your first point, SEN received an especially big blowback because they didn't even qualify for playoffs of their own region. i'd say more criticism should've been expected. your second point, of course teams are going to steal ideas and comps from good teams on specific maps, whether or not they win. what I mean is that you failed to associate specifically winning the first lan of the year with strat/comp stealing. third point is fair but overexaggerated, all teams have to deal with this at some point.
The simple fact is that Sentinels were just bad in stage 1. I have full faith they'll come back, but these excuses are shit.