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Having a secondary give you a psychological advantage?

STORMS

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
Just wanted to get some opinions here...

if you main one character and have no secondaries... you have no where to go if you're getting beaten... example: Sub vs Kit

If you have a main and at least one secondary... you got another character to go to

You guys think having a secondary is a necessity in this game?
 
NKZero

NKZero

Noob
STORMS said:
Just wanted to get some opinions here...

if you main one character and have no secondaries... you have no where to go if you're getting beaten... example: Sub vs Kit

If you have a main and at least one secondary... you got another character to go to

You guys think having a secondary is a necessity in this game?
Click to expand...
I actually made a thread entitled TYM Teams and the poll question was d'you need a secondary haha. The general consensus was that yes you do need one, but many people believed that it depended on who your main was. If you already main somebody like Raiden (who has very few bad match-ups) then it isn't 100% necessary. But anyways you still see all the top players such as REO etc. still having a team of players for counter-picking purposes.

So I'd say yes but you can survive with one if you have a main who goes even or better with the vast majority of the cast.
 
Qwark28

Qwark28

Joker waiting room
I believe everyone does mistakes,with enough mistakes from someone,you win.

focusing on your matchups and character for twice as long,the mistake probability is reduced.

therefore some matchups become less bad for you personally.

^not trolling.
 
DanCock

DanCock

Cock Master!!
Yes I feel it is. I'm trying to work on one myself. Kung/cage/kitana to go with sindel.


Sent from my iPad 2 using Tapatalk
 
D

Death

Noob
Yes secondary is very important. Knowing 2 characters at the highest levels is a plus. 3-4 characters is too much in my opinion. I think knowing 3-4 could hurt you because it takes time away from leveling up with your 2 best.

I think if your 2 best characters have a few disadv MUs then you should stick it out instead of relying on a pocket character thats an adv that you may not know well.
 
Seapeople

Seapeople

This one's for you
It might give you an actual advantage, but if you only use one character it's probably because you think you can handle all of their bad matchups and don't need to resort to a secondary.
 
Zyphox

Zyphox

What is going on guys, Ya Boi Zyphox here.
i made a thread searching for an alt/secondary character for cage players, so far my alts have been lui kang, jax, kabal, kenshi, sonya, quan chi and raiden. my best character cage by far outclasses my other characters in terms of my ability to use them. i am in a predicament because i struggle against kenshi, kabal and kitana as cage. jax goes even or better with kabal but loses to kenshi, kabal is kenshi's worst match up, kang loses to kenshi and kabal, my sonya just sucks and i can't focus with kabal too much because the difference for me offline and online is like night and day so icant practice MU or get exp with kabal online same with jax. quan loses to everyone 4-6 lol i feel like i should use kabal but its so hard to get good with him not being able to play offline with anyone. lui kang seems the best bet for me, very underrated, kabal can't zone him but kenshi beats kang. i think i need to master 3 characters if i were to counter pick at a tourney. am thinking cage ,kang and jax but i would have a hard time with kenshi. should i develop a counter kenshi specifically for him? i dont lose that bad against kenshi with cage but i haven't played pigs or blackulas kenshi lol. am stuck :(
 
STORMS

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
I was going to go with my old UMK3 fav... Sektor but my other options are KL and Quan...

as much as I love Ermac... I feel as though knowing that "welp, this is my best" kinda screws me psychologically, again knowing that I'm basically cornered without options
 
Mr. Mileena

Mr. Mileena

Noob
Depends who you play. Every character in this game is viable, but low to mid tier characters imo, need to have a secondary to back them up.

but for maybe, let's say the top 10 or so, they have enough tools to win without counterpicking, despite facing a bad MU

If I can make it to EVO, i'm going full force just with Kitana
 
rev0lver

rev0lver

Come On Die Young
My main thing is, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to work your way through any matchup. People give up on things too quickly.
 
Espio

Espio

Kokomo
No I don't think it's a necessity to have counterpicks in this game, it's a personal choice as opposed to necessary.

I also don't think it gives you a psychological advantage, the player might know the match up better than you.

My secondary character is a character I just like to play, they're not there to cover bad match ups, they're there to mix up my gameplay for fun primarily.

I refuse to play characters I don't like, I'd rather grind out my bad match ups and figure out ways to make them winnable.

I play about 6 characters..I'm solid with three, decent with three and scrubby with the seventh (Sindel), I play none of them to counter other people's characters because I like them all and just like to mix it up.
 
Miss Kanzuki

Miss Kanzuki

*KANZUKI GOON SQUAD*
I've played as Ermac, Jax, Sonya, Sindel, Kitana, Rain, and Scorpion. Playing as other characters helps you better read moves, and perhaps a confidence boost maybe? imo anyway. Therefore to answer your question yea it does help to "play as" other characters but it's better "to be a player" of only one.

i.e. selecting/playing as baraka versus being "A baraka player" are two completely different things xD
 
Mikemetroid

Mikemetroid

Who hired this guy, WTF?
Yes, it sucks though that the only other character that I know as well as I do Cage is Stryker...

Stryker aint doin me too good at tournies, but I'm working on him.
 
HGTV DrFlash44

HGTV DrFlash44

Quan Cheese!!!
I think a secondary is only really helpful only if your character has matches worse than 4:6. For example I main quan chi who has the bad matches of cage and kenshi. I counter pick with reptile who is 5:5 with cage 6:4 with kenshi. I realize that Kabal would be a much better counterpick, but I personally don't like him and there are so many good Kabals out there that would blow me up in a mirror match.
 
McNasty

McNasty

Moist.
Does pamela anderson have back problems?

The benefit is the select screen mind games associated with hidden select. If someone like 16bit goes hidden its like "oh what he doesnt want me to see which costume hes gonna pick." A guy like REO hides his cursor fear insues.
 
Under_The_Mayo

Under_The_Mayo

Master of Quanculations
STORMS said:
I was going to go with my old UMK3 fav... Sektor but my other options are KL and Quan...

as much as I love Ermac... I feel as though knowing that "welp, this is my best" kinda screws me psychologically, again knowing that I'm basically cornered without options
Click to expand...
Storms you play quan? I have some special on the way!
 
GamerBlake90

GamerBlake90

Blue Blurs for Life!
Shouldn't even be a question.

MLG from the end of March pretty much shows that counter-picking happens a lot in high-level play. You're gonna need some insurance if you run into dead-ends. Why do you think I play so many characters despite Sonya being my primary?

As of right now, I'm leaning towards Raiden and Rain as potential side resorts.

I don't know about a "psychological" advantage, though. For your secondary and/or tertiary to even count, you need to put effort into learning those characters and recognizing how the match-ups work. Simply having back-up characters alone won't get you anywhere if you're not accustomed to them.
 
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