Someone help me out here. I'm new to Grodd, and I understand the frustration yall must have regarding the easier SC cancels. However, is the b2 nerf really such a big deal compared to a safe 223, gapless 22, and a big buff to telekinetic grab?
Also, after an adjustment period, wouldn't the easier cancels make it more viable to go for them in a real match?
Okay I'll give a detailed answer, since Im sure a lot of people are interested in it
So what we know so far and considering that all the changes there are
1) b2~SC is now 0 on block
- This is a huge nerf b/c thats the only realistic button that kept enemy afraid. Not many Grodd players really utilized that so far, but they should have. Think about it as poor man JC knee. And now its not even plus.
- b2 was his primary okizeme tool post stampede and throw. Meaty b2 stopped a lot of stuff and was barely minus on opponent staying on the ground. Unlike all other buttons it wasnt possible to punish this on wakup and nobody wanted to block , speaking of which
- b2 on block used to be +4 which lead to uninterruptible throw / 22 mixup (some characters couldnt evade 22 by backdashing here, some could though). Needless to say that having uninterruptible throw setup was one of the main ways to open up people. Consider Black Adam orb cancels being 0 on block. Thats very close in relation, except much harder to set up in the frist place (so then question comes - why black adam get to set up throws at +20 from half screen and Grodd cant keep his +4)
- b2 +4 let you loop pressure in a b2 SC into 22SC or another b2 etc etc. A lot of options your opponent had to keep in mind that didnt have a solid response. You cant press after b2 but you can after 22 (RR isnt great for grodd there anyway). Now your opponent have much easier time countering pressure b/c its basically "do i d1 or do I block/backdash" after every cancel.
TL
R: his Okizeme game suffered the most. His pressure game suffered significantly.
2) 22 losing gap
it is a very small buff that will help few matchups in theory
- Nobody took advatage of 22 gap up to date and the gap actually allowed you to set up mindgames. For example i had to practice timing OS so 22~stampede come out on hit and 22~SC on block. that took a lot of time and allowed me to crush armor if someone tries to mb b3 into the gap. People trying to interrupt the gap could lose 50% from 2~b3cancel(bbMB)
- Some characters had some invulnerable moves that countered 22 like Catwoman d2 and flash d2. Those were easy to stuff with 2~SC into block into full punish. Aslo Grodd could full combo punish interrupts by 2~float 1
TL
R this buff is not relevant at this stage of the game and actually removes mindgames at higher levels of the game. Thats not how you buff characters, by removing deep mindgames.
3) 223 safe
- this string is useless and its only purpose before was to punish many character trying to backdash through 2>2 gap. AND it was OS with 22~SC (baically if they BD after 2nd hit and you hitconfim 2 blocked you press SC but 223 comes out) With Gap removed I dont see any puprose for this move other than ending combos (and thats a shitty ender).
TL
R this "buff" doesnt make sense and doesnt affect anything
4) Faster MC
- MC is one of the furthest reaching specials grodd has. As such it may help you in some matchups to wiffpunish or blockpunish (ex you can actually punish Aquaman FtD now, though no fullcombo due to trait lol)
https://twitter.com/BelialRus/status/955149032330027009
- d1~MC could help in some matchups IN THEORY (for example you can punish Scarecrow gas blast with it) but practically speaking trait window is too small, the commitment is great (MC is not safe) and MC animation is so long that most of the time you run out of trait when its performed, forbidding the MB part.
- It also probably means that f21~MC will now connect on crouching characters, which is great news for combo extentions, but overall same as d1~MC
TL
R small and situational buff, wont affect matchups at all
