Can’t really speak to the Jade MU, but I play a Jacqui main pretty often. I’d recommend Dead of Winter for her. Since her move speed is so high, slide isn’t really any more effective than something like b1 so you might as well keep your damage competitive.
Understanding her options will limit the damage you take more than some other characters. She’s more interactive as far as opponents go.
- Her throw break reversals can be throw broken themselves, and since that KB is so massive you’ll have to look out for it. It triggers if LEG break happens AFTER arm break. Most Jacqui’s will go for the reversal arm first to load the KB for later. Tech whatever at first, but if she gets your arm, tech the leg break for the rest of the match.
- Her clinch KB loads once she’s used the clinch knee and clinch suplex once each. Use the defensive meter to fall out and avoid one and the other when you can. Once the clinch elbow KB is loaded, save your meter to fall out of that.
Her f31 stagger pressure is not hit confirmable. If she’s using f31 xx grease kick on block, ez punish. If she’s staggering f31~feint, mash d1. Set the precedent that she’s going to have to go for grease kick on block or finish the string, otherwise you’re taking the turn. The full string does a little more than a throw BUT it resets the neutral. Sometimes you’ll have to spend your health bar as a resource like this to disable her strengths.
Her b3(?) low > elbow string gives her + frames but has a pretty big gap you can jab out of for a full combo. You can d1 poke, but that’s leaving a lot of damage on the table. Play to your own comfort level.
In the neutral, she’ll use her speed to walk you down. Stick b1’s out to keep her honest. Once she respects your b1 range she’ll look to contend with something else. She has the HIGH raw dash fist (neutral duck) and the mid b22 (block) which she’ll sometimes cancel into dash fist. B22 doesn’t jail, so neutral duck the third hit if she tries to punch. Eventually, a real footsie game will develop. Here, you can use f4 to close distance and gain frame advantage.
D4 is a strong normal here as well. On hit, pressure like normal. On block, it pushes SZ back far enough to back dash and COMMIT to a normal without Jacqui being able to reach you even though it’s technically her turn. Using b14 here is safe and confirmable. If she takes her turn with f31, she’ll miss and you’ll interrupt. You can use b32, which will catch both her d1 and f31 but the spacing is scary. It’s important to commit to your normal though, otherwise her f31 will catch up to you.
Jacqui has a powerful KB punish, and the perfect place to apply it in this MU is after blocking SZ’s f24/ f2 xx deep freeze. Unless you’ve comfortably conditioned your Jacqui, or you have spare DEF bars for breakaway, don’t commit to an f2 conversion. Use raw f2 to feel them out instead. Even though it’s -2 on hit, players aren’t anxious to hit buttons after being opened up. You can try to steal a turn or back dash/ shimmy to a comfortable distance and reapply your pressure.
