How to Play Marisa: Neutral Game

In this video I look at Marisa's general tools for playing neutral, and we watch some footage of Big Bird, paying special attention to his neutral strategy.

[@ZachHenke]

Just released an updated version for season 2: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXrRaoRnm9d6Zsk

[@Mistouze]

Seeing BigBird get level 1 when going for Superman Punch makes me also feel better about myself lmao. Need to work on that cause that's the WORSE thing to accidently get in neutral or in the middle of a combo

[@Crenshawswettest]

bruuuuuuh i get level 1 often too tryna do superman punch so annoying

[@Flashlegz]

Haha, no changes, still get lvl 1 super in neutral when wanting to do superman punch

[@Mechmainiac]

Dude y'all really help me feel better, I hate getting Lvl 1 on neutral

[@sonicphoenix7]

i wish marisa lv1 didnt exist lmao i hate it

[@casualhandz1922]

8:29 Quarter circle back light punch is upper body invincible good for anti airs as well.

[@egglamation]

I’m a couple months into this game feeling stumped at silver, can’t say I will take everything you said into account but damn that was a really useful insight. Especially the breakdown of top level gameplay, super appreciate it thank you!

[@ZachHenke]

You’re welcome. I’ve got loads of Marisa content on the channel. Glad to be helpful.

[@celsius2370]

I got to diamond with Marisa today thanks to you Zach

[@Aequilix]

Great Marisa videos man. I love finding KZbinrs who cover characters the way you do. I’ve also been following Jeako for Luke, and Rush for Ken. It’s really helpful and I feel like it elevates my game a lot. I’m very grateful to have you all covering my mains.

[@ZachHenke]

Happy to be part of the crew!

[@Aequilix]

@@ZachHenke I try not to branch out too much when I’m learning a new fighting game. Usually just 2-3 characters at most. Especially as somebody new to SF period. I’m mainly an anime fighter guy. But ima have to do some digging for Cammy and Chun Li. They are also really fun characters.

[@tjbach8213]

Very interesting test case for what happened with your last video. Also of course thank you for the information

[@ZachHenke]

I think what probably happened is that fewer people interested in Marisa clicked on a general neutral guide, so it started with fewer views. Then, once it had fewer views, KZbin decided it must not be worth recommending. That’s my best guess at the moment.

[@tjbach8213]

@@ZachHenke I love how the platform dictates that a guy who wants to pass off useful information on fighting games must also gain a sufficient understanding of the invisible force that determines if people will hear that information or not.

[@ZachHenke]

@@tjbach8213No kidding. I was actually excited to make that video, too. Thanks for watching and helping the algorithm.

[@vicfalves]

Thank you for your videos. Just got Platinum 5 after 7 days struggling into Plat 3-4.

[@vicfalves]

Edit: got to Diamond 1 2 days ago.

[@CalebAdams]

Suuuuuper helpful as someone who’s about to pick up Marisa as their secondary character. Can’t wait to dive into your other guides about her! Thank you!!

[@ZachHenke]

There will be more on the way as well.

[@Angrylion22]

I hope you enjoy Marisa, very fun.

[@adk5980]

Man this channel is a gold mine for me who just picked up marisa. Thanks!!!

[@Gilbot9000]

I've been slowly working through and implementing your guides and it's such a boost. I went from Gold 1 to Gold 3 in a few hours after internalizing and purposefully practicing what you've laid out across these videos. Thank you for the boost.

[@ZachHenke]

Thanks for the comment. One of the goals of the channel is to produce content for players who are no longer at the ”absolute beginner” level. It means a lot when I get comments from people saying that my stuff is a part of the reason they’ve been able to rank up.

[@Gilbot9000]

@@ZachHenke you are succeeding wildly at your goal. This is exactly where I am and precisely the help I need.

[@Gleapgoogleplusisgone]

A few usefull pieces of information I hadn't exactly worked out yet. Thanks.

