Yeah I thought as much, once I get the flawless block on f24 ex disk it should be fine but you kinda need to approach kotal or he just turtles and then he has his half screen mid which can really shut down cages whiff punish normal game.
Idk I just find the matchup annoying. Once he's mid-range he can duck projectiles and check you. Legit only saving grace is big boy damage if you do somehow get a clean hit.
Both have garbage mid checks.
F2 ex disk is a blockstring, F24 is done if you don't want to neccesarily use the meter, so you hitconfirm f24 into regular disc into 2 free totems.
You don't need to approach kotal, just get the lifelead. You zone him out, so he either has to come to you or walk back while he doesn't have the lifelead, assuming you take the space he gives you by parrying.
There's 4 ranges in this matchup. Full screen, 3/4, jump distance and up close.
Fullscreen you zone him out, if you have the lifelead you can throw fireballs, alternating patterns every 2nd one because he can parry and trade into disc KB. If he has the lifelead, he doesn't really zone you. A sunlight trade with a projectile only gives him 4% hp, assuming full duration.
3/4 is where you're most advantageous. He can't yet duck the fireballs and he doesn't have enough space to react with parry. This is the worst range for kotal to be at.
Midscreen is where your B34 is faster but shorter ranged than his F2. You'll be playing footsies in and out of this distance, into and out of 3/4s. If he ducks your fireball he can at most try to make you block a F2. Anything else you can safely interrupt.
Up close is where you jail into frametraps and he has krushing blow throws. He has a 10 F12 and you have a better D4.
It's rough for kotal because the range at which he doesn't have to worry about random fireballs is exactly the range in which your B34 works and is faster than his F2. D4 also low profiles his D1 and is a great overall check to any movement without commiting. From his side, it's D3, which is shorter ranged but a good frametrap on hit.
It's suffocating playing vs a cage with good defense, because johnnys inherent tools make it an even matchup, but when you add 9f forceballs that jail into a +20 EX if he catches you stand block dashing is rough, he wears you down and you have to somehow manage to open him up. Your job as cage is to constantly change between those 4 ranges, you can't be braindead about where you want to stay, but each range has a new ruleset kotal has to play with.
