Question - A-List Who is still playing Cage?

[Asodimazze]

The title says it all, besides a few posts here and there the Cage forum is dead.

Are me and @IrishMantis the only ones willing to play Cage in tournament? Is anyone else still maining him?

 

[Scott The Scot]

I dropped him after the patch.

 

[jaylee777]

I still main him and only him. Most people that still play him picked up 1 or 2 secondaries and dont play cage nearly as much.

 

[ismael4790]

I still play fisticuffs too, but I have no intentions of competing in mkx, simply don't play the appropiate characters. And if I had to play a competition I would go with Kenshi since surprisingly the majority of the people still don't take full advantage of his weaknesses.

Cage is in a bad position to be honest. Not having a mid wakeup armor is really really bad. SD at least has it, although he's pretty bad overall now. Fisticuffs would be complete with exflipkick armored. As for A-List, A-Listers will know better what he would specifically need besides exflipkick change.

 

[Wigy]

He doesnt play like cage should hes the clunkiest rushdown on the planet.

Play him very rarely anymore.

There is legitimately no reason at all to pick him over liu kang. In every single department except fast advancing mid string he is better.

 

[DirtySanchez]

You guys ever thought about maybe playing SD slower, similar to how tempest lao is played? Cage has an amazing whiff punish with f3, really good walkspeed, ridiculous damage from any touch. The mix is very similar to tempest with d4 and staggers, they both have a hard time getting out of the corner (although you can just manage your mimic's properly and always keep one active either for a combo or for a wakeup). The only real difference between the 2 is lao gets better mobility with a divekick and teleport while cage gets more damage and doesn't need to spend meter to stay plus on block.

 

[Gofer_MK]

I am learning SD. Tried out A-list but the cancels are killing me.

 

[Wigy]

You guys ever thought about maybe playing SD slower, similar to how tempest lao is played? Cage has an amazing whiff punish with f3, really good walkspeed, ridiculous damage from any touch. The mix is very similar to tempest with d4 and staggers, they both have a hard time getting out of the corner (although you can just manage your mimic's properly and always keep one active either for a combo or for a wakeup). The only real difference between the 2 is lao gets better mobility with a divekick and teleport while cage gets more damage and doesn't need to spend meter to stay plus on block.

Lao has a 7f poke that isnt total dildo on block.
Lao has a much better grab
Lao has a 7f staggerable string
Lao gets pretty big damage also and isn't limited with needing to have clones up like with cage. Cage takes risks or gives up damage getting his clones out and needs them for a wakeup.
He has a mid staggerable string
7frame wakeup launcher, even if it doesnt have armour its still really useful.
Stamina nerfs hit cage harder than lao, he struggles to get in more.


They're totally different characters, obviously i'm just listing pros for lao here but im tired of people saying 'just play him like lao' cage is completely fucked.

 

[ismael4790]

You guys ever thought about maybe playing SD slower, similar to how tempest lao is played? Cage has an amazing whiff punish with f3, really good walkspeed, ridiculous damage from any touch. The mix is very similar to tempest with d4 and staggers, they both have a hard time getting out of the corner (although you can just manage your mimic's properly and always keep one active either for a combo or for a wakeup). The only real difference between the 2 is lao gets better mobility with a divekick and teleport while cage gets more damage and doesn't need to spend meter to stay plus on block.

The mobility factor is crucial, specially in a game with no armor launchers, where antiairing a character that has a divekick has become a nightmare. Cage jumping still sucks.

 

[Wigy]

Its a simple matter of you have to make 4x the effort playing him as a rushdown compared to so many of the cast.

 

[LeftOverShark]

Sadly Ive dropped the alist celeb Its not that I find him bad, he is still really solid. I just cant get used to the one cancel rep.

 

[rubmytaco]

I see Mantis making Johnny work just fine..

 

[Wigy]

I see Mantis making Johnny work just fine..

Against who?

Hes just really fucking good

The dude himself says SD is pretty pants.

 

[rubmytaco]

Against who?

Hes just really fucking good

The dude himself says SD is pretty pants.

Against all the top players in Europe... The most recent tournament he entered, he only lost to Crathen's Sub (one of his worst match ups). He actually beat the winner of that tournament (Happypow) pretty convincingly the next day in casuals.

I don't remember speaking about SD btw...

 

[Wigy]

Against all the top players in Europe... The most recent tournament he entered, he only lost to Crathen's Sub (one of his worst match ups). He actually beat the winner of that tournament (Happypow) pretty convincingly the next day in casuals.

I don't remember speaking about SD btw...

Mantis mains stunt double..

Im not saying hes not viable, i'm sure he has plenty of 5-5s, its just hard work compared to other rushdown characters. Hes solid mid lowish tier.

The way this game works all characters are pretty viable, you get a player like mantis and they'll make it work.

 

[rubmytaco]

Mantis mains stunt double..

Im not saying hes not viable, i'm sure he has plenty of 5-5s, its just hard work compared to other rushdown characters. Hes solid mid lowish tier.

The way this game works all characters are pretty viable, you get a player like mantis and they'll make it work.

Mantis has mained A-list for months... Conversation over.

 

[Wigy]

Mantis has mained A-list for months... Conversation over.

Calm yourself there you smug little boy.

Trying to have a discussion here.

I've not kept up with mantis or much of the competitive scene closely as i've had a busy few months.

That doesnt prove anything.

@IrishMantis

Wana chime in here man?

Feel free to blow me up, genuinely curious, i feel jc is solidly mid tier now and kang beats him in just about every department.

How you finding cage.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I don't think he garbage per say but I don't see how he's mid tier because I can't imagine him being as good/better than about half the cast.

 

[Asodimazze]

A-List has many seriously bad matchups. A good player like Mantis can make him work somehow...but if you end up against another good player, who mains a problematic character and has a good knowledge of A-List, you are done for.

In many matchups You NEED the opponent to make big mistakes to win with A-List, it's just how it is.

 

[Tweedy]

I think Vendetta, Homies, Sweet Neptune and Jamille all still play him almost exclusively.

 

[llabslb]

His offence is made up of staggers, grabs along with a mid and pokes to check with. Definitely viable but nothing special at all. Most characters do the same job as him and better. I honestly wouldn't mind this it's just that I'm expected to play neutral in a game where weird ass hurtboxes and hitboxes exist. No consistency.

 

[Rodney Quillz]

A-List has many seriously bad matchups. A good player like Mantis can make him work somehow...but if you end up against another good player, who mains a problematic character and has a good knowledge of A-List, you are done for.

In many matchups You NEED the opponent to make big mistakes to win with A-List, it's just how it is.

Does fisti cover any of a list bad match ups?

 

[jaylee777]

I personally think that Johnny as a whole is pretty solid. There are definitely a good amount of characters that are better than him, but cage can hold his own across all 3 variations imo. There are very few characters that I think beat all three variations of cage so I don't think his mu's are that bad.

A list players need to play A LOT differently since the patch, but once the adjustments are made, I think we'll all agree that he's still pretty solid.

 

[Asodimazze]

Does fisti cover any of a list bad match ups?

I don't know, I only use A-List. I hate speedbag inconsistencies on block

 

[jaylee777]

I don't know, I only use A-List. I hate speedbag inconsistencies on block

Who would you say are alist's bad matchups?