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Video/Tutorial - Ermac Ermac Video Archive

zaf

zaf

professor
Hey guys,

So it has come to my attention that some members have posted some videos and are looking to be critiqued. I am all for this because it allows multiple people to provide their perspective of what was going on in a match. This is definitely a great tool to help people who are looking to get better or improve in match ups.

Please feel free to use this thread to post videos of your matches.
This way if you would like a critique, we can use this thread specifically for that.

When posting a video, we can all go through them and let you know:

-what you were doing right
-where you went wrong
-ways to improve and get better
-recommendations for optimal combos in various sitations
-etc you get where I am going with this.
 
zaf

zaf

professor
Let me get the ball rolling:

Video posted by @Dope Dojo

Original message provided alonside the video:

"Can I get some help again? I've not taken a beating this bad in a while. I literally had no idea what to do. I tried to punish everything...."

 
Dope Dojo

Dope Dojo

The Bomb Diggity
I started this set terribly. I dropped every combo opportunity I had. I was baited into getting hit with ex moves on wake up etc.

I tried to punish Arc Kick and Dive kicks on block with everything. In the lab I found I could use lift, but in MOS that's about 4% damage without meter. I figure there has to be something better in MOS (mystic lift is free combo) both the Dive and Arc kick are like -20 or worse on block. Yet there was one part where he literally did dive kick and on block jumped back and dive kicked again.

I tried to use Ex db1 on wake up and in one moment Sonya did nothing and the blast went right through her. Other times she just lown profiled under it (thanks nrs)

When I wasn't getting nailed with those I ate tons of ms strings. I experimented in later matches using d1 to interrupt her follow up, it worked on everything but the cart wheel. Though that could have must been online latency.

Overall I did horribly and I still don't know how to fight this match up confidently.
 
UPR_Nova

UPR_Nova

Noob
Dope Dojo said:
So uh...any Anti Sonya tips? lol
Click to expand...
Last tourney I played I was handled by Sonya. Couple of things I did learn though.

- Dive kick can be punished for full combo into vortex with f4 even from max range. It's tight but it gives you options. The easiest option is EX db1 reversal into vortex. Once you get better, you can decipher the range that you blocked and punish with 2,2 for full combo. If you can land the f4, however, that is the maximum damage output.
- It's overhead, low, overhead and I hate it. Once Sonyas start to get ridiculous though, it's going to be much harder to read what's going on and act accordingly. Possible? Yes but extremely tough. I went into the lab with Sonya and found all of her options off of the b1. You have to watch out for threefold: b1 xx db2, 3 or 4; b1, 4 xx db2, 3 or 4; b1, 4, 2. As @zaf pointed out, you can backdash that ho b1, (backdash) 4 which is pretty cool. I've yet to explore but you might have an armor opportunity. Either way, you WANT the Sonya to initiate the military stance cancel in order to fuzzy the overhead cartwheel. The string always starts overhead, therefore, block high then immediately go low. From there I guess she technically has mixup to complete the string which is another overhead or cancel to military plus 3 which is low. Focus very hard on her animation that completes the string. If she doesn't make that motion, she is canceling. Block it low, fuzzy the overhead and punish hard into vortex. A blocked cartwheel can be punished with anything fast enough because range is generally not an issue. The blocked low from military can be punished with f4 (pretty sure, test it to make sure) or an EX db1 reversal into vortex.
- Her low starter takes the same notes as above. Block low to start, get that cancel out and punish.
- You can poke before she hits the cartwheel from the cancel because it's so show. It may be reactable but it will take time to do so. I have poked her out of the low option as well with a d3 on read but it's risky. I don't see the risk being worth the minimal reward. Plus I'm not even sure that can be executed every time. I need to record it perfectly and try again because it was on and off. Could be spacing related or possibly just shit timing from my end.

Everything else is MKX fundamental related. Keep in mind Mac has some solid pokes. D3 can actually lower yourself to prevent crossover jumps similar to Shang Tsung or Mileena in MK9. Also d1 is crazy fast. Added to that, you get pretty good opportunity for overhead/low mixup after a hit confirm on pokes because they grant pretty solid advantage. B1,2,4 string is great, especially b1,2. B1,2 into d3 into pressure works pretty well also because your poke is pretty fast with solid range. I also have a feeling in my gut about f3,4. Something tells me that multi-hit at the end could shine. Standing 3 also has something I like. Can't pick out why but it's calling to me lol.

