Match-up Discussion Sonya Blade Matchup Discussion Thread

[Justice]

So uh I played K.O.E_18 's Noob last night and uh damn....His shadow mixups were damn near unpredictable.. It was a huge struggle to get in and when I did, staying in was just as much of a pain in the ass.

How are you guys getting in on high level saibots?

By beating them with a stick before they sit down

Seriously though, I find Noob to be a really frustrating matchup for Sonya. It's probably as bad as Kenshi and should be fought with the same mindset.

The best advice I can give is to play the baiting game. You know that Noob wants to keep Sonya at full-screen and how he's gonna do it. Try to think of it as a long-distance poking situation. You want to dictate which shadow Noob throws so that you are ready to not be there when he does.

 

[RiBBz22]

So uh I played K.O.E_18 's Noob last night and uh damn....His shadow mixups were damn near unpredictable.. It was a huge struggle to get in and when I did, staying in was just as much of a pain in the ass.

How are you guys getting in on high level saibots?

Does dash in and block low (fuzzy for high tackle) and then arc kick work?

 

[Vagrant]

Does dash in and block low (fuzzy for high tackle) and then arc kick work?

I had mixed results with arc kick... He's usually read for it.

Dashing in is tough against a good Saibot. Plus then i get to deal with a barage of upknees when I get close.

 

[RiBBz22]

I had mixed results with arc kick... He's usually read for it.

Dashing in is tough against a good Saibot. Plus then i get to deal with a barage of upknees when I get close.

If he is anticipating arc kick at max range then he is throwing out up knee way too early and you should take that advantage to work your way in. Once you get into footsie range you probably have the best footsie tool in the game in D4. Online timing can be rough in scouting out projectiles, but offline you should be able to get the reaction time down on being able to block the shadow tackles and continue to move in. Mix in arc kicks at the right distance or MS 2 if you are in range for a knockdown.

 

[RTM2004]

Dashing in is tough against a good Saibot. Plus then i get to deal with a barage of upknees when I get close.

You can trade an Ex Cartwheel for a combo if he throws out an Upknee in range if you read right. Same thing when he throws out a Shadow Tackle or Shadow Slide within range for Sonya's Dive Kick combo starter. The closer Sonya closes in space against Noob Saibot especially towards the corner, Noob Saibot runs out of options and if you bait his Teleport escape, full combo punish or duck Uppercut him.

If this was online, of course Noob Saibot is a better character online similar to Reptile, Mileena and Raiden.

 

[OutworldKeith]

Vagrant
Sonya vs Noob feels like a 5-5 to me. Against a good Noob it can be hard to get in, but you have to take advantage of the fact that his Tackle/Slide are unsafe on block. Characters like Scorpion can get a free Spear from a blocked tackle/slide. Unfortunately, Sonya can't get a full combo punish from blocked tackle/slide (other than point blank ranges). Sonya still can get a free d4~MS off of a blocked tackle/slide, which is one of Sonya's strong points. She can EX Cartwheel through Noob's projectiles, but it can be baited HARD. Don't be afraid to throw her projectiles but don't make a habit of it. I don't recommend Arc Kick because its unsafe, can be baited, and he will just push you away more. You must get in and abuse MS because she owns Noob in close range.

 

[OutworldKeith]

I had mixed results with arc kick... He's usually read for it.

Dashing in is tough against a good Saibot. Plus then i get to deal with a barage of upknees when I get close.

Upknee is useless in footsies if you know how to exploit its weakness. Baiting it works very well. I'm not sure if Sonya can get a full punish on a whiffed upknee though. She can get a d4~MS on whiffed upknee which is still great. Noob can't really punish Sonya's MS options at all, so he's forced to retreat.

 

[OutworldKeith]

If he is anticipating arc kick at max range then he is throwing out up knee way too early and you should take that advantage to work your way in. Once you get into footsie range you probably have the best footsie tool in the game in D4. Online timing can be rough in scouting out projectiles, but offline you should be able to get the reaction time down on being able to block the shadow tackles and continue to move in. Mix in arc kicks at the right distance or MS 2 if you are in range for a knockdown.

Noob won't ever have to anticipate an arc kick. All he has to do is block and punish. If shes at a distance where it will land in front of Noob, he can AA arc kick with tackle.

