Smarrgasm
What's a Smarrgasm?
Okay so i really just wanna try to explain a lot of what is going on with the placement of characters and how people are ranking them. I think the major thing that is keeping people from understanding matchups and how characters are placed is the fact that everyone wants a ranking system going from 1-31 exactly and if they disagree then the list must be wrong. Bias is also a huge part in this because no one wants to believe their character is either too good or too bad. Another thing is that when people are ranking their character or discussing a matchup they are using their experiences which could be jaded by online play or the level of skill they are facing.
I wanna go into how i see this games character rankings and how i think it should be looked at. Everyone lately has been trying to say who is top 10 or who is bottom 10 and in this game that is just not possible and ill explain why. The first and most important reason is that no character is absolutely ass in this game. Any character can be played at a high level and be good. However, there is a difference between that and competing with what people consider the top 10 in a tournament setting at the highest level.
TOP 10
This term is thrown around wayyyy too much. IMO there are around 15 characters that fit this label of top ten and a subgroup of about 7-8 that are still a level above the other. Characters like Jax, Johnny, Kabal, Kenshi, Sonya, etc. all fit into this realm because they are undoubtedly good.
NOT TOP 10 (dont sue me ESPN)
After the 15 or so characters that scratch the realm of top 10 (or 15 in this case) there is a set of characters left over. People are calling this the mid tier or whatever. In truth this is the bottom tier. However, bottom tier does not mean bad. It just means that these 16 or so characters are all around the same level and should be used as what many pros call "utility" characters. These characters will have strengths that allow them to be good and even cover bad matchups for a main. Also, a team of these characters can be very powerful since each has certain strengths and since they may be less played, the matchup may be a little more ambiguous. In truth, none of these characters are bad. People are always saying jade, baraka, sheeva, stryker, etc. are all terrible. However, this is not necessarily true. These characters are just not as good as the upper echelon of characters.
So thats my thoughts on all of the character placement and tiers going on in MK. There are three tiers in total in this game but all are seperated by very little.
The top 7-8 are the ones that can run through tournaments alone and make it look easy.
The next 7-8 are just below that and are very close to challenging the above ones in every way.
The last 15-16 are characters that just have some major flaws but are still very good when used correctly.
Let me know what you guys think of my assessment on the current state of character placement and discussion.
EDIT-Im gonna go ahead and put down how i see the placement of characters as of now.
Upper tier- Kabal, Kenshi, Sonya, Johnny, Jax, Smoke
Mid Tier(barely below upper)-Kitana, Freddy, Sektor, Cyrax, Reptile, Raiden, Skarlet
Bottom tier-Baraka, Ermac, Jade, Kano, Liu Kang, Mileena, Nightwolf, Noob, Quan Chi, Rain, Scorpion, Shang, Sheeva, Sindel, Stryker, Sub Zero, Cyber Sub Zero
I wanna go into how i see this games character rankings and how i think it should be looked at. Everyone lately has been trying to say who is top 10 or who is bottom 10 and in this game that is just not possible and ill explain why. The first and most important reason is that no character is absolutely ass in this game. Any character can be played at a high level and be good. However, there is a difference between that and competing with what people consider the top 10 in a tournament setting at the highest level.
TOP 10
This term is thrown around wayyyy too much. IMO there are around 15 characters that fit this label of top ten and a subgroup of about 7-8 that are still a level above the other. Characters like Jax, Johnny, Kabal, Kenshi, Sonya, etc. all fit into this realm because they are undoubtedly good.
NOT TOP 10 (dont sue me ESPN)
After the 15 or so characters that scratch the realm of top 10 (or 15 in this case) there is a set of characters left over. People are calling this the mid tier or whatever. In truth this is the bottom tier. However, bottom tier does not mean bad. It just means that these 16 or so characters are all around the same level and should be used as what many pros call "utility" characters. These characters will have strengths that allow them to be good and even cover bad matchups for a main. Also, a team of these characters can be very powerful since each has certain strengths and since they may be less played, the matchup may be a little more ambiguous. In truth, none of these characters are bad. People are always saying jade, baraka, sheeva, stryker, etc. are all terrible. However, this is not necessarily true. These characters are just not as good as the upper echelon of characters.
So thats my thoughts on all of the character placement and tiers going on in MK. There are three tiers in total in this game but all are seperated by very little.
The top 7-8 are the ones that can run through tournaments alone and make it look easy.
The next 7-8 are just below that and are very close to challenging the above ones in every way.
The last 15-16 are characters that just have some major flaws but are still very good when used correctly.
Let me know what you guys think of my assessment on the current state of character placement and discussion.
EDIT-Im gonna go ahead and put down how i see the placement of characters as of now.
Upper tier- Kabal, Kenshi, Sonya, Johnny, Jax, Smoke
Mid Tier(barely below upper)-Kitana, Freddy, Sektor, Cyrax, Reptile, Raiden, Skarlet
Bottom tier-Baraka, Ermac, Jade, Kano, Liu Kang, Mileena, Nightwolf, Noob, Quan Chi, Rain, Scorpion, Shang, Sheeva, Sindel, Stryker, Sub Zero, Cyber Sub Zero
