Climbing the ladder: Ranked Anxiety

Season one. I finally reached level 30. “Ranked is open now… Should I go try it?” I thought. After a couple of weeks, the answer was yes. My first ranked game was with Vladimir. I didn’t win the lane, but played so passive that I managed to not get behind. How I remember the fear of making my team lose because of me. Almost no kills in that game. My team did lose though. Part was my fault, since I lost the lane, but it was amazing how no flame was made. It seems rare to me now. It was a nice team, for sure. I think my elo was about 1200+/-100. I didn’t even know if that was good at the time.

Season two. Again, ranked anxiety. I actually don’t remember how it went. I can see in lolking that I played mostly Irelia, and that I do remember. Don’t know what elo I got though.

Season three. Got placed in Bronze I. Blamed my team, thought that I was good, so I just gave up. Normals was my “forte” and quit League after a couple of times.

Season four. After about a six months without playing LoL a friend brought me again. When I was playing alone I was thinking, “well, why not ranked?”. I did the ten placement matches and got placed in Silver I. How happy I got. This was also made possible because I saw a video of Gbay99 that was about blaming the team insted of yourself. This was the time. Even with all the fear of messing up, I kept on playing rankeds. The result? Went down to Silver III. I kept trying, searching ways of how to improve, and, after months of pain (exaggerating a little bit), I was able to reach Gold IV at almost at the end of the season and Gold II before the season five reset.

Season five. Here we are. Four years after, what did I learn? That the way of losing this ranked anxiety is by, if it wasn’t obvious, playing ranked. But it isn’t only that. You need to understand that you don’t have anything to lose in ranked. You can only win: or you win the game, or you win experience (when you lose something, it’s because you made mistakes, and by knowing that, you can fix then, meaning, you are getting more skilled). You want to get better? Play! It’s free.

The other thing that may cause you to have this anxiety is thinking that you are in elo hell (article coming soon). But if there are players feeding because they are bad, or afk, or flaming, who cares? This is about you, and you only. The ones who flame are usually the ones who won’t climb because they are the ones who think that don't make mistakes. Don't blame your team. They aren't the ones that you care if they climb. You are the one that wants to climb more than anything. So no blamerony, and by correcting your mistakes you'll be able to climb. And how amazing this is!  The more you climb, the less trolls you’ll find. So if you are getting trolls, maybe is because you are one. Climbing takes skill and knowledge. You won’t get there by being scared and not playing and blaming others.

If you are on the other end of the spectrum though, and you don’t want to make your team lose because you think the game may go wrong for you, don’t worry. If your team deserves to be on a higher elo, they will get eventually, just like you! Maybe is because you don't feel confortable playing all roles, or you don't main a champion. That is important, but not necessary (maining a champion this is). Knowing what to do in all roles is a must.

If you still think that you aren’t ready to go ranked, don’t worry. Just keep playing normals, and have fun. The more main positions and champions you have perfected the better, but it’s a game! Have fun, and learn. The worse it can happen it’s you learning how to handle people with a bad attitude. And this is another point.

Don't, I repet, do not blame your team, do not flame, do not troll. I you feel like you don't wanna play ranked don't. It's not an obligation.

Long story short, if you want to improve your skill, you’ll have to play ranked. If you have this ranked anxiety, play ranked for fun, don’t put the stress on yourself that you need to win, and learn with your mistakes. Learning from your mistakes and having fun is the key.
Good luck on the fields of justice!