The State of Zoning and Overall Strategy in Mortal Kombat 1

[Bulletz4Breakfast]

So Honeybee has officially switched over to Cyrax with Reptile, and I don't believe he's the only one. I'm seeing more and more discussion of Reptile with Cyrax on Twitter as well, and people mining for additional tech, so I believe this is legit.

He hasn't officially switched to Cyrax as his main Kameo and even used Scorpion in his most recent tournament a few days ago.
But he does try it out on stream. He's also got a ongoing joke with his subscribers.
On every Sonic/HoneyBee video he has multiple people making the joke that he would crush Sikander and others if only he used Cyrax, that he's going easy on them by using Scorpion. And Honeybee pins these comments as a joke or Hearts them.
As far as I know he says there utility to Cyrax but nothing so groundbreaking he's completely convinced it's 200% his best Kameo.
Reptile is pretty good with Stryker and Scorpion and Goro as well. The 13% throw loop is pretty decent but that's a lot of touches.
Scorpion can net 50% off nearly every touch and even on tricky abnormal strings and can condition the F24 half screen low with Scorpion overhead that he's caught several top players with.
Scorpion also has that getaway spear that escapes Sento pressure with some invulnerability.

 

[M2Dave]

I have not finished watching yet, but Honey Bee used Reptile/Cyrax on Kolloseum earlier today. He has some interesting setups, including the use of Cyrax's bomb...

Skip to 16:50...

Forget the kameo discussion, though.

Reptile seems underpowered in this game. Perhaps underpowered is the wrong adjective. He seems as though he had been "held back" and "safe guarded".

He is clearly designed to be a footsies character, yet his best footsies tool has a gap. I understand why on paper because b+3 has long range and low crushing frames, but still...

The equivalent would be designing a "premier zoning character" and giving him average or even mediocre projectiles.

Oh hi, Rain!

 

[Bulletz4Breakfast]

I have not finished watching yet, but Honey Bee used Reptile/Cyrax on Kolloseum earlier today. He has some interesting setups, including the use of Cyrax's bomb...

Skip to 16:50...

Forget the kameo discussion, though.

Reptile seems underpowered in this game. Perhaps underpowered is the wrong adjective. He seems as though he had been "held back" and "safe guarded".

He is clearly designed to be a footsies character, yet his best footsies tool has a gap. I understand why on paper because b+3 has long range and low crushing frames, but still...

The equivalent would be designing a "premier zoning character" and giving him average or even mediocre projectiles.

Oh hi, Rain!

Did he use the bomb setups I shared some time ago or new ones. Cuz mine are kind of risky but I used them with Sub Zero. Actually nevermind reptile has great knockdown advantage.

Yeah Reptile I feel needs buffs. The best buff in my opinion is to make B31 gapless.
Maybe make EX BF2 gapless as well but I'd rather they made Spit dash cancelable which could allow some cool combos and other types of combo ability with Kameos like Stryker Grenades like you can do with Rain

But that's my opinion. Thankfully I don't think many players hate the Reptile matchup which is strange because people get salty as hell over Sub while Reptile completely shuts subs clone down and his Divekick. Reptile feels like a more rounded character than Sub at least to me.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

He hasn't officially switched to Cyrax as his main Kameo and even used Scorpion in his most recent tournament a few days ago.
But he does try it out on stream. He's also got a ongoing joke with his subscribers.
On every Sonic/HoneyBee video he has multiple people making the joke that he would crush Sikander and others if only he used Cyrax, that he's going easy on them by using Scorpion. And Honeybee pins these comments as a joke or Hearts them.
As far as I know he says there utility to Cyrax but nothing so groundbreaking he's completely convinced it's 200% his best Kameo.
Reptile is pretty good with Stryker and Scorpion and Goro as well. The 13% throw loop is pretty decent but that's a lot of touches.
Scorpion can net 50% off nearly every touch and even on tricky abnormal strings and can condition the F24 half screen low with Scorpion overhead that he's caught several top players with.
Scorpion also has that getaway spear that escapes Sento pressure with some invulnerability.

He used 99% Cyrax in both recent tournaments he entered including last night in COTR. And all the sets he’s been uploading as well.

 

[ImpostorOak]

He used 99% Cyrax in both recent tournaments he entered including last night in COTR. And all the sets he’s been uploading as well.

I watched his YT video yesterday where he said out loud he's giving it a fair shot, but he doesn't know if it's better than Scorp yet.

So yeah, he's playing CyraxKam as more than a joke, but he's not playing him because it's the better option.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

I watched his YT video yesterday where he said out loud he's giving it a fair shot, but he doesn't know if it's better than Scorp yet.

So yeah, he's playing CyraxKam as more than a joke, but he's not playing him because it's the better option.

And I think the fact that this is even a question means it was worth investigating, which is all some of us were saying a few weeks ago.

I love when people are willing to lab stuff instead of just writing it off, so props to Honeybee.

 

[ImpostorOak]

And I think the fact that this is even a question means it was worth investigating, which is all some of us were saying a few weeks ago.

Honestly, I love when people are willing to lab stuff instead of just writing it off, so props to Honeybee.

Oh, no disagreement there. Reptile is still my most played character, and I was a Cyrax believer in the beginning before nerfs, you can check the Reptile forums. If Sonic says there's something there, also, I honestly feel validated and wouldn't fight against that opinion. I'm just saying Honeybee hasn't been fully sold on it yet.

Cyrax can do a lot of what people want Scorpion, Goro, and Stryker for, safer. The caveat is that Cyrax gives less, sometimes way less damage, it's much harder to properly time Cyrax to make anything consistent, AND it now has the slowest recharge time. I think Sonic is the type of player that doesn't take many unnecessary risks, so Cyrax is optimal to them.

I still want to see Honeybee, or Sonic for that matter put time into Reptile/Sub Zero and Reptile/Goro. I believe those to be his current sleeper "best" Kameos.

 

[Demon_0]

So the patch is out but we have no patch notes. Ugh...

How hard can it be to publish a list of changes before you bring out said changes?

 

[Bulletz4Breakfast]

Oh, no disagreement there. Reptile is still my most played character, and I was a Cyrax believer in the beginning before nerfs, you can check the Reptile forums. If Sonic says there's something there, also, I honestly feel validated and wouldn't fight against that opinion. I'm just saying Honeybee hasn't been fully sold on it yet.

Cyrax can do a lot of what people want Scorpion, Goro, and Stryker for, safer. The caveat is that Cyrax gives less, sometimes way less damage, it's much harder to properly time Cyrax to make anything consistent, AND it now has the slowest recharge time. I think Sonic is the type of player that doesn't take many unnecessary risks, so Cyrax is optimal to them.

I still want to see Honeybee, or Sonic for that matter put time into Reptile/Sub Zero and Reptile/Goro. I believe those to be his current sleeper "best" Kameos.

Did they decrease the recharge of Goro because that was my main holdup.
I think after the Scorpion buff Honeybee and Sonic is going to make the switch. That overhead is safe now.

 

[Marinjuana]

Shang/Shujinko knows the zone