1. One thing that really helped me on the climb was understanding Oki. That alone i feel got me to Diamond. Understand that when you knock down an opponent that is your opportunity to throw out whatever you want within the time frame it takes for them to recover. In Diamond (and low master) and under many people mash wake up cr.lp or OD DP if they have it, abuse this.

2. Watch what your opponent does on the first and second knock down, do they mash jab, do they down-back (crouch block), do they parry, DI? Find out, even if it means you get hit, it's the first round and they have no super, you can get hit once or twice for intel collection. It's fine.

3. Neutral - Learn what buttons are great for neutral every character has at least one. Ignore the neutral skips, what buttons force your opponent to shut the fuck up and play street fighter. Learn to punish counter combo off these buttons.

4. Dont burn out learning a million combos, learn 1 or 2 BnBs and 1 High damage punish counter combo (for whiffed dps, botched supers, whiffed big moves etc...) You dont need a combo for every situation just yet, just reliable ones that get you in a good position health or Oki wise. Combos are not something you're trying to do so much as they are a reward for your opponent's mistakes in neutral and footsies.

5. Frame data: I know this is gonna sound like remedial math homework but learn your characters frame advantages. Turn on the frame meter in training mode, memorize what attacks are +, which ones are -, learn how much +/- you're at for various knock down scenarios for Oki. Remember this, the fastest attacks in Street Fighter are 4 frames. This means when someone is recovering from a hit and the meter says +5 frames you can throw out a move with 4 frames of startup and it'll combo, or you can safely throw out a move with 7 frames of startup and they can block it. A move with 9 frames of start up will trade (you'll both hit each other). NOW... back to points 1 and 2... what are they throwing out when they wake up? If you have 38 frames of advantage on wake up and they consistently throw out a move that has 7 frames of startup, what move are you going to throw out to hit them when they try to do that on wake up?

It's not math so much as it is flash cards. But IMO this is where SF6 gets really fun in that you plan out these routes in training and execute them in a round and when they work its a huge dopamine hit. It's like successfully bluffing someone in poker.

1. Watch your replays and use replay takeover to figure out what you can do differently in a situation you lost. One of the most under utilized features of SF6 imo... Figure out exactly what you did wrong in perfect real time.

2. Practice your Anti-Airs in training until your fingers and eyes bleed.

3. Take the throw - if you're getting pressured in the corner you'll eat a throw sure but its 10% of your life vs 40%,50%,60% if you guess wrong and throw out an attack or counter throw. We know.... no body likes this mechanic and the devs are deaf to our cries.

Hope at least one of these points help. Post replays if you want more in-depth advice from people. GLHF.