Guard Switching is an option select where you guard one direction, then another. This takes advantage of the timing differences between the two attacks and guards against both of them - by blocking in one direction, then switching to the other.
Example
- The opponent performs a crossup
- You recognize this setup and understand that this particular crossup only happens after a set amount of time - if the opponent attempts to hit you before then, then it is not a crossup.
- You block one direction (Template:4) until the crossup would appear, and then switch to blocking the other direction (Template:6).
- This allows you to block both crossup and non-crossup attacks by having you change directions accordingly.
- This same principle can also be applied to high/low mixups.
This requires that the defender recognize a crossup situation and time their blocking direction changes accordingly. The opponent can play around your expectations by going for different crossups with different timings or ways to block!