How To Beat the Average "Random" Ranked Player

[@spoons_otg]

Lmaooo im that Rashid player. Had no idea this was you, Sajam. Love your content. Gg’s!

[@rovi2009]

eyeeeee

[@helloimvon]

keep goin ham my man

[@spoons_otg]

@@helloimvon Tbh, this match was from two weeks ago only uploaded today. Today im very happily at my Master Rank Rashid 1547 MR 🙂

[@SupermanSajam]

Congrats on master, and thanks for gaming! GGs

[@spoons_otg]

@@SupermanSajam 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@servebotfrank4082]

I remember like immediately after Sajam played this dude and went over this on stream, I matched up with this exact same dude. It was like I was given a pop quiz. I passed thanks to this handy dandy study guide.

[@spoons_otg]

Lmao wait really? Who’d you use?

[@Cursed_Fruit]

Lmao you pre-downloaded before launch

[@spoons_otg]

@@Cursed_Fruit ??????

[@genzo454]

@@spoons_otg In some modern-gen games, if you pre-order a game, you can pre-download the game onto your computer so that when the servers go up you can immediately start playing. (SF6 did this, I think)

[@AresGod0fWar]

ROFL!

[@SamuelTheodorePitzkin]

The Worst is when you figured out how to beat their random playstyle and they just leave after game 1, nothing can counter that

[@notcreativeatall8157]

Even in game 2, a lot of my best sets were like 2-5 or something (and I lost the first 2). Game should be at least ft3...

[@tingispingis]

They know they're gonna get exposed and their egos can't take it. Going one and done lets them abuse their playstyle more and get more wins

[@RandomGuyCDN]

Nah you see thats the best. That means you got in their head and they got so pissed that they RQ. Everytime you get 1 and done after winning just means your better than them.

[@silent_jav]

​@RandomGuyCDN what's even worse is when you discover you've been blacklisted after 1 game 🤦‍♂️

[@SamuelTheodorePitzkin]

@@RandomGuyCDN Yeah I wish the game acknowledge that, if they leave that should count as a forfeit & give me them free LP!

[@lizbethian]

surely i shall get to masters with this advice and not go 0-3 and stay hard stuck gold

[@abdulazizmohammed8797]

I mean if you play only random players all the time and not people who actually think

[@TheOneTrueHamtaro]

If you do literally what Sajam says in 7:39 you will eventually hit Master

[@spoons_otg]

Im the Rashid in this vid and even I got Master Rank lmao. You def can!

[@lizbethian]

@@spoons_otg wait that is actually so rad

[@alfredo626]

​@@TheOneTrueHamtaroquite literally just followed this advice and went on the longest win streak ive ever had and broke past diamond 1 after weeks.

[@ZhangHe2369]

One of my favorite things about street fighter is the power of nothing. Like, holding down back doing nothing and just letting your opponent kill themselves is such an amazing thing that makes fighting games so unique.

[@Gutock]

Underrated comment. It feels like there is a pressure to do SOMETHING at any given moment and not doing so is a wasted opportunity, but if the other person is sweating harder than you are, they will make a mistake and you can capitalize. ESPECIALLY if you are winning the resource game, there is little real incentive to go ham... just react. Such a simple concept, so hard to execute, and so wonderfully implemented in SF6 :)

[@jakewu8298]

It’s not just a fighting game thing, the better you get at some sports and things like chess the more you wait for the opponent to hang themselves

[@EkajArmstro]

@@jakewu8298 zugzwang

[@youtubesbad6405]

This is something I learned in Tekken, where giving up a turn can lead to a far larger reward than trying to force interactions. Sometimes the results are astounding--all the effort you felt you needed to beat your opponent was a total illusion because they're doing the work for you. And sometimes I forget about this simple principle and try to do stupid fun stuff and get owned for it lol

[@nyukjustacommenter857]

"Please make a mistake right now" **Opponent makes a mistake** "Thank you."

