What's the safest way to start a fight? No one really ever tries jumping over a fireball at the start of any fight. And for EX-Yuri, it's very safe to throw a Short Fireball at the beginning of the match. So the match begins with both of us doing so.

After blocking a fireball from the Double Strike, it's also pretty safe, for King, to throw out another set of Fireballs. Alex uses that Fireball as cover to begin his attack. I also think the same as I hop over Alex's fireball with mine, and try to jump. He reacts quicker and Shorts me out of the air.

What's one of the best times to throw the enemy? After hitting them out of the air, right when they land. People tend to block, fearing Meaty Attacks and such upon landing from an Air Reel. That's what I do, Alex knows this, and takes his chance for the Throw. He then Rolls a few times for good positioning, and begins his Poking, that Alex is so famous for. However, I am Yuri, and that Short Fireball is SO safe to throw out. It puts her in the air, so the worst that can happen to her is getting hit out of the air. With a Shoto, if someone predicts your fireball, they can jump over and do some SERIOUS hurt to you. With Yuri, unless they have a Juggle, it's HARD to punish the Short Fireball. So in the middle of Alex's poking, I just throw it out the first chance I get.

Having made him block it, I try to begin my Yuri traps, dashing forward after the blocked Fireball. After Dashing, Yuri normally has the advantage of the poke, the enemy still being in block stun. My timing is bad here, so Alex, who's timing and poking is probably the best in the nation, beats me to it.

After a few pokes, whiffs, and a failed Buffer on my part (Crouch Roundhouse is supposed to go into another Short Fireball), Alex finds the time to "reset" the match. We're pushed away, and he establishes momentum and tempo by throwing the fireballs at me. I begin my attack again, Roll through, and fail another Buffer (no Short Fireball again!). So I go for my standard Short Fireball, which is relatively safe. Alex figures that, Rolls behind me, and catches me with a minor combo. Alex now has me on the run. Nothing much happened, but momentum has drastically shifted in his favor. I was just hit by a combo, and will now feel in a more defensive mind-set, such is the natural tendency for players to do once hit by a combo. So he knows he can start dashing in. He resumes his poking, and gets me into the corner.

His poking ends when he tries a "risk" set-up. He makes me block the Tornado Kick. I know the Tornado Kick recovers decently there, when done at the right distance. So I'm still "scared" to do anything. Alex predicts me wrong, and tries to hit my Counter Attack with a Surprise Rose, which I block.

This is the turning point of this entire fight because I manage to catch him in his recovery with the Crouch Short, Crouch Roundhouse Link Buffered into the Short Fireball. This basically allowed to regather my wits and go back on the offense, and give me some confidence. And once I landed the Crouch Roundhouse, the Yuri Trap is in effect. Alex gets up into the Fireball, and can't do much but block. Meanwhile, I get a free Jump-in, setting up for many different tricks and opportunities.

Here, you'll see the BIG CvS SECRET to ticking (Throwing). Whiffed Standing Jabs make Throwing SO easy. Throwing in CvS tends to be a bit difficult due to the natural ease of "Linking" Normal Moves together. If you do Crouch Short with Ryu and try to throw the instant your Crouch Short recovers, the enemy is still in Block Stun. So you can't Throw them. Thus, you have to wait a little longer AFTER your Short recovers to get the Throw, which is tough to do. Chaining the Crouch Short, however, into a whiffing a Stand Jab makes you seem like you are doing something, freezes the enemy mentally, and makes sure you have waited long enough to Throw the enemy not while they are in Block Stun.

After Throwing Alex, I continue Yuri's pressure. Though I fail to Link my Crouch Short into the Crouch Roundhouse, the Short Fireball comes out anyhow, and Alex blocks, meaning I still have the advantage of attack. I do another Buffered Crouch Roundhouse into Short Fireball, and Alex tries to reset the situation by Jumping away. I catch him with a lucky Crouch Roundhouse and go into Yuri's trap again. He does a delayed Get-up, however, and my fireball doesn't Meaty attack him, and I whiff my Crouch Short due to bad timing. I figure, however, that a missed Crouch Short would be a good set-up for another Throw, and I'm wrong. Alex catches me and begins to poke me. We both go for attacks that will put us on the advantage, but end up trading. The fight has, once again, essentially been reset.

So I try my safe attack approach again, the Short Fireball, to cover my approach. Alex tries to Super Jump at me, but lands on the Fireball. This gives me a chance to begin my trap again. Note how before he gets up, my Yuri dances back and forth a little bit. I don't go RIGHT UP to Alex, and dance there, making him question attempting a Wake-Up (I'm not at good distance, and by dancing around, he can't tell I'm going for a Meaty Crouch Short. I COULD have just walked up, and Crouched there, waiting for him to get up, but that makes my Meaty attempt obvious, susceptible to a Wake-Up. Even the littlest of things like this "dance" is important in a Street Fighter match). You can see the heart of the trap at work, when Alex tries to jump TOWARDS me over the fireball. Yuri's Crouch Fierce beats almost all jumps that try to go over the Fireball. The trap continues.

However, Alex knows I like to poke, and he's an excellent "distance" judge. Note how he backs RIGHT out of my Crouch Roundhouse range and waits there, and entices me to whiff a Crouch Roundhouse he KNOWS I'm gonna throw out. I whiff a Crouch Roundhouse, and that breaks my trap (I lose momentum, and I now have recovery period to have to deal with). Alex knew I would do that, and responds, seemingly on reaction, with a slide. King's slide, however, is slow enough for me to recover and block.

Alex gets a good Roll in, but unfortunately, he runs into bad luck here. I'm positive that he was planning to do Crouch Short, Crouch Jab, Roundhouse Tornado Kick. But rolling the controller to Towards on the joystick, and doing the Half Circle Back for the Tornado Kick activated the code for the Super. This puts him in a very bad situation, and I am able to knock him over. The Air Fireball will miss, but I still have the "Meaty Attack" advantage, just by the Fireball's presence. So I figure he'll block, and out comes the Whiffed Jab again. Most people don't go for two Throws in a row, so I mask my next attempt with a Meaty Crouch Short, but Chain into the Stand Jab, like mentioned above. It's a good "mental freeze" tactic that will warrant you LOTS of Un-Teched Throws. Also, Alex tried something, and I hit him. Just by getting hit by that Crouch Short, people tend to block, hoping someone messes up their Combo. That also helps me in getting in another Throw.

The trap continues, and you can start seeing it's "annoyance" effect. At one point, it's so troublesome to deal with, Alex jumps into a Fireball, trying to jump over it. Alex gets in a good Roll, however, between the Crouch Roundhouse and another Fireball, which is something Yuri should be looking for, but I was caught by surprise, scared, and block. Alex once again begins his poking, and I go into defensive mode, and choose to block everything, for King really isn't threatening at the "body away" distance. Not much King really can do from there. So I walk up, wait to see if Alex does anything. He doesn't, so I try something, but Alex baited me, and catches me with a Sweep. I foil whatever wake-up game he tried with me by catching him with a Crouch Short. He tries to attack again by Super Jumping, but goes over me. Then he Rolls through me and gets in a few more pokes. He then Rolls through me again, though I catch him with a move in his recovery. Then, he Rolls through me again and nails me out of the air.

I get the picture here... King's main offense comes from Rolls, at least, Alex's does. Watch, now, how I turtle (you can see a TOTAL change in my playing style... I stop doing anything, but Dance) and wait for Alex's Roll. It comes up, and I catch him in Recovery.

On to the rest...