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Match-up Discussion Pocket Medic - Alternate Character discussion for Smoke Mains

HD Smoke

Noob
Cage, Jax, Kabal.

I think Sonya might be bad too. I'm going to be grinding the Sonya match-up with a few players to get an accurate read. I will be fighting Curbo soon hopefully, and i already have a few Sonya's i play with. (GamerBlake, a sonya player in my clan who won a tournament, etc.)

Also, i'm looking at Raiden too, but it doesn't seem very likely.
i agree with this

KT Smith have you ever asked Cdjr why he thinks Smoke beats Sonya. I persnoally feel she gives smoke a lot of problems but CDjr and riu 48 think that smoke wins. Riu48 do you still feel like Smoke still beats her because i have a hard time seeing how.
 

xSMoKEx

Coward Character User
I don't brlieve Jr. thinks it's 5-5 anyore. He stated before he needs someone for Cage and Sonya (Meaning that he most likely thinks that they are bad MU's.

I personally feel as though Sonya is bad, despite what others may think. You could argue 5-5 because of the reset but Sonya still gets 50% Mid screen, a little less than Smoke and his reset (which you won't hit all the time)

Anyways thats just my outlook on it

Don't quote me on the CDjr part, that's just what i'm assuming, i may be wrong.
 
I feel like Smoke Sonya is 5-5, if not slightly in Smoke's favor. He can out footsie her and if she whiffs anything, she's FUCKED. Plus, Smoke is able to d1 her out of her divekick while she's still in the air... ain't easy but it can be done...
 

xSMoKEx

Coward Character User
I feel like Smoke Sonya is 5-5, if not slightly in Smoke's favor. He can out footsie her and if she whiffs anything, she's FUCKED. Plus, Smoke is able to d1 her out of her divekick while she's still in the air... ain't easy but it can be done...
How can he out footsy her when her D4 has further range and less start-up then our B2? Our SB from that range is risky as hell considering her divekicks, not to mention that a dashing D4 makes SB whiff. And after that D4 we all know whats happening, D4~Military Stance, F1~Kartwheel. More than Smoke can do reliably with chip.

Sure Smoke has some tools but in no way does he out footsy her, i'd say at best he's on par.
 
Maybe I am just not playing good enough sonyas then because dash in d4~military stance is not something I am used to seeing...
 

G4S KT

Gaming4Satan Founder
How can he out footsy her when her D4 has further range and less start-up then our B2? Our SB from that range is risky as hell considering her divekicks, not to mention that a dashing D4 makes SB whiff. And after that D4 we all know whats happening, D4~Military Stance, F1~Kartwheel. More than Smoke can do reliably with chip.

Sure Smoke has some tools but in no way does he out footsy her, i'd say at best he's on par.
I over heard a conversation between riu48 and REO where riu48 was trying to explain to REO why sonya loses to smoke.

REO stops him and goes "there is NOTHING you can say that will convince me that smoke beats sonya" lmao

I think it's slightly in Sonya's favor, but not as bad as Cage or Kung Lao.
 

RiBBz22

TYM's Confirmed Prophet/Time-Traveler
yea man, that's sonya 101.

d4 xx MS F1 is the best offensive tool in the game.

( Death )
Ya, I hate it. Thanks for reminding me and ruining my night...I would say it is slight advantage Sonya maybe even a 6-4 in her favor. With that said though it isn't horrible she just has a lot of good tools just like Smoke does.
 

xSMoKEx

Coward Character User
I over heard a conversation between riu48 and REO where riu48 was trying to explain to REO why sonya loses to smoke.

REO stops him and goes "there is NOTHING you can say that will convince me that smoke beats sonya" lmao

I think it's slightly in Sonya's favor, but not as bad as Cage or Kung Lao.
Haha yeah i think 6-4 Sonya is about right. (People seem to hate .5's nowadays)

Do you really think Kung Lao is that bad of a MU for Smoke? I must admit i don't have as much Mu experience vs. him as i'd like to, but from who i have fought it seemed pretty even. I'm guessing because of Lao's spin blowing up sb on block, roll and divekick for moving in, and 21212 for meter building while we attempt to pressure him?

Any info you could provide would be much appreciated, thanks.
 
In my opinion. After getting blown up by the KL of Forever King, AU_Wanna_Die, and a few others at MLG.

KL Completely shuts Smoke down when he's in Smoke's face. His strings build retarded meter on block and have retarded long range. His stutter strings are godlike. You can't risk a counterpoke with him, or else you're gonna get spun for full combo. You can't armor, Smoke doesn't have any of that. From what I can tell the only way to beat Kung Lao is to just not let him get close and do everything within your power to punish his advance in. Kind of like Cage, except KL is a bit more risk/reward than Cage in his rushdown mindgames. Smoke's high-ish hitbox does not do him any favors, either. I struggle to find a solution to this character other than "bait 'n punish" but that doesn't work vs. people like the ones I've listed. I would say it's 7-3 KL but that's my being awful and generally mad about the matchup talking. Probably 6-4, and its a hard 6-4.
 

Faded Dreams V

Retired June 2012. Unretired June 2013.
IMO the best secondary for Smoke would be Freddy or Kenshi. Here's why:

I personally want all my match-ups covered, which means being good or even 5-5 rather than using someone like Cage who may be good against Jax but he does crap against kabal. Or Jax who does well against Kabal but crap against Cage. Freddy and Kenshi go even (or sometimes better) with pretty much all of Smoke's bad match-ups. There's no stand-out 7-3's like some other characters, but there's no blowouts on our end either.

