What is happening here is a lot of you are thinking like beginner or intermediate players.There is no problem with this, but please understand that what you say is not correct, when you get some more experience and understanding of why teams are created, you will come to realise ‘the truth’. I admit it is true that a vast majority of ‘average’ players may simply be copying because they are not smart enough to know better, but smart players do not pick ‘quirky’ teams because they actually DO know better.
Let me go into more detail with individual points:
Certain lower tier characters (LTC) can of course go up against certain higher tier character (HTC). It’s called ‘the matchup’. But what is different between a LTC and a HTC is that a HTC will have a vast majority of match ups in their favour because they have a wider, more powerful set of tools to use that work across the vast majority of the cast. Ease of use does NOT dictate how good a character is perceived (again, perhaps this is true of intermediate players) Viper has to be played with high execution, because when done so she has a ridiculous array of options. Not a lot of people can do this, but just because it is difficult does not mean it is not possible to see what the character themselves are capable of.
Oddly enough, you have the right answer but for the wrong reasons (and perhaps highlight my point perfectly). It is definitely about getting into the game more and wanting to do better and understanding the characters more. Your reason for dropping iron man should not have been 'I watched EVO top 8 and the pros didn’t use him, he must be hard to use therefore I am limiting myself". You reason for dropping iron man should be because you understand your character perfectly. You have crappy supers, awkward hit confirms, gimped movement etc. These sorts of reasons would be why the pros aren’t using them btw… but YOUR reasons must never be just 'because the pros don’t do it"… you should come to your own sensible rationalisations.
Then you are getting annoyed at dumb people. Smart people know that strider can call his own safe mixups and teleports etc and if played to perfection can wreck teams. Its not being done at the moment because people value anchor strider more. Nobody intelligent is talking about how its worthless though.
Hmm sounds oddly familiar… oh wait Wong and his Iron First. Here is an example of one of the best players in the world running into the limitations of their character. I’m sorry, but you really must understand that most pros are looking at the benefits and negatives of the characters they are using and ultimately deciding that the three the pick give them a high chance of winning. They might love phoenix wright, but they have sat down and said “you know what, having ZERO air mobility, poor normals etc is going to get be killed in a tournament when fighting magneto.”.
You mean the extremely limited play style of IF got figured out? Damn straight it did. In a game of tridashing teleports, command grabs etc… IF with his current toolset will not be competitive no matter how much time people put into him. You would have to set up such specific teams to even make him sorta viable, which all falls apart the moment you get hit and a character killed. Meanwhile, top teams can deal with anything thrown at them, and take the loss of a character or two without a problem.
One thing you get from all this? Not all characters are created equal.
