HeartNana

A few things: Ending corner combos with 6C (j.C depending on how far into the combo you've gone and what you started with) 6B 3C 6D 214C 3C 6D is a great ender. If the opponent tries to roll out of the corner or do a quick standup, or really anything except neutral tech, you can catch them with a 2A 5B 6B 5C 5D 214B into ender. This doesnt work against arakune because of his hitbox, as he can tech out before the 5B but you can do a gimpy combo with 2A 5A 6B i think. 2A 6B also works but it's annoying if he techs on the other side of you. You can also end with either super after the 6D, and you can even do 6D overdrive cancel 3C 6D super for even more damage, especially if it means you take the round. You can't actually end a long corner combo with 6B 3C 6D 214C 3C 6D 6D 5D because they can tech between the second and third hits, but what they DOES mean is that if they're holding down a button to tech, you can end in 6D 6D, stop, the opponent recovers in the air JUST before they hit the ground, and usually if they try something, it doesn't come out (not on the ground) and they probably wont be blocking low. If the opponent techs there, it nails them quite often, especially cause they're holding the button because they don't want to get picked up again by a 2A. Don't overabuse it obviously but it's a nice trick when you really need it. If you end midscreen with any combo into xD->xD->xD into fireball, just be weary of the timing because too early and they can flip out in the air, losing any wakeup chances (obv you can attempt to nail them but they recover a little too quick usually for you to have any reliable thing to do). If you do it too late, the fireball doesn't hit and they can roll away. If you hit it with perfect timing, they wont be able to tech in the air and they have to do a ground bounce, giving you wakeup. You can also end combos with fireball -> laser super. If you don't do the fireball, then the opponent tends to be high and a lot of hits from the lazer miss. You can do rapid -> C super after the last hit of her drive rekka if you want to, but that takes 100 meter. If you start with a 2A against a crouched opponent, any more than 4 hits means 6C won't combo, so be careful. There's no 2A 2B 5B 5C 6C combos, you're better off just doing a midscreen combo into 3C 5D 214B. If you start in the corner against an opponent and your first two hits are 2A 2A (for example -> 2A 2A 2B 2C 3C 6D 214C 2C 5D 214B), then 214B will whiff after 5D. If your opponent is caught by surprised, you can reset them but you are actually at a disadvantage and if they try to 2A or 5B, they'll prolly beat whatever you try, so be careful. In that case, doing something like this for guaranteed damage + wakeup might be better: 2A 2A 2B 2C 3C 6D 214C 3C 6D into the previously stated wakeup. You often do combos like 3C 5D 214B dash up 6C. This works against most characters, but some require very strict timing, or late timing for the 6C: Late/strict timing - Nine, Hibiki, Izanami, Azreal and maybe some others (maybe arakune? kokonoe?) You'll figure it out the more you play. Don't JUST practice against Ragna in training mode because he's very easy to hit, and you'll notice your combos whiffing when you play against a hibiki player. If you can, you can do the IAD into j.B j.C 6B but imo the timing is rough. Off a ground 214B midscreen, you can get dash up 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A against every character. If you do 5B 5C 214C and you're midscreen (assuming you're too far away to do 3C 5D), then you can rapid the 214C (no charge version), dash up, do 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A. If you do the charge version, you can rapid, dash up and do 2B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A if you're not near a corner. If you do overdrive, you can do fun stuff with the healing super because it heals faster. Ending in a ground combo like 2A 2B 6B 2C 5D 5D 5Dxxhealing super (recover while the opponent is still spinning) then doing something like 3C 6D6D5D for an extra 20~% heal. If you hit them in the corner with a drive move into say, 5D 6D 5D xx healing super, then while they're in the air (since you already recovered), you can do 5D6D5D for additional healing. If you still have a little more time on the overdrive, it's actually best to just go for being aggressive again because you most likely gained even a sliver of recoverable life, meaning a long distance 5B 5C 214C is far more dangerous to the opponent and requires no rapid, and you can do overhead. Anyways, these are the combos I tend to use. Some might be not so good vs some characters but this is a general list (a lot of the D enders are based off your opponents position. If your back is to the wall, you generally want to do xD5D5D just to get the opp in the corner, so just assume all enders can be changed based off position. Also, whether you choose to end with the heal or the fireball is also up to you, i won't write doing the fireball at the end of the combo because i'll assume you do it if you want. At full life: midscreen 2A 2B 6B 2C 3C 6DDD Far away: 5B 5C 214C Close: (5B) 2B 6B 2C 3C 6DDD Close opp crouching: (5B) 2B 6B 2C 6C jump cancel j.C land 6B 3C 6DDD Anti Air 6B 2C j.BC j.C j.DDD Throw: 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A Airthrow: land, dash 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A 6A (both hits) dash 2A 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A Corner at full life: 2B 2B 6B 2C 3C 5D 214B 5B 6B 5C 5DDD (you can def do some shenanigans with fireball but this one is easy and gives wakeup) throw: 5C 5D 214B 5B 6B 5C 5DDD airthrow: j.D6DD fireball (they have to be in the corner, if they get on the other side of you then do j.DDD), if you're close enough when the fireball hits, dash forward and do 5B 6B 5C 5DDD Not at full life: Midscreen: 2A 2B 6B 2C 3C 5D 214B dash 6C j.DDD 2B 6B 2C 3C 5D 214B dash 6C j.C 6B 3C 6DDD (if they're too far, do 3C 6D6D 214B instead and skip the j.C after 6C) anti air 6B 2C j.BC j.C j.D6D 214B dash 6C j.DDD Anti air 6B 5D 5D 214B dash up 6C j.C 6B 3C 6DDD opp crouching: (5B) 2B 6B 2C 6C j.C 6B 2C j.BC j.C j.214A (i think if you start with 5B instead of 2B you can do 6B 5C 5D 214B dash 6C j.DDD) throw: 5C 5D 214B dash 6C j.C 6B 3C 6DDD Airthrow: dash 5B 6B 5C 5D 214B dash 6C (no jump) 6B 3C 6DDD 214B charge: dash 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A. Depending on the character you can do 214B into dash 6C, but a lot of character's can't get hit by it. CH 5B 6C j.C 6B 5C 5D 214B dash 6C (go forward a little) 6B 3C 6DDD Corner: (5B) 2B 2C 3C 6D 214C 2C 5D 214B 6C 6B 3C 6D 214C 3C 6D throw: 5C 5D 214B j.C 6B 3C 6D 214C 3C 6D airthrow: j.D6D 214B 6C 6B 3C 6D 214C 3C 6D 6A: 2B 6B 5C 5D 214B 6C 6B 3C 6D 214C 3C 6D Im sure theres stuff im missing but this should be a basic enough list. Good luck!