 

[RiBBz22]

Noob won't ever have to anticipate an arc kick. All he has to do is block and punish. If shes at a distance where it will land in front of Noob, he can AA arc kick with tackle.

I dunno man I was just responding to a post where someone mentioned anticipating an arc kick lol

 

[OutworldKeith]

I dunno man I was just responding to a post where someone mentioned anticipating an arc kick lol

Yeah the arc kick isn't even worth it lol

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

K.O.E_18 I wanna run this matchup again sometime not in a king of the hill. It was really hard when I couldnt react to the 50 50 projectiles, so I had to jump, and jumping never goes well haha. I think offline it is in sonya favor tbh.

 

[OutworldKeith]

K.O.E_18 I wanna run this matchup again sometime not in a king of the hill. It was really hard when I couldnt react to the 50 50 projectiles, so I had to jump, and jumping never goes well haha. I think offline it is in sonya favor tbh.

Contrary to popular belief, Noob isn't better online lol. His zoning is just as unsafe, and just as punishable. Most people think the upknee is OP online but if you don't jump he has nothing that can fuck with Sonya in close range besides a really great d3.

I'm down to run the MU in a private anytime.

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

Contrary to popular belief, Noob isn't better online lol. His zoning is just as unsafe, and just as punishable. Most people think the upknee is OP online but if you don't jump he has nothing that can fuck with Sonya in close range besides a really great d3.

I'm down to run the MU in a private anytime.

I mean, I couldn't react to a projectile at full screen. normally he isn't that bad though, I agree.

 

[Vagrant]

OK.

So I ran the Sonya Kabal MU at GGA with Soonk and dude.... I don't know what the hell Sonya is supposed to do....

Dodge the iagbs and pray i don't get buzzsawed back to square one, slowly crawl into d4 range, all the while watching out for ndcs...?
Kabal completely controls the pace of this match. Sonya cant trade with his iagbs unless the kabal player makes a mistake. And even then during this whole obstacle course kabal builds mad meter. So by the time I finally get in or land a combo it just gets broken and I have to navigate through more iagbs. Ms2 does not work at all to get in against a skilled kabal. This matchup is balls....

Any suggestions to make it less balls?

 

[Vagrant]

Showtime Death

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

OK.

So I ran the Sonya Kabal MU at GGA with Soonk and dude.... I don't know what the hell Sonya is supposed to do....

Dodge the iagbs and pray i don't get buzzsawed back to square one, slowly crawl into d4 range, all the while watching out for ndcs...?
Kabal completely controls the pace of this match. Sonya cant trade with his iagbs unless the kabal player makes a mistake. And even then during this whole obstacle course kabal builds mad meter. So by the time I finally get in or land a combo it just gets broken and I have to navigate through more iagbs. Ms2 does not work at all to get in against a skilled kabal. This matchup is balls....

Any suggestions to make it less balls?

I play it all the time with cage (I played reo on stream and had him in game one before I panicked and blew it at operation wolf if you watched that) and this seems very similar, but sonya does better due to her long range d4. Dash crouch block under iagb, you should be able to block any ground saw too, and if you read a ground saw you can also jump it but obviously that is hella risky (cage has to do this more than sonya) once you get in range you can try to to ex cartwheel through, catch him with a d4 or d1 on the way down from an iagb and juggle, or just be patient and corner him. Kabal will obviously be trying to get out of the corner, so they will probably start nmdc into ground saw, overhead, a string, or commit to the dash. I suggest trying not to get hit by overheads because you do not want to let him reverse positions. If he is going to go into a string your d4, s.4, and s.1 can all be good to interrupt, if he commits to the dash, block and punish. As far as punishing, this is very important, consider keeping him grounded. Do no juggle, that way he will not have enough advantage off of his breaker to nomad dash past you. The rest of the matchup is reallly just making good reads, using your s.1, iadk, and excw to get out of pressure, and baiting his armor. Its a tough match but one you can win if you make good reads.

