View source for Mixup

A '''mixup''' is a combination of threats that can't all be beaten by one option. The simplest mixup is a mid [[attack]] with a low attack, which beat crouching and standing [[guard]] respectively.

Enforcing strong mixups and preventing your opponent from doing the same is the goal of [[movement]] and [[poke]]s. Mixups are “fake” if they can be avoided by [[reacting]], [[fuzzy guard]]s, or [[option select]]s. If a mixup is slow, challenging it can turn the tides even in the face of an overwhelming [[frame advantage]].

More broadly, a mixup can refer to any situation where both players have to guess what their opponent will do. Every situation in ''Tekken'' is a mixup in this way, although modelling the more open-ended situations can be difficult.

== Modelling ==

Mixups can be modeled as zero-sum, two player strategic games where the payoffs are how much damage is done. If there's a trade, the payoff is the difference in damage. [[Frame advantage]]s and [[okizeme]] have to be approximated to a damage equivalent. Once modeled, a [[wikipedia:Nash equilibrium|Nash equilibrium]] for the game can be computed to get a broad idea of how often each option should be used and how good the mixup is.

For example, if we model [[Kazumi]]'s FLY mixup after her punishers, we can see that it favors the defender if they play accurately. 

{{Mixup|Kazumi-fly-infinite.gbt}}

So in general the transitions aren't worth using against a strong opponent. However, enforcing a high risk mixup can be worth it if you're behind: it's no big deal that FLY.3+4 is -15 if you're one hit from death anyway.

It's possible an opponent doesn't know that stepping is an option. But even then the transition isn't worth it.

{{Mixup|Kazumi-fly-infinite-no-ss.gbt}}

But if the opponent stops challenging entirely the mixup becomes worth it. This is fairly obvious since FLY.1+2 has good outcomes against all blocking options.

{{Mixup|Kazumi-fly-infinite-no-challenge.gbt}}

This is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT1HmiaQ-NI&t=613s actually useful against strong opponents], since you can do it off of f+3+4 when they're scared or during [[okizeme]]. In these situations a fuzzy, sidestep, or challenge is less practical.

There are many other ways for the defender to play poorly and make the transitions worth it (e.g., they could also not punish FLY.3+4 or FLY.4,2 properly on block), but a strategy is only as strong the opponents it beats. If your strategy requires a bad opponent to work, it's a bad strategy. Exploring all the ways in which you can beat weak opponents would take a long time and not be very interesting.

== See also ==

* [[User:RogerDodger/Mixup exploration]]

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