[@soulofalbedo]

It's cool to be removed from the game and observing. I think im bad at recognizing patterns in game while they are happening but watching things laid out you can really see that "random" players are anything but random

[@SupermanSajam]

Yup as Spoons said above they already hit master. They were good, I’m not surprised at all

[@sa1gon1]

This is why VOD reviewing your matches is so potent.

[@KibaKitsune]

The JP one and done at the end is just the icing on the cake for this video! Very well done and excellent points for how to deal with overly aggressive players like this who didn't buy the game just to block.

[@brad_soup]

That Rashid is better than I'll ever be. And he's having twice as much fun.

[@SamuelPierce-xg7hk]

You can play like that, just learn some high damage combos and focus on having fun. The more you play the better you get! Plus, sf6 isnt too hard to play at a decent level compared to most fighting games.

[@SonicKurosaki]

My friend was literally giving me advice about this yesterday, thanks for breaking this down in a visual way

[@LastHazzerd]

"I didn't pay 60$usd+DLC to hold back"

[@SamuelPierce-xg7hk]

"i bought the whole spedometer i'm gonna use the whole spedometer"

[@Mene0]

Empty jump DI is the way I identify these kinds of players. I always get hit the first time but as soon as someone does it I'm like "ok, I need to play this match diferently"

[@riz3778]

damn, he's making us play good

[@thecountercounter9127]

Damn, hes at a payphone

[@SingerOfW]

Damn, I'm (going to get) good

[@antiguy360]

I love how the background people still move around while the game is paused. It reminds me of the Police Squad epilogues

[@ericjackman1143]

Some tips that this video highlights: 1. Remember that this game is about questions and answers, and when you get a lot of questions you get a lot of information about their game plan. 2. Your health is a resource. You don't care about your health until you're in range of being killed. Make decisions that are low risk, and sometimes trading a little bit of health for a more important resource like their drive gauge is a good tradeoff.

[@Udderage]

I had just finished some matches of sf6 before i saw this in my sub box. After playing I was very discouragrd because while i feel im better in many aspects against some people, when i get these random opponents I end up overthinking and like you said i try to go for too many cute things like grabs / shimmies / or gaps in pressure that wont work when they are mashing specials and jumping all over the place. Good video and thanks for the reminder to keep things tight and simple.

[@RandomGuyCDN]

Always remember to KISS

[@that80ssongyoulove84]

@@RandomGuyCDNkeep it simple stupid?

[@starbutter2730]

SPOOOOONS! Dont let people trolling get to ya my dude, this was cool of him to allow you to learn from him and give you the opportunity to review with everyone while helping others learn in the process (thanks Sajam). Keep learning and having fun homie❤️.

[@itstomis]

I now feel incredibly stupid for barely missing the cancel window on my mediums to counter-DI over and over against ham players instead of just pressuring with lights and having all that extra hitstop and lenient cancel window to press DI. It all makes so much sense and is so obvious in hindsight.

[@paolomoonman]

A lot of people get carried by their offence, frame traps work really well against them and getting a read for when they EX DP is also pretty good.

[@aquaticnstuff7666]

learning 1 single frame trap on chun li was a game changer...

[@bruselsproutgaming7615]

Yeah frame traps are awesome my juri I got 4 variations of lights and 2 variations of medium punch that completely stop spam jumping, is safe, can counter spam di, and stops mashers. Only thing it doesn’t stop is throws and wake up but shimmy’s stop that

[@blackmanta2527]

This is one of the reason I hate one and done . The feeling of adapting after a loss feels really satisfying.

[@sd5919]

Yeah, unfortunately one and done benefits people like this. There's a reason a lot of pros prefer tournaments with more sets. People will blame the game's balance when really it's just a matter of not giving players time to adapt.

[@atomicskillet]

Ah yes, the Holy Trinity of the Scrub - mashing DI on hit, mashing DI on block, and of course.. wake-up DI!

[@misterburns103]

4:09 - 4:15 is where i get stuck 😢. I mostly just take those short-range jump-in's then guess wrong. Rashid also has tricky tick-throw mixups on the ground. The mental stack and bad reactions can't stop the cycle.

