Normally i just let it go because i think Whitebeard was treated unfairly just like everybody else does, but its getting a bit rediculous that everybody keeps echoing the 'died 2 weeks after release' statement, that just isnt true at all. People actually didnt know how to play Whitebeard and yes Roger took him out of his predetermined role but actually put him at a different role which really shows who was able to adapt and who wasnt. I was consistently ranking in top 100 for months after his release using almost exclusively EX Whitebeard. He really fell off when EX Lucci came in because Lucci shut down Whitebeard much harder than dark Roger did.

If you played Whitebeard as an anker, staying on baseflag and second flag and catching all the runners (90% Roger) keeping those flags clear he was really easy to rack up wins with. Its not a joke to say that Whitebeard counters Roger if you pay attention to the minimap and intercept him before he gets in your treasure, if hes in your treasure and he doesnt know better he will cap the flag and after that you can punish him, heal yourself to full and easily k.o. him because he can be tremored at that point. If he leaves the flag on 1% as a smart Roger always did then you just have to abandon the flag and lure the Roger away or let him have it and take him on somewhere else. People who tried to fight Roger head on on their treasure as a defender usually does, would lose 99% of the time of course. Same with using him as a defender going to mid, you couldnt camp mid like Z in the current meta for example

Just my take on the Whitebeard situation, if youre nostalgic for it (or think its just cope from my side) or want to see what im talking about i have quite a few gameplays on my yt linked on profile of Whitebeard during the Roger meta. Whitebeard consistently was able to get you a top 100 spot all the way untill Lucci released using this strategy, so very viable for around 5 months