Some terminology questions

[GAINS]

Be great if someone could explain these terms to me:

50/50 - i know this has something to do with mixups, which i sort of understand. like hitting an overhead when they expect a slide? would like clarification

safe and unsafe - something to do with block, dont get this

hit confirm and block confirm - no idea

punish - murky idea of this, my impression is that some moves are "punishable" because if the opponent blocks them correct you get stunned and they get a free combo?

positive/negative frames - i see -9 and +12 tossed around a lot here, no idea what it means.

edit: also what the hell is a frame trap

thanks for any help, i tried searching but im new to the forum and it wasnt going well.

 

[DavS13]

50/50 is when you put your opponent in a position where you make them guess whether your will do an overhead or a low. It's called 50/50 for that exact reason, because they have a 50% chance of guessing right and blocking, or a 50% chance of getting hit.

All the rest of your questions have to do with frame data...So imagine you and your opponent are standing in front of each other at the beginning of the match. You're both at neutral, 0 frames. Now imagine you both try to do a move at the same exact time. Fastest move will hit first right? That's basically what its about; If you try to do a 5 frame move and I do a 6 frame yours will hit me because its one frame faster. Remember both moves are inputted at the same time when were both in neutral, at 0 frames.

Now imagine I did something and it put me at +3 frames. We both try to do the same moves again at the exact same time, but although your move is 5 frames and mine is 6, we are no longer in a neutral state. I'm at +3 which means my moves comes out at 3 frames in stead of 6, and yours still comes out at 5., which means you will get hit.

Now with this knowledge everything else should make sense. If a move is "unsafe", it means it is leaving you at minus frames which allows your opponent to hit you for free. If I do a move and it leaves me at -9, it means if you have a faster move like 8 frames it will "punish" me. Safe moves would mean it would leave me at a position where you cannot punish it.

This is where the concept of hit confirming comes in. Often you will do some string into a special that launches into a combo, but maybe that special is unsafe. So you will only throw out that special if your see the first few moves have hit; thus "hit confirming". If it is blocked you will not throw out the special because you could get punished. So if you notice your hitting them on block, you will do something other than that unsafe special, thus blocking confirming.

Frame traps is a similar concept where you do something to your opponent on block which leaves you at plus frames, which means if your know what you're doing and make your opponent guess right, your moves will come out before theirs.

 

[GAINS]

50/50 is when you put your opponent in a position where you make them guess whether your will do an overhead or a low. It's called 50/50 for that exact reason, because they have a 50% chance of guessing right and blocking, or a 50% chance of getting hit.

All the rest of your questions have to do with frame data...So imagine you and your opponent are standing in front of each other at the beginning of the match. You're both at neutral, 0 frames. Now imagine you both try to do a move at the same exact time. Fastest move will hit first right? That's basically what its about; If you try to do a 5 frame move and I do a 6 frame yours will hit me because its one frame faster. Remember both moves are inputted at the same time when were both in neutral, at 0 frames.

Now imagine I did something and it put me at +3 frames. We both try to do the same moves again at the exact same time, but although your move is 5 frames and mine is 6, we are no longer in a neutral state. I'm at +3 which means my moves comes out at 3 frames in stead of 6, and yours still comes out at 5., which means you will get hit.

Now with this knowledge everything else should make sense. If a move is "unsafe", it means it is leaving you at minus frames which allows your opponent to hit you for free. If I do a move and it leaves me at -9, it means if you have a faster move like 8 frames it will "punish" me. Safe moves would mean it would leave me at a position where you cannot punish it.

This is where the concept of hit confirming comes in. Often you will do some string into a special that launches into a combo, but maybe that special is unsafe. So you will only throw out that special if your see the first few moves have hit; thus "hit confirming". If it is blocked you will not throw out the special because you could get punished. So if you notice your hitting them on block, you will do something other than that unsafe special, thus blocking confirming.

Frame traps is a similar concept where you do something to your opponent on block which leaves you at plus frames, which means if your know what you're doing and make your opponent guess right, your moves will come out before theirs.

thanks helped a ton, i think i will try and think of it in terms of a race. always want to stay ahead. one follow up though about hit confirm : i play raiden mostly and my combo is something like 214 exDF2 into combo blah blah. if i wanted to hit confirm, i would hit 214 then wait to see if enemy blocks? seems like that would take some serious reaction skill

 

[DavS13]

thanks helped a ton, i think i will try and think of it in terms of a race. always want to stay ahead. one follow up though about hit confirm : i play raiden mostly and my combo is something like 214 exDF2 into combo blah blah. if i wanted to hit confirm, i would hit 214 then wait to see if enemy blocks? seems like that would take some serious reaction skill

Well it depends it exDF2 is unsafe, I don't know Raidens frame data but you could look it up. If you're trying to hit confirm you wouldn't wait after the 214 obviously because you need to link it with the special. If your fast enough to realize the 214 has hit your opponent then you confirm into that special. If not and that special is unsafe do something else.