Ok been a while! I've played quite a bit of CF. I hit 21 Dan and am currently the #3 ranked Celica (though ofc this is only for the day, but still). So I've been through quite a bit and I have about 700 matches under my belt. Celica is crazy strong compared to how she used to be. Her overdrive is absolutely broken. It's probably the single best overdrive in the game. The amount of life she can gain back is crazy. I've made so many comebacks just from activating overdrive, my opponent whiffing (maybe a throw or overhead or something), hitting with a combo, gaining back a bunch of life, doing another combo, gaining back more life, and ending up close to full life while my opponent is now down to about 50%. Essentially trading life totals. It's too good, ragna has very slight lifegain but Celica's is crazy. She has low maximum damage (no 9500 damage combos like hakumen, sorry!) but she has decent damage off of quite a few options, and most end in life gain. Midscreen she can do stuff like 2B 6B 2C 3C 5D 214B dash 6C j.C 6B 5C 5D6D5D for 3000ish. Her 2B is really good, and her 2C pulls opponents in, as does her 6C, and while its not as good as it used to be (no pushblock, which is kind of a dumb thing anyways), 2A 2B 2C 6C pulls the opponent in decently close and allows you to continue pressure, or try for overhead over do whatever. She has decently high throw damage. Her airthrow still kinda sucks compared to some characters' but it's still good enough. Her corner combos allow for just such a better wakeup game than before. She can really keep the pressure on against most characters. I said in the original post that she was nerfed in a lot of ways. Now that a lot more of her potential is unlocked and combos are being optimized more, she's far better than I originally gave her credit for. There's still a few things I wish they would change to help her out a bit, but compared to CPEX, this version Celica is a godsend. I would like CH 236C to not shoot the opponent up a gazillion feet in the air, but rather let me combo. I would like her laser super to have invul again. It would be nice if I could still gain "blue life" even at full life so I don't have to do crappy low damage combos just because my opponent hasn't hit me yet. However, despite these lack of "these would be nice" things, she's still a pretty solid character. I have trouble with characters like Litchi, Carl, Relius. Those types of characters are pretty rough for me. Obviously I still lose to better players no matter who they use, but I have an especially hard time dealing with characters like that. So yeah, people looking forward to playing Celica in CF, she's way better this time around. However, she plays a bit different, so you're going to probably have to change up a lot of your gameplan anyways. It took a long time to learn a lot of her new stuff, but it's worth it if you really want to use this character!

