You Got CAGED! - The Johnny Cage Matchup Thread

[GNG Iniquity]

Thanks for the advice, playpal! Quan Chi gives me trouble as well, I honestly just haven't taken 5 minutes to figure him out, since he's such a rarely seen character. Just need to take the time to do it.

 

[RWDY Nori]

What if he keeps spamming teleport that drops next to you? Is it safe?

 

[Asodimazze]

What if he keeps spamming teleport that drops next to you? Is it safe?

It isn't safe. You can use b3 and start a good combo

 

[leek]

Watch out for EX-Close rune on wakeup. If you don't know about it and he's in your face and you try to wake up, it will knock you out of the air with flip kick, or stop you on shadow kick for a free jump-in.
Don't worry about teleport shenanigans, with porting behind or in front. Just block and if it hits, obviously punish how you like. If not, usually they try to follow up with some sort of low mix up on B+3 1+2 and you can interrupt with F+32, if that makes sense. Playpal's got the right idea with blocking, try blocking low most of the time and read the U+4 overhead slam. It comes out fairly fast but you can try to fuzzyguard it.

EDIT: @Nori it's not safe. He will try to hit afterwards if he ports behind or in front, in the case of behind you can get a combo off of F+32 if he's not blocking and in front usually just continue blocking.

 

[RWDY Nori]

Thx guys. I knew he was getting away w/murder. And I don't know HOW people play online, it's a completely different game and it's not as helpful as I thought

 

[Playpal]

Watch out for EX-Close rune on wakeup. If you don't know about it and you're in his face when he's knocked down, they can catch you with it for a free jump in.

Don't worry about teleport shenanigans, with porting behind or in front. Just block and if it hits, obviously punish how you like. If not, usually they try to follow up with some sort of low mix up on B+3 1+2 and you can interrupt with F+32, if that makes sense. Playpal's got the right idea with blocking, try blocking low most of the time and read the U+4 overhead slam. It comes out fairly fast but you can try to fuzzyguard it.



EDIT: @Nori it's not safe. He will try to hit afterwards if he ports behind or in front, in the case of behind you can get a combo off of F+32 if he's not blocking and in front usually just continue blocking.

You're talking about Ex rune when JC's waking up right? Because quan chi cannot use ex rune as a wakeup attack.

 

[leek]

Thx guys. I knew he was getting away w/murder. And I don't know HOW people play online, it's a completely different game and it's not as helpful as I thought

Yeah it's totally different from offline for sure. No complaints here, just don't play it if I don't like it.

 

[RWDY Nori]

Yeah it's totally different from offline for sure. No complaints here, just don't play it if I don't like it.

Nah I'm straight done w/online forever. I can't do jab anti airs or finish combos. It's a very different game and I'm not gonna be an asshole and call people out like "I'D OWN YOU OFFLINE!!" but when I know for a fact I'm losing to stupid online only mixups, it's time to quit.

 

[leek]

You're talking about Ex rune when JC's waking up right? Because quan chi cannot use ex rune as a wakeup attack.

Yeah sorry, I'm sick as hell and it's sort of hard for me to accumulate thoughts with my headache. Fix'd, thanks br0

 

[Bravo Moe]

Cage vs Baraka 7-3 yes .. May be more .. Baraka is slow and cage is faster simply .. even Raka's Frame trap might not work on Cage fast moves

 

[RWDY Nori]

Merged the 2 matchup threads.

Also, anybody have tips on Jade? I played a player the other day who I feel got away w/murder cause I don't know any of her strings/moves lol

 

[GNG Iniquity]

Fuck. The 3-7 Reptile matchup is dead on, after picking up Cage I've begun to hate Reptile; I never noticed how simple my Reptile play was before. Pressuring the green bastard is a colossal pain in my ass, but more than likely, he'll zone me out - and EX forceball is 100% safe against EX shadow kick. Which, I think is bullshit. In the event that I can pressure him, I have to be constantly aware of elbow dash. If he does knock me down, he can just elbow dash twice to the opposite side of the screen and continue zoning me out.

So, once he sends that puppy out there, Reptile becomes the chip aggressor with a floating landmine directly behind him. Once it's gone, he can simply aim to knock you down, and elbow dash back to the other side of the screen and continue putting out forceballs and spitting at you.

