In those days, yes, a character's strength could be determined by number of match ups but now I think a match up is as good as those playing the characters. I think. Scarecrow won the last major, right!
A characters strength is still mainly determined by how many winning and losing matchups they have. Their tools and damage are also taken into consideration, but those are actually what determine their favorable and unfavorable matchups.
Matchups in general are assuming that the characters are being played at the highest level. But people have a misconception that a losing matchup means you should lose more often than you win in that specific matchup. That's not necessarily the case. When it comes to actual real life matches, it comes down to the players. Matchup numbers are what it looks like on paper, based on both characters toolsets and how they give them an advantage or disadvantage.
But it's not an exact science. It's essentially an educated guess. This is why I don't like talking about MU numbers. This is also why tier lists aren't really that important, they're all based on opinions of opinions.
