Christian “Hyuga” Medina was dropped by his sponsor, VGBootCamp, following allegations of sexual assault. According to a statements released by VGBC and the victim, Medina groped a female player on two occasions while she was attempting to sleep.
Medina had been invited to stay in a hotel room with the several other players after becoming heavily intoxicated on Saturday night, July 16. VGBC, who announced their sponsorship of Hyuga just 3 days ago, spoke to witnesses in the room to confirm the incident before making the decision to dismiss him.
A number of Smash for Wii U community members have condemned Medina’s actions and have called for him to be barred from future events. Hailing from Mexico, Hyuga had earned international regard for his Toon Link play over the last year. Following his release from VGBootCamp, Medina posted a statement to Twitter but has since deactivated his social media accounts.
“We want to set a precedent for all teams and sponsored players in the smash community to say that these actions will not be glossed over and ignored,” VGBootCamp wrote in their statement.
The fighting game community has worked to combat incidents of sexual harassment at major events this year.
Note: Use the table of contents to jump quickly between sections!
The Rise of Street Fighter V
Street Fighter V will make its Evolution debut with a record 5,065 players competing in the world’s largest fighting game tournament. Starting Friday, July 15 the massive player pool will be whittled down to just eight finalists who will battle for a prize pool of more than $100,000 at Las Vegas’s Mandalay Bay Events Center. The finals will be simulcast Sunday, July 17 at 7 p.m. PDT/10 p.m. EST on Twitch and ESPN 2.
Five months into the Street Fighter V’s lifespan players have begun to solidify their approach to the new title, even as new characters like Ibuki and Balrog continue to add more wrinkles to the game’s fabric. Competitive Street Fighter saw a massive boom through six years of Street Fighter IV and SFV continues to build off that movement.
Grassroots tournaments and eSports entities alike have been working to foster growth for the community, and players have more resources than ever to take the leap into the competitive scene. Despite hiccups that plagued the game in its first few months, Street Fighter V continues to blossom and remains as popular as its predecessor within the fighting game community.
With players from more than 70 countries ready to run the gauntlet, Evolution 2016 will mark a turning point in the game’s early life span and give Street Fighter V its first true champion.
Capcom Pro Tour
For the third consecutive year, Street Fighter publisher Capcom is supporting the franchise’s tournament community with the Capcom Pro Tour (CPT). SFV overtook Ultra Street Fighter IV as the CPT’s sole title for the 2016 Season. The CPT has offered ranking points and bonus prize money to players at some two dozen tournaments so far this season but Evo will be the largest of the year by far, dwarfing even the largest CPT “Premier” events.
The Capcom Pro Tour will culminate in the 32-man Capcom Cup, with players earning their way into the grand finale through ranking points and international qualifiers. The winner of Street Fighter V at Evolution 2016 will automatically qualify for the Capcom Cup and earn 1,024 CPT Ranking points, enough to guarantee at least fourth place in the global standings.
So far five players have qualified for the 2016 Capcom Cup by winning Global Premier events, including representatives from Japan, South Korea, China and Norway. The CPT leaders can be considered the favorites going into Evo, but the unpredictable nature of an open competition is sure to lead to some major upsets.
Players to Watch
The CPT Top 5
EG|Justin Wong leads the Capcom Pro Tour in points, but is the only member of the top five who has not qualified for the 2016 Capcom Cup. Wong (1) has won the last four North American Ranking Events, but cracked top eight at just one of the three North American Premier tournaments. Wong has the most Evo Championships of any player (8) but has not reached the finals for Street Fighter since 2009, Street Fighter IV’s first year at Evo.
Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi has arguably been the most dominant player internationally through five months of Street Fighter V. Prior to his 17th place finish at G-League this past weekend, Tokido had been the only player to finish top 16 in every CPT Premier event, with no placing below third. Tokido (2) qualified for Capcom Cup at Community Effort Orlando (CEO) in June, his only actual win on the CPT so far this year. After falling to RZR|Infiltration in grand finals at Final Round, NorCal Regionals and the Red Bull Kumite, Tokido was able to defeat his demon by a score of 3-0, 3-1.
Seonwoo “RZR|Infiltration” Lee is the only player with more than one premier victory, winning Final Round & NorCal Regionals in back-to-back weeks. Infiltration (3) emerged as one of the world’s strongest players over the course of Street Fighter IV, making four finals appearances over the game’s six years at Evo. Having already qualified for Capcom Cup, Infiltration has not been traveling as much as some of the other international competition, but remains a constant favorite.
