Sometimes all it takes is just not fanning the flames...
(Tips and Tricks was consolidated under Gameplay, right?)
Meaning to try out the new champ select in a normal match, I accidentally wound up in a ranked match. I wasn't prepared for this, so my nerves were getting the best of me at first. However, since it's only pre-season, I thought I'd give Poppy support (a new go-to of mine) its first go in ranked. It wasn't meant to be, as someone on the other team stole her away from me, choosing to jungle with her. But, surprise of all surprises, Tahm Kench made it through bans. I considered picking someone like Lulu for the synergy with Yasuo, yet I couldn't not pull the trigger on my favorite champion.
From there, things became bleak rather quickly. First the load screen freezes with all of us at 100% and I need to restart the client to get in the match (40+ seconds in). Then it turns out our Lee Sin is AFK, which doesn't change for the entirety of the match. On top of that, our Swain top is toxic and our Yasuo mid isn't much better, both wanting to just write the match off and be done with it. Despite all this, we stayed pretty much even in the early going...
And then their team imploded. Both our teams had toxic players, but whereas Twitch and I barely said a word in response to our teammates, their bickering carried over into all chat. Before long, they were conceding defeat to us in all chat and their Vel'Koz support, the most toxic of all, was going AFK. We wound up winning convincingly and, to top it all off, I had my first confirmation of a successful report since getting one back when the instant feedback system first went live. Not sure if it was for Lee Sin or Vel'Koz, but I'm just happy (at least) one of them got what they deserved.
So, in short, not fueling the fire can sometimes be the only difference between a disastrous defeat and a surprising victory. Don't waste any energy on toxic players. I know from experience that, no matter how you go about talking to them, you'll always be better off just muting them and keeping quiet.
