vs Blanka

Statistics:
Stamina: 1,000
Stun: 950
Fighting Style: Savage Fighting
Fighter Type: Versatile

vs Blanka: 4.5 - 5.5
Pros: Can punish RA with ultra
Cons: Fast speed, conditional safe-on-block moves, good normals, good mix-ups

Move List:
Amazon River Run - Fast low sweep slide, safe on block at max range.
Surprise Forward - Quick jump forward, can cross-up.
Surprise Back - Quick jump backward as evasion move.
Rock Crusher - Armor breaks as it hits twice.
Coward Crouch - Evades high attacks.

Rolling Attack (RA) - Hard to punish (see notes), armor breaks.
Backstep Roll (BR) - Punishable on block, good for mix-ups or escape move with EX (controllable in air).
Vertical Roll (VR) - Reversal and AA move, recovers fast on landing.
Electric Thunder (ET) - Gets Abel off Blanka in pressure strings and safe in combos.

Ground Shave Roll (S) - Similar to his U1, does good damage.
Lightning Cannonball (U1) - Good damage, on knockdown can be used as a 50-50 mix-up.
Shout of Earth (U2) - Variable utility ultra for entire ground punish or AA.

Preferred Ultra: Soulless/Breathless
I think either one of these will do fine. Breathless has a different timing, beats front jump-ins and is easier to punish Blanka's ultra with. Soulless on the other hand can be combo-ed into. Both can hit Blanka Ball on block with leniency.

Character Videos:
Nijio (ABE) vs hero0621 (BLA)
T SRai (BLA) vs hinappy (ABE)

Strategy:
Blanka's weakness lies in the corner. His options are very much limited given that a Blanka ball is now punishable. He can easily get out of it with Rainbow Ball or his high ball attack so be patient about rushing in. Standing at a good distance away from the corner but still boxing him in is the right spacing. Poke with st.LK and wheel kicks.

Abel's mix-ups and combos still work in this match, it just takes some spacing experience. On wake-up, Blanka's options are to Blanka ball (his best option unless you have Ultra), to high ball or to lightning (which is often used). Baiting the lightning can get you a free Tornado Throw. Also watch out for Ultra on Blanka's wake-up.

Overall, this match is one of attrition. If you get a significant life lead over Blanka by the halfway point, you have a tremendous advantage over him as any Blanka ball countered with an ultra will win you the match. Even when you're losing in stamina you can still come back on a countered ball.

Flipside:
Blanka's style lies in his unique mix-ups using moves like his slide punch, EX-rainbow ball and hops into throw, ultra, ball and lightning. His normals and pokes are effective and do decent damage. Blanka ball is safe on block against most characters, his normals have high priority and good damage. While not having a high damage output, Blanka can easily confuse and whittle your stamina down quickly.

Abel will have have difficulty against Blanka's lightning which hits Abel's sweep due to the weird hitboxes. This quickly ruins Abel's wakeup and mixup games. Blanka ball is not easily punished by Abel normally which makes it a very useful tool to get easy damage in on Abel. His pokes and normal outprioritize Abel's which again puts Abel at a disadvantage.

Notes:
- Punish blocked Blanka Balls and Backstep Rolls with Ultra. Needs to be standing and reversal. Breathless can also punish these moves, for Blanka ball the launch needs to be delayed slightly or it will whiff just as he lands.
- With Blanka Ball, it is possible to punish it with a dash > st.LK. The ball needs to be blocked standing.
- Most Blanka's aim the Rainbow Ball slightly behind you as a cross up. Watch out for it and block it right.
- Another mix-up Blanka uses is by whiffing his ball just in front of you and throwing or doing his lightning. Learn how to quickly identify what strength ball is used by the rotation and speed of the ball animation and react accordingly.

- Notes on Blanka's U1:
1. Recovers almost instantly if whiffed.
2. Abel can punish the Ultra on block by dashing forward after the U1 animation ends and using cr.HP to link into Ultra.
3. Must be blocked low initially (when Blanka first starts to jump up in a ball) and then high after (as Blanka comes down from his jumping ball).
4. Blanka can hold his ultra for a time as he lands. Most Blanka's tend to hold it if they whiff.
5. You cannot punish Blanka's Ultra with Abel's Ultra.
6. The chip damage from the Ultra is equal to HP or slightly more. Abel can avoid the chip damage using his roll or EX-version to roll behind Blanka.

- Blanka's U2 has two variations. One is an AA move with electricity surrounding Blanka, then with him shooting up a bolt of lightning vertically. The 2nd has him pounding the ground near him with electricity then pounding it again to spread the electricity through the entire floor.