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What matchups does Kano win?

MsMiharo

MsMiharo

Kuff Bano
Matchup charts are kinda boring especially when you're low tier. But let's focus on the good stuff. Which matchups does he do well in?

I don't think he wins vs LK but the fact that his parry is something the LK player has to consider makes this MU not awful.

I think he might win vs Jax but could just be wishful thinking. I think he can keep him out and jax has to respect parry and reversal command grabs.

His f3 makes him overall decent versus characters with strong high projectiles

Thoughts?

@Circus @CriticalDrop @Vslayer @ others I don't really know who to tag
 
Circus

Circus

Part-Time Kano Hostage
I know you might not like Matchup Charts but....:

Frost:

He does very well vs Frost. She has to respect the F3 so doing any zoning from mid-screen is a no go for her. Kano could F3 on reaction to her high projectile and her anti-air multi-distance spalsh. Up close, her game revolves around being barely negative on block thanks to her spinning special move, but Kano is okay with that considering he'll D1 more often than not anyway. Her lack of fast mids makes it so the risk/reward for poking back up close is relatively ok.

===================================

Jax and Liu Kang:

IMO Kano does not do good vs Liu Kang and Jax. Their 9 frame mids make it so Kano can't D1 after being slightly negative at all. This means that once either character blocks a D1, a 241+3, or a F4 Kano is susceptible to being mixed with grab/mid mixes. The risk of pressing while negative just ins't worth it and because Kano has no staggers this means that Kano has to take his one opportunity to do something, then he has to deal with getting staggered and mixed the majority of the match.

The matchups are doable, they aren't completely awful by any means. What it boils down to is that Liu and Jax just have more opportunities to do damage and they do it in a safer way. Jax seemingly does everything Kano could do up close but better tbh lol. Kano players have to steamroll these characters to win and really abuse Kano's oki game with good reads.

===================================

If you have any questions about any of the matchups on this list, just ask. These are just my opinions of course.
 
Circus

Circus

Part-Time Kano Hostage
MsMiharo said:
I like him vs frost but have just played randoms in ranked. IMO skarlet is 6-4 her favor. Better range, better zoning, parry and teleport are annoying
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Skarlet is the one on that list that I feel is somewhere in between 4-6 and 4.5-5.5. She's definitely tough for him.

If you really lab her zoning tools though, like when to jump safely, when to dash safely, when to throw knives back, and when to F3, the matchup becomes less unmanageable. You also MUST flawless block her strings, even if she starts discouraging it with her parry. If you don't she will run all over Kano.

That said, I still think I might move her to 4-6 tbh.
 
CriticalDrop

CriticalDrop

Beers, grabs & dropped combos
I think he does well against Sonya. It's not exactly a winning matchup, I think it's mostly even but with the damage output inclined in Sonya's favour. The good thing is that your anti-zoning is better than Sonya's, so her projectiles must not be a problem. In addition, I think that Kano's footsies are better than Sonya's too, as we have better reach in our normals and strings.

Johnny is another character which he does well against. Johnny has flaws and strengths basically in the same areas as Kano, but Kano does better in the zoning anti-zoning department and I think he has better pressure tools if we look at his tick throws. Anyway, I haven't played so many Johnny's so I might be wrong.

As for the ones that you mention, I fully agree with @Circus in that both Liu and Jax have better framedata and, specially, fast mids and staggers that give them good advantage against Kano, that has to be extra careful when using most of his tools and struggles to find a window to start his offence. In the case of Liu Kang it is even worse, as his low projectiles invalidate one of Kano's anti-zoning tools (F3), making Liu stronger full screen.

I'll add another matchup ideas in next posts.
 
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NothingPersonal

NothingPersonal

Are you not entertained!?
Circus said:
I know you might not like Matchup Charts but....:

Frost:

He does very well vs Frost. She has to respect the F3 so doing any zoning from mid-screen is a no go for her. Kano could F3 on reaction to her high projectile and her anti-air multi-distance spalsh. Up close, her game revolves around being barely negative on block thanks to her spinning special move, but Kano is okay with that considering he'll D1 more often than not anyway. Her lack of fast mids makes it so the risk/reward for poking back up close is relatively ok.

===================================

Jax and Liu Kang:

IMO Kano does not do good vs Liu Kang and Jax. Their 9 frame mids make it so Kano can't D1 after being slightly negative at all. This means that once either character blocks a D1, a 241+3, or a F4 Kano is susceptible to being mixed with grab/mid mixes. The risk of pressing while negative just ins't worth it and because Kano has no staggers this means that Kano has to take his one opportunity to do something, then he has to deal with getting staggered and mixed the majority of the match.

