Sheeva Matchup Chart

[GGA Jeremiah]

Here is my rough draft on Sheeva's MUs as of 6/07/2012. I have been a Sheeva main since day 1 and have repped her fully at Season's Beatings, Frosty Faustings, Final Round and MLG in Ohio. All the 3-7s I post I am very confident in those being accurate. There is an * for Smoke, Cyrax and Jax because I think those MUs are 4-6 if the resets are ever taken out. After working on her MU chart I have decided that as of now starting at this upcoming Powerup tourney, I will still be a Sheeva main, but will be counter picking my opponents on her 3-7 MUs. If it is a Cyrax, Smoke or Jax I will make a decision on the select screen to either stay with Sheeva or counter pick. Also any 5-5s you see here those are not firm yet. Any 5-5s that I posted is me just not having too much experience with top players being those characters. Those could be 4-6s or maybe even *gasp* a 6-4 Sheeva. Let me know what you guys think.

Sheeva Opponent
Baraka 4 6
Cyber Sub 4 6
*Cyrax 3 7
Ermac 5 5
Freddy 4 6
Jade 6 4
*Jax 3 7
J. Cage 3 7
Kabal 3 7
Kano 4 6
Kenshi 5 5
Kitana 2 8
Kung Lao 2 8
Liu Kang 4 6
Mileena 3 7
Nightwolf 5 5
Noob 4 6
Quan Chi 5 5
Raiden 4 6
Rain 4 6
Reptile 3 7
Scorpian 5 5
Sektor 3 7
Shang T. 4 6
Sheeva
Sindel 4 6
Skarlet 4 6
*Smoke 3 7
Sonya 3 7
Stryker 5 5
Sub Zero 4 6
Total = 115

Matchup Breakdown
2 extremely hard to win 2-8 Mu's
9 very hard to win 3-7 Mu's
13 slightly hard 4-6 Mu's
5 even Mu's
1 advantage Mu's

 

[SunnyD]

this is really depressing.

 

[Zoidberg747]

Kenshi would be a 3-7 if I had to guess.

Good matchup chart though.

 

[GGA Jeremiah]

Kenshi would be a 3-7 if I had to guess.

Good matchup chart though.

Actually this fight strangely enough is not too horrible for Sheeva. Kenshi's horizontal zoning is negated with my vertical way in with telestomp. Kenshi cannot play like he normally does he has to respect telestomp so full screen she has the advantage. I'm in on kenshi after 1 stomp then we both have armor up close. I will try and play Pig Of The Hut when he is in town for Ufgt8 and we can hammer out the MU. All I know is right now as Sheeva if I had to play one of his characters I would hope he chooses kenshi.

 

[RTM2004]

Mileena 3 7
Sektor 3 7

These two I've always felt really, really bad for Sheeva. Now you as an experienced tournament player confirmed it. I saw BoysBoysBoys struggled in a King of the Hill room once, it must be hell for Sheeva players around the world.

 

[BoysBoysBoys]

Mileena I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think en low grab works for her D4, but it might just be you need to dash in and delay it so you low grab her as she's rising up from the D4. Mileena vs Sheeva is imo just a big test of footsies and seeing how well you can punish and bait D4's with B2's. Sheeva has probably one of the easier times handling Mileena's U4 because of DF1's priority, and Mil can't really risk B3/En Roll mix ups because Sheeva can punish it hard. Overall though Sheeva can't punish everything else Mileena does hard, which sucks because you have to work your way in past iaSais and D4's.

Sektor again, depends on footsies. He has good midscreen pokes and so does Sheeva. F4, B2, and 4 are great here, even if you block a max ranged flame thrower. Sheeva's grab pressure is nice as well.

Take it with a grain of salt, I don't play this game much.

 

[Espio]

Before I say anything, I'm just asserting my opinion from experience, I'm not saying I'm right or anybody's wrong, just my opinon. So with that out of the way, I'll go.

I agree with most of these, great chart, but I'd say she goes even with Stryker in my overall view from playing both characters. Sheeva can punish a lot of his zoning due to the slow speed of grenades with telestomp on reaction, he cannot reliably zone her and up close he's not too much quicker than Sheeva, he really can't bully Sheeva up close or far away. I don't think Stryker is on the same level of difficulty as Cage or Kabal for her. They both check each other, it's kind of like Sheeva v.s Jade.

