People think Raiden loses to Cyber Sub for the silliest goddamn reasons, don't listen to a word you've heard about that matchup. I've played both sides of that matchup extensively, both with my Cyber Sub against Perfect Legend's Raiden, and my Raiden against J360's Cyber Sub. I might've played him against Usedforglue a couple times as well, I can't remember.
Raiden vs. Cyber Sub is strictly a 5-5. Most people seem to think it's in Cyber Sub's favor because 1) he can parry in between two of Raiden's strings and 2) he can punish the teleport with instant air divekick. Well, the problem with both of these concepts is 1) Raiden has no fucking reason to be throwing those strings out and 2) Raiden can punish any blocked divekick with a superman, 100% of the time, no matter how low on the hitbox it connects. When I play PL's Raiden, I CANNOT divekick him under any circumstances, unless it's in reaction to a fireball. I get blown up for trying to do it any other time.
Honestly, I don't even know where this idea stems from. Raiden should never be throwing out 3 3 4 unless it's to punish on block, and he should never be throwing out B3 1 2 unless it's to whiff punish or counter-poke. As for the instant air divekick idea, holy shit, has anyone actually TRIED this against a decent Raiden player? Like, if I play a Cyber Sub with my Raiden, I welcome them to try this, because I promise you I'll take them for free if they do. First off, an instant air divekick is going to come out in about 8 or 9 frames at best; that's not any better than Kenshi's charge, Lao's 2 1, Sonya's 1 1 4 or Setktor's 1 2 B1. Hell, Cyber Sub's own 1 1 string is 9 frames. On top of that, if Raiden just teleports into block, there's a very good chance the divekick will just get blocked and subsequently blown up. Also, if the divekick fails to autocorrect, he can blow you up with a superman. The only other edge Cyber Sub has over Raiden is that Cyber Sub can parry all of Raiden's combo starters, but if Raiden baits a parry, he can punish it on reaction with a superman, or a V blast into safe jump. Neither one can be parried for whatever reason. In fact, if you're really quick and you're really looking for it, you can EX shocker to punish a parry for full combos. The irony is that of all the Raidens I've ever played, Justin Wong played the matchup best, and he'd never played a Cyber Sub before in his life.
Sonya and Kabal really aren't bad matchups at all. If Sonya whiffs a D4 or cartwheel in open space, Raiden can superman to beat either, and he can also whiff punish a cartwheel with B3 1 2 for full combos, if he can bait it. The teleport is a pretty solid answer to a lot of what makes Sonya so dumb, and the fact that he can punish her D4 by playing footsies to make it whiff is a huge asset. 5-5 matchup, IMO. The same is also true of Kabal. As far back as it may be, I feel Maxter vs. Erik Warda from Season's Beatings does a great job of illustrating why. There's really nothing Kabal can do that Raiden can't use the teleport to get around, so he just needs to use it patiently to get in and start his offense. Again, I think this is a 5-5.
Raiden has all the tools necessary to beat any character in the game. He has a solid poke tool via F2 3 and F2 4, he has a great whiff punisher via B3 1 2 (which can also be used to counter-poke after a blocked D3), and whatever the B3 1 2 won't catch, superman will. Teleport is pretty much the greatest counter-zoning and counter-poking option in the entire game, and just having it puts him at advantage against most of the cast. Against many characters, Raiden can honestly just sit at fullscreen once he has a life lead, and his opponent is forced to give chase; in the case of someone like Kenshi, Kitana, Mileena or Freddy, they can get blown up for attempting to zone him. Hell, even Kabal gets knicked by this. Bottom line: Raiden has everything he'd ever need to compete at the highest level. He's just all-around solid.
. So weird dude, two others this week have answered my post with something irrelevant. Na dude thanks anyways.
. Nooo. thanks for the info anyways dude. Yeah and it seems this match might be 5-5 and no longer 6-4 CSZ. Just take an arrow to the knee instead.
