Ketchup & Mustard: Choose Your Destiny -Sonya (mix-up queen)

[StormGoddess]

In the last of the current series of Choose Your Destiny, Leicester's favourite sons bring us a detailed breakdown of Ronda R-sorry, Sonya Blade!

The CYD series has been, without a doubt, the best MK11 content on the internet. If the boys keep this momentum and quality up going into MK11 proper, they'll somehow become even more invaluable to the scene than ever.

Aaaaaand if you want live, thorough breakdowns of the MK11 footage they captured, check out the broadcast from earlier today on: https://www.twitch.tv/pndketchup


EDITED AND PROMOTED BY CHARYBDIS

 

[Law Hero]

Lots of overheads/lows, cancels, and good projectiles. Seems very versatile and strong.

 

[ArcticTabasco]

On paper, Sonya seems (once again) like a character I would love to play. However, mixups/versatility aside, the character does nothing for me design or personality wise. She is wallpaper paste incarnate, as far as I am concerned. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[SaladPlateLover]

Weird that she hates Johnny so much. In mk9 she disliked him at first but he showed likable qualities as she warmed up to him.

 

[Circus]

Something to note before people start overreacting.

Sonya DOES have many 50/50s, but going through her movelist you will see that for every single mixup she has, one option is punishable.

In her mixup from B1 the second hit could be low or overhead (first hit also ducks under highs):
The overhead launches into full combo but is punishable. (-9)
The low doesn't launch and is safer on block. (-7. Only a few characters with 6frame D1s could punish, but with just a small poke)

The B234 string's third hit could be low or overhead:
The overhead is -2 on block which is crazy AND could be canceled like the video shows.
The low is literally -20 which is death on block.

134 has a low on the second hit, but doesn't lead into nothing but a little bit of damage. This is safe though and could be mixed into her arsenal because the string comes out quick enough to throw people off.


So please don't go crying about the 50/50s.

I love the way NRS are balancing the zoners by giving them slower pokes up close so they are vulnerable to rushdown characters (Skarlet), giving rushdown characters reasonable mixups and making them vulnerable to zoning (Subzero, Sonya, Geras), and making the more balanced-playstyle characters have great footsie tools for whiff punishing and that Street Fighter'like spacing game (Baraka, Raiden, Scorpion).

I hope you guys are seeing it too, because it has me excited af.

 

[SaltShaker]

The "no offense in MK11" propaganda in January should be all but dead now.

Sonya is here to remind you that if you thought you were getting away from MKX offense, your ass was sadly mistaken.

 

[leoj89]

Function over style . She's deceptively strong but boring . It makes sense.

 

[Krankk]

Weird that she hates Johnny so much. In mk9 she disliked him at first but he showed likable qualities as she warmed up to him.

The comic explained that more or less.

They went on a date, after they had defeated Shinnok. Few months later Sonya got pregnant. Few years later she was obsessing more and more with her work. Whenever someone called her to defend Earthrealm, she went to fight and stayed away for months, if not longer. Johnny was always home alone with Cassie. And every time Sonya returned, he asked her to stay and be a mother for Cassie. Let the others do the fighting. But that's where Sonya disagreed. In her mind she was doing the right thing. She was making the world a better place for Cassie, even at the cost of missing out on Cassies childhood.

So she never felt like she had Johnnys support in that regard. I think it was actually the exact opposite and she felt like he was blaming her for neglecting Cassie. Which I never felt like he did. Which is also one of the reasons I don't like Sonya as a character. She is not badly written, but she is written as a stubborn character, who doesn't accept critique and only wants to be surrounded by yes-men. These are not very appealing character traits, but Sonya happens to have them, which makes her realistic, yet ultimately unlikeable.

 

[ShepherdOfFire]

So please don't go crying about the 50/50s.

Is making a petition okay ?

 

[Espio]

As much as I love Sonya, she seems to be moving more and more away from her design I used to like so much.

There's no more leg grab or cartwheel? It seems like she loses something classic each game, but I thought someone said she had cartwheel in one of her variations or was it just not shown?

 

[kcd117]

The "no offense in MK11" propaganda in January should be all but dead now.

Sonya is here to remind you that if you thought you were getting away from MKX offense, your ass was sadly mistaken.

Her offense seems much more fair than the MKX standard tbh. She and Sub were the two mixup oriented characters in the build and they felt pretty balanced. Saying MK11 has no offense is laughable but the offense I experienced in this game is a long long shot from MKX.

