Who do you get you Ermac MU exp from?
Uh, Slips. Before that, one of my longtime training partners was Krebs, who was easily one of the best Ermac players early on in the game's lifespan (he got 9th at CEO, and unfortunately he wasn't able to travel more). He all but quit playing MK9, but even now, he's easily one of the better Ermacs I've played. Regardless, feel free to tell me that Slips' Ermac doesn't qualify for MU experience.
Dash blocking in sounds fine on paper.
Dash blocking in sounds fine on paper because it's equally fine in practice. Ermac really has NOTHING to deter a single character in this game from steadily gaining ground against him, apart from an attack and grab mixup created by the throw (which still doesn't give him amazing damage, it just ejects the opponent to fullscreen distance again). This is reliable against certain characters, but against someone like Cyber Sub who can punish a blocked push from the range where it's a 50/50 with a dash in grab, it's ineffective. ONE blocked push, at that range, and Cyber Sub gets a free slide into an untechable knockdown and huge advantage. Ermac's only crossup defense, on knockdown, is Slips' EX lift option select, or a similar one I found with the push.
But what about when Cyber does get in? Ermac can just poke out and at somepoint may be able to push or lift.
He stays on Ermac's ass with minimal effort required, that's what.
Holy shit, is this really your rationale? Ermac can MAYBE poke out or fish for a lift at some point? If this argument held any weight whatsoever, against any character in the game, no one would consider Cage or Sonya to be threats. You can technically just poke out against either character to escape pressure and be home free, but play a top Sonya or Cage and tell me it's so easy to do. Moreover, it's difficult to force Cyber Sub to whiff punish when he's on you, as 2 1 and 2 1 1+2 are both zero on block and 2 1 is an advancing string. If Ermac pokes out, OH NO, what then? His D1 is only +1 on hit, and the only real mixup it gives him is between D1 into grab or D1 into back dash push. If Ermac attempts the push and guesses wrong, well shit, he's eating another slide and Cyber Sub gets to come in and pressure again. Fishing for a lift is also a fine way to get blown up for full combos, because if you aren't getting it on a whiff punish, you'd might as well commit to a guess. The ONLY time Ermac can consistently get a lift is if he reads or reacts to a parry, and Cyber Sub really has no reason to parry excessively against Ermac.
Also:
Also, Ermac does have decent pressure.
All credibility lost, in the blink of an eye.
Let's break this down:
- 1 2 hits high, so it can be poked out of. Pretty straightforward.
- 3 1 can be interrupted by an uppercut if Cyber Sub is in crouch block, every single time, meaning it's only safe to use after a JIP. Generally, the only time that'll happen is after the safe jump granted by a teleport that hits standing or a 3 1 2, which you probably won't get unless you land that initial safe jump. This string gets blown up, badly. The best part is that if you go for anything after a blocked 3 1 and Cyber Sub reads it, he can cross you up and hit confirm into the bomb trap for a meterless 55%. I'd say that kind of puts a dent in the risk/reward tradeoff for Ermac.
- B1 1 4 is slower than fucking molasses, so you're only going to get this reliably off a JIP or taking a chance on it in advantage situations (protip: You won't get many of these). It's also -4 on block, meaning Cyber Sub can B2 or B2 2 to check him on block afterward. It'll beat the lift, the push, 3 1, and pretty much anything else that isn't a D1. IAB and 1 2 can technically interrupt it if they're executed down to the frame. If he gets a D!, OH NO, back into the same unsafe attack/grab mixup where Ermac eats shit every single time he guesses wrong.
- F4 is disadvantage on block, and when you consider that there's literally no reason
not to crouch block against Ermac, that kind of kills its edge.
...Do I need to go on, or can we just safely assume all of Ermac's potential pressure strings are ass? I've played this character for a long, long time, and while I think he's comfortably in mid tier, it sure as shit isn't because of his pressure. Bottom line: Ermac survives by using the threat of the push to limit options against zoners and create attack/grab mixups against rushdown characters. Cyber Sub doesn't zone him, and he punishes the push with an attack that gives him a lot of advantage to continue pressing his offense. Cyber Sub wins this matchup, period. Pig and J360 both agree with me on this.
). But for the purpose of forming a two man team he wouldn't make the cut.
