I think it is entirely accurate, and here is why. If you only attended States/Regionals/Nationals every season and go deep into cut 3 times out of 4, then that demonstrates that you were consistent from March onward. An important part you’re forgetting is that the majority of the tournaments over the year are Battle Roads and Cities. I’m going to estimate that competitive players attend about 10 Battle Roads and 10 Cities on average. This year, there were 3 States, 2 Regionals, and 1 Nationals. Performing well at States/Regionals/Nationals means that you were “consistent” for about 25% of the season (6 divided by 26). That’s not what consistency means—not at all.
Here’s an example. An NFL football team is “consistent” for 25% of its regular season. Let’s say it goes 4-0 during that stretch. Someone could make the argument that the team has been “consistent,” but that argument would be completely irrelevant because the determining factor of whether a team makes the postseason is performance over the course of the entire season—not over a portion of the season.
Now you can argue that the couple weeks before the postseason are the most important (just like States/Regionals/Nationals are most important), but if a team doesn’t perform well in the first 13 games, it doesn’t matter how lucky/streaky/“consistent” that team is come last quarter of the season. They’re not making the playoffs.
When you’re making an argument about consistency, you have to define consistency in the relevant time period. Defining the time period of consistency to be only States/Regionals/Nationals is arbitrary and ridiculous.
Worlds invites have never been handed out based on performances at States/Regionals over the course of more than one season. I think you’re definitely stretching your argument a bit far here.
While performing well over the course of States/Regionals/Nationals over the course of many years is consistent, it’s not consistent in the relevant time period. The relevant time period is one season. Up to this year, Worlds invites have been handed out based on performance in the current season.
I think it’s rather convenient for you to leave out the two longest tournament cycles within a season—Battle Roads and Cities—to make your argument.