Great stuff. I was excited to see what high level Stryker looked like. He's more offensive than I would have him be, but I'm glad mid-damage characters can be successful in MK. Sindel is always awesome, of course. I feel that just by picking Sindel you get some sort of moral victory.

However, it does make me sad that this game's engine favors offensive strategies so much. I feel the only true defensive characters in the game are Noob and Ermac, and the latter only partially so.

I hope the next game offers some sort of super art system. Perhaps a dual x-ray option before each match with one x-ray reinforcing a character's natural strengths (a defensive character getting a defensive x-ray), and then a second x-ray that works as a tool to help out in bad match ups (perhaps a grapple or teleport x-ray).

Kitana?

Her defense is ridiculous and I'm not just talking about fans.

Kenshi might be considered quasi-defensive too. Not sure though.



I like it.

Yeah, but would you consider her strictly a defensive character? Her zoning is really good, but so is her ground pressure and mobility. Noob Saibot players don't have that kind of offensive power to fall back on. And then compare the meter building of Kitana's zoning game to that of Ermac's and Noob's. There's no contest.

I realize I was vague, but Kitana's style of defense is more keep away. Ermac and Noob would be more like Sagat's turtling IMO, and that's the style that seems underpowered to me. And again, there are alternative ways to play Kitana. I don't feel that is the case with the other guys. I mean, if Kitana gets filed into that category, then what of Shang and Kabal? Where does it end?

Hmm, I didn't even think about Kenshi. I haven't played many Kenshi players, but he definitely has a lot of long-range options. As for Sindel, I'm going to put her in my arsenal if it kills me, lol.
And it might kill me. I'm not good at dash jab dash jab dash jab...

Stryker and Sindel's rushdown has been downplayed for quite sometime.

I'm glad these two did this video, these two characters may not be top ten, but they're viable and deadly in their own way.

Stryker can definitely rushdown well with things like 1,2, gunshot for example and apply great pressure with his reset. Of course his good counter zoning and zoning is no secret.

He has a lot of tools that higher tier characters have like cancels, the only fault I find with his cancels is that they're not fluid and smooth like Jax's or Kabal's where you can punish baited attacks more. I mean it's great to keep your opponent scared, I just wish it was more fluid and you could dash out of gun shot sooner.


As for Sindel, I've been using her for about 2-3 weeks now and I've loved her rushdown and her zoning, the levitation cancels are very fluid, easy meter building and her mix up game is beyond underrated.

Note this is not to say that these characters don't have many or any bad match ups, I just don't think they're garbage like people said they were, even before their most recent buffs I thought this.


When I get back to playing this game legit again, which will probably be next week as Assassin's Creed Revelations is occupying my game time, I'm going to work on Sindel a lot more.

Plus Sindel is fun to use and has the most true to oringinal costume and it's the most intricate and sensible looking imo( not that this matters for gameplay just saying


P.S. I'm so delighted you're getting into the tournament and more involved gameplay aspects Mojo, it's truly awesome to see players get more and involved, thanks for posting this

Checked it out!

Nice to see two high level players reppin' those two characters.


I actually played with Stryker quite a few matches against one of my buddies' Sindel. I prefer to rush her down and stay within his roll range, only when I would get the clear life lead I would stay back and throw grenades. We played 10 matches last night, it ended 6-4 in his favor. He uses those sneaky levitate cancels when he pressures and he has some full-screen projectile tricks as well, he likes to do b2 into projectile (to delay the projectile or he doesn't do it and recovers in time). He does multiple air projectiles using the levitation move.

I also play with Sindel. Now, I'm no where near as good as Mr. Mileena, but I do prefer my version of the combo after the 4, 4 connects. He would do 4, 4 and follow it up with jabs into hair whip. I do 4, 4 - dash in - standing 1 into normal scream and then JPS, 2, 1 into hair whip or cartwheel (the choice for the final special move depends on screen positioning and corner proximity - this way you can manipulate the positioning of the characters in your favor). "My version" of the combo is easier to do for those guys that struggle with dash jab combos and it has 1 special move extra so you build yourself an extra tiny bit of meter and the overall damage output is pretty much the same as Mr. Mileena's, cca. 27%.

@Mojo: You can use her normal scream in combos too. For example: 2 - scream works, b3, f2 - scream works, 4, 4 - dash in - 1 - scream works and b1, 2 - dash in - 3, 1 - scream works.


I agree with Mojo, I too see Kenshi as a defensive character.

I also heard that Mr. Mileena has been messing around with Jade, maybe he comes up with something good. I also saw Check play Jade last week at VSM, did some cool stuff, used her d1, her green kick (he would mostly do just 1 kick and then continue to pressure) and her d, f2 quite a lot.


EDIT (Jan. 2nd, 2012): Corrected input error for one of Sindel's combos.