We outrange Marth now; and MK isn't that amazing against us beyond edge-guarding if we're in a bad position (with PKT's buffs I don't think he's going to be that much of a problem anyway). If anything, most of the sword-users have been nerfed while Ness still has range. Fair has been nerfed, but everybody's range has been nerfed and in this game, Ness beats out the vast majority of the cast in terms of range. His Dair nerf is being over-rated and I don't think will have a significant impact on his meta either.
In addition, he has an incredible combo game that does sooooo much damage and now that vectoring has been removed, Bthrow kills at ludicrous percents. I am aware of those nerfs and i'm calling it now that they're not his issue.
On the subject of previous games, Ness (and Lucas) in Brawl were in Low tier on the very first tier list, so i'm not sure exactly where you're coming from with the 'ness effect', because they certainly weren't considered as good as Ness is in this game.
Seriously though, he'll have some annoying match-ups but I don't think he's low tier and right now, Ness mains both in my continent and America are getting results and seem like they will continue to do so, at least for the present.
Ness doesn't
really have a lot of range in this game. There's still a mess of characters that outrange him on a regular basis. And this has been one of his longest struggles since like Melee.
Fair nerf is freakin huge. Not only in terms of range, but damage. What the hell is the point of a combo move that does such pitiful damage now? 7% come on man...
I mean, it could be used for the neutral game because of its lingering hitbox and range... if that didn't get nerfed too >_>
Retreating fair defensively has never been so... bad. At least, not since Smash 64.
Dair nerf makes the move like useless on stage. I used to think it was one of the best dairs in Brawl. Now I think it's one of the worst. You can't use the vertical knockback as a combo tool like... ever anymore, and the hitbox is finnicky as all hell.
His combo game is alright, would be better if fair did **** for damage. And dthrow got nerfed in damage too, our main combo starter, that helps tons. Bthrow kills at "okay" percents. Ludicrous is pushing it. It actually kills at later percents than in Brawl. "Ludicrous" is Bowser's Down B move, or PKT2. Bthrow really just kills at the same percentage most other kills moves do (130%+).
Ness was considered to have a promising future in Brawl at first due to his straight buffs from Melee. This was before the first official tier lists came out with him around mid I think. Just like we're discussing how well he'll do right now, before the first official tier list is out. But instead of straight buffs, he's recieved a plethora of nerfs to accompany them.
His matchups are already looking bad as is, struggling with a lot of considered top tiers like Sheik and Rosalina. I haven't been keeping up with tournament results enough, but I haven't heard of him taking 1st at any noteworthy tournaments yet.