So as a newcomer to KOF I've always had Mai as my candy. Now that I own the game I figured I should learn her as my first character (Since Leona is a charge character and considered one of the harder ones to learn), but a group member of mine told me Mai was also hard to learn/use properly. Is this true and I should pick someone else like Kula, King, or K' or should is there something I should learn basic with Mai and move on from there?
She is rather hard to play effectively... You will suck when you first start using her cause she doesn't play like anyone else... If you actually like using her then don't give up, eventually you will get the hang of it...
If you want to learn how to play the game then use Kyo, Kula, Iori, Shen, K', King, Goro, Andy, Terry, Vice... They are easy to pick up and will teach you different things about the game...