Ok I was told to add in generic stuff to make it easy to understand. MIDSCREEN - 2A - Are they close? end in a 3C 6D6D6D (or 3C 6D5D6D if you want them on the other side) 2A - Are they far away? End in 6C 214C 5B - Did it hit counter hit? Then do 5B 6C 214[C] 5C 214C into something like 5B 6B 5C 5D 6D 6D or whatever ender you want. 5B - No counter hit? Are they close? You can do a number of things like 5B 6B 3C 6D 5D wait a little 2D dash 2A 5B 6B 5C 5D 6D 6D 5B - No counter hit? Are they far away? Then do 5B 5C 214C, not much else you can do. 5B - Crouching? Close? 5C 6C 214[C] 5C 214C 5B 6B 5C ender 5B - Crouching? Far away? -Then do 5B 5C 214C, not much else you can do. 2B - Close? do this: 2B 5B 6B 3C 6D 5D wait a little 2D dash 2A pickup into enter 2B - Far away? Do this: 2B 5B 5C 214C 2B crouching - see 5B j.D 5D wait a little 2D dash up 2A 5B 6B 5C 5D 6D 6D Air to air: j.C - Did it hit counterhit? Land catch with 6B or 6C j.C - No counterhit? double jump, j.C 214A Anti air: 6B 5C 5D5D wait a little 2D dash up 2A 5B 6B 5C 5D 6D 6D Corner: 2A into whatever into 3C 2D 6D 6D - You can end in a super after that but any other attack you may do will cause the opponent to fall out 2B/5B into whatever into 3C 2D 6D 6D - catch with 5B 6B 5C and then end any way you want from there, super, 5D, 5DD 5DD2D etc 5B counterhit - 5B 6C 214[C] dash under 5B 6B 5C 2D 6D 6D 5B 6B 5C into ender j.D 6D 6D 5A 5B 6B 5C 5DD2D There's obviously more but I was told to make a post thats easy to understand. Hope this helps?

Yeah that grab combo is sick, makes sense. It won't work on some characters though (like carl and maybe arakune?) After playing and testing stuff, enhanced 214B into 6C only combos against certain characters, and it doesn't combo against anyone at anything more than point blank range. One combo that does work even from far away is: 214{B} jump cancel airdash j.B j.C 6B 2C 5D 214C 6B 5C 5D 214C 5D6D5D or 6B 5D 214{C} The timing for the jump into airdash is pretty rough but it's probably the most optimal followup imo. Also against carl, 2D 5D just doesn't work against him so you have to just do more basic combos. I can barely reach him with 214{B} dash up 5B 6B 2C. You can do 6B 2C j.BC (one hit of j.C) j.C j.D and the j.D will connect. It works even at full life. If you 2B them from high enough you can do 6B 2C 5D 214{C} 6B 5C 5D 214{C} 6B 5C 5D6D5D. If they're too low to the ground, the 5D will whiff. Also CH air to air j.C, you can also dash up, do 6B 2C 5D 214{C} 6B 5C 5D 214{C} 6B 5C 5D6D5D. 3rd hit of 5DDD only, rapid into 6C combos, too. You can just do generic 6C combo (j.C 6B 2C 5D 214{C} 6B 5C 5D 214{C} 6B 5D 214C) Something good against Nu that I discovered is that 214C can go through one projectile hit. This means that if she tries to 5D you, you can just do 214C and go through it and possible CH her. This is huge because its easier to get in now because of that. 5DDD helps too, or 6DDD because the second hit makes celica go pretty far and I've gotten many counterhits from that. Also her overhead can eat a hit, too, so single hit attacks or counter assault will get wrecked by overhead. A lot of players use overdrive into the new overdrive attack and it can go through a lot of my blockstrings, so just be careful. It goes through Celica's drive, but if you're doing the second hit of 5DD, then you might be able to escape depending on when the opponent actually did it. This still causes quite a bit of problems for Celica, so just be careful.

