Ok I could try and explain the option select but I know I'd to a shitty job and make it too convoluted. The "why Cryomancer sub zero isn't top 5" thread explains the option select and I'm sure
@Gilbagz or
@Lokheit could explain it better than I could.
But anyhow tiers are based on matchups not tools and I don't see Cryo having that great of matchups. At least not good enough matchups to signify a top tier character. Imo Grandmaster loses to 10-12 (2 of them might be even) characters, Cryo has to be worse than that.
the option select is doable with practice. but you have to be playing the match up a lot. Even then the cmd grab is a fucked up mix tool to add along to his 5050 game, even if his 5050 game is punishable for the most part. His 5050s arent even strong till you hit the corner, where b2 actually combos for significant damage. midscreen you can't break 25% and thats if you're at that mid range, from further its safer but you only get slide as a follow up, which totals like 16%. If you want damage with consistent follow up midscreen, you need to do it off a jump in, where it jails standing, but then you actually risk a decent punish. it being punishable isnt that bad, but it just leads to an inconsistent style of play. cryomancer just plays a lot more like gm now where his mix ups become a lot scarier in the corner. if you play him frame trap throw style using the buffed f1, its a lot more consistent, and you can play him more mid screen focused, but other characters do it better for less risk and more damage. His mix up tool set is just a really good come back mechanic.
He's a solid character overall, nothing really stands out right now:
- good mobility
- below average zoning
- below average chip
- good frame trap throw game
- good defensive system between pokes, backdash, armour and anti air ability
- average damage
- average to below average footsie game
- Great mix ups albiet punishable
- Not meter dependent for damage anymore, so saves bar for boosting cmd grab potential, defence and x-ray
GM is much better overall, controls the neutral much better and has ridiculous explosive potential in the corner. armour nerf buffs clone cancels significantly, and safe burst helps him a lot too for when is clone game. He can play the same game cryo does but with less damage, and when he reaches the corner now he can actually drain your entire health bar off two good reads. If you don't have bar, the risk reward for the corner game is heavily heavily out of your favour. i've developed some options to help defend without bar with out having resort to random neutral jumps, but the risk reward is still skewed far in his favour. I honestly dont see his bad match ups right now. Dvorah is arguable his worst, with HQT maybe close behind, but they both get fucked in the corner. I've seen
@Wazminator play Australis's best GM so much, and even he struggled pre patch. Post patch all thats changed is the removal of armoured ex burst, but gm can still slow push to the corner where he can run his game. match is harder than most of his match ups, but i honestly cant see how its worse than a 5-5.
Paging
@Wazminator for thoughts.
Tl;dr: cryo is decent but definitely not top 10. He would have succeeded much more in his previous iteration for the current version. He's too momentum based now with higher risk for less reward. He was much more consistent to win with before.