Norway’s Arman “BX3.TP-Link|Phenom” Hanjani (4) shocked the Street Fighter world when he defeated Twitch|Daigo Umehara and RZR|Fuudo in the finals to win DreamHack Summer and qualify for Capcom Cup. The win followed strong performances at Cannes Winter Clash and FrogByte, proving to many that Europe is a real threat in Street Fighter V.
Yusuke “EG|Momochi” rounds out the CPT top five, having qualified for Capcom Cup at StunFest in France. Momochi has been less active during this tournament season but has proved himself to be among the game’s strong players, earning ranking points at four premier events so far. With last year’s Ultra Street Fighter IV Evo Championship and the 2014 Capcom Cup title under his belt, Momochi (5) has already proven his winning pedigree.
USA
California has dominated North American Street Fighter V so far, with two members of the “SoCal Ken Trinity,” Fox|Julio Fuentes (6) and Chris Tatarian (11) owning the top North American CPT spots after EG|Justin Wong (1), another California native.
A number of familiar names have led the American field but few have shown that they have what it takes to get past the international competition. Liquid|NuckleDu (23), one of two Americans to reach top 8 in USFIV last year, managed to defeat three consecutive international opponents on his way to fifth place at CEO 2016 last month, so don’t be surprised if he puts together another stunning run to the finals.
Former FGTV roommates EG|PR Balrog (17), PG|Filipino Champ (18) and EG|Ricki Ortiz (33) are also no strangers to the pressure of Evo, with 24 finals appearances between them. Look for some East Coast players like F3|Alucard (44), L.I. Joe (153) and TS|Sabin (171) to try and make an impact despite the region’s relatively quiet showing on the Capcom Pro Tour so far.
Other strong American competitors include:
EG|K-Brad (13)
NVT|Flash Metroid (28)
Wolfkrone (60)
RB|Snake Eyez (92)
Circa|LPN (47)
Japan
Japan has long been revered as the world’s strongest region for Street Fighter and fighting games in general. As one of the few places in the world with a surviving arcade scene, Japan has long enjoyed the benefit of advanced releases and a strong community culture built around arcades. However, with Street Fighter V getting a global, console exclusive release, that advantage disappeared.
The results though, haven’t changed. Through six CPT Premier events, 60% of the finalists have been Japanese, though China’s G-League was the only one to be held in Asia. Twitch|Daigo Umehara (27), RZR|Fuudo (8), Mago (12) and YOUDEAL MJS|Haitani (9) lead a field of Japanese players who could be every bit as threatening as the global leaders.
Other Japanese players to look for:
GGP|Kazunoko (17) – Capcom Cup 2015 Champion
HM|Eita (16)
HM|Go1 (22)
DNG|Itabashi Zangief (48)
HORI|Sako (70) – Capcom Cup 2013 Champion
AW|Nemo (57)
Europe
Europe is often considered a dark horse at Evo. The distance between the players can sometimes make their strength hard to gauge, but a number of competitors have put together consistent results across the region’s CPT ranking events. France in particular has fielded a number of strong players, including 2014 Evo Champion RB|Luffy (25) and Melty|Will2Pac (24).
Unfortunately a number of Europe’s top ranked players will miss out on Evo, but for many of those who do attend, it will be their first time facing off against American competition.
European players to watch for:
GWAK.FR|CCL (20)
GG Halibel (29)
FA|Ryan Hart (44)
Valmaster (48)
LLL RSD MBR (117)
International
Evo plays host to players from more than 70 countries, gathering the world’s most talented players. China’s Qanba.Douyu|Xiao Hai (10) has emerged as an international force after a slow start in Street Fighter V. After failing to break into top 16 at Final Round and NorCal Regionals in March, Xiao Hai made the switch to Cammy and hasn’t looked back. He returned to the Pro Tour with a fourth place finish at StunFest, and became the fifth Capcom Cup qualifier after winning G-League this past weekend.
G-League runner-up RZR|Xian (7) of Singapore is a past Evo Champion who has proven that he can win anywhere in the world. Though many of the strongest international players hail from Southeast Asia, it would be foolish to turn a blind eye to the rest of the globe. Innova|Keoma (83) emerged as a dark horse during the 2015 Capcom Cup season as Brazil’s sole qualifier, upsetting Japanese and American players on his way to 7th place. He’s played in just one CPT event so far, but don’t be shocked if he rises to the top once more.
