So I recently picked up Gwent in my search to replace yugioh and I'm thoroughly impressed with the game. I started lurking on the Gwent reddit and cdpr forums and despite mostly positive comments, much to my dismay I see that many Gwent players have no idea how good they really have it. I read complaints about poor balance and lack of diversity in the meta and I can't help but facepalm 🤦‍♂️ I will address these complaints and others I've seen in the forums so that maybe you can see how well designed Gwent really is.
First a brief history of my experience with card games: I played yugioh semi-competitively for 5 years but power creep has changed how the game is played and it really bears no resemblance to the game I fell in love with so many years back. Since 2016 I've been on the hunt for a game that could fill the void that yugioh left. I started Hearthstone 3 years ago but left after a relatively short span of time due to the terrible amount of RNG and the difficulty of obtaining a top tier deck quickly. From my understanding, Hearthstone has only gone downhill since then. My next game was Magic the Gathering and I'll admit, its a great game, but not without its own faults which ill get into later. I primarily played standard and commander formats of live paper magic. Very little MTGA. I'm also a professional poker player as my sole occupation, so card games are quite close to my heart.
I started Gwent mid October 2020, about 6 weeks back. I climbed to pro rank my first season playing a homebrewed Fruits of Ysgith deck up until about rank 3 where I switched to OH. I now play MO OH, NR Revenants, and SK warriors for my meta decks and mess around with Fruits and Force of Nature when I'm not worried about MMR (which is often since I dont have 4 faction decks yet).
On to addressing complaints:
"The meta has no diversity!" This one is first because I see it most often and it drives me the most crazy. Currently in pro rank I regularly run into: OH both devotion and non, NR shield wall, NR revenants, SK warriors, SK Lippy, SK battle trance, ST symbiosis, ST deadeye ambush, ST precision strike, NG lock down, NG imposter ball, SY congregate, and SY passiflora. All of these decks have a competitive shot except maybe NG but there are posts on here where experienced players pilot even NG to high MMR. That's 14 viable decks at the highest level. For comparison, in yugioh, there are regularly tier 0 formats where 60% of the field is the same OP deck and the other 40% are decks specifically designed to counter that deck. Gwent game design ensures this can't happen since you have to play at least 4 different decks to climb the pro ladder. Even OH with its ridiculous play rate last season was only 12% of the field.
"I want to play X deck but there's not enough support so I lose!" This is a universal issue with card games but Gwent handles it better than most despite having a massive obstacle in the way of doing so. Because we have unmixable factions, CDPR essentially has to create 6 different card pools and try to support each of them while maintaining balance. In yugioh, Konami can release a few sets supporting only a couple archetypes and then drop them and move on since they don't have to worry about faction balance. This means more developed archetypes in Yugioh, but it also means that deck you've been playing for 2 years is now power crept and has no hope of getting support in future sets. Easily 95% of yugioh archetypes are entirely unplayable and will never become playable again. We are very lucky in Gwent to have a lot of support for a lot of decks.
"They changed the effect of my card and now my deck doesn't work!" HA! Try spending hundreds of real money dollars on a deck only to have your main engine banned for the foreseeable future and see your deck turn into fire kindling before your eyes. 'Greatsword is too strong' CDPR- let's make it less strong. Konami- kill it with fire! Not to mention, Gwent has no rotation like Magic and Pokémon do. Rotation makes your cards that are older than a certain time (2 years in Standard Magic) no longer legal for play. So your fun meme deck that wasn't hurting anyone is now illegal for tournament play cause its old and they want you to spend your money on new cards.
"Gwent is too hard for new players!" I won't consider myself a typical "new player" but I was able to go from the tutorial to pro rank in 3 weeks without knowing anyone who plays or watching any streams. For comparison, yugioh is so complicated that even reading the entire rule book will not teach you the majority of the rules. If you don't have people to help you along you will NEVER understand the game fully. Not to mention, Gwent's reward system and semi-synergistic starter decks alow a new player to really experience the true joy of the game even in the beginning. An MTG or yugioh starter deck (that you have to spend real money on) is literally a jumble of seemingly random cards with little to no synergy.
"Net decking is killing Gwent!" Welcome to card games in general. I have no good retort except to say that every card game has it and its not going anywhere. Just because there are decks that everyone knows are good doesn't mean there aren't decks flying under the radar. When everyone is net decking but you're being creative, you will find an edge in knowing how your opponent's deck works and what it contains while they have to play a guessing game with you. In yugioh and magic, we call this playing a rogue strategy and rogue decks often achieve a lot of success. I've seen this referred to as "surprise value" in Gwent and it shouldn't be overlooked.
There are also many parts of Gwent that are very appreciated by the player base and are big parts of what makes the game so great. The reward system is unbelievably generous (i really don't know how CDPR is making money from this game) compared to other online ccgs and compared to paper card games its not even close. To have a meta yugioh deck will often run you $400+ and some formats of Magic are far more expensive than that. The graphics for Gwent are the best I've seen and smaller amounts of RNG make the game far more skillful than competing games.
I hope this little run down helps to make clear how good we really have it with Gwent. No card game is without its flaws but Gwent is easily the most balanced and player friendly game I've been a part of.
tl;dr: Gwent has a couple issues, other games have those issues 10 times worse and then some. Gwent is king.

I Use to think online poker pros were making tons of money, but after seeing some of their total profits for 2020, i now understand why many pros that i grew up railing are not around anymore, and why it's a difficult career.