Played a bit more today. For her throw combo, I found:Throw 5B 6B 5C 5D 214B 6C j.C j.C j.214A. This was her best damage by far. I was messing around with her corner combos. This is the one that did the most damage, but I'm not quite sure it's worth it for how bad it is when dropped: 5B 2C 3C 6D 214C 2C 5D 214B 6C j.C 6B 5C 5D into either laser super or finish off drive. It did a little more than just doing j.D after the 6C but when you do the 6C too early and the opponent is too high for 6B to connect, it's bad. You can't do more hits really after the j.C in the air. Another j.B j.C will whiff, so you kinda lose out a bit. It's a couple hundred damage more than the easier version, so it's up to you. One thing I found, too, was that if you do Celica's 214B vs rachel chair, you'll eat a big chunk of blue health, but she can't cancel and she's stuck in recovery, so you get a free CH 5B 6C or 2C 6C or whatever. Off of raw 6C I was able to get the following to connect: 6C j.C 6B 2C 5D 214C 6B 5C 5D 214C 6B 5C 5D6D5D. If you start with an enhanced 214B the last part (6B 5C 5D6D5D) will actually drop between the two hits of the second hit of her drive. You can prolly get a small reset if your opponent techs and doesn't block because they'll still be in the air and can easily get hit by the third hit of the drive. Not sure about if I start with 5B or 2C on CH into 6C, but something to test. A dirty trick I found is doing and drive into the third hit, and then rapid into 2B instead of doing the overhead like I normally do. My opponent stood up right then and got nailed with a 2B. In overdrive, as I said in my previous post, healing super is super fast. In overdrive, I ended up hitting my opponent on the ground with the third hit of her drive on CH (so theyre standing there spinning). I cancelled that into healing super, healed, my opponent is still spinning and i had enough time to run up and hit him. You should go for a knockdown because for some reason 2B 3C doesn't connect there. Maybe just do 3C into 6D6DD or something? Depends on how much hitstun they have and how bad the hitstun actually is. Again, something else to test. I hit my opponent with a ch j.C from pretty far away, def at a range where nothing except 5B would connect in BBCP, but I managed to get 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214C. The 2C pulled them in from pretty far and jumping forward make it happen. Her improved 2C is a godsend for combos.

In overdrive, the biggest difference in healing super is how long it takes to come out. It leads to some really cool combos actually. Say you have about 1/3 of your life in blue life and you hit the opponent with a 2B or whatever, you don't want to do the normal 2B 6B 2C 3C 6D 214C because the 214C will take all of that meter. What you CAN do is just finish off the 6DDD, cancel the third hit into healing super, the opponent is still flying in the air, you're still gaining life, you can then dash up and continue the combo, like a 5B 6B 5C 5D6DD. All the while, because of overdrive you're gaining life and then gaining the life you would gain on top of that by hitting them with drives, and then you heal it all. I went from a very low amount of life to a decently high amount of life by just doing one combo like that. Regularly, the healing super takes a bit longer to startup and you won't be able to get your life back. Also one you gain the life back from healing super, you can block. If the super animation happened, then you won't get hit by anything. You can be hit out of the startup of course and it completely ruins all your plans but yeah... The C super is really bad on block, a lot of the cast can easily punish it even if they just sat there. Anyways, here's the notations of the combos above: enhanced 214B: 214B dash up 6C j.C 6B 2C 5D 214C 6B 5C 5D 214C 6B 5D 214C Corner combo: (whatever into 3C) 6D 214C 2C 5D 214B 6C j.D into whatever. I want to test if you can do something like 6C jump cancel j.C 6B 5C 5D 6DD instead. Combo off j.C Counter: CH j.C j.C j.D6D 236B 5A 5B 6B 3C 6D 214C. After the 6D he would have been better off continuing the string and then keeping health by cancelling the 3rd hit into 236B imo. Corner combo with enchanced 236C in mind: 5B 5C 5D 236[C] 2B 5B 6B 2C 5D 214C 6B 5C 5D 214C 6B 5D (and im pretty sure he could continue it by finishing the drive or doing super right after that) The other videos arent working for me so I can't write her grab or anti air combo. In general, anti air as 6B 2C j.BC j.CD into drive finisher is pretty optimal. ending it with the divekick instead of j.D isn't terrible either. For grab right now im keeping it simple with 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A. In general tho, you can loop with her by doing 6B 2C/5C 5D 214C. After a CH 2C/5B into 6C, doing j.C 6B 2C 5D 214C seems very possible. One thing to note for these combos is ranga is the "standard" size, but there are some characters that are bigger/smaller/not standard, so things work won't on some characters for seeming no reason sometimes.