I'm curious in regards to Kenshi being 5-5 even, while Noob Saibot is a bad match up at 4-6 in Noob's favor. It seems like Kenshi would be the better zoner and has the better up close game, I'd like to hear your opinion on these two matches.

I 100% agree on Mileena, she literally shuts down everything Sheeva can do, I feel like Mileena was built to counter Sheeva. Kung Lao too. Most of her bad matches are from people who have ridiculous mobility or make her take big risks to assert her mobility.

Additionally, is it possible that Kitana might be 4-6,like Kabal is 4-6? It seems like Kabal can control the air a lot better than Kitana and his anti-air punishes lead to a reset and NDC pressure. Kit certainly had really good pokes and pressure, but you can 40%+ punish her down 1 and other pokes that lead to her greater pressure and is a staple of her gameplan.

 

[MashPotatoTower]

even if these MU's are true, Im confident that I can still beat anyone with sheeva
Tho I think I win because the first thing the opp does is under estamate her. But i love sheeva trolling. FYI you totaly could of beat Reo and you know it.

 

[Espio]

even if these MU's are true, Im confident that I can still beat anyone with sheeva
Tho I think I win because the first thing the opp does is under estamate her. But i love sheeva trolling. FYI you totaly could of beat Reo and you know it.

Sheeva can certainly beat anyone, 7-3 isn't unwinnable, but it's very, very hard to win under those circumstances.


Edit: She's still viable, but I'm not so sure she has zero 7-3 matches.

 

[Metzos]

I really dont have any MU exp vs a high lvl Sheeva but i dont see it as an even MU her vs Ermac. On the other hand as i said i havent played against any good ones at all. GGA Jeremiah, could you shed some light here on why you think its an even MU ?

 

[MashPotatoTower]

Everybody thinks their main sucks. We all have walked the line and thought of switching. I really don't think anyone has a 3/7 match up. That is way too much of a gap. And sheeva isn't nearly as slow as people think she is and her damage is pretty high with those over 50% mid screens. She isn't even the biggest hit box character in the game

 

[GGA Jeremiah]

Mileena I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think en low grab works for her D4, but it might just be you need to dash in and delay it so you low grab her as she's rising up from the D4.

I have done extensive testing with Reptile's d4, I still need to do it with Mileena and Sonya, but Reptile's d4 is extremely hard to armor low grab. It will whiff his body like 9/10 times. The thing about footsies with Mileena is that is way harder to punish a whiffed d4 at 33 frame durations and super small hitbox compared to Sheeva's whiffed b2 at 53 frames and a very large hit box. Next time I see Death I want to play his Mileena because I haven't played a high level Mileena that much. As of now, I know that Telestomp and Fireball should probably not be used at all during this fight.

I agree with most of these, great chart, but I'd say she goes even with Stryker in my overall view from playing both characters. Sheeva can punish a lot of his zoning due to the slow speed of grenades with telestomp on reaction, he cannot reliably zone her and up close he's not too much quicker than Sheeva, he really can't bully Sheeva up close or far away. I don't think Stryker is on the same level of difficulty as Cage or Kabal for her. They both check each other, it's kind of like Sheeva v.s Jade.

You are probably right about Stryker. I'll update the MU chart.

I'm curious in regards to Kenshi being 5-5 even,

The reason I feel that Kenshi is even as of now is that Kenshi cannot play his normal zoning game. After a blocked projectile Sheeva can telestomp in and go from there. Most character have to work to get in on Kenshi, not Sheeva. Also when we are up close we both have armor but Sheeva's armor seems to have the upper hand and deal good damage. If Kenshi has no meter he is a sitting duck if he tries to zone Sheeva. Kenshi can't play his normal game.

while Noob Saibot is a bad match up at 4-6 in Noob's favor.

