you can literally watch any vid of old melee tournaments and you'll see okay blocking. Us as an NW race have EVOLVED to be god tier blockers
Melee is so much less aggressive because people don't fall for shitty dolphins and feints now and with the evolution of stuns you're committing suicide if you spam chamber.
Blocking may have evolved (fuck you, Godfried) but chambers fell off the cliff, attacking fell off the cliff, and so did movement. Creativity died in 2015 as well. New gens are better blockers than the average old gen, but they are certainly not better at chambering, attacking, or movement. It's just not a general priority anymore for them!
There’s still some nutty aggressive stuff that happens but most of the time that stuff just isn’t useful now. Sure you might get a kill off it but majority of the time you’re just opening yourself up to die.
I’d argue movement is actually a pretty big deal now especially for players like Maniac.
Timing the reach on stabs and moving in and out of it’s range etc
Ultimately like you said it’s less creative when it comes down to tryharding. People still attempt wack fun stuff in casual but when a win is on the line most players will bring it down to what gives them the best shot at winning.
Can you imagine 20 pedros jesus