My ranked climb: Mindset for winning

Preface: This season i decided to actually try and play ranked to see how far i could go. I've placed in silver for the past few years and was fine with that. I mostly enjoy playing league with my friends and just having fun in normals and rgm. I never really cared about ranked. I loved playing jungle, i would play anything in the jungle just to see if i could do it. Something started to eat at me though, i was generally doing the most damage on my team (even on tanks) and was curious how good could i get if i actually tried, maybe I should? My friends told me i could get silver maybe gold, and they tended not to care about calls i made because just like them, i was just a silver player.

Last season with dynamic queue i cared even less about ranked, so many people that were just getting boosted to gold 5 by their friends just made getting that boarder worthless to me, even if i got there it wouldnt feel like an accomplishment because i couldn't prove that i did it on my own.

This season: With solo queue finally back this season and my daughter finally being old enough that I could actually play a few games after work and during vacations, i decided i would put forth some effort and see how far i could get.

Preseason: spam the shit out of lee, learn to insec reliably, still got placed bronze 3. I was in disbelief and decided that i was at least going to get gold and just played as much as i could to get better. By the time preseason was over i could tell my mechanics were ten fold better than ever, which in large part was playing a champion that is more mechanical.

Bronze 3: I couldn't believe it, how did i go from silver to bronze even though i won most of my placements. I refused to believe it so i kept playing, knowing that i needed to improve even more to climb. So thats what i did, i focused on ME and limiting my champion pool to lee, Varus, and Swain (hec if lee was banned). Suddenly, i was climbing, and quickly, op.gg said my mmr was high silver, i was ecstatic!

Silver 3: Now I'm in my comfort zone, silvers were what u was used to, but what i noticed was that everybody (most) was gold last season, oh man was that rough, but i was able to at least keep up with them, i kept focusing on ME and my own improvement. Watch the map, i told myself, find and help get lanes ahead, farm hard if there wasn't an obvious gank. Keep your mouth shut no matter how tilted and don't let the ragers tilt your team. Also, swapped to Zac pre rework, simpler and more effective, you don't have to play a flashy champion to win!

Gold 5: HOLY SHIT I HAD MADE IT! My wife was so happy for me, i had set my mind to it and achieved my goal! By focusing on ME and what I could do to influence the game. Sometimes the ragers got to me. I would just mute them. It's when i saw them yelling at my teamates that i would step in and try to give advice to the person struggling. Remember, raging at a teamate is not going to help them do better, you're just putting more pressure on them. There are so many games that I've won because of that, the rager is tilted, don't let him tilt your team and you. Help out your teamates!

---Important part --- Today: Gold 1 71LP - i just kept trying, playing the game i knew and learn every game what the best decisions were and try to keep teams positive and on task. I'm going for plat 5 from silver last season. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't climb because you're bad and in bronze. I started in bronze this season, if i can do it, you can do it. Stay positive, whatch videos, limit your champ pool to simple champions so you can focus on the game. Most of all, BE A LEADER that even you would look up to. I don't care how mad you are, or how mad your team is, your team needs YOU to lead them in the right direction, to make the smart calls, to get vision down (its not the supports job), to take personal responsibility for your mistakes and try to fix them next time. Swallow your pride, do what you have to do to win the game.

Apply this to your life, aim high, set goals, be patient, think things through, focus on how to improve yourself, not on others faults. Encourage the people around you, don't tear them down, you dont need to bring someone down to your level, you need to raise yourself up to higher expectations.

Sorry for my train of thought being all over the place! But as long as this reached ONE person it was worth it.

GLHF