KowtowRobinson
[10] Knight
About giving up on Raphael:
Didn't the other characters got severely nerfed as well?
And though this patch may hurt at first, since it's a nerf, it will probably be regarded as good, balanced thing later. Raphael did become more complex. You can't just use his top 3 moves willy nilly, anymore. This will force Raph players into a more varied and stylish type of play. I'm just hoping the same will apply to other members of the cast.
In the end, you need at least a couple of moves that force a good player to say "I need to account for ______" in order to be viable. He doesn't have that anymore. The threat of a move like 22B opened up these other "complex" strategies that he had. But if you don't have those one or two dominant tools to make them respect and fear, then you won't be able to open up your game more against good players.
The 22B nerf itself isn't that bad, but not being able to land 3B EX series isn't just about the damage. It's about the mixup he got afterwards, it's about positioning, it's about setting up his wall game, etc. All tools that he still has in theory, but he can't apply them if he doesn't have anything to lead into that. Can he get that EX elsewhere? Yes. But it doesn't come off moves that good players are all that concerned about.
To use a Cervy example, iGDR is cool and all but his game isn't just about landing it or not landing it. It's about having that threat open at all times, and using the threat of iGDR to open up other aspects of his game. Raph could do that with 22B, now he can't.