- Avoid jumping recklessly as Korone has an anti-air 2S that is head invulnerable on frame 1, and her 2H retains head invulnerability throughout all of its recovery.
- Like Fubuki, Korone's invincible 22H can be dodged with 3M and grant Suisei a full punish with a strong starter.
- The superfreeze on her 22H is also very long compared to Fubuki's, making it much easier to input 3M on reaction.
- You can relatively consistently do 22H into her "infinite" 5M>(5H)>236X blockstring during the fireball part.
- Buffer 22H after/during 5M and react to the 236X.
- Expect a strike-throw mixup after blocking her 6M. You can attempt to take your turn back by mashing a fast normal such as 5L, but there is a risk of getting counter hit if you guess wrong.
- There is currently no practical counterplay against Korone's 5M as it outranges even 2M while being very safe. Block the coffee and look for other places to punish instead.
Kureiji Ollie-
- Matchup advice goes here.
Pekora Usada-
- Arguably Suisei's second worst matchup. Learning how to approach when the opponent has buttons to disengage on demand is key.
- Be patient. Walk(not run) forward and block any projectile Pekora throws at you.
- Pekora's 236L(rapid punch) is very safe on block. Instant block as many hits as possible to quickly build up superchat meter.
- 214L(rocket launcher) zones, frame traps during blockstrings, and lets Pekora disengage at will. Watch out for this move if you don't want to get hit and have more distance put between you and Pekora while approaching.
- Do not attempt to 22H it. The rocket launcher pushes Pekora back just far enough for the grab hitbox to whiff and let Pekora get a full punish on you.
- 22X(TNT) places an active hitbox directly in front of Pekora with the option for her to kick it towards you. Be wary of jumping in as the opponent is usually ready to anti-air you into a full combo. Consider poking with 2M if within range and/or catching Pekora with your 22H if she's acting too comfortable behind the TNT.
- Pray that your opponent messes up if you get put in corner.
Sora Tokino-
- Suisei's absolute worst matchup. Requires a lot of knowledge and experience to even stand a chance.
- All of Sora's tools can easily keep Suisei out of even 2M range. Be patient and slowly walk forward while blocking her attempts at zoning.
- Sora's 22M(A-chan) reflects projectiles and can be used as a reversal vs non-meaty EX Comet oki setups, particularly after command grab. Make sure you meaty her even if you need to give up a mixup.
- A-chan in general can invalidate a lot of 214X stuff in pressure, don't be too predictable with it!
- Sora's 236L note bobs up and down. Sliding under it with 3M requires much more precision than against other characters. Not recommended if the option can be avoided.
- 236L at the end of her standard blockstrings will trade with your 2M but not in your favor.
- A-chan is always 0 on normal block. Depending on the range, you can try to mash a normal such as 5L or 2M to take your turn back.
- Due to a bug, A-chan is currently plus on instant block. Do not attempt to mash if you happen to IB this move.
- Suisei's 22H is decently fast and projectile invulnerable, making it a good option for beating a Sora autopiloting their projectiles during pressure.
- Sora's invincible 236S is hard to punish on block, but will whiff entirely against Suisei's 3M if it is pressed after the superfreeze, allowing Suisei to easily punish with 2M.
- Consider bringing
Kiara for an off-collab that can temporarily nullify most of Sora's projectile zoning.
Suisei Hoshimachi-
- Heavily favored for whichever Suisei gets the first hit. Play roundstart neutral as best as possible.
- Understand how to block and counter oki setups if you get hit.
- Bursting right after her 22L animation guarantees a hit along with large amounts of superchat from counter hit + anti-air.
- Bursting her IOH setups on hit yields the same results.
- You can fuzzy mash 5L>5M after blocking 2H. This will punish jS and 214X, but loses to 236L and 3H.
- You should still be able to block or even beat her jH with your own 2H.
- This is the only matchup where Suisei can easily set up +2 on block with jM>jS double overhead. Not a common string and is easily beatable, but serves as a niche knowledge check for both sides.
- Know your character's strengths and weaknesses. If you have trouble doing something as Suisei, your opponent probably does too.