After playing more, Celica isn't nearly as bad as I thought. Her range is improved mainly because of 2C. It means you can hit something from pretty far away and still pull them in enough to get a combo. something like anti air 6B 2C j.BC double jump j.BC j.214A can do a pretty good amount of damage. I also discovered you can do specials after the 3rd hit of her drive EVEN ON BLOCK. This is big because it adds one more thing the opponent has to look out for. I've been hitting opponents with the third hit into overhead a bunch, and then other times i wont do anything and they just kinda back away, which is also nice. I found out you can do overdrive and then right away do the overdrive only attack by simply just holding A+B+C+D. Her new combo route (whatever into 3C 6D 214C 2B 6B 5C 5D 214B 5B 6B 5C 5D6D5D is what ive been using) is pretty high damage, has a heal at the end, or you can cancel that into laser super. Nice wakeup, good damage, the whole package. If you start with a 2A, just continue the 5D into drive and dont cancel it into 214B, youll still get close to 2000 i think. You can do astral from j.DD, i hit someone with it today when he had his burst and he wasn't expecting it, lol. Doing something like j.BC double jump j.BC j.DDD or whatever is sweet. After a midscreen combo into 5DDD, shooting the projectile and hitting them, then doing another one is good, it hits rolls and if theyre the type who lays there, you can def pick them up and get a pretty much unscaled combo. 6A is actually useful in the corner because of how much damage it does and how easy it is to do a combo with it. I get about 2700 with a 100% not optimal ender (6A 2A 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A) Her second hit of 5DD goes faster than before, and can actually be used as SOMETHING to fight against nu since most of our other moves dont work. 6C pulls the opponent a little in on block, so it can actually be used in pressure strings as a little delay (they get CH if they try to push buttons) and if they block you can do something. Her new DP really is better than before. It just feels better and i hit with it way more than i hit with the other one. It's also so much nicer to just do 236C than having to do a DP motion haha. Barrier also seems to push back pretty far. Its easier for me to get out of pressure midscreen simply by barriering, blocking, then backdashing at any slight opening. Some character are too light/heavy/weird to get hit by 6C 5B 6B 2C 5D (the 5D whiffs), but I tried doing 5C instead of 2C and it worked vs Nu-13. Then you can do 5D 6D 214C (flames hit) into whatever ender lol. TBH the combo looks cool but seems pretty worthless when just doing a 5B 6B 2C j.BC j.BC j.214A does almost as much and pushes them to the corner better with better wakeup. Not sure if she had it in the other game but im able to do 5A into j.AB double jump j.BC j.214A, it seems to be pretty solid, and I know Mu couldnt do 5A into any air followup in BBCP. Also having overdrive be as good as it is, having the 236C punch, having celica super etc really gives a lot of options, and I'm able to get out of the corner way more consistently than i ever was in BBCP. So many options, it's nice that I'm able to work with them. Also I definitely didn't realize just how good her fireball got. I knew it got better but it's actually really good now. I use it quite a bit, obviously against Nu/Mu/etc I can't, but against fair characters, it puts in quite a lot of work and gives me great wakeup. So yeah, I might not be the best Celica player but I made it to 12th dan with her and I'm doing way better than I was doing before. I don't think she's great by any means (so many other characters still have so many dumb things), but I no longer think she's unplayable/jokingly bad. So atm, my thoughts on Celica are she's "good enough for now, I suppose"

Cool, I'll try those combos out if I get a chance to play today! If I can get them consistently, I might have a chance again!