Even with experience playing Reptile I cannot figure out this matchup, if anyone has any advice, please let me know.

Nah I'm straight done w/online forever. I can't do jab anti airs or finish combos. It's a very different game and I'm not gonna be an asshole and call people out like "I'D OWN YOU OFFLINE!!" but when I know for a fact I'm losing to stupid online only mixups, it's time to quit.

I don't blame you, man. I'm stuck with this crap until further notice though, unfortunately. My little city's starting to develop a FGC though so hopefully I can be done with this garbage soon!

 

[leek]

Punish blocked dashes with F+32. It doesn't work for me, but a friend of mine insists that it works. I usually just throw but :/ whatever.

His zoning is ridiculous and try to dash block in if you can, if you have meter to spend on ex-shadow then USE IT(near the corner, otherwise situation is reset to him outzoning). Don't ever try to trade, forceball will catch you and he can dash up and get a combo anyways.

Other than that, I don't know. I have the most trouble out of anyone with Reptile using Cage. Kitana is easy-bake muffins compared to Reptile for me

 

[GNG Iniquity]

Punish blocked dashes with F+32. It doesn't work for me, but a friend of mine insists that it works. I usually just throw but :/ whatever.

His zoning is ridiculous and try to dash block in if you can, if you have meter to spend on ex-shadow then USE IT(near the corner, otherwise situation is reset to him outzoning). Don't ever try to trade, forceball will catch you and he can dash up and get a combo anyways.

Other than that, I don't know. I have the most trouble out of anyone with Reptile using Cage. Kitana is easy-bake muffins compared to Reptile for me

Yeah, I'm not a big fan (pun not intended) of Kitana and Sindel; but at least I can hurt them when I get in on them. Reptile just nullifies everything Cage brings to the table, I'm sure you can uppercut elbow dash at the very least but that doesn't help me pressure him. But again, it's a mere 6 frames. Cage's D1 is 6 frames...

Well, I can play a clutch Reptile if you need me to, perhaps we can figure out some solution to this crap one of these nights man.

 

[leek]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan (pun not intended) of Kitana and Sindel; but at least I can hurt them when I get in on them. Reptile just nullifies everything Cage brings to the table, I'm sure you can uppercut elbow dash at the very least but that doesn't help me pressure him. But again, it's a mere 6 frames. Cage's D1 is 6 frames...

Well, I can play a clutch Reptile if you need me to, perhaps we can figure out some solution to this crap one of these nights man.

Please. Obviously online will make it a bit exaggerated and everything but it's the basic strat to it.. I don't know how to approach this is general. Sounds good though, just send me an invite when you want to.

 

[GNG Iniquity]

Who do you guys feel JC loses to?

Reptile, hands down.

Metallica0018 and I just had a little experiment, I did nothing but elbow dashed the entire first match seeing what can punish it, 11 and F3+2 seemed to work here and there. B3 as well. I need more data on this however.

When I actually played Reptile though...oh it's just awful. Cage cannot do anything. Even when he managed to get some strings on me, I broke away or just kept mashing the input in for elbow dash and that immediately got me out of it.

Then it's back to zoning him out. It's basically Kitana but worse, since Reptile can slip away during the pressure with a mere 6 frame escape...oh:

Oh, don't forget about those 6 frame elbow dash crossups too, so ridiculous. I can't believe I didn't feel dirty using those on people...

 

[THTB]

The thing with Cage is that Cage's dash is REALLY fast, to the point where Cage shouldn't have a ton of trouble dashblocking into Reptile's elbow range to cut it off. The only legitimate thing Reptile does that keeps Cage out is d4. It's pretty much even otherwise.

 

[leek]

Granted it was online, so there's lag. But everytime I tried to dash block in on a dash from Reptile, it got stuff and cancelled me, giving him the full elbow dash. I haven't played offline against any Reptile's to teach me the matchup or anything so that might be the issue as well. Just not knowing the timing you know?

Continuing with D+4, does reptiles D+4 have the same properties as Mileena's? It almost seems like it, maybe with less range or something.

