The Bright Side of a Loss

Losing is, without a doubt, one of the most most disheartening events a summoner has to deal with. One could, however, argue that losing is one of the most helpful things you can experience if you want to improve your game.

When you’ve won a game, chances are, you did most things right, and those that you did wrong were either overshadowed by what you accomplished correctly or were too insignificant to make a change in the long run. In defeat, your failures become much more blatant. Take advantage of this! Find out what happened and how it can be fixed. The road to improving your game begins with correcting what went wrong and perfecting the solution to it.

Keep a game journal. Keep track of what you have done; do not just let it go to waste in the back of your mind, where it can be easily forgotten. The log can be as complex or as simple as you’d like; just include as many details as you need to remind you of what you should take away from that game. An example could be:

May 9 - Loss - 1350 elo - Ashe (AD bot) - Early lane went well, but got focused too easily in fights due to Warwick ult. Buy Quicksilver Sash earlier!

May 9 - Win - 1338 elo - Shyvana (jungle) - Other team’s Graves got fed early, spent more money on wards earlier and kept team from getting engaged on too soon.

Read back on your games from time to time and try to learn from yourself. You’ll find it harder to accidentally make the same small, game-losing mistakes the more you put in a conscious effort to improve and not make them again. The journal exists to be your reminder of your failures and accomplishments so you can remember them for later.

Learn from your opponent. If you got outplayed in-lane, chances are your opponent did something you can pick up on to improve yourself. Talk the situation out in your head when you’re losing lane, try to figure out how you got into your losing position. Try to adapt your play to the winner’s style later on, and see if that helps at all!

Watch the replays of your games with League Replays (http://www.leaguereplays.com/) and critique yourself and your opponent. Work to understand the situations you were put in to the point where you can quickly analyze them in the heat of the moment. Again, make an active effort to correct yourself later on, as knowing is only part of the battle. When you can apply your knowledge to your play, improvement will come.

Remember, even in a loss, never give up! Probably the most obvious, yet most overlooked, solution is to carry on through the difficult. Take the Thomas Edison approach: “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Persistence and the ability to adapt and grow is the key to success. Practice makes perfect, so keep on trying! 

Many games have seen a late turnaround simply because some summoners refuse to let the worst of circumstances get to them. Don’t waste your effort playing and give it your all every time; you will never see any good come from your games if you do it half-heartedly. Give it your all; you have absolutely nothing to lose from trying your hardest! Find your groove, learn from your mistakes, and acquire wins!