wool rushing is not an issue, you just aren't playing correctly

I've seen a lot of people (creators and fans alike) complain about wool rushing. saying stuff like "its so boring" and "wheres the battle? its just box" etc (jokingly obviously, although theres obviously some amount of their actual feelings in the complaint). The thing is, wooling is not a good strat, because it is 100% counterable if you play correctly

For starters, countering the rush is much easier if you actually pay attention to the middle. How many times have you watched teams completely ignore middle, not even look over, then complain because the enemy filled. Your strat should entirely be focused around the middle, because its the entire objective. It'd be like if a team never focused on coin crates in meltdown, then complained about other teams mining them. You can also generally tell before hand if a team is going to wool rush based on their team composition. If the team has a strong pvper as their top player (e.g Kratzy, Purpled, Feinberg or Etho), they're not going to try and rush mid. But if they have a less confident pvper as their top player (e.g HBomb or Pete), they're more likely going to try and rush middle.

For most maps, the middle is quite easy to defend so you dont have to worry. but for maps like bazaar, graffiti and doom, where its a very middle based map, its important to focus on defending middle from wool rushes. I would recommend for bazaar, for example, that you have at least 2 people push to the side with easiest access to middle (the one with stairs and a pathway) and focus on what the enemy team is doing. If they're running to mid, you call it out and you're there and ready to stop the rush. if they arent, you can play back.

for stopping wool rushes, so many people do this wrong too. firstly, do not tunnel vision and chase after a single player. i know you're greedy and want to farm indiv, but chasing after kills makes it way easier for those at middle to fill in. For wool rushes, you should have 1 player hit them away from middle, another bow spam mid, and you should have 2 players mine into the middle to block them from placing and hit people away. if you can sit in the gaps where they fill, it is virtually impossible for them to ever win by fill middle because they have to kill you while youre hitting them away, you cant be knocked away and your reach is much better than theirs.

pretty much if you play properly, it is impossible to lose to being wool rushed. if you dont win against a full mid rush, its probably because you played poorly.