HeartNana

Hey can you guys set up a 100% surefire final time? I thought it was at 1PM, which is a great time. I have my ah3 tourney starting at 6PM, so if you're starting BB teams at 5, then that's gonna kinda suck (at least for people playing in both tourneys), but if it can't be helped then whatever. If they're next to each other, thatll at least be convenient. I mean, either way, I don't want to show up at 12:30 to sign up for what i thought was a 1PM tourney just to be told "oh hey we're starting at 5". Is it 100% starting at 5PM?

Elvenshadow will also be coming to this. For all the people who want to play some good GG matches, you best be showing up!

Hey guys! I'm proud to present Chicago Heart 3! A tourney in Chicago at the Crowne Plaza in Northbrooke! http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?11887-Aug-13-2011-Chicago-Heart-3-GGAC-BBCS2-AH3-MvC3-T6-SSFIVAE-GNT4-SC2-mystery-raffle! I specifically made this tourney so that the underloved fighters, like BBCS2/AH3/GGAC/T6 etc are gonna get some time to shine! Naturally, SSFIVAE and MvC3 will be there, too, but I think this is a good opportunity for all the midwest BB and GG players to show up. Myself and Elvenshadow both are coming from Japan and participating in the tournies for our respective games. If you'de like some good competition, please show up have a good time! Pass this onto your friends, too! Let's get a decent turnout for BB now that CS2 is out!

Chicago Heart 3! This is the first "Chicago Heart" event, so be sure not to miss out! First, the details: Games: The following games will be played at this tournament: Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition- 360 Marvel vs Capcom 3 - 360 Arcana Heart 3 - PS3 Blazblue CS2 - PS3/360 Guilty Gear #Accent Core - PS2 Tekken 6 - PS3 Soul Calibur 2 - PS2 Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 - Gamecube Mystery Tournament - Various Raffle - Small Basket LOCATION: Crowne-Plaza Chicago-Northbrooke 2875 N. Milwaukee Ave Northbrooke, IL 60062 (847) 693 - 6909 VENUE FEE: $15 for all day If you bring a TV, then the venue fee will be $10 If you bring a System + one of the tourney games featured, the venue fee will be $10* If you bring a TV and a system + one of the tourney games featured, the venue fee will be $5 You can also bring a megaphone and get an additional $5 off the venue fee! So if you bring a TV, a system, and a working megaphone, you can get in for free! PLEASE LABEL ALL ITEMS THAT ARE YOURS. *Obviously, since only Soul Calibur 2 and GGAC are on PS2, only the first 4-5 people bringing a PS2 will get the $5 off. Similarly, only the first 3 people brining a gamecube plus a copy of Naruto GNT:4 will get $5 off. 360s and PS3s plus MvC3/SSFIV/BBCS2/AH3/Tekken6 will get $5 off no matter what, even if I have an excess of them. In addition, if you bring a system but use it for a game not featured in the tournament (like mortal kombat 9 for casuals), then you will NOT get the $5 off. Also, if you bring a TV and a system with one of the games, you will get the $10 off automatically. Tournament prices: $10 - SSFIV AE, MvC3, AH3, BBCS2, GGAC,T6, Naruto GNT4 $5 - Soul Calibur 2, Mystery tournament Schedule 11:00AM - SSFIV AE, MvC3 12:00PM - AH3, GG#AC, Naruto:GNT4 3:00PM - T6, Mystery Tournament 4:00PM - Soul Calibur 2, BBCS2 8:00PM - Raffle As far as side tourneys are concerned, I'll allow them AFTER the main tournaments are finished. So if the person running SSFIV AE wants to run a team tournament, that's fine as long as it's near the end of the singles tournament. We only have the venue until midnight, meaning at 11:00, it's time to stop and start to clean up. However, if everyone brings all their games and tries to throw side tourneys, there might not be enough time, space, or setups. We have 1 day to run 9 tournaments, and I want to give people plenty of time to play casuals as well. Raffle: Just like at Jan 2010 Frosty Faustings, there will be another raffle. Many items will be given away for free! It requires you to write your name down on a sheet of paper, and then toss it in a basket or bag or something! Many people enjoyed the items they recieved at the last raffle, and because of the positive reaction, I am looking forward to doing it again, FREE OF CHARGE! you just have to have paid the venue fee! --- I know this is 2 weeks after Evo, but I think that it would be a waste if people practiced for Evo and then there weren't any events after that! Let's get a big turnout everyone! If you have any questions, feel free to ask here! --- Venue rules: (This is actually important) -No loitering in the hallways. This is the main rule. We're gonna have a big venue room, and the hotel staff is nice enough to toss in a smaller ballroom with 20 seats or so in it for people to hang out in. They say that there will also be an outdoor patio nearby with chairs and tables that seats 50 people or so. So even if you're not in the main ballroom, there's a couple places you can hang out, as long as it's NOT the hallways. This is the main important thing, and the staff WILL get on our case about it. Worst case scenario is that if people keep loitering, they're going to shut the event down, so please let's avoid this from happening and use the space provided! -Don't bring your own food. There's vending machines, a hotel gift shop, and a hotel restaurant. You can bring food from any of those three places into the ballroom, but aside from that, you can't bring your own food. It's hotel policy, and I apologize for that, but again, hotel rules. I would suggest eating breakfast beforehand or something. The staff will come in and check every once in a while, so if they see you eating, you're going to have to give them your food to throw away or go outside to eat. You can also eat in your own hotel room, obviously. Shoutouts to Kobayashi for setting up the venue!

