Psychic Force 2012/Emilio

Emilio Michaelov

Introduction

Emilio has an obscene amount of long range options and oppressive setplay tools which makes him seem like a dedicated zoner at first glance. To reduce him to simply zoning is a mistake however, as he is at his core an all-rounder who excels most at the mid-range but can do well anywhere. From a long distance Shining Arrow (S/66+S) is the fastest strong shot in the game and can be followed up with a combo thanks to its great recovery and in the short range the tracking Prism Seal (180°+S) is a multipurpose attack that does great damage for only 40% PSY. And in the mid-range? That's where things get scary.

Emilio's unique mechanic is his Prisms; Prism Reflector (46+L) and Reflector Dash (66+L). Both of these setup tools will interact with his Seeker Ray (180°+L) projectile which will bounce off prisms to create a virtual minefield of damage that absolutely will not stop until it is directed to finish. Although by default Seeker Ray will always travel to the farthest prism first; Emilio can aim Seeker Ray at his prism of choice and even control whether or not he uses the prisms, or which prism is the last in the chain by tapping G whenever he wants in the sequence. And that's only considering the basic prism; Reflector Dash is a special prism that sends Seeker Ray clockwise in all 8 directions. Trinity Ray (466+L) is another scary move that sends out three Seeker Rays at a time, which also interact with prisms.

With Emilio, the more prisms you have the better as there are so many possibilities thanks to prism setplay. Emilio has so much room for experimentation it's scary.

Weight Class: Lightweight

Strengths

Weaknesses

Good movement and attack speed Potentially the strongest setplay in the game thanks to his Reflector Prisms His Shining Arrow (S/66+S) is insanely fast and recovers extremely quickly, allowing Emilio more combo opportunities than most characters would have off a far strong Prism setup has such fast recovery that Emilio can typicially place them with little risk and once out they can't be interacted with by the opponent Emilio has total control which Prisms he interacts with, giving him a scary and deceptive pressure game Seeker Ray will go through enemy barriers while it is traveling through prisms (if this sounds insanely good it's because it is) and will even continue even if Emilio is hit while it's travelling Thanks to the above, a good Prism/Ray setup can lead to guaranteed barrier break Angel Halo (46+S) limits the opponent's barrier guard, forcing it to break after the first few frames and it can be aimed in all 8 directions because why not

Has a significant amount of recovery on whiff Is pretty limited when unable to set prisms Lacks a true BnB Requires a lot of practice to use effectively Shining Arrow and Prism Seal are both incredibly unsafe on block His Barrier Break is among the slowest in the game at 25F startup Needs to be extremely careful about PSY usage, as a single basic Prism takes 20% PSY and you're looking to set up at least 2 at a time Angel Halo can be removed with a barrier guard or Emilio being hit