Ok so CF has been out for a few days now. In one sentence, my opinion on the new Celica is summed up as this: Not a strong character in this game. So let's go on about things she's gained/lost. First off, she's a lot different. She gains blue life by hitting the opponent with drive on hit/block. If you do the 3rd hit of drive (no matter what the first two are, the third one is always the same) and it hits, she will charge a little and gain up to about 15% of her total lifebar back (if you have more blue life than that, it remains). Also, she keeps the life when she gets hit. You can cancel out of that last hit with any special after it hits as well. Do also note that if you do 214C, 214B, or 236C, that her blue life will go away and those moves will be "powered up". 214C powered up means the opponent goes spinning on the ground and allows for a combo after a grounded 5B 5C in the corner. It also makes hitting with the flames only a lot easier. 214B powered up gives the move a bit more range it seems and it bounces them higher allowing you to do a combo in the corner easily or just a 214C midscreen. Whether this is good or bad, I'll voice my opinion on later, but this is just how it is now. Things she's gained: - 236C absorbs hits instead of just getting hit out of moves at the beginning. This is pretty nice because it means im less "oh crap im in the corner i die now" than before, imo. - 2C pulls the opponent in on hit/block, making it easier to combo opponents that are a little far away. Also good against opponents in the air. - 5C is only one hit now (neither good nor bad?) but it's now jump cancellable on hit. - Can manually input special moves during Celica's drive. - Can heal a bit of damage by doing drive moves on hit/block. - 214B doesn't need to be cancelled to combo in the corner - 214C doesn't send the opponent flying as far, so you have better wakeup. - Heal super heals all blue life and recovers very quickly. - Overdrive heals regular life and gives a lot of blue life. This is her strongest change by far, and the only reason I can even win with her. - Ground throw doesn't shoot the opponent far, they go in front of you making it very easy to combo. - 6A might be easier to combo with midscreen? I dunno that move is bad and I wish she just didn't have it because 9/10 times when I do it, it's unintentional and I get hit. - 236B seems a little faster? Not terrible but still doesn't go fullscreen. - j.214A trajectory changed so it's easier to hit after j.C Things she's lost: - [214C] - This is such a huge loss, it boggles my mind how they let it happen. She used it in combos all the time, and they took it away and there's really nothing "replacing" it, she just gets less damage. - [214B] - This one to a lesser extent. Not used as much as 214[C] but still nice to have for some combos. - Any of her 3rd hit drive moves. While you can cancel out of her drive moves into specials, you can only do it ON HIT. I used to bait my opponents with the 3rd hit of 5DDD, and because of how (5DD)2D slammed, I was able to get combos off of things like j.D5D2D dash 2A 5B 6B 5C 5D 6D 6D for a good 2800 damage or so. Now that's impossible. Her 3rd hit of drive isn't terrible but it would rather actually have options instead of being stuck with that one move. - 632146B isn't invulnerable anymore. It was invul and it was a great tool to be a little safer in the corner than 632146C, but now it has 0 invul and i got hit out of it just about everytime. It used to be good to stop things like full screen Tager ball, jin projectiles, rachel super etc. Now it's just kinda garbo. - 632146C doesn't do a bunch of hits on block anymore. It seems less safe and easier to punish now, I noticed my opponent able to move very quickly after blocking it. - 236C got improved hitbox wise, but on counterhit, my opponent flies all the way up in the air and i cant do anything. If i had a mini "on my own no meter can heal" thing, that would be great, but she doesn't have anything like that. It used to be great for getting damage but now it just sends them flying away and is kinda "meh". Especially because a lot of other characters can still combo off of their DPs. - Overall lower damage. j.DDD has low damage, even if I can combo from it in the corner, I only get about 1700 and a bit of healing. Drive moves do practically no damage. 2B 5B 3C 2D 6D 214B 5B 6B 5C 5D 5D 5D does about 2000 damage. Her damage is pitiful. The second hit of 5DD used to do a lot but now it barely does anything. This is the biggest issue so far. - j.214A into rapid into combo is gone. They bounce out now. One of the few ways she had to deal decent air to air damage is just gone, even if I rapid the only thing I've been able to get is a single j.B. It can still combo into a move after hitting a ground opponent and using a rapid but an air opponent can just tech when they hit the ground. Another nerfed damage point. - You can barrier her moves and she moves away now. Before if you barrier'd against her, only 2A and 5A cause pushback (because that's actually celica hitting). 2B 5B 2C etc caused no pushback because it's the robot doing the hits. This was huge for her pressure game. Especially helpful because she has terrible range. Now it's easy to just pushblock her away and not have to worry, and the celica player is now forced to act a lot faster than before with offensive pressure options. - Second hit of 5D2D has barely and pushback and is now punishable instead of being the "safe" option. The problem I have is a lot of the issues I wanted fixed with Celica weren't touched. Things like j.214A being unsafe on block (cmon, just make it a little safer?). Things like the second hit of j.5DD whiffing sometimes on opponents. Things like 5B 5C 214C not connecting because despite the opponent being at the tip of the moves, they were a little too far away for 214C, which doesn't help cause she has poor range anyways. A long range option that doesn't suck would be nice (hence why i want j.214A to be safer). A little more range on her 5D to make it easier to connect against opponents. A low/mid drive mixup. Her airthrow not being a stupid wall bounce. Nothing. Not a single problem fixed. They took something that people didn't ask for, and tossed that in the game. In addition to that, things that I had issues with about other characters are all still in the game. None of those other characters got nerfed or seem to have stuff taken away. Celica has so much thats just gone, yet a lot of other characters are unaffected. Things like hazama snake into air throw from behind, relius simultaneous dodge/doll punch, azrael backdash being complete invul, and his forward dash being too fast to react too, his j.C having a huge hitbox that allows you to hit pretty much anywhere with it and then combo. Then they added new characters that have way more tools/damage. I struggle to get 2500 damage, and a lot of characters are easily hitting 3500 no meter. Anyways, enough complaining. Some more random things: "Big damage" only comes from 5B 5C 214C (corner and you need blue life, which is pretty hard but whatever) and anything that goes into 6C. I can get 3000 damage on a counterhit if i do CH5B 6C 5B 6B 2C 5D6D 214C (only if you have not-full health, and only on some characters, this is the from behind flames hit, not the actual hit) 5B 6B 5C 5DDD or whatever ender. Hopefully a better combo is found but despite hitting with flames only 214C, but yeah. Midscreen ending strings in the 3rd hit of D to 236B is strong, but she recovers decently fast in the corner so its generally worth it to just heal and then pressure. Third hit of drive is safe on block. Does a lot of damage on counterhit and if you can rapid just that and dash up 6C or something, you can get decent damage. Not gonna happen that often, though. Here's how I played Celica: I would hope to hit them, get them in the corner and then pressure and gain life. If I got hit, i wouldn't burst, I would just do overdrive. On wakeup it's a pretty good option, even for her at half health. If you can get around 6 seconds that's generally enough. If you can get away because of overdrive or even hit your opponent, you're in a good spot, as you can heal a lot. If you hit them a couple times with a drive finisher, you can recover a lot. If you get a lot of blue health and didn't recover it, then doing her healing super from far away is great, doesn't take too long and feels good to get all that health back. Because of the weird system that allows you to sometimes get burst back quickly because of something you did, you can do this multiple times in a round if you're lucky, and play well enough to not get hit during the overdrive. If you manage to heal back your health multiple times and hit your opponent, then you're in a pretty good spot. It's mostly just a game of footsies then "ok im gonna heal now" when you're at a low enough life (anywhere around half your bar gone is a good time to overdrive, and if you hit your opponent and you don't have much life left, overdriving is a pretty good option. It means they have to chase you down and if you can hit them, then you're in a really good spot as you gain a lot of health back. This is the best part about this character, as it can be really hard to kill her, and if she gains enough life, it can be really demoralizing to have to do so much more work to kill her. She doesn't have much damage so you just kinda have to hope you can heal a lot and hit your opponent enough that you can kill them. She still feels very weak and I feel like the stuff we lost wasn't worth the goofy "im gaining life with overdrive" game that she's all about now. She was more fun in CP imo, but it's still early. I don't know how balls deep I want to go into this game because it seems like a very uphill battle for a lot of matchups but part of me is still holding out hope that she's not actually really bad, and her damage isn't ACTUALLY that low...