Some of them would make more money working fast food than playing full time poker. And the money that they posted has not been taxed (depending on country off course) or doesn't include the cost of food , clothing, gas,rent, mortgage, health insurance monthly etc.
Off course there are rare exceptions to this.
I grew up watching online players like Annette_15 (she won the wsop main event and was considered one of the best online players ) she recently released a YouTube video and she says that she stopped playing poker because she just wasn't making any money from it and it was a lot harder.
I remember that Bencb (considered one of the top coaches and players) opened up about his earnings and he breaks down what he made and it was a lot less than i expected.
Brynkenny the top money maker in tournament poker says that the hogh stakes circuit cost 5 million a year to play. Which means many people would need at to win 5million a year just to make more than $1. He said himself (Joey podcast) that he has gone broke or was in make up many times.
Also when the high stakes gg poker cash games became popular last year that many well known regs lost there bankrolls. (Nikita said this in another podcast on youtube)
If you watch the top top high stakes players on twitch who play online (1k $500 5k , 10k , $200) they are spending multiple bullets in each tournament. Sometimes 3 or 4 bullets in 5k and 1k and even 10ks. If they make the final table (top 3) they break even for the day! The majority of online poker twitch streamers make -0 for the day.
I think poker is a great game, but it's definitely tough to make a living. Its a great hobby but if your thinking about doing it as a career, you have been warned.

Who am I?
A hungarian high school math teacher. I got similar training in university as mathematicians do with bachelor's degree. I believe I have a high level, deep understanding of mathematics, and I believe I'm capable to, and would be qualified to build a working MMR system for Dead by Daylight if I would be hired to do it. About my history with DBD, I have 1700+ hours in the game, devotion 6, pretty much all gained in 2020. I play both sides about equally, though recently started to play more survivor, and in general I prefer the survivor role.
This is a pretty long text, so if you are interested in the subject, grab a drink.
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What is MMR and what does it do?
The MMR system consists of two functions. One function assigns a number to every player. The higher the number is, the higher the percieved skill is by the system. Another function can take multiple player's MMR, and calculate the probability distribution of all possible outcomes of the match. For example, let's say we have two players with the same MMR value of 1000, call them A and B. The system should assign the same probability for winning and losing (let's say 30% each), and some chance for a tie if tie exists in the game (if so, that would be 40% in this case). If A had a higher MMR, these probabilities would be different, the system should assign a higher chance to win for A. These systems usually operates under the assumption that every player has a true MMR, and the system is attempting to discover that value by statistical analysis, where the samples are the results of player's matches. If B wins, it changes the samples in a way that the system should now think B has a higher chance to win against other opponents, and A has a less chance to win against other opponents, for obvious reasons.
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First, let me address a few common misconceptions:
I've heard a lot of people in the past months claiming that for several reasons, MMR can not work with dead by daylight. These reasons that comes to mind right now include:

• The game is asymmetrical (1v4):What everyone needs to realize is that there isn't just one MMR system. Any system that fulfills the requirements on the above paragraph is an MMR system, and you don't necessary need a 1v1 game to design such a system. You obviously can't just take chess's system and put it in DBD. For a unique game like dead by daylight, you need a unique system, and it's a difficult problem for sure, but it's not impossible.
• There is a lot of luck involved with maps, loop spawns, and there are a lot of variables you need to account for with luck and initial conditions:This doesn't matter at all and there are zero variables you need to account for. Like I said, MMR is a statistical system by nature, and the sample on that are your matches. In other words, your performance isn't judged by one match, but a large number of matches. In tournaments, this would be an issue, but it's not an issue that concerns an MMR system in a popular online game. The reason for this is the law of large numbers. Luck element evens out in a large number of games. This is why even though poker has a high luck element, there is still a competitive scene for it, and better players consistently bring better results. They have to learn not to be concerned by luck, because over a large number of games, your expected number of unlucky streaks will be equal to the number of lucky streaks. There is no reason why the same concept wouldn't work for DBD.
• Your results are heavily dependent on what items and addons you bring:There is a small grain of truth to this. While I can bring up the law of large numbers to debunk this too, you technically can funnel bloodpoints through different killers. Play Hag with no addons, and buy all iri heads with Huntress. There are two reasons why I'm not concerned about this. First: I don't think there would be an epidemic of this happening, in fact, I think this would be quite rare. Just like how last second swap for survivors are kinda scummy, but that's not common either. This would be a concern to keep an eye on, but not game breaking enough to render the MMR system itself broken. It would still serve it's purposes described in the first paragraph. The second reason why I'm not concerned is that the solution for this is simple. Just make bloodpoints not global. Then the Huntress mains won't have enough bloodpoints to bring iri head combo for every game, and the law of large numbers shall save the day again. You will meet huntresses with stronger than average addons about the same number of times as you meet huntresses with weaker than average addons.
• SWF teams are not the same as solo queue-ers, because they have informational advantage with communication, and there can be a huge skill difference between swf members, making it impossible for mmr to operate:This is probably the harders challenge the designer of the MMR system has to overcome, but I have to say again, it's not impossible. They have plenty of data to analyze how the results are expected to change when SWF's are involved, and they can filter this data by all variables involved: number of people in the party, average skill level, and the spread of their skill level (spread basically describes how far apart the friends are in skill rating). Then you can use this data to incorporate it in the MMR.

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Next, I'll address the elephant in the room. Why MMR instead of an other system?
