Yeah, I really used to enjoy Plat Chat and Sideshow as a caster but something that I've come to notice after these years is Sideshow can actually be really entrenched in his opinions/takes. Like it can be entertaining, but sometimes it's just frustrating watching him shut down another member of the show who has a different opinion to him because he is so sure his take is correct (when that isn't always the case). It also takes a lot of evidence for alter his stance - and even then it's not really in true faith, but like begrudgingly - like the moment there is evidence that supports his original take, he is quick to switch back.
For example, Sideshow definitely has a bias towards a certain playstyle that he views as correct, textbook, 'perfect' valorant. He rates teams that play in that style - e.g. G2, XLG, FNC, etc. very highly. But all teams that don't play that way, he struggles to give credit to.
For me the last straw was probably his absolute hate boner for PRX despite how wholesome the guys on PRX are.
- He hates the way they play since it's not that textbook style - but this 'whimsy' is absolutely good for the scene. At the end of the day eSports exists to entertain - yes this can be through showing top-level perfect Valorant, but having that variety makes viewership so much more interesting. Many people enjoy a PRX game far more than a G2 one.
- He has made clear on multiple occasions that he thought they should make roster changes - in particular he wanted Jinggg dropped because Jinggg's playstyle is the embodiment of W gaming and a large part of what makes this team 'whimsy' (so in essence, again, he wanted a change in playstyle and to stop WGaming). Perhaps roster changes could have worked, but I always felt that the player quality on PRX is really good and the problem was more figuring out roles (okay fine, swapping a player is a quick short-term fix), meta and getting additional support with coaching, but more importantly, I, and likely many other fans, don't simply just follow whichever team is the winning one - but we follow for the love of certain players. Part of PRX reason for having such a dedicated fanbase is BECAUSE they don't just change a roster everytime something goes wrong - we are able to become invested in the lineup because of how stable it is. The first two points are literally why PRX has such a big fanbase as opposed to other orgs.
- Now okay the first two are somewhat reasonable, but what REALLY IRKS ME is how because of the first two, Sideshow is so dismissive of PRX. He's more professional when he's casting, but if you tune into Sideshow's streams that is just pure hatewatching (especially the earlier ones when the train was just getting started) - except it's worse than when like an ex-player hatewatches their old team - that stuff can be funny - but as a professional in the scene, that kind of belittling and straight up negative-bias lens just rubs me in the wrong way.
- Back to the entrenched views point - even with Sliggy's heads-up that this team may be going on a run - nope, Sideshow doesn't accept it. He proceeds to watch some of their games since he wants a front row seat to the train derailing - they exceed his expectations - but nope, PRX are still not good, their opponents just throw against them. He gets to watch them in Masters Toronto - at this point he acknowledges that hey they have some nice plays - but almost at every instance where he is to pred their game - nope, still going for the other team. Because truly giving credit (not just acknowledging good plays here and there) and believing they're good doesn't fit his deeply entrenched views.