Sorry for the wall but I know a lot because I've lost so much! I know that seems counter intuitive but trust me, I've learned much more from getting my ass kicked than winning. It's hard to implement all of this stuff and while I might not be able to execute the game plan in full, I can at least pass it on to others.
 
zaf

zaf

professor
K so I got around to watching the matches @Dope Dojo

- When using mystic you need to check people more with the push.
Sure it is -22( or -25 I forget lol) and it can allow for people to get in for free on you, but if you never use the move. Then the fear of it is never in the back of the mind of the opponent so they don't care about it. Check them a few times, or bait them to do something ( shoot out a standing 1, if they move push them). As soon as the opponent starts to play around the push, they will limit their movement and you can take advantage of this.

- You were getting hit a lot by dive kick and arc kick. Practice the spacing of these moves in the lab and practice the punishes for them.
- You need to get more damage off your punishes / dropped combos. ( this is more self explanatory and something you already know I imagine)

- The neutral game. For the most part of what I seen, you didn't play too much in the neutral game in the earlier games. The last game you were a little more active. But doing nothing let's your opponent run the pace of the match. There was a lot of walking back or standing still waiting on sonya to make a move. That is a hard subject to tackle, because it is harder to tell someone HOW they should be playing the game. Where as the other points that I have highlighted can be easier to pick up or follow. Especially with how new the game is as well. For example, I can imagine that you were being less active or hesitant in anticipation for a dive kick or arc kick to potentially punish. The way you are just waiting on that move to be able to play, is the same thing that I mentioned about with the push for ermac. Essentially how push works and how you can use it, is what (I believe) was happening to you. It was just letting sonya do whatever she wanted.
 
UPR_Nova

UPR_Nova

Noob
I'll go ahead and post mine as well! They are online and they are wins, however, they were very sloppy. This sloppiness caused me to lose later in the tournament off stream. Go ahead and rip me if you have to because I'm hard on myself as it is!


 
Klesk_1

Klesk_1

RIP Grundy
that instant air fireball is so hard to do. jesus. Thing is, i think it could have great tech in the corner as it causes a bounce on meter burn..

outside of that, quite dissapointed. poor punishes, no proper vortex or optimised combos, he was getting 33% for a bnb midscreen :/

did like the b12 d3 f4 poke system he kept rinsing though :)
 
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insignis

insignis

Noob
Klesk_1 said:
that instant air fireball is so hard to do. jesus. Thing is, i think it could have great tech in the corner as it causes a bounce on meter burn..

outside of that, quite dissapointed. poor punishes, no proper vortex or optimised combos, he was getting 33% for a bnb midscreen :/

did like the b12 d3 f4 poke system he kept rinsing though :)
Click to expand...
instant air burst/blast is super important as it gives + on block even without meter. It gives you great pressure and combo potential. I would suggest to active Shortcuts in controls - it helped me
 
zaf

zaf

professor
I
Razoor said:
SonicFox's MoS Ermac vs Arturo's Thundergod Raiden.

http://www.twitch.tv/nycfurby/v/4936001?t=02h53m48s

Impressive Ermac, and the NJquickDB2's look really flashy, dunno how safe/viable it is to use. I also wonder why Sonic isn't using the vortex setups MoS offers?
Click to expand...
Klesk_1 said:
that instant air fireball is so hard to do. jesus. Thing is, i think it could have great tech in the corner as it causes a bounce on meter burn..

outside of that, quite dissapointed. poor punishes, no proper vortex or optimised combos, he was getting 33% for a bnb midscreen :/

did like the b12 d3 f4 poke system he kept rinsing though :)
Click to expand...
Dope Dojo said:
Yeah it takes a bit of practice to get used to it. Then even more to do it multiple times.
Click to expand...
insignis said:
instant air burst/blast is super important as it gives + on block even without meter. It gives you great pressure and combo potential. I would suggest to active Shortcuts in controls - it helped me
Click to expand...
Yea like @insignis mentions instant air burst and blast are + frames on block.

