What (exactly) is a match up discussion?

[TLMarth]

VietGeek said mindgames don't come into match up discussions.
I think we don't actually care about the rating. We just want to be able to beat the opponent.
It's hard to determine ratings when we can't have mindgames.
So what exactly do we want in match up discussions?

I think it is:

CPs and Bans

How to counter your opponent's strategies and individual moves

The options your opponent has (e.g. Marth's DS OOS), and the options that he doesn't have (Bad recovery), and therefore

Strategies that work especially well against the opponent, taking advantage of the options that he doesn't have (gimping).

Technical things like kill percents. Sort of ties in with 'Strategies that work especially...' in that some technical things might be a chaingrab, or a move that comes out more quickly than any of the opponent's moves.

'to analyze certain situations (neutral state, onstage pressuring, zoning, onstage defending, offstage edgeguarding, gimping, etc.)'

Edit lol:
Give rating to taunt opponent mains into telling us free stoof. >:)

DS= Dolphin Slash
OOS= Out of Shield
I used 'he' instead of s/he/it because it's easier.

[sasukebowser]

Imo:
Rating don't mean anything. Deciding a rating AT THE END of a match up discussion is fine. People shouldn't be throwing some out there randomly. Wait until we have information down at least.

Stages are fine.
Mind games do not belong in match up discussions. Because that has nothing to do with match ups AT ALL.
Gimping strategies (especially how to deal with recoverys).
Character-specific things that decide the match. Ex.: How to avoid getting grabbed by DDD, IC. How to avoid getting gimped by MK. How to kill Lucario early before he gets aura boost crap. Stuff like that.
Approaching.
How to deal with approaches.

Stuff like that.

It really annoys me when someone comes in a thread and says "I think its 60-40" and leaves. Who cares? Hows that going to help me win? Save that for the end, where it belongs.

[VietGeek]

Sasuke basically said what needed to be said.

We can debate the ratio. Often times that's very useful as it forces the other char. mains to provide reasons to why they beat us in situation X w/e with an option they have. It helps us learn their character better and therefore the ratio is more accurate.

But the number means very little to what you need to do to try to win that match.

[Zhamy]

The point of a matchup discussion is to rate one character's tools and options over the other characters - see what works, what doesn't, and what objectively beats what in the current metagame, if at all possible.

Just as important, though, is the realistic aspect - at high level play, how likely is it that you're going to Fsmash every time someone does X, Y, or Z, and end up killing them at Q%? Thus, it's best to analyze certain situations (neutral state, onstage pressuring, zoning, onstage defending, offstage edgeguarding, gimping, etc.) as well as any tricks each character has, see how likely they are, and then decide who's favor the matchup is in.

This isn't to say that numbers are useless, though. Often, I'll throw out a semi-ridiculous number so that people will try to argue for their main, and in this way, generate more knowledge and spread it around. (Mindgames, son. That's where they belong in matchup discussions, and nowhere else.)

[iRjOn]

Everyone that posted here TLMarth just told the truth.
Thats what it is.

[TLMarth]

We should have a criteria for our match up summaries.