That's because I have taste, and if I picked Momiji, I'd have to worry about extra execution errors due to the involuntary cringes I'd be subjecting myself to.
It's not taste, it's bias and phobias and everyone have that.
So you need 6 minutes in the training room instead of 5? What a difference.
Not sure what criteria you're using to define what constitutes a "dedicated character," but if I were to sign up for a tournament in a game that "wasn't my main game," you can bet your butt I'd be going in with a niche character hoping to use the relative lack of MU knowledge/experience to my advantage. I'd pick Zasalamel before Nightmare if I signed up for a SCVI tournament.
I will guess you don't think that everything that defines a character is just combo execution, because damage isn't Momiji issue. In one single minute you won't find all the tech you need to bring a character like Momiji to a tournament with top players.
If you want to bring a niche character to a SC VI tournament, bring Voldo. But then you will have to work extra hard to be able to defeat top players using beasts like Siegfried, Ivy or Azwel.
Dedicated characters like Momiji? Huh? Yeah and that's why Lopedo won TFC 2013 in a Rachel mirror final, and why some of the biggest names like: Blackberry, Kwiggle and Sonic Fox pocketed her as not only their best heavy but also used the character as much as their mains. We can argue back and forth about whether or not Rachel is brain-dead or not... which hilariously enough you bring back up in the conversation even though Brute did not mention her. What's important is that she's fun to play.
Tournaments are a very good metric to determine popularity, because it gives proof of a what's working and what's not. A reason Momiji was never picked in tournaments is because she didn't work. Rachel proved herself and Momiji didn't do anything because she was considered by many at the time to feel like an incomplete character. With all her popularity I expected her to win at least one tournament, and she did not.
I like Momiji... I hope for Momiji... but she's not my number one ninja, and there are other characters that look very similar to her. Rachel is blonde but she still stands out like the star she is. I guess we will find out soon:
You are saying it, she is a really good heavy character and that's the reason why people played her and not other heavy/grappler character like Bass, not just because "she's fun". If that would be the case, people wouldn't change mains from a game to another if they are still in the roster. When money is in the table "for fun" isn't an option to a lot people.
Tournaments isn't a good metric to determine popularity, it's a good metric to determine what's meta. Just look at all games and most used characters, they change from one iteration to another and it isn't because people stopped liking these characters. People don't love Goku GT and Dragon Ball GT, people use Goku GT because he's a braindead character even if in truth Beerus or C17 are way more popular Dragon Ball characters than him.
And that's what happened with Momiji. You can like her for whatever reason but as character for high-level play, she was just a worse Hayabusa. Why would yo play with her instead with Hayabusa?.
I don't have anything against Rachel but the reason why her was more used in tournaments in comparison with Momiji is obvious and it happens in all fighting games.
No, you don't. Even I can play that character. Rachel isn't exactly a huge effort either, though she did leave a better impact than Momiji despite taking move samples from Spartan.
Again, tournaments have nothing to do with the character. It's the effort behind it. Marie Rose/Mila/Rig were pretty well done as an example.
Marie Rose is a perfect example. Sonic Fox used to play her in DOA5LR and he tried her when Koei gave him a DOA6 key to play the game.
I watched his stream and he started playing Marie Rose but then he tried NiCO. Guess which character he played in tournaments. Isn't Marie Rose fun to play anymore?, nope, NiCO was just way better and that's why he changed Marie Rose.
