The character doesn't have a mind of it's own, so it can't start "depending" on ZAir for whatever you're saying. We're discussing how far a player can take his character here, not vice-versa.
There's only so much her other moves can do. Zair is really her safest move, and has the best range:speed:safety balance out of all her moves. AND Samus is known for her zair games. I'm pretty sure that all Samus mains depend on zair to make their opponents make mistakes (how no one wants to get hit by it, % is still %), in fact I'm sure her placement in the tier list is because she has a very nice anti-air move... But what if the opponent is approaching from the ground?
since ZAir WILL hit you due to the limits of reaction time.
What if Samus is hit first and is at a considerable disadvantage? What will happen then? How will zair help her regain the lead? I only see it hitting people when they're at a considerable disadvantage themselves, and stopped playing overly defensive while attempting to approach Samus. See, her zair would ALSO be better if she could change it into a great shield-punishing move, like a
grab (something TL and Link can do) or something.
A good Samus forces you to be inherently defensive with Bombs/ZAir/Missles, and if she calls a dodge or commitment to most ground moves, it does you harm.
A good (insert character) main will force the opponent to (insert risky action). I've heard this all the time, and quite frankly, I dislike the argument. That's usually how people argue in MU discussions, and how they
try to shrug off the opposing arguments. Well, wanna know something? A good opponent will know when the Samus is gonna zair and avoid it/punish it, just like how good players airdodge through MK's 2-frame uair/~5 frame aerial/grounded upB, or avoid Snake's utilt/ftilt.
Here you're expecting the Samus player to be stupid enough to ZAir you within landing. This won't happen all, if most of the time.
The OoS option will still hit Samus while she's in her "landing lag". If the opponent shields near Samus, what can she do? If she hits the shield, she eats an OoS option, and as soon as she lands she eats an OoS option. She doesn't even have a powerful move to eat through shields, she literally is doomes to getting punished if she lands while the opponents are within zair range. They shield, look at Samus, then hit her once she touches the ground.
She won't be forced to jump with the new ruleset, but even if you say she's forced to jump "around" you, she's not getting punished unless she goes for a predictable landing. But she's not FORCED into jumping because of her air/stall speed & game. Also, her ledge game IS amazing. I don't know where you're coming from.
But all of her landings are predictable. Her slow aerial movement and slow falling speed gives players some time to think of what they're gonna do. Once Samus is close enough to do an aerial/zair, opponents will shield at the maximum range (if they know the MU), and Samus will be shut down and punished for jumping. And she WILL be forced to jump because of the LGL in MLG's ruleset, since she can't live on the ledges anymore.
Her ledge is relatively safe. As long as you can get back on stage with her fine, she has a great ledge game. Attacking from the ledge isn't forced upon you.
Unless the tourney has an LGL and the opponent forced Samus to regrab a lot by feinting approaches.
I really hope you haven't based your whole perspective on Samus on ZAir alone.
I'm just saying, just like Wolf is to bair, Diddy is to bananas, Kirby is to bair, and ICs are to grabs... Samus is to zair.
