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Learning MvC2 Part 2: Counter Characters (11.12.03)
Jay "Viscant" Snyder
Beginners and people unfamiliar with the competitive gaming scene ask me all sorts of questions. Questions like, "Are you really
gay?" or, "Was she really only seventeen?" That's really not that important. When they ask me about video games though,
the most common question I'm asked is, "Who's the best character and/or who should I pick?"
Over the years I've built up a reputation as a counter character whore. I consider this a compliment. It means that I know all the
characters and know enough about the characters to be able to pull out anything on anyone. Let me tell you that there is nothing
dishonorable about this and I see no reason why this type of character selection is considered low or hampered by the perception
that this type of play takes less skill. Think about it. To counter character, you have to know multiple characters and be willing
to put it all on the line with multiple characters. Getting a counter character advantage is your reward for knowing more than one
set of characters and knowing all the scenarios. The other side is just as free to exploit match-up advantages as you are... if they
know of them, that is! Some people pick Ryu every time because they like shotos. Some people pick Spider-Man because they read all
his comic books and grew to love him. I pick whatever character gives me the best chance to win because I like winning. Do YOU like
to win? If so, read on.
Let me make one thing clear from the beginning. The best character in the game is NOT necessarily the best character for you to pick.
People used to ask me for detailed character rankings and tier lists and I would happily oblige until I found out that people were
really just using the rankings to pick their team. I think that's a bad idea. You have to understand your strengths and weaknesses
as a player before you can really choose a team.
With that being said, you really need to have an understanding of the major characters of the game. Storm, Sentinel, and Cable.
Whether or not you choose to use them, you should at least know what makes them tick. One of the interesting things about Marvel
is that most people who played the game since the beginning have learned it backwards. They started out playing whatever characters
they used in earlier games (who almost unequivocally were terrible) and then only at the end began to use the top characters. If you
choose to learn the game now, this is an advantage to you. You don't have to unlearn things you've learned with weaker characters,
you can start at the top.
Storm is an excellent character to start learning MvC2 with because you get to see the entire game. You can learn how to run away,
how to triangle jump rush, how to build meter and you can see what the game looks like from all these angles. A character like Ryu,
however, is not so good to learn with. You really only get to see life from the bottom. You learn what it's like to GET rushed down.
Or what it's like to watch someone else run away. This can be frustrating. You can even make the argument that when you play a
character like Cable, you only learn a little bit of the game. You need the variety early on. Once you know what you like, you can
learn more about who you are as a player. You can also learn about the characters that way.
Counter characters exist because of flaws in the design of a character. Without fail there's always something that a character or a
class of character simply cannot get around. Traditionally in Marvel you divide characters into 3 different classes. Giants: large
characters, usually centered around grappling or taking a hit to land harder ones. Pixies: Small characters who try and land huge
combos but don't take hits well. And projectile characters: Characters who try to win the game by making sure that the others don't
accomplish their goals by keeping away. In the Marvel series, generally giants beat pixies, pixies beat projectile characters and
projectile characters beat giants.
The theory behind this? Giant characters rely on damage and have difficulty getting in on the other character to land their damage.
They'll obviously have a very difficult time on a character who can fill the screen with crap, because they're simply too big. A part
of them will be in the way far more often than with a smaller character. They'll do much better on smaller characters who are forced to
get in. Beam characters have difficulty with smaller, faster characters because they miss frequently, then are left wide open for the
counter-attack. Pixie characters just don't have enough stamina to take the hard hits the giants dish out.
In MvC2, you can divide the power characters up using those rough outlines. Characters like Blackheart, Spiral, Cable and Cyclops are
projectile/beam characters. Pixies would be characters like Magneto or Storm. Giants would be characters like Juggernaut or Sentinel.
Logic says that you would counter a team of Spiral/Cable/Cyclops with a team of pixies. They're all projectile characters, they all lose
to faster pixies. Also, a team comprised of all pixie characters like Magneto/Storm/Psylocke, would lose to a team based around a giant
character, like Sentinel. They take hits hard... a couple hits from Sentinel and they're gone.
Assists play a part in countering. There are two main types of counter charactering with assists. On the one hand, you can use your assist
to counter their assist. On the other you can use your assist to counter their character.