So the pressure is valid. Takes practice but also a lot easier with input shortcuts on.

soul burst is an overhead and d3 is a low. So that is pretty much what fox is doing. Playing a fast low overhead game with those 2 moves. Using b12 and b124 to close space (especially after an is soul burst on hit ).

As for the vortex, would really need to ask @SonicFox5000 why you don't see him using it or using it as much..

But generally you have to pick your spots. Sometimes its just better to take out 35%-40% with a full combo instead of ending in vortex. You can turn the tables on yourself very easily with one wrong guess. So just playing solid footsies and using high end combos will work just the same
 
migosan

migosan

MK Philippines / Injustice Philippines
Greetings my fellow warriror souls that make up ermac!

I would just like to share my story of my recent tournament experience here in the Philippines, I won the first two tournaments here like 3 days after the release and it happened between less than 24 hours, one on April 17 and one on 18. Up to now I've been using Ermac exclusively (since Sektor was just turned into junk) and also as he was one of my mains since mk9.

Recently I joined the Mortal Kombat Asia Pacific Qualifiers held here in the Philippines just this last May 9, Saturday. There were a lot of people who joined as the Prizes were really big, 1-3rd placers get 500, 300, 200 Singaporean dollars respectively (and there's no registration fee, everything's for free!)
1st place gets flown to Southeast Asia Majors this June for the Fatal 4 way round robin, and will battle the representatives of Australia, Singapore, and Thailand. The 4 finalists of course gets guaranteed money, 600 sgd for the 4th place guaranteed. And the winner for the SEAM MKX Asia Pacific Tourney gets flown to EVO!

So here goes my tournament experience, It's not that I'm bragging but let's just say that it's been over a year since I lost a tournament here in Manila, both for MK9, Injustice and MKX. And for the most inopportune time to lose one, I lost in the most important one, the biggest one we had here in the PH.

I placed 2nd in the qualifiers, I used Ermac all the way as always. There were a ton of hype matches recorded on the Xsplit stream, even Ed boon tweeted a screenshot of the SubZero commentator we have here haaha, but yeah, I was caught off guard, the eventual winner who put me to losers and then eventually beat me in grand finals stymied me with his Stunt Double Cage in elims, Man I had ZERO idea on how to deal with him, didn't know the safe time to poke since and didn't know which of his strings are plus on block and that really good gold clones he has, didn't know how that works while in the tourney,

I mostly play with my brothers offline (online is virtually impossible here because we are running on 90kbps on average ahha) as the tournament went on, I scratched and clawed my way out of loser's bracket.

MKX Asia Pacific PH Qualifiers Mattgaw (Cassie Cage) vs Migosan (Ermac)
Almost got eliminated by a very good Cassie with those missile setups. (MUST WATCH!)

MKX Asia Pacific PH Qualifiers_Grand Finals Timcruz (Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Sub-Zero) vs Migosan (Ermac)

Then there went Grand Finals, I faced the Cage dude again, this time I learned and adapted on how to beat him, I just waited for the right time to poke or barge in after his plus strings and finally beat him. To my surprise he went on to pick the Covert Ops Sonya, and yeah in an unfortunate scenario, again I had no knowledge of the matchup! I got bodied really bad, first I can easily block her strings OH LOW, OH LOW LOW, but then there was those military stance cancels to grab or onto another string. Also didn't know those armored advancing specials he uses for wakeups or during holes in my strings, and how to punish them and was beaten badly in the corner until I lost the set. 3rd set of the best of 5, I adapted quite well to his Sonya and used a more controlled Mystic spacing game, beat him easily after. Alas he changed to another character again now to Grand Master Sub. It was do or die for me, I have to win to reset or else I'm done, I know the matchup since my brother @Marcus mains him now, but yeah after a tightly contested match I eventually lost in the final round.

I was really disappointed since I dropped the most important tournament for an NRS game so far here in the Philippines. but I was also happy to have adapted and made him change characters 3x while sticking to my main guns which is ErrorMacro! but yeah I finally ran out of chances, It was a good and painful learning experience for me, the game is still less than a month old here, but yeah, that stresses the importance of MU knowledge in tournaments.

