Is inactive players winning healthy for the scene?
The top 8-9ish players in my head can roughly be sorted into the "active grinders" (Zain, Cody, Jmook, Moky, aMSa), and the "inactive/semi-retired" (plup,mang0,leffen). There are some that toe the line, but most fit into those categories. Wizzy pre-health problems was clearly a grinder and still wants to play a lot, and hbox enters tournaments but spends more time on streaming and Juantent than improving his gameplay. The inactive players attend tournaments maybe once every month or so, or even less. They're not constantly streaming their grind the way the active grinders are. Or at least, that's the impression I get, and I'm happy to be wrong. Please correct me if this starting evaluation is off.
It's no coincidence the inactive top players are the more senior ones. They have years of grinding under their belts, amazing mental, and an optimized playstyle that doesn't need quite as much techskill (not to say they don't have techskill, I'm not trying to sleep on any of them). But there's undoubtedly a difference.
Is it bad for the scene that these players like plup and leffen can come out of nowhere and still win tournaments? I thought there was a period in 2021-2022ish where everyone was saying "the top 20-30 is so cracked, if you're slightly off your game at ALL you'll get eaten up". Yet these players should be off their games. They don't put in the effort in the modern era, and are riding off their effort put in at previous points. Is it healthy for our scene that this is the case, or is it more hype to see their return than anything? I feel strange seeing the active grinders put in so much work every day only to be dunked on by a strive player/plup/mang0 who's been streaming other games for the past month. Hbox talks about how he can go weeks without picking up a controller and then still place 4th at a supermajor.
I'm not trying to imply the less active players don't deserve it, just trying to see if anyone else has this nagging feeling like melee tournaments are being won by people who aren't as dedicated as they once were, and those who currently have that dog and should be doing better from their grind aren't. Sorry if this is just another reddit take