[@elegy8187]

Try to practice doing jump back jab or jump back air throw (if your character has one) against those close range jump-ins.

[@Romancesymphony]

Just dash forward under them or air-to-air. Seriously, if you are at a bad angle for the jump-in and you know they're going to jump, the standard anti-air you use for everything isn't going to cut it.

[@ohmygodlaughoutloud]

Really liked this walkthrough, super informative

[@ctrlaltCookie]

i come back to this video all the time cos i think it's basically a masterclass in how to play vs aggressive players

[@publickip]

extremely funny that pausing does not pause the background NPCs

[@ellachino4799]

lol imagine you're just chilling eating lunch or something and 2 people duking it out in front of you just freeze in place

[@Artificialignorance]

I'm still trying to learn how to adapt faster in my matches. I really gotta remember key information, but I'm too slow to recognize patterns early on. Yesterday in casual matches, I fought a juri that kept using the same strat of using round start drive rush grab, and if I tech it and try to get in and run my offense and get in they would mash DI, especially on my block string. I kept running my flow chart offense and realized I had to change a lot in my game plan and figure out how to adapt. Eventually everything finally started to click for me and the rest of the matches felt so much easier, they were getting too predictable, and I even got a decent win streak on her in the end. So I think or hope I was improving throughout those matches 😅

[@orangejuiceow5420]

"i can stand my ground against masters but ppl on my rank just dont play footsies." I hear this so often. My brother in christ, those master players just need to realize that you have no fundies and could just start mashing in order to beat you. If you cant check jumps, dashes, dr and tech DIs and whiffpunish mashing, you are not ready yet to play footsies.

[@eliwolf8987]

This is a great reminder of how strong patience and simple adjustments can be. Def needed this

[@purifyws]

This video is the concentrated ranked experience, and largely why I haven't even done it yet lol. I know it's going to be 99% getting people to chill tf out

[@Bladebrent]

One thing I will be proud of is I can handle players like this. I'm not as good as Sajam, but I still run into them in Casual matches who just want to run their offense. Simply knowing how to sit back and react to what they're doing or do safe stuff works in every game if you know what your options are. Even in a really Offensive game like strive, people will run predictable strong or risky offense, and just playing safe or reactionary can guarantee you're fine. Im also the kind of jerk who'll get a life lead and know they have to engage me so I'll just wait at full screen for them to get bored and try a risky option.

[@imoj]

This happened when my cousin came to visit. We played guilty gear and he was mashing on May while I was trying to do cute things with Milia. I noticed it and swapped to Potemkin winning with 2S 2D and 6P. Opponents will just do what they want if you don't know how to punish them.

[@Darkkfated]

This sort of thing is what separates a Sajam from your average Online Ranked Warrior. Getting washed in the first round, saying "oh, it's THIS type of player", and then being able to change your entire playstyle to go 4-0 after what looked like a crushing 1st-round loss is not something that just anyone can accomplish.

[@calmguru1274]

Dude this is amazing. Ive just started playing fighting games with sf6 and i learned this reactive playstyle by punishing lower level players but my issue is i dont know how to fight someone who doesnt yolo all the time. Could we maybe get a breakdown of how to fight an opponent whos more thoughtful eith how they play? Great stuff as always

[@jamesw5713]

Nothing worse than playing platinum/diamond rank people where you feel like they are going to do what they are going to do, autopilot offence over and over again, regardless of what you are doing, exactly like the opponent here. Thanks for the advice, need to try put it into practice now.

[@srka42]

Just starting the video but I’ve desperately needed a video like this specifically how to play ranked. In battle hub mode casual mode or custom rooms I play well then in ranked I’ll lose 10 straight matches get totally disheartened and feel like I have no idea what to do.

[@daftprince2234]

lmao this explains why most of the time when I match with a celestial in Strive I get the first round easy and then I barely get another round for the rest of the set. I thought it was some kind of etiquette thing I didn't understand but this makes more sense, they're letting me do my thing so they can download me.

