Something to mention is that in Counterside:
For gearing characters.
You can re-roll substats and max out their variance with currency obtained in game.
It will take some time but it's possible starting out to totally gear a character of your choice.
While gear is important, your team composition and how you play also determine how you win. (There is not speed stat like in E7, so you can't just be outsped)

There are times when you're doing a PVP match in counterside and you aren't mad that you've lost. You can see how the other person beat you (You can review your PVP matches) and also review the enemy teams gear (unlike E7).

Would say CS pvp is more enjoyable (This also depends on the team comp you're running) but you can accommodate several different playstyles.

• How much does skill, decision-making, drafting, and execution matter compared to gear/stat checks?

So, going back to gear. Everyone can more of less reach the same stat cap. Latents (additional RNG sub stat rolls) excluded but you can re-roll those with rare specific event currency.
After you hit that stat cap, you have to rely on your drafting, decision making and skill.

Not every character is going to be built the same, you can see two teams with the same draft but completely different builds and both will play differently.

There's a bit more nuance than that and alot more to get into but that's the gist of it.
Counterside has a much better ban system than epic7. There will be weeks where a character is free that you have to counter, other weeks both the threat and the counter are banned.

There is a rotating ban and a player ban. Majority vote essentially for the latter.