 

[GNG Iniquity]

The thing with Cage is that Cage's dash is REALLY fast, to the point where Cage shouldn't have a ton of trouble dashblocking into Reptile's elbow range to cut it off. The only legitimate thing Reptile does that keeps Cage out is d4. It's pretty much even otherwise.

I may have to record how I was playing against him, basically I played the keep away game with Reptile's projectiles and once I was pressured I just elbow dashed my way out. Upon having meter, you have the option of being the chip aggressor due to JC's EX shadow kick not being able to go through EX FB; it'll launch JC if he tries. While it's true that JC can attempt to get in Rep's face, having that 6 frame escape midst pressure strings gets him out easily. You've gotta take into account that JC's jabs are incredibly fast, but only his D1 is 6 frames.

Continuing with D+4, does reptiles D+4 have the same properties as Mileena's? It almost seems like it, maybe with less range or something.

It's very similar, I believe it has a few additional frames on it though, but it's a very good poke none the less.

 

[Dizzy]

Paulo posted in the reptile forums a while back that elbow dash had 15 frames of recovery when blocked. So in theory you could punish it with anything 15 frames or faster. However, the move is so fast and this doesn't account for leaving block animation which may or may not take additional frames. I've tried using b3 but its inconsistent especially if you block point blank. I use f3,2,nutpunch. The reason I don't use 2,1,f2 is that I've noticed that tthe 2 tends to whiff due to reptile bouncing back when his elbow dash is blocked and the follow up 1 in the string ends up being blocked

 

[RWDY Nori]

For sure, it's easy to punish Reptile's elbow on reaction (offline). I punish it w/B3 all the time

Only matchup I'm struggling with is Raiden

 

[TeeJayKay]

For sure, it's easy to punish Reptile's elbow on reaction (offline). I punish it w/B3 all the time

Only matchup I'm struggling with is Raiden

Me too actually, Cage is my secondary usually when i play serious and whenever someone picks raiden im usually fucked

any tips?

 

[leek]

I don't have any problems against Raiden, just punish teleports on reaction with throw or uppercut and he has really nothing to stop rushdown except ex-superman, which you can sometimes bait out.

say you do volleys of F+32 D+1, you do it 3 times and then crossover jump punch. You do that twice in the match, and he catches on. Do three volleys of F+32 and block. If the opposing raiden has meter and knows he can get out with superman(armor properties) and he tries to read the crossover and react accordingly.. you just stuffed his superman and now he's burned meter and you get a punish.

Just a scenario, but I find that Raiden players(no disrespect or anything, not sure why this is) are a bit easier to bait out things and punish for it.

It's really just about getting him to commit to something to try and get in on cage and back out. I feel it's an even match up. Just try to anticipate the teleport if you're pressuring so you don't whiff a string and eat a superman.

 

[TeeJayKay]

I don't have any problems against Raiden, just punish teleports on reaction with throw or uppercut and he has really nothing to stop rushdown except ex-superman, which you can sometimes bait out.

say you do volleys of F+32 D+1, you do it 3 times and then crossover jump punch. You do that twice in the match, and he catches on. Do three volleys of F+32 and block. If the opposing raiden has meter and knows he can get out with superman(armor properties) and he tries to read the crossover and react accordingly.. you just stuffed his superman and now he's burned meter and you get a punish.

Just a scenario, but I find that Raiden players(no disrespect or anything, not sure why this is) are a bit easier to bait out things and punish for it.

It's really just about getting him to commit to something to try and get in on cage and back out. I feel it's an even match up. Just try to anticipate the teleport if you're pressuring so you don't whiff a string and eat a superman.

Thanks for this, I figure I should be a little less agressive when i fight raiden. Im sometimes just rushing in with cage balls to the wall then a teleport comes and i get in a long combo and cornered. I'll try to bait out supermans more.

 

[leek]

Thanks for this, I figure I should be a little less agressive when i fight raiden. Im sometimes just rushing in with cage balls to the wall then a teleport comes and i get in a long combo and cornered. I'll try to bait out supermans more.

Yeah it's nothing really too hard, it's just that you have to change from 100% batshit crazy-ass offense to some defense in there. It's strange with Cage to adjust, but once you do it works fine.