Other international Players of Note:
Marn – Vietnam
TS|Poongko (69) – South Korea
GamerBee (68) – Taiwan
HumanBomb (81) – Hong Kong
PandaTV|Jiewa (29) – China
Character Usage
Note: The Capcom Pro Tour awards ranking points to the top 16 players at Premier events and the top eight players at Ranking Events. For the purposes of this data those players are considered finalists.
Premier Event Top 16 Finalists
Ryu, Ken, Necalli, Karin, Chun-Li, Cammy and F.A.N.G have been present in every Premier Top 16 so far. With the exception of F.A.N.G, those characters also have the most appearances overall.
Despite Ryu’s strong numbers, Twitch|Daigo and Tokido account for eight of his 10 appearances together. In comparison, nine Chun-Li players combined for 13 appearances over the same span. R.Mika’s seven top 16 appearances belong to six different players, with RZR|Fuudo being the only one to repeat.
Only 3 of Cammy’s 13 appearances have resulted in top 8 or better, but Qanba Douyu|Xiao Hai and GGP|Kazunoko finished 1st and 7th, respectively, at G-League this past weekend. While considered by many to be the strongest character in the game, Chun-Li has yet to capture a Premier title. HM|Go1’s third place finish at G-League is the best for any Chun player so far.
Alex & Balrog, both downloadable characters, are the only members of the cast without a top 16 appearance at a Premier event. Guile, another downloadable character, was used in a single game as a counterpick at DreamHack Summer by FA|Ryan Hart. BX3.TP-Link|Phenom (M.Bison) and Lamerboi (Rashid) are the only players to play in top 16 with their respective characters.
Ranking Event Top 8 Character Usage
When looking at the top 8 results from the full Capcom Pro Tour, the dominant characters become much more apparent, with Ryu, Ken, Karin, Chun-Li and Necalli showing up at the top once more. Nash also sees a large jump in usage in comparison to the premier results, but through 20 top eight appearances across the Pro Tour, RZR|Infiltration is the only player to take first place with the character.
Laura and M.Bison have seen impressive results across the CPT Ranking Events, but few players have been able to replicate that success at Premier events. As Street Fighter V continues to develop we can expect more players to break into the finals with more technical characters like Dhalsim and Vega as well.
Through 25 CPT events only 8 characters have been on the winning side of the grand finals. Karin’s results are boosted by EG|Justin Wong’s five CPT wins, the most of any player. Each of Cammy’s three victories belong to a different player and Ken’s five wins are shared between EG|Momochi, HM|Eita, Fox|Julio and Chris Tatartarian, who has won twice.
BX3.TP-Link|Phenom played both M.Bison and Necalli in the grand finals of Frogbyte, giving each character an additional appearance. He is the only player so far this season to use more than one character on their way to winning a CPT event.
Schedule & Streaming
Evolution 2016 will feature three different streams over the course of the weekend for Street Fighter V. Check below for times and links to the appropriate channels. Full Evo Streaming Schedule
Specials: Moves executed with a special input. Ex: Hadoken
Critical Art aka Super: A powerful special attack capable of killing blocking enemies.
Crush Counter: When using certain moves players can score a devastating counter attack that crumples the opponent. This occurs when the enemy is hit during the starting animation of an attack, or after attempting certain special moves.
Reversal: Any move is that is performed on the first possible frame after being hit or standing up is called a reversal. Certain invincible moves can be used as reversals to punish aggressive opponents.
Meaty: Any move that is used to overlap with an opponent’s wakeup, often forcing them to block. “Meaty” moves will stop enemies from using armored reversals, but still lose to invincible attacks. When used with exact timing, they can provide more advantage than they would in a neutral situation.
Mixup: Any tactic used to break through an opponent’s defense. Players must be prepared to defend against jumping attacks, lows, overheads and throws.
Cross up: An attack that hits the opponent from the backside, usually making it more difficult to block. Players must hold back to block; cross ups are effective mixups because they force the opponent to block in the opposite direction.
Frame Trap: Offensive tactics used to punish opponents for pressing buttons. Players may leave an intentional gap in their attacks to “trap” an antsy defender for a counterhit. If the defending player presses a button in the gap, the attacker can land a counterhit combo.