An MMR system has advantages and disadvantages, and it's debatable whether or not this is the best one. You don't necessarily need MMR to create a successful ranking system or a successful matchmaking system, there are many ways to come up with a system where higher skill will correlate with a higher rating. MMR's advantage is that it's the most accurate system for popular online games that a lot of people play and people play a lot. It's disadvantage is that it's also one of the most complicated systems. However, I am in favor of MMR systems, and I think the downsides are not that bad at all. Everyone will be able to understand that higher MMR = I'm better according to the system. Games like Brawhalla or Overwatch also assign ranks to MMR ranges, making it even easier to swallow.
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What do I think about DBD implementing MMR system?
I just hope they are implementing it correctly. Mess up the math, misinterpret your data, and you create a mess. I believe there are several requirements for an MMR and matchmaking system to improve player experience:

• The devs need to define a clear win condition. In chess, you win if your opponent can't prevent capture of king. In League of Legends, you win if you destroy your enemy team's nexus before they destroy yours. What is the win condition on DBD? Some say it revolves around kill count, some say it revolves around hook count (or hook stages), some say it revolves around pips. What if player A and player B have the same true MMR, but they play by different rules? Player A wants to kill as many survivors as possible, Player B wants to go through as many hook stages as possible. Player A therefore thinks hooking two survivors 6 times, and leaving the rest alone, is better than hooking every player twice. Player B will think hooking everyone twice but making everyone survive is better than having 6 hooks but two kills. Whatever system the devs will choose, despite having equal skill, the system will prefer one of these players simply because the other player is unaware of the rules.
• Survivors need to be treated as a team, not as individuals. What I mean by this: If one survivor wins, then every survivor wins, and if one survivor loses, everyone loses. I understand that not everyone in a survivor team will have the same skill. You sometimes have that Nancy on your team that does nothing all game, or sometimes you get carried by an absolute god and you just win by holding M1 or not even that. But unless you are in an SWF (which is, as I've said above, is a solveable problem), you won't keep getting that survivor in a match. It's okay for the game to give you both the same result for one game, because a worse player is expected to lose more games on average against the same opponent. Law of large numbers for the rescue again. Also, not treating survivors like teams would actually encourage selfish gameplay. Let's say, if surviving is all that matters for survivors, than that Claudette waiting in a locker next to hatch while you get killed, instead of fixing that last gen, is actually using a strategy the game rewards. If pips are all that matters, you could argue that sometimes sandbagging your teammates so you can unhook them later is also a strategy the game rewards. Like with bloodpoint funneling, I wouldn't expect an epidemic of this happening, but it would still be a flaw to the system to keep an eye for. The solution of treating survivors as a team is both more simple, and more effective, because then you can truly calculate a team MMR for survivors to compare the killer's MMR to (it's not obvious how you would calculate that btw, this is another thing you would need data available to bhvr for).
• Matches should be 0 sum games. Which means if the killer wins, the survivors lose, and if survivors wins, then killer loses. If it's a tie, then it's a tie for everyone. There are two reasons for this. If you could achieve that everyone wins, then that makes the system subject to exploitation by farming. Meta could become survivors and killers working together to raise their MMR to a value they don't deserve. This would make the system heavily inaccurate. Even besides that, it's hard to imagine how a game, that allows opposing teams to both win, adjust MMR rating. While it's possible that both a survivor and a killer did very well, the game should end with it declaring which player won that particular round. If the game really can't decide, that's clearly a tie.
• Matchmaking should be strict with taking MMR into account. This technically isn't MMR territory, but matchmaking territory. A proper MMR system can handle uneven matchups. If a heavily disadvantaged team loses, they won't lose much MMR, and the winner won't gain much MMR. If a heavily disadvantaged team wins, which is very unlikely, they will gain a lot of MMR, and the winner will lose a lot of MMR. All this keeps the MMR system accurate. However, if the majority of games are uneven, the games will become incredibly unfun. You not suffering a lot of MMR penalty is no consolation when you had to sit through a game that you had next to no chance of winning all along.
• Some sort of rating by the game must be visible. Either display your MMR score itself, some other score that correlates with MMR, your placement on your leaderboard, or a bracket the game puts you in based on the range of MMR. Technically, again, this isn't needed for MMR system to work, but this is a good way for players to compare themselves to friends and others (something which many player desires), and it also gives verifyability to the system. Hiding MMR and giving no indication for it is a bummer at best and shady at worst. If we don't get this, we can't tell if everything else needed for the system to work (besides clearly stated rules) is implemented.

Most of these info will be hidden, but if they tell us the win condition, and give us some indication of your skill level, then I will have faith in the system until I have a reason to doubt it (we will know if the rest of these are true or not if we are given these two things). If BHVR doesn't give us these two things, especially the win condition, then I won't have faith in the system, as I don't think a working system is possible under these circumstances. It needs to be said though: the previous system was not perfect either, and even if this system will also be clearly and completely flawed, it's still up in the air which system will be less bad.
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Why did the old rank/pip/emblem system failed?
