Street Fighter 6/Mai/Introduction

Introduction

The successor of Shiranui-style ninja arts. A charming kunoichi who is as dedicated to love as she is to training. Loves cooking, Japanese dressmaking, flower arrangement, and traditional Japanese dance.

Gliding onto the stage with the elegance of a butterfly, Mai Shiranui plays as a midrange monster with a particular emphasis on tricky projectile mixups and a unique resource-based install. While Mai's kit can fly high, she's also a very straightforward and easily accessible character.

Mai's big claim to fame is her stellar neutral control. She has an arsenal of incredibly good buttons, chief among them her 5MP and 5HP. Her excellent 4HK anti-air doubles as a strong meaty pressure tool, and her 6MP overhead comes with all the standard benefits. In general, Mai has all the things a strong SF6 character wants in terms of buttons, but she really comes into her own with her special moves. Kachousen is one of the best fireballs in the game, thanks to the huge amount of utility packed into one move. It's uncharged variant is a decent projectile, but when charged up (or used with the OD variation) it bounces above the opponent on contact and falls onto them for an additional hit. If Mai is close, she can enforce a true high/low mixup by timing a strike alongside the fan fall, hitting them where it hurts the most. She also has a classic DP in Hishou Ryuuenjin, which lets her set up a mean zoning game if the opponent fails to stop her.

Kachousen's excellence informs the rest of Mai's kit, as the rest of her moves are all about getting the opponent nice and comfortable in the corner. Once she's ducked her way past the opponent's blows and found a hit, Mai's combos all give great corner carry thanks to Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi. Ryuuenbu is a disjointed poking special that's great for both counterpoking and setting up meaties, while Musasabi no Mai is an incredibly good divekick that causes Mai to hesitate before she launches downwards, which can easily mess up anti-air timings. Once the opponent is cornered, Mai uses Kachousen, the Drive System, her strong arsenal of pressure tools and her throw loop to break opponents down and send them packing. This is all standard shoto stuff, but what really lets Mai turn up the heat on her opponents is Kagerou no Mai, her install super.

Upon performing her Level 1, Mai gains Flame Stocks that enhance her special moves. Not only do all of her special moves gain better properties, but many of them also change their frame data. For example, Kachousen is much more advantaged on block, with charged flame Kachousen being very difficult to interrupt with a reversal. This gives Mai unique decision-making compared to the rest of the cast- does she spend Level 1 for a more consistent gameplan, but with less guaranteed return, or save for a Level 3 and be more dependent on the Drive System to enforce her offense? Mai's average damage is much lower than her contemporaries without Flame Stocks, meaning she has to make a very careful choice based on her opponent's life, her available Super meter, and even what round the match is currently on. Different matchups and situations call for different decisions, which gives Mai a lot to think about while she's running circles around her opponents.

To sum it all up, Mai's strong zoning and potent Flame Stocks allow her to control the neutral like few else on the roster. Her simple, strong kit gives her a lot of ways to play around with the opponent, while also rewarding strong fundamentals consistently. If you prize a consistent partner and don't juggling resources a bit more than normal, there's few else who can put on a show quite like Mai.

Pick if you like:	Avoid if you dislike:
A zoning game that can be converted into a strong offense when executed correctly Great damage or corner carry routes, both of which are accessible from most hits Easy-to-manage multipurpose normal moves Scary corner pressure enforced by projectiles A snowballing mechanic with stock-enhanced specials	Committing to your fireball game to apply pressure safely Lacking large damage cash outs without access to empowered specials Lacking plus frames on block without Drive Rush

Classic & Modern Versions Comparison

List of differences with Modern Mai
Missing Normals	Standing Medium Punch (5MP)
Missing Command Normals	N/A
Shortcut-Only Specials	Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi (2S) Light/OD Only
Assist Combos	A[L~L~L]: 2LK ~ 5LP ~ LK Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi On Block: stops at 5LP Auto-hitconfirm if opponent is hit by the 2nd light in the string A[M~M~M]: 2MP ~ OD Ryuuenbu ~ SA1 No SA1: 2MP ~ OD Ryuuenbu ~ M Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi On Block: stops at OD Ryuuenbu (very unsafe at -12) Burnout: 2MP ~ L Ryuuenbu (relatively safe at -4 oB with high pushback) A[H~H~H~H~H]: 5HP ~ OD Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi ~ j.MP ~ L Ryuuenbu ~ SA3 Burnout: 5HP ~ H Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi ~ SA3 On Block: stops at OD Ryuuenbu / H Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi
Miscellaneous Changes	5LP is only available as the 2nd hit of L Assist Combo

Flame Stocks

After activating her Level 1 Super Art, Mai builds 5 Flame Stocks. These stocks are automatically consumed when using a special move or SA1/SA2, giving Mai increased damage and improved move properties. Activating a Flame-enhanced SA1 will refill the stocks to 5 regardless of how many she started with. Flame Stocks do not carry over between rounds.

To take advantage of these Flame-enhanced attacks, your gameplan should consider how to incorporate her Super. Midscreen combo routes are very limited, requiring either OD Ryuuenbu or a direct cancel from close-range normals. Corner juggles can tack on SA1 without making major sacrifices, assuming you can win the screen position battle first. You can use SA1 defensively as an anti-air or a reversal, but this is a less solid strategy that depends entirely on your opponent's decisions. Note that if Mai's SA1 is interrupted before the active frames (such as with a meaty projectile), she will not build any Flame Stocks.

The most important Flame enhancements are to Mai's Kachousen projectile and her SA2. Kachousen becomes a 2-hit projectile that cannot be swatted away, making it much better in projectile wars. The held and OD versions become especially strong in combos and oki scenarios. Flame-enhanced SA2 is one of the game's best anti-projectile tools, and can single-handedly flip the script against characters like Guile and Akuma.