Why Plat+ may not look impressive to you

So I often compare league of legends players to track runners.

You got to constantly train, practice is mandatory. Sure once in a while you get those natural prodigies, but even they have to put in some practice.

All to often when some people watch lcs games or high elo games through spectate they go.

"this is _______ elo? Wow what a bunch of idiots"

And tbh while the comment is indeed ignorant, here is why they may not look impressive to you.

Take a track runner.

Lets get two track runners who are complete equals in body, mass, training and speed.

If you pair them against eachother and they both perform at their top performance, which is equal. The race will end in a tie or be pretty damn close. To the average eye, these two runners may not seem so fast. The reason for that is for you just saw two people running at the same speed.

Now take one of those runners and put them up against some jr high school runner who is just getting started. All of a sudden that pro runner is going to look like a God and he will hard core win against the newbie. And you will go "WOW THAT RUNNER IS SO FAST AND SO GOOD, WHY IS HE SUDDENLY WINNING?!"

The answer is simple to why you said this.

All of a sudden his talents are much easier to notice for he is against weaker competition. The same goes for League of Legends.

If a legit solid player is facing against someone who is around his skill level, he now has to play more cautiously and more respectful. The only time he can do something flashy is if he either

A Gets jungle assistance OR B The enemy laner makes a rare mistake and he instantly capitalizes on it

However if you placed him against someone who was one or two elos lowers than him, unless his opponent is some hidden god in the making, he will now be able to play as aggressive as he wants and just completely dumpster said player.

He is now able to show off his skills for he is against someone who is incapable of fending off those skills.

TLDR It's hard to look strong if everyone around you is also strong

So if you ever see someone who is in high elo that manages to dumpster people in said elo, than he or she is a truely gifted player who is above even the best of the best. This is why we make a big deal out of players like Bjerg and Faker, they are players who are literally against the best players on the planet, and perform at a level that is even better than that.