I dont think its talked about enough but we arent having a bunch of new players enter the scene due to the casual experience being pretty much unplayable. I dont care whether youve won prem 10 times or are hardstuck open your first experience playing tf2 was quickplay or casual which are now dead.
Those players who have installed maybe 2 or 3 years ago and are trying out the competitive format for the first time just don't exist in the same quantity as anyone installing in that timeframe would have got headshot but cheater bots over and over and probably quit.