Shimmy: Much like the frame trap, this is a technique used to punish impatient defenders. An attacking player will walk back out of range and bait the defender into missing an attack or throw, leading to a punish. This technique is usually used to punish opponents trying to defend against a throw, while the frame trap is used for players trying to use attacks on defense.
V-Skill: Each character has unique abilities called V-Skills. These abilities can have both passive and active uses, and are executed by pressing Medium Punch and Medium Kick. For example, Ryu’s V-Skill, Mind’s Eye, allows him to parry enemy attacks, while Guile’s V-Skill, Sonic Blade, creates a projectile that can hit opponents and power up his sonic boom.
V-Trigger: Much like the V-Skill, every character can activate their V-Trigger by pressing Hard Punch and Hard Kick when the V-Meter is full. For some characters V-Trigger will activate a mode that gives their moves special properties for a short period of time. Others gain access to a specific attacks that are only usable in V-Trigger. The effects of each V-Trigger vary wildly and can create huge swings of momentum in the match.
V-Reversal: after blocking an attack, characters can use one stock of the V-Meter to activate V-Reversal. V-Reversals are used to interrupt an attacking opponent’s pressure, but vary in speed and effect. V-Reversals are invulnerable to attacks but can be thrown, making them punishable in certain situations. Most V-Reversals are safe on block but there are some exceptions.
Street Fighter V’s Ibuki suffers from an apparent glitch that gives her several frames of invincibility upon landing after a missed air grab. A video from @ToolAssisted’s Twitter shows Ibuki’s hurtbox disappearing as she lands from the whiffed air grab, allowing another Ibuki’s V-Skill to pass through her.
Ibuki can still be hit out the air as normal, but she gains six frames of invincibility when she hits the ground, meaning that attacks that could’ve punished her landing recovery will miss entirely. This occurs when Ibuki is jumping both forward and backwards with air grab.
Glitches like this are not exactly uncommon for downloadable characters, but with Ibuki and Balrog already being given the green light at Evo, this glitch will likely raise some concern among the competitors.
Though the invincibility could be exploitable, this certainly isn’t the first time that such a glitch has existed. In Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, Yang was granted several frames of invincibility when standing up from certain knockdowns.
That glitch was discovered in the early days of the game’s console release, and eventually removed in AE v.2012.
With Evo less than two weeks away, it’s unknown whether Capcom will address the invincibility glitch or if the issue is significant enough to affect her legality in the tournament.
Ready to get your Boxer into fighting shape? Just one day after his release Balrog is already looking like a heavy hitter in Street Fighter V, and we’ve got some tech to help you start putting some weight behind those punches.
As usual Desk has provided a dazzling combo video showcasing Balrog’s impressive damage and juggle potential. Videos uploaded by Mickdo8640, show how Balrog can can maximize his damage from crush counters and V-Trigger. We’ve also got some day one meaty setups from D’Nyce, SomeFreshGuys and Digital Demolition to help keep the pressure on.
More and more tech will be popping up over the weekend, but you can follow this Youtube playlist to see the latest videos as soon as we do.
New York City’s Next Level Arcade has built a reputation as a premier hub for the fighting game community, fostering some of the toughest competition in the country. After five years of operation the gaming center will move about 12 blocks north to 874 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY and expects to be open for business next week.
Wednesday night marked the final Next Level Battle Circuit at the familiar 9th Avenue location, with tournaments for Street Fighter V and Guilty Gear Xrd. The SFV bracket’s 54 competitors marked the most entrants in about two months for the weekly event, and the tournament was streamed as usual by Team Spooky, with Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez at the helm.
Though he’s still working out the decor, Next Level’s Owner, Henry “Golden” Cen, said that Next Level’s new venue will be ready on Wednesday for next week’s NLBC. It’s a welcome turn of events for the arcade, whose future seemed uncertain just under a year ago.
In August 2015, Cen announced that Next Level would be closing in February of this year due to disagreements between the ownership and the landlord. At the time, Cen maintained that he would continue searching for a new location for the arcade. There wasn’t much news after that, as frequenters of the arcade and fans of Next Level Battle Circuit speculated as to its fate.
Cen said the store’s original five-year lease was indeed expected to end in February, and he was not able to come to an agreement on its renewal. However, he was able to convince the landlord to extend the agreement on a month-to-month basis, keeping Next Level open as he searched for its next home.
