You haven't lived until you've seen a low-tier zoner player fight for his life by doing everything to keep his opponent away from him. I have a lot of respect for zoners, so please keep doing what you're doing. But if I ever see you fight against a grappler, just know that I will usually root against you.

Is it weird that I actually like practicing against zoners more than any other archetype? movement is one of many things I tend to struggle with in these games, so it's nice to play against something that tests your ability to weave between attacks and close the distance, rather than just having both players constantly holding hands in the center of the arena

Zoning is deceptively difficult, and is Hella mentally taxing. You have to be constantly analyzing your opponent's moves to decide the best normal/projectile to use

Honestly I find it strange that Zoners, and to a lesser extent Grapplers are so hated, considering that they're so rare, and so watered down in modern fighters. Active zoning (i.e throw fireballs until they jump, and then anti-air, play footsies if they get too close) isn't even a viable strategy in most games, most Zoners are more like aggressive midrange characters nowadays. You don't even have to walk forward and neutral jump to inch them to the corner, you can usually just counter most of their options on the ground. Grapplers are in a similar position, command grabs barely have any defensive utility anymore, you're not gonna get scooped just because you left a gap in your pressure (or because they *made* a gap in your pressure). Or, God forbid, you did a move that's -1 while they had meter. From someone who hates how Rushdown centric mainstream fighters are, it seems like people hate the other archetypes without understanding what made them so polarizing in the first place. It could be much worse (better IMO).

There are two things that really determine a zoner's quality: how difficult it is to get to them and how much you actually get from getting in. Injustice zoners are infamously hard to get to since you get pushed back far, their projectiles cover a lot of space for a while and your mobility is terrible, letting them easily put you back at full screen distance. Like watch Deadshot or OG Superman, you can feel your soul leave your body. Essentially half the Smash zoners (not quite the same kind of game, but very much applicable), while usually not as oppressive, have very handy means of getting you off them, can run away effectively thanks to far greater mobility the game offers and actually hitting them can still put them in a good position to resume zoning, which makes the process of reaching them far more tedious than most normal fighting game zoners. That's on top of horrific lag online in official games.

Hot take: rushdown is the true evil

One thing people forget is that without zoners, the crazy combos aren't special. While it can feel disappointing for people if the zoner wins, a lot of people forget the feeling of triumph when someone breaks past their defense. I myself respect a good zoner, to me it depends of the individual character because some games make very boring ones while others find ways to make their gameplan fascinating.

I think the worst thing is that you've got a character from media that you love but they happen to be a scorned zoner. Chandeluire was one of my favorite pokemon and when she came to Pokken i insta mained her. Thus began the laser hatred shenanigans. Man i miss that game.

Do not shake the Zoners’s hands after the match. They wouldn’t want to be that close anyway, lol.

Happy chaos is in a weird spot. He’s probably the most difficult character in strive due to not only his combos being a bit more tight with the cancel, and requires balance with 2 gauges. If someone is really good with him, he is a destructive force of nature. But if you’re ok, you’re gonna have one hell of a time (as I’m pain)

As someone who started as a Pea/Band main, (don't worry, I run Fortune/Band now) zoning is surprisingly stressful. You have to shut your opponent down long enough for them to get restless and eat something actually good, and then deal your real damage. And if you fail to keep them out by calling a bad move or trying to stuff the wrong kind of approach, well, hope you enjoyed having a healthbar while it lasted. That said, fuck Starfire.

Zones have become a big talking point within the demon slayer game, where all the demons (minus Yushiro and Akaza) are hardcore zoners, and Japan banned the only 4 zoning characters because they thought they were annoying to fight. This honestly infuriates me.

I enjoy watching Zoners play. I like watching every decision they make to keep the opponent out and how well they read people. It's so interesting for me and sometimes helps me with my own gameplans.

