Curious: Why no love for MK9 Tag Team?

[That__John__Guy]

I've been following competitive MK9 play for over a year now. After tons of majors, minors, casuals, fundraisers, etc., it struck me that I never see Tag Team mode being used. Ever. Maybe I missed it, but I can't think of a single MK9 Tag Team tournament event in the last year. Even on the long fundraising streams, it seems every variety of MK9 is explored but this one.

Particularly now, post-EVO 2013, I see players trying to keep the game alive and 'spice up' MK9 by holding low-tier tournaments or having other rules variants, but still no Tag Team. It seems like a natural choice. Each person has not one, but two characters to master, plus there are a ton of different Tag Team-only moves that seem untapped. That holds some definite interest for me to watch some of the cool tag-in combos available. The Tag Team idea itself is quite popular and integral to some other popular fighting games, Tekken Tag and UMvC3 being clear examples, but not so much here.

So, I'm curious, why does the Tag Team mode for MK9 get no love? Is there some kind of glitch or other reason that the mode isn't fun or viable?

 

[FrothyOmen]

It's completely broken. Infinites everywhere.

 

[xInfra Deadx]

^^ This guy gets it.

 

[chessmaster]

I wonder the same thing because I love the tag team idea. But yeah I guess it's full infinites and whatnot. But I don't understand, why not just ban them? Of course it wouldn't apply online but still.

 

[AK Black Preon]

In 2 on 2. MUs then get ridiculous as all hell. A team of Cyrax/Kabal has such a HUGE advantage. That and variables of hot tag combos given the game's current flaws it isn't hard to find a team that shuts down everything. The level of play from any player would nearly have to double to overcome bad matchups. Especially sicne you still only have 3 bars. Also a cyrax bar and dream killed character..now you got to fight Cyrax & (Insert character here) it gets stupid real fast. But I would still like to see some more tag for casuals sake.

 

[xKhaoTik]

Cage/ermac/sub-zero + scorpion = lol

 

[GamerBlake90]

Infinite combos pollute this game's tag mode. Of course they all cost meter so as to be possible, but it's not like acquiring meter is a difficult task in this game. Besides, the general interest lies in one-versus-one.

 

[FrothyOmen]

I wonder the same thing because I love the tag team idea. But yeah I guess it's full infinites and whatnot. But I don't understand, why not just ban them? Of course it wouldn't apply online but still.

It's not as easy as just "banning infinites." How do you deal with Scorpion then? Is he not allowed to use his hellfire assist at all? Is he only allowed to do it in the neutral game, and not cancelled off of any strings? Is he only allowed to do it off of some and not all? How many reps is he allowed to do? What constitutes an "infinite" and not "an inescapable reset combo" (i.e. smoke resets)?

It's too hard to make a fair rule like that, and even harder to enforce. You cannot put a hard ban on it, really.

Soft bans aren't really that different either really. Two players can agree "doing this particular setup is lame and broken" and they make a gentlemanly agreement not to abuse it. However that's just that -- a gentleman's agreement. There is no punishment for playing dirty at any given point other than it being frowned upon.

I agree with you in spirit, but there's just too much potential for fuzziness and people being lame that nobody really wants to devote themselves to trying it outside of local scenes I think. You'll never see it at a major lol

 

[Ironsoulsmasher]

Infinite combos pollute this game's tag mode. Of course they all cost meter so as to be possible, but it's not like acquiring meter is a difficult task in this game. Besides, the general interest lies in one-versus-one.

kabal and cage have a meterless infinite lol just to add to the broken-ness

 

[GamerBlake90]

kabal and cage have a meterless infinite lol just to add to the broken-ness

All the worse!

Thank goodness tag mode was outlawed...

 

[AK Black Preon]

Also keep in mind those other games you brought up with tag modes, were balanced with TAG mode at the very least in mind. Not so much with MK, it was balanced...

... "Balanced"

With single player in mind, so yeah. Last thought I had about it.

 

[Euphoric]

It sucks.

 

[xInfra Deadx]

kabal and cage have a meterless infinite lol just to add to the broken-ness

Substitute Cage with Ermac or Sub Zero and you still have meterless infinites.

Tag mode is a joke.

 

[AK Black Preon]

xInfra Deadx what about Noob Saibot doesn't his (string) tag block disabler break the game even further..especially with characters like quan chi?

 

[Ironsoulsmasher]

Substitute Cage with Ermac or Sub Zero and you still have meterless infinites.

Tag mode is a joke.

ya same thing pretty much.

 

[xInfra Deadx]

xInfra Deadx what about Noob Saibot doesn't his (string) tag block disabler break the game even further..especially with characters like quan chi?

I think so...but i'm not entirely sure.

TONY-T

 

[Gengar]

Scorpion is beyond S tier in tag. there are all sorts of crazy infinites everywhere

that being said, the game has breakers and marvel has infintes. far as i know there are very few set that also allow you to reset the 2nd character as they come in. i think that because there are so many infintes that it could be fun to watch all the crazy set ups and shit that people do. but adversely, i mean, scorpions assist you can do resets off of even on block.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

It's completely broken. Infinites everywhere.

Pretty much. 1V1 MK has enough problems. Tag Kombat just amplifies everything.

 

[Eddy Wang]

This is also why:

on 22:31 mark beyond

 

[Wemfs]

Because it's broken as fuck.

 

[TONY-T]

I think so...but i'm not entirely sure.

TONY-T

nOOB and Scorpion are probably the 2 most broken characters in tag. Smoke, Cyrax, jax, subzero, quan chi, kratos, shang tsung are all broken also. Im sure there is more, these are just off the top of my head.

Tag is still way more fun then 1 vs 1. some of the tag combos i use to be able to do in matches were mad fun!

 

[AZ MotherBrain]

Tag is indeed very busted, but very interesting, I would think it would be a good idea to have a tag tournament,maybe even an online one. Perhaps having a tag tournament could bring some variety to mk9. I mean that game is busted no matter how you play it, why not try something new?

 

[Cossner]

http://www.twitch.tv/kombatnetwork/b/344814092

This was pretty hype I think maybe.

 

[bloodsport]

i think tag is fun

with that being said it's broken as hell, so much fuckery goes on in tag

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

It's fun to fuck around with. My team is reptile and cage. Use reptile for meter building, and then use cage with reptiles ex slow forceball to rush down. More fun than infinites. But you can't play it seriously.