[@wicketd7730]

Great content. I thought it was super helpful hearing your thoughts on Marisa's neutral and the match analysis was great. Your comments on when Big Bird used Superman punch was eye opening to me since I can be really random with the move. I am trying to work on my spacing to set up punish attempts and get to Marisa's OKI game and listening to another person's thoughts helps me focus on what I want to work on. Much appreciated.

[@ZachHenke]

Thanks! I’ve got loads of other Marisa content on the channel, and more on the way as well.

[@prawnyb]

Yes mate. I needed this. Thank you bud. 🤙

[@weebthatlifts5750]

bro i love that youre doing this so much i can learn a lot from all the guides youre making. if you can pls make them into a playlist so its easier to go from 1 to the other

[@ZachHenke]

Should be a playlist on the channel.

[@BruceWayneBrady]

Really enjoying these SF videos, especially as a Marisa main! That analysis was helpful too. Good stuff

[@FlawlessLego]

Great video, love the analysis at the end. This will definitely help me crawl through plat

[@amon37]

Appreciate these marisa videos

[@ZachHenke]

Hoping to keep putting them out.

[@TheDocmedical]

great video, really enjoy your content

[@jimhaverlock9784]

Getting back into SF after completely giving 5 a pass. Marisa is my gateway drug, thank you for this.

[@justeeey]

Been waiting for this!

[@bryansnaylor]

Amazing analysis and info

[@ZachHenke]

Thank You!

[@timmytheturtle]

Another great one, I love your approach on this, thanks a lot

[@duvalpenny100]

Her forward medium punch target combo is a great blocked sweep punish because her regular sweep is too slow

[@ZachHenke]

Definitely true. Her stand HP is good for long range punishes as well.

[@RobTG]

Love your videos homie

[@ZachHenke]

Thanks man!

[@EclairTw]

Needed this one big dawg

[@ZachHenke]

Hopefully it helps.

[@Angrylion22]

I just became gold thanks man

[@spammusubi9004]

you know it's mad respect to Big Bird that nobody else that plays Marisa chooses that color lol

[@אוהדדגול]

Guide: and this is how you play neutral Marisa player: Gladius! Guide: no, neutral Marisa player: Gladius? Guide: no, you need to watch the spacing and time it right Marisa player: Gladius

[@mathiasprudhomme6495]

Damn Big Birds commands for dr after recovery frames proved me there are simpler ways of doing it lol

[@JR-xp1yr]

I think there's a few niche cases for jMK. It has some prettttttty far range. There's some scenarios where you're nearly full screen and can forward jump a fireball fairly safely, but too far for a proper jump-in, sticking out jMK can be good to check them with. Of course if you do it every time then they'll DP it, but then you can create a conditioning trap where you just empty jump at that spacing and they whiff the DP since you're a bit far out. I also like sometimes being at a decent poke/footsies range, and then doing neutral jump jMK, land and DR off the plus frames. Sometimes at that poke/footsies range neutral jump is a decent option, especially against players who like to overcommit to options (like DI or whatever) These are some weird scenarios but they come up sometimes and can be good to throw out here and there

[@ZachHenke]

That’s really useful. Abigail had something similar with his jump medium punch in SFV.

[@luisbo3]

That DR into heavy can be +2 if the opp is waking up on block

[@maxv658]

Marisa is my main and I'm not nearly good enough to use her optimally, but my lord. The damage and how quickly she can win a round is absurd.

[@ZachHenke]

Indeed. I expect her to do very well at Evo due to the best of 3 nature of the majority of the tournament. High damage characters tend to thrive in that sort of environment.

[@BovineIntervention]

@@ZachHenke marisa cooked at evo

[@groovygorgar8408]

Dunno quite where to put this, but I'm back on my Marisa grind. I know three of my best tools are b.HP, f.HK, and cr.MP. my problem is the A. Outside of a neutral poke, I struggle getting anything more than a gladius out of cr.MP B. Utilizing the other two outside of ez dp punishes feels impossible. I'm overly reliant on using mp and LP targets with occasional mk and HK pokes. How can one drill utilizing those important buttons into their gameplay?

[@ZachHenke]

Slowly. You just have to identify one situation to use one button and then add more as you go. I’m thinking about revising this guide/making a new one since I understand the character much better now.

