I watched the stream last night, Brady got brutalized, I even felt sorry for him. Everyone was "against" him.

I actually missed the last two games from the grand final because I switched to watch reveLAtions top8, but watched it recorded. Amazing Reptile by Chris G.

ReveLAtions was won by Michaelangelo's Kabal, but the most hyped player was definitely Konqrr with his Kitana because no one has played Kitana that well at any previous tourneys and his 50% damage Kitana combos were causing mixed reactions from the people watching lol.

Man, can't wait to see all these players at the same tournament. Still haven't found out who did Check use at CEO, he eliminated PerfectLegend, so he must be awesome!

These were the results per character used:
1: Reptile
2: Sub Zero (mostly)
3: Reptile
4: Kano
5: Lui Kang
5: Cyrax
7: Raiden
7: Cyrax

What other name does Check go under? These results were up at Shuriyuken.com so go see there.

Check didn't make it into Top8, and only Top8 from CEO was streamed, so it's really hard to find out who he used.

Check eliminated PerfectLegend, but then Floe eliminated Check, but Floe himself got eliminated by Noobe who made it into Top8.

I hate the Patriots but I love Tom Brady. I've only ever heard good things from him since MK9 was released and he's definately flagshiped the idea that good play comes from time spent in the lab and not on tier list. Damn good and deserves all the respect you would give other players like J. Wong.

About the matches though, those were intense. Not only was Chris G constantly, constantly found in the corner, but he kept fighting his way out like a rabid animal. When I saw the ice clone barricade, I would've sworn it was over. That reptile was the most well-toned to-date.

Can't wait for EVO.

Nope, I always thought Reptile was top tier. With that said, I think there are better characters, however, the "S" class are few.

Even with his damage nerf, Reptile is a force to be reckoned with. The addition of armor on his acid hand will help his cause as well (great for wake ups). Thanks for posting the matches.

Yea, and I already feel that the last patches have changed things. Two tournaments where Kung Lao did not really feature much. I'm not convinced that Raiden is S tier either, except maybe online which would be a different tier list. This game will be super balanced once they get the couple of issues sorted out. Think we need to start a tier list sticky soon (but prob after EVO).

The top i8 in general were just incredible. Love seeing Brady's Sub-Zero in action, even if his counterpicks were kinda meh. The Chomp-Chomp-Hiss jokes were also killing me.

I've been saying since Day 4 that Reptile was in the top five. Even before this tournament, I would have been surprised if he got anything less than rank 3 on the tier list.

He has tools for damn near everything! His bag includes a strong projectile game, a long-distance low attack, a virtual command dash, and even a strong turtle-ing game (holy shit, did I just make a pun there?).

Reptile is really really good. So good.

Guys,I am sorry for not being expert in everything you say,I just want to know what majority of people think who are top 10 tier list characters or is it to be determined later? I know I am new to this,but MK9 really interested me if not to play,but watch and observe tournament plays.

From what I have seen,ANY character can be good in good hands,but still...I didn't even know that Sub-Zero was so good until I watched him in the hands of Tom Brady or,for example,I thought Kitana was the fastest and easiest along with Kung Lao,but nobody seems to use her in tourneys.

The top ten (or full tier list) is still to be determined. You last paragraph reeks of truth though ANY character can be good. There are hardly any characters that could not be used effectively.

Now for the sake of debate I will list you who I feel are top ten atm. This is just my opinion based on my own play and observing lots of tournament play. If you asked me tomorrow this would prob change slightly.

1-Kung Lao (even after nerf, early performance puts him at top)
2-Raiden (I hate him) (Online he would be God-tier, offline just very good)
3-Reptile (Might be higher soon)
4-Sub Zero (I cannot use him but Tom Brady reckons he is 1)
5-Kabal (Has come on strong recently)
6-Ermac (Solid all round and easy combos)
7-Cyrax (Great damage, completey different from all other characters making him hard to face)
8-Kitana (She will go higher soon I'm sure)
9-Kano (He might go down later. Nothing special for me but has some GREAT specials)
10-Shang Tshung (Most people suck with him, myself included BUT he has potential. Long unbreakable combos, health regeneration. I won't be surprised if a lot of pros are secretly trying to master this guy)

Opinions welcome, remember this is just MY opinion. I would love to see what you guys reckon about the top 10.