The matchups are doable, they aren't completely awful by any means. What it boils down to is that Liu and Jax just have more opportunities to do damage and they do it in a safer way. Jax seemingly does everything Kano could do up close but better tbh lol. Kano players have to steamroll these characters to win and really abuse Kano's oki game with good reads.

===================================

If you have any questions about any of the matchups on this list, just ask. These are just my opinions of course.
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Kano vs Kano is 5-5? Come on man, in your hands it's 7-3 at least :DOGE
 
CriticalDrop

CriticalDrop

Beers, grabs & dropped combos
kcd117 said:
My take on his matchups
View attachment 15344
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Pretty accurate imo, but I have some doubts about Kung Lao and Jade placements.
I see Lao's matchup as even, as I think he hasn't anything putting him in an advantage situation (neither does Kano). Yeah, he has mids and staggers, but they are not as scary as Liu's or Jax's.
About Jade, however, I see her zoning and the reach of her normals and strings as something really problematic if well used. You can barely play footsies against her and the most viable way to punish her is after sucessfully blocking her unsafe strings and specials.
I know those ideas could be more solidly founded, so I might be wrong. I really look forward to listen to your thoughts about these matchups.
 
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Vslayer

Vslayer

Juiced Moose On The Loose
Lead Moderator
From my experience using him in the KL, I think against MUs like EB, Geras, and Scorpion, you just really need to play him extremely patiently and condition your opponent. Against Sonya it's still the same, I don't think it's super horrible since you can find an opening and kano ball your way to her if she wants to zone you out, but you have to be careful since one combo and you're half dead. But, I noticed you can D1 her B1 so that makes them think a bit more about just throwing it out like crazed maniacs.
 
K

kcd117

Kombatant
CriticalDrop said:
Pretty accurate imo, but I have some doubts about Kung Lao and Jade placements.
I see Lao's matchup as even, as I think he hasn't anything putting him in an advantage situation (neither does Kano). Yeah, he has mids and staggers, but they are not as scary as Liu's or Jax's.
About Jade, however, I see her zoning and the reach of her normals and strings as something really problematic if well used. You can barely play footsies against her and the most viable way to punish her is after sucessfully blocking her unsafe strings and specials.
I know those ideas could be more solidly founded, so I might be wrong. I really look forward to listen to your thoughts about these matchups.
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Against Lao, if you guess wrong, you are taking 40% into oki most of the time. If you guess right, best case scenario you score 32%. Anti-Airing is pretty much impossible in this matchup, and Lao’s neutral game and footsie tools are superior. What annoys me the most about this matchup is the fact that Lao can just jump in for free and start his game whenever he wants to, due to Kano’s lack of reliable anti-air.

The Jade matchup is not partivularly easy, but the fact that you can fuck up like 6 times before dying is huge as it makes Kano’s guessing game more fair. Getting in is not really a problem imo, Kano has the tools to get in on everyone, staying in is also not a problem, and you can mix with no fear since Jade’s punishes won’t do over 18%. Even tho she def wins the neutral here, this is one of the few matchups where the guessing game is in Kano’s favor.

MsMiharo said:
I forgot. I think he might beat kitana. Fans aren't scary, especially with F3. He is better up close and in the corner.
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I thought the same, then I played against a few really good kitanas and realized that the zoning war is the only thing Kano doesn’t lose here lol. She is another character that can jump in on him with no worries, her normals are a pain to deal with as most strings leave you in a range where your only options to check her lose to her pokes or pressure routes. Oki in this matchup is also hella hard bc Kit’s wakeup U3 pushes her back, making a meaty F4, B3, B4 simply whiff in some situations when it would stuff the wakeup in any other matchup. If she wants to lame you out, she’ll probably lose. As soon as she realizes that she can keep her turn for as long as she wants to before you commit to a yolo ball to get out of her pressure, while denying you the full force of the most important part of yout gameplan, the matchup becomes hell.
 
Vslayer

Vslayer

Juiced Moose On The Loose
Lead Moderator
Yeah, the meaty may whiff on her U3 so I use the parry instead. Or B4 I'm sure can work well too.
 
MsMiharo

MsMiharo

Kuff Bano
Circus said:
I know you might not like Matchup Charts but....:

Frost:

He does very well vs Frost. She has to respect the F3 so doing any zoning from mid-screen is a no go for her. Kano could F3 on reaction to her high projectile and her anti-air multi-distance spalsh. Up close, her game revolves around being barely negative on block thanks to her spinning special move, but Kano is okay with that considering he'll D1 more often than not anyway. Her lack of fast mids makes it so the risk/reward for poking back up close is relatively ok.