Hey guys, welcome to the 3rd unofficial "Chicago Heart" tournament series! I'll be in Chicago in August, and I figured that while I'm there, why not throw a tourney? I know it's 2 weeks after evo, but the date is set for that weekend (8/13 or 8/14 hasn't been 100% decided yet), after that, its a matter of finding a venue and people to help run the tourneys, as well as to bring the systems. The game list isn't 100% set in stone either. Anyways, the location will be either in Chicago, or in the chicagoland area. Depending on the interest depends on how big of a venue I'll want to get. If it doesn't seem like many people will show, then I don't need to rent a big place. On the other hand, if interest is high, then I will do what I can to rent a bigger place. Date - 8/13/2011 OR 8/14/2011 Location - Chicagoland The game list is tenatively: Definite games: Marvel vs Capcom 3 360 (run by ???) Arcana Heart 3 - PS3 (run by HeartNana) Naruto 4 - Gamecube (run by ???) GGAC - PS2 (run by Elvenshadow) Street Fighter IV - (run by Humbag and ???) Soul Calibur 2 - (run by digimonemperor) Blazblue Continuum Shift 2 (run by Frankie and ???) Maybe's Melty Blood Actress Again - If people will come for this game, it will be run. If there's no interest, then the game will be canned. I don't have an exact amount yet, but there will MOST LIKELY be a venue fee of $10, $5 off if you bring a system+game or tv, and $10 off if you bring both. About team tournies - While I do like the idea of team tourneys as well as singles, it comes down to an issue of time. In addition, MvC3 and SFIV bring in a lot of people, and running both of those games at the same time seems difficult, as well as running teams/singles for both. For those games, just the singles tourney might be best, but I'll accept any feedback. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to ask. Any interest whatsoever will help too! If you're free to help run a tourney, that'd be great, too!

I see how she's able to do it. She's doing 6B throw whiff into run up 5A or whatever. Without the throw whiff, you wouldn't be able to combo after it. That's good to know tho!

The exact combo wasnt anything super special but here it is: With hammer:(5C) 236B 5C 2C Cbubble high jump then double jump into j.D hammer from high up into (changes depending on character) normal char: (5C high jump B j.C double jump j.C into j.D hammer from high up) repeat x2 into 5C 632146C makoto (?) (the site says the ? too): Same as the other combo, but 5C 6A 632146C at the end light characters: 5C 6A high jump B j.C double jump j.C into j.D hammer from high up 5C 632146C Yea...