Because it didn't do many things that are needed for a good ranked system. While it gave us a clear win condition (although I didn't like it as it was too complicated and didn't necessarily lead to survivors playing in a way that leads to more escapes, and didn't necessarily lead to killers hooking people more), it wasn't a 0 sum game, and it didn't treat survivors as a team. A killer that wins the game with 0-4 hooks were not promoted, and this always baffled me. The game told to a killer that just obliterated a supposedly similarly ranked team, that they are not good enough to face better survivors. Which leads to that killer being matched with the same skill survivors again and obliterating them again. I hope the problem with this is obvious. You may think the killer didn't win the right way, and the killer could've/should've played around with the survivors to get more hooks, but I don't think prolonging the suffering of a clearly inferior opponent is a skillful thing to do. Besides these two rules being broken, the old system suffered (suffers) from another two problems. The weight on actions which leads to pips are arbitrary. A few unhooks and heals will get you iridescent benevolent, but it's far harder to get iridescent rating on other emblems. It also causes problems like survivors who already got iri lightbringer are no longer encouraged to do gens, or a survivor that already got iri benevolent is less encouraged to save teammates, and the game considers it more skillful to look for the hatch instead in that case. To look at killers again, the emblem system is actually biased towards killers like Wraith and Legion, and against killers like Myers and Plague. One-hitting survivors is punished by the system as opposed to two-hitting them. That means that even if it's harder to kill survivors with Wraith than Plague, it's easier to rank up with Wraith than Plague. The other problem similar systems suffer from is the potential overpopulation of rank 20 and rank 1 brackets. If too many people exist at the edges, that may mean matchmaking treats vastly different skilled players the same way, because they are in the same bracket. This never happens with an MMR system btw.
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Why did the previous attempt of implementing MMR fail?
In short: Only BHVR can know, but I have my theories. One guess is that the lack of clear win condition lead to player MMR scores being all over the place, like with my previous example where I described the need for a win condition. We don't know if that MMR system fulfilled the rest of the criteria (mostly because we didn't get any indication of our MMR), so I won't say anything about that. My best guess is that their MMR worked, because they said so that their system is good at predicting the outcome of the match. If this is true, then the conclusion from this is that matchmaking was the culprit of the previous failure. And like I said, a working MMR, the fact that the system knows I'll win/lose heavily, is no consolation of an incredibly one-sided game.
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How would I build an MMR system?
I would need more time to come up with the exact formula on how to come up with MMR values, and such calculations are not the purpose of this post. Let's just assume that the formula I come up with fulfills criteria at the beginning of the post.

• I'd tell the win condition. I have two ideas for this. 1) 0-1 kills is a loss for killer, 2 kills is a tie for killer, 3-4 kills is a win for killer. Anything that is a win for killer is a lose for survivors. Anything that is a lose for killer is a win for all survivors (even the dead ones). Anything that is a tie for killer is a tie for survivors. With this, I would consider the game to suddenly end when there are already three escapes or three deaths. I would count disconnects as deaths, and reduce their MMR and give them the disconnect penalty no matter the result of the match. 2) Second idea is coming up with X and Y numbers, where any number of hooks below X is a loss for killer, and any number of hooks above Y is a win for killer. Between the two values it would be a tie. I would consider ending the match when the result can no longer be reversed, like too many survivors escaping, or reaching enough hooks for the killer to win.
• I'd treat the survivors as teams. The matchmaking should try to create a group of survivors with similar MMR first, that are also close to each other, then calculate their team MMR in some way (would need research using BHVR data to find out how to do this), then find a killer fitting to their team MMR. Adjust for SWF's according to another research done with internal data.
• Create MMR brackets (like, brown, yellow, green, purple, iridescent, and make subtiers, like brown 1-5, yellow 1-5, etc.). Display that bracket to players. Iridescent bracket should have no subtiers, and should just display your leaderboard placement similar to hearthstone legendary rank.

Hopefully this take of mine will create more discussions about the topic of how this will be implemented, and although unlikely, but hopefully through this post or some other way some of these ideas reach devs and will consider them to create the best matchmaking and ranked system they possibly can for the game. Let me know your thoughts!
Edit: Fixed several typos.

Hey everyone,
I'm Phil Gaskell, (u: ripstonegames) Game Director on Poker Club which launches November 19th on Steam.
Poker Club is the most immersive poker sim to date, and the second game developed by the team here at our indie studio Ripstone. From multi-table tournaments to our Clubs community feature, 10 Texas Hold'em tournament modes to our unique PCC Tour Career mode; there's a lot to talk about so ask me anything!
I've also got 2 Poker Club Steam keys to give away! I'll be selecting 1 winner at random and 1 person will win a key for posting the best question. (I'll DM the codes on launch day)
Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1174460/Poker_Club/ Poker Club Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6WmDtb5t9w Poker Club Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn1I-BpD6Mg
Poker Club on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PokerClubGame/status/1328733627337805824
Join the Poker Club Discord: https://discord.gg/w2xQmwr
TLDR; Our small poker-loving studio just made a 4k 60fps poker game and it launches in two days, AMA
Update 8pm GMT - Thank you for all the questions. I'm signing off for the evening but will pick up anything new that comes in tomorrow. I'll announce the Steam key winners then too. It's been great chatting to you all about Poker Club and if you haven't already, please consider adding us to your Steam Wishlist ahead of our launch on Thursday!
Update 18/11/2020 - The winner of the randomly selected Poker Club Steam key is u/Goateelord and the winner of best question is u/R4MLETH4L for their question about the meaning behind Poker Club's name. I'll DM both of you with the Steam keys. Thank you again for all the questions, it was great talking to you all.
Poker Club launches tomorrow on Steam at 2pm GMT / 6am PT / 9am EST for £19.99/$24.99 and I hope to see some of you at the table!
