I will go into this in details, not trying to be a dick or anything, just going to share my point of view on why i think this is a bad idea.
I use B321 knock down mostly mid screen! In the corner 112124 low hat is my ender. You have the same options like the B321, but you do more damage! B321 cuts your damage a lot in the corner. I don't want to fight you, just to show what I mean, because I don't think you really understand what I am trying to explain! I will give you an example: you land B321 in the corner, cancel into spin, deep NJP, Low Hat out, D2, MB Thorow back to the corner. Now from here s4 is guaranteed , so s44 or s4 Low Hat call is a good mix up! There are hole yes, but your opponent must be on point. Tech the Throw is the biggest problem. Armor after the s4 is not that easy as people think. I met a very good opponent online who started teching those Throws, so I started MB direction out from the corner then short run jump over into JIP into something. I am not saying that B321 is not good mid screen. I am just trying to explain that in the corner you have other options too. Maybe is just me, but I don't like blocking with Hat Trick.
you land B321 in the corner, cancel into spin, deep NJP, Low Hat out
Okay, so you land a combo by making it look cooler with the low hat out, this should setup a 50-50 mixup on wakeup right? I can only hit B3 on inside confirmed combos, never as starter tho.
D2, MB Thorow back to the corner.
Okay, this is where i start to disagree with is, you gain corner position, cool, you gain a restand, cool, but you've wasted your meter, i will get there why, just let me go through the whole picture.
D2, MB Thorow back to the corner.
No its not, its blockable, its a 15 frame high, doesn't present a real mixup threat that its justifiable to spent meter on mb throw to try it.
so s44 or s4 Low Hat call is a good mix up!
Just to give you the heads up,
@Youphemism,
@I GOT HANDS, @The Big Pampering,
@ROG Moonspell, @Just2Swift, myself and a few hat tricks were into this as well, and no, sorry to tell you this, its not a good mixup, and it gets worse when its blocked, because low hat is still -7 at blast radius, on a KL mirror he would just ex spin for a reversal punish, that bar you have spent for a restand, you could've spend here but more into this soon, you've already talked about the gap so no point on remind you that a good player as you said yourself will be on point recodnizing that pattern, and its not even that difficult since the timing isn't that ambiguous in between call back and 44.
So here is why i disagree with this.
1. Hat Trick is a variation in XL that doesn't build as much meter as it used to do, point in case, his neutral got a bit crippled with the new breaker system, when you get into someone, if they break, you can't go back right in and take advantage of their lack of meter to apply pressure and open your opponents with mixup, these are dead since XL, now not only your opponent will break to escape your lockdown, now he gets to have stamina and probably meter too when stamina returns for both players
2. Hat Trick loses his overhead starter over a low starter when he places low trap, which is his only mixup trap, so there is no real oh/low mixup game there, 44 and 4~low call back aren't as threatening as sonya b142 mixups for example or kung jin F24 and B14 mixups, trust me, we've been into this before.
3. your best option when you land a combo with spin that is carrying to corner is, jk~dk, b321~low hat trap, this sets up a real oh/low mixup since its a hard knockdown with no tech rolling, where the low option is -7 but can come out meaty, problem is if the opponent wakeup as you call the hat back, if its 9f startup it will hit you before blocking, the F4 its his real overhead option when hatless, which can be used when the low hat is preset on the screen, it only adds a knockdown, and when blocked is -13, so if your opponent is risking to TRY to block those two moves, hes is likely to not wakeup at all, if you're playing safe, you will take advantage of the hat to apply free pressure like d4 call back, free throws instead of risking the overhead going mostly for the low 90% of the time and apply free staggers because the hat will condition them to not press buttons right away as they might get caught by you canceling your strings into it, it adds a sort of mental pressure.
Hat trick game is based on how people defend when they block ex call back right after, you can either:
d4~hat trap = works when they block standing to avoid B2~hatarang, it doesn't lead to much if not more pressure with a free call back, as long as you have meter you can keep loop it into itself for more pressure while trying to open them up.
b2~hatarang = which combos for people trying to block d4~hat trap
the rest of the things you can do like 11212~hat trap, or b2~hat trap, or choose which part of a stagger you want to cancel hat trap from is just a bonus, but many of these options become inconsistent as hell when your hat trap hits and can either hit standing character for trying to input armor or mash normals, or hit them crouching for solely the same reason.
There were threads we talked about this, in some cases, away hat trap into ex tp throw has proven to be more usefull although is just as gimmicky but still better than 4~low hat call back, 44 mixup.