Tomoka stuff: Updating the "Normals/specials/Super" thats listed:

If you do, you'll get $5 off! Bring a copy of BBCSEX, too if you can!

Important!! Anyone who is bringing a setup, I need to know in advance that you're bringing a setup, and what game you're bringing it for. If you don't let myself, Humbag, or CurlyW know before the tournament, then we're not going to be able to give a discount, even if you have a setup the day of. Since I'm running P4U and SC5, the equipment I'll need will be: 2-3 PS3s and game for P4U, and 2-3 PS3s and game for SC5. So please bring setups, and let one of us know in advance (and what game it's going to be used for) in order to get your $5 off! Thanks! Also, there will be a side BBCSEX tournament at 8PM! $5 entry!!! Please join!!!

For details on the 18th tourney, please check this thread! http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?14668-Aug-18-2012-HeartNana-Presents-Chicago-4-Ultimate-in-Midwest-Arena-(Northbrook-IL) if you have any questions, PM me or ask here or whatever. Hoping we can get a lot of people for P4U!

Im looking forward to the changes. It's not a new game anymore so they should have a decent idea on how to balance characters, and any new system mechanic is there for a reason. If it makes it more fun to play, while still keeping the blazblue feel, then I'm all for it. I might not personally agree with all the changes, but anytime anything new is introduced, there's always doubts. When it comes time to play, then i'll judge. Anyways, hype for Makoto and Bullet. Makoto can't get any WORSE, so i've always got that to look forward to lol...

You haven't even seen it in action. Overreact much?

Whoops, looks like I double posted this thread. Anyways, not sure if there's any interest here, but the main focus of the tourney is P4U, so I hope that everyone who has interest in P4U is able to come!

