i heard its getting higher but why the FUCK do i get people running solo smoke clove on icebox (or pearl, or anywhere really fuck clove)
everyones justification for hating clove seems to be "no util!!" but when chamber was absolutely dominant he literally had no team util besides 2 dumbass trips that u could see from a mile away (think they nerfed it to 1 trip at one point and he was still dominant, it was the tp nerfs later that actually killed him). the reason he was GOOD was because he had abilities that KILLED people, just like cloves overheal/meddle/ult. clove is fundamentally obviously a smokes agent but with actual fragging potential and is statistically the most dominant ranked agent especially in higher elos
the difference is that chamber had a free op, eco pocket guardian, and could teleport halfway across the map (and was good in pro play) whereas clove is a ranked warrior that has a low impact decay, a semi-useful heal which doesnt get impact 80% of the time and a self res that most players run away from. the reason clove frags in ranked is that you can place down your smokes rly quickly and then just hold ur gun out instead of flashing or placing stars (viper can do the same thing as clove on icebox tho)
Most people pick Clove because they didn't get their instalock and they just wanna play aggro. Ranked =/= Professional, I think that's quite obvious. Comps do not matter as much especially since the majority of the player base is not playing with the strategic efficiency of a radiant or pro player. It's also easier to have one pocket pick smokes and Clove seems easy enough for people to use since it's just tap and place 2 smokes.
This isn't to say other smokes agents are harder by a large margin, but you would have to know how to play more agents if you picked the optimal agent for each map (i.e.: Viper for Icebox/Breeze, Omen for Ascent/Lotus, Astra for Pearl). Clove definitely has huge drawbacks as solo smokes since the duration is quite a bit shorter than other options meaning your team has to play fast and aggressive especially on defence. Also, whilst the smokes after death is seemingly a positive, most players either do not use this or smoke randomly without communication. Furthermore, a lot of these Clove instalocks tend to not care about smoke placements so you end up with some sloppy smokes that benefit the enemies retaking.
Honestly, it's better to have a Clove smokes player than no smokes even in the least optimal maps. Just remember to focus on your game since you most often cannot change what your teammates do when their mindset is most likely run it down.