Jason D.

So I'm driving up for this tomorrow. If anyone wants a ride, just hit me up here or elsewhere. And if you cannot figure out my general driving route, then you fail the internet.

*poke poke bump* Still this. And I realize time is considerably tight now, but I will be here all day and will respond ASAP.

Hi everyone! So it turns out that I can go to this after all. However, I really can't drive my car there. I don't trust it to survive the trip through 400 miles of empty farmland. Even worse if I end up getting stuck in some place like Bakersfield. *shudders* So if anyone in SoCal is driving up there and has room, then feel free to write me here. Or e-mail me, call me, whatever. And I will put up moneys, of course. And now the best part! To wait here optimistically...

Hey Brice, I actually work really close to LAX, which I'm sure I'll be at Friday night. And as luck would have it, a teammate dropped out recently and my team really needs a third. So if you want in, just PM me or something.

Hmm. Interesting. Well huge thanks for testing this out, Sakaku. You've definitely been a big help, for this and especially elsewhere. So to sum this up for everyone, her 6A can now stop any aerial move if you time it correctly, which means that people like Hakumen can no longer jump in all day long using the power of j.2C. (And yes, it's totally worth it to anti-air him now, assuming you don't mess up your guard point window.) This adds pretty strongly to her anti-air game, and I've actually wanted this change for a long time now. And on the negative side, now the guard point only works against moves that ONLY have the H property. It will not auto-guard an HB, HBF, or HF, because it has a B or F in there also. Apparently it does work on HP moves, so being a projectile doesn't matter to the 6A, but most projectiles are HBP, so they'll break through the guard point because of the B anyway. So for a general rule on when NOT to use 6A in CSEX: Do not use it to beat projectiles, and do not use it when your opponent is doing a ground attack. (Well, it should beat standing overheads, but if you do that you're just trollin'...)

Well I'd recommend any day except Friday for the weekly thing, since that's when FFA does their casual meet-ups. But aside from that, this week on the 3rd, what are the planned starting and ending times for this? Edit: And probably not Wednesdays either, since WNF. Also: Hey Raptor, if you want to, I'll totally ride up there with you this Friday. Double Edit: Oof, 4-7. Nevermind. Have fun!

The biggest change I noticed was that 6A was apparently changed from "full guard point against anything that touches her upper body" to "guard point against head attribute throughout her entire body." I tested this out briefly on Friday, and CSEX Rachel can indeed guard point a very low Ragna j.C and a Hakumen j.2C (which was previously impossible). So if this is correct, then this is very much a good thing, as she can now anti-air anything without having to worry about the opponent's height. And moves like Valkenhayn's j.C are no longer unstoppable. Though on the other side, this may mean that her 6A can no longer beat non-air things that it used to. If I'm not mistaken, a move having HBF attribute would still hit the guard point, as long as it has an H in there somewhere. (If not, that would really suck.) But the greatly less-common BF property moves probably can't be stopped at all. I'm also not sure how this would affect projectiles. There's a fair chance this means that she can't block a projectile with 6A anymore (aside from literally killing some projectiles with the punch itself.) If anyone out there with Extend wants to test these things for sure, you probably should!

ggs to everyone I saw there. It was a great weekend. My only regret was that there were not more games so that I could enter them...

I also vote Persona 4: Ultimate in the Mayaokenoasiensks Arena. Why? Name recognition. That alone will get it more plays than anything else. (Also, because I can instant-death people.)

I'm fine with Super Arcade. It's a bit of a drive, but whatever. Welcome to SoCal. However, would we be able to get a number of setups there? If it's just on the one rent-a-cab we'll end up having to wait forever to play. And as for tournaments, I highly approve of that idea too. Remember when this area used to do those? (Yeah, me neither). FFA tries, but no one ever comes. We can't be letting NorCal and EC show us up, after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTcO_0l5CBQ Yeah, this thing. So finally a video of her is up. Let's all see some numbers for all of these combos... Pumpkin, 5A(1), 5B, 3C(1), Iris, 5CC CS2: 1454 CSEX: 1484 j.A, j.B, 5A(1), 5B, 6B, 5CC, 236B CS2: 1472 CSEX: 1484 George, Pumpkin (5th hit?), 5CC CS2: 1601 CSEX: 1520 2B, 5B, 5CC CS2: 1416 CSEX: 1465 j.A, j.B CS2: 479 CSEX: 502 j.A, j.B, 5A(1), 5B, 6B, Pumpkin, 5B, 5CC CS2: 1455 CSEX: 1457 Pumpkin, 5A(1), 5B, j.B, j.C, j.C, Iris CS2: 1450 CSEX: 1434 So there you go! Come to your own conclusions. (No, seriously, because I have no idea. Short combos are very slightly stronger? George has worse P1? Combos may or may not do less total damage as they get longer?)

At least, that's how he told the doctor how it happened.

And if that doesn't work, I have an alternative solution: http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Science/images-3/mr-burns-blocking-out-the-sun.jpg

Lies. You can 3C, BBL, George, Level 3 with only one wind. Just do whatever combo into 3C, wait a beat, BBL them when they're just off the ground, and then drop George. If George starts activating while they're still getting hit by BBL, then they were at the right height. Just super jump straight up, 8D, and hit 2C when you're high enough. Level 3. You don't have to wait until you see George hit. Just super jump as soon as you can. George will take care of his thing without you.

So, if anyone needs a ride, or just wants to carpool, I'll be coming from Canoga Park (west valley), driving through most of LA proper, and stopping in Cerritos. If this is around anyone's route, and you want to ride, then feel free to message me either privately or in this thread.

