Richard Lewis released a 30-minute clip discussing the current state of the pro-scene, and the journalist believes that it is "garbage" at the moment. His colleague Duncan Thorin Shields agreed with him. So what was Lewis talking about?
The overall deterioration of the scene made G2 the better team
FaZe didn't have time to prepare due to the vacation of Howard, Nygaard, and other factors, NAVI only changed the roster, Josh oSee Ohm doesn't allow Liquid to open fully, and the rest of the teams either just changed their lineups or will play with stand-ins. Therefore, Richard Lewis believes that the dominance of G2 and Heroic is not due to these teams' skills.
G2 shouldn't be the best in the world
Richard Lewis said that HooXi hasn't improved at all, his statistics are at the bottom, and he doesn't cope with his tasks as a captain. The team wins only thanks to the firepower of three players and jks, which still doesn't reach the tier-1 level but has improved significantly.
Is such a situation on stage unique?
To some extent, Richard Lewis can be understood. At the beginning of the season, the teams didn't have time to solve all their problems during their break, and they continued to work on them in parallel with their participation in tournaments.
Many teams indeed have problems with the composition, but this is not a unique situation on the stage. Let's consider, for example, the fleeting era of NAVI at the end of 2021. Then Natus Vincere was literally the only team capable of winning tournaments. Then there was the problematic Vitality, which was already in the process of rebuilding. Gambit, which was not ready for LANs. G2, which was going to change the composition as quickly as possible, and the average Heroic, which was challenging to compete with all the other teams.
What Richard Lewis described in his video applies to any team era. Only now, there is a significant difference: at the beginning of 2023, two leaders can fight each other. At the moment, competition on the stage is what distinguishes it from other eras.
In addition, Richard Lewis took a very bad period. Not all teams are interested in ESL Pro League Season 17 and use this tournament to get in shape before the Major and allow themselves to replace players right before it. It will be possible to watch the real competition before the BLAST.tv Paris Major.
HooXi doesn't deserve such criticism
Richard Lewis criticizes HooXi too categorically. The journalist believes that the Dane is not worthy of titles and is not a top-1 player. However, the facts suggest the opposite.
And under the captaincy of HooXi, the team earned its first title six months later and then won IEM Katowice 2023. Speaking of personal statistics, HooXi performs not better than Finn Karrigan Andersen, whom Lewis considers the ideal captain. So it is strange to rebuke IGL, which has already led his team to two Major trophies and the title of the best team in the world.
A radical solution proposed by Richard Lewis
In addition to the barrage of criticism, Richard Lewis also proposed a radical solution that could improve the scene. The journalist believes the teams should abandon the nearest tournaments and focus on the BLAST.tv Paris Major so that the scene at one of the main tournaments of the year is competitive.
When will the next tournament be held?
The next major event is ESL Pro League Season 17, which will be held from February 22 to March 26. All information about the tournament is available here.
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