I was very close to putting Noob at 3-7 actually. The only reason I didn't put it at 3-7 is Noob's low damage output. Once I realized that Sheeva has to attempt to do her big 30% low combo starter is when I started doing better against noob. Noob totally owns Sheeva full screen. Any telestomp Sheeva attempts can be countered by his teleport or up clone. Whichever one he wants. The upclone beats telestomps in front of and on top of him. And it option selects into running clone if you stomp behind him. Also his teleport auto locks onto Sheeva whichever direction you press and she loses. Any fireball attempt at full screen is countered by his Teleport. Mid screen Sheeva is at definite disadvantage due to the speed of his clones. You can try and play games with your fireball. A trade is worth it here for the big 12% damage but he can always punish with teleport if he reads it. Jump in attempts are shutdown by upclone, running clone combo. Up close it is super frustrating because the animation for upclone causes Noob to lower his hitbox making both her high armored grab and low armored grab whiff. A whiffed upclone is also hard to punish due to the timing of the next upclone coming out. F4 is hard to time in that small window, as well as B2. Both are very hard to get inbetween 2 upclones. Noob is also an absolute beast when he gets you cornered. And as I stated earlier it is very hard to armor out of the corner because of the upclone animation.

Additionally, is it possible that Kitana might be 4-6,like Kabal is 4-6? It seems like Kabal can control the air a lot better than Kitana and his anti-air punishes lead to a reset and NDC pressure. Kit certainly had really good pokes and pressure, but you can 40%+ punish her down 1 and other pokes that lead to her greater pressure and is a staple of her gameplan.

Sheeva can get in on Kabal some of the time because he has to time his dash just right to get her. Kitana doesn't even have to think while she is zoning Sheeva. Telestomps in front of kit and on top of her are beat out by air fan into a combo. If you stomp behind her it option selects into squarewave. You can punish the d1 with a very nice combo. But usually Kitana was way more meter than Sheeva and usually you waste 1 bar on armor, and she uses 2 for breaker and then you are back to get through her zoning. Also if you guess wrong you are eating whatever combo she was trying to do while you guessed d1 for the 36 frame duration of her low grab. And once that animation is over you have to block her block string after that and take more chip while she build meter. Also most of Kitana's block strings leave her at even, and our fastest combo starter is a 12frame high attack. She has an 11frame high, which is not much, but she also knows what combo strings she is doing and knows when to enter that 11frame attack in. Maybe with more practice Sheeva can grab more on those even block strings for 14% damage. But it just comes down to Kitana can play her normal game, and Sheeva can't really do telestomp, or fireball, or groundpound. I have played 16bit a decent amount, and he still beats me so bad.

I really dont have any MU exp vs a high lvl Sheeva but i dont see it as an even MU her vs Ermac. On the other hand as i said i havent played against any good ones at all. GGA Jeremiah, could you shed some light here on why you think its an even MU ?

Ok. This is a fight where Ermac can't really play his normal style due to telestomp. Now granted Ermac can teleport after Sheeva and win if I choose to land in front of or on top of you, but if I choose to telestomp behind you and you attempt teleport, either d4, standing 4, or f4 come out. All of which get flattened by stomp for 11%. Also for some weird reason and same with scorpion, if we are in the corner and you try and teleport almost always you will teleport right under me as I land on you.The only way out of that shenanigans is x-ray if you have it or dash out in which case you will eat one more telestomp but then you'll be out of the corner. You can try and time neutral jump punch as well but the timing is pretty strict, and the timing changes whether I am landing in front of or on top of you. Now after a landed telestomp, I can bait a wakeup, crossover jump, or do my block string of 7% damage +frame trap. Fireball fights Sheeva wins on trades with a 4% gain. Ermac can punish fireball with teleport, but occasionally I throw out an AA grab instead of a fireball and if the Ermac bites on that thinking it is a fireball, then he eats a 30% punish. Ermac can beat out most AAs with his jump in kick into greenblast for a nice 14% except that doesn't work against Sheeva, her AA grab is invincible to air attacks after 5 frames. So I almost always get an anti air grab even if it is a kick for 14% into untechable knockdown. Midscreen Ermac is still king against Sheeva. If Ermac can keep the fight at that distance Sheeva doesn't have a chance. The thing is, Ermac is used to people trying to dash in after a blocked TKP but Sheeva doesn't always have to dash forward, she can back up out of range of TKP and Telestomp in. So Ermac has to be ready to either go forward or backward to keep that perfect distance. Ermac does more damage than Sheeva, but be wary of her armor upclose. A dash forward into Armored Grab will deceivingly reach Ermac as he attempts a TKP for 22% damage. An interesting note is that after Ermac does get used to Sheeva, he can guess that she is going to telestomp behind him and input his teleport the opposite direction. After that happens, it comes down to a guessing game of which side Sheeva is going to choose. If Ermac can keep his x-ray though, Sheeva will stop telestomping completely because that is a guaranteed X-ray for ermac everytime.

