Kabal counterpicks?

[lawgamer]

My friend is training Kabal and Kenshi for an upcoming local tournament. These chars are very dominant in MK9, but I believe there has to be counterpicks. I had success with Raiden, because he can't be pressured or zoned mindlesly. What other chars can fight Kabal well enough?

Note: We're no MLG proplayers here, so I'm not asking about the highest top level advice. My friend plays very well though. ND canceling and IAFs are both in his arsenal.

 

[miloPKL]

kung lao is best for kenshi and kabal

 

[Alien Substance]

lawgamer
These are your best options.

For Kabal: Kung Lao, Kratos (but he takes more effort than Lao for the reward), and maybe Kenshi.
For Kenshi: Kung Lao, Kabal, and probably Smoke.

 

[Deyrax]

lawgamer
These are your best options.

For Kabal: Kung Lao, Kratos (but he takes more effort than Lao for the reward), and maybe Kenshi.
For Kenshi: Kung Lao, Kabal, and probably Smoke.

Wrong. The answer is - gimmicks.

 

[xInfra Deadx]

My friend is training Kabal and Kenshi for an upcoming local tournament. These chars are very dominant in MK9, but I believe there has to be counterpicks. I had success with Raiden, because he can't be pressured or zoned mindlesly. What other chars can fight Kabal well enough?

Note: We're no MLG proplayers here, so I'm not asking about the highest top level advice. My friend plays very well though. ND canceling and IAFs are both in his arsenal.

There is no counterpick. Every matchup is going to be 4-6 or worse...but Lao, Reptile, Freddy, Kitana are probably your best bets.

 

[Braindead]

Sheeva, just for the lolz

 

[Son ov Timett]

Lao, that's about as close to even as it gets.

 

[WaywardStranger]

Skarlet competes with Kabal all day; its a 5-5 MU.

 

[Eh SnOwY]

KL

 

[Lulzlou]

There is no counter pick. The only way to beat kabal is to outplay him. Or play rusty kabals lol

As long as you aren't playing a 3-7 or worse you are fine.

Here is my weakness, no practice and tournament nerves. ;___;

 

[james1926]

Just continue with Raiden you will be ok. Counterpicks are overrated. Besides, tier list are different at non-top level.

 

[ABACABB]

MMH

 

[GamerBlake90]

lawgamer
These are your best options.

For Kabal: Kung Lao, Kratos (but he takes more effort than Lao for the reward), and maybe Kenshi.
For Kenshi: Kung Lao, Kabal, and probably Smoke.

Kenshi, a counter-pick against Kabal? Unless you're AK Pig Of The Hut or a pure Jedi, no fucking way.

There is essentially no counter-pick to Kabal. If there's any 5-5s against him, they are rare if not non-existent. I personally have Raiden and Kung Lao as my best chances of facing any Kabal - excluding the Kabal mirror, of course.

 

[Wemfs]

I'd say there is no true counter pick for Kabal, but the character with the best chance against him would be Kung Lao imo

 

[zaf]

You can try ermac. I feel the mu is even.

Magik how do you feel ermac kabal is after playing me?
Lulzlou how do you feel ermac kabal is aftr playing me at sj ?

 

[KIllaByte]

In one of them online tournaments, I switched to Ermac to play against some strong Kabal- and went hard with some super cool non-public Ermac gimmicks, and big meterless damage.
The safe jump from the 1, 3, 2 string helps immensely.
Another tactic that has worked for me, but requires near perfect play- is landing two Quan Chi rune traps in a three round fight.
It's two round wins, guaranteed, if you land the hit with three bars of meter. Spacing your air teleport might work, playing with the semi mind-game of teleport spacing.

 

[Metzos]

You can try ermac. I feel the mu is even.

Magik how do you feel ermac kabal is after playing me?
Lulzlou how do you feel ermac kabal is aftr playing me at sj ?

I really dont think its an even MU zaf. If you go by what tools each character has, Kabal far outweighs Ermac.

Full screen: Even, except if Kabal has meter. Saws can be insta tped on reaction.

Mid screen: Ermac wins, unless Kabal has meter and even then, Kabal can NDC to get near Ermac after a blocked TKP or projectile.

Up close: Kabal rapes Ermac, and he WILL get in eventually.