I hate the modern fighting game logic. Like "combo based gameplay is the default, grappler and zoner are lazy alternative for people who don't want to play the game the right way" Fuck you guys, zoning is 100 times more fun to me than spending hours learning dozens of combos so I can prevent the other player from playing as long as possible each match. Zoning and grappling too require predictive skills, method, focus and sense of improvisation. And honestly, it looks way more like "fighting" than combos, for me a fight is more about finding openings to hit as often as possible than hitting a guy who can't fight back for as long as possible.

I love zoning because I love thinking in terms of space. I want to think about the entire battlefield and understand how the shapes of my zoning tools intersect with the shapes of potential approaches. I want to be rewarded for a mastery of those intersecting geometric shapes. It's just SOOOOO satisfying for a visual person like me. That being said, I think a lot of fighting game zoners have really boring projectiles. I am more than willing to give up frame data or defensive options if it means interesting ways to interact with the screen. I main Zelda in Smash, and if Hilda from Under Night wasn't a weirdo negative edge character, I'd main her in a heartbeat.

as a zoner player, I am offended before even watching this video as I cannot believe you have called my beloved Axl Low an evil. Love your videos, keep up the great content!

This is a Team Fortress 2 video now. ...but for way different reasons. Without Sniper and Engineer as necessary evils, the power classes in TF2 would simply unga the entire map without resistance.

I've always mained zoners. something about the long, slow process makes matches feel like chess games rather than fights and I really like the mental state both players have to have. I think there's significant overlap in the way that zoners and grapplers think, it's just that one is walking towards you and one is walking away.

a theory i have is that there are actually two different types of zoners: keepaway zoners, who's gameplan consinsts simply of trying to keep people out, slowly chipping away their health, and are also the more hated ones, and pressure zoners, who don't actually have the firepower to keep people out, and instead excel at baiting and punishing bad approaches. Elliana from Rivals of Aether, for example, is considered a zoner despite not actually being that great at keepaway: her guided missiles are stupid fast and can hit you basically anywhere but they have a hefty 90 frame cooldown, and steam clouds are good at controlling space but putting them on the ground makes them a free parry against a decent player. Her close range game is also not great, since her frame data is pretty bad, but to compensate for all of this she has an absolutely absurd punish game, capable of 0-to-deathing most characters in the game off of a single stray hit in the right hands. This means, despite being a zoner, Elliana's gameplan is actually to harass people from far away, baiting them into a reckless approach, and punishing them with a massive damage combo. Of course keepaway/pressure zoners aren't exclusive from one another, it's more like a scale where characters fall closer to one end or the other, since all zoners have aspects of both.

You can make this stuff up for any archetype. Just take any slight advantage they have and act like it's the only thing that archetype can do. Then make up something that can be objectively proven wrong. "You play shoto because you can't handle specialist characters with weaknesses" "You play zoner because you can't handle close up combat" "You play rushdown because you can't understand positioning heavy characters" "You play grappler because you can't combo" "You play puppet because you can't do pressure with one character" Every archetype has something a scrub can wrongly blame their loss on

I started taking fighting game more seriously in 2021 and after some looking I realized I was a zoner player. It's my favorite playstyle mainly because it's diferent from the other 2 and cool (IMO), is also more chill to me. I watched Daz's video and is criminally underrated, probably because people hate zoners so much, but that video helped not only to understand more how to win with zonind, but why I like them so much. I've never played a KOF game but I'm waiting for KOF XV just because I learned about some femboy dressed in red that love to throw Mountain Dew flames at people and be a jerk, and I'll main that character

Hi, I love zoners, and I want to give you my perspective on them: My favorite zoners are Princess Remedy from Slap City, and Sylvanos from Rivals of Aether. I really like how they have slow projectiles and spatial resource that make you feel like you are controlling the battle field, but when they don't have those tools I use the threat of throwing a fast projectile/beam/stretchy beam to control the field instead. Zoners are enjoyable for me because they feel like you are making the opponent dance as well as the feeling of controlling the entire arena. I hope that helps you understand how I feel :)

waiting for gekkosquirrel to make a video on female designs in fighting games and open with the line "let's talk about boobs"

GekkoSquirrel: So what do zoners test? Me: Ugh... my patience... GekkoSquirrel: Patience Me: 😳

The feeling you get when you get in on a zoner is basically the same as the dopamine hit that Grappler players get when they get in on everyone else, it hits doubly so if you are a grappler getting in on a zoner.

