You're the one who brought up 2023 first. Cryo was solid on Brimstone during Stage 1 of 2024, but outside of that short stretch, he hasn’t shown consistent value on smokes. He barely played Brimstone before that, and hasn’t played it much since. Same goes for Astra — he’s only played her 8 times total in his entire pro career. That’s not nearly enough to judge long-term effectiveness. And you’re wrong about Cryo starting out as a controller main — he started as an initiator, mostly on Sova, and then played some Skye, Reyna, and Jett. He’s played smokes agents only 41 times total, compared to 67 games on Chamber which mostly come from a single meta. Cryo is not a controller player, and never has been.
Also, what’s the point of putting Cryo on this team just to force him onto smokes? If you’re not using him as a dedicated Jett or Chamber, you might as well pick up someone who actually plays smokes full-time. Jawgemo can already cover Jett/Sage, and Less or Boostio can play Chamber. If Cryo isn’t on his comfort roles, you’re just wasting a roster spot instead of building a functional team.
As for boostio he hasn’t played Astra since Champions 2023, and 100T hasn’t shown any interest in him playing astra. If you're building a team in 2025, recency matters. The fact he hasn’t returned to Astra despite there being many opportunities where it could work means he probably doesn't want to play it.
As for Jawgemo — I didn’t slander him at all. He’s a fantastic player with strong flexibility, but his best performances have always come on duelists, and putting him on smokes or something else just takes away from what he does best.
Yes, Viper is useful in the meta right now, but this isn’t 2023’s Viper-Skye meta anymore. The current trend is Omen + flex — whether that’s double duelist, double controller, double initiator or having a Senti. Omen is the consistent foundation, and right now, this team doesn’t have a single player who specializes in him.
Lastly, EG 2023 wouldn’t dominate the current scene the way you think. Teams have gotten much better at anti-stratting, and the level of competition and tactical prep has increased significantly. Just like teams figured out 100T on Bind, SEN’s Split, or FNC’s 2023 setups they would figure out 2023 EG.
So tell me I don't know anything and I am pushing an agenda when you yourself are making things up and are pushing an agenda. Also personally attacking me because I pointed out that the team you suggested has role issues and wouldn't work like you think it would is pretty cringe.