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Help in regards to poking and footsies - safe gameplay

So this is my first serious post where I hope to gleam as much information as possible to improve my gameplay........

When playing online I find I will always win against players who have no idea how to block, use very unsafe moves etc......... I recognise how to block, punish etc. However my biggest downfall comes from understanding the purpose using pokes/footsies, and how to keep myself safe.

From my understanding each character has single moves/or strings (i.e B3 for Reptile) that are considered a good poke due to being positive or neutral on block etc. I also recognise you have pokes which are positive on hit, as well as moves that's are unsafe if blocked.

Now my currently gameplay involves me getting in, then starting a combo string and then hoping it hits so I complete the combo, if it gets blocked I get punished. Now ideally I guess you would want to use a combo starter that is entirely safe, however that is not the case. So where does poking come in?? Is it purely just to give you frame advantage so you can then use a combo starter which is unsafe (i.e. and OH starter)? Surely you will still get punished if blocked? Or is it a case I should be looking to see if the string hits/blocked, then adjusting the special/ender I use to stay safe or finish the combo?

Or am I missing the point and footsies are just for nit picking some damage throughout the match?

I can't understand how a character would be viable if there combo starters strings were all unsafe, because surely you would always lose if the opponent blocked and knew how to punish that string?

So I guess the question is, how do footsies influence what combo starters I go for, or how do they open a player up to put me in a position to start a combo? It just feels my whole game at the moment is going for a combo and just hoping it hits :(

Thanks, hope this makes sense??
 
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Well this is a very basic example, but if you poke low a lot in a match, and then use an overhead combo string, they will expect the low poke and crouch block, and then you get a free punish. That's why characters with low-overhead mixups are so good, characters with good overheads are good, and why characters with good 50/50's are good.