CHOMP CHOMP HISS! - The Reptile Matchup Thread

[Wenis of Lore]

i don't know if this has been mentioned yet in any reptile threads, and it's certainly not a solution to the knife/ball spam tecniques of kano;

but i've been playing a lot of jax and kanos lately..... and as you know their x-ray is unblockable and has a hit absorbtion of at least 1 hit right? well if you can pressure these guys enough in a corner and crowd them, they'll try to do their unblockable x-ray. but the trick is, you KNOW they're going to do it because your opponent isn't going to get up with a block. hell, he thinks you have NO OPTIONS if you crowd him(can't block or attack), so he does it. and as your opponent does their x-ray on wake-up, you do your elbow dash. they absorb the hit, and you get past them to avoid the grab and 43% damage! everytime i've done it, it has been so satisfying.

 

[Sabin]

ouch. i hope i dont run into any kanos at ceo lol

 

[BATTLEBEAR]

these guys enough in a corner and crowd them, they'll try to do their unblockable x-ray. but the trick is, you KNOW they're going to do it because your opponent isn't going to get up with a block.

while this may work often in your experience, Its a little bit harder to pressure any high level pro into x-raying. They are quite aware of the risk of it missing and plus i dont thing anyone should waste meter against reptile. Even then, Its pretty hard to get kano in a corner to begin with.

 

[Wenis of Lore]

true about getting kano in a corner, friggin' hard. but reptile is trying to put the pressure on anyways rather than stand back and get knifed. it's his better option for survival. you can't go wrong with the cr+4 into reptilian hand to put the pressure on after knock down(i dunno if his wake-up ball would stuff that or not..... must test). it's not an end all be all of course..... it's worked wonders with jax. and really i don't see why they wouldn't do their x-ray if i was in their face(not all the time of course). but if they're standing back knife/up-balling a ton, i'd say it's safe to assume they may panic when crowded. it's just an escape manuever anyhow and not a set up, so really kano has little to worry about in the end.

..... or you could just elbow dash when you see the x-ray coming i guess. it'd have to be a fast input though.

 

[BATTLEBEAR]

well cr.4 you have to be careful with because even though its a fantastic poke, they can bait YOU into using it so they x-ray you.....which sucks. On their wakeup, i tend to do his sweep against some characters. Its actually pretty amazing against wakeup

 

[Wenis of Lore]

thanks i'll start trying that.... his leg sweep is way cooler than everyone elses lame regular sweep anyways.

lol, drop kick FTW!

 

[THTB]

Reptile's sweep is unique in that it goes under highs and goes over lows at the same time. In other words, Reptile can stuff his own wakeup lol.

 

[EGP Wonder_Chef]

Has anyone ever seen two Reptile sweeps at the same time? I wonder what happens.

 

[Cburnham81]

Has anyone ever seen two Reptile sweeps at the same time? I wonder what happens.

I Have seen this! The other night I played about a 10 game mirror match and we both performed a sweep at the same time...It gave me the hit and the damage...but I'm not sure what caused me to be the winner of that battle. I went for a throw and it whiffed and then we both performed a sweep... It could of just been lag or maybe the timing was perfect that I performed it a split second after his and it caught him on the way down... IDK... it was online and we all know what kind of wierd laggy stuff happens sometimes

 

[CitizenSnips]

I love the drop kick. I used to think it was bit too slow, but after using it a lot and seeing Reptile matrix dodge like a boss I started to love it.

 

[THTB]

MK does not have a trade system...if a trade situation occurs in MK9, the winner will always be a certain player. That certain player is determined randomly at the start of the round.

This is probably the most luck-based factor of MK9.

Also, finally played a Kitana that could iAF consistently. It's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be...I do think it's an even matchup. Yes, air fan comes out fast, but the fact that a jump is required kinda offsets the quick startup to the point where it's practically ground fan status at its best in terms of quickness. So, it's very possible to duck and then acid spit to catch her in the air. And if she's off slightly on the timing, forceball can be used to duck the air fan. So zoning is not a battle we lose...IMO we slightly win it.

At footsies range, the game is probably slightly in Kitana's favor. Her poke range is huge...d1 hits from so far away and f21 whiff punishes well. We have dash for whiff punishing, though, and d4 xx acid hand is servicable. It's a bit tough at this range.

 

[MK_Anonymous]

im having problems with strings to pressure with with reptile, im new but have the basic bnb combos down, just need to learn how to pressure on characters, character specifics are lovely, just what pokes strings safe on block etc, thanks!

 

[THTB]

Generally, 321 is your go-to string you can hitconfirm from into his dash combos. If it's blocked, you have the option of ending with acid hand or slide for a high/low mixup (Acid hand is much more worth it in the end, since it's safe and the mixup can be fuzzy guarded). Or you can use the string to set up other options such as tick throws, frame traps, etc. 321 itself is also safe on every hit.