[@Devil0rdante]

I was struggling a little with gold a few weekends back and then slept on it, when I woke up I was far more refreshed and patient, felt like giving this strategy a try (Organically, I hadn't seen a video about this yet) and I felt like gold had its challenge sucked right out of it. got to platinum almost instantly which is where I'm currently at. (Not stuck there, just haven't had a chance to play again since I work a lot)

[@ajshiro3957]

I noticed that a lot about some players. Especially Rashid players for some reason. They'll run to the corner and spam the same move. they mash DI when their getting hit, and they tend to spam grab a lot for some reason.

[@SheldonSempai420]

After a lot of experience I can play like a real player or a random ranked player just to mess with my opponent

[@AdamJorgensen]

I guess people who play like this are even more common at lower ranks. I can recognize these people when I run into them but still end up losing most of the time and feel like an idiot when I do

[@ektrfirefox2571]

Yeah exactly most players actually have one gameplan that they keep repeating based usually on what moves are comfortable for them to execute without dropping.The most interesting players are those who go back and forth between like 3 gameplans

[@Lore_from_Stars]

this is something i never consider in game, you're totally right about not letting od dps get you off your gameplan. key here is to have the life lead tho i think, cuz each dp landed is more valuable the closer you are to death

[@nomaschalupas2453]

Honestly every single match I have now are either rush in and try a jump in cross up over and over. Or I play someone who runs and hides with no attempt to attack till I corner them and they jump out for a cross up. It’s been so boring on ranked so I started playing guile and barely throwing booms. I just played good neutral and uppercut every jump. I noticed they don’t know what to do once that jump in doesn’t work but the moment they have success, the big combo Using all resources comes out. Other then that they don’t even know how to start offense if it’s not a jump in. I got up to diamond with normal attacks.

[@Rumcake256]

Omfg you can't write endings like that, man. Amazing.

[@chris-cu3kl]

Made it to diamond, thanks for the lessons

[@sEaNoYeAh]

SF6 is my the first fighting game I'm taking seriously, learning the mechanics, studying and playing online (not just arcade/campaign etc). I've gone from bronze to Gold 5, and it's interesting that this pattern of player I've seen in the low metal ranks continues up to diamond. In casual games as a then bronze I'd occasionally beat guys 2-3 times my LP because of this exact style.

[@mikaeladeel1268]

Wallahi I will get to Master with Ryu one day.

[@sleepyzeph]

could you do some analysis on how to not BE that player, especially on defense? i just hold downback and wait to react to my opponent doing something dumb, and if it looks like they know not to do dumb stuff, i dunno what to do so i mash and get counterhit and die.

[@Potent1al]

This is dubbed the "scrub killer" technique

[@GrayD_Fox]

“Good ol dp, nothing beats that”

[@Moryo7]

I do have to ask the question on what to do from the other side of the coin. I think I tend to fit in the playstyle of the Reshid player and can't quite wrap my head around stopping a defensive/reactive player.

[@jiangalang4]

Slow down, tighten up, mix it up. Don't just go ham all the time. Shimmy, block, wait, use normals...

[@00Clank]

I usually have the opposite problem, I need more solid offensive gameplans and to execute them instead of being a tad too focused on what my opponent is doing.

[@lastlunarrun6418]

Haven't been this early since behemoth typhoon season.

[@sd5919]

The footsies trilemma. Keepout beats rushdown. Easier said than done. Great video.

[@chosnbot]

This video feels like an epiphany

[@Huddy40]

Spot on, these type of players can be annoying but if you just let them beat themselves they become easy to beat

[@sigurdtheblue]

How do I play safe with Deejay? My safest combo is jabs into rolling sabat, but that requires closer range than what Lily is doing. I guess that drive rush makes range less of an issue for Deejay, but I do not feel confident that I could play safe constantly. Also, it is hard to figure out how to counter drive impact as well as you did. It feels like even my faster moves are too slow to avoid drive impact if I get caught in it.

