Is Street Fighter 5's Kage Top Tier? The FGC Debates

If there's one thing in the video game world that's sure to generate a conversation, it's a new DLC character. Street Fighter V players are experiencing that yet again with the introduction of Kage, the physical manifestation of Ryu's Satsui no Hado energy. The character was first unveiled at the end of Capcom Cup 2018 and at first was a very popular character in the game's online modes and on social media. As time as gone on, though, the community has been split as to whether Kage is any good or not. While some have been enjoying him very much, there are those who feel he's not worth the Fight Money (or actual money.) 

The Pro-Kage(s)

One of the biggest advocates for Kage has been Maximillian, who has been playing the character all week on his YouTube channel.  Generally, Max will test out the character for a session before moving on, but he has been going back to Kage for some time now and seems to be enjoying himself. Max does enjoy playing Shoto characters, so this really shouldn't be a surprise, but it's interesting to see him so invested in Street Fighter V these days, especially when he hasn't played as much Street Fighter V as he has other games. Towards the end of his latest session, he really seems to be getting into the groove with Kage, scoring a Perfect on the very last round. 

Another big Kage fan is Teiga, an East Coast member of the FGC known widely for his Akuma lab work and play. He's been putting in some serious time with Kage since his release and his Twitter timeline has been one of the best sources for new tech. He's even the host of a community-generated Kage Discord server, where players can share tech and tactics with one another. 

I need to know who at capcom ill need to be gifting plz and thx #PS4share pic.twitter.com/pYuUbfanMl

— Teiga @ #TheLab (@NY_Teiga) December 17, 2018

Kage has also been flying up EventHubs' Street Fighter V tier list, reaching 12th currently. It doesn't really matter much, but it says something that the community regards him so highly already, even if it is a small sample size. 

The Anti-Kage(s) 

One of the earliest and strongest opponents of Kage's perceived strength is Germany-based Street Fighter V streamer Ali MDZ_jimmY  Abbas, who came out with a YouTube video soon after Kage's release and gave his thoughts. (Spoilers, they aren't overwhelmingly positive.) 

The gist of Abbas' monologue is that while Kage some of the tools the top Street Fighter V characters have, he lacks the neutral game that would make him stronger than Akuma, his closest parallel. Why play Kage when he's a worse version of Akuma? Why not just play Akuma? That's Abbas' argument, at least. The comments within Kage's weekly discussion thread on r/StreetFighter seemed to echo Abbas' sentiments. While the character is cool, he lacks a neutral game and serious damage without V-Trigger, two things that will keep him from cracking the upper echelon of Street Fighter V characters. What side do you fall on? Are you Pro-Kage or Anti-Kage? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter! 

While you argue with people on the Internet if Kage is good or not, take a look at what Justin Wong gave his groomsmen as wedding gifts! (Hint: if you've played fighting games, you've probably used one at some point in your life.