So I came out of my hibernation while waiting for the Rocket Raccoon reveal to drop not to talk about Phoenix, but to talk about Vergil.
Okay so normally I don't complain about a whole lot of things in general, especially in a super random game like MvC3 where BS happens all the time. But after looking at Vanilla MvC3 from a fundamental perspective (as well as last night's UMvC3 stream) and then looking at Vergil, I know this guy is going to piss me off to no end.
First off, the normals. Dante and Zero have the best normals in Vanilla because they are disjointed hitboxes. Coming from a Smash background,
we should already recognize the strength of disjointed hitboxes to begin with. You can't interact with those kinds of hitboxes (such is the case with MK in Brawl because his attacks are unclankable), and they outprioritize pretty much 90% of other attacks in the game.
Vergil is going to be no different. Have you guys seen his st.H? It covers even more vertical range than Dante's st.H for anti-air purposes, and it still has the same half-screen reach. Vergil's cr.L and st.S also look to be salt-inducing normals, because they keep reminding me of Zero's cr.M and Dante's st.L/st.H... which too also have BS hitboxes, range, and priority.
Second, the ability to self-OTG. This is a tool that is invaluable to have in an OTG-heavy game like MvC3. Ask Wesker, Doom, or C. Viper. Hell even MODOK and Felicia get a boost in viability because their cr.M/Toy Touch respectively give both characters self-OTG and extend combos. Vergil's High Time already lets Vergil easily combo into his Maximum Vergil for an easy ABC bread and butter leading to easy DHC opportunities as well (Maximum Vergil causes HARD KNOCKDOWN!). This isn't even getting into getting full combos off air throws (which Vergil can do with wavedash -> OTG High Time -> BnB) or using the OTG High Time to go into reset city like Wesker does.
Third, the teleports. I won't rant about this too much because teleports are self-explanatory. Pretty much every character in MvC3 that has a teleport doesn't suck at all. And yes, that includes Dormammu. Vergil's teleports aren't in the same league as Strange when it comes to speed and effectiveness, but they'll still get the job done in what they do. That's mainly what matters.
Fourth, the fact that Vergil has low health. Let's be honest, health doesn't matter that much in Marvel. Everyone is going to be dealing a ton of damage off simple BnBs regardless of your actual damage output. While it's true that Capcom is tightening hitstun decay along with nerfing meter gain, the basic fundamentals of the game are still intact -- open someone up, deal a ton of damage. That's why health is a much bigger factor in other fighting games where hits matter a lot more due to the reduced combo capabilities.
I haven't even touched his Spiral swords super, Rapid Slash, and Devil Trigger shenanigans. To me, I won't care that much that Vergil is already going to be played heavily to begin with. That was a given from the start. It's more that Vergil's fundamentals are so ridiculously good that it pisses me off to see someone like him in the game while we still have Hsien "I still can't cancel out of pendulums like I did in VS" Ko continuing to languish. And when Seth Killian said that Vergil is basically a Dante/Wesker hybrid, you know Vergil is going to be a force to be reckoned with.
I warned you guys about Wesker before Vanilla, and look how that turned out. I'm going to say it right now, I will be absolutely shocked if Vergil is not a top 5 character. There is no way a character with as many tools, strengths, and options that he does can't be lower than high tier.
Alright, now back into hiding until Rocket Raccoon starts shooting people.