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AEW’s Women‘s Division finds itself in a really weird place right now. For the past year and a half or so it’s felt like an afterthought and sorely lacking any attention at all. Now AEW have set up a huge USA vs. Japan 16-women tournament thats got a lot of hype to it, but Shida has been featured on TV barely at all since Double or Nothing still. The talent has improved a lot and they got a great core now with some very good homegrown stars like Nyla Rose, Anna Jay, Abadon, Britt Baker, Leyla Hirsch, Tay Conti etc. So my mission is to take this potential and fully capitalise on it. First we start in present day, and as part of the prompt all disappointing events up until now stay the same. With all that out of the way, here is how I would try and revive the AEW Women’s Championship and Division.
AEW Women’s Eliminator:
Nyla Rose vs. Abadon (February 10th, Dynamite)
Veda Scott makes her return to commentary to team with Excalibur and Tony Schiavone for our women’s eliminator matches tonight, beginning with The Native Beast, Nyla Rose, taking on...as described by Veda, “what do you even call that...” Abadon comes out and haunts Vickie Guerrero but Nyla shows no fear. They both rush each other and it’s a brawl to begin. They soon spill outside where Rose tries to take the monster down using the guardrails, before Vickie exposes the turnbuckle and she slams Abadon into those. She goes for a finisher to end it early, but Abadon counters and the fight is back on. Abadon comes back with a Low Dropkick and Enziguri before clotheslining Nyla out. She throws her into the guardrails this time before setting Rose up on the apron, hanging over the ropes. She dives with a Leg Drop but Nyla moves and she lands flat on the mat. Nyla then hits a Guillotine Knee Drop but only gets a two count. She goes for an Avalanche Powerbomb to end it, but Abadon counters into a Super Rana and lifts both legs of Nyla up to pin her down, 1...2....3. Afterwards Nyla pushes Vickie off when she goes to speak with her.
Abadon defeats Nyla Rose (12:11)
Thunder Rosa vs. Britt Baker (February 10th, Dynamite)
A rematch between these two women here as we unfinished business solved. The match starts with a Big Boot from behind by Baker and from there it’s off to the races. Reba gets a cheap shot from outside after Britt Irish whips Rosa and she keeps going. A roll up is kicked out of but she then flattens Rosa once more. Britt takes it outside where she goes to introduce Rosa to the ring post, but Rosa counters and knocks Britt in instead. She now comes back and uses Reba as a weapon, ducking another shot from her so she hits Britt. Rosa takes a dive to the outside into both men and the fight continues. Britt comes back with some shots to the midsection before taking it outside again, hitting a Snap Suplex onto the floor. That is kicked out of as Rosa flips Britt two birds and throws her around. Baker connects an elbow shot to avoid another flying attack, and goes for a Superplex, but Rosa turns it into an Avalanche Fire Thunder Driver to win and advance. Afterwards she raises her hand and wipes her busted lip, looking deep into the hard cam as Baker is down and out.
Thunder Rosa defeats Britt Baker (10:59)
We see the first segment of Hikaru Shida on this episode, a four part series leading up to Revolution. She is in Japan currently so they are filmed from the Ice Ribbon Dojo. This particular one begins with Shida walking around watching the girls train, and coaching as she looks on. She says in English “they are talented. They will become superstar.” We then move over to a tatami (traditional Japanese room, small with wooden walls, a paper sliding door, no windows etc.) There she sits down and is interviewed about her career with the assist of subtitles. She speaks of her training and relates to the girls she just saw there. She explains how much Ice Ribbon means to her and she’s excited to see their representation in the tournament. It closes with her about her finals days in Japan. She starts to talk about AEW, but it fades out and ends with a “To be continued...”
Leyla Hirsch vs. Riho (February 17th, Dynamite)
Riho returns to AEW for the first time in nearly a full year and is excited to be back in action, but she’s got some steep competition in her corner. Legit Leyla Hirsch walks out ready to kick some ass and take names, throwing the towel on her shoulders into the crowd as she walks and laughing at Riho. “She’s like the size of Leyla’s leg.” Veda says. Tony jumps to Riho’s defence we’ve seen her topple bigger and badder in AEW before, but we’ll have to wait and see. Leyla starts off dominant as she keeps Riho down with her submissions and MMA holds. Riho on occasions looks to mount a comeback but she keeps being knocked back down. Despite this, she keeps getting back up. Out of nowhere she gets a roll up on Leyla to stun her, before a Dropkick knocks her outside. She then does a Flying Crossbody to the floor! The fight is on. Riho uses high speed to fight against the power of Leyla. Hirsch goes for a dangerous Lariat but Riho ducks and hits a Headscissors into an O’Connor Roll to pin and win.
Riho defeats Leyla Hirsch (12:45)
After the match, Tony Schiavone tries to grab an interview with Riho about her win and how it feels to be back. She goes to speak, WHEN SHE’S ATTACKED BY TWO WOMEN! Leyla Hirsch walks up and puts both arms over their shoulders, as commentary reveal it to be Killer Kelly and Lindsay Snow! Excalibur says these two women took part in the Bloodsport Women’s Tournament with Leyla Hirsch months ago, and now they’re here in AEW! Leyla hugs them both Andrew all stand over Riho and walk off.
We then see the next part of Hikaru Shida’s video series. This time begins with her training with some wrestlers, and giving feedback before we go back to the tatami. She says she thinks the girls can be big once more, and name drops a few in particular that she sees as the best. She’s then asked if they could ever expand out of Japan like herself. Shida then leads this off into saying it’s not an easy thing to do. The girls can do it but she did it herself and it’s tough. She then talks about moving to America about a year and a half ago and how she’s felt, how she’s adapted, and what AEW means to her. She details how much it means to her to be here in America and holding the most important title in the world to her. She set out to break boundaries and prove she is the best to the American audience, and she did, having held the title for 9 months. She’s now observing who’s going to stop her, but despite the immense talent - nobody is like her.
