Do you believe in tiers (Super Smash Brothers)?

Tiers have been quite controversial in gaming. But the place I've seen "tier discrimination" the most is in the Super Smash Bros, series. Whenever I go to a Brawl tournament, all I see is a bunch of Meta Knights flying everywhere. A couples of years back, I went to a Melee tournament. And all I saw was a bunch of foxes jumping around. I use Kirby as my main, but whenever I hear, "Kirby was the worst in Melee because the tier list said so," I usually own my opponents with him (in Melee and in Brawl). This lead me to ask you this: Do you believe tiers and tier lists actually tell who the best characters are? Not just in tournaments specifically, but overall. Or do you just have to find a character to fit your own playing style?