[loganfrederick]

I think the conclusion is aligned with tournament player intuition as reflected in the official character tier lists.[1]

The conclusion is: "Assuming this conjecture is true, I believe it means you should entirely ignore player strength when picking players, and should only focus on factors that aren’t tied to skill, like character matchups."

I say intuitively because for decades now Smash players have been making tier lists, with "official" ones selected by the world's best players. And the point of the tier list is that "assuming players are as good as humanly possible, which in-game characters are generally superior to others as dictated by the game's implementation."

And the essay does point out the importance of character matchups, though Smash tournament players will often consider that when playing multiple matches against opponents as well.

[1]: https://luminosity.gg/news/smash-ultimates-2nd-official-tier...