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.

Pick if you like:

Avoid if you dislike:

A zoning game that can be converted into a strong offense when executed correctly
Oppressive and simple damage routes that can be generally started halfway through any given round
Forcing opponents to respect your fireball game when you have a chance to charge them up
A fast divekick for clearing fireballs and changing midair trajectory
Easy-to-manage multipurpose normal moves
Low-resource corner carry off of hitconfirms or otherwise, and even better corner carry when you're willing to dump resources

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) Jumping Light Punch (j.LP) Jumping Medium Kick (j.MK) Jumping Heavy Punch (j.HP)
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 (236LK) LK Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi will not execute if blocked A[M ~ M ~ M]: 2MP ~ OD Ryuuenbu (214P) ~ Level 1 Super Level 1 Super will not execute if OD Ryuuenbu is blocked (still punishable at -12) A[H ~ H ~ H ~ H ~ H]: 5HP ~ OD Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi (236KK) ~ j.MP ~ LP Ryuuenbu (214LP) ~ Level 3 Super Ends at OD Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi if blocked (punishable at -12)
Miscellaneous Changes	5L is 5LK but switches to 5LP if chained into 5LP is unavailable outside of chains

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.