Mai Shiranui (Console)

[LouisCipher]

Seems like a pretty pointless target combo. Why not just do Meatie into whatever, or end with Ryuenbu? Ryuenbu is safe and has good pressure. Or just do st.A or cr.B, they block and A Ryuenbu? That move and her great pokes seem to be her saving grace ontop of an instant Neo Max that hits anywhere.

[Diavle]

Seems like a pretty pointless target combo. Why not just do Meatie into whatever, or end with Ryuenbu? Ryuenbu is safe and has good pressure. Or just do st.A or cr.B, they block and A Ryuenbu? That move and her great pokes seem to be her saving grace ontop of an instant Neo Max that hits anywhere.

Nope, the target combo/chain has better range and is an extremely useful poking and footsie tool.

One of the main complaints against arcade Mai was her lack of an easy way to confirm into HD so this target combo is pretty much a godsend in that regard.

It is an excellent addition to her arsenal overall.

[t3h mAsTarOth...!]

Ya imo she still needs a few more improvements... Such as her fire pillar DM to counter jump-ins... If they give her that DM with invincibility then people would be scared to pressure her... She also needs improvements on her "fly"... Right now it has no additional options... In KOFXI her fly was a great move... She could air-grab you from it, to qcb+A at any point, d+B at any point and do her d+D (ass dive which she needs to get back cause it was safe as shit if used properly) at any point... Besides those she doesn't need much more imo...

[milesw]

Heh. Its funny watching people play Mai on anchor. Has anyone noticed people actually use their head when its always down to Mai? I've seen some very close reverse OCVs when people use that character. Myself too.


I just wanna throw out there that too many people are cancelling their cr.C into ryuenbu or kachousen on block too much. Trying to do fancy frame traps and blockstrings.
And they just end up get guard cancel rolled and eating huge damage.

YOU CANT DO THAT IF THE PERSON HAS METERRRR.

And Mai st.A and j.A are really underrated.

[t3h mAsTarOth...!]

oh i know it's underrated... i frame trap with s.A all day... cr.A/s.A to cr.C is a frame trap... cr.A/s.A is also really good for setting up tick throws... after two s.A you can also hop at them and either do j.C/D or d+B and it'll be a 50/50 cross-up... s.A, s.A, s.B, s.D also combos and lets you get into HD...

[Aenthin]

I just wanna throw out there that too many people are cancelling their cr.C into ryuenbu or kachousen on block too much. Trying to do fancy frame traps and blockstrings.
And they just end up get guard cancel rolled and eating huge damage.

This is why I do cr.C > charge d,u+P instead. Incidentally, has anyone actually cancelled this into d+B to catch people off guard?

[the7k]

Just thought I'd share a vid of Mai taking center stage with an OCV.
http://www.twitch.tv/danstacavesf/b/312098270

Mai starts her dance at 9:12.

[Iyokuu]

So as a newcomer to KOF I've always had Mai as my candy. Now that I own the game I figured I should learn her as my first character (Since Leona is a charge character and considered one of the harder ones to learn), but a group member of mine told me Mai was also hard to learn/use properly. Is this true and I should pick someone else like Kula, King, or K' or should is there something I should learn basic with Mai and move on from there?

[t3h mAsTarOth...!]

So as a newcomer to KOF I've always had Mai as my candy. Now that I own the game I figured I should learn her as my first character (Since Leona is a charge character and considered one of the harder ones to learn), but a group member of mine told me Mai was also hard to learn/use properly. Is this true and I should pick someone else like Kula, King, or K' or should is there something I should learn basic with Mai and move on from there?

She is rather hard to play effectively... You will suck when you first start using her cause she doesn't play like anyone else... If you actually like using her then don't give up, eventually you will get the hang of it...

If you want to learn how to play the game then use Kyo, Kula, Iori, Shen, K', King, Goro, Andy, Terry, Vice... They are easy to pick up and will teach you different things about the game...

[Aenthin]

Agreed with him on this one. She's hard to play effectively (i.e. dishing out the most cost-effective damage output, etc...) although not a difficult character to learn with.

If you insist on playing as Mai first, I would suggest playing with her normal attacks. She has a good number of pokes, both in the air and on the ground and you'll want to learn which normal to use effectively at certain situations. She doesn't have a lot of combos but she at least has good priority over her pokes.

[Diavle]

So as a newcomer to KOF I've always had Mai as my candy. Now that I own the game I figured I should learn her as my first character (Since Leona is a charge character and considered one of the harder ones to learn), but a group member of mine told me Mai was also hard to learn/use properly. Is this true and I should pick someone else like Kula, King, or K' or should is there something I should learn basic with Mai and move on from there?

I'd say definitely try her out. She has great normals and not much in the way of big combos worth pursuing outside of HD so she favours a more solid zoning/spacing/footsie/poking game.

If you are new to KOF but not to fighting games in general and have good fundamentals then you may be suprised as to how effective you will be with her in no time.

[Iyokuu]

All of this is great info, but whats funny is I came to KOF to learn proper fundamentals. I know SF to an extent, but it's applying it under pressure or consecutively in a match.

[calibur753]

I way I like to play Mai is to throw her Kachousen run after it and do a s.Lk , s.Hk for a nice 3Hit.

[t3h mAsTarOth...!]

I way I like to play Mai is to throw her Kachousen run after it and do a s.Lk , s.Hk for a nice 3Hit.

What's better is doing a hop just when it's about to hit... and you can do three things if you timed and placed your hop properly... You can high/low (this is hard to see cause of the FB hitting them)... You can also hop C/D or d+B (if you space this properly then the d+B will cross-up and the regular jump-in will not cross-up)... You can also do hop C+D, s.C+D, qcf+C for a nice chunk of guard damage...

[marchefelix]

Mai combo vid (with some risque images  )

KoF XIII : Mai Shiranui Combo Vid