I spent some of today catching up on the tournament and oh man this year was great. I watched the Smash 4 finals but otherwise stuck to Melee. It's unfortunate that Smash 4 just doesn't make for a good spectator e-sport.
I agree with the smash 4 point you made, the game sort of punishes the person who makes the first move so its become almost like a stall which is just terrible for spectators