S
Raiden

A
Kung Lao
Sub-Zero

B
Kano
Quan Chi
Noob Saibot
Ermac

C
Cyber Sub-Zero
Kurtis Stryker
Scorpion
Nightwolf
Cyrax
Kitana
Kratos (PS3 exclusive)
Smoke
Mileena
Reptile
Kabal
Liu Kang
Sektor
Johnny Cage
Jade

D
Sheeva
Shang Tsung
Sonya Blade

E
Jax
Sindel

F
Baraka

Is this your personal list? ^

I have to disagree with a lot here, but I did forget about Nightwolf. He could well be top 10. Not sure who he will replace. Also I am not sold on Quan Chi being very good but I suppose he does have some good options.

Also you seriously have Reptile WAAAAAY too low.

One thing is for sure: People will NEVER agree on any tier list for this game. Suppose that is a good thing coz it means various characters are viable to different people.

I'll post how I feel at the moment, just for fun:


01. Raiden
02. Kung Lao
03. Kabal
04. Reptile
05. Nightwolf
06. Ermac
07. Sub-Zero
08. Kano
09. Kitana
10. Shang Tsung


This is just for fun and I do want to mention that I've also seen very impressive Cyber Sub-Zero, Cyrax, Smoke & Noob Saibot. I really think with all the patches that the game is nicely balanced and pretty much everyone has a chance.

Haha, I'm pretty chuffed that our lists are so similair. You obviously know what you are talking about

I know very little about Nightwolf tbh but I do feel he should be top ten. Just not sure Cyrax is the one I would swap out. Guess with his bombtrap not being so effective it does make sense but as my main I guess I see his glass as half full.

^ I actually feel really bad about leaving Johnny Cage out of Top10, especially after I saw that footage of Thursday Night Casuals I just posted in the new thread.

I'm just not sure about Sub-Zero to be honest, yes Brady plays him well, but who else? Also, even Brady has been struggling to win tourneys. Last week he lost to ChrisG's Reptile and earlier on in the year he was forced to change from Sub-Zero to Cage when playing against REO.

Also, I'm not sure about Kano. It's his up-ball and how much they nerfed it. I don't know I think Johnny should be in Top10.

But hey, this is actually good, so many characters are deserving of Top10 so that only tells that there are plenty of really good characters and that the game is balanced nicely. Who knows how good Sheeva will be with hyper armor on her enhanced command grabs lol, watch out!

God, I can't wait for Evo! Sucks that I probably won't be around to watch it live, but I'll dig for footage as soon as I get the chance!

eh, just for the sake of discussion:

1. raiden
2. kung lao
3. kabal
4. reptile
5. sub-zero
6. ermac
7. kano
8. kitana
9. cyrax
10. nightwolf

and my own personal tier list:

1. kung lao
2. ermac
3. reptile
4. cyrax
5. sektor
6. sub-zero
7. kitana
8. nightwolf
9. noob
10. raiden

In mine I dont have them ranked in order within groups. Rather I just sectioned them off where I felt there were major diferences in power. Also Im an online casual so of course my list is probably not the most reliable, but hey I tried.

here is my tier list. before i list it, do know that i have played as every character enough to know their weaknesses, strengths, all that good junk. i just recently completed story mode on expert, and you kinda have to know what you're doing in order to get through that. (thinks about playing as jade...*shudders*)

S-Rank
Shang-Tsung:

Surprised? I'll tell you why Shang is top rank. He can do a 40% high hit opening combo, and also a 39% low hit opening combo, meaning if you jump in with a punch and the opponent blocks it, go in for the low hit combo, and viola, 39% of their health gone.

But that is not the only reason why Shang Tsung is top rank. He can only be S-rank if you know how to use the character that you're opponent is using, because the end of the both of the combos i described earlier ends with a soul steal.

