Tip for People Struggling With Matchups

[@adun3]

Now you know you need to do one of these for every character

[@23RAD]

Yes PLEASE!

[@AngeloGene]

Yes! He really should!

[@EternalSilverDragon]

Absolutely!

[@arshia901]

Yesss he should

[@trilfy]

I hope he does this for 2d characters. I refuse to lab them(geese, akuma, eliza). I don't even have those characters because I refuse to pay for them they are lame and boring.

[@Jugdjay]

Miguel: Step left. Miguel is a very linear character and the most reliable homing he has is f4, which doesn't do much on its own. About 75% of his moves will whiff if you step on his left. His step punish mostly comes from moves which track either on his right or on his left. Miguel is at his best at close range and against walls. That's where he can pull off his pressure game using Savage, where he has access to his best tools. However he can be pretty vulnerable to pressure himself as he doesn't have man tools to get out of pressure. So try to keep away from walls, don't stay too close to Miguel and most of all don't let him take advantage. Another side note: don't try to punish his tackle move 2+3, Miguel will be positive no matter the range. Also his b2, 2 is a safe frame trap which launches on CH so block the whole string.

[@imor77]

ahh yes another mainman lecture video. will this be on the exam?

[@TheDocbach]

One item I think is worth mentioning is the concept of ducking in certain match ups. I was always conditioned to never ever duck unless I knew I could absolutely block an unsafe low. That play style works well for a lot of match ups, but its important to know that ducking against certain characters is far less risky than it is for others. For instance, when you go up against a good Shaheen or Hwoarang or Josie player, you will notice that the poke pressure can be overwhelming at times, but more often than not, the mids they throw do not result in a full out launch. In these kinds of match ups, I would say that ducking more often can work in your favor. Can you still get clipped by mids? Sure. But you can also open up some punishment opportunities from the highs they whiff. Other characters that have strong mids, "like the MIshimas", you want to pretty much forget ducking altogether. For example, Heihachi`s ff2 will rek you if you duck too long. Just wanted to add my 2 cents on this topic.

[@machinejuice5965]

I love these videos were you just explain different tekken stuff. It’s like I’m in a tekken school

[@ant_989]

That's good piece of advice for impatient people. However, there's no way around it, the best way to be better at certain matchups is to simply lab all characters you're struggling with and play as them for a certain amount of time. It's not as complicated as he presented it in this video. Some characters which are top 5 are more common online than others. I'd say start with them and than slowly start labing all others. There's no better way to know character weakness than play it yourself. You're also more aware of certain animations of moves when you play character for a bit. Long story short, there's no way around it. This is not an easy game and getting good at it takes years. If someone can't agree with that... well, there're other easier games out there.

[@thokia9019]

One of the best video you have done..

[@TeddyGamesLP]

MainMan you opened my eyes. I'm trying to learn Tekken like 4 months now and I was like jeez it will need a lot of time to know all those punishers and matchups holy sh*t. Then you come here with this video and give me a easy understanding on how to deal with certain matchups. Pls do this for every character. This is absolutely helpful for beginners. Good Video.

[@StreetGrindFitness]

Crap I can listen to Main Main break down Tekken all day. It's mesmerizing, informational and entertaining all at the same time.

[@chacazulo1987]

Please do one for every character in T7. I hate some of theses characters. One for Feng, Hworang, complex characters like Lei, M Raven, Lucky Chloe.....

[@SickGamer45327]

so you just kind of slap him when he wants to be cool with stance changes?

[@w00long]

@@SickGamer45327 most of his stances are minus if he whiffs or get blocked, normally hop kicks will do it.

[@baki9191]

I feel that Raven's best playstyle is a very honest one but online people play her in a very BS way. While she has a lot of good neutral tools, (mids/lows), most Raven players you'll run into online just want to party and don't know how to play Tekken. Thus, I'd treat her like Ling and wait for easy launch punishes.

[@TheDocbach]

For Feng, just look out for when he goes into back turned, because he always takes risks by doing it, and always be ready to duck because that low out of back turned can be nasty. Other than that, watch out for that shoulder low out of crouch dash since that is his only real big threat out of crouch dash. Just ss left a lot and play a normal game of Tekken and you should to alright against Feng. Hwoarang is a cluster f**k. Whatever you do, try not to have your back at the wall at any time. Everything out of RFF stance is insanely plus on block, and he can totally shred you up at the wall. Try to play a patient neutral game with him and be a little more liberal with the ducking. He has way too many highs and most of his mids do not result in a full out launch so it is worth the risk more often than not. The only big exceptions are plasma blade and skyrocket. Plasma blade is unsafe on block I believe and only the JFSR is safe, so just look out for that. Any other hard hitting mid is usually unsafe on block. The only other annoyance I can think of is peace keeper. I dont have a great answer for that move. Side stepping is can be done, but it is kinda iffy unless you have a read on a specific move that you know is coming. Like a running move. Hope that helps.

