I think it's interesting you say unique play styles would take a hit from this type of community. I would guess that generic styles would become much less effective because everyone would be more experienced in general. Only players with unique styles would be able to throw people off their game. Everyone else wouldn't be able to get away with abusing the same old tricks that often only work because so many people lack matchup experience.
If you understand the nuances of an awkward style or character, you'll also understand a lot of those stylistic choices (or the character itself) are often suboptimal or kind of gimmicky. There's a lack of safety, among other things. I'm kind of reminded of those years Kage had a ton of glory in America but would get disproportionately bad placings at the Canadian tournaments simply because... we knew Ganon and you guys didn't.
I don't think IHSB's or Drephen's styles would perform well in that kind of community just because there would be so much access to players that can perform aspects of those styles or half-baked versions. I've heard a lot of of people with 'bizarre' styles claim they perform better at nationals rather than locals just because the local players understand the nuances of dealing with their gimmicks; once you know those gimmicks, the reason that style of strategy isn't standard becomes glaring.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I love jank; I don't deny its power to make giant swing plays. Jank is incredible. But once it gets discovered and emulated, and becomes available to be practiced against on a semi-regular basis, the weaknesses of jank (i.e. why it's jank) become really exploitable. And if it's not jank because it's really just proven to be consistently good, it becomes standardized anyway (and strengthens the 'generic' model).
The generic standard is standard because it's stood the test of time and held up despite revisions (or, at least, that's how it generally works; the Melee community is kind of silly).
