Mystic Zone/Gameplay

== Offensive Techniques ==
There are several things you’ll need to do in order to dish out damage in this game. First, you have to know the six main buttons.
Light, Medium, Heavy, and Special. These buttons are the “normals” of the game - while every character’s attack might not be the same, every character has these moves. Lights tend to have shorter range and less power but come out with speed, Mediums have a balanced amount of range, power and speed, and Heavies have a high amount of power to make up for their lack of speed. You’ll need to do a lot of approaching in order to get one in on the opponent, so use these buttons in the neutral game.
Now that we have normals out of the way, we can get to Command Normals. First, we have grabs, which is when you press Light + Medium or Medium + Heavy buttons. After you grab the opponent, you have less than a second to decide what you want to do next - you can down throw the opponent, which usually does less damage but leads to good combo setups. Forward and back throws are good for spacing, and up throws are useful when it comes to starting aerial combos. You have to know what you want before the grab, because if not, you’ll get punished! (See Defensive Techniques for more info on this aspect.) There are also dash grabs and airdash grabs, when you press forward twice which will slightly increase their range with the grab.
Next, we have simpler command normals, like sweeps. This action will hit an opponent who is blocking overhead or stand blocking and knock them down. This move is performed by crouching and attacking. While all crouching lights keep the user in place, some crouching mediums move the user forward. Crouching heavies are also known as launchers, and they are performable in the air and on the ground. These moves will send to opponent up, creating a setup for a combo in the air. 
Then, we have overhead attacks, which are like the opposite of sweeps. While there aren't all too many variants of it, it can be good for blockstrings because it will hit a crouch-blocking opponent. Some specials that hit overhead will be very useful! Press the joystick up and press heavy at the same time to do a short hop overhead, which casually puts it into a combo. 
There are also moves that have status effects, and while we’re not going to go over every move that does that, we are going to talk about the differences in each one. Paralysis does no damage, while freezing the opponent does. Both of them stop the opponent from being able to move, but paralysis is longer. Burning the opponent affects their health and nothing else, but poisoning an opponent affects their physical stats but not their health.
Every combatant has a specific set of special moves, which are attacks that are performed with specific inputs. There are three variations to special moves - Light, Medium, and Heavy. They depend on what specific button you press in the move that corresponds to the attack - for example, let’s say the move’s input was quarter-circle back + button. The Light version will come out quick, but won't have to much damage. The Medium version has a good amount of damage, but might not come out fast enough to land. The Heavy version will probably come out as fast as a Light and have more damage than a Medium, but it uses one bar of the Ergo Meter. There are also EX Moves, which always use one bar of meter but don’t have any variations to them. Utilizing these three features well is crucial.
Along with those, each characters has at least two Mana Bursts, which are comparable to basic super moves and also sport specific inputs, along with an Mana Break, which are best compared to Level 3 super moves in games such as Marvel vs Capcom. These moves are the “super moves” of the game, and they deal a good amount of damage.
There are also Jumpstarters, which is every character’s DP, an invincible move they can use right around of a combo or a shield but use one bar of Ergo Meter. Every character has at least one, and utilizing them correctly could very well be your key to winning the battle. 
There is one status effect that is different from the others: stunning. After landing a string of damaging supers, specials, or normals, the opponent has a rare chance at being stunned for five seconds. That gives the other player two options - take advantage of it and start attacking, or use their Jumpstarter in order to use a different type of move, a Stun Punish. These moves do a little more than a normal Tempo, but you can’t work them into combos - as soon as you hit the opponent, they are no longer stunned, so you’ll have to choose one or the other.
== Defensive Techniques ==
Just like there are moves for relentlessly attacking the enemy, there are also defensive techniques as well! A few of them include:
The five types of blocking - stand blocking, which is executed by simply going backwards, which is quite possibly the best one to use first due to how simple it is, but considering sweeps can break through it, not the best choice as they put more and more pressure on you. Then, there’s crouch blocking, which leaves you unable to be hit by sweeps or normals, but you’ll get hit by overheads. Next, there is jump blocking, which is executed by pressing the joystick diagonally upwards back. This causes you to jump several times while blocking, so while it may be good for punish and sneak attacks, it is vulnerable to sweeps. After that, there is aerial blocking, which is simply blocking in air. However, you take more damage from the attack while blocking in air than you would on the ground. A perfect block is when you either block the second the attack reaches you or press two attack buttons while you’re being attack, giving the last move the enemy used some ending lag and allowing for a counter. A Flawless Counter is when you block right before the opponent hits you and press a Heavy attack, using a bar out of your Ergo Meter to deliver a heavy blow that paralyzes the opponent for three seconds.