After searching through a number of potential locations, Cen began working to finalize a deal with the new property’s owner in March. After two months of negotiation he was able to secure the location under another five-year lease with an option to renew for a full decade. The new space has a basement level in addition to the main floor, and boasts a backyard–a rare find in the dense city. During an interview on Wednesday, Henry mentioned that there may even be some barbecue in the arcade’s future with the added outdoor space.
Tournament competitor and volunteer Michael “Wyseguy” Coleman said he wasn’t fully aware of New York City’s fighting game scene until he made his way to Next Level. Though he had visited Chinatown Fair (an arcade that served as one of New York’s original fighting game hubs) a handful of times over the years, he was shocked to hear of its sudden closing in 2011.
“I thought, ‘is this it?’ And then I found out Next Level was gonna be around so I had to come here, and that’s why I started getting into it,” he said. “Essential, is what this is.”
Next Level has certainly been essential in harboring New York’s fighting game community. Next Level arose as CTF’s spiritual successor, opening in Brooklyn with a new business model and a focus on competitive fighters. Even in an era where online play is more popular than ever, the players at Next Level will be the first to tell you that there is no substitute for playing in person.
“It’s a new game, new players are coming in, there are still a lot of established players who still come out to Next Level,” Javits Arias, who placed 7th in the SFV tournament with Alex, said. “If you want to improve you’ve got to come out and support your local scene, play in person, and know what it’s like to play next to someone and feel the pressure.”
Though he had already built a reputation as a strong player in the Midwest, Antwan “F3|Alucard” Ortiz wasted no time making his presence felt at Next Level after moving to New York. He said being able to play against strong players more often at a place like Next Level has improved his overall performance and results at major events.
“It helps me out a lot, my game has like tripled in value just by being out here and being able to play these guys every week, instead of every month,” Alucard said. “It’s definitely a privilege to me.”
Alucard would eventually earn third place in the evening’s tournament, falling twice to OG Shine. Shine would go on to reset the bracket and win NLBC for a second consecutive week after beating PIE|Smug in two sets of Karin mirrors. On the Guilty Gear side, Venom player DaiAndOh took first place.
Next Level will re-open at 874 4th Ave, Brooklyn NY 11232. For those who are familiar with MTA transit, the location is accessible through D, N or R subway trains via 36 St. Station. The B70 and B35 bus also stop at 36th Street and 4th Ave.
With much anticipated June Update on the horizon, the Street Fighter V development has taken some time to release early designs for SFV that were omitted from the final version of the game. Sketches of eight characters and a number of prototype V-Triggers were included in the activity reports on Capcom’s CFN Portal along with some passed over stage effects.
While some of the designs led to new characters like Laura and F.A.N.G there were a few interesting concepts left on the table. The blog offers a brief description of the rejected fighters, ranging from a fighting politician (like Guilty Gear’s Chipp/Leo?) to a tool-using “cutie” who’s clothes fall off while you fight (wonder why that didn’t make it…)
To read a short description of each fighter, visit the CFN Portal.
Among the V-Trigger ideas that didn’t make the cut were “Grab Anything” for Zangief, which would have allowed the Russian Brawler to activate a grab from any normal attack on the ground or in the air. “Sadistic Chamber” would let Vega to call down a steel cage and return to his Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha 3 days of wall climbing.
Developer Takayuki Nakayama also wrote about several stage “gimmicks” that were omitted as well. Most of them are pretty silly, but I have to admit that I’m sad there’s no Haggar stuck in an elevator at the Kanzuki Estate.
Which of the forgotten designs would you have liked to see in Street Fighter V? Let us know in the comments!
Street Fighter V’s Story Update, which will add Ibuki and Balrog to the playable cast, is now available for download on PlayStation 4. Downloading the 8GB update won’t make the content available right away, but those who want to update as soon as possible can do themselves a favor by preloading.
As of this writing, the Steam version of the game has yet to receive the ability to preload the patch.
SFV’s Story Update is available for free in the PSN Store and is expected to go live on Friday, July 1.
Source: PSN, with tips via Gigglepies, Paul and Siegfried1
Capcom has updated the official CFN portal with full move sets for both Balrog and Ibuki. Though we learned the details on Ibuki last week, Balrog’s move set had not yet been released to the public.
