Recovery: Quick Draw isn't nearly as linear as it appears assuming Ike has to recovery high (AKA when he can actually use QD in the first place). Obviously if it hits something he gets to act again afterwards. But outside of that, lets say he gets it charged (not hard to do). He can either recover high and land on a platform lag free, recover mid level and land on the main platform lag free, aim low level and still land on the main platform lag free, aim for the ledge, aim under the ledge and still snap upwards to grab it, or aim for the person trying to gimp him (which can and has killed in tournaments). He has a lot of options, more so than the person trying to gimp him. If they commit to any option in most cases Ike can safely switch to another. Or if they wait thinking that Ike has to go to the ledge they can then be caught off guard by Ike releasing QD early.
Aether thankfully has a larger snap range than one would think. Roughly one spinning sword length away in all directions. Aether can also poke up through the stage and punish people trying to hit him from there.
While the directions they travel are linear, they both have more options attached to them than it first appears. Truthly I'd say his recovery is average if not ever so slightly above average when you consider how many characters really only have an Up B for their recovery option.
Projectiles: I'm hesitant to link to one video of SM against a MegaMan because to be frank I don't think the MegaMan was very good. Didn't use pellets at all until the last game. But what he did do was use a looooot of Metal Blade, Leaf Shield, and Crash Bomber. It was actually quite rare that any of them hit SM, and they fought on Final Destination. Ike has a very good Dash -> Shield in terms of when he can cancel the dash into shield. On top of that his Dash Attack has crazy range, doesn't get clanked out by anything, and can hit the person twice if hits a projectile and the user at the same time for 24% damage. Are projectiles annoying? Of course they are, they always are. But Ike doesn't struggle against them as much as some characters with no reflectors/projectiles of their own. He can actually punish them once he gets into mid range, which is important. If they're getting punished, they're going to stop using them at that range.
Advantages: Edgeguarding. Bluntly I think Ike has the best onstage edgeguarding in the game by a significant amount. Eruption simply covers everything: its all on the Ike player as to if its hitting or not in the majority of cases. Hits farther down than the invisible ledge snap range, hits high enough to hit people on the Battlefield side platforms, has enough lingering frames to hit people as they grab the ledge. While have a massive hitbox that also hits behind him. With super armour. If they're somebody with a projectile, Ike can just jump and then start charging during the time the character off stage can throw a projectile at him and have it hit. Only exceptions really are Links' boomerang and ROB's laser.
To drive home my point: if Sheik has to use Vanish she should be dead. The timing is easy. She can't flinch him as long as he's gotten a 3/4 charge. Aiming behind or above him won't work, and snapping the ledge will just have her face running into the lingering frames. And if she somehow manages to get on stage and shield because we screwed up the timing, fully charged Eruption insta-breaks shields.
And then we have the options other than Eruption: walk-off fair is very deadly and difficult for many characters to get past. Walk-off Bair and Uairs are also viable options. If we have the stock lead we can just run off, trap you in aether, and drag you down with us for an easy win. Downward angle Ftilt also hits from on stage, as does Dsmash (barely), Fsmash, back part of Usmash, kinda Utilt, Dtilt...
If the character managed to get to the ledge safely, Ike STILL has a lot of options. Eruption when positioned correctly can cover literally every option for getting up. Usmash can do the same with some difficulty. SH Uair, particularly against tall characters, also can work. Once you're off stage against Ike you're simply having a baaaaad day.
On stage, Ike has a long list of short combos that are dealing as much damage as other characters' long combos. They can start with Grab, Nair, Dtilt, in some cases Dair, Uair, or Fair can start short combos as well. Throws that lead into kill confirms (with strict timing), and Uair on par with Rosalina's with 16 active frames to punish air dodging with (which we can use out of a throw either in a combo, or just jump let the opponent air dodge and THEN hit them), Nair leading into kill confirms all the way up to like 100% (with strict timing again). Or once you start hitting 100%, Ike can just start throwing out moves and almost anything will kill you. Dash Attack at the middle of the stage? Good chance you're dead now. Ftilt? Dead. Utilt? Dead. Fair? Potentially dead, if not you're at the edgeguarding game now. Bair? Bair will kill you. Dthrow? If Ike has enough rage yes that too will kill you.
Disadvantage: Ike only has one critical one I feel: juggle breaking. He's not so hot at it. Not quite as bad as it first appears, but not great at it. His Bair hits frame 7 and more importantly: hits more than just behind him. It covers most of his body and slightly in front of him as well. So against characters with no real disjoint, hammering away at Bair can get out of sticky situations. Randomly trying Aether to get the Super Armour also works. Counter.... rarely works but does on occasion particularly if the opponent goes into auto-pilot. And then it can kill them because it has a rather high knockback growth rate.
At low percents though? Ya Ike's pretty much just taking the damage against some characters until he starts popping out of their combos. He doesn't mind too much as that just leads into him in rage with is freaking terrifying. But its not exactly a good thing either.
So we have a character with great range, comboing abilities, strict but existent kill confirms, the ability to just toss out moves at random to get a kill, the best onstage edgeguarding in the game, airdodge eating moves, a kill throw balanced out by "somewhat predictable but not really" recovery that can kill you for attempting to stop him, stuck grumbling about projectiles but can get around them, and a juggling weakness. Seems like lower end of high tier to me. Results are starting to back it up as well: Ryo keeps stomping Static Manny and nearly beat ESAM at EVO Pools (in ESAM's words, if he has just held down during Aether Ryo would have won), Ryuga took a set off of Ally, SM is winning things and was one stock away from EVO Top 32, we have an Ike in Europe starting to win things as well.
