Unless you're playing a top tier character, in a game where the top tiers are incredibly well rounded, being a character loyalist in any fighting game is very hard these days, especially if you want to compete at a high level. Just because you main a particular character, doesn't mean that should be the only character you play.
As for mashing reversals while blocking, that system isn't exclusive to MKX. The same thing existed in SF4, and people learned their way around it. Does it feel scrubby? Of course, but by knowing what armored moves an opponent might use, you can bait, punish, and/or just block them, the last of which still depletes the opponent's meter and often leaves you at advantage. Enhanced Overhead Sword doesn't work as a counter to an opponent's armored move, sure, but other Enhanced moves, like Kotal's Saw, Sweep, or Shake do. As for backdashing, mix it up with Shake, Sword Throw, and God Ray. These aren't guaranteed punishes by any means, but by changing your patterns, it will force the opponent to do the same.
Does Kotal have tough matchups? Absolutely. Zoners like Quan, Ermac, and Kitana are a
huge pain. But most characters, except perhaps the very top, have bad matchups. You either grind them (in this case, learning how to painstakingly make your way in) and eventually overcome the disparity, like the examples you provided earlier, or you also play a pocket character that offsets your main's weakness. As for saying that Kotal has
no good matchups. Well, that's a rather extreme statement and probably why people are saying you're a downplayer. Again, if that was true, you wouldn't see Kotal doing as well as he is. We're not all
that godlike. And, to the argument that Kotal is secretly bottom 5, but no one knows, doubtful, as most serious players
do know the gaps, but in the heat of the moment, it can be tough to exploit. Plus, we don't have to do the strings with gaps. Does it suck to give up F1, B2? Totally, as it was the obvious space closer we all used when the game first dropped, but it's far from the only string Kotal has.
At the end of the day, what's the point in complaining about these things? Is the hope that NRS will give Kotal another round of buffs? If so, more power to you. Once that's happened though, or not, probably with Tremor's release, if you're a true character loyalist, I hope we can then focus on solutions.
Oh, and before anyone asks how to focus on solutions, that's what we're trying to do in the Kotal match video thread.
@Pnut, if you want, add your problem matches, so we can all look at them and try our best to level up.
