My personal Kabal Matchup Chart (Mean Streak)

[Blewdew]

I'm really bored rn so I'll write down my "thoughts" (only the numbers, I'm too lazy to write anything long. ask if you want to know my opinion) on the matchups I know with mean streak. there are certain matchups I've never or rarely played so feel free to add anything or ask about specific matchups. if you don't agree with my numbers discuss, this is why I made this thread in the first place




this is how I personally feel right now about the matchups I know. looking at it maybe I downplay a bit too much but to be fair he goes even or wins against like 95% of the cast except cassie,sonya and erron imo which is actually pretty good.

 

[Mandolore1123]

Advice against Cetrion and Cassie?

 

[MsMiharo]

We should run the Kano matchup (we used to play in MKX iirc?). I feel it's bad for kano but not sure how bad yet heh

 

[Blewdew]

Advice against Cetrion and Cassie?

Cetrion is really a set of patience walk her down and try to read her air projectile and answer with ia buzzsaw. It‘s really frustrating but not because of kabal as a character, cetrion is just a pain in the ass in general.
Cassie is just a struggle in in itself. You can‘t trade with her projectiles so at one point you have to get in against her where she‘s also super annoying to play against. My advice is try to get in on her and wait until she makes a mistake or you read her f4 stagger and try the gain momentum. Her pokes and wakeups are trash try to use it to your advantage.

We should run the Kano matchup (we used to play in MKX iirc?). I feel it's bad for kano but not sure how bad yet heh

Yeah I‘d be down for that! Kabal can zone as good as Kano if not better so kano has to approach. Ia buzzsaws can easily catch any try to jump~ kanoball so there is that but I really don‘t have the experience against him to say any numbers yet

 

[GLoRToR]

He beats Jade at least 6-4.

He has a mid that is faster and leads to more damage than she'll ever do.
His zoning is equal and Nomad Dash full combo punishes Glow from full screen as well.
Jade has nothing in this matchup and if she ever gets Kabal to FB range, she'll literally lose most of her options.

 

[RoboCop]

I’ve played the Jade vs Kabal mu with @Hellbringer quite a bit. Right now I’d put it at 6/4 in her favor. If Kabal can ever get in then he can start his nonsense, but she can make it very difficult for him to do so. He has to rely pretty heavily on yolo dash. The only big downside is that her recovery is so bad, she’s going to eat his bullshit FB every single match.

I’ve also played against a ton of online rando Kabals with her and I don’t believe I’ve lost a match yet.

 

[Owerbart]

Johnny Cage whiffs a lot of stuff on Kabal
Kabal can zone him
Also, Kabal has decent mids, Johnny does not.

At least 6-4 Kabal or more

 

[Blewdew]

He beats Jade at least 6-4.

He has a mid that is faster and leads to more damage than she'll ever do.
His zoning is equal and Nomad Dash full combo punishes Glow from full screen as well.
Jade has nothing in this matchup and if she ever gets Kabal to FB range, she'll literally lose most of her options.

He can‘t punish glow from full screen with ND unless it‘s a Hard read which is always way too risky. He definitely not wins this matchup 6-4

Johnny Cage whiffs a lot of stuff on Kabal
Kabal can zone him
Also, Kabal has decent mids, Johnny does not.

At least 6-4 Kabal or more

B1 whiffs on Johnny too so there is that. Please tell me in detail how it‘s a 6-4 or a 7-3 because I think you‘re exaggerate alot

@The_Tile @SaltShaker @Eldriken what are your thoughts on this

 

[Hellbringer]

I’ve played the Jade vs Kabal mu with @Hellbringer quite a bit. Right now I’d put it at 6/4 in her favor. If Kabal can ever get in then he can start his nonsense, but she can make it very difficult for him to do so. He has to rely pretty heavily on yolo dash. The only big downside is that her recovery is so bad, she’s going to eat his bullshit FB every single match.

I’ve also played against a ton of online rando Kabals with her and I don’t believe I’ve lost a match yet.

Apreciate the tag but i picked up kabal not even a week ago lol

 

[Blewdew]

I’ve played the Jade vs Kabal mu with @Hellbringer quite a bit. Right now I’d put it at 6/4 in her favor. If Kabal can ever get in then he can start his nonsense, but she can make it very difficult for him to do so. He has to rely pretty heavily on yolo dash. The only big downside is that her recovery is so bad, she’s going to eat his bullshit FB every single match.

