Interesting take on things, but I'm curious how you view talisman and his play style. I remember him winning a 1vs1 tourney by just going five volks, waiting for tanks then sitting behind each VP with sandbags to strangle out a long winded drain.
Then he would do the exact same as soviets but with Maxim's and more sandbag spam mixed in. That type of defensive play served him well.
Funnily enough i thought about him and "defensive" playstyles when writing these. But didn't know how to convey it properly. Mostly because we don't have too many examples to that extreme. One reason in CoH2 it might be cause you would drag games for too long which in the long run can mean fatigue as opposed to say ending games in 20 mins or less.
Most PvP games by design reward aggression rather than defensive styles. Because when defensive is meta, the game becomes "dull" and leads to player frustration.
Be it campers, fighting stallers or simcity.
Powers to him. I think having a "reactive" play is harder than a "proactive" one. You concede all initiative to your opponent and force him to try and climb or destroy a wall.
I might be wrong but i think the tournament Talisman won heavily played on Crossing, a map which might benefit him.