MK9 | Escaping from Kabal's Block "Infinite"

Current Fighting Games Mortal Kombat
1

I figured the community would realize this in time (although hoping for it in time for the patch was probably a bad choice), but even at UFGT7 people are still referring to the Kabal block “infinite” as inescapable. It’s not.

I thought about putting this in the Kabal thread, but this is really more relevant to everyone who doesn’t play Kabal, so I’m posting it here. Sorry mods if you think this is in the wrong spot, and if you want to move it to the Kabal boards that’s fine.

How to do it

The answer to getting out of the string is pretty simple. When he does F+3, 2, get hit by the 2. Kabal will cancel his dash and you’ll get to perform a wake-up attack or roll backwards, avoiding the trap.

Why it works

Kabal has to cancel his dash after F+3, 2. He doesn’t have time to check to see if the 2 hit or not because the timing is so tight.

The mixup situation with this knowledge

Kabal now has to guess whether or not his enemy will block the string. This leads to 4 outcomes:

1.) If he correctly guesses that the enemy will block, he can continue his blockstring for more chip damage as usual.

2.) If he correctly guesses that the enemy will take the blockstring, he can dash into a combo into a reset that leaves the enemy in the same situation.

3.) If he incorrectly guesses that the enemy will block (and the opponent does what I said to do above), the enemy escapes his pressure.

4.) If he incorrectly guesses that the enemy will take the hit (and dashes into a block), the enemy gets a free punish.

The situation is still in Kabal’s favor, but it’s not an auto win. It’s actually pretty close to 50/50 when you consider that the opponent can take a few reps of the blockstring to gauge the kabal player’s tendencies.

Kabal can also opt to go for a safer, but less rewarding mixup. The usual F+3, 2 into buzzsaw or tornado slam mixup still applies and is likely what was intended for kabal off of this situation anyway.

You can see Alex Valle do it here at 33:46, and it works out well for him. Unfortunately, considering he didn’t repeat the technique, I don’t think it was on purpose (although if someone in the know wants to explain, feel free).

Good luck with the matchup! I hope this helps get some kabals off of your back!

2

I thought I was going to open this too: “Wait 2 weeks”.

But none the less this is a really thought out guide.

Haven’t hit any Kabals online capable of doing the infinite tho.

3

I immediately learned to do that when I first saw it :]
They should really patch that up.

4

So people make a fuss and cry for a nerf when they hear of a block infinite, but when the solution to get out of it is handed to them no one cares? Very weird.

5

The only real issue is that the block infinite is possible with 11b4 (I think that’s the notation, whichever one is jabs to low kick).

6

You can just duck under that.

7

^^^

More folks need to approach ‘OP’ tactics like this. Scrubs can have their hotfixes, but the men will play for dollaz unplugged, lolol

8

I agree. It’s not really an infinite, and there’s really no reason to patch it. Just learn how to get out of it.

9

Character specific but Johnny can get out of the string pretty much any time he has a bar of meter (read: almost any time) using the starting invincibility frames on the Enh. Nut punch to interrupt the string.

10

That doesn’t work. You can’t enhanced nut punch during stagger state.

11

Kabal is A+ without this. He simply doesn’t need this trick to win. So I don’t get why some of you are really defending it.

12

You can’t hit confirm it. You have to buffer the dash cancel before you see whether the 2 hits or not.

You absolutely can get out of it, and in the final matches of justin wong vs michaelangelo at the most recent tourney (forgot which) you can actually see him trying to do it.

It’s not a matter of how good he is without it. It’s a matter of overreacting before it’s fully understood and taking something out that may have been fine and even added depth to the matchup. It’s not a good mentality for fighters. You need to solve the puzzle, not just remove the problematic pieces.

13

Yeah I just realized I misread first post. I get it now.

Still, even if Kabal guesses wrong and you manage to get out of it, you’re still likely to get mixed up. (you whiff a wake up and he starts the loop again). At the end of the day it’s still a pretty annoying guessing game so I’m glad they’re taking it out.

14

You misunderstand. I mean interrupting the string after blocking.

15

Not if they’re doing it right…

16

Well its no longer in the game so it doesnt matter anymore :slight_smile:

Closed. :coffee: