Play for the Year
I have been playing League of Legends for several years as a casual player, but this year I decided to take Ranked play seriously and really try to improve my performance. I am a Support main, and I had heard from others that carrying from the Support role is difficult if not impossible to do. I have heard all the complaints about Elo/Matchmaking hell, all of it. I want to share an idea that I think most people miss in terms of mindset, and I want to do that by talking about how I paid for college - playing Limit poker.
In Limit Poker, your bets are increments, usually capping at four bets, which limits the table's exposure to any one hand hurting their bankroll. If you were to fold AA every time you got it, and did that all year, it would hurt your performance and realistically, you may lose a few hundred dollars, but the hand is rare enough to not happen that often. However, if you were to accidentally place an extra bet, just one extra bet on Q 10, well that hand comes up more often, and isn't nearly as strong - you could easily lose $10,000 a year or more just making a single bad bet over and over again.
When playing League, while having a bad day or a streak of losses sucks (and if you dig into my match record, you know the last couple of weeks have been SUPER streaky as I pushed into Silver 1 and just hit Gold last night) it is easy to look at just a few games (like 4 or 5) and overgeneralize, good or bad, our play. What we ignore are that there are so many factors that can influence performance, but that over the course of a year, these imbalances have enough time to average out. Whether you like it or not, your rating does reflect how you have played, but the part we forget is "over broad stretches of time."
An accurate rating does not occur overnight, and if you improve, it will not fix itself overnight. You have to do all the little things well, consistently, game in and out to earn the higher rating. And I love that about League, as frustrating at times as it can be. This season, I went 7-3 in placements to start Bronze 5, 0LP. Over the course of 243 games, I have climbed from there to achieving Gold tier last night. But in those games, especially in higher Silver, I got bounced from Silver 1 twice, only to win a streak of games to get back into Silver 1 promos. I had to run Gold promotions THREE TIMES due to the most random series of things happening, bad team play, and yes, BAD PLAY FROM ME. I earned losses, but I didn't sulk. I watched my stream, ran the video through over and over again, and stopped making those mistakes.
I hope my stream and my approach are proof that Elo hell is a mindset, not a reality. You will get what you put into it. Focus on being humble and improving and you will improve. Focus on other flaming what you perceive are other people's failures, and do not be surprised when your ranking is stuck.
Your rating will not be made or mangled in a day. Play for the year, and focus on your fundamentals to find success! I wish you nothing but the best, and if you're looking for some positivity, consider following my stream on Twitch. Thanks!