 

[Death]

Mileena sheeva is horrendous. Ill label it as 7-3 but it honestly could be worse.

 

[GGA Jeremiah]

Mileena sheeva is horrendous. Ill label it as 7-3 but it honestly could be worse.

I like it. I believe you. I have never played a Mileena at a major tournament yet. But I don't think I want to. I'll either be Ermac or JC.

 

[16 Bit]

I can see Kitana vs Sheeva being 3-7.

 

[DanCock]

Mileena sheeva is horrendous. Ill label it as 7-3 but it honestly could be worse.

yea i feel so bad for the sheeva players in that match up. sheeva telestomps then mil goes and telekicks camera follows both in the air and mileenas just laughing at sheeva mid air while she kicks her in the face.

 

[GGA Jeremiah]

even if these MU's are true, Im confident that I can still beat anyone with sheeva
Tho I think I win because the first thing the opp does is under estamate her. But i love sheeva trolling. FYI you totaly could of beat Reo and you know it.

Lol ty. Yeah there are some changes I have already made against Kabal. I am a little bit better against Kabal. But yeah that is why I will still be Sheeva for even the 4-6 MUs, because if the Opponent doesn't know the fight then that could be even an advantage for me. Or even if they know the fight 4-6s are winnable. But those 3-7s trust me. Those are very hard.

yea i feel so bad for the sheeva players in that match up. sheeva telestomps then mil goes and telekicks camera follows both in the air and mileenas just laughing at sheeva mid air while she kicks her in the face.

Yeah, you also get to see parts of the stage that you never get to see before.

 

[Metzos]

GGA Jeremiah : Can TKP beat Sheeva's regular telestomp, like QC's skydrop, on reaction ? If it can then you should use telestomp more wisely. Good post btw. Learned some pretty good stuff here.

Post edited.

 

[Wemfs]

Holy shit Sheeva has a lot of 7-3 match ups.

 

[MashPotatoTower]

well according to REO's logic to what zoneing isn't Sheeva must have the best zoning in the game on the account its the only projectile that has push back and has piss tons of it to boot and you can't duck it

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

GGA Jeremiah - Not one matchup in Miss Shokan's favor? .
I think Sheeva's a fucking menace, personally, but that's a hard hill for you and the Sheeves of the world to climb, man.
Muchos prop-os.

 

[GGA Jeremiah]

GGA Jeremiah : Can TKP beat Sheeva's regular telestomp, like QC's skydrop, on reaction ? If it can then you should use telestomp more wisely. Good post btw. Learned some pretty good stuff here.

Post edited.

Yeah you will have plenty of time to TKP me on the way up Telestomping. That is why most of the fight Sheeva will either be trying to stay full screen, or be up close. She can't stay mid distance away.

 

[SunnyD]

Why do think Sheeva v Kabal is 4-6? That has to be a 2-8, iaGB just annihilates momentum, stomp can be avoided by nomad dash, fireball is waaaay to slow, Kabal will block it. Plus 2 NDC block infinite destroys Sheeva up close. All you have is armor. and even then, if you manage to find a hole between the 2 NDC and the iaGB then the Kabal player was asking for it

 

[Metzos]

Yeah you will have plenty of time to TKP me on the way up Telestomping. That is why most of the fight Sheeva will either be trying to stay full screen, or be up close. She can't stay mid distance away.

Hmm judging from the Sheeva frame data regarding your projectile which can easily be punished on reaction with tp based on the recovery it has and TKP priority over your telestomp i can see Sheeva being a problem only when she reaches Ermac at sweep range cause of the armored throw. I would see the MU being a .5 in Ermac's favor at worst, judging from what you ve told me about the telestomp and the frame recovery of your fireball.

 

[GGA Jeremiah]

Hmm judging from the Sheeva frame data regarding your projectile which can easily be punished on reaction with tp based on the recovery it has and TKP priority over your telestomp i can see Sheeva being a problem only when she reaches Ermac at sweep range cause of the armored throw. I would see the MU being a .5 in Ermac's favor at worst, judging from what you ve told me about the telestomp and the frame recovery of your fireball.

It could very well be .5 in Ermac's favor. But once I see that an Ermac is very good at teleporting to punish my fireballs, they almost always fall for the AA bait for the full 30% punish.