It's not that they're air unblockable, it's that it might have some weird thing where it still hits you for a while, so even if you think you blocked it, you get hit after because the move is still going on, is kinda more what I'm talking about than literal air unblockableness.

Yeah I think it is.

Yeah they're prolly trying to jump out or something, but end up getting tagged by bombs. I unno, lol, but I'm glad when it DOES hit.

They're not a LOT bigger, but they do more damage. They're bigger enough where it makes a small difference, but not anything near the difference between regular and gigantic cat missles/cat staff/hammer.

Arakune is just dumb in general tho.

I know they're air blockable in general, but maybe sometimes they have random unblockable properties? IMO, people get hit by them more often than they should lol...

After more testing, only on CH is 6B combo-able. People were doing 6A into 6C for combos too. It was kind of interesting. Sometimes, it's kind of hard to combo the 236A(whatever) on certain characters. For example, I've found it easier to do 236ACCA on Carl, while I generally just do 236ABBB against the other characters. It's also cool to mix up which ones you do midscreen cause I believe one of them puts you on one side, and one puts you on the other side. I did a really cool situational combo today. I had a bubble out, and it was behind the opponent and in the air. I did something to knock them into it (might have been bat). I then hit D and got a frying pan, ran up and did j.D into 5C 236B into corner combo for the round. It was awesome, haha. The more I'm playing her, the more I understand what to do, but yeah, still not quite there yet. My PSR is only 145 or so, so I'm not quite at the level where i can go against top players (generally at 200+) Also, I was playing a friend, and I got super cat missles. I did it, and he air blocked it. Instant guarded the first hit, and then got hit by the rest. He said he thought he was blocking, but wasn't sure if he needs to barrier or not. That was actually really interesting because a lot of times when I throw bombs or cat missles, it looks like the opponent SHOULD just block, but they end up getting hit instead. It's kind of weird, but yeah, possible air unblockable with bombs and missles...

Ok more random stuff: Cat missles don't BEAT spark bolt, but they trade 1 for 1. So if a spark bolt comes, itll disappear and cancel out a cat missle, big or small (so itll cancel out one super cat missle too) After air throw, 5C 236B 5C 2C bubble, j.BC j.BC 236ABBB does 3700ish in the corner. It does 2500 or so without the corner. 6C j.236C j.C 5C 236B 5C 2C bubble j.BC j.BC 236ABBB in the corner does 4700ish I think. For her overhead (6B) - It can be cancelled from 5B/2B/5C and the A moves. On counter, I already said you can pretty much just run up and get whatever. NOT on CH, however, you can rapid and do 5C 236B in the corner and whatnot. However, I did non ch 6B, and I think I linked 2B after it. If that's the case, you can do 6B 2B 5C 236B most likely for a meterless overhead. Plat has the instant overheads after 5A/5C, and the low mixup also just kinda comes whenever thanks to 3C being awesome (and having way way more range than it looks like it has). 6C, I still haven't found a useful way to impliment it. I can get a lot of damage, but I just don't really know where to toss the move in. Maybe just during a blockstring or something? I unno. Anyways, I was talking to Galileo (top tager in BBCT and stuff) and I asked him his opinion on whose good atm. He said Noel/Makoto/Jin/Mu/Lambda I believe. I asked him what he thought about Plat. He said that she's good, but compared to the other characters, she's kinda so-so. So that's as close to a tier list as you guys are gonna get from me lol... I played against a Hakumen with Plat, and I don't think that the matchup is nearly as bad as Ragna/Jin. Also 5B picks up SOME characters off the ground when they roll but not others. 2B 5C 236B is generally what you want to do if you can combo after it. If not, 2B 5C j.BC j.BC 236ABBB is good. Also, j.frying pan is really sweet. I ended up getting 3 in a row cause I just sat there going j.DDD, the first two whiffed, and the third one the guy ran into. But you can use it over and over in the air until you run out of them. On CH, you have enough time to run up and do 5C 236B, so in the corner, it gets really deadly. And I messed around with the 236236D super. Super bombs do HELLA damage, especially compared to the regular ones. Spiked bat is just longer range I believe. I didn't notice a huge damage difference when I hit it on CH. BTW I still haven't gotten anything resembling a combo after j.hammer. Is there a video that has that combo in it, because I can't get anything to combo after it atm. If I think of more things, I'll post up, but yeah, since I've been playing quite a bit these past few days (a-cho changed their machines to 50 yen wuuuuut), I've had a lot of stuff happened that I tried to make a mental note of, but probably forgot.