4:19 - 4:48 Nick All-Star... The devs sadly fell into this trap by designing the game only around archetypes designs they liked (rushdown) and gutting others they didn't, I.E. Zoning & really anything that didn't let you mash on your opponent like floaties. Granted they are getting better with later patches, so maybe it (along with the rest of the game's problems) can turn it around.

"you could say every playstyle is mindless" you're goddamn right I can

Zoner/Grappler archetypes are really close to FPS weapon types and they basically get the same reactions... Snipers (and other Long Range)/Zoners - Keep people on their toes and because at any moment from anywhere death is flying towards you. People hate this because it forces them to actually stop and think about their next moves and benefit from players being dumb and running without thinking. That and they are criticized for being cowards who won't "come out and really fight" and "anyone can just sit there and wait!" Shotguns (and other Short Range)/Grapplers - Absolute garbage at range, but if you can get in on the opponent, just press button/pull trigger and win the encounter. People hate these and call them cheap because "wow you don't even have to think you just win!", however if you are smart and can wall them out they are a joke. With these you do the thinking ahead of time about getting in close instead of what to do when close.

To answer your question I have played what some people consider a a midrange to zoner kind of character. I played Phonon in UNICLR and that was pretty much my first fighting game. I liked how I could throw out pokes based on what I thought the opponent was going to do or if I wasn't sure I could throw out something that could cover a lot of options. It was also nice to feel like I had the advantage at round start; outside of like the Hilda match up where it felt pretty even. Now I mostly play characters that have good midrange *and* have something I can use really well up close. Baiken with mix ups and nice pokes in Strive, Es with her fireballs and big buttons and abusing plus frames and the strike throw game in BBCF, and Red Arcueid with her decent mix ups, armored moves and long range fire balls in Type Lumina. Though I guess I'm not really someone that dislikes zoners, so you probably weren't talking to me.

I think that the only Zoner I've ever seriously played was Yuzuriha in BBTag. When I started using her, I didn't even realize that she was meant to be a Zoner. I only picked her up because she looked cool. I didn't think that she'd end up being my favorite character in the roster. To this day I still haven't played Under-Night (the game that she's from).

1:30 I think feared and respected might be more accurate. While I don’t often play zoners, I do enjoy the way I can frustrate my opponent into doing stupid things while they’re chasing me around. The most recent ones I’ve played were Bridget (GG+R if he counts) and Ferry (GBFVS). I think zoning is at its most “fun” to fight against when you have general movement options to deal with it, or character specific options. Since KOF15 comes out soon, PSYCHO BALL.

OH YOUR THIS PERSON!!! I never realized you made this video. This is my first time watching it but I have seen it in my feed so many times...

Funnily enough, Zoning characters are what got me into playing fighting games more competitively, since apparently there's something wrong with my emotions because they won't let me get hype from high execution stuff like most people. I watched Link Vs Snake in Smash, and it was just fun to watch all the ways they try to deny space for the other to move to, and the timings they needed to make for their projectiles, while knowing when to use the more close range attacks. So much chaos with projectiles everywhere, so much action happening constantly. With that said, in smash while I find the archetype more fun than other archetypes, there aren't any zoner characters that make me want to main them. My top 10 favorites to play are usually all close/mid range fighters. Maybe my main Sephiroth with his massive sword (but wants a specific distance), or Inkling (who uses the projectiles to ink opponents so they can deal more damage with their close range combos). Zoners in traditional games are a case by case basis for me though. I think a regular Hadouken is a wonderful projectile. Characters that become almost untouchable because of their projectiles just seems like overkill. Picking up Guilty Gear Strive soon, and gotta say Axl was up there for a choice to be a main for a long time (though Ky, Potemkin, Faust, Zato, Giovanna, are all tempting too). However, knowing Jack-O is in the game, I gotta main her.

