I wasn't around during splat 1, but from what I understand c-liter was good because kraken was instant, so you could use it as a perfect panic button. It's 100% worse than kraken on heavy though, as liter is much more obligate to its backline position than all the splatlings except for maybe hydra, and even that's a tough argument to make. How much worse though is the real question, as heavy deco is pretty good, and how much can beakon make up for it.