Prepping reactions on defense

I learned something today playing Daichi in Guilty Gear Xrd.

I was playing Sol, he was playing Zato. I don't remember winning one match but I had a great time playing a good Zato player. I managed to block a few unblockables because I BELIEVED, but mostly I ate them and ate safejump->guard switch overhead or safejump->low mixups. I still need some more time to adjust to the matchup, or return to Venom because apparently Venom does good vs Zato.

Daichi's defense was almost scarily good in our set, I could not get him with run up 2K or run up Riot Throw as a mixup on his wakeup, since he would jump out of the riot throw and block the low. He would correctly mash 2P or jump out of out of every 2P-> tick Riot Throw attempt. I could not get a proper mixup on him that wasn't a knockdown Gunflame YRC->low airdash j.SD or empty jump 2K. I was getting mindfucked, how did he avoid all my mixups? Are his reads just THAT good? Well, apparently not.

I did kinda cheat since I straight up asked him, but he did say something that was pretty telling - he was reacting. Obviously, he wasn't reacting to 2K or Riot throw itself, that's impossible. Therefore he was reacting to the action I was doing directly beforehand. When I was going for a run up 2K/Riot throw, I would always wait at an overly generous distance on his wakeup to avoid reversal throw mash, then run up. He could hold upback after reacting to my run startup and be safe. I don't know what part of my 2P he was reacting to, but I'm gonna assume he was reacting to the 2P hit itself.

Once I realised this, it means I'd have to adapt my offense to his reactionary defense - If I do that fimble low/throw setup to him that he upbacks against, I would then run up 5K 2H him - if he forgets to FD I get a combo, if he does FD I get a jump cancel or gatling into 2D. I would also dash up 2P slight delay 2K 2D and it would counter hit him. I probably should have attempted CH 2D xx Gunflame RC combos, or attempted more 2P 6P but I was a little paranoid that I would get jabbed out of 6P's 9f startup, which I think did happen a couple times.

It was only after I adapted to how he was reacting, and exploiting his reactions, was I able to condition him to sit down and eat some riot throws.

Lesson learned: One way to get better defense is to learn to react to your opponents mixup setups, since a pre-comitted read can get you good defensive reward. If you want good offense vs players with defense based on this, pay attention to what your opponent is reacting to and capitalise on their expectation with a pre-prepped counter.

Edit: I should not be paranoid of being counter hit out of 2P 6P since there is a 3f gap in there, and Zato's 2P is 6f. I could even delay the 6P and still probably counter hit Zato. Damn.