[@chris-cu3kl]

jab jab jab sway

[@obaraksennahoj7191]

I am an Iron Lily and I played a Gold, close to being... whatever is above Gold 4 (I doubt I'll ever get there). I followed Sajam's advice once I realised that this Ken is always pressing something other than back/down-back. Once I slowed the game down, I was able to beat him and then he didn't rematch me😅

[@Evilj82]

This kind of stuff applies to Tekken as well. Especially the last part of using your options that you haven’t used before.

[@pipehelix5776]

I take these tips like when playing axl, sure the zoning is great and effective, but what if I just ran in and did bomber loops?

[@yourstillwithme]

This is A PERFECT example of everything that is wrong with fighting games today and WHY people play EXACTLY like this. This is why defensive tools are SO IMPORTANT to have in fighting games other than just "reversal" with 2 bara that as he said a dozen times in this video "Doesnt matter" You need effective DAMAGING DEFENSIVE options and combos that STOP players from AUTOPILOTING which is what people do these days. SF4. You jumped lile a scrub? Shoryuken, FADC, Ultra. Half health gone. Marvel 3: Oh you want to hit buttons vs hulk? Stand H, you die. Oh, you want to get in vs morrigan? Eat Astral Vision You BETTER zone Haggar or else Lariat=death SF3: Lose once in neutral to Chun and eat half health from super New fighting games dont reward you for being defensive so everyone has built this habit up of auto piloting and mashing and not thinking about their offense. DBFZ, GG, SF6, SF5, uniel, MK11, MK1, BBtag ALLL these games are offensive auto pilot messes and we need more defensively rewarding fighters.

[@nagiiboo]

Thanks Sajam, but I’m a notorious slow start so I won’t see any patterns until like 5 losses later 😅. Most of the time

[@kingbry198]

As much as I love adapting and all. It feels like playing against a poweres up npc which takes the fun out of the game and beats the whole point of playing online. Same against JP for example. The game turns into a platform OG mario game.

[@Ketania]

I think... I'm the average random player..

[@Clarfeldt]

Tl;dr play defensive, never be proactive or you'll just get punished unless if you are outclassing your opponent hard or if they are giving you clear openings.

[@WutTheDeuceGaming]

the thing about this sort of playstyle, it's annoyingly effective in this game. Mofos be playing like this in lower ranks and legitimately take it to diamond and above, changing absolutely nothing about it. Meanwhile, every time I take ONE risk in a game, it NEVER works. This playstyle is made even more frustrating because these types are the people that one-and-done.

[@SupermanSajam]

This is true in every game. Offense is easier to learn/effective and stopping it is hard.

[@davidsantana9138]

i'm awful at fighting games, but I enjoy it regardless and sf6 feels like the learning curve got eased. however, watching this made me put into perspective if that Rashid player was "average" and he's Diamond, i wonder how steep the learning curve might actually be.

[@bookimatt]

I wonder what the Juri players are vibing to while they drive rush me into oblivion? It can’t be Adam Levine.

[@drbjr8223]

gotta incorporate both styles, go ape, then safe, keep em on their toes. RASHIDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@RuTo94]

Another tip is the Akira title you know there gonna play super aggressive and button mash or DP on wake up so just gotta wait for the punish😂

[@schitzie]

damn, he's safe

[@kye4216]

Rashids dash is actually ridiculous he just teleports.

[@genzo454]

Too bad this doesn't work vs Zangief :(

[@Squalid]

bruh, exactly, i hate to fight zangief, send help pls

[@AresGod0fWar]

I AM ALMIGHTY!!!!!

[@notcreativeatall8157]

bruh the average Zangief will be just spamming spd at every gap, just play slow and it will be fine

[@xRhychux]

Why wouldn't it? Zangief gets mauled by pressure

[@dark-ix7uv]

That’s good and all, but where’s the cheat sheet for the next will it kill

[@baconbitz7804]

Does every character have a pressure option like that?

[@co81385]

Great tips and advice!

[@CoconutChriss]

Really good advice!