The variety of her strings was the most interesting thing about her, and her dmg potential was pretty cool. With that said, for me, she felt like the weakest character in the build despite all the mixups.

 

[StormGoddess]

As much as I love Sonya, she seems to be moving more and more away from her design I used to like so much.

There's no more leg grab or cartwheel? It seems like she loses something classic each game, but I thought someone said she had cartwheel in one of her variations or was it just not shown?

if i remember correctly , Ed Boon was asked specifically about missing classic moves(like sonyas leg grab, bicycle kick ect) he stated that this was an incomplete build and nrs are still adding moves as they move forward.

 

[Marlow]

Cool. I think I'll play as her to start out with.

 

[StormGoddess]

Sorry not ed boon but Derek-

We’ve noticed many signature special-moves absent, such as Sub-Zero’s Ice Klone and Sonya’s Leg Grab, Kiss and Bicycle Kicks for example. Are these in the game?
*pause* - The characters will continue to be tweaked and evolve as the game goes on.


https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-kombat-tether/tkt-exclusive-mortal-kombat-11-interview-with-gameplay-designer-derek-kirtzic/2059818764116285/

 

[Roy Arkon]

The comic explained that more or less.

They went on a date, after they had defeated Shinnok. Few months later Sonya got pregnant. Few years later she was obsessing more and more with her work. Whenever someone called her to defend Earthrealm, she went to fight and stayed away for months, if not longer. Johnny was always home alone with Cassie. And every time Sonya returned, he asked her to stay and be a mother for Cassie. Let the others do the fighting. But that's where Sonya disagreed. In her mind she was doing the right thing. She was making the world a better place for Cassie, even at the cost of missing out on Cassies childhood.

So she never felt like she had Johnnys support in that regard. I think it was actually the exact opposite and she felt like he was blaming her for neglecting Cassie. Which I never felt like he did. Which is also one of the reasons I don't like Sonya as a character. She is not badly written, but she is written as a stubborn character, who doesn't accept critique and only wants to be surrounded by yes-men. These are not very appealing character traits, but Sonya happens to has them, which makes her realistic, yet ultimately unlikeable.

I would also like to add that Johnny is of course the joker type of a character, so at first glance Sonya looks like the more mature and serious of the two, but due to Sonya's stubbornness and her ineptitude to accept criticism despite her good intentions, all of the sudden Johnny becomes the more accountable, and eventually, the more mature and serious of the two, at least when it comes to the family matters, that is. All of this blurs the differences between Sonya and Johnny, and clearly shows how they complete each other as characters, and that makes both of them even more interesting and more well written.

 

[Poto2222]

Something to note before people start overreacting.

Sonya DOES have many 50/50s, but going through her movelist you will see that for every single mixup she has, one option is punishable.

In her mixup from B1 the second hit could be low or overhead (first hit also ducks under highs):
The overhead launches into full combo but is punishable. (-9)
The low doesn't launch and is safer on block. (-7. Only a few characters with 6frame D1s could punish, but with just a small poke)

The B234 string could end in a low or overhead:
The overhead is -2 on block which is crazy AND could be canceled like the video shows.
The low is literally -20 which is death on block.

134 has a low on the second hit, but doesn't lead into nothing but a little bit of damage. This is safe though and could be mixed into her arsenal because the string comes out quick enough to throw people off.


So please don't go crying about the 50/50s.

I love the way NRS are balancing the zoners by giving them slower pokes up close so they are vulnerable to rushdown characters (Skarlet), giving rushdown characters reasonable mixups and making them vulnerable to zoning (Subzero, Sonya, Geras), and making the more balanced-playstyle characters have great footsie tools for whiff punishing and that Street Fighter'like spacing game (Baraka, Raiden, Scorpion).

I hope you guys are seeing it too, because it has me excited af.

This is 100% spot on! And I'd like to add that her B23 has a GIGANTIC gap. You can easily just poke out of it or maybe even get a full combo of yours while she's in the middle of the animation, rendering the built-in mixup that comes later in that string basically useless.

The first time I did it I was like "Why would anyone use this slow-ass string?" lol Hopefully we can find a practical use for it later.