Great video! Understandable that the initial reaction to zoners is one of frustration, but it needs to be said - they're a necessary evil! Pretty much for all the reasons you stated! And yes, I am watching. YES, LET'S RUN THE SET!!!!!

I don’t play zoners often, and when I do I struggle, but one of my favorite characters in fighting games is Lambda-11 (BlazBlue Central Fiction). Basically, she’s a clone character of the game’s main zoner Nu-13, but given two or three different tools. They share similar manners of throwing swords to zone, but Lambda can transition from this to some harsh rushdown at a moment’s notice. Lambda has the ability to change her play-style on a dime, and I find that absolutely beautiful.

During the Mortal Kombat 9 era, i had a friend that used to practice a lot in training mode to do the highest damage combos possible, setup for those combos and okizeme. When he saw footage of a MK9 tournament, he thought they where all shit, since the damage of their combos where "suboptimal" and they couldn't get in easily against zoners, that was until he entered a tournament himself and got absolutely bodied in the first match by a Kabal player who zoned him super hard during the entire match, (and he was playing Raiden, who, has a teleport). He got double flawless, and even after that, when i showed him how to insta air gas blast (wich he was unable to do himself) he straight up quitted the game for good, not playing it even casually for fun. He said that if the game gives you tools that stop your adversary's most mechanical demanding stuff, it sucks and it doesn't deserve to be played. I think that what i want to say with that is that sometimes rushdown players (not all of them mind you) are too self entitled. If you are not playing their way you suck and you are playing the game wrong or you don't have skill or bla bla bla... Those are sentiments that i see very frequently and i think it sucks, since zoning and grappling are two very fun and interesting ways to play and bring a lot of skills you usually wouldn't think about while playing a rushdown character.

This man it's a machine of good content

I just got back into strive recently and picked axl as my character and mow I giggle every time I hit a winter mantis into one vision from across the screen

Title Correction: Zoners Are A Necessary Good. Someone's gotta help people appreciate all of the ranges in the game instead of just point blank. And having big-ass buttons is cool as hell- why swing my fists when I can swing a huge sword or shoot a giant gun?

As a zoner main, I can only say that zoners tend to be a low skill floor but a high skill ceiling characters. It's basically the opposite of a grappler. Oh sure, you can spam projectiles but one misinput, you basically lost half of your HP bar. While a grappler needs to be careful of when to approach, zoners need to be careful of when and where to place projectiles.

I think the fundamental issue is *specifically* when you lose to a zoner. Beating a zoner feels good in a way similar to popping a pimple, or scratching an itch in a weird corner of your back. When you fail to do those things, it’s inherently unsatisfying- you put in great effort for what ultimately feels like nothing. While losing can always feel frustrating, especially for new players, losing to a zoner inherently feels worse than losing to other archetypes. It’s a similar deal to fighting stall in Pokémon and other similar things, and a conundrum for sure. But I don’t think it’s an unsolvable one- just one that requires developers with more creative solutions than the genre-wide watering down of an entire archetype.

Great points made. I'd love to see one based on Grapplers

I'm a zoner/puppet main with most fighting games, it's very fun from my perspective and honestly it was much much harder to learn how to play them well than characters like rushdowns or shotos who are for the most part quite straightforward. We usually get pretty bad fame from people who've never played our characters so thanks for reminding people it's not as easy as it looks

As a yomi hustle player who doesn’t really play other fighting games, fighting wizard in real time sounds… **fun** 👁️👁️💀

when i first really got into fighters i was the "all-rushdown, zoners are zero brain and boring to fight" person. but when i picked up Strive i found that Axl was the character that felt the most natural to me... so I played him. I've since switched to Testament and now i'm totally in love with playing mid-range/zoner characters. idk what switched in me but i love it. i understand that fighting long range characters is frustrating, but it really has made me play more patient and think more about my game plan. that isn't to say playing rushdown is without thinking, but i really have played with a lot more intentionality when with these more patient characters.