[@microblast3700]

If i mashed my way to diamond in this game anyone can, just look at that dude

[@eatdahl]

Sajam its hard playing like thiz with ryu. His anti air is not that good and he has no moves that counter DI

[@AntLeonardi01]

Some characters really let you succeed with brain turned off lol.

[@twanakawa5551]

Such a good video

[@dynamicdonuts5503]

I know im late to the vid but this helps out alot but i still cannot get good at this game recently ive actually been wanting to try and get good at this game but for the life of me i cant i play juri and just got gold wich ig isnt bad for me barely wanting to get good like last week but still i feel like im not improving at all but stuff like this helps thanks sajam I'll try getting a higher rank

[@augusmnyt]

I used to play like that. Just aggro/out pace/full offense. Then I played gbvs and certain people. And then I stopped. Because that shit doesn’t work. They’ll just punish the shit out of your bad habits. Had to start thinking actively during a match instead of autopilot.

[@hectooo4395]

thank you mr jam 🙏

[@masterofdoom5000]

ESPECIALLY with new characters, going all offence and not caring too much about other factors is really common. You aren't super sure how to build your style with a new character and many people aren't used to how to stop it, or even what it LOOKS like.

[@SuperJoF]

2:51 wtf is this mashing...

[@TaimMeich]

What a masterclass

[@ronaldjefferson3245]

another great video

[@Prodighee]

I take a lot more risks because I play Jamie drunk

[@0utrunner237]

Average random 5 star diamond player. Sheesh, at what rank is someone finally considered decent in this game...

[@JH-hv1uf]

how do you beat the guys playing like you lol?

[@SunyataManji]

That is the dance of fighting games

[@berserk_3440]

How much to 1v1 you

[@JoeyCentral]

Can you make a video explaining how you can download a player like that and make those adjustments? I feel my issue is I can learn but I can’t execute?

[@BlueDragon7100]

I'm ashamed to admit I play like this, but idk how to learn.

[@Boyzby]

It feels weird to hear that someone just doesn't adapt at all but they're good because they're almost Master. Like, you figured them out round 1 and they didn't win a round after because they were so easy to beat.

[@norrinorri]

Appreciate your input, Spoonsie

[@thefractalcactus]

They need to buff the hell out of anti airs in this game. No reason you should call out a jump-in and get punished for tryjng to anti-air. Feels awful.

[@HylianHero17]

Shiiiiit, am I an average random ranked player 💀

[@drpac9164]

That was an excellent lesson Sajam. Thanks for the video

[@Restless_Gambler777]

This is literally 99% of people online and I’m tired of playing them. They don’t learn, they don’t adapt, they just run their game plan which is mashing DI on defense, and their basic character strat. I just hate not being able to play decent matches where I’m actively trying to outplay someone and not just reacting to their risky plays.

[@JestanYT]

Play against me then, lol.

[@bazookabadger7936]

How can people still tolerate playing people like this in ranked? I took a few weeks off and jumped back in to get diamond, just to play people who were in gold, but made it to diamond playing exactly the same way. Nothing they did changed, yet they managed to rank up. Taking time off was a mistake, it only allowed gold level players to rank up, even with bad habits. There is only so much fun to be had playing against people who still mash unsafe moves on round start, or people who flat out refuse to hold down back on wake up. I was watching matches of master ranked players just mashing sweep in neutral and mashing di if it whiffs. I can't bring myself to play match after match against people like that. People will say to just take the wins and move on, but fuck these guys should still be in gold. It's just not fun playing against people like this. Like how many times do I have to anti air people with lariat before they stop jumping? I can't even work on pressure in matches because people refuse to block on wake up. I thought ranking up to diamond would be the end of this, guess I was wrong

[@antifusion]

You ignored every thing Sajam said and ended up feeling entitled and "The victim" to some who "doesn't deserve" the win. He showed you how predictable it is to play against if you play safe and patient. You should want to get "these" people because they struggle to select safe options. "I didn't pay 60 bucks to block" players are free.