God, I miss her MK9 Military Stance so much. The Dive Kick too, but that thing was busted af so I understand. lol

 

[NeroOps]

The disappointment i have is that her arm locks are from counters not command grabs.
Her re-stand string looks promising and it doesn't cost meter but questionable if the grab connects on block tho.
Her overhead kick cancel seems better than her military stance cancel in mkx which is a plus.
It's great to see her having a air grab that's not so useless anymore, definitely could be useful for a air juggle starter or as a ender.
Her energy ring projectile charge cancel is questionable hopefully it's not bad like Jacqui's High Tech cancels.
Her air kick looks unsafe on block but looks great for a air juggle ender if meter burned. Gives me Sektor air grab vibes.

I'm still debating if i'm going to use her or not anyway.

 

[STRYKIE]

What's with the "mix-up queen" in the title? If it was to denote that her metagame had significantly changed then fair enough, but given that mixups were a big chunk of her core shtick in MK9/MKX, this was expected.

If I didn't know any better I'd be more interested in knowing the 'perceived playstyle' of other characters for threads on the Choose Your Destiny series. Especially characters like Skarlet or Geras who have relatively little background to go off.

 

[Poto2222]

I thought someone said she had cartwheel in one of her variations or was it just not shown?

She has Cassie's Flip Kick as her u2 Wake-up attack, so maybe that's what he/she was referring to.

Her re-stand string looks promising and it doesn't cost meter but questionable if the grab connects on block tho.

The grab only comes out on hit. On block or on whiff it's just the knee strike.

 

[Circus]

This is 100% spot on!

It's almost mildly embarrassing how much research I've done on every character in the demo build because I haven't even touched the demo yet.

I've just been looking up every scratchy phone cam video from the reveal event looking up frame data and movesets.

Obsessed...

If I didn't know any better I'd be more interested in knowing the 'perceived playstyle' of other characters for threads on the Choose Your Destiny series. Especially characters like Skarlet or Geras who have relatively little background to go off.

Skarlet is the demo build's only true zoner. Her tentacle move is only -6 which is nuts. Throw in the fact that her low projectile ducks under high projectiles, she has a regular high projectile herself, and she has great mid range strings.

People thought Raiden was a zoner but he has a little bit of many playstyles in his core build just like Scorpion.

That lightning move that Rewind was using against Sonic Fox to zone him out was -19. That's very punishable by things like Slide, Sand Trap, or any rushing special.

Geras is a mid ranged grappler who has great frame data on his moves so he could tick grab and force reactions from mid range like Zangief from Street Fighter. He doesn't play anything like any previous MK character because this will be the first time a character with a far command grab has been featured in a Mortal Kombat past Mk9. Ive theory crafted so many things with him in my head and I'm sure he's going to be a beast. He's definitely who I'm most excited for.

 

[Espio]

She has Cassie's Flip Kick as her u2 Wake-up attack, so maybe that's what he/she was referring to.


The grab only comes out on hit. On block or on whiff it's just the knee strike.

That's huge context that makes a big difference, thanks sir.

Sorry not ed boon but Derek-

We’ve noticed many signature special-moves absent, such as Sub-Zero’s Ice Klone and Sonya’s Leg Grab, Kiss and Bicycle Kicks for example. Are these in the game?
*pause* - The characters will continue to be tweaked and evolve as the game goes on.


https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-kombat-tether/tkt-exclusive-mortal-kombat-11-interview-with-gameplay-designer-derek-kirtzic/2059818764116285/

I feel like that doesn't tell me that the moves will be in the game for sure or not. Sub-Zero has that orb attack that appears to already function like ice clone does except without the massive size of clone so I'm not sold on that putting concerns to rest per se, but it is a good interview and good information so we hopefully do get those classic moves for Sonya back in some capacity.

 

[Wetdoba]

Thank god for no dive kick or arc kick, time to work your way in for this mix

 

[Roy Arkon]

That's huge context that makes a big difference, thanks sir.




I feel like that doesn't tell me that the moves will be in the game for sure or not. Sub-Zero has that orb attack that appears to already function like ice clone does except without the massive size of clone so I'm not sold on that putting concerns to rest per se, but it is a good interview and good information so we hopefully do get those classic moves for Sonya back in some capacity.

Sub-Zero's new ice orb actually takes the place of the Ice Klone, it was already confirmed by 16-Bit, so some moves are already not coming back.

 

[M.D.]

Lol you're not getting the ice clone, better start actually learning the game instead of autopilot braindead winning.

 

[SaSSolino]

Sonya has been the character I hated fighting the most in both MK9 and MKX, and it looks like she wants to keep that streak going.