Started off the demo (had no interest in the game until after demo) with Sub Zero and Scorpion. Like so many, ninjas, the coolest thing ever. Me and Richard, were going hand to hand, so I decided I must get better, because he was beating me more times than I beat him. It was really close each time too. I was always torn between the two. JC and Mileena I had zero interest in.
After the demo, I didnt even think I'd buy the game. I decided to buy it on midnight release just because some of my other friends were going to, so might as well.
Started the story mode, still stayed with Sub Zero and Scorpion. After campaign, I tried out new casts. One of the few first were Liu Kang, Noob Saibot (loved him in UMK3), and Sektor (same with Noob). Didnt like the turtle game of Noob, and Sektor I felt was too low tier at the time. Saw PL's Liu Kang during pdp (I think) against Tom Brady's JC. So I switched to Liu Kang for a while.
Raiden, Liu Kang, Sub Zero were the main guys I used.
Throughout this summer, I got pretty good with them, then I came back to school expecting to beat my friend who gave me such a hard time during the demo. He wiped the floor with his Sub Zero and Raiden. Raped both of mines. The only other character I played was Liu Kang (who could beat him pretty evenly) because I didnt want to use the characters he did.
So I decided to try out other characters. Easymac was meh, so I dropped him after awhile. I started using Mileena, Kitana, Sektor (saw some videos and I fell in love), Noob. After getting my ass handed to me so many times, I decided to hop on the bandwagon and see what the big deal was with Kung Lao. Played him for an hour in practice mode and I fell in love. Within the day, my Kung Lao (having never played him at all) was just as good as my Liu Kang, even a bit better.
Decided to expand my horizon and tried Reptile too. Also became one of my mains. I loved his play style. Then I stuck with them. Up until recently, I only used Liu, Kung, and Reptile. Then I discovered Cyrax after seeing Maxter in action. Thought he was cheap at first, but god damn, after pulling off some ridiculous combos and seeing my friends jaw drop to the floor, I decided to add him to my collection.
I would say my main would be Kung Lao, but I use 3-4 characters in each situation. If I feel like Im losing too consistently, I switch to KL to dominate my friend. We are pretty close each game, so it doesnt really make that much of a difference, but its just something I noticed. If I play slower and smarter, I can punish him well while I always was getting punished for stupid mistakes. He baits so damn well.