[@Abo0odevil]

Just play againts feng in range 2 and do not whiff againts him and you will kill the guy againts you Hwoarang ssl when he is in lfs and try to dick jab ehen he is in rfs also duck a lot againts him in neutral cus his best moves are lows and highs Lei and chloe hust like ling dont mash

[@caishaoting]

Now I go to all your 8 min guide videos and look at the counter tips at the end. Super helpful! Thank you 😊

[@AngeloGene]

Guys! I can verify that these tips are true! Mostly towards the Kazuya weakness. Yesterday, I was versing a Kazuya player (I'm a Yoshi main, btw) and I was getting bodied by the mix his 50/50 mix ups. But after watching this video, I versed the Kazuya player again about a few hours ago. Luckily for me, he was too lazy to look up and do a homing move since he doesn't consistently use it when he knows that I will step it! I won consistently against him! xD Please post more of these "general rule" match ups for us beginners and intermediates! That would be a great help to the community.

[@c16621]

This just happened to me yesterday. I blew out an Akuma, an Anna, and held my own against an Alisa, ALL of them 3-6 ranks higher than me. I was able to do this, in the same HOUR, because I watched this video and changed my strategies. I accomplished this having NO punish information on Akuma, virtually NO punishment data on Anna, and 1 move educated guess on the punishment of Alisa's hopkick. I was eating akuma rage arts because I don't know what to do now after season 2 patch, but STILL beating Akuma REPEATEDLY. ... MAINMANSWE IS REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS THE REAL DEAL!!!!!!!!!!! I have NEVER been able to perform like this without having an extensive understanding of a matchup until watching this video! watch this man! Pay this man! You WILL get better INSTANTANEOUSLY!

[@lilalfred8672]

What an outstanding video! Thanks for uploading that. This is the kind of stuff that can take years for people to realize and start applying, and it gives a significant boost on the level of gamplay.

[@IKI-KIKI]

I’ve been asking for a video explaining the basic, most generic strategy against each and every character for aaaages. I’m sure it partly would be subjective, but theres probably enough stuff that’s generally agreed upon that would make the video extremely useful for at least beginner/intermidiate players.

[@Vospi]

I felt this against Hwoarang acutely. The feeling was "I'm definitely doing it wrong". I thought that in and out strategy would help, I'm playing Kazumi. After forcing myself to repeat "in and out, in and out" I started doing much better. Before, I was in his face all the time and yeah, grabbed all the mixups. What's the rule against Bob? I'm completely lost there sometimes.

[@Rafael57YT]

Yes, in and out also plays amazingly into Kazumi's strenghts

[@TOAST-FACEKILLAH]

I play as hwoarang i struggle a lot with pressure and strings that mix in lows I’m also crazy weak against oki at the moment. I’m red ranks but will probably demote to orange a couple of times before I hit ruler (dipped twice already) I need to work on my matchup knowledge, defence and mixing my combos up to incorporate the wall

[@JustN0tMe]

I feel some happiness right now 1-I was on the right path when studying matchups 2-more people know about Bryan weakness 😥

[@The_Humble_Hurricane]

This is without a doubt one of your most valuable videos in terms of advancement in Tekken knowledge. Very well explained and broken down.

[@Matro97]

I want this for every character! Tmm is an amazing teacher when it comes to tekken

[@palamecianrider7385]

MainMan you need to make this with every character. Hopefully with a bit of detail

[@burgerking8157]

Listen here you little punk. You're going to make a series explaining every character. Free Whopper next time you come in! Love your content 👺

[@はいるこいち]

It seems off for it to be so simple TMM... I look forward to you teaching us or showing videos in the future on more complex stuff to being better in Tekken... 🙏🙏🙏

[@mat6661]

Please one for each character

[@gintooky7995]

Look at how complex this game is, I just understand why I'm obsessed with it

[@madthrasher88]

As someone who started with SF (SFIV specifically) its weird to hear you say that there are "general rules" to match ups as SF match ups are generally approached like that, then you branch off into the nuances of the match up like specific punishes for certain moves afterwards. This is kind of how i've approached my learning experience to Tekken rather than labbing first with punishes for a certain characters best moves etc. It sounds like it needs to be said though and reinforces my thought processes to learning the game and makes me want to strive that much more to get better. Awesome vids as always!

