Yeah, I played one of my clan mates in a long set yesterday. Bodied his main, Canary, over and over and over, then he switched to his day-1 Firestorm and it was game-over. Wtf is Cold supposed to do against characters he can't zone and who don't need to get in on him? Ice Puddle was a non-issue and anytime I got close, he could just jump and flame to the other side of the stage; Cold has zero aerial presence. His strings are garbage (really NRS, an all-high string???). His zoning can be crouched and counter zoned by, I believe, any other zoner in the game.
Why can't his Death Cicle function like every other similar move in NRS games where it comes down relative to the opponent (directly on top, in front, or behind). As it stands, his 3 set ranges are incredibly awkward and the opponent can just walk forward or backward to avoid them on reaction.The gaps between them are so big that it's a miracle if your opponent is actually in a spot that might get hit. Make them like Shang's skulls or Sektor's missiles and then at least he can have some ranged presence against opponents who can ignore his lackluster zoning.
(Sorry, this is becoming more of a Cold rant, but it does apply to his matchups at least...)
What is his trait? Seriously, when is it supposed to be used? He doesn't need it against rushdown (puddle and zoning cover him well enough) and he can't get it out against zoners. So...when is it meant to be used? Is his trait literally just a gimmick you can use to troll your opponents? He's got some nasty corner setups, sure, so is that it?
Overall, I think he handles rushdown pretty damn well. His Puddle is just an amazing move that totally shuts down a rushdown offense, like GM's Ice Klone. They just need to tweak him so that he has some option against zoners without making him more of a rushdown killer than he already is.