The key to playing Ganondorf well is to play him like a tank. You have to get in the fray in order to see the setups and then just adjust to whatever move has the highest knock back. Sure you risk taking high amounts of damage, but the guy's so sturdy it takes a hell of a hit to KO him before a certain point.
And yes, the UpA Smash is brilliance. My favorite trick though is to stay at an edge of the stage, use his Down Smash then as the character is floating in the air trying to get back to land, I jump after them and spike. Still I'm sure you saw that and a lot more from tonight's matches.
