But even still, we’ve seen what dedicated character specialists can do into the top echelon of characters by simply utilizing system mechanics in smart ways and focusing on mitigating their win conditions
BB continues to change and grow even now because there’s so much depth
I also think that the vast majority of CF’s strongest characters are also among the most technically, mechanically executionally complex characters (Barring a few) so that also skews their representation downward due to players preferring low maintenance characters
because it’s rare for those characters/players to be able to close it out.
Being realistic, we probably wouldn’t see this kid of character diversity if more was on the line, though. There’d be more competitive incentive to play the top 5-10 over those characters
I think that the combination of that, on top of hard working players who can simply gap is why you consistently see CF top 8s with underrepresented/mid or low tier characters happening (Bracket path matters too)
Unfortunately, you also often see their weakness catch up here>>>
Does not mean that there aren’t extremely unfavorable matchups, characters with weak/no clearly defined win conditions or just general stability issues/poorly designed kits
But the game actively rewards character knowledge and strong defense in a way that makes a real difference
Not to be a CF glazer or pretend like the balance is amazing and couldn’t be largely improved still
But the core system mechanics provide enough counterplay to the majority of strong options in the game, good defense is enough for any character to win and we’ve seen it