Countering their assist with yours can be reactionary or pre-emptive. For example, to counter Psylocke assist with Commando, you just
wait for them to call Psylocke, then you block or deal with it, then call Commando to punish and to delay the amount of time before they
can call Psylocke again. This makes Sentinel/Commando an even better combination to deal with Magneto/Psylocke. For an example of pre-emptive
countering, think Doom-B or Tron-Y assists vs. Commando. You call them out, and Commando tries to come out, but gets hit before he begins
and takes damage. For the most part, the assists form a chain. Psylocke is countered by Commando, who is countered by Doom, who is countered
by Cyclops, who is countered by Psylocke, who is countered by Commando.
Assisting against active characters is slightly more difficult. Most of it is trial and error. Like you'll learn that, since Magneto tries
to cross you up all the time, an assist that hits on both sides like Psylocke, Colossus or Iron Man-B would be helpful. Or a character like
Storm runs away from you a lot, making an assist like Blackheart or Commando helpful. That's trial and error. If you want to learn this fast,
you have to make use of the space control ideas we talked about in the first part of this series. Characters who take up a lot of space will
always have trouble with Commando, simply because he affects so much screen at the same time. You should also take into account what character
you're playing when thinking about assists. Some assists just take up too much time and if you can't protect them quickly, you might lose them.
Assists like Iron Man-B and Commando are great, but they have so much lag time. You can call them much more often with Cable than you can with
a character like Iceman. Cable can deter you from targeting them. A lesser character cannot. As a rule of thumb, anti-air assist characters tend
to counter pixies and work better with projectile characters. Cable/AAA is a common combination for a reason.
When you fight with lower tier characters, this kind of knowledge is essential. I get use out of my lower tiered characters because I only put
them in positions where they succeed. Know your characters and know their strengths and weaknesses. I've won a tournament match against SooMighty
with Colossus. Guess what team he was using? That's right, Magneto/Storm/Psylocke. Colossus is a giant. I'm obviously not going to play him
against a Cable team, or a team with Commando assist on it. He'll never get in... he'll never even have the chance; he just takes up too much
space. But against a team of all pixies, his talents can be used to their fullest. Likewise, I've won multiple tournament matches with Ruby Heart
against Duc Do. She's a projectile character, excelling in filling the screen with as much crap as she can at once. And obviously he was playing a
Sentinel team each time I called her number. If you play low tier characters, you can't simply throw them together and hope they succeed. You have
to use counter charactering to win. They're low tier for a reason. They usually just have too many obvious weaknesses. They have their uses though.
This is a key point. In MvC2 at least 30 characters have their uses and can win a game when the situation is right. They may not be able to hold up
in the long run, but when you absolutely need to win a game, if you set things up right, you CAN win without top tier characters.
Now that you know about counter teams, you should be ready to pick a real team. Shouldn't it be the other way around, you might ask? Not really.
I think it's important to understand what counters what before you know what kind of team you can depend upon. Let's look at a very fun and common
team, Magneto/Storm/Psylocke. This is a great team... but you ever notice how MSP users don't really win big tournaments? SooMighty has perhaps the
best MSP I've ever seen. But he suffers from some very flukey losses sometimes. The problem? That team is all countered by the same character,
Sentinel. All it takes is a couple lucky smacks from Sentinel and you lose. If this is OK with you, then fine. But if you want a more durable team,
read on.
Knowing what you now know about counter characters, you should try to mix characters from different classes, who aren't all countered by the same
character. A team like Rodolfo's team is a great example of this. Sentinel/Cable/Magneto. Giant, projectile character, pixie. How do you go about
countering this team. Every answer you have, there's the counter to your team right there. This team has been so successful and has such a great
record just because it's so hard to counter. You should always try to mix from 2 or 3 classes if you want to be difficult to counter.
Learning one team you can always fall back on is important when learning to deal with pressure in gaming. It can be a comforting feeling... your
team is YOUR team. You just feel more confident with your best characters. The more often you can have your characters, the more at ease you can be
while playing, even in tournament and high pressure situations. The more comfortable you are, the more you can win.
In the final part of this three piece set, we'll look at some recent videos from this site and others and look more into how watching videos can make
you a better, more complete player.
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