It’s a close game, and your opponent–the Ken player–is looking desperate. You’re composed, however, waiting for your opportunity–not overextending, just waiting. You know you’ve got this if you play patiently and let your reactions guide you. Suddenly, the Ken players dashes forward into standing fierce range, sticks out the button and cancels it into run. But you’ve done your research: you know his V-Skill run-cancels are punishable on block, and you’ve been scouting for just that.

Got him!

But wait–why is Ken landing a counter-hit jab and not you? Before you can register what happened, an impressive fiery combo sequence lights up the screen as your health bar fades to black.

First there’s denial, “That’s so negative! Why did his jab work and not mine? I know I reacted on time!” After the immediate shock and anger fades, self-doubt sinks in, “Did I really time it too late? Did I just choke?” And finally acceptance, and salt, as you mutter things like, “Ken is so cheap,” or “8 frames,” etc.

The answer to why things didn’t go as planned could be all of the above, or could be something else entirely. It could be that you’re conditioned to react to a heavy attack on block with a very specific timing that’s second nature to you–a timing that has never failed you until now.

This is because Ken’s attacks don’t work exactly like everyone else’s. His frame data is unique, and not in the sense of being more or less advantageous on block. His normals actually have less hitstop than the rest of the cast.

Hitstop is a sort of freeze that happens when one character makes contact with another. It’s a period of time where the blocking character is enduring the opponent’s hit before they can respond. Graphically, it serves the purpose of showing the impact of the opponent’s hit on the blocking character. It doesn’t matter how advantaged or disadvantaged the frame data on an attack might be, there’s (almost) always a static amount of hitstop frame data for normals. As a rule in Street Fighter V, a light attack like a standing jab or a crouching short causes 8 frames of hitstop on block, a medium attack causes 12 frames of hitstop, and a heavy attack causes 15.

So, for example, when you block a crouching medium kick, it takes 12 frames before you can press a button. Once you’ve mastered that timing, it’s the same across the board for virtually every character.

But Ken’s special. His jabs fall in line with the rest of the cast–a predictable 8 frames of hitstop–but his mediums only cause 10, and his heavies only cause 12. That’s a 2-frame difference on mediums and a 3-frame difference on heavies, meaning your reactive jabs have to be input earlier than you might expect in order to exploit the frame data.

@ultradavid @StillGrowinProd Most chars hitstop = 8/12/15 for light, medium heavy. Ken's are 8/10/12. It's not just 2-3 frames of input lag. — 8=)Periodiko(=8 (@Deriopiko) May 10, 2016

Although Ken’s hitstop frame data has been known since launch, Periodiko kick-started the conversation on Twitter in early May

It’s also important to note that Ken isn’t the only character in Street Fighter V that has deviating hitstop frame data; R.Mika’s back+medium punch only has 11 frames of hitstop instead of the normal 12, and Rashid’s standing medium punch only has 10. Ken is just the only character who consistently has unique hitstop numbers on all of his medium and heavy attacks.

So let’s go back to the scenario outlined above. Ken tags you with a standing fierce, you block it, and he cancels into his running V-Skill. Versus 17 other characters in the game you’ve been conditioned to time your defensive jabs exactly 15 frames after a blocked standing fierce. Because you’ve been conditioned by the rest of the cast, in the heat of the moment, you default to the timing that feels right–a timing 3 frames too late–and Ken is rewarded with a counter-hit combo for your understandable execution error.

RZR|Fuudo eating a run-cancelled Jab versus EG|Momochi at Stunfest 2016.

Combine this with the dreaded “8 frames” (it’s actually only a 3-frame difference when compared to Ultra Street Fighter IV, and virtually any other modern fighting game, but I digress) and you can see how the math works out in Ken’s favor. It’s already slightly more challenging to respond to anything in SFV, but coupled with an even quicker reaction barrier (a variable 2-3 frames) against Ken’s blocked attacks, you can see how it becomes challenging to punish something that’s meant to be punishable. One final thing to consider is Ken’s 4-frame back+strong, which beats all 4-frame light attacks when pressed on the same frame. All of this creates a situation where reacting, especially in high pressure situations, isn’t so cut-and-dry.

The purpose of this conversation isn’t to bemoan Ken’s unique frame data, however. Instead, I want to shine a light on Ken’s early dominance in Street Fighter V. So far this year, West Coast Warzone, Texas Showdown, Stunfest, and most recently, Japonawa, have all been won by different Ken players: Chris Tatarian, Fox|Julio Fuentes, and EG|Momochi. While it’s safe to say that these players are all highly skilled Street Fighter professionals, it’s also obvious that many of their opponents–equally powerful contenders–fell prey to Ken’s high-risk run cancel game in crucial moments.

EG|PR.Balrog suffers a counter-hit versus Chris Tatarian in West Coast Warzone 5’s grand finals on more than one occasion.

As time goes on, Ken’s run-cancel effectiveness should depreciate as competitive players master their reactive timings, but presently Ken has a trick up his sleeve that’s more difficult to handle in execution than it seems in theory. This isn’t the only reason Ken players are succeeding right now–clearly players like Julio, Chris T and Momochi are among the best of the best–but it’s definitely a notable contributor in this initial period of the game’s life.

Sources: Periodiko, Capcom Fighters, Level|Up Series, and for further research, check out Dantarion’s thorough frame data spreadsheet.