 

[Justice]

I play it all the time with cage (I played reo on stream and had him in game one before I panicked and blew it at operation wolf if you watched that) and this seems very similar, but sonya does better due to her long range d4. Dash crouch block under iagb, you should be able to block any ground saw too, and if you read a ground saw you can also jump it but obviously that is hella risky (cage has to do this more than sonya) once you get in range you can try to to ex cartwheel through, catch him with a d4 or d1 on the way down from an iagb and juggle, or just be patient and corner him. Kabal will obviously be trying to get out of the corner, so they will probably start nmdc into ground saw, overhead, a string, or commit to the dash. I suggest trying not to get hit by overheads because you do not want to let him reverse positions. If he is going to go into a string your d4, s.4, and s.1 can all be good to interrupt, if he commits to the dash, block and punish. As far as punishing, this is very important, consider keeping him grounded. Do no juggle, that way he will not have enough advantage off of his breaker to nomad dash past you. The rest of the matchup is reallly just making good reads, using your s.1, iadk, and excw to get out of pressure, and baiting his armor. Its a tough match but one you can win if you make good reads.

I just wanted to add a couple of minor points to this amazing post.

If you decide to jump a ground saw, make sure you IaDK over it to get back to the ground as fast as you can. Also, to help get in inder IaGB, Sonya can naked MS2 from about midscreen and connect. This matchup can also possibly make Arc Kick useful since it will help push Kabal towards the corner. Not a great idea but in this matchup Sonya can't play her usual game so you gotta start looking elsewhere for possibilities.

Also, does anyone know if Sonya can F4 over Ground Saw like she can Low Hat?

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

I just wanted to add a couple of minor points to this amazing post.

If you decide to jump a ground saw, make sure you IaDK over it to get back to the ground as fast as you can. Also, to help get in inder IaGB, Sonya can naked MS2 from about midscreen and connect. This matchup can also possibly make Arc Kick useful since it will help push Kabal towards the corner. Not a great idea but in this matchup Sonya can't play her usual game so you gotta start looking elsewhere for possibilities.

Also, does anyone know if Sonya can F4 over Ground Saw like she can Low Hat?

I believe she can although I can't think of a situation that it is useful.

 

[Justice]

I believe she can although I can't think of a situation that it is useful.

Faster way to get around Kabal zoning. Besides, the more options you have, the more you can fuck up your opponent. And Sonya is all about options

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

Faster way to get around Kabal zoning. Besides, the more options you have, the more you can fuck up your opponent. And Sonya is all about options

True, but its risky, and if you read a ground saw at a range where fwd4 would hit, why not jump it and full combo?

 

[Justice]

True, but its risky, and if you read a ground saw at a range where fwd4 would hit, why not jump it and full combo?

I would. I generally tend to use F4 from farther out where there's less risk of retalliation (and where it's easier to time the F4 ) From midscreen, I like naked MS2. Up close, F4 has to be done on a read or once you've conditioned your opponent to fear the DK/MS F1. Also too, Kabal could be baiting a jump-in or DK kombo attempt by throwing out Ground Saw knowing that Sonya is in her ideal range. Then it comes down to Heel Bash being 0 on block and say DK for example is -21 on block.

Basically, it's another option in Sonya's mindgames. Not the most useful or safe I totally agree, but you never want to become predictible with any character, especially Sonya. As anything other than a movement tool, it's a gimmick I wouldn't use more than once a tournament it's that risky.

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

I would. I generally tend to use F4 from farther out where there's less risk of retalliation (and where it's easier to time the F4 ) From midscreen, I like naked MS2. Up close, F4 has to be done on a read or once you've conditioned your opponent to fear the DK/MS F1. Also too, Kabal could be baiting a jump-in or DK kombo attempt by throwing out Ground Saw knowing that Sonya is in her ideal range. Then it comes down to Heel Bash being 0 on block and say DK for example is -21 on block.

Basically, it's another option in Sonya's mindgames. Not the most useful or safe I totally agree, but you never want to become predictible with any character, especially Sonya. As anything other than a movement tool, it's a gimmick I wouldn't use more than once a tournament it's that risky.

I agree with everything except, if kabal ground saws, he cannot be baiting a jump in.... if you jump it you are punishing him lol,

 

[Justice]

I agree with everything except, if kabal ground saws, he cannot be baiting a jump in.... if you jump it you are punishing him lol,

My bad. I didn't know the recovery frames on Ground Saw were that high.

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

My bad. I didn't know the recovery frames on Ground Saw were that high.

I mean obviously if you jump super late he may be able to bock, but yeah if you anticipate a ground saw full combo every time.

 

[Vagrant]

Sigh... I can't believe i'm asking this...

I didn't study the matchup at all and it cost me at fight night.

Someone please just give me the rundown of the Sonya Kano matchup