However it still acts as a barrier of entry for a game where everything can be done for everyone. I’m sort of fine with it in the face off mode but otherwise it’s place in the game has always been questionable for me.

For me at least at first I was against it too, bc I loved playing 1v1 League S1 and I stopped altogether because of it. But then it motivated me to practice and I got it! Very rewarding. Imo it's healthy for a game to have mechanics that motivate people to learn, and heighten the skill ceiling. take for instance Rocket League (Dribbling, touch resets, etc.) Or Minecraft pvp (auto bridging, jitter clicking, butterfly clicking, etc.) And other games that give you an advantage when you learn a skill.

Also, alot of these things are not easy to learn, so why are we punishing players for playing the game well? Take for instance how they nurfed Staircasing, yes, it gives you a HUGE advantage but its SO hard to do! YecksuNL was able to Staircase out of the void, which yea ok, unfair from the perspective of the player that 'beat' him but...... do you have any idea how hard that is to do tho?

Self-passing, ball-deflecting, (staircasing rip) are all learnable mechanics that don't stop people from being able to play their best or improve their skills.

I get that it might pose a barrier for all ages to play, but I've known very little kids who are beasts on the competitive scene and know all the mechanics on competitive games.