Noob Johnny need some help!

[NeoAwesomeon]

So, just got the game. I'm not that good at fighting games, but I have a passable grasp on them. I can do all the basic mission combos for Johnny, so I can't be totally useless. I tried going online to better myself cuz the AI can be cheesed if ya know how and combo training only counts when you can land a hit. Here's the basic shtick of my issue.
When I get online in the lobbies, everyone sees me and ALWAYS changes to either Faust or Venom, then just spam zoning tools if they are faust, and the basic billiard ball with venom and punish with an anti air if I get in. The weird thing is, this has been every time, without fail, which is just REALLY weird, it can't be a coincidence that all these different players keep doing the same thing to me. I have no idea how to get past any of this. Does anyone have any tips for how I can get in using Johnny? Do I just have to use the Mist Finer dash or forward P invincibility? What do I do to get through spam?

[Penguinator]

One basic answer against any projectile zoning is instant blocking the projectiles to gain meter while carefully walking/dashing forward. When instant blocking a projectile in the air (by jumping directly into them), you don't spend as much time in blockstun and on top of that even regain a jump / airdash (you can easily experiment with that in one of the Missions where a Venom spams out balls).
There are lots small details to know, but the most important part of that strategy is realizing what's going on in the big mind game in neutral: are they putting out projectiles to directly hit you? Are they putting them out to bait you into jumping and then antiair with big damage? Are they trying to take advantage of your passivity by building resources (like meter or balls)?
To use Venom as an example:
- Stinger is their direct projectile move that can be beaten with jumps and IADs, but on the other hand is strong against traditional ground approaches.
- Ball sets are used at times when the opponent is being too passive and/or the Venom doesn't want to risk too much (short recoveries on the sets themselves and the normals used to make them move), which means you can approach.
- When Venom wants to antiair, they use 6P on reaction, in which case "reacting" basically means not doing anything else and shifting attention to air which gives you time to approach on ground.

Also, once Johnny has 25%, he can do Zwei YRC (quick leap that puts out a projectile which will lock the opponent in place for a while thanks to the YRC canceling your recovery) which is an extremely powerful mobility and pressure tool. He can also greatly vary his air trajectory by utilizing air Mist Finer (and its cancel), making it really hard for the opponent to antiair him properly even if you made the wrong read and jumped towards an opponent who was anticipating it.
Another option Johnny has is directly Mist Finer'ing through a projectile (Mist finer erases 1-hit projectiles and even goes through multi-hit ones) to hit the opponent, which even on level 1 will knock the opponent down and lets you approach. If you are in close distance when that happens, you can instantly get to level 3 by doing a OTG combo with coins which will give you a huge resource advantage.