I’ve also played against a ton of online rando Kabals with her and I don’t believe I’ve lost a match yet.

I don‘t agree with this either. I always try to patiently walk in from a specific range until I know everything she‘ll do will be a high or reactable and it works out pretty much always it‘s not an easy mu for both sides that‘s why I have listed it as a 5-5 right now. I feel like the jade mu is always the most controversial one in every mu chart

 

[DrFolmer]

johnny: 4.5-5.5 (it's probably a 5-5 and I'm just awful at this mu)

HELLLLLLLLLL NO

And why is that?

• You have better range
• unparalleled air advancement. J2 is HUGE
• Zoning is either even or in Kabal's favor given knockdown on trades
• Johnny's main pressure tool is absolutely useless as it whiffs on Kabal

Kabal can turtle really hard in this matchup, and this is where Kabal really feels at home. Walk back, bait normals, he has really good anti air game - thus making approach really tough. Zoning is pretty good too. Johnny can get momentum in the corner, where he also deals pretty good damage.

The thing about Johnny - he kinda only has footsies. Kabal comes along with equally good footsies, just with even better mid options and has a much more versatile gameplan. And yeah, Krushing Blows also is a thing. I think of myself as a pretty decent Cage, and when you hit God in KL you start to play against some really solid Kabals and I sure dont feel like I have the advantage ever

EDIT: I think in a short set it can seem even, but Kabal has soooooooo many tools to constantly switch things up, and with forceballs useless - it gets kinda telegraphed

 

[RoboCop]

Apreciate the tag but i picked up kabal not even a week ago lol

Right, but we’ve played a ton of matches and he seems to be a very popular pick in online casuals. My numbers are just based on that match experience so far.

 

[thlityoursloat]

How could he possibly lose to Scarlet or Johnny? Lol.
Neither can zone him and footsies are on par, I'd say Kabal even beats them in the neutral since he doesn't have to risk anything with a high attack. Oh yeah and KBs, FBs, free jumps etc. etc.

 

[Blewdew]

How could he possibly lose to Scarlet or Johnny? Lol.
Neither can zone him and footsies are on par, I'd say Kabal even beats them in the neutral since he doesn't have to risk anything with a high attack. Oh yeah and KBs, FBs, free jumps etc. etc.

How come that skarlet can‘t zone kabal? Buzzsaw doesn‘t completely shut down her zoning tools. Otherwise I agree that kabals neutral is better

 

[thlityoursloat]

How come that skarlet can‘t zone kabal? Buzzsaw doesn‘t completely shut down her zoning tools. Otherwise I agree that kabals neutral is better

Because fatal blow light and air saws. All of her zoning moves are either slow startup or slow recovery, or both.

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

Not that my word is the bible or anything, but as a D'vorah player i think this matchup is AWFUL. She doesn't really get to punish anything from him. His saws shut down her aerial maneuvering. His ranged normals are better than hers and have better staggers. When she gets a throw, she puts him fullscreen and that's hell. His dash punishes air ticking time bug for combo. His wakeup u2 is a problem. It's hard to neutral jump over his strings because they swing up in the air and hit her. It's all around just bad. If i can get him to the corner, I can change the narrative, but I'm gonna lose 60% on the way.

 

[dennycascade]

Fellow week 1 mean streak main. Agree with most of this, but I think we beat Johnny 6-4 due to reasons listed above + what I’ve heard from Bdogg and geras (infinite warden, my secondary) is probably at least slightly in our favor due to instant air saw saw and better buttons (d3 actually works wonders vs body splash bullshit). Depending on how good their up-close game is, most characters who beat mean streak in the neutch and hit like a truck probably have a slight advantage over us. Baraka is 4-6 due to us getting zoned out and having no combo escape. Shang, jade and kang are slightly losing due to the zoning game being hard for kabal but idk if I can call them 4-6 because I haven’t played the best of these characters.

 

[Blewdew]

Because fatal blow light and air saws. All of her zoning moves are either slow startup or slow recovery, or both.

I can do ia saws almost 100% consistently and I never felt like it's a gamechanging tool for this mu when I'm fullscreen. buzssaws also aren't like the fastest projectile in the game that's why I don't see this specific projectile shutting her zoning completely down. if that would be the case wouldn't skarlet loose like every zone war? I do agree on that fatal blow though. I can see it being a 5-5 but I don't think kabal wins this 6-4. I'm also changing the johnny mu numbers since people do seem to agree that they go even or kabal is winning it.