[@AN-vs5pb]

​@@ZachHenkeI just want to say, it would be HUGE if you went through with it and made another video on neutral

[@sharpywilliam4513]

Alright, call me crazy, but I 100% feel like the random Lvl 1 supers from Bigbird were supposed to be just regular Superman punches, All of them, look at the inputs at 13:59 and 16:29, how does THAT get you a lvl 1 super??? I've personally been dealing with the same issues where I'm moving forward, input superman punch and get lvl 1, Idk what it is, but an Expert like Bigbird doesn't seem like he would just randomly throw out supers like that, and the recorded inputs are making me very suspicious about the game interpreting them. Any other Marisa main having similar issues?

[@ZachHenke]

Yeah, I even mention in the video these are supposed to be Superman punch. Everyone is having problems with it. It basically forces you to end your DP inputs on down forward if you don’t want to get super.

[@Genocidechaos]

What's your opinion on using gladius as an anti air?

[@ZachHenke]

Decent anti air, but can be difficult to time properly for them to not block. I’ve been using it more lately.

[@treeznappi6380]

Is diamond a good rank to get with marisa?

[@ZachHenke]

That all depends on what you want out of the game. That might sound like a cop out, but it’s definitely what I believe. Each of us has to define the parameters for our own success.

[@Angrylion22]

Hey zach can you make a vid about how to use the OD veriants of specials. Thanks.

[@ZachHenke]

What do you want to know specifically? When to use which?

[@Angrylion22]

@@ZachHenke basically, what the situation would be when you can use them effectively. Like I've seen big bird throw out OD QCBk sometimes, but when I do it trying to counter my opponent I get countered.

[@ZachHenke]

@@Angrylion22 That might be interesting. Thanks for the idea.

[@Angrylion22]

Yeah I just deleted sf6, too many laggy players and I'm a man of my word. 4 players all laggy.

[@ZachHenke]

Connections generally get better as you rank up, but I can’t tell you how many times I rage deleted SFV. Hopefully you figure it out.

[@tragicblvd]

I can’t wait to get my hands on this character. A lot of the difficulty of getting into SFV compared to other games I’ve played was resources for the character I liked most. So it’s really well received from me to have someone guiding the first few months of a character’s techniques and findings, as a person fairly new to understanding street fighter in general. Some will disagree but I hope they add Karin and Sakura in this game so I can really give SF6 a shot with my favorites. But Marisa will be the one mama that stepped up for now (●´ω｀●)

[@Beaslu]

Just clarification, that isn't big bird, it's angry bird

[@ZachHenke]

They share an account.

[@zrimei]

Yea big bird plays marisa his good friend angry bird plays Ken

[@VDViktor]

Would be kinda nice for you to introduce yourself in a guide, cause i have no idea who you are. If youre a bronze Marisa - i probably shouldnt waste time watching your guide and listening to your "advice", you know. But if you come out and say "hey, im Zach, im a Master Marisa with 60k LP currently" - gives your guide more credibility kinda. Just a free YT hack for you.

[@austingoyne3039]

Why do you say "'mKay" like a cop though 😅 Nah but great video man, it was helpful

[@ZachHenke]

I actually have no idea what you mean.

[@austingoyne3039]

@@ZachHenke it's like a doctor explaining to the patient what'll happen to them during surgery 😂. Not a diss at all, I just thought it was funny

[@prawnyb]

17:52 I f ing hate Manon.

[@ZachHenke]

I get so tilted when she grabs me from what feels like full screen.

[@prawnyb]

@@ZachHenke 'specially when that beeatch has some medals under her belt....

[@Link1209]

I don't think 623LP works the way you're suggesting against Honda at least. He can walk backwards and react 5HP if you whiff Gladius. Then he can headbutt if you superman punch. That MU seems difficult because his 6HK beats gladius armor as well. The neutral seems to require a lot of patience

[@ZachHenke]

Your whole neutral strategy shouldn’t revolve around whiffing a move, but because you can vary the timing and spacing, it is a good space control tool.