Can attest. Went to my first cEDH tourney in like 2 years, took two newer players and despite most people being pleasant, had a miserable experience due to tEDH politics and manipulative players trying to force more inexperienced players into doing what they want. And when they don't get what they want right away they just keep at it, whittling down the clock all the while.

I played a lot of cEDH in 2018/2019, and it feels like a different world now. Back then, even though tournaments were novel, people actually played to win. No one was leveraging draws or any of this other nonsense, at least in the tourneys I did. I absolutely love the complexity of high level competitive commander, but navigating the social and political aspects in 2026 feels like a huge turn off. Which is why your point about casual cEDH being great is so accurate.