It really was covid. Once all the locals dried up, the momentum just died. No one has any hopes for online tourneys to be a serious endeavor, so even tho some of them were engaging, it was always with a lens of well- that prolly wouldn't have gone down the same offline.
Mr Wiz getting canceled and EVO being buried mid year was the death knell.
The MVC2 thing i mentioned, was local on some of art's modded to shit dreamcasts. It's great to know, even in 2020- ghetto tourneys in appartments over a dreamcast are still happening. Fuck esports.