Anna Jay vs. Tay Conti (February 17th, Dynamite)
Two best friends clash, with Tay Conti and Anna Jay taking part to face in the next round. Tay offers a handshake but Anna looks away to ignore it. This leaves a bad taste in Tay’s mouth but she pushes on. They lock up and it’s intense, until Tay gains the upper hand. She uses her Judo background to dominate until she tries a Tayogoshi. Anna gets out and gets the cut off. She wrestles with a lot of aggression to the point commentary question that these two women are partners. Anna shows no mercy against Tay with some brutal offence. Conti eventually comes back and applies some vicious submission holds. Tay comes back with a Jumping Knee before a Bicycle Kick off the apron. Anna then hits her with a slam onto the apron and keeps the aggression going. In the climax of the match we saw Tay grab hold of Anna by the wrist and cling on, as they fall forward in exhaustion and rest over each other’s shoulders. Tay wraps an arm around and they hug, until Anna hugs back as she slowly lifts Tay up. They stare into each other’s eyes, continuing to breath heavy, ONLY FOR CONTI TO HIT A BRAZILIAN KICK!! PINS AND WINS!!
Tay Conti defeats Anna Jay (10:47)
Yuka Sakazaki vs. Mei Suruga (February 15th, Super 16)
Exclusively on AEW’s YouTube channel, “The Super 16” is presented live from the Ice Ribbon Dojo. Yuka Sakazaki is someone that AEW fans are familiar with from her various matches on PPV and Dynamite. Since her last AEW appearance she has added more muscle, she's expanded her moveset, and she lost TJPW's top title. Mei Suruga meanwhile is one the smallest and least experienced wrestler in the tournament, being one of Emi Sakura’s many students. She managed to get a clean one on one victory over Hikaru Shida right before Shida left Japan. She's a 21 year old prodigy who's status reaches beyond her experience level. She has Riho’s style mixed with Emi’s influence, for a brief summary. This is a high speed match up, a common style in Joshi, as the two women fly around each other with high risk offence. Yuka does a Springboard to the outside, over the guardrail to take Mei out for a good bit. She mounts a comeback and goes for a finisher to end it, but The Magical Girl reverses and pins to advance forward.
Yuka Sakazaki defeats Mei Suruga (08:46)
VENY vs. Emi Sakura (February 15th, Super 16)
VENY is someone some of you might know as Asuka. No not that Asuka, back in Japan WWE Asuka was known as Kana and the woman now called VENY is now known as Asuka. VENY is a favourite of mine. She can do damn near anything in the ring, she's extremely charismatic, and is in her prime as one of the top indie wrestlers in Japan."Veny" was supposed to debut in America during Wrestlemania weekend 2020, but the pandemic put a stop to that. This tournament is going to be her introduction to western fans. Meanwhile Emi Sakura is someone AEW fans probably know after her match with Riho at Full Gear. Since her last AEW appearance, she's been surviving the pandemic in her own little corner of the wrestling world by regularly producing Youtube wrestling shows(ChocoPro). In recent months, she's been slimming down to more of her natural weight which helps her with speed and her noted back problems. She’s now faster and better than when AEW fans last saw her. This is a technical match up with the two women indulging a game of wits, trading submissions and holds. She goes to use her new found quickness but VENY matches ever at that and puts her down to advance forward.
VENY defeats Emi Sakura (14:32)
Maki Itoh vs. Ryo Mizunami (February 15th, Super 16)
Maki Itoh is one of my favourite wrestlers right now and that’s not a joke. She’s the most popular wrestler in the field and someone that Joshi fans have been waiting to see crossover to the west more often for the last couple of years. She's insanely charismatic. She's a limited athlete, but she's an excellent storyteller and shines in singles matches. She’s only worked Mania weekend in the States so far but we’re hoping to see that change. Mizunami then has worked AEW before, but that was such a long time ago that AEW fans have probably forgotten her. She's a veteran with an extremely high level of charisma and she will chop the soul out of you. Primarily a brawler, but also has that charisma to work this kind of match. This is set to be our character matchup as Maki and Ryo square up, with Itoh crediting herself as “I AM DEITY OF SHIT”. She credits “Cornette-san” as her biggest fan. They then go at it. Ryo dominates Itoh until the comeback, when she catches Mizunami out of nowhere with a Flying Hurricanerana to win.
Maki Itoh defeats Ryo Mizunami (08:41)
Aja Kong vs. Rin Kadokura (February 15th, Super 16)
Main event of the evening and it’s looking like a doozy folks. First we have Aja Kong, easily the most legendary name in the tournament. She's 34 years into her career and still going. While we aren’t expecting to see the Kong that was battling Bull Nakano in the 90s, she is still a very smart veteran and she is still willing to taking some crazy bumps in the right occasion. She’s wrestled in both WWF (Survivor Series 1995) and AEW (Double or Nothing 2019) so she’s no stranger to the big stage. Rin meanwhile is most comparable to Shibata. She doesn't have a huge western fanbase, and she's not a big personality, but she's the Joshi version of "a wrestler's wrestler" and is capable of having the best match of the tournament. She comes Marvelous who are basically the Ring of Honor of Joshi. They are more physical and technically sound than TJPW or Ice Ribbon. Rin and Aja have a stiff and brutal matchup with terrifying strikes from the two women. Aja keeps kicking out of what’s thrown at her, not allowing to go down to a younger girl. Aja misses a Senton off the apron and hits the floor which allows Kadokura to win. Afterwards they hug as we fade to black.
