Tokido(Gouki)

I was looking forward to playing Tokido for quite some time. After watching the 100 game set against Daigo and Tokido, I was sure I'd be able to keep up with Tokido. Also, my buddy Javier uses Gouki. He is no Tokido, but it's the best training I've got.

The matches started pretty even. He would attempt to maneuver through my fireballs with demon flips. I stuck to my ground game and kept my pokes to a limit only using fireballs and ex-fireballs. I was successful for most of the part until I got knocked down. There were times I couldn't predict his movements. I would throw fireballs but he did a good job maneuvering around them. He got in and did his regular pressure; crouching short into standing short option-select standing roundhouse, or crouching jab option-select jab into sweep. After that he would attempt to frame trap with his crouching strong to test me. That never worked so he attempted to grab me. He threw me a couple of times and a few in the corner. The corner was my real test since he could do the unblockable. I get thrown into the corner and he sets up the unblockable. Tokido dashes twice and goes for a unblockable medium kick option-select into either sweep on reaction(if I focus), demon(if I wake-up light dp) or close fierce on reaction to punish my focus. However, I block the unblockable.

Tokido: "なに。。。" (nani = what)

He was surprised I was able to block it. On top of that, I messed up his timing of his option-select and he got a close fierce. I was able to punish him and put him in the corner. Again he went for the unblockable and I was able to block it

Tokido: "あれ。。。" (are = whoa)

Finally, on his last attempt to unblockable me, he went for a crouching short into a combo. I knew he finally figured out my technique. The technique is when Gouki goes for the unblockable, instead of holding back to block it, you must tap the direction you want to block just once. The timing is very specific and is a "just frame"(only that frame). Once you defend the unblockable, the Gouki player will try to go for something different like an empty-jump grab or a crouching short into a combo. This is where reactions come into play. You have to be ready and see what the Gouki player will do next while blocking accordingly.

I ended up losing 1-3 the first set. I played him another set where he did a setup I had not seen before. He tried to do the meaty air fireball on my wake-up but I didn't quick-rise into it. However, he demon flipped across my body and did a meaty low forward or low strong(I don't remember exactly). The fireball hit me in all three occasions. He then told me that it was a cross-up since I had been blocking non cross-up. I'm not exactly sure if I remember correctly but he would push my body from his original setup and make the fireball cross up.

The last set I played against Tokido was very fast. I did good the first round but got destroyed after and lost 0-3. It was a sign of fatigue and lack of sleep. I should have known my limit. The set I lost 0-3 was useless to me since I lost so fast and I could not absorb anything at the time. The moral of the story is play to learn but if you aren't able to learn at the time don't bother playing.

-Miky