Initial ranked provisionals

So I have a friend who recently got to level 30, and he decided to play his provisionals to become ranked. He lost his first 6, won 2, then lost his last 2. He managed to place silver 4. I'm trying to contemplate how this happened and I think the provisional system has changed. My understanding of the provisional system is that you start at 1200 mmr (bottom of silver 5) and you gain and lose more mmr than normal matches, with the first couple of matches being worth the most mmr. He lost the first 5 matches right off the bat so you'd think it would be impossible for him to place into silver due to the first few matches being worth more than the rest of them. But then he proceeded to lose 3 more after that, thus lowering his mmr even more. I have several friends that went 5-5 and got placed silver 5 and that makes complete sense. I went 7-3 and got placed in silver 2.

So my question is, how does the provisional system work? Has it changed recently? If someone could explain the system to me, it would be greatly appreciated.

TL:DR: How does someone get placed in silver 4 when they go 2-8 in their initial provisionals?