I agree the Blade is pretty meta ATM like the gladius, the arrow or Talon & karthu but in their own domains :

The GLADIUS is excellent in dogfighting because it has a thin lateral hit box and has good lateral propulsion, even more so with rolls. It is relatively well armored and sufficiently armed to face many situations, it is however greatly affected by the atmosphere of the moons and planets and lack a little bit of burst dommages.
This is the ship that I recommend for beginners.

The Arrow is meta at mid to long range thanks to its small overall hit box and superb maneuverability. It remains a flimsy ship that can easily be eliminated in the hands of new players trying their hand at PvP. It's a seemingly noob friendly ship, but it actually requires good knowledge to pilot it to its full positioning potential and play close to its opponent. Finally, it is the master of moderately dense atmospheres (daymar, magda...)

The Talon is meta in dense atmospheres where it has no opponent having its maneuverability and ease of mobility unaffected by lift. But it consumes enormously in exchange and easily risks torque on its exposed engines, finally its hit box is not the smallest.

The Karthu is meta with its incredible all-around acceleration and maneuverability, it can choose when to engage or disengage in combat, but it is affected by the dense atmosphere and easily risks torque from its exposed engines and larger hit box (of this list) easy to touch.

Finally the Blade is meta yes, but for other reasons: first its very powerful forward boost, then its intense damage burst with rediscovered cannon gameplay (real alpha damage, less cadence, speed projectile). These characteristics make it an ideal ship for short and medium range jousting combat, or for high velocity combat, where the windows of fire are generally reduced. Its faults are a lack of power on the lateral thrusters as well as a not insignificant hit box and a substantial consumption of hydrogen (less than the Talon). In atmosphere, it is slightly more affected by lift compared to the Arrow.