How many people in the world play like Ally? If you can name 5 who are as skilled as him, then I'll look the other way on MK's taking #2, #3 and #4 on GENESIS. You can't say he shouldn't be banned if the majority of the population doesn't have what it takes to learn the matchup, and refuse to change their mains for the sake of a more diverse gaming experience, and one that they find "fun". And I said "fun" because we're talking mid-level gaming here.
And while I'm mentioning mid-level gaming, the OP also states it, I don't think Ally and M2K in GENESIS finals are considered mid-level gaming. Top-level is important, most definitely! But where does the money for tourney winners come from? The vast majority of the members in this site are mid-level players too... And there's one true fact that has been seen over and over again: MK dominates mid-level gaming and low-level gaming, and is also a great force to be reckoned with in high level gaming. You cannot tell me there are Power Rankers who say that "MK is easy because I elarned the MU", the fights are STILL uphill battles for both whose winners are determined by how many mistakes the MK user does... In lower levels, mistakes happen all the time, and the opponent's mistakes are BY FAR easier to puniosh with MK< than a mistake made by MK and punished by whoever else (besides MK himself).
The point isn't that MK is broken, but that he is "too good at what makes Brawl unique". He is a perfect gimper, has a perfect recovery, lightweight while he can live to high percents due to momentum cancelling and DI, and is fast. Snake might do better than MK at some points, but at others he is just sad, like his recovery... He is almost assured damage if he's recovering from low, not to mention the gimping dangers he faces by a lot of the cast members. MK's disadvantages (if you can call them that) is that he has to attack you from mid-close range if he wants to stay safe, making a bait/punishment tactic work better on him that anything else (along with a side dish of CAMPING, and no one likes watching a match that focuses on outcamping the opponents).
So, there you have it. MK isn't broken, he's just TOO good at everything Brawl is. If you feel like it's a valid point telling the pro-banners that "they should learn the matchup", prove to me that you have learned it, and answer me WHY is it that the majority (over 50% of the community) is still hoping for a ban on MK, even if they've been told in poll #1, #2, and #3 to LEARN THE MATCHUP? What difference do you think will do to end the 4th poll with another "LEARN THE MATCHUP" line?
I personally don't have big problems against MK, my mains assure me of that, and they're my favorite characters in the whole freakin' game. The only problem I have is when my opponent decides to Dair aircamp and land with tornadoes, then fly to somewhere far away where I can't reach them in time, then start all over again. How do you expect me to deal with a camping character, whose dair comes out in frame 3(?), landing from the tornado at a certain height means NO LAG AT ALL, has 6 jumps, and can live to high percents thanks to his momentum canceller (uair) and proper DI? If I'm at a disadvantage (1 stock), what am i supposed to do? And that's my only problem, which I'm trying to find ways around that fit into my strategy.
Think about it, and try to get your mind away from tourney results for a second, since you know you're no Power Ranker to be talking about those, and I'm no power ranker either (unless Puerto Rico counts). Answer my question about our main money purveyors in tourneys: the mid-level players.
And before I'm done, I'll leave you with a small fact: PR's tourney scene has degenerated so much due to people thinking that MK takes the fun from brawl, even with our "soft-ban", that in our last tourney, we only had 8 entrants, and the top 3 ended up splitting the money so they could each win more than what they used to enter the tourney with. Is this how you want Brawl's competitive scene to look like?
EDIT: And stop suggesting items as a solution to MK and planking. It is not a solution. They were banned because even with "food" only (which shouldn't change the game much according to what you say), CAPSULES may still appear, and some are explosive treats. Any character gets a free projectile, and if they're lucky, it's the exploding projectile that will kill your opponent at like 50-60%. Oh yeah, that's some wild competition.
