The Solo Queue Journy

So about 2 weeks ago I hit DMG. Was pretty excited..except, I didn’t really have any friends to play with anymore. My IRL friends were still Nova 4/MG1 and don’t play as much, my in-game friends were mostly MG1-MGE and there was a rift between two of the main guys I played with (meaning they stopped playing with eachother)…and so on. I decided to try solo queuing, and, to make it fun, track how it went. To be honest, it really was more fun when you don’t think/care about your rank as much. Anyways, here’s my journey (note all games are cache, inferno, and mirage).

DMG – Overall kdr = 0.9

G1 – Lose 16-4. I go 10-3-16. One player on our team went 0-9 then abandoned.
G2 - Win 16-13. I go 20-4-17. Had a player on our team go 2-3-23.
G3 – Lose 6-0: Team surrenders after one player drops after r1
G4 – Lose 16-11. I go 16-8-17. Other team had two LEMs, an MG1, a GN4, and a GN3.

Derank to MGE

MGE – Overall kdr = 1.2

G5 – Lose 16-3. I go 14-6-15.
G6 – Lose 16-10. I go 21-4-18.
G7 – Lose 10-2. Team surrenders after someone rage quits.
G8 – Lose 16-14. We have a terrible ally whom we kick in the middle of the match, almost make a great t-side comeback. I go 27-10-21.
G9 – Lose 16-11. I go 22-9-16.

Derank to MG2

MG2 – Overall kdr = 1.3

G10 – Lose 16-13. Other team had LEM and LE. I go 15-2-20.
G11 – Win 16-5. I go 19-6-8.
G12 – Lose 16-1. 99% sure other team had hacker, he had 38 kills (in 17 rounds). I go 5-3-14.
G13 – Tie 15-15. I go 32-4-24.
G14 – Lose 16-8. I go 23-2-14.
G15 – Lose 16-14. I go 30-3-18.
G16 – Lose 16-3. I go 6-5-17. Other team had an unranked <50 hour guy go 34-1-5.

Derank to MG1

MG1 – Overall kdr = 1.3

G17 - L 16-6. I go 16-7-19. Guy on other team dropped a 40 bomb.
G18 - L 16-13. I go 29-5-18.
G19 - W 16-13. I go 21-2-20.
G20 - L 16-7. I go 12-3-14. Other team had 2 unranks.
G21 – L 16-13. I go 28-3-13.
G22 – W 16-12. I go 31-5-17.
G23 - W 11-0. Other team surrendered after an abandon and then kick.
G24– L 16-9. I go 19-3-18. Guy on other team had 44 kills.

Still MG1..but we’ll see for how long.

Conclusion? Solo queuing is bad for your rank (what a novel finding!). A sample size of 24 games is not the most, but despite doing well individually, I’m deranking rapidly. Yes CS:GO is a team game, based on team-oriented results, but of course you don’t get to pick your team if you solo queue..and yet you can get pitted against a premade. The system seems to reward round/match performance MUCH more than individual performance. I am curious, though, how many of these games were legit. A lot of the games had fishy players, and a good proportion also had several unranks or a huge rank mismatch in the game. A couple admitted to boosting, one “Admitted” to hacking (not sure if playing along with my team who accused him).

So yeah, I'm having more fun with the game..despite losing, because I'm not THAT worried about my rank. But, at the same time, this was a bit eye opening.

The Solo Queue Journy