Not that my word is the bible or anything, but as a D'vorah player i think this matchup is AWFUL. She doesn't really get to punish anything from him. His saws shut down her aerial maneuvering. His ranged normals are better than hers and have better staggers. When she gets a throw, she puts him fullscreen and that's hell. His dash punishes air ticking time bug for combo. His wakeup u2 is a problem. It's hard to neutral jump over his strings because they swing up in the air and hit her. It's all around just bad. If i can get him to the corner, I can change the narrative, but I'm gonna lose 60% on the way.

this is a great post, thanks for answering, it's hard to get specific information in a dvorah matchup. so you think this is a 6-4 for kabal? I'm gonna add your thoughts to the op I don't think I'll ever get a second opinion on this nor do I think I'll ever get to play this mu.

Fellow week 1 mean streak main. Agree with most of this, but I think we beat Johnny 6-4 due to reasons listed above + what I’ve heard from Bdogg and geras (infinite warden, my secondary) is probably at least slightly in our favor due to instant air saw saw and better buttons (d3 actually works wonders vs body splash bullshit). Depending on how good their up-close game is, most characters who beat mean streak in the neutch and hit like a truck probably have a slight advantage over us. Baraka is 4-6 due to us getting zoned out and having no combo escape. Shang, jade and kang are slightly losing due to the zoning game being hard for kabal but idk if I can call them 4-6 because I haven’t played the best of these characters.

what you said about the baraka mu is exactly why I have sonya as a 4-6. you always loose fullscreen and beakaway is really no option in this matchup. though I don't think the baraka mu is as bad as sonya.
about geras, I always use ia saws as well and it works pretty good against his sandtrap nonsense but otherwise kabal doesn't really do great or bad in this mu. this is one where I couldn't decide if it's a 5-5 or 4.5-5.5
jade and kang are not loosing mu's in my book, these are mu's where I have more than average experience with. jade requires some good reads but when you're in she has a hard time to get you off her. a good read on air glaves when she doesn't have glow on can also give you a lot of momentum. the lui kang mu doesn't feel too special to me, you have to make some reads with his f4 stagger but you have to do this with every character. the zoning is also not that big of a problem, like with cetrion and jade you have to be patient, you don't automatically loose when you are in a slightly disadvantage fullscreen.

 

[Eldriken]

I wouldn't say Jade or Kabal wins/loses the MU. It's even for each one once they're where they want to be. In the case of this MU, Jade does well when she's out of Kabal's preferred range and Jade doesn't do so well once he's in the range he wants to be in.

The bulk of the MU is each player trying to get to and stay in their preferred range. Kabal works his way in and gets rewarded for doing so. If Jade keeps Kabal out, she gets rewarded for doing so.

Reacting to Glow with anything full screen is such a fucking bill and needs to just stop. As was already said: it has to be on the hardest of reads and carries a massive risk doing so. Whether in Clean Cut or Mean Streak, getting much of anything off of buzz saws isn't going to happen that often unless you never give her the chance to use Glow. This clearly isn't always going to be the case unless the skill disparity between both players is massive (the Kabal player is a lot better than the Jade player).

I've played the Johnny MU a fair amount, but I don't feel it's in my advantage. But that could be because of my skill, knowledge of the MU, etc. Hell, it wasn't until just recently that I discovered Kabal can punish his nut punch on block with his s1. I legit thought it was completely safe. Nope. Now I pray these fuckers have the balls to use it as a means to end their blockstring. =P

Skarlet isn't a free MU either. There's only one projectile you could conceivably punish on a read with Nomad Dash and that's Blood Tentacle. All the others cover every part of the screen that would hit him out of Nomad Dash. So it's not like he can threaten you with a punish from full screen unless it's on a good read.

There is his straight buzz saw that could help with getting a punish from a thrown projectile, but again, right read, timing, reaction, etc.

Cetrion is...just. Ugh. I pick Mean Streak just for this MU because of Straight Buzzin'. I feel it has more utility in this particular MU over the Clean Cut version due to the fact that you're gonna be working your way in a lot in the MU and Mean Streak's projectile can help with that when used properly.