 

[zaf]

I really dont think its an even MU zaf. If you go by what tools each character has, Kabal far outweighs Ermac.
Full screen: Even, except if Kabal has meter. Saws can be insta tped on reaction.
Mid screen: Ermac wins, unless Kabal has meter and even then, Kabal can NDC to get near Ermac after a blocked TKP or projectile.
Up close: Kabal rapes Ermac, and he WILL get in eventually.

if you look at the mu that way it is still even.
even far
ermac wins mid
kabal wins close
thats pretty even

up close really is not that bad if you know how kabal works.
you will take chip damage but if you play it right you can really limit him from hitting you.
d1 lift works really well up close against him

i play this mu very differently now. i make my goal to drain kabals meter as a priority over his hp, because if you do this you can zone him relentlessly.

for example, at the start of the match if you get first hit. kabal now has 1 meter you have 2. you can zone relentlessly.
if he wants to ex ndc let him. you can brake the next hit, then you both have no meter and kabal has to work to get in.
he wont be building crazy meter either against ermac becaus ermac shuts down his meter building.
so it will take kabal a while to get more meter then he normally would.

 

[zaf]

Metzos
kabal may have great tools
but you can use them against him

 

[Metzos]

if you look at the mu that way it is still even.
even far
ermac wins mid
kabal wins close
thats pretty even

up close really is not that bad if you know how kabal works.
you will take chip damage but if you play it right you can really limit him from hitting you.
d1 lift works really well up close against him

i play this mu very differently now. i make my goal to drain kabals meter as a priority over his hp, because if you do this you can zone him relentlessly.

for example, at the start of the match if you get first hit. kabal now has 1 meter you have 2. you can zone relentlessly.
if he wants to ex ndc let him. you can brake the next hit, then you both have no meter and kabal has to work to get in.
he wont be building crazy meter either against ermac becaus ermac shuts down his meter building.
so it will take kabal a while to get more meter then he normally would.

Agreed, but you forget that Kabal shits meter for breakfast up close when he is pressuring and from afar when he is zoning. Ermac's down pokes being at minus frames really hurt him against Kabal when up close. Not to mention he can literally can cheap Ermac to death if he has meter for EX NDC frame traps.

I play the MU the same as you, but still it doesnt help if Kabal gets the momentum. Ermac does not win far and mid screen if Kabal has meter. You cannot throw TKP's and projectiles to check him cause of the fear of EX ND, which leads to 30% plus dmg to a reset, which means, free meter and free chip dmg. I dont know man i believe its a solid 6-4 Kabal at the highest lvl.

 

[zaf]

Agreed, but you forget that Kabal shits meter for breakfast up close when he is pressuring and from afar when he is zoning. Ermac's down pokes being at minus frames really hurt him against Kabal when up close. Not to mention he can literally can cheap Ermac to death if he has meter for EX NDC frame traps.

I play the MU the same as you, but still it doesnt help if Kabal gets the momentum. Ermac does not win far and mid screen if Kabal has meter. You cannot throw TKP's and projectiles to check him cause of the fear of EX ND, which lead to 30% plus dmg to a reset, which means, free meter and free chip dmg. I dont know man i believe its a solid 6-4 Kabal at the highest lvl.

i have no problem agreeing on a 6-4. i do think it is even but it being 6-4 does make sense.
however kabal either 6-4's or 7-3's most characters.
i think ermac is definitely a solid pick to fight kabal compared to the majority of the cast

 

[Metzos]

i have no problem agreeing on a 6-4. i do think it is even but it being 6-4 does make sense.
however kabal either 6-4's or 7-3's most characters.
i think ermac is definitely a solid pick to fight kabal compared to the majority of the cast

Yeah i agree.

 

[TheTetraSpirit]

I vote Reptile for a competitive pick against both of them.
He certainly doesn't win either match, but he has the ability to make each of them uncomfortable in just going into a business-as-usual mode.

That, plus nobody wants to be a top-tier douchebag.

 

[ForeverKing]

My friend is training Kabal and Kenshi for an upcoming local tournament. These chars are very dominant in MK9, but I believe there has to be counterpicks. I had success with Raiden, because he can't be pressured or zoned mindlesly. What other chars can fight Kabal well enough?

Note: We're no MLG proplayers here, so I'm not asking about the highest top level advice. My friend plays very well though. ND canceling and IAFs are both in his arsenal.

There is no such thing as counterpicking Kabal, Kabal beats every other character and wins every single matchup in the game. Technically Kabal counterpicks everyone lol. But the closest characters to doing decent vs him are probably Kitana, Kung Lao, Human Cyrax, Reptile.

As for Kenshi, alot of characters actually do decent vs him. Including Raiden, Reptile, Kung Lao, Freddy, Skarlet, Smoke, Noob, Cyrax and Scorpion

 

[trustinme]

am I the only one who thinks Shang tsung can fight kabal?