===================================

Jax and Liu Kang:

IMO Kano does not do good vs Liu Kang and Jax. Their 9 frame mids make it so Kano can't D1 after being slightly negative at all. This means that once either character blocks a D1, a 241+3, or a F4 Kano is susceptible to being mixed with grab/mid mixes. The risk of pressing while negative just ins't worth it and because Kano has no staggers this means that Kano has to take his one opportunity to do something, then he has to deal with getting staggered and mixed the majority of the match.

The matchups are doable, they aren't completely awful by any means. What it boils down to is that Liu and Jax just have more opportunities to do damage and they do it in a safer way. Jax seemingly does everything Kano could do up close but better tbh lol. Kano players have to steamroll these characters to win and really abuse Kano's oki game with good reads.

===================================

If you have any questions about any of the matchups on this list, just ask. These are just my opinions of course.
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I feel this MU chart is a bit optimistic. Nothing wrong with that but:

Kabal: Is just better in every way and every place of the screen. His zoning is stronger, although not super scary, but his spacing is so much better. Also he is safe as fuck whereas Kano is not.

Skarlet: I mentioned before but I really think this is 6-4. All her tools have better reach, she can parry your best tools to get in (kano ball, F3). Her zoning is pretty good.

Liu Kang: feels like 6-4 to me. Just has better tools and you can't keep him out of the air.

Sonya and Baraka: Might be 6-4 IMO. They just hit harder, have similar tools but safer, can sit on a life lead.

But then again, I'm probably way too pessimistic about good ol' Kano.
 
JSF

JSF

Waiting for Injustice 3
as the resident Frost expert, he doesnt beat Frost. if you disagree feel free to play me ^_^
i also say this as someone who isnt an expert on the Kano matchup
 
K

kcd117

Kombatant
MsMiharo said:
Skarlet: I mentioned before but I really think this is 6-4. All her tools have better reach, she can parry your best tools to get in (kano ball, F3). Her zoning is pretty good.
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I agree that she has better footsie tools but Kano's tools keep her in check all the time. His knife is really good to counter zone and makes her use projectiles that are punishable by F3 and airball. When he gets in she is pretty free on Oki and doesn't really have much for you to worry about at the range Kano shines. The most annoying part of this matchup is dealing with her F2 but if you stay just outside of the range you can react and punish everything she does/whiffs.

Some extra info: - Kano's U2 blows up all of Skarlet's gaps even if she tries to parry bc it starts up faster, making it very risky for her to go for it unless she has fatal blow.
- There is a specific distance where her U3 will whiff on Kano's D4 but you are still able to make contact and cancel it into cmd grab to punish her with the grab if she commits to wakeup. If she doesn't it still ticks, and if she delays her wakeup you are still safe. It is pretty good against wakeup happy Skarlets and works on other characters too (Jade, Sub, Noob...).
 
MsMiharo

MsMiharo

Kuff Bano
kcd117 said:
I agree that she has better footsie tools but Kano's tools keep her in check all the time. His knife is really good to counter zone and makes her use projectiles that are punishable by F3 and airball. When he gets in she is pretty free on Oki and doesn't really have much for you to worry about at the range Kano shines. The most annoying part of this matchup is dealing with her F2 but if you stay just outside of the range you can react and punish everything she does/whiffs.

Some extra info: - Kano's U2 blows up all of Skarlet's gaps even if she tries to parry bc it starts up faster, making it very risky for her to go for it unless she has fatal blow.
- There is a specific distance where her U3 will whiff on Kano's D4 but you are still able to make contact and cancel it into cmd grab to punish her with the grab if she commits to wakeup. If she doesn't it still ticks, and if she delays her wakeup you are still safe. It is pretty good against wakeup happy Skarlets and works on other characters too (Jade, Sub, Noob...).
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She is in no way free to oki. But I will look into the tech you mentioned!
 
Circus

Circus

Part-Time Kano Hostage
kcd117 said:
- There is a specific distance where her U3 will whiff on Kano's D4 but you are still able to make contact and cancel it into cmd grab to punish her with the grab if she commits to wakeup. If she doesn't it still ticks, and if she delays her wakeup you are still safe. It is pretty good against wakeup happy Skarlets and works on other characters too (Jade, Sub, Noob...).
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, seriously. I hate that U3 with a passion. That really will make this matchup a bit better for sure.
 
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