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Who's to blame for this loss?

Zero Shingetsu·8/26/2017, 3:53:22 PM·2 votes·532 views

We had a bad game. All of us, except maaaaaybe Lux.

But the loss was all my fault, because I had 12 deaths. Let's just ignore my 10 assists, I had 12 deaths, so it's all on me.

Ahri went 2/8/2 to Zed. Galio went 0/5 to Ekko, and 0/7/4 overall. I never went mid or top. Quinn overextended several times and fed Miss Fortune, trying to get her under turret.

But she's not the reason we lost botlane. I'm the reason we lost botlane. I am not, however, the reason we lost the game.

I say this not because I'm offended that my entire team blamed me and me alone for the loss. I couldn't care less what this community thinks of me. Save for a couple of people here and there, it hasn't earned the pleasure of my consideration. Instead I say this for the community at large, because there's an important lesson too many overlook.

You know what I do after a horrible loss? I download the replay, and I watch every one of my deaths again. I evaluate what I did wrong and how I could have avoided it. If there were any close exchanges I lost, I watch those a few times and determine how I might've edged it out.

Because that's what you do when you lose. You learn. Any actual athlete (I learned this as early as middle school when my senpai set me straight about victory and defeat) will tell you that losses teach you more than victories. If you won, you did most things right. If you lost, there's a lot more you can improve on. If you want to improve, you own your mistakes, study them, and correct them.

Almost no one does that in League. The mentality is "I'm a ****ing beast, so it must be my team. Who has a lot of deaths...? AHA! It's YOU. It's YOUR fault. YOU started this fire," to quote my Quinn. If you assume this, and you deflect the blame for your own missteps on your team, you'll be locked in a continual cycle of okay victories and terrible defeats.

We were all bronze. The difference is that I think I'm still in bronze because I have a lot to learn. The rest of my team thinks they're still in bronze because bronze is just sooooo heavy, and they can't carry garbage teams. And that's why they'll be in bronze for a long, long time.

So in summary, this is a team game. Like it or not, the loser you got queued with is your teammate for the next ~40 minutes. If you lose, it's not his fault. It's yours. Every individual is accountable for their own play. In my most recent loss, I blame myself. Objectively, on the macro scale, was it all my fault? No. But I had a hand in it. When you lose, you have to assume it's your fault, no matter how well you played. If you went 30/0 and you somehow managed to lose, that's not on your team. That's on you. Maybe you chased kills and didn't push objectives enough. Maybe your aggressive pursuit of kills left your teammates behind in gold and experience. Figure out what you could have done better, and do it next time.

No matter how well you think you did, a loss is always partially your fault, and you won't raise your win rate until you accept that and adapt.

6 Comments

Alpha Samsuni8/26/2017, 3:56:55 PM1 votes

Blame Aatrox

CithriaC8/26/2017, 4:16:38 PM1 votes

This is true, especially in bronze games, even in silver, when I die, I notice and realize that I shouldn't of died if I was better at the game, whether that's true or not, I'm climbing so I guess I'm right.

Even if you end up doing the best in you team, unless your teammates were outright feeding/trolling, you might of been able to change the game by roaming to their lane and helping them out.

LiteUpSketchers8/26/2017, 4:30:30 PM1 votes

Rule number one of league is to blame other people, they were just following said rule, carry on.

TryMucinex8/26/2017, 5:15:21 PM1 votes

Even if a game is a win, you should, in details, see why and how you win in the same way as a loss.

I'm in Diamond 5, but I think unlike other, I do not feel at "home". In other words, I don't think I belong there. I could be wrong. Maybe I don't recognize my own ability. If that's the case, I have the potential to improve by knowing what's going on xD. There are many cases where it's very hard to find my mistakes or the cause of my success in-game outside of mechanical skills. I do not know what to look for, perhaps? At the moment, I think I need another set of eyes to point out what's wrong or how I win.

Because that's what you do when you lose. You learn. Any actual athlete (I learned this as early as middle school when my senpai set me straight about victory and defeat) will tell you that losses teach you more than victories. If you won, you did most things right. If you lost, there's a lot more you can improve on. If you want to improve, you own your mistakes, study them, and correct them.

I strongly disagree with most of this. Learning from a victory can seriously show you a whole new scope to look at and learn from. For example, recognizing if you're a player that was probably flying under their teammates' wing the whole game, believing he/she was the star of the game. Pride/self-absorbency can be a hindrance to mental development/self-improvement.

I personally believe blaming, in this game, is useless and only serves for the selfishness of others... to tend to their mental state (for example, defending yourself from other insulting blames) and relieve themselves of stress (the wrong way). Mistakes are everywhere, and there are no reasons to think there wouldn't be any mistakes made in any game we win or lose. It's not like we play like professionals xP.