My process is going to be different for this game. I'm currently unemployed, so I wasn't even planning on getting the game right now. But a friend told me about a day 1 tournament a local scene is hosting for a copy of the game, so I'll be going over to his house and download his copy to practice the day of in hopes of winning my own copy. Given the time constraint, I'm focusing on a new character that seems to cover a lot of bases (Cold) and a returning character I played (Flash) and I'm basically going to spend my few hours of prep labbing their moves, combos and frame data in hopes of winning my own copy.
If I do actually win, I'll take a much more measured approach going forward. But since I can only guarantee one afternoon with the game, I am cramming knowledge for those two characters and then going to play my brains out.