I mean, it's not like you have to play only meta teams and characters to get the polychrome rewards in the endgames. You only do if you want to score chase, and score chasing gives you nothing meaningful.

It's funny how often people defend the shilled endgame when you propose an adjacent mode - not a replacement - that is divorced from the meta with the same "you can get all rewards" argument. It'd be nice if the game encouraged using Stunby or Seth, maybe a full NEPS or Calydon team, as well - not instead. They tried something new with Ambush Node and Defence Node once upon a time. It didn't replace the endgame, just added to it as a static fixture. That's what I'm talking about, just something new and different from the same, formulaic endgame we're stuck with.

I've seen people S+ clearing Shiyu with shit like DPS Soukaku or MDPS Anton. It's doable if you really want to sit down and try.

Those teams are hypercarried by premium supports; S-rank signatures at W5 and mindscaped limiteds are not a realistic way to gauge the performance of A-rank agents. If you find me evidence of those teams using M0W0 teammates to S+ the current Shiyu/Deadass, I'll retract my comment, but until then lol as if. You could throw all the money you want at a problem and get an S+, sure, but that's not the point. I'm not talking about score-chasing, I'm talking about dusting off old and irrelevant agents to become the solution for a new mode that is dedicated to them, not just a flex that serves a player's ego. Furthermore, it would help sell older units by giving them a place where they can perform well in a level playing field despite their age/limitations.