Let's say you're playing against an ermac user. You mix him up, and are able to land one of the above combos on him/her. You are now ermac, but with a catch. You have a damage boost. Now if you were to land ermac's
JIP B1 1 4 xx Lift, JK xx teleport punch, force push
there goes another 57% of your opponents health. So now they are down to either 3 or 4% health depending on which version of Shang's combo you used.

Now what if you did an x-ray during soul steal? The damage increase carries over into the x-ray, so say you were shang/ermac, you're x-ray would do 46%, and if you combo'd in with ermac's JIP B1 1 2 xx X-ray, then it would be 65%.

IF YOU ARE PLAYING AS SHANG AGAINST A CHARACTER YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH, THAN SHANG TSUNG WOULD BE CONSIDERED A-RANKED

A-Rank: These fighters have either high damaging easy to pull off combos, or are great at mix-ups, zoning games, wake up games, (just pretty much an easy to use character) The combos i post next to some of the characters are just my own BnB combos that I could pull off in my sleep.

Kung Lao [mid-screen 1 bar combo, 37%, great wake-up game]
Ermac [mid-screen no bar combo, 45%]
Reptile [great zoning game, command dash, long distance low slide]
Nightwolf [mid-screen 1 bar combo, 44%]
Sektor [mid-screen 1 bar combo, 47%, great mix-up game]
Raiden [mid-screen no bar combo, 39%]
Liu Kang [mid-screen no bar combo, 37%, great mix-up game]
Kano [beast zoning game]


Special cases:
Cyber Sub-Zero:

You cannot deny the fanbases hatred for Cyber Sub-Zero, but truth be told, this guy has a fuck load of tools.

He has a long range low attack (slide)
He has a parry that when EX'd can lead into a full fledged combo
He has an easy to pull off 38% high hit intro combo
He also has a decent mix-up game.

Scorpion:

Yep, the amazing online spammer. He is a fan favorite for sure, but the thing is, I hardly ever see people use him right. They just spam his spears or teleport, when in reality, Scorpion has very strong combos.

Mid-Screen no meter high intro combo 40%
Mid-Screen no meter low intro combo 34%

With those two combos, you can mix up your opponent as well as deal brutal damage. That is why Scorpion is A-Ranked.

Kabal:

Most people would automatically assume he is A-ranked, but I think Kabal barely makes the cut. His combos are rather weak, with my BnB doing only 32% damage. What saves Kabal and makes him A-ranked is his mix-ups (he has a combo that ends with a low hit which can be combo'd into via dash, and then his combos extend off of dash), and his low game, which include his buzzsaw which is quick, and from a distance, safe.

EDIT
Quan Chi:
He is DEFINITELY A-Ranked, without a doubt. On the second page, I posted a strategy that will fuck you up if you don't know how to counter it. But mainly, Quan Chi has a great mix-up game ranging from a couple of high hit combos that will combo into trance, a couple of low hit combos that will combo into trance AS WELL as a low hit combo followed by an overhead that will combo into trance, MEANING if you block low thinking he will go into a low hit combo, he will more than likely catch you with the overhead and put you into trance. enough rambling, you want more info on Quan Chi, go look at page 2 where i posted.

EDIT Kitana: I originally had Kitana as a Rank B character, but I recently got a better look at her in the hands of a great player. He used great strategy involving zoning with her fans, and whenever I would get close, he would either enter a high hit combo, or use her lifting fans to put me in the air. Once in the air, a Kitana user will followup with a couple of fans, which are UNBREAKABLE, meaning she will do nasty damage and you won't be able to do a damn thing. Kitana doesn't have many tools in the likes of low hit combos or mix ups, but her zoning with fans makes up for it in the hands of a skilled player.

B Rank: These characters either aren't hard hitting as the A-ranked characters, don't have great wake-up/mix-up/zoning games, or are easily outmatched by other characters.

Sub-Zero: Easily zoned, poor mix-up game. Ice clone can't solve all problems. Ground breaker can be hit with wake-up.



Johnny Cage: His combos aren't very strong, and his mix-up game is limited to sweeps and throws. He has one combo which contains a low hit, but it can't be combo'd further. Also, the combos that he does have that are high damaging require slight timing, which can be an extreme burden when online.

