The surging skill ceiling in Competitive

Something's feeling off recently. Although I'm slowly dropping in rank, the matchups seem significantly harder than they used to be only some days ago. I do not think my skill has just gone out the window. I've never seen this level of coordination, consistent individual skill and understanding of the game in my rank, which is now Gold 4. Even as I was close to ranking up to Plat, the game felt more forgiving and the room for getting away with errors was like a ballroom compared to today's dusty little space under the stairs. The lobbies also feel wildly unfair now - it's like the game is setting you up against people who are setting the new standard for the skill level of your rank. My question is this - does anyone share my experience? Can anyone perhaps confirm that this phenomenon exists? And lastly, how much do you think has the release of Marvel Rivals contributed to this? Is the group of casual players who drifted away from Overwatch really large enough, that the pool of more devoted/skillful players makes up that much more of the player base?