A tip for a newcomer - how to be good at MK9 competitively

Don't jump.

You'll get anti-aired -uppercutted, flip kicked, normad dashed, speared...

Only jump over move with long recovery, like projectiles. Learn how to move around the stage being as safe as possible. this includes teleporting.

You'd be surprised how often I win, by just standing still anti-airing foolish jump ins and punishing unsafe teleports.

If people think that is cheap or being a turtle, then they don't want to play seriously.
 
So I've been playing MKvDCU in anticipation for this game. I've gotten good at it again, is the playstyle at least similar to MKvDCU?
 
Don't jump.

You'll get anti-aired -uppercutted, flip kicked, normad dashed, speared...

Only jump over move with long recovery, like projectiles. Learn how to move around the stage being as safe as possible. this includes teleporting.

You'd be surprised how often I win, by just standing still anti-airing foolish jump ins and punishing unsafe teleports.

If people think that is cheap or being a turtle, then they don't want to play seriously.





Ok, I will learn how to use the stage with fluidity. I will try and not jump often but do you have the control figuration for MK9 ? I am clueless to the controls as I am new and use a game pad.
 
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The MOST important thing you can do is get plugged into a your local scene. I guarantee you that you have a local fighting game community that has weekly/biweekly events. Once you play offline, you will notice a ton of reasons why tournaments are NEVER online for fighting games. You will meet new friends, will be able to get more matches in, discuss strategies, and even go to tournaments together.

I have messaged the site owners to get a "match making forum" and "upcoming tournaments" up on this site like shoryuken.com (every fighting game!), dustloop.com (blazblue), tekkenzaibatsu.com (tekken), homingcancel.com (arcana heart), and virtuafighter.com (virtua fighter) but they haven't given me any response. How else are you supposed to find local players?

I recommend going to the shoryuken.com regional match making area first.

Seriously one of the best things I ever did was join my local fighting game community.
 
as crap as this is going to sound...learn your counter picks, even if online is blind pick... Tournaments aren't... So learn your counter picks, id you want to win, you're going to play to win as crappy as that sounds... Ricky Ortiz last year counter picked Vangief to get to go to finals.... It's done in "pro" play...so why not you do it as well.

I help run tournaments and you can ALWAYS ask for a blind pick at an event. You ask a judge for a blind pick and then both players tell the judge who they are going to use seperately without their opponent hearing what is said. Then the judge makes sure that they pick those characters.

This happens more than you might think.
 
The MOST important thing you can do is get plugged into a your local scene. I guarantee you that you have a local fighting game community that has weekly/biweekly events. Once you play offline, you will notice a ton of reasons why tournaments are NEVER online for fighting games. You will meet new friends, will be able to get more matches in, discuss strategies, and even go to tournaments together.

I have messaged the site owners to get a "match making forum" and "upcoming tournaments" up on this site like shoryuken.com (every fighting game!), dustloop.com (blazblue), tekkenzaibatsu.com (tekken), homingcancel.com (arcana heart), and virtuafighter.com (virtua fighter) but they haven't given me any response. How else are you supposed to find local players?

I recommend going to the shoryuken.com regional match making area first.

Seriously one of the best things I ever did was join my local fighting game community.

I wish I had a local gaming community, there was a small LAN center that opened up for a few months but recently got shut down. Gaming just isn't a huge thing in my area unfortunately. I live in a smaller sized town with one very tiny Gamestop and nothing else related to gaming.
 
The MOST important thing you can do is get plugged into a your local scene. I guarantee you that you have a local fighting game community that has weekly/biweekly events. Once you play offline, you will notice a ton of reasons why tournaments are NEVER online for fighting games. You will meet new friends, will be able to get more matches in, discuss strategies, and even go to tournaments together.

I have messaged the site owners to get a "match making forum" and "upcoming tournaments" up on this site like shoryuken.com (every fighting game!), dustloop.com (blazblue), tekkenzaibatsu.com (tekken), homingcancel.com (arcana heart), and virtuafighter.com (virtua fighter) but they haven't given me any response. How else are you supposed to find local players?

I recommend going to the shoryuken.com regional match making area first.

Seriously one of the best things I ever did was join my local fighting game community.


I have no local scene where live. I will have to travel, but before any of that I have to be really good before I can take that step.
 
I am in a similar boat as this guy. I have been playing MK for quite a while now, but I think I would get destroyed competitively. All of these tips are great but I dont really have a local fighting game scene in my area so I decided to actually sign up to this site instead of lurking around all the time. I look forward to becoming familiar with the players on this site and hopefully becoming a great MK player!
 
Here's a few pointers that nobody's mentioned:

Know your regular attacks! Though they may not be as flashy, regular attacks are just as important as Super Moves. It’s crucial to know which attacks/Kombos hit High, Medium, and Low, and which ones pop up the opponent for a juggle opportunity. The close-up fights are like a game of rock, paper, scissors: if the opponent blocks High, attack Low; if they block Low, attack Medium. Try to anticipate what the opponent is going to do, or set them up to react a certain way. For example, start with a Low attack like a sweep, getting your opponent to block low, then attack with a Medium. Each attack could potentially lead to a Kombo, pop-up, and a juggle. Mileena’s Splits move (Up + 4) and Scorpion’s Blade Overhead (Back + 2) are both Medium attacks that pop the opponent up, which can lead to juggle Kombos.

Add to that, the fact that you can start a regular Kombo and end it with a Super Move - sometimes even after just the first hit, and you can do some cool combinations. For example, playing with Scorpion, you can start his Grievous Kombo (Forward + 4, 3) which hits Low then interrupt it with a Spear (so you would do Forward + 4, Back, Back + 1) and you can essentially Spear an opponent that’s blocking High.

Jax and Kung Lao can do similar things because they have Kombos that start low. Other have Kombos that hit Medium or Low in the middle of the sequence. Spend time in Practice mode and learn the abilities of your character.

Definitely pick one or two to focus on. I'd recommend starting with Scorpion or Kung Lao, as they are not hard to learn and are definitely some of the better characters in the game (I'd say Kung Lao is in the top 5 easily).

Hope this helps.
 
I am in a similar boat as this guy. I have been playing MK for quite a while now, but I think I would get destroyed competitively. All of these tips are great but I dont really have a local fighting game scene in my area so I decided to actually sign up to this site instead of lurking around all the time. I look forward to becoming familiar with the players on this site and hopefully becoming a great MK player!

Me too. I will keep reverting back to this thread when the game comes out and soak it all in again. I suggest you do too. I will spend endless hours learning basic and hard combos with my main character.
 
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