Urichi - Not exactly, it was bubble into j.D with hammer, into something into another jump D into 5C spin super. He used 2 hammers in one combo, not just one... Hurricane Rev - Yeah, I try, but ragna gets in too quickly for me to really be able to bubble or use items. Like ragna may not have projectiles, but dashing 5B/5C/j.C is way scarier than any of the projectiles, and always seems to CH me out of whatever i do. I'm kind of at a loss for what to do. I have to outsmart him at every possible moment just for a chance to win a round. DC - Yeah, pretty much my thought. Noel is strong but shes way too different from the Noel that I initially liked. She's just kinda boring now in all honesty. Plat seems fine, but she just seems like she has some really bad matchups...Ragna is the worst but none of the other ones I've played so far are anywhere near as hard. Against zoners? Like Lambda/Mu/Rachel? No real problems to speak of...doesn't seem in one characters favor in either direction.

DC - Good question. Without a rapid with just a standing B or something, it's not terrible, but not great. 5B 5C 236C is like, 2200 or something, and gives good wakes. It also generally pushes the opponent in the corner. With a rapid, you can cancel the 236B and dash and get more damage there, or if you're midscreen, but close enough to the corner, whatever into 3C 22C rapid 5B 5C 236B into corner combo gives 4200ish. I also found out some other stuff that I'll post randomly. After 6A, it looks like 236B connects. So you can do things like airthrow 6A 236B into combo if the positioning is right. 6A on counter hit actually has a ton of hitstun. I was able to airdash forward and do j.BC 236ABBB (not like it was a lot of damage, but it was better than nothing), but there's def way cooler things you can do off of that I'm sure. The range is still crap, but it's not AS slow on recovery as Noel's, but the lack of range makes it easy to bait out and punish. New combo after 6C, you do 6C (on regular hit) and cancel into j.236C j.C. The thing about this is, normally if you do 6C and then hit C again while plat is still in the air, you'll hit the opponent yeah, but they'll be at a weird height. With the j.236C cancel, you can hit them at a great height and do more things. I believe you can land and get 5C 236B after that, and in the corner thats hella damage. Not 100% sure about that combo, but you can def do more stuff. However, the timing is really weird. It's like, you can't buffer it in, cause you'll just get 6C into j.C, but if you do it too late, then you'll miss the opponent as they're falling. It takes a bit of practice (I still haven't got it down yet, didn't have much single player practice time) Fatal of course, makes it really easy, because you have plenty of time to cancel j.236C. Speaking of j.236C (im gonna call it cloud just to make it easier for myself), i did it really quickly on wakeup, because I wanted to hit the opponent with a quick overhead, but they did an invul super (Lambdas big sword down thing), so i just held back and barrier blocked, and she cancelled out of cloud instantly with barrier block. So it looks like you can literally cancel out of cloud with anything. but doing like, 5C into TK cloud into j.A2A5B5C 236B into combo is super fun. The overhead mixups and gimmicks are great, especially considering she can do 3C 22C into rapid into huge damage, so the opponent has to be careful. As far as gimmicks go, I was messing around with the 236A into whatever, and like, she lands and recovers INSTANTLY if you're doing it against an opponent whose just blocking. I hit this one guy a few times in a row with just random 236A, bounce off his head once, land and immediately do a low, and he's still blocking high. It's super quick on landing and super deceptive, so that might actually be a decent offensive strat if you can get it working correctly and less of a gimmick like it is now for me (cause i'm not sure which