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BBCS has been out for a little over a month now and the game is already starting to evolve past the Day 1 discoveries, so I figured now would be a good time to review the system changes from BBCT as well as speculate on the game's roster balance and potential to grow.

First, the system changes from CT:

• Bursts are entirely different now. No longer reactable like they were in CT and they no longer cut your defense or deplete your barrier meter. You get two bursts stocked at the start of the match, and you're able to use one in the first round; if you win the first round, you stay with the one burst you have (if you used your burst, you don't get one in the next round) and likewise if you lose the first round, your second burst is unlocked (even if you used your burst in the first round).
• Offensive bursts no longer Guard Crush, they now launch the opponent. Unlike the Guard Crush off of offensive bursts in CT, it allows you to kill your opponent with a combo started from a burst.
• Guard Primer system replaces Guard Libra system from CT. Certain moves take off whole Guard Primers on guard, while others take off fractions. Characters like Tager and Hakumen have many Guard Primers, while characters like Carl and Taokaka only have a few. Losing all Guard Primers results in a Guard Crush.
• Barrier Guard + Throw break option select has been nerfed. In CT you had 13 frames (some sources say up to 17!) to input 1/4 A+B+C but in CS you now only have 5 frames and the window for Throw Reject Misses has been increased as well.
• Barrier Jump has been removed, meaning you can no longer input 7 A+B and jump while Barrier Guarding. This helps a lot for the ground mixup game, as throws can still be jumped out of (more on that later).
• Instant blocking in the air now requires you to be Barrier guarding at the same time. This is a change that has stirred some controversy, but there's actually a good reason why they implemented it. Put simply; you always have your barrier meter now that bursts don't deplete it. In order to give players more incentive to both use barrier meter and keep it stocked, they had to do something to make using it a conflicting judgement call. While people may have to get used to it (as it is a rather uncommon mechanic), I think in the long run it'll promote more thinking on defense than had it not been implemented.
• New Fatal Counter system is a new type of counter hit that gives certain moves 2 extra frames of untechable time as well as all moves in the combo that follow, allowing for combos that wouldn't be possible on a normal counter hit.
• Tech rolls can no longer be cancelled into special moves.
• Damage has, for the most part, been significantly nerfed across the board.

All of the changes listed above I think are good. That being said, there's still problems I have with the game. Most notably:

• Jump startup is still too fast. 4 frames of jump startup makes ground throws (which start up in 7 frames) a risky mixup tool. Of course, people jumping out of throws (and some overheads, too) can be baited, but to me it feels like a forced transition from the ground to air game that ends up being a detriment, since you're forcing the player on offense to guess rather than the player on defense. My ideal solution would be to make ground throws start up quicker than jumps (though not 0 frame), but I guess slowing down jump startup would work as well (though that may cause problems for characters that have to Tiger Knee moves). Still, the majority of BlazBlue is the zoning game, so perhaps this is ArcSys' way of making sure we don't just rush down all the time.
• Instant blocking is still too easy and too good. Instant blocking still has an 8 frame window to input, gives you a 5 frame advantage on the ground and 10 in the air. If the window to input IB's were cut down to 4 frames, I could live with the huge advantage it gives you, but as of now it's really a no brainer to mash 4/1 during your opponent's blockstrings (remember that it gives you meter too).
• Meter management is still (for most characters) too easy. Jin and Hakumen both have specials that consume their meter (all of Hakumen's specials do, actually), but for everyone else the only things they ever use meter for are Rapid Cancels and supers. If the next version of BB gives every character moves that consume 25% meter, it'll make meter usage a conflicting judgement in more situations.
• As most characters still have yet to find their optimal damage combos, many rounds as of now are being won through time overs.

In spite of the above, I still think BBCS is a good game and I have high expectations for it.

Part of the reason for that is that this game is already much more interesting and balanced than CT was. While some people have jokingly (and non-jokingly) pointed out that the tiers have taken a 180 from CT, I think many people are missing what really matters; there's no "Top 3" in CS (not yet, at least). Outside of the Top 3, CT was actually for the most part a pretty well balanced game. And even then, the Top 3 really only destroyed the bottom 3, so it's not like B or A tier characters were left in the dust.

Most characters have been well thought out in CS. Giving Hakumen more mid and long range options was a good decision as was giving Tager more mixup tools (Gadget Finger can be downright scary depending on who you're playing) as well as a proper anti-air game. And the rest of the cast has, for the most part, been toned up or down accordingly. The only character really disadvantaged against the rest of the cast as of now is Rachel, who's been nerfed in so many ways it would require an update of it's own to list them all! Noel was thought to be in the same boat for awhile, though people have been slowly but surely finding ways for her to deal damage, as risky or gimmicky as they may be.

Hazama and Tsubaki are both interesting characters, and while I don't expect either of them to climb very far up the tier list, I think they're at least solid enough to hold their own against the current S tiers in the hands of competent players (which is a step in the right direction coming from CT). I won't comment on their specific advantages and flaws just yet (as they need more time to settle in, so to speak), but at this point I think it's safe to assume that both of them will stay around middle tier. However, I think most of the roster at this point is up for debate. Personally, I expect Bang to stay in S tier (perhaps even S+) and for Litchi, Ragna and Hakumen to be A tier. The rest of the cast I think is too uncertain right now, so I'll withhold commenting on them; remember that in CT's Day 1 predictions, Ragna was S tier and Tager was A tier!

One of the biggest questions people's minds right now is if there's going to be any new boss characters in CS or not. I don't know for sure, but allow me to speculate for a moment and point out that on the BBCS official web site, there's two empty slots on the roster page. Don't bet on it just yet, but that may just be an indication of things to come!

And of course, what would an update be without some matchvids? Here's some matches from the most recent Ko-hatsu ranbat: