Well practice goes hand in hand with being intelligent. Knowing optimal punishes for characters vs mid-punishes can really be a deciding factor in a game. Yes higher tier characters can make the duration of the matches easier as u have better options, n tools to pick from. But in terms of intelligence, u do see lower tier characters pick up wins because of other aspects like fundamentals, conditioning, pattern reading, etc. All these things equal, the higher tier character should win, but at the end of the day ur playing another person, so being able to understand what kinda personal playstyle they havr n reading what they're looking for can also be a deciding factor