[@anjeevarunasalam8349]

thanx for the info , gonna learn on how to do that cd ws2 consistently now :D

[@lupusge2503]

would be nice to hear your knowledge of these rules in a video for every character

[@brainrot8215]

Plz make hour long video breaking down every character in this way because you are a god afterall.

[@mitomidou]

Being relatively new to the game, this was always my default, have a gameplan, move familiarity comes second. Of course, had to learn the hard way since I have little time to lab, but it has given me some degree of contentment with results. Now I’m trying to bolster that with more move familiarity since lot of times, unfamiliar moves just destroy me.

[@thefridgefreezer]

Who do you play as?

[@mitomidou]

thefridgefreezer Miguel.

[@IsmaVE]

Yeah, you should do this for every character man

[@Channel1Mind]

This was eye opening and seriously what you need to be using that blue screen for.

[@juancarloang]

This is the kind of Anti-Character video I need. Those character punishing videos are fine too, but this is far more awesome. Wish you could do one for each character (or at least, the ones you think you know best).

[@rileylund9235]

Kazuya tip is obviously correct but wave dash ewgf will catch side step so what you have to do is not be scared and not respect him get in his face if he comes at you throw a quick mid maybe a hop kick or ch mid, do this until he starts spacing more to try and punish your defence moves, now get in his face and if he throws ewgf to keep you out of his face run in and duck punish. This is my tip on how to condition a 50/50 spamming kaz once he's conditioned just ssl on his mix up as he will be desperate for damage

[@rileylund9235]

(Hopefully makes sense I'm a kaz main and ik the general rule on a lot of chars including all in this video)

[@PlumpPotatoRump]

Chloe: Her range is ass, u can space her out far and she can't follow well at all. her caliroll mixup isn't real you can see the knockdown low. She can only get an invisible BT D3.

[@LimitlessPotential12]

video was great I would love a video just saying what to do against every character in like 15 seconds for every character also showing their most important moves and how to punish

[@ryaneasterling8945]

Lots of comments to this end already, but a video for each character with about 2 minutes of content with their "general rule" plus a few key moves to notice & punish would be amazing! You could test the concept with 5 of the most common matchups at lower ranks (Kazuya, Bryan, Dragunov, Paul, King?) and see how popular they are.

[@mustafahusham1]

You have to make more videos of this

[@jonahfh5874]

"Kazuyas homing moves are unsafe" *laughs in EWGF*

[@CrowleyDX]

Do you want to bring this format back for Tekken 8? Love this shit, man.

[@shah_tk]

great video man, very very useful and eye-opening!

[@Maloki175]

Man i played against a kazuya player after watching this video and boy ohboy he couldn't do shiiiit

[@IamLmoon]

This is kind of misleading, yes you side step kazuya to the left, but when Should I do it? People keep Saying “ just side step “ but it doesn’t seem to work for so many people. A good kazuya will always try to apply his 50/50 after a knockdown, after 1,1,2 or any combo, or a hell sweep, you can’t side step in these situations, and even if he does the 50/50 in the neutral, you need to know his timing to side step, you can’t just side step randomly, you’ll eat a launcher. In my opinion the best tip in kazuya match up is to not get punished by his 1,1,2. If eat a hell sweep, Control your wake ups, and side step a lot when he blocks your attack, or when his attack hits you. Side stepping randomly is pretty risky.

[@SolusFather]

Kinslayer well you have to use your brain, if he’s throwing out homing launchers than don’t fucking sidestep, pretty obvious right? Now if he’s throwing out hellsweep and ff3 in the neutral , then sidestep him. It’s harder to sidestep electrics because the move is a lot faster, so just block it , or of course , duck.

[@rickeylee2820]

Matchup Knowledge. Now we're getting to the nitty gritty of Tekken 7.

[@difabricius]

gotta make that list now TMM

[@jimdino77]

Labbing duckable highs is important tho....... atleast when U get into higher ranks

[@techn9ne564]

Thank you Main Man! I usually lose to kazuya players and now that I know I have to side step, I know screwed once I get knocked down if I use gigas. Which sucks, I've been having fun with gigas

[@Joudred]

Soo matchup means - how to play against any characters?

