Loose speculation, but I have higher hopes for Jago-Wulf post-rebalance than currently.
Jago could never zone out Wulf previously, and that’s probably not going to change here. Instead of sweating the mixup now, whenever Jago finds himself on the back foot he might be able to just sit there, hold downback and wait for Wulf’s…what, three frame traps maybe?, to subside, meanwhile just looking for mixups, and only really worrying about throws and throw baits. And whilst much of this could be said for the other way around, Jago can frame trap for longer, can shadow-cancel his throws, gets his overheads “for free” because he can cancel into a safe or even plus move, and has a little more ability to root out shadow counters thanks to a now pressure-relevant fireball.
I’m not sure Jago will outright win this matchup. Wulf probably wins the footsie game. But I’ve never liked the Wulf matchup as Jago, and the above speculation (which I’m happy to be shown reason on) makes it seem much more manageable to me. (Though this might also speak to my lack of a great game plan for Jago vs Wulf right now.)
Again, something rubs me the wrong away about an unsafe, reactable overhead. If Jago can situationally find goddamned plus-frames off of his overhead, I’m perplexed as to why Wulf has to eat a punish off of his. I might be missing something, but the risk-reward seems out of wack, even in context of the rebalance.
I also just don’t think Wulf is really Wulf anymore without an unreactable mixup to speak of. Not that I want to go on a deep dive into the Killer Instinct lore, but Wulf is a big ■■■■ dog, his shtick is meant to be that of the all-in, impatient champing-at-the-bit canine. Not to mention that with Wulf out of the contention for “hard mixup character”, oddly enough I’m having a hard time thinking of other characters who fill the void: there’s TJ, maybe Orchid, and…? Not that I want to get into the habit of remarking on what IG “likes” in their combat designs, but it almost seems like someone has it in for unreactable high-lows that lead into the combo system.