My journey through the ranks this season
This is my story of my journey through the ranks this season and what you can do if you want to improve.
Little backround on me. Starting playing at the end of season 3, of course as a bronze noob. Next few seasons I didnt take the game seriously. Made my way into low Silver. Felt like such an accomplishment back then. I remember making it to silver 5 at the end of season 4 and being so excited. "I get to play with good players now!". LOL. Anyhow, season 5 I didnt take the game seriously. Think I made it to Silver 4? Dunno. Took a long break at the end of season 5. didn't come back to league until halfway through season 6. Think I came back right after the spring split ended in the LCS this year.
This time, however, I decided to take the game more seriously. I started watching more videos and reading more guides. Watching more streams and taking more mental notes. I became extremely self-critical of my own gameplay. I stopped blaming my team and starting blaming myself. I started thinking of what I did wrong and not my team mates. Instead of complaining "bot lane is feeding" I started focusing on "how can I get my bot lane back in the game?". I practiced and practiced in norms and finally when I felt I was ready, I went back into ranked roughly around the beginning of August. Did my placements, think I went 7W-3L and got placed into Silver 4. Hit the ground running and had a 75% win rate through Silver 2. By the time I was in my promos for Silver 1, my MMR was high enough to get matched against Plat 5 players:
I know a lot of people were getting angry about being matched against higher ELO players in ranked, especially as a solo-only player like myself. However, I personally was so excited. To me, it was a challenge and an opportunity to prove myself and learn. I won that game going 6/1/11 and damn did it feel good. My season 6 journey ended when I made it to Gold 5 with a record of 42W-20L by myself. I played 2 more games after I hit Gold 5 just so I wasn't at Gold 5 0 LP :p
So let me tell you something. You are going to lose games that you did well in. You are going to win games that you underperformed in. There are going to be trolls and afks. The thing is if you buckle down and really start assessing what you did wrong, what you could have done better, and how to fix it in the future, you will start winning more than losing. I will guarantee you that. Stop blaming others because it gets you nowhere. I hard carried games that should have been loses and failed to carry others. I've had trolls on my team start playing seriously because I showed them that we could actually win instead of raging at them. I've salvaged my teammates' losing lanes by going to help. I've handed over kills that were rightfully mine to teammates that were behind. You want to know how to climb? Stop. Pointing. Fingers. No, you cant win every game. Yeah, it sucks when you lose a game you did well in. Get over it. I guarantee you there was something you could have done better.
Focus on improving instead of focusing on the loses.
Flash forward to preseason, and I decided to do my placements after the hotfix. My MMR was ~Gold 2 at the end of season 6, so I started playing around that MMR. After a few games I found myself right in the middle of a plat game:
Again, couldn't help but feel excited! Another chance to play with better players. Another opportunity to prove myself and learn. We won that game and I did really well. It felt amazing. After that I noticed it had actually bumped me up into high plat-low diamond games. I honestly couldnt believe it.
I gotta say, it really opened my eyes. I learned more in the next few games than the hundred before them. As someone who started 3 months ago at Silver 4, I was now playing in a ranked game at Diamond ELO. It was awesome. Let me tell you, its a COMPLETELY different game at this level. I really started to see how many mistakes I was getting away with at lower ELOs. You really get punished for every misstep at this ELO. I finally started seeing the strength of champs like Lee Sin. I remember awhile ago when I was playing with some of my friends (also low Silver ELO at the time) I would laugh when I saw the enemy pick Lee Sin. Even if they somehow got to 5-0 and my friends were freaking out I would laugh and tell them "yeah, but its a silver 3 Lee Sin so he'll be useless in 15 minutes" and I was right. Diamond 5 Lee Sin is a different beast though. I actually was scared of the champion at this level. And I'm using Lee as an example, but a lot of champs are scary now. Playing against these high ELO players is really making me want to step my game up yet again to the next level.
Next few games were kinda crazy as I was matched into high Plat to high Diamond players:
And wow what a difference. In all of my time playing LoL I've never been more humbled. Normally when I play against other people I can see things I could have done better or what I should have done instead. However, seeing these Diamond 2 players play I could help but think "these players are on a different level than me". I'm under no illusion that I'm on the same level as the Diamond players I was playing with, but I did my best and carried my weight for the most part. Let me tell you, its not even close to the same thing as watching a Youtube video. Actually being in these games is a completely different experience. Man, what a great experience it was though.
So that brings me to the end of my journey as of now. I finished my placements 6W-4L. Some of the games I did well, some I carried my weight at least, and others I got put in my place for sure. But man what a fun ride it has been the past few months.
I got placed Plat 4. Mind you this was after the hot fix. I know, some people are going to chime in "but its only pre-season" and I really dont care. I went from Silver 4 just months ago to battling my way through Plats and Diamonds for a decent 6W-4L series to Plat 4. I couldn't believe it and I wouldn't be lying if I said my heart didn't skip a beat when I saw it. You can make it too if you just focus on getting better.
That about sums up my journey through the ranks this season. Who knows what awaits me in Season 7, but I can't wait. Last season, Gold was my goal. This season, the sky is the limit. Lets see if I can make my way up through Plat.
Good luck to you fellow summoners. Make sure you have fun on the Rift as well.
[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]
I gave him AIDS.
