kinda off topic and this is only relevant to the idevice side of the GST (because nothing can really change drastically in mixed), but i don't think most people realize that there's kind of a meta shift going on where for the first time in a long time delayers don't feel inherently stronger than everyone else for the GST

it doesn't have anything to do with delay or sparring though, it's the fact that everyone is using discord now and communication is the #1 most important thing in the tournament format, and if you're a delayer then there's a pretty good chance that english isn't your first language, you aren't fluent, or you don't speak it at all

2013-2014 was "push/make a wall" when people saw how strong it was for alumni mixed
2015-2016 was when full-delay teams came around and started using the timer every match
2017-now, the best teams are the ones that are communicating properly through voice on discord

so, right now i think a lot of delayers who have won GSTs (jack sparrow, pkun, sugar, mood) would not be very strong or do well in the current GST environment because they aren't able to communicate with the team in ways that others can, and as a result of that australians and western europeans are especially good (delay+can communicate properly) and non-delayers (people like kicko, mex, crime, noss, super, etc.) are capable of doing pretty well