by Slagar » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:41 pm
Hand matching implies that, when fighting single blue, you actively switch your sword hand so that it lines up with theirs by choice.
So as a righty fighting another righty, you would choose to use your left hand. The reason for this is that it completely changes the decision tree, shot selection, footwork, and range inherent in the match. The style/school I subscribe to practices this almost exclusively, where most fighters are not used to it. It's one way to guarantee that you have some advantage in your preparation, and has the side-benefit of training both hands regularly, on the chance you bump into a lefty, feel like playing florentine, or lose an arm while fighting.
Mirror-fighting is just fighting somebody while hand-matched. It's a dorky, over-dramatic term for the same thing that I like because I'm a huge nerd. Ignore it.
The best way to practice shot selection (or decision trees) is to find someone who knows fighting theory very well, and learn what the correct actions or responses are to common situations. Baiting the outside forearm while hand-matched, for example, is bread and butter. The opponent throws a chop to the exposed forearm. The correct response is to brush it out and return a chop or stab inwards.
Once you've ironed out the dozen or two shot trees you like, and practiced the shots into muscle memory, the challenge becomes forcing your opponent into the shot tree. This is commonly done using baits and feints, pushing your opponent into a predictable response. In the previous example, this would involve finding opponents, baiting them outside, and just blocking or denying anything until they throw that chop to the outside forearm for you to capitalize on. The entire point of a shot tree is that each one starts somewhere, and each step within the tree is very predictable. A side note: pick trees where if they don't take the 'correct' next step, and instead do something weird, you don't die for it. Noob-fu is the term for fighters who don't have the experience to see the situation and make the 'right' choice, and instead just kill you. I can't count how many times some kid at his first event has just swatted me like a * because he didn't even notice the feint I threw.
There's no real substitute for going to events, and spending lots of hours watching how people respond to given stimuli (baits/feints/etc.), and picking ones that basically everybody responds to the same way. Most fighters (myself included), will gladly tell you which tree they pushed you into and how they did it, if you ask.
Numenorean expatriate
Gaffi Stick of the Sand Plains
Retainer to Squire Trogdor