Sonya Blade: She has a great mid-screen no meter, 40% combo, but it is a high hit intro. Other than that, she can't really combo that high, and she doesn't have any combos starting with a low hit which makes her mix-up game pretty weak. She does have a low hit from her military stance which is great for mix-ups, but it can't combo into anything else from there.

Cyrax: Despite the bomb trap (which will be made into a 50/50), Cyrax has only one good 1 meter combo. Other than that, his mix-up game is bleh. He doesn't have any combos that start with low hits or anything, so that is a bit of a burden.

Mileena: She's just meh.

Stryker: I really really want to love Stryker. He can drop some gnarly damage, [mid-screen no meter 37%], but he just doesn't have many tools when it comes to turtlers. He can cover great distance with his roll toss, but when you are fighting against a person who knows where the block button is, things can get really hairy. He's still a good figher nonetheless.



Noob: His lack of combos really hurts, but DAMN does this guy have a zoning game as well as mix-up game. Wait what? A mix up game? Yeah, Noob can fuck you up with alternating Shadow Tackles and Shadow Slides. He can also zone the shit out of you with them. I really reaally really like Noob, he is my 2nd main behind Kung Lao, but I have to put him as B-Ranked because of his lack of damaging combos. The great mix-up game and zoning game however keeps him from being C-ranked.

C-Ranked: These folks just aren't that great. They can pull some wins, sure, but when facing a good opponent, these people aren't going to fare too well.

Smoke: This guy has ZERO low combos!!! I mean, what the fuck? If an opponent knows where the hell the block button is, than that limits the Smoke to throws, sweeps, or normal lows. I get SOOO fucking pissed when I see people complaining about smoke users. FUCKING BLOCK. That is it.

Sindel: She has very poor combos. I believe the highest i've done with her is in the 30's, and that is pushing it. Her mix-up game is miserable, with virtually no low hit combos to go into. Gay.

Sheeva: Big mama just doesn't have high damaging combos. She has an OK mix-up game, but it can't get you very far with combos ranging only to the mid 20's in damage. Her stomp attack can be easily punished by people who have anti-airs such as Kung Lao's spin or Ermac's lift, which can be downright crippling if you are caught in an anti-air.

Baraka: This guy barely missed B-list in my opinion. After the recent buff, he can be really damaging, in small doses. He has very few heavy hitting combos. He also has a lot of low combos, but they just don't cut it for me. Sorry baraka, i wanted to like you, but meh.

D-Ranked: I might be extremely biased when it comes to these characters. If so, sue me.

Jade: Damn, I hated playing as Jade. Sure, her staff gives her long reach, but just about all of her combos play off of B1 followed by an overhead. Guess what, that shit gets predictable real fast. She DOES have a low combo, but the only way to combo off of it, is to use an EX overhead, and even after that, it is extremely difficult to build high combos off of this. Her boomerang attacks have retarded start up times, therefore making them easily blocked. She also recently had one of her combos taken away. Pity on the green girl.

Jax: I also hated playing as Jax. His combos aren't very large or damaging, and his ground pound is retarded slow. I'll admit, I have been beaten by some really good Jax users, well wait, just one Jax user. I am sure there are more Jax users out there who are really good, but the sheer fact that he is so difficult to get a handle on drops him into D rank.















If anyone would like for me to list out the commands for some of the combos i described in my list, i'd be more than happy to do so. I didn't do them in the first place, because that would take to effin long.

Jax is SOOO underestimated, the mindfuck games with him are endless. I wished i lived somewhere close to some tournament's location so I could shock the fuck out of people. I mean, F4 2 4/ F4 D,U+B, easy mix-ups. Dash punch to check characters and to punch (similar to reptiles dash but not that fast). THEN ground pound the fuck out of people. Online jax has some pretty good ground pound traps on turtlers. Plus a good damage throw, and XRAY. His only downfall is his weak zoning game.

And if I'm correct Tom Brady says hes getting armor on his ex dash punch in the next patch? Spend some time in the lab with him and you'll see. I beat c00kedc0ke, the #1 guy on xbox live with Jax and made him rage quit.

