I only know what I know because I've been curbstomped too often by people with actual talent :s closest I came to winning anything smash bros. related was a highschool brawl tournament, and I lost in the final 4 against my training partner in a favorable matchup of falco v pit. I'm still mad at myself for panicing and whiffing my air back a and getting wrecked because of it, literally the fuck up that made a guaranteed win into a humiliating loss.
And game knowledge is my counter-balance to actual skill. I couldn't keep pace with melee players, I had to rely on keep away tactics because I couldn't keep up with a rush down v rush down matchup. Many a game was lost to asshole capt. falcon knees. Training with the aforementioned person helped me pick up falco and sheik in melee, and add dedede in brawl, but I still have to rely a lot on zoning and game sense because my reaction time is just slightly too slow to react to most medium weight characters.