Zoning is a fun way to play the game. Being on the opposite end of zoning for the first time was humbling and got me to level up my dash blocking. I enjoy that feeling of being in control and knowing one fuck up can be what cost me everything. Forever a zoner player, ideally one with some of their own unique non hit box placing movement, because the latter is the most important thing to me

I think most people hate zoners because their attention span is less than zero

I think people forget one thing, in grappler v rushdown, the grappler needs one good reed. In zoner v rushdown if the rushdown gets one good read zoners just fucking die.

"Unga vs Bunga" sounds like a great fighting game name. UNGA VS BUNGA: GORILLA WARFARE The game where EVERYONE is a Gorilla. Armor through your opponents move only to find out he started his invincible reversal then you interupt your armored move to go into a guard point and then one of your health bars disappear.

Frieza over in the hell that is FighterZ, getting worse zoning projectiles than the best grappler in the game:

I never got the hate behind zoners, it's just a different aspect of the game that makes you play a different way. I tend to like zoners since while mechanically most of them aren't difficult, it makes me feel big brain when I manage to keep space and play to my wincon. Resetting neutral against a rushdown and managing to read their approach is just a feels good moment in a way that I can't get from other games.

Zoning requires a crazy amount of decision making, reaction speed, conditioning, and prediction. Since they don't have a set "win condition" where they quickly snowball you to death like rushdowns and grapplers, they're instead required to play perfectly the entire round. Especially with how poor the defensive options are for most zoners in modern FGs, on top of their typically low HP, they really can't afford to make mistakes.

"If it gets to a point where you can't play the game because the screen is filled with projectiles" Captian Ginyu mains:

As a King main in KoF: Zoners can be rushdown if you're not a fucking coward.

I actually really like watching fights against zoners. (especially, mu-12)

All I heard was "BLAZING! Still my heart is BLAZING!!!"

I find Juri as an interesting example, because her archetype to me is very focused on an Outboxing style; not strictly pushing the opponent away (although it is moreso her emphasis in 4), but mainly keeping the opponent locked down at mid range, making them whiff their melee buttons and then counter-poking them with her own, all while building resources while the opponent isnt directly engaging to make the next time she does get an opening stronger. Overall her playstyle leans more towards zoning than the other major archetypes but she also has the aspect of her switch that she can flip with her installs to go into full rushdown for a brief period.

As a wizard main in Y.O.M.I husle I can agree

Watching two high level zoners face each other in smash is like watching a dream. It's just so damn cool to see what they are gonna throw at each other next while trying to outsmart the other guy.

I adore zoning. The fear I have when I make the wrong bet and the opponent is in my grill makes me feel alive

Infinite azure is a great song when I hear it on KZfaq. I am addicted to making noise tho

I usually play a zoner, shoto, and setup character in nearly every fighting game I play. (Hakumen/Lamda 11, Axl/Ky/Slayer, Chie/Yukiko/Junpei)

Absolutely, I'm getting tired of people only wanting to play rushdowns and dissing zoners and grapplers They don't realize that a game full of shotos would be boring, a game full of rushdowns just anxious and that diversity is what they like without knowing it Zoners can be fun to fight ! Grapplers can be fun to fight ! I play a zoner in GGST and have a blast against Potemkin and Axl, I play a rushdown on SFV and have fun against Dhalsim and Zangief. Maybe I just like these games a lot and my characters a lot too, but I think this diversity is exactly what makes those games great, good, fun and fair for everyone

@gekkosquirrel I wanted to make a video would you be alright is I used like a 5 second snippet of one of your vids?

