How to Turn Losses into Wins: Don't Mentally Throw.

So, something I've been running into a lot across two accounts (Laetus Stargazer on EUNE if you're curious for some reason), Ranked or Normals, is mental throwing.

What does that mean? So what I mean by that is what is referred to in gamer slang as "tilt". Tilt is the #1 enemy when climbing. Not Riot's matchmaking, not your choice of champions, not even what you're building. It's tilt. I have lost games that could easily be recovered if the team hadn't given up, and I've won games that should have been blowouts because of not giving up.

It is far too often that this pattern happens, on any side of the game:

1. Queue up for a game.
2. Get in lobby.
3. If it goes well, skip to Step 5. Otherwise, continue down the list.
4. See teammates already arguing. If your teammates aren't fighting each other, then odds are in your favor that your enemies might very well be arguing instead.
5. Load into game.
6. At least one lane goes poorly, usually the jungle with them (but not always). The blame game begins. 7) Someone attempts to forfeit. Whether or not it succeeds, that person is clearly tilted off the planet and generally stays that way until game end.

And therein lies the problem. Yes, losing your lane is cause to be upset, but the worst thing you can do at that moment is lash out or believe that there is no hope. Especially in Ranked games, there is always hope, and with a bit of teamwork, you can pull the game back pretty easily.

Let's look at a game I played not an hour ago: https://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/3284619366/215695406?tab=overview

Early on, bot lane was gone, and I mean gone. I was doing poorly, MF wasn't helping, Karma was really good, and Tristana was abusing her power lead. By the time I'm 0/2 (due to poor decision making on my part, I admit), MF has given up and started flaming. I simply muted her and continued playing, just staying back and taking potshots at Karma and Trist if they got too close. Zoe was already attempting to forfeit, claiming "I'm on a 3 second delay, just ff so I can fix the issue" (which was patently false if you watch the replay; Zoe's responding too quickly to the situations as they arise to be on a delay or lagging out). I was the only one preventing the two early surrender votes from going through. So, Shyvana and Riven decided to group and we'd roll as a deathball of sorts. This worked. Despite more than a few moments where it seemed like we'd lose within the minute, we pulled through and took decisive fights, captured critical objectives, and ultimately won the game. Karma was very toxic in the post-game, and I can only assume that she was during the game as well when the tides turned against them. (I have all chat disabled, so I didn't see if she was spamming the in-game chat or not.) Tristana joined in pretty readily and there was quite an argument between the enemy team, ultimately leading to their collapse and a lot of really bad decision-making on their parts. All because our team's surrender vote failed and people ultimately pulled together as a team. The throw was very real from the enemy team, but it showed that some determination and a big red "NO" button turned that game around from a blowout loss to a decisive victory.

This showed me, more than pretty much any other match I've played in recent memory, that people truly are their own worst enemies (at least at the lower elos). Some of the people at my elo (Silver-Gold) are genuinely great players, and more than a few would be at a higher rank within a few days...if they didn't let tilt get to them so badly. There are external factors that make some more susceptible to tilt, sure, but that's honestly no excuse to explode and keep playing with no self-awareness. This just leads to a lot of mental throws where...yeah, the game could have been won, but a tilted player is their own worst enemy.

Break the tilt cycle. Get away from the game for a bit if you're starting to tilt. Spare yourself (and your teammates!) the misery caused by a mental throw, and take a break between games, especially long and/or rough ones.

Footnote: None of this post is me trying to be high-and-mighty "oh look at me i'm so untiltable, git gud". It's more of an observation based on years of experience (at least since late Season 2) within the depths of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and even a bit of low-Platinum (just from MMR), and even reflection upon my past with the game as a whole. Psychology in games is a fascinating topic, and few are as apparent and vicious as the effects of tilt. Think of this post as more of a layman's PSA on why a player can be their own worst enemy, especially in a competitive game like League of Legends, and why I've never surrendered a Ranked game, whether it was a clear-cut loss or not. Yes, more than a few games still turned out to be blowout losses and the denial of a surrender vote just dragged it out, but there is no way to know that until a nexus has exploded. All it takes is one good swing of mental momentum and a bit of teamwork to turn a hopeless situation into a win.