Vanilla H3 is hot garbage. I actually removed it from my mixtape and replaced it with H4, which is warm garbage.
Hardcore H3 though... It's legit! It's one straight shooting BR away from being excellent.
Classic fundamentals are the key to future success. Advanced mobility isn't the sole cause of Halo's decline - its just one of many symptoms of the franchise veering away from the niches it carved out, expanded, and dominated and veering towards a crowded space that it didn't naturally fit into.
Bungie's contempt for competitive halo didn't help matters. Its true, in the beginning console esports needed Halo, not the other way around. But around the time of Reach, a game that actively strived to be competitively non-viable, esports was growing and rapidly becoming the marketing force it is today. Halo should have been in the front of the pack, riding that wave, but instead, it jumped off.
The excitement around this particular tournament doesn't mean much in the long term. It is just one tournament, after all. But the whole HCS grassroots initiative gives me hope and confidence that 343 will be much better at being responsive to the community's desire for a classic outlet. I hope that translates into H:I's Playlist selection, if not the core design.