I'm going to pose a question, and I ask that you guys not laugh, but rather think critically and seriously to answer. Also, I love being provocative and making people defend their status quo, so take this question for what it is:
Could ZSS be S tier?
I think she could be, and is at the very least at the top of A-tier. I spoke about this with a few people on the IRC last night. The issue as I see it is that while ZSS has a few problematic matches, she doesn't have any that are unwinnable. She also does very well against the high and top tier characters despite some of her weaknesses. ZSS also breaks one or two characters pretty bad (she destroys ROB, is very strong against ICs, and GAW doesn't do so well against her either). In short, ZSS is just south of being broken from a matchups standpoint.
From my perspective, you need to be successful against three characters to be tourney viable: Dedede, Meta Knight and Snake. Snake and Dedede are widely considered to be in our favor, if at least by slight margins. Meta Knight isn't that bad; it's winnable, but we are disadvantaged. Because of this, we are at least more tourney viable than most of A tier, most notably Marth.
Our "bad" matchups are typically overblown. Falco, Luigi, and Sheik are undoubtedly the worst, but how bad are they really? Is Falco really a hard counter? The answer is that he isn't; The Link and Falco boards agreed that he goes 30:70 with Link, a character he can chaingrab to the edge and spike before 50% with no repercussions or risks and without even performing the technique perfectly. Compared to Link, ZSS stands a much better chance. The matchup is at worst, 35:65 or perhaps even a little better, but I often get the impression that we lose perspective when talking about Falco sometimes. He is annoying, but he is not a "hard counter."
Luigi is another one that probably isn't as bad as we used to think; just three-four months ago, ZSS' best moves were thought to be side-b and bair. We've opened up a world of new options, and many are saying Luigi is even.
Sheik is probably our worst matchup, in my opinion, and Sheik is rare. The shield pressure he is capable of can be devastating for ZSS because her OOS options are sparse and situational at best. With that said, many ZSS and Sheik mains agree that the match is even. So perhaps I'm wrong.
Other close matches, like Diddy Kong and Pit, are roughly even, and you don't need a secondary for these. Sheik, Pit, and Luigi are pretty rare at tournaments.
It is my believe that ZSS is one of few characters that could potentially win a tournament alone and without a secondary. She is, in my opinion, a better character at the top end than ROB, Kirby, Ice Climbers, and even Game and Watch or King Dedede; her matchup spread is better both from a metagame standpoint, and from an overall standpoint than most of the above characters and maybe even a few I'm forgetting.
So I'm going to put it out there: I think ZSS is a potential candidate for top tier. I didn't used to think so, so this is not blind fanboyism; this is me looking at our matchups and character, understanding her strengths and weaknesses, and drawing a conclusion I feel any objective person should.
