One of my friends pointed out to me the other day that I would be a much better Phoenix player. I hoard all my meter, even if I can just pump 3 meters into a character to finish them off I don't do it. I like to save LVL3s for the end for clutch situations and XF + LVL3 usually mean instant deaths (plus I do it for the Iron Avenger Swag).
I used to play this way. I would even not burn meter if it meant saving Dormammu; it was just stupid, and I always ended up with a surplus of meter and doing random Photon Arrays with Doom on anchor because really, what the heck else am I going to do with it?
So I started learning regular Phoenix and now my team just goes into autopilot. Wesker/Iron Man/Phoenix. I just play like I normally do and if I fuck up, I got Phoenix in the back. I will probably use team Viscant in UMVC3 if people are less salty over Phoenix because where I am at... Phoenix is banned people get super salty over her.
That's hilarious. No one would believe you're not a bandwagoner either, which makes it worse.
An update on my team, which is just being used until I can use Firebrand - Phoenix is just there because she plays similarly to Firebrand (minus the teleport thing), and she's helping me play more carefully:
Phoenix (TK Overdrive)/Dormammu (Dark Hole)/Morrigan (Dark Harmonizer)
Really, all I do is superjump and fire TK Shots until I have 5 bars. It's absolutely hilarious how few characters can do anything to stop this. Storm, Ryu, etc. players will try to random hyper me, and I don't even care, because they're not getting a second bar to finish the job any time soon. If Phoenix does die, Dormammu comes on screen with 3-4 bars to play with, which usually kills whatever of my opponent's team is left if I handle his matchup properly. If I get 5 bars with Phoenix, I'll let her go Dark so she can build another 5 for Dormammu. If she dies, I don't really care, because it's really a Dormammu team. ;-)
Dormammu with Dark Harmonizer is so hilariously cheap, there are no words for the frustration it causes beyond experiencing it. Against most of the cast, I can just do this:
Purification xx Stalking Flare, call Dark Harmonizer, Purification; repeat this sequence.
The two Purifications plus Dark Harmonizer build about 50% of a bar. If Dormammu comes in with 5 bars starting, I get approximately 1.5 million chip damage out of this, and usually my opponent gets desperate at some point and tries to hyper through the Flare, which does not work with my team, or dashes into a Purification. If I run out of meter, I place Flame Carpet and back dash while calling Dark Harmonizer; every time my opponent gets close I teleport behind him, dash, to the ground, lay Flame Carpet, and repeat. I'll usually do this until I have about 3 meters saved up so I can keep sustained Stalking Flares going. A significant portion of the cast has absolutely no response to this strategy. When I put Firebrand on my team, one of my goals will be learning good snapback setups with him so I can snap in any characters that can handle my Dormammu so I can remove them or beat them down a bit.
Against less mobile opponents, I'll become more confident and stay away from Stalking Flare and focus on traditional keepaway; any mistakes I made instantly get canceled into Chaotic Flame or Stalking Flare. If I face one of the few characters that give this strategy trouble, I'll rush them and down them ASAP with a level 3 hyper, since I have so much meter to spare.
My Dormammu has really evolved since release. From pure keepaway, to pure rushdown, to trying a balance of the two, to never using meter with him (not even to end combos), and now to burning meter constantly to chip out entire teams.
Edit: Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix, are definitely ridiculously good. Even when Viscant's opponents got Phoenix on the screen, he would sometimes kill two whole characters just with her before she went dark, because she's that good. You just can't make a mistake, and she does have a few horrible matchups (Hidden Missiles, Skull).
Also, since I know Dahbomb loves stylish stuff, this is my showoff combo, which I have actually been able to do twice in the last two days, when I am really dominating my opponent (remember, I have tons of meter floating around) with Phoenix on point:
c.LMHS, sj.H, d.H, s.H, f.H, qcb.L, f.H, s.S, sj.H, qcf.L, Phoenix Rage, DHC to Stalking Flare. Raw tag to Phoenix. Teleport H, Phoenix Rage, DHC to Stalking Flare. Raw tag to Phoenix. Teleport H, Phoenix Rage. Deals a little over 1.3 million damage.