Anyways top 10 would look something like:
1 - Kung Lao
2 - Reptile
3 - Raiden
4 - Nightwolf
5 - Sub Zero
6 - Kano
7 - Johnny Cage
8 - Ermac
9 - Cyrax
10 - Shang Tsung

I'm not ready to commit to a tier list, however, I think there are going to be some mean Liu Kangs coming soon. His only weak spot is in his wakeup game, but man he can put on the pressure.

I have a tourney tomorrow, so I've actually fully switched to Liu this week to see how he does. Even if he struggles, I always keep a decent Kung in my back pocket just in case

I've pretty much dropped EasyMac. Reptile is STRONG, but I can't seem to commit to him (even though I love his hit confirm string).

I agree with whoever said Jax wasn't getting enough love. I mean, I wouldn't put him anywhere near the top, but Jax definitely got some things going on these days. (ground pound cancel, armor on dash punch, etc., has helped a lot)

I also need to get into the lab with the new and improved Sindel--they made her B+3,F+2 launch higher, and changed some of her strings to cancel into Scream. She may end up being better, but need to play around to see how much has changed.

There is a lot of hate for Baraka, and rightfully so, but with B+3,2 being a legitimate launcher now, you can cycle it twice and F+4 for a combo reset or mixup to throw (technically you can cycle B+3,2 three times, but it's too inconsistent for my tastes). You could try 2,2,1+2 after the F+4 but that ish is slow, and they'll be able to block on reaction. Stick with the reset to B+3,2 or throw and Baraka can be a little bit meaner than most give him credit for.

Sub's a monster, but his clone/winterblades game is a delicate one--one miss and he's in trouble. Brady plays him almost flawlessly...it's kind of inspiring to see him at that level.

Rambling now...ok...done.

Oh sorry, I forgot I wanted to say this at some point for any reason I could find:

I hate that Cyber Sub's dive kick is safe on block.

@microchip: Patch 1.02 fixes that bug that makes it possible to punish Sub-Zero after a ground breaker. Also, Kitana's timing is tricky, but if you played enough with a character (she's my main) it's really not a problem. I imagine those tourney players have no trouble at all. I think when doing a tier list one would always have to imagine what can certain character do in hands of a pro-player.

Yeah just last night I played a really good kitana. After seeing what he could do with her I definitely change my mind and would consider her A on my list. The only problem was that he threw a lot of fans so the next round I picked smoke, a very low classed character in my opinion, and I gave the guy a shit load of trouble just by using smokes projectile counter. The guy had to change up his strategy all because of that. He was still great though.

Yeah I saw that about patched sub zero ground thing. I still think the guy is B on my list. He just doesn't have much mix ups at all and his combos rely too much on either catching someone in a clone or freeze (meaning he can get the shit zoned out of him) or by entering a high hit intro combo. He can't do a large combo starting low so that really limits his tools, and that in my eyes is not worthy of a class A character.

When I made the list I didn't think about what a pro could do with said character. If that were the case then just about all of the characters would be considered class A. What I thought was how a pro vs. another pro match would be like if one person picked the character in question and the other pro picked your typical class A person like Kung Lao or ermac. Imagine a match between a pro using sub-zero and an equally skilled pro using ermac. There is no question he would be beat by ermac because of ermacs zoning game. The sub user would have hell just getting to ermac with his only tool to get there being block dashing or his slide. And once he does get close all a sub pro would be able to do in order to enter a high damage combo would be to start a high intro combo strIng which will be blocked orpint an ice clone on the screen and pray the ermac pro doesn't force push, which he will.

We all saw Tom Brady (who is a pro) get his sub zero bodied by a reptile. That's proof enough for me that sub zero isn't class A.

Yeah, that's what i meant to say as well, sorry.

As for Sub-Zero, honestly, if it wasn't for Tom Brady I probably wouldn't even consider putting him in Top10. I don't know, we'll see. I feel bad that I left Johnny out of Top10.

Yeah, Just watching Tom bradys videos has taught me alot about the game.

Johnny cage is really good in the hands of a pro. I saw the vids of reo using him and just thought damn. But reo was a bit too aggressive in my opinion. If he had been attempting to rush down a character with a good wake up game, he would have had to back off