Here are the rest of my matches, I mostly had difficutly with the videos posted above, but yeah comments and suggestions on how to improve my Ermac will be greatly appreciated

MKX Asia Pacific PH Qualifiers_Loser's Finals Retic (Scorpion) vs Migosan (Ermac)

MKX Asia Pacific PH Qualifiers_Marcus (Quan Chi) vs Migosan (Ermac)

MKX Asia Pacific PH Qualifiers_Insane (Scorpion) vs Migosan (Ermac)
 
Metzos

Metzos

You will BOW to me!
Got 1st on our first national tournament at GDA with MoS Ermac. Check the link below for the matches. Keep in mind that i hadnt played Ermac for quite some time ( i main Goro) so my combos werent that spectacular.

http://www.twitch.tv/zaelock/b/657580972

Matches start at: 01:19, 01:51:24 and GF begin at 02:31:51.

Hope you guys enjoy the footage.
 
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Kindred

Kindred

Let Be Be Finale Of Seem
Metzos said:
Got 1st on our first national tournament at GDA with MoS Ermac. Check the link below for the matches. Keep in mind that i hadnt played Ermac for quite some time ( i main Goro) so my combos werent that spectacular.

http://www.twitch.tv/zaelock/b/657580972

Matches start at: 01:19, 01:51:24 and GF begin at 02:31:51.

Hope you guys enjoy the footage.
Click to expand...
Fucking sick! There is one thing I sometimes wonder... I noticed on one of the matches you got the opponent in a soul ball from across the map (1:52:10). Then you decided to do a set up for the reset when you couldve went for a 1-meter combo (40%+) instead.
This is something I sometimes debate, when to go for damage and when to attempt a set up. In that scenario, since you had full meter, I might've opted for the damage. Then again maybe in the heat of the moment you might just try to set them up instead (both are valid strats for sure)
 
Metzos

Metzos

You will BOW to me!
Kindred said:
Fucking sick! There is one thing I sometimes wonder... I noticed on one of the matches you got the opponent in a soul ball from across the map (1:52:10). Then you decided to do a set up for the reset when you couldve went for a 1-meter combo (40%+) instead.
This is something I sometimes debate, when to go for damage and when to attempt a set up. In that scenario, since you had full meter, I might've opted for the damage. Then again maybe in the heat of the moment you might just try to set them up instead (both are valid strats for sure)
Click to expand...
Probably heat of the moment. I m not that experienced with Ermac yet. I hadnt played him for quite some time. I ll get there pretty soon.
 
Qwark28

Qwark28

Joker waiting room
Metzos said:
Got 1st on our first national tournament at GDA with MoS Ermac. Check the link below for the matches. Keep in mind that i hadnt played Ermac for quite some time ( i main Goro) so my combos werent that spectacular.

http://www.twitch.tv/zaelock/b/657580972

Matches start at: 01:19, 01:51:24 and GF begin at 02:31:51.

Hope you guys enjoy the footage.
Click to expand...
so youre basically saying any scrub can play ermac in a clutch and scrub out a few wins
 
Kindred

Kindred

Let Be Be Finale Of Seem
Has anybody seen @SonicFox5000 ermac on his stream? It's like fuckin poetry my goodness. The pressure, the low instant air blasts, oh my!
http://www.twitch.tv/zsonicfox/v/5037602

EDIT: Does anyone have a trick to do such ridiculously low instant air blasts?
A trick like the one for connecting D1 > TKL wherein you press D1 and then press B1 and the game autocorrects for a DB1 for the lift automatically. Is there something similar for the low IAB?
 
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Afumba

Afumba

Noob
Kindred said:
Has anybody seen @SonicFox5000 ermac on his stream? It's like fuckin poetry my goodness. The pressure, the low instant air blasts, oh my!
http://www.twitch.tv/zsonicfox/v/5037602

EDIT: Does anyone have a trick to do such ridiculously low instant air blasts?
A trick like the one for connecting D1 > TKL wherein you press D1 and then press B1 and the game autocorrects for a DB1 for the lift automatically. Is there something similar for the low IAB?
Click to expand...
Yea, i watch it when i have the chance. I agree, he is extremly good with those very low iasb´s.
Dont know if there is a trick :D He is probably just that good lol.

What helped me getting them of lower more consistent and sometimes that low is to press 2 before my "d, db, b" input finishes. With right finger positioning you can hit just "db 2" and the burst comes out.

Wow i think this is the worst explanation for something ever lol. With "db" i mean the diagonal direction :D
 
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