Shroud was a good player around 2014-15, maybe even in 2016, showed brief signs of being a great player. Could not stay on top because 1. players kept getting better as years went on. 2. he did not put in the time necessary to stay on top. Those are the facts. shroud was at his best in 2015 from an international competition perspective. If you only watched from 2016 onwards, you can't possibly know.
People actually acting like shroud was a sanji level player, which is just false. s1mple bottom fragged/2nd bottom fragged in ESL cologne 2016 major final, and the Faceit 2018 major final.
https://www.hltv.org/matches/2292372/cloud9-vs-nip-esl-one-cologne-2014
https://www.hltv.org/matches/2296863/cloud9-vs-envy-esl-esea-pro-league-season-1-finals
also, I am not a shroud viewer. I hate shroud because he shit talks CS, but you cannot deny the facts.