Cool thread. Gonna be interesting to look back on this. The strongest chars I'm seeing so far are-
Liu Kang (all 3 variations)- Seriously, is there anything this guy can't do? If I've ever seen a character look strong on paper it is him. Strong zoning, strong rushdown, meterless reset, fast normals, OH/Low mixups leading to combos. Like really??? Being that
@Fractured_Shadow and another person are two people main'ing Liu Kang, my MKX life will have plenty of salt in it.
Ermac (not Spectral)- Ermac looks hella improved from MK9. In MoS that stun ball can be used as a reset, mind games can be played with Disappear, his Mystic is like MK9, he now has high/low mixups, armor on EX Lift, better recovery on his specials. These two variations look legit and a candidate to claim a spot on my team.
Johnny Cage- Yes, let's give Johnny even more tools to stay in your face all game, cancel pressure games, more mixups, extra chip damage, and a variation to throw out Noob Saibot clones at distance, in combos, or for even more safe pressure. Yes, sounds like a great idea.
Kenshi- Day 1 Kenjutsu for me. While some of his moves seem more punishable in the other variations, that zoning will still be that zoning. Kenjutsu is more mid range than full screen, but at the same time seems to have dodged the unsafe bullet of "balance" that Balanced Variation took. Kenshi will be Kenshi, and will be a force again.
Takeda- This guy. Has the potential to be the #1 character in this game. If those long range normals are safe on block, it is just a string, then he can pretty much do it all. Only thing left to see is his mixup game, but everything else seems very, very powerful.
Those are my Top 5 Potential characters on an "overall" level. I'd bet anything these 5 will be good in MKX.