As a zoner main myself, yes I do pick them because they are easier to play. Mostly talking inputs. No combos, no crossups, no frame perfect mixups. Just fullscreen mids. But I unga, therefore I bunga so I pocket a grappler in every fighting game I've ever played, just in case I get bored of not being wanted enywhere.

I play zoners in a lot of games (like long range zoners not projectile zoners) and while I understand the criticisms of *those* players, and I could see how people might think it’s spammy or requires no skill, I wish people would try zoners before hating on them, playing as a character like axl and getting a rush down like sol or gio off of you is one of the hardest things you could attempt

Zoners are fun. You stay over there and I stay over here. None of us have to worry about the corner to much.

I think zoners are valid, and I certainly don't think they require no skill as some would suggest. That said, every time I fight a Happy Chaos, I want to acquaint my controller with the floor at a high rate of speed.

idk how I ended up playing zoners. there was a time where I just wanted to ungabunga too and I thought I was too dumb to play zoners. I really got into charge inputs which tend to be defensive in nature. I quickly became a Vega main and a Guile enjoyer, among other charge characters (and occasional grappler) I didn't consider Guile a zoner, I thought he was a footsies and reaction/punish based character. Following that trend I would end up playing Axl for the same reasons(and I like his weapon) and now my friends consider me the zoner player. :( The only time I felt hate though was when I played Xrd Jack-O but I honestly think more people needed to learn the MU. Playing her, you feel where her weakness are and if more people exploited them I don't think as many people would complain about her.

To me, Axl Low was the 'training wheels' that got me into GGS non-bottom ranks. Understandable gameplan, which is directly measured by well, distance between you and the opponent; animations don't turn into a singular blob of hurt, like in the old cartoons.

new videoooo

I love playing zoners, its great.

7:33 *laughs in Happy Chaos*

does anyone know what that closing theme is?

Nu 13 made me fall in love with zoners.

Zoners are my favorite archetype

Archetypes and Semi Archetypes. Rushdown Grappler Zoner All-rounder Shoto Glass Canons (Often Rushdowns with lower health but damage like you hitting some one with a bullet train)

Fair enough video! Though some zoners are really annoying to deal with, especially Axl. Other games like BBCF don't have that much of an issue with zoners because you have a lot of ways to approach aside from just running at your enemy with most Chars. In GGST it's a little more hardcore with the whole "you jumped after axl fullscreen sweeped you so now we're back to fullscreen". And to answer why zoners don't get played in tourneys is because Rushdowns and Shotos control a more important part of the match thanks to oki, meaty and mixups just being so powerful

Zoners in BBTAG pisses me off to no end in sight. Grapplers comes a close second. When said Zoners are up close to people, they would block you, use Reject Guard, Zone again, gets up close, BLOCK AGAIN. The greatest example of this is Hilda because it takes ONE button for a TOD starter. ONE. Not 2 or more. ONE. And that’s it.

Oh fuck yea, gecko released a zoner video LETS GOOOOO

I feel that zoners are particularly despised because they're the hardest character archetype to design, and so they're the easiest to get wrong. Even though they are a legitimate archetype and I agree with what you say, you can't deny that they warp the dynamics of the game more than other archetypes do: by design, they make it so the majority of the match will be about approaching then, where the majority of the options at your character's disposal will be useless, as you're forced to rely on movement alone to make progress. In terms of design, I see fighting a zoner in a similar way I see underwater levels in platformers: they're a unique challenge, but one that feels restrictive as it negates the majority of tools at your disposal, and people hate it because of it. They're definitely a tricky design space to explore, and one that, no matter what, rarely gets any recognition. Personally, I'm afraid for the future of the archetype, seeing how games like DBFZ have watered them down considerably with huge economic success. I feel like developers might take the wrong lesson from it

I dropped a like the instant I heard Hades music.

