Um, Yuna, you twisted my words.
I said banning MK STRICTLY because he has 60:40's(And better) across the board is stupid. What this statement doesn't look at are the reasons WHY he has these matchups, or any consequences that happen because of these matchups. [If this somehow means I still said what you thought I said, I changed my mind.]
In fact, why exactly DOES MK have no disadvantaged matchups? How exactly can a character be designed so that no single character out of 38 others has the upper hand?
1. He has "no" weaknesses.
Before you harp on me for this, MK has no de facto weaknesses against the majority of the cast. As an example, a character could be made that dies in one hit, but has an instant kill move that is garunteed to hit. Sure, he dies in one hit, but that doesn't matter because he'll kill you first. His weakness does not exist, for all intents and purposes.
MK is like this, though to a lesser extent. The characters that can put up a fight are the ones who can exploit his weaknesses consistantly and effectively.
2. He has an answer to everything.
MK has too many options that are all above average. Whatever you do, he has an answer to it. The characters that do well against him are those that have better answers. But even that isn't enough. You need have to a fair amount of "better answers," or the right combination. The last option is to flatout have a strategy that can and will work against anyone, assuming the opponent makes a mistake. Take Diddy, for example. If you make a mistake, he will get you with a bannana, which usually leads to a free hit. Everyone has to deal with this. If you manage to beat Diddy, you still didn't beat his bannanas. You can never truly beat the bannanas, just the Diddy who uses them. This is called a brick wall.
This is why MK has 60:40's across the board, and the reason why previously questionable/bad matchups are now shifting. Snake, GaW, and Falco are examples. Once they found a tactic that worked, the matchup changed.
In reality, MK does not have matchups in the traditional sense. If you go neutral with MK, that is not the same as going neutral with, say, ROB. The only reason MK's lose are because they didn't know the matchups or weren't as skilled. There are few exceptions to this, and the fact that there are exceptios is one of the reason MK is not banned quite yet.
MK's matchups "behave" differently at different ratios. For the following, I'll be explaining how this works. It's sort of complicated, so I'll try to explain. Let's use the first one listed-"70:30/65:35 or worse" as an example.
70:30 designates a definate point where the situation applies. Any matchup MK has that is 70:30 behaves this way, garunteed. The slash after that denotes that the following ratio-65:35 in this case-is a ratio where this situation SOMETIMES applies, but not always. That's because 70:30's could be argued at 65:35, and 65:35 can argued at 60:40. The matchup ratios don't say what side of the ratio it's leaning towards. Ratios will overlap, but the bottom line for them to overlap is that whatever the situation is, that situation MUST happen at the first ratio listed, and might/sometimes/rarely happens at the later ratios.
70:30/65:35 and below: This matchup is an advantage in the traditional sense. The character in question is beaten by MK's moves and abilities alone. There may be some moves that do beat out some of MK's moves, but MK can just choose not to use these moves as much-or even at all. This character is low on the tier list. This is how it works, period. Every character on the low tier has this matchup. A sizeable amount in mid tier-at least 1/3-have this matchup as well.
65:35/60:40: This matchup is starting to become an advantage in a not-so traditional sense. The character in question is beaten by some of MK's moves and abilities, but actually has moves that outright beat enough of MK's options to the point where he HAS to deal with them. Falco's laser is an example. MK must deal with this. He can't fight this head on. He has no reflector or projectile magnet. However, once he's in close, the laser can no longer be used effectively. It now becomes a non-issue. MK has gotten past that brick wall.
60:40/55:45: This matchup is now becoming a bit screwy. Both characters have a sufficient number of brick walls that they actual fighting takes place. MK can't just brick wall you to death without being met by another equally tough brick wall.
50:50/55:45/60:40: [I reversed this for a reason. That's because the following is garunteed to happen once you reach 50:50, and may happen at the other ratios.] This is as good as it gets. This is where characters like Diddy and Snake start coming out. This list is so small that I'm just going to talk about those two. Diddy has an unstoppable brick wall. The bannanas. By his moves alone, Diddy is okay. Not good, not bad. Just okay. Once you add in the bannannas, it all goes to hell. Suddenly, his entire game focuses on a brick wall that can never be broken down. In fact, his brick wall is the only reason he can compete against MK and against other characters in general. Not only does he have an ever present brickwall, it also doubles as a trap. Leave a bannana somewhere, and suddenly you have prevented an opponent from going there directly. If there is a bannana behind you, your opponent is unable to roll behind you without slipping. He must jump over you or charge you head on. But it's hard for him to charge head on-you've got a bannana ready to throw at him. This is why Diddy has a chance against EVERYONE, assuming that he can use his bannanas.
Snake is a bit different. Snakes not only has explosives that work as both brick walls AND traps, he has moves that actually beat out MK moves. Ftilt and Utilt are prime examples. MK's have indeed figured out they need to space, but the combonation of brick walls, traps, and higher priority attacks means Snake can actually do something against MK, and against all characters, really. Ever fought a very camp Snake? You'll probably get a similar feeling when fighting Diddy or MK.
That's why MK is "broken." He is not broken in the traditional sense, but broken in the sense that he is one giant brick wall. To do well, Diddy and Snake need sufficient room on the stage. MK does not need any sort of set up to brick wall you. Whenever MK does a move, it's a brick wall. When you fight a brick wall, you are not actually fighting the character. You are fighting the player using the brick wall. Brick walls mean that any weaknesses the character has do not matter, as you are not fighting the character. Once a brick wall is broken down-if possible-or gotten around, you can start actually fighting the character. The problem with MK is that you're hardly ever fighting MK. You're fighting his brick walls.
In order to even stand a chance against MK, you either need a brick wall that the PLAYER cannot find a way around, or you have to continiously jump through a series of hoops. Shield the Tornado. Spotdodge the Down Smash. Avoid the Shuttle Loop. Stay away from the Dtilt. Airdodge through his Dair.
The list goes on and on.
The massive list of 60:40 matchups are because there are enough pros who can jump through these hoops on instinct, and the players who don't use MK have enough skill compared to those that do that it's possible for them to win. All the character has to have are good brick walls, and moves that actually outprioritize those that MK has. Those in large part these are in the same, as the majority of brick walls are projectiles.
This problem further stems from MK's wacky priority. Correct me if I'm wrong, but MK's sword will never actually clank. While this means he doesn't beat out projectiles, this means that MK's sword is like a permanant, mobile projectile. Super high priority means that MK is only limited by his mobility. And on the ground, in the air, and off stage, MK has no problems getting around.
Think about it. If MK never clanks, it means that going even in terms of priority means he wins every time. You have to throw your move out first-which would be a mistake on the part of the player, not MK-or have some sort of uber priority-think Ike's Fair-to beat him out. Otherwise, every move MK uses becomes something you HAVE to avoid.
GENERAL NOTE: Exceptions are not the norm. If I left something out:
- Such as the fact that you can go in the air against Diddy, it still wouldn't change the fact that you can't truly beat the bannanas. If the nanners disapeared, you still didn't beat them. You waited them out. If you took control of the nanners, you still didn't beat them. You just controlled them.
-Every low tier does bad against MK, of course we know Yoshi does well. But the fact that the MAJORITY of the low tier does badly is still sufficient enough to prove the statement that characters in low tiers do bad against MK.
And etc. My statements may be worded to be absolute, but saying every single exception that exists will make the post far too clunky and hard to read. So I'm just leaving a footnote to deal with that. The above 2 are just examples to show that I do, in fact, know that I made statements with exceptions.