[@jackblue3403]

mainman general rule guide please

[@justinr.116]

My friend plays Law very well, and I'm usually Kazuya, he was whooping me pretty badly until I started to not be aggressive at all and just defend

[@HotstopKid_RugbyGameplays]

Great content man, love this.

[@Sefyren]

Great video. Would love more content like this

[@PillowSensei]

I remember TMM talking about sidestepping to the left against Kazuya, and that helped me out a ton. Knowing that every character can have a playstyle they're weak to is nice

[@kudjaremastered3362]

Josie: -my main's moves are all extremely linear and steppable -there's a lot of relying on high and low moves as openers, as I don't have a df1 (like Bryan in this video)

[@kab6733]

and if you see josie dashing towards you you can ssl the mixup

[@pocketoniofficial]

This helped me in T8

[@vincentduhamel7037]

We now want to know 45 general rules.

[@Seifer_PT]

I would like you to have mentioned that Kazuya has tools that track to his weak side such as db2 (safe knd mid into guaranteed ff4), ff4 (safe mid ch launch), db4 (+4 on hit low) and dewgf, which in S2 is pretty much homing. You don't need to risk doing df2 or ws2. Or slow ws3.

[@UltimateBallaPOM]

DEWGF?

[@Seifer_PT]

@@UltimateBallaPOM Dash Electric Wind God Fist. Season 2 increased natural ewgf tracking and when you put that together with focus addhesion, you get a homing electric.

[@Brawndo5]

Main Man, this is gold. Thank you.

[@nikolai9709]

they thought I was studying Trigonemtry until they recognize theMainMan in the video lol

[@counterhit148]

TMM forgot that EWGF is almost homing now

[@patrick-cw5px]

yes if you step alot sometimes they would dash or wavdash into ewgf which can hit you very reliably instead of using homing moves.

[@zachsundberg4561]

This, all day this. I labbed Josie to death with no results. Watched someone say 'dont push buttons... ever' (may have been TMM, maybe Aris?). Started approaching her that way and completely turned that matchup around. Now quick, somebody tell me the general rules for Lili and Alisa.

[@Faizaud]

In my experience with Alisa, I crouch block from medium/far distances to duck the while running stuff, and stand block for her mid stuff up close. Her D3 you can practice to block on reaction, and with that, you'll do a lot better. Those were my takeaways from an Alisa player I met online that I played a few sets against, and that alone helped tons. Also, I find Alisa players in general like to step a lot and like to use highs a lot, but maybe that's my luck.

[@SM-xo4ln]

I’m a scrub but it’s so annoying how much alisas move evade everything lol

[@michaelopole1866]

I don't even play kazuya and I regulary crouch dash into ws2... every time I fuck up an electric.

[@titaniumwolf2]

This is is exactly what us noobs need.

[@hussamada61]

but kazuya can wavedash one more time to catch your sidestep. it is always super easy on paper but it is always never practical

[@brandnewrockstar]

right ear:🎶 left ear📝

[@aceandrew03]

And i always wondered why i win against Jack players so easily they are weak to pressure (my main is drag btw)

[@SickGamer45327]

what do you think would be a solid matchup rule when fighting against dragunov?

[@aceandrew03]

@@SickGamer45327 well it depends on the user of the character if he is aggressive just be patient and block until he takes a risk like a snake edge then you can punish him and it depends on how you play your character as well

[@aceandrew03]

@@SickGamer45327 another good thing against him is if you go to practice mode and see a little bit about his moves so you know the machtup a little bit

[@oddie84]

And what to do against kazuya when u playin on jack wich cant sidestep? And kaz has ewgf that tracks well

[@Veslelia_cw]

Let's help out here use this comment to put matchups here I suggest your main or any character that you know my main is joise and I believe she is weak to ss left ,turtle through her switch stance mix ups. She is very counter hit based and a good joise will always be trying to fish for a counter hit

[@alexruhlman2369]

I've never been first before... uhhhhhhh MASKU

[@Neo-wc4zg]

Thank you mainman for the awesome video! Time to beat up some xiaoyus

[@Goteiii]

General rules is fine and all until you run into players who spam cheese that blows you up if you don't know how to deal with it specifically. General rule my ass if they can abuse and get away with moves like Kaz df2, Hworang b3, Deathfist or Demon Uppercut. And don't think that movement will macially solve all your problems either. You'll be disappointed when moves and strings track you out of nowhere because you misstimed your step or because they just track and you didn't know. Eventually you have to lab every character specifically. Not just the top 15 moves. ALL moves. Because online you will see shitty moves spammed because no one knows how to punish. And beating those "bad" moves is how you will go forward.