Well I'm not quite sure what problem you're having, but you definitely have to hold the jump C. That's the entire point of how the combo works. Hit jump C, hold the button, go into the umbrella float, and then IMMEDIATELY press C again to exit the umbrella float with another jump C. If you do this twice, you get four jump Cs. In long terms, the combo is 6A, 5B, jump cancel, jump C [hold], jump C, double jump cancel, jump C [hold], jump C, 236A. That's really all there is to it. You just need to get used to the timing on how long you need to hold the jump C, but it's pretty simple with practice. Also, super jumping off the ground may help you get started. Being higher than your opponent during the first C makes it easier for them not to fall out by the end.

You CAN buy Mu if you want, but it's kind of waste since you can unlock her for free. But hey, if you're lazy and have extra money around...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4irux7-1yk&t=20m22s The end of this match would've been so hilarious if George actually did it...

Need to hold a stick? Choose from one of many styles! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsME37GrqjY

Oh, that's unfortunate. Though I have to admit, I've noticed that I really don't use 5CC in blockstrings anymore since CS2 came to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glva_a5E5Oo&t=15m12s I'd like to dedicate this moment to everyone who isn't quite aware just how dumb Rachel's air hitbox is. And especially dedicate it to all those who fight against Rachel, and aren't aware of just how many lucky hits they're getting that any other character would've easily jumped over. (Note: If she did j.236B instead, at even half that height, she would've avoided it. She picks up her legs during that move, and the stray, heavily-vertical hitbox goes away.) (Double note: That part is so sad when you think about it. Rachel is like "I got this. I know what you're thinking. So I'm just going to do this at the very top of my jump, so you can't do it. And then Hazama's like "Herp derp, I only know how to do one thing, and am unable to adapt!" And then it works anyway.

Now I have definitely never seen 7k before, so while I don't like asking other people to do the footwork, I'm going to need proof of that one. As I recall, the exaggerated numbers all started way back around here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B1KUy7EEDY&t=4m21s when a certain someone got 6.3k from having two poles out, which I'm assuming most people never noticed. Normally, the combo will be doing about... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evGUbQO1e-M&t=3m58s 5.0k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qcmdFhTmH8&t=5m16s 5.7k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXaxTlFfNrc&t=4m3s 4.8k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B1KUy7EEDY&t=6m17s 5.4k And while those can still be somewhat high, also realize that you need a lot of resources handy to even start it off. And DEFINITELY note that it starts by using the world's crappiest reversal when you have your back to the corner. In fact, I'm going to pause here for a second for contemplative purposes. Let's all stop and imagine this. Cat chair in the corner. So, how often does cat chair fail? How easy is it to fail? And what happens to a character who leaves themselves wide open in the corner? Quite frankly, you are taking a huge risk by ever trying that, and you certainly should get a good reward for pulling it off. So Rachel got 5.7k to Hazama. That's cool. Why, that's almost as much as Hazama would have done to her if he baited and Jayoku-ed that. And personally, my punish would be 5CD, 3C, BBL, which will top out just under 7k. And again, I'm not saying her damage off this set up couldn't stand to be reduced a little, but yeah, I honestly don't believe it's too far off from where it needs to be. And from current reports, it's a little ridiculous now. Cat chair straight into super was 2.1k, I believe? And for only 50% meter! So... what, finish that off and get about 3k? And if Hazama calls you out instead, you're taking twice that damage, easily. Yeah, anyway, I say they need to re-adjust this. Or at least just make her 2C less crappy. (c'mon, throw invuln...)

Hmm. Well, the 2C part definitely sounds like they're kneejerk-ing. "Oh my god, there was this one video where someone (with two poles set up and in the corner) did 6K damage!" What a strong move! Oh, it's slow to start, loses to throws, and guarantees the hardest punish available if baited? Well let's nevermind that stuff, and just react to this number we see and don't understand..." Seriously though, it's only 5.2K, and that's with 50% and 2 or 3 winds available. Is that so far from what damage the opponent, with similar meter and resources, is going to do back if they bait it? Not to mention they can just run up and throw, which is 100% safe every time (worst you're going to get is a throw tech). Damage reduction isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if they're going to nerf the reward they need to do something to reduce the risk too. 1f startup would be fun (but unlikely), and I think throw invul would be perfect. Though in reality, I'm sure they'll do none of this, and just nerf the damage. Hopefully they just won't go overboard, and make the move worthless. In other news, 6B not having a jump cancel takes away some of my most fun combos, but as long 6B gives a wall bounce and combo, it's not a big deal. The j.2C allowing air pumpkin summons is awesome, though with no block cancelling (at ALL? seriously?) you're NEVER going to see the move outside of combos anymore. It will never be worth the risk. Unless they feel like compensating by making it an overhead again. Which they won't. Also, if anyone knows, did they ever say WHY the BBL, j.236A, level 3 j.2C trick no longer works? In case some people weren't aware, this wasn't a bug. She was at the proper height and fall speed to get the level 3. The j.236A was just to stall for time in the air, and ensure that the opponent didn't get bounced away from her after the last hit of the BBL. (They will always bounce backwards in relation to which direction Rachel is currently facing). So what changed? Air lobelias not allowing you to recover at all until you hit the ground would be unfortunate. And the opponent always bouncing away from her after a BBL would suck a lot. For instance, right now if you didn't want to risk the j.236A timing, you could just BBL, super jump 8D (moving a little higher than at j.236A distance), then air dash forward and 2D j.2C. Works exactly the same, but for two winds instead of one. But if they started bouncing the wrong direction, well... it'll be very hard to BBL, level 3 them anymore, if possible at all. Unless they're in the corner. Where you could still just do it for 1 wind anyway, the old-fashioned way. (And what's the point of this change, exactly?)

Oh, the Noel player on my team was Kusanagi. And he definitely deserves some attention for his solid play.