The Shadaloo boxer will remain a charge character in Street Fighter V but has fewer special moves overall. They are replaced by a bevy of target combos that will help keep Balrog swinging when fighting in close range. Buffalo Headbutt, which has typically been Balrog’s go-to invincible reversal attack, will now function as his V-Reversal. Balrog’s only down charge move is his Screw Smash, which has been said to function as an anti-air.
Balrog will also be able to cancel his Dash Straight and Dash Grand Blow into KKB, allowing him to dodge projectiles and certain special moves as he rushes towards his opponent. From KKB, Balrog can use two command skills, Buffalo Swing and Buffalo Pressure, which resemble his Dash Swing Blow (charge B, DF+P) and Dash Upper (Charge B, F+K) from Street Fighter IV.
After activating his V-Trigger, Crazy Rush, Balrog will be able to cancel his special attacks into one another without charge. After using the first special, Balrog can press Foward+P or Forward+K to execute a followup. When used during V-Trigger those moves are called Charging Buffalo and Bursting Buffalo, respectively. Furthermore, they too can be cancelled into KKB for even more complex combinations.
Balrog’s turn punch now only require a single button to be held, and will gain invincibility and damage the longer the button is held. In Street Fighter IV the turn punch required all three punches or kicks to be held, meaning that Balrog couldn’t break throws. Additionally, the move would actually become less safe the longer it was charged but retained the same invincibility, making anything more than a few seconds of charge impractical.
Finally, Balrog’s super, Gigaton Blow returns from Alpha 3 (after a brief cameo in USF4’s Omega mode) and can be executed without charge, making confirms possible from his forward charging moves.
Without further adieu here is Balrog’s full move list, just in time for his release this Friday.
FGC Academy has just released a new video detailing Zangief’s V-Trigger, Cyclone Lariat. Those who have been caught in the whirling spin of the Red Cyclone know how dangerous it can be, but this tutorial will help players understand how it works.
Cyclone Lariat is one of Zangief’s few combo tools in SFV, and can also be used to setup highly damaging mixups. FGC Academy explains how Zangief can utilize different versions of the V-Trigger ability for different effects, such as comboing into his Critical Art and launching for resets.
Remember that if Zangief draws in a blocking opponent with his vacuum effect and does not hit with the lariat, he is at a -6 frame disadvantage and can be punished with an attack or grab. If the opponent doesn’t not block the suction, Zangief is at a +3 frame advantage, meaning that spinning pile driver and jab will both beat any attack that is not invincible.
Once you get a grip on how Zangief’s V-Trigger works, you can try employing the suction effect as a meaty on the opponent’s wakeup to put Zangief at an even greater advantage. This video by Mr. Slay n Man shows how Zangief can score up to +15 frame advantage when using Cyclone Lariat after a knockdown.
Laura’s critical art, Inazuma Spin Hold, boasts a ton of utility; the grab can be hit confirmed from a number of moves and also serves as an effective punish for any move that is -4 or worse on block.
Like much of Street Fighter V’s cast, Laura is heavily dependent on meter but her high damage critical art can lead to big comebacks or game-winning combos in the right situation. Because Laura struggles to convert damage from light attacks, burning meter on a Critical Art can provide a much needed burst of damage to end a round.
Due to her heavy focus on wakeup pressure and resets, Laura has a number of meaty setups that can put her in position for a critical art confirm. Counterhit only combos like standing light kick to crouching medium punch make for easier confirms due to the multiple hits.
With its four-frame startup, Inazuma Spin Hold can also be used as a link after standing medium punch as well, making for more highly punishing counterhit setups.
If the round is on the line, you can use V-Trigger to visually hit confirm into Critical Art after long reaching normals like step elbow, crouching medium kick and standing heavy kick. Keep in mind that cancelling into V-Trigger will scale your combo damage, and the Critical art Animation will waste your V-Trigger time if the combo doesn’t end the round.
Laura’s V-Skill ability, linear movement, grants her the unique ability to cancel her normal moves into movement options. Furthermore, when using Esquivia (B+MP+MK) Laura can cancel the final frames of her backwards movement into a special attack. When used with Inazuma Spin Hold, the Esquivia cancel allows Laura to hit confirm off of certain normals with or without a counterhit.
Laura can cancel Esquivia into Critical Art after these normals:
Standing Medium Kick
Standing Medium Punch
Crouching Medium Punch
Standing Heavy Punch
Crouching Heavy Punch
Here’s a quick list of moves punishable by Inazuma Spin Hold, with a comprehensive video for reference.
