dudemcrude said:
Disagree with the Lao/Scorp matchups. Cage can reliably play Lao from around sweep distance and mix him up with cheap sweeps, jump kicks, high bolts, and shadow kicks. Come in close and Lao gets raped with jabs, ball punches, close HP, crossover combos, and MORE cheap sweeps. Kung Lao players (myself included) often like to fish around for SUJP/dive kick combos for anti-air, but Cage's JK from most distances takes priority over Lao's SUJP. This matchup is around 6-4 Lao, possibly 7-3 if you spam the toe.
Cage has the exact same sweep as the Male Ninjas. It is good and spammable, but far from the best. Anyone spamming sweeps against a good Lao player will eat a dive kick. Spamming sweeps is a good tactic for sure, but it's not going to win a hard matchup. Chip damage and jump check are the main goal for sweeping.
As for Cage's JK, it is among the best, but still easily taken down by half the roster's standing HK or even easier with RH. At those distances where the JK would beat an anti-air option, just blocking it and walking backwards watching for a surprise shadow kick is all one needs to do to keep Cage out.
Cage does have very good jabs and Close HP, once he gets close to you it's hard to get out...but getting close is the hard part. If you know how to abuse them, Lao's HP jabs are better than Cage's even though they don't hit Cage or Shang, they work better on the rest of the cast. Baraka and Lao LPHP mixups keep people locked down nearly as good as Shang's jabs do.
Lao's JP from jumping back beats almost every move in the game (same as Liu), even Mileena's Telekick and Kitana's Square Wave! That's a free Dive Kick, or whiffed Dive Kick into aaHP, Hat Throw combo or worse.
Lao can, on reaction, see what fireball Cage is throwing and if it is the low one, he can jump over and dive kick Cage for free. Cage's only option is to get close. Cage's only strength from a distance is if he has the life lead where he can win the projectile war (Cage vs Baraka comes to mind).
I see the matchup as 6-4 Lao also. The Lao/Liu toe kick is not as abusable on Cage because his jump kick can and will hit you out of it unlike the Male Ninjas. It owns all of his sweep attempts though so it forces him to cross you up...but if he is jumping you can just uppercut if you do it early enough.
dudemcrude said:
Scorpion is a lot easier. Kara jabs shut down the turtle game (a telepunches). Cage's uppercut and nut punch do a good job of punishing crossover spam, which, in effect, takes away Scorpion's two best weapons. Scorpion can still make a jump happy Cage eat aaHP combos and air throws, but if you keep Cage on the ground and play smart with him, this is a very close matchup. I use Cage all the time to annoy Scorp spammers in the lobby. He's not as effective as Shang, but again, he rapes Scorp up close with jabs, close HP, throws, and cheap sweeps. You can nail the crossover combos, too, you just have to be more careful (air throws). Cage also has some fun aaHP combos and high bolts to shut down jump ins. I'm gonna go crazy and give Cage a 5-5 matchup here (it would be slightly in Scorp's favor if we use a larger sample size, say 46-54).
Cage gets raped by Mileena and Liu and has a tough time with Jax, too. He goes 5-5 with most of the mid-tiers, though, and owns everyone not named Shang up close with high priority jabs and crossovers. The biggest problem with Cage is that opponents like to nail you early and then spend the rest of the match running away. Cage has a hard time chasing down Liu, Jax, Mileena, and Raiden once they get ahead of him. I'd give Cage lower mid-tier status without question.
Scorpion's whole game is keep away. When he gets a life lead against some characters, Cage included, it is nearly impossible for them to come back from it. All Cage has at this point is to close the distance while keeping in a position to block an escape attempt teleport and back Scorpion into the corner. Any projectile attempt that Cage tries is easily punished on reaction by a teleport. This might work in Cage's favor if his back is close to the corner, this is where you want Scorpion so he can no longer escape to safety. Scorpion's crossup game is almost nullified by Cage's uppercut but not entirely. Scorpion can do chip sweep to safe teleport to chip sweep all day long on Cage with no real fear of punishment.
I see this matchup as 6-4 Scorpion. As long as Scorpion can keep his distance, he wins. It may be even 7-3 Scorpion...
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Everything Scheisse said is spot on...especially this quote:
Scheisse said:
Cage is almost never used to his ability but that is mainly because he simply cannot compete against higher tier and nobody wants to main him long enough to learn his tactics.
