A better way to vortex?
The last thing I want to touch on here is our bread and butter: the mb.Flash Freeze restand vortex. The typical way to go about this is to end a combo in mb.freeze, j2, 2, and then go for a guaranteed 50/50 between f3 or b1.
It's great. I love this vortex, but I think we can improve it.
I was never happy with spending a meter and having a 50% chance of it going to waste. No matter how you cut it, a failed 50/50 equaled negative frames. Meaning some matches I struggle the whole time at a health deficit praying for a hit, and when that hit finally came, my only chance at a comeback was a Hail Mary 50/50, and when my opponent blocked it..... ;_;
But that's not our only option. We do have an ambiguous cross-up 50/50, that when blocked means we still have options. Hope is not lost.
There are two different ways to go about this. The prototype and the final form.
The prototype:
mb.freeze, jump back, forward air dash into j1/2/3
Depending on how the forward dash is timed, this equaled an ambiguous 50/50 into plus frames on block. And there are options off of this... but I never felt this was very good. This 50/50 always felt gimmicky, and the options when blocked always felt limp-wristed and finicky.
The final form:
mb.freeze, instant air dash forward, j1/2/3
It's so beautiful. When performed properly (there's a lot of variance depending on how you perform you instant air dash) the forward air dash leaves you standing at the perfect location to set-up an inescapable cross-up situation that is imperceptibly ambiguous.
Depending on what attack your using, j1, j2 or j3, and depending on when you use it, you can control where it hits. I wish I had this recorded to show you guys.
If the opponent guesses right, the j1/j2 options jail your opponent on block into one of her plus frame strings (f113 or 111~tc~dash forward = +4 frames) or a hitconfirmable 3 (which means +15 frame on block: e.g. another 50/50 between slide or f3... or a full combo on hit).
Long story short, with a little bit of execution, we can eliminate the one downside to the vortex: now instead of "guess wrong? lose momentum" we can "guess wrong? frame trap/mix-up."
