I feel like this is a strange year for this post.

EG has a ton of great NA talent and looks very competitive (maybe slumped a little after lockdown but watch recent games, JoJo and Danny are both solokilling their opponents).

On top of that Champion's Que just came out this year. Pros seem to be loving it, imports are have been very complimentary on the quality of games there.

Third, I think teams are finally getting smarter to the value of quality academy teams. I think the focus on treating academy as an actual academy has massively increased.

And lastly, Peter Dun is here now. I think that man single handedly is increasing NA's talent development pipeline.

But in conclusion, I don't think you're wrong on symptoms. I'd just say that the medicine has been applied, it just takes some time to kick in.