The thing about these players is that they actually do enjoy success based on these easy character picks. Pick Hibiki/Sagat(2)/Cammy in cvs2 and you can get far in many tournaments. It sure is a hell of a lot easier than trying to make your Maki/Athena S-Groove work against Sagat. When you lose, you might even hear someone try to "advise" you with theoretical matchups and tiers. ("change athena out, everyone on srk thinks she is low tier," etc.)
There is nothing wrong with wanting to win, and picking the right characters to do it. That's part of the game and part of any person's personal game. It's his/her choice and right. I know that I took the easy route in almost every game I played. I got my share of victories. A lot of us have done this. Unfortunately, there is a problem.The problem is that the success isn't total. It isn't tournament-winning. You never reach the top echelon..the elite 2%..whatever you want to call it. You know this to be true. Your easy, copycat x-Dhalsim may have gotten top 10 or even top 5, but how come you could never beat that insane V-Ryu? What does he know that you don't? How does he know it? Is it that he's a natural and you just can't touch him, no matter what? Is it that he simply played better and you were actually on the same level (for 99% of you: no). Or, could part of it be that you aren't on his level because you didn't do everything you could do to improve?
You see, by picking only easy-to-play characters, you circumvent important parts of the learning curve.I will now speak from personal experience for a moment. In every game I've played so far, I always pick characters who have tons of range and priority on their normals, and abuse them (Chun in a3/3s, Yamazaki in CvS1, Sagat in CvS2). The more varied tactics have been of no use to me.. I have superiority in nearly any move exchange just by pressing my best button for any given range. But I don't really have a true understanding of how to control the ranges and stay on the offense. Those "fake" skills have been enough to take down 2 out of 3 USA players like nothing, but were not consistent in close matches (where I would have needed that understanding to win, like against Vega in a3) or effective at all against true players (any top west coast shoto). This occurred to me the other day when I played Ricky Ortiz (not a shoto, hehe) in cvs2. There are huge holes in my game to the point that, at times, I was literally sitting in the corner doing nothing, bewildered, not even able to keep up with what was going on. A few days later, i tried an experiment: instead of picking Sagat, i picked Kim in CvS2. and found that without my super high-priority death moves, I am dirt. Having to actually open my opponent up without easy "top tier" tactics .. I couldn't hang. Defending against a true rush from a top player; I was defenseless.
Back to the topic at hand. If you see anything that consistent top players have in common, it's that they don't always take the easy route. It's possible that this is the reason that they are the best. Rather than jumping on bandwagons or looking specifically for easy mode, they pick a character who seems powerful (obviously they are looking to win, so you probably won't see them busting out Dan for challenge), and try to tap the potential. Examples that spring to mind: viscant's storm, choi's v-sakura, eddie's 3s ibuki, apoc's st vega. They try to learn and innovate, in both the smallest ways and the most dramatic ways. They don't always counter-pick; it's the forum scrub's job to know who "counters" who and why. Good players try to beat you by outsmarting and outplaying you. ("Sentinel beats Spiral, but not Duc's Spiral"--Viscant.) The result? They've found ways to manipulate fights that most of us can't even see. They use mind games that you never had to develop because you always took the easiest, most automatic route to victory. It may have paid off in your local tournament, but in the long run, you're only screwing yourself.Determine your strengths and weaknesses, and pick characters that fit them. Work and think (it might be hard and there might be a lot of losses) to improve; gain a deeper understanding of sf rather than (at the risk of sounding like a mall scrub) looking for one "cheap" trick after another. Take the straight and narrow path to victory. Yes, victory is very important. I am not trying to encourage anyone to lose. The goal is to win. Only the winner gets anything in this game. I'm not blindly advocating winning "with skill" or "with honor." Winning with skill, is, for its own sake, pointless. After all, a win is a win. However, the difference between a BS win and a win bought by hard practice and dedication will show in how consistently you will win and how long your wins will last. That's why you might consider taking the straight and narrow.. for yourself. Will you be another nothing, leaping from bandwagon to bandwagon? Or a champion and innovator? It's your choice. When you're in the arcade tonight selecting your characters, about to pick your K Blanka/Sagat team, think about it.