Lol. That fight is absolutely terrible 
It can be. Iāve beaten a good number of RAAMs with Sadira, but I have to play perfect, and I mean perfect, as one lockout and Iām dead, especially once Raam pops instinct. It isnāt a fun match to be sureā¦ then again, Sadira has a lot of unfun matches in S3. 
Yeah luckily alot of Raamās lack the neutral or patience needed to play him. So it can help. But if you fight one whoās just willing to sit there and wait until he grounds youā¦well.
Iāve played PM Omniās Raam quite a bit and I tend to just snipe Raam with LWB and feint an overhead jump to get them to perform Emergence. Itās sort of a boring fight honestly because much of what I do is just throwing Raam all over the place.
But you are right. If Raam can get Sadira cornered by patiently taking his time to get to her, itās pretty much game over, unless I have Instinct.
Omni isā¦average at best. Theres honestly not an area where Raam canāt really control Sadira. Heās actually one of the few characters who can effectively air to air her. I have to tell most Sadira players to stop trying to throw me since it leads to nothing good for them. Few characters should try a grab war with Raam honestly. Sadira only puts her self in an even worse spot when she does.
Though currently 3 of my characters beat Sadira. Which isnāt saying much tbh but Raam definitely beats her the worse.
I have a feeling that no matter what character you use, you would destroy Sadira. 
But then here in lies my aggravation about IG not really buffing Sadira, at least not as of yet. I understand that they donāt want her to be too disruptive, but as I had mentioned earlier, Rash is every much if not more disruptive. The only thing he doesnāt have is the broken stuff that made Sadira so broken. In short everything he does is legit and designed as is.
I canāt count how many times where Iāve fought an equally matched player in Killer and Iām doing amazing, but to win, I have to reset them to death and if I want decent damage, I have to do some pretty difficult tech. Yet everyone else can easily damage me. I hate losing to attrition.
Those would be Thunder, Gargos, Hisako and Kan-Ra (using their command grabs).
When you say only a few characters should try a grab fest. Please elaborate sir. I ask because I play fulgore and thereās nothing more that I like to do than to throw the games fastest throw character.
It means raam has command throws and will probably win. And you just screwed yourself by trying to get too bold.
Sadira is not a bad char. She requires skill to play. She is low tier because KI S3 rewards brainless play.
Boy, youāre full of hot takes huh
4 Likes
I donāt know why Shago is in A-. Heās one of the most used characters in ranked and does very well. His skillset is very nasty to deal with, so how Shago is in the bottom of this tier list?
Because heās forced to take huge risks every time he wants to open you up. He canāt continually pressure you safely like the majority of the cast can. He has to spend meter or do something gimmicky if he wants to avoid getting punished on everything.
But speaking to this:
I do find it interesting how popular the lower tiers are compared to the top tiers. Youāll run into a dozens of the A and A- characters (sans Kan-ra) before youāll ever see a single Aria, Mira, Omen, or Rash. Heck, even in tournaments Gargos is one of the most picked characters (I donāt think Iāve seen a single tournament in the last year without a Gargos mirror popping up) and the entire S tier only gets represented by a handful of specialists.
Poor risk/reward dynamic; requires a commitment of resources or a large risk for low damage output with some of the worst enders in the game and some of the weakest combo starters. Fireballs barely tickle and build meter slowly, making it hard to control neutral consistently with his zoning. Teleport dash commits to a large amount of movement and recovery, limiting its use for adjusting spacing. His DP also has very little horizontal range, which hurts its effectiveness as a reversal.
Shadow jago has good offense within footsie range due to the number of angles he can attack from and his fast walkspeed, but there are many characters with good offense in that range that significantly outdamage him and/or have other strengths that he canāt match.
ON THE OTHER HAND, vs players that donāt know the game or the matchup well enough, he easily opens people up with pretty mindless offense, so heās very popular among lower level players. Heās the type of character thatās a scrub trap; you can win with him vs a lot of people who either donāt know what heās doing or canāt adjust well enough to it, but you develop bad habits and ultimately donāt learn the game very well due to reliance on gimmicks.
2 Likes
Thing is, I actually think Shago has more going for him than people give credit for. Very good footsies to back up walk speed and his fierces (like st.HP) hurt just as much as Jago, so if you start offense with whiff punishes you can do just fine for damage. He didnāt get the same frame advantage nerfs as Jago/Fulgore did, so he still has plus on block cr.MK to harass with.
Shadow fireball is an extremely underrated shadow; is plus on block, does tons of white life and chip damage, so itās safe to throw out as a buffer. The āproblemā is that Shago is more reliant on meter than other characters so using a shadow is a pretty high cost. Thatās why using his instinct effectively is important.
His overhead is a pretty good combo starter now though, only -2 which is what most of the cast has to put themselves at for an overhead combo starter. Like Mira, I think Shagoās ultimate form is best played as mostly solid with a few moments of extreme craziness which make him unpredictable to handle.
But yes, Shago is ultimately a scrub killer because dealing with ārandomā surge slide and dive kick is pretty difficult for beginners, and his zoning is frustrating to chase down if you arenāt patient. But despite his weaknesses I donāt think heās that bad. He has a lot of untapped potential still IMO.
2 Likes
Personally I think arbiter and shadow jago should switch spots. I donāt think shago is bad nor overly good. I also donāt see many fights where heāll lose either. Heās that one character that pretty much goes even with most of the cast to me. His toolset allows him to handle himself against almost anyone. But also doesnāt really allow him to dominate anyone.
Brainless play is only rewarded against brainless defense.
Brainless combo breaking is included in brainless defense
If brainless offense is rewarded, anyone would be able to make it into a top 8 any tournament. But SURPRISE, the same players are the ones who gets that placements.
Why? Because good players have good defense, donāt put themselves in lockdowns due happy breaking, and have patient approaches against their opponents.
Saying that KI favors brainless offense is, no offense man, brainless
9 Likes
Agreed, brainlessness only and ONLY works at low level play, where both parties are mashing buttons with the hopes of winning.
At mid level and high level though, there is nothing brainless about winning a match and there isnāt a character in KI that is completely brainless.
Yeah, this is my problem. Iām an unexperienced player, I still learning when I can punish characters, what I can do and what I canāt do against them. Shago among with Rash is the worst MU for me, I always get rekt by them, no matter what character I pick. I just donāt understand his weird teleports! And his slide is very fast IMO, he can travel all the screen with him. Maybe one day I think heās crap too, when this day come Iāll take my revenge against all Shagos 
As advice, this are my recomendations to play against Shago in particular. Just a couple fast notes:
-Pick that character. Use them for a while. Take a look about how people punish you. As example, against Shago, when they fullscreen slide(which happens more often than it should), I go for a jab or C.LK, wait a second, and then throw them. They eat the throw quite frequently, and then itās my turn. Once you have done this, you can start doing mixups, like, using LK, and then a normal into opener(if they jumped to avoid the throw, they get hit by the normal).
-When doing this, look for the āPunishmentā announce. If you see it, remember it. Remember it, without looking at frame data, this tells you if something is unsafe. Try to replicate it when Shago does the same to you
-By default, crouch block. His slide is super fast, but the rest is more reactable.
-Shago has to hit you a lot to deal real damage. Hold yourself about breaking. Do it only when you are sure about being right. Donāt guess break after a throw or an overhead kick. Itās a common mistake, and then he will hit you with heavies thanks to an earlier lockdown
4 Likes