For me, Cage and Jax just aren't the best secondaries for Smoke (not bad, but there's better alternatives). They don't cover all his bad MU's or at least bring them to 5-5. That's my personal opinion.
My main is Smoke, and my secondaries are Freddy and Kenshi, and Kung Lao beats them all. ;_;

Cage, Jax, Kabal.

I think Sonya might be bad too. I'm going to be grinding the Sonya match-up with a few players to get an accurate read. I will be fighting Curbo soon hopefully, and i already have a few Sonya's i play with. (GamerBlake, a sonya player in my clan who won a tournament, etc.)

Also, i'm looking at Raiden too, but it doesn't seem very likely.
Dude, you told me Smoke beats Cage at first. lolol.

Yeah, I have to agree with this. Kung Lao has to be in there too though. Sonya as well (slight advantage imo).

Man, I used to think the Smoke MU with Cage and Sonya was 5-5, but when you play players who know ALL of Smoke's tricks, there's not much to do except try to make your opponent make a mistake. Up close, Smoke is free as hell.

Maybe I am just not playing good enough sonyas then because dash in d4~military stance is not something I am used to seeing...
Challenge someone from the FOREVER clan Sonya army, preferably Edgar inc/TOS Nerdd.
 
Hmmm i see. Thanks Frothy.
Just keep in mind I'm really fucking bad and got 3-0'd in both of my MLG matches. So Idk if my opinion on the matchup means much. But literally all I played the whole weekend was Smoke vs Kabal and Smoke vs Kung Lao. I have no idea how I didn't break somebody's nose the whole weekend, it was so frustrating.
 

GGA Wafflez

the kid
Haha yeah i think 6-4 Sonya is about right. (People seem to hate .5's nowadays)

Do you really think Kung Lao is that bad of a MU for Smoke? I must admit i don't have as much Mu experience vs. him as i'd like to, but from who i have fought it seemed pretty even. I'm guessing because of Lao's spin blowing up sb on block, roll and divekick for moving in, and 21212 for meter building while we attempt to pressure him?

Any info you could provide would be much appreciated, thanks.







.... i love .5's
 
i
i agree with this

KT Smith have you ever asked Cdjr why he thinks Smoke beats Sonya. I persnoally feel she gives smoke a lot of problems but CDjr and riu 48 think that smoke wins. Riu48 do you still feel like Smoke still beats her because i have a hard time seeing how.
the only thing that i am sure is that sonya does not have the advantage in the matchup but it maybe a 5-5 i use to think smoke beat her because of his poke game and how much smoke build meter against her and i changed my mind because i found holes in smoke game where sonya can use her eh cartwheel very well but that was before this new reset with smoke that let him do so much damage and now i think i have to see how much this reset changes the matchup because before icould fight smoke without meter and if i was hit i only lost like 27-35 but now i am losing 50+ so i can not manage my meter the same way i use to anymore and this may give the advantage to smoke
 

G4S KT

Gaming4Satan Founder
Ok... I've seen people say that Jax loses to Kung Lao.

I say it's about even because their low hit boxes reduce both of their offense so that cancels out. Yea, you can't do many GP's but the point of GP's is to force jumps. KL is going to be jumping around like an asshole anyway.

Regardless, Jax might not be the best against KL but he certainly has more tools and does better in that MU than smoke does.
 

xSMoKEx

Coward Character User
After watching the CDjr and Maxter casuals where CDjr uses Liu Kang i was inspired (lol) so i am now using Liu. I looked into his bad MU's and he goes 5-5 with Cage, and Sonya and beats Jax. He does lose to KL and Kabal. A third as Jax would be perfect!
 

Pound IC

Noob
After watching the CDjr and Maxter casuals where CDjr uses Liu Kang i was inspired (lol) so i am now using Liu. I looked into his bad MU's and he goes 5-5 with Cage, and Sonya and beats Jax. He does lose to KL and Kabal. A third as Jax would be perfect!
Don't fall for the trap! I stopped playing smoke to work on my LK for a month or two and he is a terribly boring character. He's also just not very good. Playing 2 characters with horrible wakeup options is depressing :(

Edit: Also, I had a better time with my LK against kabal than against jax...
 

G4S KT

Gaming4Satan Founder
so I'm flip flopping again to say that Jax is worth knowing just to fight kabal. I honestly think Smoke v Kabal at the highest level is one of the worst MU's in the game.
 

M2Dave

Zoning Master
I am not here to contribute anything worthy. I only want to state that I am very happy that Smoke has difficult match ups vs. Cage, Kabal, and Sonya. These characters are awesome and make my tournament life a lot easier. That is all.
 

RiBBz22

TYM's Confirmed Prophet/Time-Traveler
I am not here to contribute anything worthy. I only want to state that I am very happy that Smoke has difficult match ups vs. Cage, Kabal, and Sonya. These characters are awesome and make my tournament life a lot easier. That is all.
You can add Kung Lao to your list and keep smiling
 

Death

Noob
Most players out there usually say smoke as 4 bad MUs and they are Cage, Kabal, Kung Lao and Sonya. Wouldnt Reptile be a good choice. He probably goes even with Cage/Kabal and Kung Lao. Chris Gs Reptile did beat REO a couple monthes ago. That MU cant be that bad for Reptile.

@KT, I dont know if Jax is a good alt for you. Jax loses to Smokes bad MUs such as Cage/Sonya and a lot of people say KL beats Jax or goes even and do you think Jax really beats Kabal? Maybe its just CDJr that beats REO.