I am surprised there was no dig at Netherrealm for their zoners in Injustice 2

5:52 Some body didint watch the Mortal Kombat 11 evo before DLC characters were added, the match up was always Centrion or Arron Black

Tbh I don’t mind zoners ads a bit of variety and makes you have to think about how to deal with them keeping you out of the range you want to be in. If there wasent zoners idk would feel like something is missing.

edging across the screen!? ayo

Peacock moment. You're not safe when you're away from her, but you aint safe when you get close either because good zoning implies having backups to the opponent getting too close for you to spam 8 ball bombs and lasers on their back eye.

Most fighting games would never let that happen: injustice two enters the building

What about elliana from rivals of aether whose game plan is to set traps and projectiles aroun the screen and then punish with an insane combo.

4:58 Nope because I play smash ultimate and in ultimate, once you finally get in your met with a very good up close attack

Zoning is an art, is something you need to think a bunch when you play them, since your options usually limit one approach, but are a terrible choice against other choices. So your gameplan is either throw everything at people or, in a similar wave of thinking with the grapplers, condition your foe to do what you want. A pretty good example I can think of is the best bae from The King of Fighters, the badass bouncer King. She's a zoner by heart, with tools like DPs, good normals with good range and a fireball that can be used twice in a row. She's usually mid to higher tier because her kit is consistent, and generally she is considered a good character for begginers since her gameplan is quite easy: throw Venon Spikes, use your kicks and sometimes grab then doing things with your Anti Airs (including a C that it is 5 frames, what the fuck). But she gets pretty difficult the more the level of the players increases, because her tools lose the "autodrive" mentality that people think of when they grab her and turn into a rock/paper/scissors situation. At some games, even at full screen, you can be baited and caught if you throw a Double Strike and your foe read it, since Super Jumps allow you to reach the other side of the screen and now you are minus against a dude that can blow you up in an interaction. But wait, what if, instead of throwing two fireballs, you throw one and, on the Super Jump, throw a C or a DP? Now the game keeps at your condition, with you either going for your combo, spacing out your buttons or going for the Command Grab (depending of the version, also what the fuck a zoner has a command grab?). But what if they roll the fireball instead of jumping over? Then you can try to reach him with your slide (3B) or go for the grab or even cover the roll with your long, fancy legs. It's a game of knowledge and condition, which, at least for me, it's the big fun on fighting games. I am fairly slow on my execution, so I can't really Oonga the Boonga, but with zoners, I can keep playing a spacing game and, when I feel confident, go for the combo (unless the character requires APM closer to Starcraft players like HC).

Now that Johnny is here this video seems to have aged strangely. According to ASW Johnny is a mid-range zoner. He seems to play that way, too. I suck, but I find I do best when I poke and zone out my opponent. I also see lots of high-level players doing the same. Yeah, when the time is right you get on top of your opponent and wreak havoc on their health bar, but that's what Dhalsim does in SF, too. I guess our wacky squirrel friend loves a zoner character now?

the gio axl matchup hurts me physically

I'm feeling some animosity towards us Zoners I'm scared

3:10 "I have no idea how accurate this is I'm just using it as an example, but because it's Reddit I imagine it's complete cap"

RTS has Zoning playstyle. You make some scary stuff that could destroy their stuff, but can be easily avoided. Basically it keeps them off your shit until you can roll out and take over the map.

At the end of the day people just like different things and that's it. I find zoning fun contrary to rushdown because I like meticulous and tricky play and I don't care what people think about it.

I generally pick Sagat because I know how he plays, and he doesn't do weird stuff. I like having big, mid-range limbs and hate having to do rote memorization in general so SF pretty much forces me to pick a zoner.

4:40 O M G XD

Depends on the game. I remember the guy who managed to get top 16 I think and then subsequently banned for playing Sheeva in a big tournament for MK11. Also in that game finals for every big tournament often came down to Cetrion and Joker zoner keepaway (I know Joker isn't a zoner in that game but he did often play keepaway with his long pokes and projectiles). Even Jade was showing up in tournaments a lot before people discovered how busted Cetrion was.