HeartNana, I Play Games & Nickel City present Chicago 4 Ultimate in Midwest Arena Saturday, August 18th Nickel City 555 Waukegan Road Northbrook, IL 60062 847-559-8727 www.nickelcitygames.com We're doing this on short notice, but we don't care. Presenting the sequel to last year's successful Chicago Heart 3 and taking the place of Windy City Showdown Prime 5, it's Chicago 4 Ultimate in Midwest Arena. What makes this different from the past few tournaments at Nickel City is that Nickel City will let us use their room for the entire day! So let's do this big and do this right. Preliminary Games List Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition v. 2012 (XBox) Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (XBox) Persona 4 Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena (PS3) King of Fighters XIII (PS3) Soul Calibur V (PS3) Mortal Kombat 9 (PS3) Skullgirls (PS3) Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (PS3) More games may be added with enough interest All tournaments are $10 to enter. There is a venue fee of $10, which is paid upon entering Nickel City. Payout The top 10% of people who enter will be paid. Here's how the payout scale works, along with pot bonuses: 8-24 entrants - 1st place: 65% of pot, 2nd place: 25%, 3rd place: 10% 25-40 entrants - 1st: 65% of remaining pot*, 2nd: 25%, 3rd: 10%, 4th: Entry fee + $5 - $25 pot bonus 41-64 entrants - 1st: 65% of remaining pot*, 2nd: 25%, 3rd: 10%, 4th: Entry fee + $10, 5th/6th: Entry fee + $5 - $75 pot bonus 65-80 entrants - 1st: 65% of remaining pot*, 2nd: 25%, 3rd: 10%, 4th: Entry fee + $15, 5th/6th: Entry fee + $10, 7th/8th: Entry fee + $5 - $150 pot bonus 81-128 entrants - 1st: 65% of remaining pot*, 2nd: 25%, 3rd: 10%, 4th: Entry fee + $20, 5th/6th: Entry fee + $15, 7th/8th: Entry fee + $10, 9th-12th: Entry fee + $5 - $225 pot bonus And so on. * "Remaining pot" means the pot after all places 4th and lower have been paid out. Preliminary Schedule (Subject to Change) 9:30 am - Doors Open 10:00 am - Sign-up starts for all tournaments 11:30 am - Sign-up ends for SSF4: AE12, Persona 4, MK9, and VF5FS 12:00 pm - SSF4: AE12, Persona 4, MK9, and VF5FS tournaments begin 3:30 pm - Sign-up ends for UMvC3, KoF, SC5, and Skullgirls 4:00 pm - UMvC3, KoF, SC5, and Skullgirls tournaments begin 1:00 am - Venue closes Call for Volunteers We will need a lot of volunteers in order to make this tournament run. First, we need a bunch of people to bring systems and set-ups. We cannot run this tournament without systems and set-ups. Please bring systems if you can!!! We also need people to help out to help out with the duty of running brackets. Please post in the thread if you are willing to volunteer for any of these duties. General Rules PS3 Dualshock Wireless controllers are permitted only with a connecting cord and with the understanding that they must remain off when they are not being used. If any irregularities or disputes occur, the players involved should attempt to resolve them among themselves. If they cannot, only then may it be referred to the tournament organizer. Stream To be determined Pizza For people attending the tournament, Nickel City is offering a special deal: A one-topping slice of pizza and a small fountain drink for just $3! Tournament Organizers Rob aka HeartNana (E-mail xctalimu@gmail.com, Twitter @arcanaheartnana) Max aka CurlyW (Phone 301-404-0316, E-mail maxwasserman@gmail.com, Twitter @maxwasserman) Domingo aka Tactics (Phone 630-433-6979, E-mail domingoayala3@gmail.com, Twitter @WCS_Tactics) If you have any questions or concerns about the event, please contact one of the tournament organizers. Hope to see everyone there.

Switching to Makoto when you're out of other options probably won't work too well in EX. And as of this post, I'm 100% loyal to Makoto in EX! 0 interest in any other character.

I dunno, she doesnt feel THAT bad when I play her...she still seems like shes capable imo.

Some stuff I took on my camera Phone when I went to the ko-hatsu tourney with Xie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhl4pDQkFkA Xie (plat) vs Utero (ragna) 1st round tourney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXNP3YG6nrk Galileo (tager) vs Xie (plat) 2nd round tourney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iaECHJ6hg0 HeartNana (Makoto) vs Osaka Tager 2nd round tourney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxuICIWOYGg HeartNana (Makoto) vs Jager (Rachel) pre-tourney casuals

After playing the game, Makoto is hilariously bad. She's CS1 rachel tier.

I don't think Tamaki is on the same level as riannon and touka... If anything, the 3rd best character is Konomi. There's a pretty big gap between those 3 and the rest of the cast. It doesn't really mean that they can't win, but its generally favoring touka/riannon/konomi. This is just from my experience playing (as a riannon player), so take it with a grain of salt. BTW I played an awesome arawn the other day that got a 9 winstreak against my riannon before i beat him. He was using the Satsuki assist and fireballs to stop my long range pressure to the best of his ability. When he got in, it was a really tough match. But the match is still in riannons favor, so hey, what do I know, lol.

Even though the response from this forum for this tourney has been quite low, hopefully I'll see people there! Looking forward to my last BBCS2 tourney ever!

That worked for me, but I kept getting it confused and thinking we were team "Not Ready Yet" hahah

GGs to everyone, it was a lot of fun! Grats to Spark and LK for top 2! Wish I was able to play more casuals with people, though, only a bit on friday.