side shes gonna land on either, and i was just doing 2A the whole way, whether it came out as a 2A or a pogo stick A) I said that its a shame that 5C doesn't reach that far cause after full range 5B it doesn't hit, but 3C works after it. And 3C is great cause it leaves the opponent in the wakeup spot i want them to be in. And of course, there's 22C which can be rapid'd into big damage too. So yeah, it's nice when there's more moves that are good than what it looks like. Also, after playing today, I still feel that the ragna matchup is really really hard. I couldn't beat ragna at all today, against 2 different guys. His range, pressure, multiple overheads, damage etc everything felt like I just couldn't deal with it. Hopefully I figure out something cause a ton of people play ragna and its gonna suck to lose to all of them. Also after playing, I learned the greatness of command throw. It's "activate an item" thing afterwards is really useful. I didn't try to combo even with a rapid, but it's definitely useful in multiple ways. I definitely slept on it day 1, and I still don't use it as much as I probably should STILL. Also, I played against a higher ranked plat. He did this crazy hammer combo. He comboed into 236B in the corner, and then into 5C 2C bubble, after the bubble, he did something weird (like, double jump or something, but it looked goofy, like he messed up) and then did air hammer. After that hit, he managed to combo into something else into hammer again or something into her spin super. It did hella damage, and it looked awesome. If anyone knows a vid that shows a combo like that, or has that transcript that'd be great. I can get to the part where I do the air hammer, but I can never combo after it, so that's the key. Aside from that, I'm doing ok. It's still a hard hard long uphill road, but I'm enjoying Plat. 140 BP, tho, so not as bad as I could be doing I guess... And as for giganto hammer, the one time i got it in a match, it was against lambda, I did it to ground her, and then I just used the other two in the air above her to make her block. IMO, it's better for that cause its got huge range and I think it's advantage on block? Other than that, I didn't get to use it. I wish i could use 236236D more Those are my random day 2 thoughts. If I think of anything else, I'll post, otherwise, yeah that should be good...

Gamma - I haven't fought any top Tokyo players. As for good kansai players, I only used Noel against them. Against the mid level players, I was using plat (cause im still learning her). My Plat PSR is only 125, so those players who have like, 150+PSR straight up own me. I used color 3 i think? The dark blue hair one. However, after i got access to the internet, i immediately bought the Nanoha color. Yes I'm a fanboy, stfu.

Not anything yet, sorry. Those are the types of things I usually find out by watching other players do stuff and then copying. I should be going to the arcade in a couple days, and then I have a long winter break where I'll have plenty of time to practice Plat, and I can probably answer more questions.

Sine - It doesn't have any range, but its jump cancellable on block, which is pretty sweet.

Didn't play any arakune players, but it seems way easier for plat than for noel.

Too early to tell, sorry. Without a RC there's no way to follow it up. I personally had a hard time with Ragna. His pokes seemed faster and longer range than Plat's, and she has a hard time in the corner dealing with any sort of pressure. Noel's 2D gives Plat problems, too. I didn't play against any Hakumen players but I can def see how that match can be problematic... Oh yeah another thing: If you do like, 5B 5C 236B midscreen, if you rapid right away and then dash at the opponent, you can pick them up with 2B 5C into a legit air combo. No idea if you guys knew about that, but if you need an extra 1000 damage or so to kill the opponent, that's one way to do it.

Sometime in Spring 2011.