Rin Kadokura defeats Aja Kong (15:22)
Quarter-Finals:
Riho vs. Tay Conti (February 24th, Dynamite)
Into the quarter finals we go as Revolution is fast approaching, and kicking it off is these two women. Both are top babyfaces, with Conti having just come out of her emotional war with Anna Jay and Riho suffering at the hands of Leyla Hirsch’s squad. They shake hands to begin and we’re set. Tay has expressed interest in wrestling in Japan before, so this is her forte into the Joshi world. Once everything’s back to normal I’d really like to see her hold the SWA World Championship in Stardom, and potentially face Riho again for it. Riho uses her speed to take Tay down, at one point dropkicking her off the apron and she falls into the guardrail, where Anna Jay sits. Anna looks at her coldly as Tay gets back up, ONLY TO BE HIT BY A BACKSTABBER BY RIHO! SHE COVERS AND WINS!! Riho advances forward to the semi-finals, while Conti stares back, equally as cold, at Anna Jay.
Riho defeats Tay Conti (07:01)
We see the third segment of Hikaru Shida in her tatami speaking of her story. She goes into detail about Corona hitting and being stuck in America, and how she felt about that. She says all that mattered then was the AEW Women’s World Championship. So much stuff was happening back home in Japan in the Joshi world (death of Hana Kimura), and she needed to topple The Beast, Nyla Rose. She describes the match, says it’s the most physical she’s ever been in, describing each painful bump and how after every move she was more worn down. But she refused to lose, and came out on top. Since then she’s carried this belt, and hadn’t dropped it. Despite the level of talent in the Super 16, no one has the talent to defeat her.
Abadon vs. Thunder Rosa (February 24th, Dynamite)
Last quarter final now, with the winner going on to face Riho in the semi’s. Thunder Rosa - having defeated Britt Baker, and Abadon - having defeated Nyla Rose. Abadon screams at Rosa to begin but she’s unphased, shouting back and the two meet forehead to forehead. They then start trading shots as the match begins. It spills outside where they continue to brawl messily. Abadon hits a Bloodline onto the floor followed by some biting. She goes for a Twist of Hate on the apron, but Rosa counters into a Cutter! They both sell before going back inside. Abadon runs for a Spear but when it’s leapfrogged, she hits a Headbutt and then runs the ropes again. She connects the Spead this time and covers, but it’s kicked out of. They go back outside where they fight up the ramp. Rosa dives with a Double Foot Stomp before they head up to the announce table. They fight there, and Rosa hits an Inverted DDT on it. Abadon rolls into the announcers chairs and lays there. Once back in, Rosa goes for a Snake Sleeper, but Abadon kicks her leg back and fights back. She throws Rosa into the ring post to bust her open. She calls for a Gravedigger, BUT ITS REVERSED INTO A FIRE THUNDER DRIVER!! ROSA PINS AND GOES TO SEMIS!!
Thunder Rosa defeats Abadon (16:11)
Maki Itoh vs. VENY (February 22nd, Super 16)
Heading into the Japan half of the quarter finals, we travel across the Pacific to the Ice Ribbon dojo once more. Itoh talks shit before the bell as VENY stands stone faced wondering what’s she did in a past life to be in the opposite corner of this. She goes to speak about Cornette-san once more but VENY cuts her off and the match has begun. She dominates the early stages until Maki out of nowhere counters a Suplex into a Falling DDT. She hits a Dropkick off the apron and VENY eats shit. Maki applies a Boston Crab, but VENY gets the ropes and flips Itoh out. She big boots her and is back on the offence. They take it to the apron where Itoh goes to pick VENY up, but VENY knocks her down and they roll back inside. Maki goes for a Ito Special but it’s reversed, and VENY goes for a Powerbomb. Itoh reverses that into a Itoh Royale, which is kicked out and they double down with stereo dropkicks. Maki climbs the top ropes for a Diving Headbutt, but VENY quickly runs up and hits a Superplex. She pins and wins to advance forward into the semis.
VENY defeats Maki Itoh (09:18)
Rin Kadokura vs. Yuka Sakazaki (February 22nd, Super 16)
Yuka runs around Rin to begin with, using her quickness to avoid being caught by any strikes or holds. This proves unsuccessful as after running the ropes for a Flying Shoulder Tackle, she’s hit with a stiff elbow in midair to knock Yuka down. This is the cut off as she dominates from this point forward. Rin goes for a Meteora from the middle ropes, BUT YUKA HITS A FRONT DROPKICK OUT OF MIDAIR!! She scales the top ropes and FLIES WITH A CROSSBODY!! KICK OUT! Yuka continues to run circles before taking Rin to the apron. She then jumps from inside, over the ropes, WITH A HURRICANERANA TO THE FLOOR!! The Magical Girl is back in action as she hits a Baseball Slide Dropkick into the railings. She rolls out to grab Kadokura but Rin throws her into the guardrails instead. She takes control back and does a Lala Histro Cradle into a Cross Armbreaker but Yuka gets a foot on the ropes. She manages to rally up for a huge flurry of offence to take Rin down and cover after a Magical Girl Splash, 1.......2......3! She’s going to the semi-finals where she will face VENY.
