THTB
Arez | Booya | Riu48 - Rest Easy, Friends
He's very solid in footsies and works as a turtle character...but that only gets you so far really.
He's very solid in footsies and works as a turtle character...but that only gets you so far really.
I agree with Sub being mid-low but Tom really seems to have written up some of his matchups out of spite for the character. How else can you explain a 4-6 against Kano? I don't care what anybody says, Kano is one of Sub's best matchups and the 3-7's are over the top. I agree with a few of them but I strongly disagree with Freddy, Jax and Sonya. They're not that terrible. I don't think Sub loses to Noob and Shang either.
It isn't the placement. Sub is not a great character in this game. There are matchups that Tom needs to elaborate on, though, and he will know that. Kano being one of the most obvious examples. That has always been a near 7-3 matchup for Sub-Zero and now it's 4-6? Why is that? That's what I would like to know.
I can figure that out. It's the same reason Kano beats cyrax. His knives just recover too fast to trade with ice ball. And I don't think sub can really punish up ball either. There is more I'm sure but it makes perfect sense.
Sub can slide knives at half screen and yes he can trade with iceball if he chooses to. From the beginning of the round, you're going to get pushed back towards the corner as kano because Sub gets free pressure off untechable knockdowns (slide) if you try to zone him and you can't wakeup attack due to clone. Once Subgets in on Kano, he mauls him, especially in the corner.
As Sub you can mash back, forwards on the dpad at half screen, and as soon as you see the startup for his knife toss, you can hit 4 and you will do it on reaction. Online it's sketchy, offline it's really easy.
The SZ-Kano matchup has always been in SZ's favour. You can trade with iceball with knifes, and Kano's only answer to a turtling SZ is using the ex-air ball, which if blocked gets blown up. The only person that has played Kano to any recognizable extent is Josh the Funkdoc, and look at his numbers (he lists it as Kano's worst matchup):
Against the best Jax I know, I can't win with anyone other than Sub-Zero. Jax crushes Noob, Smoke, Cyber Sub, but my Sub can win a fair share because even though he can armour to reverse the corner situation, so can I, albeit mine is a riskier way out, that is granted. Jax cannot have meter all game against Sub-Zero if you know how to control your spacing against Jax.
This one is where Brady's experience comes into play, he probably has more Jax experience than any other SZ player besides Denzel, since he trains with CDjr. It would be tough to argue against considering most SZ players aren't playing the one of best Jaxes (this is how you pluralize it right? lol) in the world. I wonder if MITDJT could get some input from Denzel since he has very good success against Tyrant.
I disagree, there are some great Smoke players in the community, but simply haven't gotten the chance to represent well yet (either lack of offline scene or lack of time IRL).
Tom Brady would have to be as good as CDjr, though, and I amsure TB would be the first to say that CDjr has been the better player in the newer versions of the game.
Maybe, I'm not sure about that. Tom has stated numerous times in KTP, as well as in conversations, stream chats, etc that sometimes when you are playing SZ your actual level of knowledge of the game and skill isn't always going to be highlighted in your play. I think it would be a disservice to Tom Brady as a competitor if you were to simply blame his level of skill for why that particular matchup is lopsided. At some point, it isn't always the player's fault, you got to look at the character as well.
Jax does have an advantage over Sub-Zero but if you take two players of absolutely dead equal skill and play it out, it is not so lopsided as to be almost impossible for Sub-Zero to win, which a 3-7 matchup does suggest.
3-7 does not suggest almost impossible. 3-7 means you'll have to rely heavily on reads and flawless execution to put up a fight vs. your own opponent who will have relative ease in the battle thanks to his own toolkit (safer moves, better damage, faster moves, etc.). But you won't be entirely destroyed in the fight if you know what your opponent can do (both the player and the character).
Sub-Zero made top 8 at EVERY tournament Brady brought him, and? Bottom 5 god dammit... This top 8 argument doesn't count anymore. Even if Jade got top 8 that wouldn't make her go 10 positions further.