I feel like general discussion might not be as gameplay focused. Command throw is good because in BBCS2, lots of characters have hella strong rushdown, including Plat, so poking with 5B and then throwing out the command throw is good for keeping the opponent at bay. However, its only 1500 damage and kind of risky. I need to mess around with it more, that's for sure. Gamma - Maybe? I didn't play GG very seriously, but I think you'll be fine. Cirno - Yeah I might be missing things but the bat has 1F invul so it's kinda hard to get better than that, haha. And yeah if a missle is already out, and tager does spark bolt, the missles will eat it, i'm pretty sure.

I went to the arcade yesterday, figured out Plat's moves and combos in arcade mode, and then played against people all day with her. I know there's already gameplay threads and stuff so i don't really need to discuss what each move does, but rather, I figure I'll just post general thoughts: Normals- Standing B is her best poke, the range is great. On counter hit, you can follow up with 236B, but on normal hit, 236B won't work after it, so be careful. Also, from max range, 5B 5C won't connect, so be careful. 2B is great because it actually has pretty good range for a quick low. Plat does a lot of overhead mixups, so 2B is invaluable to just throw out to keep the opponent honest. 5C is amazing. You can jump cancel on block, 236B connects from it, you use it to start air combos, etc. Because of plats ability to do so many instant overheads, after 5C, the opponent really has to watch out. 3C, since you cant combo normally from it, is also good to keep the opponent mixed up if they block high post 5C. I believe you can still do 236B after it, and it'll catch the opponent. Also on block (esp in corner), it cancels into bubble for some sick pressure. 6A, I haven't messed around with too much yet. I like the anti-air factor, but the range is pretty short. It's easy to combo off of it tho. 6C i haven't messed around with much either, but the fact that it puts you in the air allowing you to instantly do a j.C after it is pretty sweet, you can def make some sick mixups from it. 6B is ok for an overhead. On normal hit, it's garb, but on counter hit, it stuns the opp long enough to get a 5B 5C 236B. In the corner, that adds up to hella damage. 2C so far I've only used in combos. I used it once as an anti air, but I didn't use it enough to really figure out how good of an anti-air it is. Outside of combos, when I did it, it was usually cause I wanted 3C, but accidently did 2C. j.A is just a quick poke with low range, but its not bad. j.B also has low range, but slightly longer hitstun than j.C i believe j.C has amazing horizontal range, and I just spammed it out a lot. The problem is, unless it's CH or like, Plat is really close/low to the ground when she does it, it was hard to combo after it. However, on CH, esp in the corner, it leads to a mad damaging combo. j.2C is interesting. It has like, no hitstun, so it's not really for jumping in to combo with. I used it a lot just to land and then jump again and do stuff. I often cancelled it into j.236C for overhead mixups. Drive - Bat - Bat is great because the BBCS2 pressure is really really dumb, and sometimes bat is your only option out without dropping a ton of meter. If it makes the opponent back off too, then that's plus as well. It's also safe on block, which is another plus. Air bat didn't seem that great tho, even when i hit with it, it did little damage and sent the opponent away. It's better used for anti-ground pressure. Frying pan - The frying pan is great, too. Because it spins the opp, you can do 2B/5B D, then run up and 5B 5C 236B. It brings you way closer to the corner than if you didn't do it. I also caught opponents running at me with the frying pan, so the priority is pretty decent considering the short range. It's also safe on block, which is great. Air frying pan is great for the instant overhead. Even if the opponent blocks, you can mash D in the air and do it again before you land. Hammer - Hammer is prolly my least favorite. The j.D for it only really works as a combo or right above the opp, but the hitbox isn't big enough for it to be worth risking usually. The ground version is nothing special. Safe on block, but not really worth using. I usually just tossed it when i got it, which actually was more useful because I hit jumping opponents a lot with the hammer. Cat staff - The regular standing version is ok. It can hit an opp that doesn't tech right away after a midscreen 236B. The air version is really where it's at tho. It can punish things so easily if you see the opponent do anything from that far away. Also, in the corner, the opp won't know whether to block high or low, so you can keep them at bay by doing one or the other. 