Training update

3rd Strike OE drops in 11 days. Get Hype!

My plan to win a match by just blocking and punishing with super were ambitious to say the least. I have learned that blocking in 3rd strike is much more involved than sf4. While this seems obvious, it becomes very apparent when you suddenly realize that crouch blocking / crouch teching while trying to sniff out frame traps does not make up for 80% of your defensive strategy. In sf4 overheads are not nearly as scary! It also took getting used to trying to tech throws standing, after my crouch tech got literally blown the fuck up by hugo's parry - gigas. Not fun.


After somewhat acclimating myself to blocking, I got a little better, but am still too predictable with c.forward. I also tend to abuse c.mp as a meaty, and get parried.  I am confident that as I become more familiar with Ken's normals, I will be able to mix up my pokes more.

As far as corer pressure, I mainly try to mix up between throw, low short, and b + mk overhead. The overhead being the most consistent way I land super as I am still having trouble hit confirming short shot super, and c.mp super.

I started playing 3rd strike with the impression that Ken was a bully, making opponents respect his great pokes and high/ low options. In many ways this is true, but I have started to realize that those great tools are most effective when really trying to read and react to the opponent. A specific example of this is low forward xx super. Before I was just throwing out low forward, buffering super, and hoping the opponent walked into it.
This strategy resulted in some damage, but mostly resulted in a punished whiff or a blocked super / punishment. (last time it was by ryu shin shoryuken, after he redparried the last hit, OUCH!).  Recently I have tried to use it more constructively. If the opponent is in the corner, I will try to throw them on wakeup 3 or more times, until they tech it. Then, the next time I have them in the conrer and knocked down, I will feint going for a throw, but backdash / walk back, and punish the whiffed throw with low forward super. It really feels good to land it this way!

This has been a pretty long entry so far, so I will wrap it up with a story about Alex, and how I got exposed. the set up was knock me down, and then either do a meaty stomp, or the throw where the kind of jumps at you, and wraps you up as he takes you down. I got totally blown up by this, and have yet to find a way out besides trying to block (I think it was crossing me up). Looking forward to OE's training mode to practice getting out of this.

I think I will try to practice hit confirming until OE drops. I still have trouble reacting to the hit in time. Time to grind it out.

Helpful Links:
Pherai's 3s Junkie's Podcast - Great listen, details the current scene and provides  valuable insight.
The Shend's Tutorials and Master Classes - Huge resource for tutorials and set ups.
C-Royd Teaches 3rd Strike - Hit Confirming with Ken - Watch.

Leave a comment with things you have learned while trying to 3rd Strike.

A SF4 Player's Quest to Learn Third Strike.

My Name is KG, and I play SF4. It is the first street fighter game I have played seriously. I am one of many who missed 3rd strike completely, and got back into street fighter in 2009 when Street fighter 4 hit consoles. In the 2 years I've been playing, I learned many things like spacing, punishing, zoning, meter management and mixing up one's offensive approach. I took my skills playing Akuma to some tournaments in the Philadelphia area, including GVN Summer Jam 2010. I didn't do very well, but I was able to win some matches. I like to think I represent a population of SF4 players who got serious about the game, while still working full time or going to college.


After hearing of 3rd Strike Online Edition I recently started playing Third Strike on GGPO, and bought a copy of the Anniversary Collection for xbox. Needless to say, I am ready to learn 3rd strike and take a break from SF4. I plan on using 3rd Strike Online edition as a training ground, and regularly attend 3rd strike tournaments in my area.

This blog is intended to chronicle my progress as I learn how to 3rd strike. I think I will use Ken. I like shotos!
I'm going to post things i Learn about certain matchups, executional practice, and general experience along the way. I expect the road to be long and tough, but it's all good!

My first goal is to win a GGPO match by blocking/teching, and punishing with low forward super.
For now this will be a text blog but once Online Edition drops, I will be doing video analysis of my matches.  




Next step is practicing hit confirms. 

Is anyone else trying to seriously learn 3rd strike after only playing SF4?


Good starting places for the aspiring 3rd strike player are:
C-Royd's videos: C-Royd Teaches 3rd Strike.
Thongboy's "3rd Strike Basics"
Metric and LostintheFlurry's Third Strike Concepts: Anti-Air.