ESEA-Invite, the cream of the crop for the North American TF2 scene, has just witnessed the most one-sided season in its history. Froyotech has pulled off another impressive 16-0 season, as well as an undefeated off-season, combining for a total of 14 rounds lost across 22 maps played. The sheer dominance of Froyotech is unmatched by any team currently in Invite. And that is a scary fact to consider as Froyotech seems to be pulling away from the rest of the TF2 scene at an unprecedented rate, and appears to be unbeatable unless some catastrophic event occurs, or some massive NA roster shuffle takes place.
In my opinion, this is a massive issue for TF2 as a spectator esport. It is an issue when the battle for the #4 Invite seed and Intermediate Grand Finals are more exciting and unpredictable than the Grand Finals between the top 2 teams in North America. As a player who aspires to break into Invite one day, it is incredibly daunting to watch such an untouchable force have such control over the top division in North America, and while I can not speak for anybody currently in Invite, I will assume that it is immensely discouraging to know that Froyotech will come first place by such a wide margin to Ascent, and that Ascent will come second by such a wide margin to the third place team every season like clockwork (not the player). I think that in order for invite to be competitive again one of 2 things needs to happen:
a) Teams need to stick together and work harder to become better teams to rise up against froyotech.
Or,
b) Froyotech must distribute some of its talent to other high invite teams for the sake of good competition.
Unfortunately, as great as these solutions seem on paper, I see problems with both of them.
In the case of option a), TF2 isnt a full time job, and players have real lives they need to attend to, meaning they cannot spend all their free time on TF2. To add onto this, playing with certain players for long streches of time could prove to be a challenge, and personality differences may arise, causing a divide within teammates.
In the case of option b), people like to win, and once you win you want to keep on winning. I don't think its unreasonable to think that Froyo would want to hold onto its roster of all-star talent, and say "you nerds just need to get good."
No matter which way you look at it, it is undeniable that change needs to happen for Invite playoffs to be entertaining again.
***If I am wrong, misunderstanding something, or missing any details feel free to bring it up in the thread. All I wanted to do is to bring attention to the skill gap between Froyotech and the rest of Invite and to try to make Invite more competitive***