Yeah gimmicks will get less effective as you move up ranks. I currently have a 16 streak in ranked(Haven't played it in months XD) and that's from just using Naotora and Mai due to character unfamiliarity.
Free Step Dodge
KasumiLover
KokobaeBeAKilla
They still fall for the 66T mixup after the force tech combos regardless of rank :$
UpSideDownGRUNT
Learning Rachel literally takes like 10 minutes tops
KasumiLover
Not for me XD I can't use her worth shit, all I know is stun>mix up>241236T>9P>T>6PKP>2K(grind..grind...grind...kick)>repeat. Naotora only takes 5 minutes and is much more rewarding and better imo