[@ant6305]

Thank you this is what we need 🖤

[@kato093]

Lol at the bryan match up. Its like dragunov except dragunov has an even shittier low with d2 thats not plus and does shit damage and you cant even catch people off screen from a few miles away with the snake edge cuz its point blank only... for some....reason?? He also doesnt have nearly as much range, no orbital crushing mids, not even a normal hopkick. Just a really good wr2. Dragunov is so bad now...

[@Kloud412]

Ok so what’s the general rules of engagement on master raven

[@UrbanUpdateMedia]

All of her mixups are extremely risky, especially from BT. As a Maven main, I would say the general rule to fight against her is to SSL whenever she enters BT on hit. She only has two moves that track this way: BT f+2, (safe-mid w 3 extension) and BT d+3 (unsafe-launching low sweep). This sweep is 100% reactable, and the BT f+2, 3 on hit only leads to mediocre damage and facedown KND. I would suggest seeking out the Maven punish guide by Kongojack (American Maven player), as he explains her gimmicks quite well. Feel free to ask any questions I would love to help.

[@Arcazer]

Just alt+f4 if you are against a character you don't like. Problem solved Kappa

[@zolda]

i like your solution, no need more than 10 second to understand like this noctis weeb explain in 10 minutes

[@tippingguy8514]

Don't have to worry about being up against a character you don't like, if you aren't even playing the game anymore. *insert WeSmart*

[@radoslav6861]

Arcazer too long command, just do f4s

[@jamesk2343]

Bryan also has a lot of counter hit traps in his strings. So be defensive?

[@vasuhardeo1418]

thx for these tmm

[@hamdishadow1]

Thanks thats verry important informations

[@kehang3731]

You know how to teach. Thank you.

[@vyrawllxo300]

How does one become a student, and what does one get taught? Asking for a friend, and totally not because I am unconfident in my abilities as a red rank Miguel player.

[@ryanhass8716]

I know this is an old video, but if any of you kind folks out there want to give some pointers for Steve I'd appreciate it. I get blasted by CH after CH, or get jabbed to death lol. Jin main BTW.

[@100S-l4t]

The good stuff it's always good!

[@jeetkundough6224]

TMM, good info. 😃👍

[@CutiePie232]

So helpful thanks

[@zowopsama6736]

Another lesson at Tekken Academy

[@santiagot.kalimulina6057]

"Many students"

[@Udhe_]

Please do this for as many characters you can

[@Udhe_]

I will sub on twitch lol

[@GamersAreOppressed-gg6bz]

@@Udhe_I think it’s gonna take more than that

[@feller1912]

Great Video!

[@BremerBurschenschaft]

Anti Akuma pls?

[@tippingguy8514]

Why is f3 up there in the space control? The range, tracking and hit box of f3 is wank AF.

[@abouhali2459]

The range may be not great but the tracking is amazing?

[@tippingguy8514]

@@abouhali2459 the tracking on f3 is shit lmao

[@donvisione3634]

F3 tracks quite well to the right which is bryans weak side.

[@jonahfh5874]

@@abouhali2459 3f has terrible tracking both ways, df2 tracks better and its 3 frames faster

[@seiryu265]

Basically, you need your entire life to study every character...well, that's something hard, isn't it?

[@meowmeowizlife]

Thank you

[@queencard97]

what if the xiaoyu player is very defensive?

[@mrghost3129]

How do i deal with akuma and eliza??? Thay are so annoying to me and i feel like i get overwhelmed everytime i face them online

[@shashankrawat7354]

Do u play on pc or console Which one is better for online gaming

[@aureliovlpianvs3391]

the left of whom? our left? or the left of the opponent?... I never understood that ...

[@SickGamer45327]

always from your characters perspective

[@anata.one.1967]

@TheMainManSWE What is SSL. Do I step towards the back or towards the front of the said character??

[@SickGamer45327]

SSL means sidestep left. SSR means sidestep right. you always consider the perspective from your character, so SSL means a sidestep to the left of your character in the game, not the opponents.

[@baygulmusic]

The people who disliked this video don't like our chosen main man tekken babe

[@herokiryu2652]

can you side step hellsweep?

[@SickGamer45327]

yes. alot

[@rossmanmagnus]

How to become your student?

[@Life1233_]

You’re incredible

[@orangYT_24]

Does anyone knows hot to play tekken 6(PPSSPP) online ?