2B 5C 236B or cat overhead. I won many rounds thanks to this. Cat Bombs - They're silly, air ver is pretty useless, I like that it goes off screen and then just shows up, but usually the opponent moves too fast for it to hit. 3 bomb version is pretty sweet tho. Cat missles - GDLK. They beat all other projectiles and you can't go through them. The 3 missle version is great for pressure. And yeah, being able to combo off of them is great, too. Specials- 236A - Used for air combo finishers mostly. I like how it grounds the opp on wakeup and leaves plat in a really good position. Also, on the ground, it can be used to cross the opponent up in goofy ways, but I haven't really figured out how safe/good that is yet. 236B - The only downside to this move is how unsafe it is. The amazing range, the high damage not only in the corner, but always makes it a good move. Adding a rapid cancel to make this move safe makes it a lot easier to just toss out against the opponent in hopes that it tags them. Sadly, a lot of random normals beat it out, which is kind of a shame considering how unsafe it is. j.236C - I love this move. It's so gimmicky and can be used in so many ways. Since pressing a button cancels it out into whatever attack you press, you can do it and cancel it really quickly. Makes pressure really interesting, and part of what makes her so fun. 214A/B/C - Bubbles are amazing. The opponent fears moving a lot in fear of getting frozen by the bubble. Makes your pressure a lot stronger. A lot of normals just straight up beat the bubble, but in the right setup, it's deadly. And yeah, as mentioned earlier, it's great for pressure in the corner. 5B 5C 3C bubble, repeat. 22C - Didn't use it that much, might start using it more. I just kinda forgot about it. Supers- 632146C - The invul super that DP-less characters have. It hits above, and to both sides. You can move around when you do it, so while it's unsafe, you can actually sometimes go backwards and make yourself safe without using a rapid. 236236D - This super is really fun. Super bat - Nothing special, serves the same purpose as regular bat but more range, which is cool, but not necessary cause . Super fan - Bigger range means instant overheads from further away, and so it might catch an opponent running at you from way further than they expect. Super Hammer - I like the super hammer, j.D with it causes the opp to fall, so even if it whiffs, you still can get wakeup pressure. 5D with the super hammer is also pretty sweet. Super Cat Staff - The range is godlike, that's all. Super Bombs - Actually probably the most useless because they're really not that much better than regular bombs. Sure they're a bit bigger, but not really THAT much better. Super Cat Missles - Amazing move. They're gigantic and beat everything. I haven't figured out how to send all 3 out at once though. But i LOVE getting super cat missles. --- In general, the way I played Plat was I would try to find a way to activate my item first. Depending on what my opponent did and what item i got depended on how i played the match. In general, I would run up and poke a lot with 5A 2B 5B etc, and I would 5C into overhead mixups with j.2C on the way up cancelled into j.236C into j.C/j.B/j.AAA. I would try to keep offensive pressure and push the opp to the corner. It was really all about getting them to the corner and doing big combos. The parts I found I had trouble with was pressure. It seems every character can pressure like it's melty blood, but without a DP, Plat has a really hard time dealing with it. Now that all B/C moves are air unblockable without barrier, it's harder and way more risky to jump out of pressure strings. So characters like Ragna, with a fast long range 5B were able to shut me down really hard. Tager, on offense was annoying, but plat is able to keep him in the corner pressured really well. The only move that gave her problems when she was on the offense was his 2C. Aside from defensive problems, I think she's a solid enough character. Sure she's got "random" aspects, but if you know how to use them to your advantage in the right situation, it's not as much "random" as "dealing with what you get". My main complaint is I wish her 5C has more horizontal range, as I would like to be able to max range 5B 5C 236B, but her 5C is still a strong move. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. I'll be playing more in the next 2 weeks thanks to winter break, but this is just how i feel after day 1, so this may change.