Now, that sure is a lot of blocking! But what happens if you blocking, and blocking, and blocking, but you don’t find a way to get the opponent away from you? That’s when you press the left joystick like a button and use a Phase Push, which sends the opponent across the screen but doesn’t deal any damage. This costs a bar out of Ergo Gauge, but it is very useful in creating space and getting out of pressure, especially in corners.
There are also Grab Sneaks and Throw Punishes, which are two very good skills for when the opponent grabs you. If you manage to press a Light attack button three times, you will perform a Grab Sneak, which will allow you to leave the grab. However, if you press the Heavy button five times, you will do a Throw Punish, which has you throwing out a punch that can lead into a combo. This is another reason to make up your mind quickly when performing a grab!
== Movement & Cancelling ==
In this game, you’re going to have to do a lot of crazy maneuvers everywhere, so you’ll have to do a lot of fancy tricks, like:
Dashing is what happens when you press forward twice, allow you to rush forward in a burst of speed. You can cancel dashing into an attack almost instantaneously, so it’s a pretty good skill to use to start combos. Air-dashing is the variant when used in air, and while it isn’t constant like ground dashing, it gives a good burst. However, air-dashing has a bit of ending lag, so it isn’t the best when it comes to starting combos. There is also backdashing and air-backdashing, which are similar to the aforementioned dashes but they go backwards instead.
Fix Up is what is used when you’re knocked back to the ground. By pressing down twice or pressing any attack button, you immediately get onto your feet, stopping any further combos. If you do not want to get 100 to death’d, please use this strategy. (Also, note that you can use Fix Ups when you hit any surface, not just the ground.)
A Bouncer is when you crouch before jumping, causing you to jump 25% higher than normal. This can help with dodging moves, but you don’t have a lot of aerial ability when it comes to moving sideways.  
A wall jump is jumping off of one of the screen’s edges, allowing you to bounce off and possibly extend combos. A Boost Burst is pressing a Heavy attack immediately after, using half a bar out of your Ergo Meter to boost forward, surround by blue light and damaging any opponent you hit.
== Assists ==
In the game’s 1.5v1.5 and 2v2 modes, there are additional characters you fight with - as such, they can help even when you’re not using them!
Every assist character has two moves called assists that are initiated by pressing the Assist button, chosen before the match. Choose a good assist character and assist, and you'll do great!
In 2v2, you can also tag in your assist character, and the style of the replacement changes. You tag in by pressing the Assist button twice, but pressing the button once, then pointing back, then pressing the button again, you do a Cross-Up Tag, where the tagged character comes in from the other side of the screen. By pressing the button, pointing the joystick up, and pressing it again, you do an Aerial Tag, where the tagged character comes in from the air. Then, the last tag, if you press the button, point the joystick diagonally upward/backwards, and then press it again, you perform an Aerial Cross Tag, which is a combination of the previous two. Use these different styles to confuse the opponent!
Sometimes, assist characters will help you when it comes to Mana Bursts/Breaks and Focus Frenzies, too. Occasionally, during a super, your assist character will come out and join the move in some way - however, there are fixed characters that do this, so you can’t expect this to always happen - in fact, you should normally expect it to not happen. But during Focus Frenzies, the assist character can influence that, too - for example, if Amelia is paired with Mac or Jamal, they get a strength boost higher than normal during theirs.
== Gauges ==
To start off, every character has 8 bars of Ergo Meter, which are used for most of the game. Proper meter management is extremely important if you want to chain combos without stopping in the middle of one and leaving yourself vulnerable. To gain meter, you have to do a lot of attacking, so keep putting on the pressure!
However, there is another meter - a white one on top of the Ergo Meter, called Focus Frenzy. It gives the character that uses it the ability to have all blue health they have healed, along with a general 10% stat boost. This bar, unlike the Ergo Meter, is filled by using defensive techniques, so if you block a lot, you’ll get your opportunity! Also, depending on the character who uses it, they’ll get something changed about them while they’re powered up - for example, Rouge will steal health with every hit, Sonic will get stronger and faster, Mac’s ergo/electric attacks will get stronger, etc.
Finally, there is the Tag Gauge, a meter exclusive to the 2v2 mode. By using assist moves and tagging in with your partner, you will fill the blue meter right below the Ergo Meter, and when it is full, your assist character will use one of their Mana Bursts the next time you use an assist.
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