1221/12b1 is a good mixup in the corner. If the opponent does not block low, they eat constant 12b1. When they do block low, they can end up eating 1221, which leads to a combo.

Invisibility is really useful in getting players to panic a bit. They'll have a harder time seeing you, so it can make things difficult for them as far as spacing, and people will play risky so that they aren't randomly hit with stuff. Invisibility can be cancelled into from your strings, so during a combo, say you end it with 321. Instead of cancelling to slide, you can just cancel to invisibility.

Also, elbow dash is VERY good. It is the fastest move in the game, bar none, but it is unsafe on block...so be careful how you use it. Sneak it somewhere where you'll catch the opponent not blocking from time to time.

 

[MastererBetty]

d4 to green hand is a incredible poke that can be used on wake up, a whiffed elbow dash or to build pressure in the corner

 

[EGP Wonder_Chef]

Also, elbow dash is VERY good. It is the fastest move in the game, bar none,

Technically it's the same speed as CSZ's Counter.

 

[THTB]

Is it? Wasn't aware of that.

 

[Milk]

Well due to AE dropping I haven't been showing MK as much love as I should, but playing friendlies with all of our locals every Thursday so I will start being active again! Yayyy!

 

[RapZiLLa54]

Finally went to a gathering and played some peeps. I fared pretty well but out of all the match-ups I faced one thing that was bothering me with Kabal. Can you not fully punish a blocked dash? His head tilts back and for some reason I could never get the 321 to hit. Is there a really small window or is this an elbow dash punish strictly?

 

[Kakimori]

I've always felt that a good Mileena was my personal worst matchup as Reptile. You can't zone her. Her ball goes under acid spit and forceballs for a full combo, and her teleport kick punishes your projectiles so effectively that there's literally no safe time to use them. I was getting punished by her wakeup teleport kick for using fast forceball after a connected elbow dash, which is safe against most characters. Spending a bar of meter to charge up a slow forceball can catch her sometimes since ball can't go under it, but it's very situational.

So you basically have to rush her down instead of using projectiles. From full screen, teleport kick or sais can counter a jump-in, and ball gets priority over elbow dash, so if you're not careful about when you ED to close distance, you eat a full combo. As we all know, Reptile has one of the worst dashes in the game, so she'll just spam sais for chip damage if you try to dash block. I've basically been reduced to blocking and punishing, and the occasional perfect read that doesn't get punished. So hard to get any sort of flow started against her.

 

[THTB]

Finally went to a gathering and played some peeps. I fared pretty well but out of all the match-ups I faced one thing that was bothering me with Kabal. Can you not fully punish a blocked dash? His head tilts back and for some reason I could never get the 321 to hit. Is there a really small window or is this an elbow dash punish strictly?

It's possible to punish it with 321.

 

[Sabin]

need advice for liu, cyrax, kung kano today for the tourney

 

[GNG Iniquity]

I've always felt that a good Mileena was my personal worst matchup as Reptile.

Ditto. I dread playing Mileenas, such an unnatural matchup for my playstyle with Reptile. Just feels weird blocking and punishing constantly with Reptile; but that's the only way I know how to beat her. Block a roll, put a FB 32 FB 321 slide out, easy 27% right there also. Her EX roll hits mid so that generally throws me the hell off so you need to watch for that. In my experience, they're also just itching to throw you too on a blocked telekick; so it requires a lot of throw teching as well.

Her mid strings are nasty too...so you have to be wary of those.

 

[THTB]

Kano: Blocked upballs should always get punished by dash. And a fireball war is gonna be near-impossible to win. Do the best you can to get a life lead, then make Kano have to come to you.

Cyrax: No projectile wars unless from fullscreen, even then be careful. Never let Cyrax get a blocked JP...do everything you can to avoid that scenario...jump away, dash under his crossups.

Kung: Basically dash is gonna be your best friend, since dash deals with a lot of his options. Low hat up close is punishable by dash, dash avoids jump-ins, dash gets away from EX teleport...lol.

Liu: It's hard to win this match from far, since low fireball pretty much makes it hard to even get a projectile on screen. You're probably gonna want to get close. When up close, be aware of his parry, do d4 xx acid hand to get him off of attempting to use parry. Once you've conditioned him to stay away from parry, then you should be free to do whatever. If he's pressuring you, be aware of f12. After a blocked string he can f12 and you can't jump out. Any other move is a free crossup jump. Also, take advantage of dash in this particular situation.

 

[Kakimori]

Yeah, if she just throws out random teleport kicks and balls, it's easy to beat her down, but if she mostly uses sais and only teleport/balls on reaction, then uses good strings/low pokes (god her low pokes!)/throws in close, I have a really hard time.

Isn't it possible to get a 32 FB starter after a roll? Also, I don't have enough experience against EX roll, but is it punishable or safe on block?

 

[Sabin]

yeah i played exactly like u said in the kano match to qualify...everything else will keep in mind. thx