I probably don't have quite the MU experience as some in here do, so I can only offer limited insight based off of this variation. I don't play it as much as Clean Cut because I feel starved for defensive gauge a lot of the time.

 

[Hellbringer]

Because fatal blow light and air saws. All of her zoning moves are either slow startup or slow recovery, or both.

You sure you talking about skarlet right?

 

[TyCarter35]

He beats Jax HD 6-4 since Kabal outranges Jax and he also keeps Jax out where Jax can't rlly win trades until abt midscreen and also very safe. If Jax somehow has a life lead then he can afford to duck his buzzsaws and jump the lows when he sees it. Pressure wise they both have options where they are both relatively safe but Kabal literally can't be punished almost ever except for low buzzsaws but Kabal has easier time starting pressure and Jax has to play his game. GB although I don't play him probably has an easier time around his zoning since barricade gives him heat so free heat missiles which allows him to zone back effectively and upclose is abt the same minus the KBs

 

[Espio]

Jade versus Kabal definitely feels super even. They both have adequate checks and balances for each other. There's actual in depth counter play in dealing with glow and dealing with nomad dash and such. Kabal shoudn't fear Jade, but neither should she fear Kabal.

I also think we gotta be careful with our mu experience because all match up experience is not the same or of equal value.

 

[DrFolmer]

He beats Jax HD 6-4 since Kabal outranges Jax and he also keeps Jax out where Jax can't rlly win trades until abt midscreen and also very safe

I agree for the most part, but given Kabal's unsafe wakeup options Kabal is one of the few characters who really can be bullied in the corner. I would say it's a light advantage for Kabal. I have absolutely melted some good Kabals in Hunker Down if I can get them in the corner early on in the round. I'm currently more focused on Grinnin Barrett however, and having midscreen combos help a lot on the neutral but we sacrifice the corner momentum. I think Hunker Down's air grab can shutdown abuse of Kabal's j2 to a certain degree. There are pros and cons for each variation

 

[SaltShaker]

I'm really bored rn so I'll write down my "thoughts" (only the numbers, I'm too lazy to write anything long. ask if you want to know my opinion) on the matchups I know with mean streak. there are certain matchups I've never or rarely played so feel free to add anything or ask about specific matchups. if you don't agree with my numbers discuss, this is why I made this thread in the first place

Baraka: 5-5
Cassie: 4-6
cetrion: 5-5
d'vorah: ??? (never played against her with kabal)
erron black: 4-6
frost: ???
geras: 5-5 / 4.5-5.5
jacqui: 5-5
jade: 5-5
jax: ???
johnny: 5-5, possibly 6-4
kabal: 10-0
kano : ???
kitana: 5-5, maybe 6-4
kollector: ???
kotal kahn: 6-4
kung lao: 6-4
lui kang: 5-5
noob saibot: 5-5
raiden: ???
scorpion: 5-5
shang tsung: 5-5 or 4.5-5.5 can't decide yet
shao kahn: ??? (but I can imagine this being a winning one)
skarlet: 5-5
sonya: 4-6
sub zero: 5-5

this is how I personally feel right now about the matchups I know. looking at it maybe I downplay a bit too much but to be fair he goes even or wins against like 95% of the cast except cassie,sonya and erron imo which is actually pretty good.

@The_Tile @SaltShaker @Eldriken what are your thoughts on this

I mostly agree with your list. I think we've played the game long enough where we can actually discuss these things now, whether it be playing MUs or observing them too. The only things I'd probably disagree with I list here-

Baraka: 5-5
jax: ???
kitana: 5-5, maybe 6-4
sub zero: 5-5

I think all of these are winning MUs (lemme know if you want me to explain one in detail). Raiden/Frost/D'Vorah I'd put at advantage too. Not enough Kollector or Shao Kahn exp to really comment on that though. Sub-Zero being the only one that I think probably is 5-5. From Mean Streak's perspective, I wouldn't be too sure about Clean Cut. The rest of your chart I'd say is pretty dead on the money.

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

this is a great post, thanks for answering, it's hard to get specific information in a dvorah matchup. so you think this is a 6-4 for kabal? I'm gonna add your thoughts to the op I don't think I'll ever get a second opinion on this nor do I think I'll ever get to play this mu.

6 4 or 7 3. My heart tells me 7 3. While maybe not that now, I think with time Kabal's will dominate this matchup. I honestly don't know. It's one of the two. It's not as bad as centrion and shang though.