Cody

Game plan:

This is a very turtle oriented matchup. From mid screen, Cody cannot freely throw Bad Stones at Blanka, because they are very easy for Blanka to react to and df.HP slide under, for an easy knockdown. Even if the Bad Stone hits the slide after the knockdown, it's obviously a bad trade for Cody since he is knocked down, but the trade in damage is in Blanka's favor as well. It is possible to bait the slide with a Fake Stone and then punish it by focusing right before the slide makes contact (which still allows Cody to land a level 2 focus due to the long recovery on the slide), however, if the Blanka reacts quick enough (and from within the right distance), the df.HP will even punish a Fake Stone. Therefore, it is very difficult to utilize Bad Stones in this matchup, and the threat of being knocked down makes their small reward very risky.

Therefore, Cody's best plan is to slowly close distance on Blanka, until he's in Blanka's c.HP range (which is right outside his own s.MK and t.MP range), and play footsies from there. Although Blanka's pokes are slightly better by themselves, Cody has a much higher damage potential from pokes like c.MP (buffered into a MK or EX Ruffian Kick) and t.MP (hit confirmed into c.LK canceled into HP Criminal Upper). Therefore, this is a good position to fight from.

One thing Cody must be prepared for from this range is for Blanka to use a random Surprise Forward (command dash) to go for a throw. Blanka's command dash has weird properties on it that often cause it to go through pokes, and it is low risk for Blanka because he is airborne during most of the dash, so even if he gets hit, he gets reset out of the air. Another thing Cody must be ready for is a random jump from Blanka. Due to the priority and extension on Blanka's j.HK, it can be difficult to react to Blanka's jump with a HK Ruffian Kick. b.MP is more reliable, but there are angles where due to Blanka's shallow jump arc, he can jump and come down so deep, that b.MP will fail to beat his jumping attack. Cody must learn these angles and either c.MK/Dash under Blanka to safety, or simply block the jump in.

If Blanka gets the knock down, he can use some crossup gimmicks, but he doesn't really have any mixup that Cody should fear. This makes blocking by far the best option. The only time Blanka's throw is potentially more scary than his random hits is when he has Ultra 1 stocked. With a forward throw, Blanka can use the knockdown to set up an ambiguous Ultra that Cody is forced to try to block, neither EX Zonk or Ultra 2 reliably get him out of the mixup.

When Cody gets a knock down on Blanka, he can pressure Blanka extremely well, because Cody has nothing to fear except a reversal Ultra. If Blanka attempts a reversal EX Up Ball, on hit, Cody can punish it with an EX Ruffian Kick, Super, or Ultra 2 if he has it. Additionally, Cody can option select against a reversal EX Rainbow Ball by using certain block strings that will beat it automatically, or option selects against it in specific. For example, if Cody uses a string like c.LP, cl.MP or c.LP, cl.HP on Blanka's wakeup and he does an EX Rainbow Ball, because of the backwards hop on the Rainbow Ball, the cl.MP/cl.HP become a far s.MP/s.HP, which will hit him out of it. Alternatively, Cody can use an option select like cl.LK OS EX RK, which will also catch an attempted back dash.

Notes:

• b.MP is safest anti-air because of Blanka's fast jump and downward-reaching jumping attacks
• cl.HK or HK RK can beat attempts to EX Rainbow Ball out of the corner
• If Cody jumps over the startup of U1 he can punish with U2 from other side guaranteed

Punishes:

• Horizontal Ball (Blocked): Reversal LK RK (Standing only), Delayed EX RK, LK Super (Standing only), Walk up U2
• Horizontal Ball (Hit): Reversal U2
• Vertical Ball (Blocked or Hit): EX RK, LK Super, Delayed U2
• c.HP: U2 (Not max range)
• Sweep: U2 (Not max range)
• Slide: U2 (Not max range)

Video References

The videos below were hand picked as some of the best videos showcasing the Blanka vs Cody matchup. However, there are currently 4 other videos in our database of this matchup.