Brandino's random thoughts on F-Ciel:
3C/3[C]: After hearing about this replacing her 2CC back when MBAA first came out I was very skeptical and watching vids of F-Ciel's ( or lack of at the time ) only made me even more skeptical. But after testing the move out and figuring out the properties, I'm willing to say this is a great move. It's cancellable on hit or block and 3[C] is cancellable on whiff. You can use this in a similar fashion of the 2CC mixup from C/H moon and do stuff like:
3C/[C]>j.214C <<<<Works mid-screen and corner for ++++++++frames
3C/[C]>j.236A <<<<< Works when you make your opponent scared to poke out and you can use that with the following...
3C/[C]>j.236A xx 63214A/C <<<<<< Great command grab setup for scared opponents and assurance when people try to mash out thanks to the clash frames. (Although command grab only has clash frames for 1 hit so be careful with this)
3C/[C]>j.236A xx throw <<<<<< typical AC style tick throw setup
3[C]>IAD J.B xx .... <<<<< IAD pressure string
3C is also hit confirmable from 3B (one hit) and 5[C].
J.214C: This move along with her command grab pretty much swayed me into playing F-Ciel. This move has a "mid" hitting hitbox (the knife), but the shadow that proceeds it hits low. It gives you tons of ++++++++++++++ frames on block and on hit it puts the opponent in a CH state pretty much giving you a free combo. Using this move during a airstring J.B>J.C>J.B>J.C>j.22C>J.214C gives you a knockdown + oki opotions. What I like to do is use this move after a *blocked* 3C/[C] to start my rushdown .
63214A/B/C: This is the other reason why I wanted to play F-Ciel so bad. A comboable command grab with 1 clash frame (A/C version) and both options give you oki options. Zar posted the options with the C version and as he noted they're pretty straight forward and how the C version has more advantage on knockdown as opposed to her normal throw. You can come up with some weird, gimmicky setups for the command grab (mostly by using them in blockstrings) with the most common being:
4B/[ B ]>63214A/C
3B>63214A/C
5[C]>63214A/C
3C>j.236A xx 63214A/C
The problem with this is that the command grabs only have 1 clash frame (With the B version having 0 ) so you're still suspect to 2AAAAA mashing and it has poor recovery so if you miss this command grab you'll be boarding the pain train.
236A/B: I won't lie. When I first heard of this move I wasn't really all that hype for it. It wasn't till I saw the A version being looped into itself and the damage she got out of it I was getting hype for it. The A version hit's low, the B version hit's "mid" and both versions are EX cancellable on hit, block, or whiff. All versions are safe on block and the B version is JCable. You can do some pretty nifty blockstrings with these two moves alone with linking them into other specials such as:
236A/B xx 236A/B
236A/B xx 623C
236A/B xx 63214C
214A: I like the new version of 214A. It gives you a untechable launcher just like the 2nd part of Ciel's 5CC in Crescent. You can use it in the same manner it was used in MBAC except now you get even more time to get a high damaging combo. The B and C versions I really haven't used enough to make my own opinion on them.
Overall, I like what they did to this character, but I sort of don't like it. I think she has potential to be very solid as long as you don't try to play her like MBAC ( lololol 2B and mad mixups) and with the new tools she have 3[C]/j.214C/command grabs you'll have to mixup your blockstrings between high and low, making good use of the +frames you get from j.214C, and making your opponent scared to poke out rather than trying to mixup your opponent post airthrow.
I'll give more input on her, but as now I'm lazy.