He’s legit. Took out Exo’s Yun & ken at NEC along with Frankie3s’ Ken and Nicas Yang. (all with Sean) It was a tournament too. He also raped my Ryu in casuals. Gimmicky but insanely entertaining.
Research is only a factor when you don’t know what you’re doing wrong or you need to know what to do right. I believe most intermediate+ players learn more from playing matches. Maybe until they get to a very high level and that is when research becomes important again because they must then learn the more advanced techniques and nuances of the game to give them that comeptitive edge.