Panque
Random foreign guy
You got it all wrong. I think saying that one saying that he lost because of his character is one of the stupidest thing that could be be said. No one forces anyone to main a character. If anything, that "one" lost because he picked the wrong character for him.On current patch, I can go back and forth with good players and all their characters as Sub-Zero, apart from when I play against a few like Foxy and Jay. That's not the character though, that's just them being better and as I say, it really wouldn't matter who I played, the results would be the same. There are plenty of people who are better than me at the game so I try not to blame the character I play or the one I lose to. Sub-Zero can compete, honestly. I understand the frsutration as I;'ve been frustrated lots of times with Sub but he's still good. As an example, I've played against good Jax players, and I think Sub beats Jax which is apparently a matchup he loses according to many. It's all about reads with Sub. His damage sucks but you have to use what you have. I am convinced good reads are way more important than a few more points of damage here and there, anyway.
Also, remember that Cyrax doesn't have the ice clone and he's probably one of the worst to compare Sub to, anyway, just because he's retardedly broken, lol. I don't want Sub-Zero to be a broken character like that.
This doesn't means that you have to cover all the flaws your character has and say that he is better than he really is. Really, even Jade can win if she makes good enough reads. The difference is that while cyrax can kill you with one or two good reads, you have to make 4+ good reads to win a round. While cage can make a good read, get in and take the round with his pressure, sub has to knock his opponent down at a point and watch out for wakeup attacks, Xups, and all that shit, making another read. Plus, if the opponent has meter there is a big probability he can do something safe and avoid pressure, whoever he is.
If sub is considered any good, is because guys like tom, shory, marvaz, etc took him to the highest possible level. Still, no Sub will ever win a major again, unless new tech is found (I hardly think we will see that) or when most top players move on to other games (might happen). If you manage to do good with sub against good players, it's because you are good period.
About the comparison with cyrax, the net is basically a running ice-clone, a mix of both the blast and the clone really. Plus if it hits the opponent in the air with it, cyrax still has a lot of time to get to the opponent (and durr, teleport). same goes with kabal's dash, and other moves with similar effect on the opponent, while all sub will really get is a slide. Even scorpion's spear will hit opponents falling down and will grant you a full combo. Also, those moves won't whiff if the opponent is close to you, while SZ can get really punished by doing an ice clone to close to the opponent. I know i'm comparing sub with the S tier, but it's where the differences get more evident. I only brought Cyrax in first because he has a projectile with similar properties and also suffers from damage scaling (Imagine if he didn't!). Considering that, unlike Cyrax SZ already has subpar damage to begin with, the scaling is ridiculous. I'm not asking for 100% resets here, I'm just complaining that they manage to nerf an already very nerfed damage a little more while they didn't took cyrax' 2nd net for example. It was ok when we still had the reset and not everyone had armor, but now it's mostly hopeless trying to say that this character should be rated any higher than mid-tier.
Sub Zero is pretty good at a lot of things. Pokes, pressure and corner pressure come to mind. But he is definitively not the best in any of those things. Plus he has a big amount of flaws. Mid-tier character, if that much. Adapts quite well in most matches but you will never be able to take him to the next level.