|
WARNING: This is long and was revised in multiple parts quite a few times, so it might say the same things as earlier. Sorey !
Some important info beforehand for those who don't really play Rocket League: In competitive there's a division ranking system that helps with making sure you're facing your talent level (so you actually get better at the game). I won't go into complete detail or have everything, but it has several basic classifications (Prospect, Challenger, Star) and in those classifications are ranks (1-3 & elite), and THEN inside those are divisions (which are 1-3 as well IIRC).
Simply put, Prospect 1 is basically entry-level, Prospect 2 is able to hit the ball sometimes, Prospect 3 is people who can hit the ball consistently and make the rare aerial, Prospect Elite is where you can see people starting to do aerial stuff to a decent degree. Challenger 1 is where people can hit aerials solidly, and blah blah blah. Basically, Star > Challenger > Prospect.
Anyways, to the story...
When we started, I really didn't expect us to do that well. I didn't expect myself to do that well and Jimbo has never really succeeded in doubles (he was Prospect I). I can't say for certain if Jimbo cared too much about how we did, but I was coming in just hoping to have some fun and gain some valuable experience.
Jimbo and I ended up doing much better than what we honestly expected. We started off with a huge 12-1 win over some Prospect 1 scrubs, one of which RQ'd after we took a 4-0 lead a minute into the game. This quickly got us to playing Prospect 2s, which we beat by multiple goals as well. So after a few games of pounding on them and even beating a few Prospect 3s, the game decided "these guys are pretty good, let's really challenge them!" So in come the Prospect Elites.
Jimbo warned me before we searched for this game that it would be a really tough opponent since we had started 4-0, so we expected good. However, I didn't really expect them to be as good as they were. They were jumping all over the place and hitting aerial balls all the time, looking way above us in skill. Thing is, we were grinding defensively and they weren't putting their shots away. Jimbo finally manages to catch us a break and put us up 1-0, but I screw up on defence and end up OGing to make it 1-1. With ~1:30 left Jimbo manages to deke them out and score a beauty to get us the lead back. We couldn't believe it, since they had been attacking and outplaying us for so long. Unfortunately they tied it up and in overtime scored a wonderful goal that Jimbo had no chance to stop. It was an insanely good showing by us though, and our opponents congratulated us on a match well played (the only time we actually had that happen).
That match got us prepared for what was to come. We went down to P3's and got by them fairly easily, winning by 2 goals (they scored with like 15 seconds left to make it 6-4). That got us back to PEs, where we managed to battle hard and beat them consistently. Although we never managed to win by multiple goals (I think we may have won by two once, but IDK), we had worked very well as a team. For all we know though, we might've actually knocked Challenger Is down to Prospect Elite since we wouldn't see their ranks until after the game, and thus after they would've been demoted. Some games it seemed like we were playing Challenger Is, only to see Prospect Elite and be surprised.
In case you're asking "Why did you get opponents ranked so much higher than you though?" Well, since we were in a party the matchmaking was going to give us stronger opponents than our ranks due to us dominating them. Me being unranked also helped this a LOT. Since the game is trying to find out where I belong, it will be very volatile with who I get based on the results of the last match.
Amusingly, even with our 8-2 record overall and 5-2 record against P3 and PEs, Jimbo never once got promoted to P2 even though for all but two of the matches he was placed ahead of me on the leaderboard (and usually by a significant margin, since I was generally letting Jimbo score all the goals and he is generally just a better player than me lol). He actually ended up being in the same division as when he started I think, but more on that later.
Our final match before I got out of unranked was one of those two games I was ahead of him, and it was a great match. Jimbo had a solid statline too but I managed to get a lot of extra points and did outperform him statistically. It was a 4-3 win, I'm pretty sure in OT, and I scored the winning goal.
But the most important part of this story is yet to come...the reason I spent so much time even writing up this story...
I didn't know I was going to be out of unranked, I had completely forgotten how many games I had left until I was placed in a rank, and even then I expected it would, by default, place me in D1 to D3 and force me to earn the rest of the way up.
Turns out I was wrong. When I got out of unranked, the game decided that I deserved to be promoted straight to Challenger 1. Remember, Jimbo is still stuck at P1, and has never gotten to Challenger 1 in ANY type, be it solos, doubles, or triples. Jimbo is a better Rocket League player than me, has more experience, and was our catalyst offensively.
REACTIONS TO THIS:
"WTF?" - Anojan12345.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL #### LOL" - me
"I'm gonna lose my ####ing mind." - Jimbobucky
"ARE YOU ####ING SERIOUS?" - BMLGuy, probably.
"Sad :3" - Cap, probably.
Alas, me being in Challenger I didn't last long, as Jimbo and I lost three straight, which in turn caused me to get demoted in 3 straight games and dropped down to P3 by the end of the night. This wasn't exactly surprising though, since we had been playing for close to 3 hours at this point and had taken a break between doubles that honestly threw us off a bit. I was also starting to get rather tired, and Jimbo and I were both planning to get off fairly soon.
Picture proof of promotion: /zsmT6n8.jpg
TL;DR: Was unranked, went 8-2 in doubles, got promoted straight to Challenger 1 while Jimbo was stuck in Prospect 1, fell down to prospect 3 three games later.
RIP Koolboy123, Oct. 1, 1992-Apr. 27, 2016 ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ |