I just had a very interesting thought.
What do you guys think the top level reps of your character should implement more/less in order to reach higher levels of success?
For MK's, they should lessen their reliance on ledge jumps. It's always been an issue for MK players in general--including myself--because we get comfortable with his multiple jumps. MK's ledge options as a whole are fairly slow and partially offset his recovery advantage, so mixing them up is vital against someone who's aware of this or is just good at ledge option coverage in general. Ito kept on opting for ledge jumps against Mr. R at EVO and he was getting mauled for it.
Also, MK's should be using elaborate traps as strong mix-ups a bit more often. It feels weird to say this, but after the nerf it's very important. Ito is already working on this, as always when it comes to pushing MK's combo and mix-up games, but Tyrant is sticking to more typical follow-ups that, while consistent, don't deal much damage. I've been experimenting with forward air lately, and the buff has some subtle applications. Fair lacks an auto-link, so if MK fast-falls opponents will fall out before the final hit. Fair does only 6% with little potential for true follow-ups.
I went back and watched Leo vs False at GOML. Leo did DA -> up air -> fast fall fair 1 and 2 -> landed and shielded Sheik's falling aerial -> d throw -> up air string -> nair, with the full string doing ~40%. Sheik could've air dodged between up air and fair, but MK would still be able to follow-up on her defensive option. If MK landed the full fair the combo would've done a much lower ~15%.
MK can also do DA -> SH up air at very low percents, bait an air dodge or landing aerial, and punish with a grab into further follow-ups. Such traps, when successful, do somewhere from 25-40%, possibly up to as much as 60%. While these set-ups involving SH up air and FF fair are not reliable, they are very rewarding as mix-ups similar to up air -> FF bair lock, and because MK can't rely on up air strings for damage as much as he used to, I feel it's important for an MK player to keep such options in mind because more common low % set-ups like d throw -> up smash, d throw -> DA -> fair, etc. don't deal much damage.
Also MK's perfect pivot is very useful as a simple micro-spacing option and needs to be used more. Leo demonstrated its utility when he played the character. MK's ground game is strong and the main reason is his movement, and his PP is somewhat underutilized. It helps quite a bit with punishing aerial approaches from characters like Ryu who have poor aerial acceleration, especially since MK gets good reward off of his burst options. Of course, MK has a few notable moves benefited by PP'ing, namely bair and up air: d throw -> PP bair, d throw -> PP back hit of up air, which can lead (read: not true combo) into bair, both of these set-ups leading into jab locks. D throw -> PP bair is a KO'ing 50/50 at the ledge against lighter characters--though I believe it needs a certain level of rage.
Tyrant also doesn't use up throw much outside of a stock cap. Often times, whenever Ito grabs someone facing the ledge, he opts for up throw because it does 2.5% more than d throw, and the extra damage is nice because d throw obviously won't lead into follow-ups from that position. Arguably up throw puts opponents in a worse spot than d throw in that case because the threat of SL and up air -> SL doesn't exist offstage.
Edit: some videos by Ito that show-case some elaborate post-patch punishes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-MpGFti_yo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhnte6XGOmU
I wish this guy would post a bit more often.