Yuka Sakazaki defeats Rin Kadokura (11:45)
We get a live performance from the Itoh Respect Army - Maki Itoh and Mizuki perform live in living colour a rock idol anthem. This gives Yuka a rest before the main event of the evening, the Semi-Finals match between Yuka Sakazaki and VENY. Itoh and Mizuki hype everyone up with the performance ahead of the big match, before the music stops and they leave. That’s when VENY walks out.
Semi-Finals:
VENY vs. Yuka Sakazaki (February 22nd, Super 16)
She walks down menacingly with pure seriousness on her face. There is no fucking around here. She’s winning this tournament. Yuka meanwhile is as happy as can be. Yuka high fives everyone and jumps down in joy. They shake hands, but immediately after the bell rings VENY immediately kicks Yuka down and dominates. Yuka is tired while VENY is relatively fresh having only wrestled the opener. She dominates until it heads to the outside. She goes to slam Yuka into the railings, but Sakazaki reverses and dumps her over. She then hits a Springboard Flying Seated Senton, over the railings, into VENY. She mounts her comeback and hits for the Magical Girl Splash, BUT ITS KICKED OUT OF! Yuka starts having to match VENY’s strikes, as once VENY starts laying them in, Yuka becomes impervious to pain and fights back with her own. It turns into a slugfest here, but after a Diving Double Foot Stomp from Yuka only gets two she’s out of options. VENY capitalises here and looks to finish with a Powerbomb, BUT ITS TURNED INTO A FRANKENSTEINER! MAGICAL GIRL SPLASH! YUKA IS GOING TO THE FINALS!!
Yuka Sakazaki defeats VENY (19:21)
On March 3rd, Dynamite, we see the final of Hikaru’s segment, starting with her rolling a suitcase while wearing a mask as she walks to her plane back to America. We go back to the tatami where she’s asked about Revolution, and what she thinks of Yuka Sakazaki. She speaks on her before being asked about Riho and Thunder Rosa. She speaks about Rosa and their feud, saying she’s beaten her before though at last years All Out. The interviewer asks about the All Out the year before that. Who did she face then. Did she win? Shida seems insulted by that but keeps going, saying Riho got the better of her. But while she’s spent the past year back home, she made a new home - AEW. And she is now the queen of that home, and no amount of Riho will stop.
Riho vs. Thunder Rosa (March 3rd, Dynamite)
We’ve reached our American semi-finals, and 5 days after Yuka Sakazaki’s defeat of VENY - Riho and Thuhder Rosa are set to main event Dynamite. On Saturday Night then, the day before Revolution, we will see the Super 16 Finals streamed on YouTube between Yuka Sakazaki and the winner of this match, with the winner going on to face Hikaru Shida at Revolution. The match starts physical and doesn’t slow down. They go to the mat straight away and trade submission attempts. Rosa then dominates until Riho counters out of a corner charge with a roll up only to get two. Rosa punishes Riho using the ring post. Riho fights back though as she flies off the apron and uses speed to keep Rosa down. She goes for a springboard but is caught midair. Rosa then starts to kick the shit out of Riho, striking her repeatedly. It spills to the floor where Riho mounts a comeback, utilising the ring post to her own advantage this time. With Rosa tied up in the post, Riho runs off the apron with a Double Foot Stomp to the back. It goes into back and forth inside the ring, before Riho flies out once more. Rosa is up first and sets up a table, before they go back inside. Commentary note the No DQ on the outside rule. RIHO HITS A DOUBLE FOOT STOMP TO ROSA OFF THE APRON THROUGH THE TABLE!! They’re both out now, but while down, OUT COMES BRITT BAKER!! SHE HITS ROSA WITH A CHAIR! Riho doesn’t notice as she takes her back inside and covers to win! Britt walks off with a smile on her face, and waves at a fuming Rosa.
Riho defeats Thunder Rosa (23:41)
Finals:
Riho vs. Yuka Sakazaki (March 6th, Super 16)
The Magical Girl comes down happy as ever, high fiving and hugging fans and running circles around the ring in ecstasy. Riho then comes out in her signature dress and also with an umbrella with the Imperial Japanese Flag designed on it. Both women offer their hands to each other, and both embrace before locking up. A collar and elbow is engaged and maintained, Yuka breaks the chains by connecting a Dropkick, followed by another Basement Dropkick! Riho ducks a Lariat attempt and runs the ropes, performing a dizzying array of spins before landing the Tornado DDT! 1.....2....Yuka kicks out! Yuka runs the ropes and hits a Seated Senton in the centre of the ring. She goes for a cover but Riho kicks out. Riho takes Yuka down with a Half Crab. Yuka winces in pain and cries in agony but throws Riho off her leg. Yuka then hits a Slingblade and rolls to the outside.
Riho connects a Baseball Slide Dropkick through the both ropes, before lifting Yuka up and hitting an incredible Deadlift Suplex into the middle of the ring. Excalibur makes note of Riho being 98 lbs so that feat of strength is truly incredible. Yuka connects an Enziguri and begins a Three Amigos. Riho flips out of the last one and hits a Roundhouse Kick followed by Double Foot Stomp! She covers, 1.......2....Kick Out! Riho seems annoyed at this and takes Yuka to the corner. They trade elbows for a bit before Yuka swaps them around and hits a Roundhouse Kick! She then takes Riho to the top turnbuckle. Yuka attempts to hit a Avalanche Butterfly Suplex, but Riho doesn’t move. Riho shoves Yuka onto the apron and Yuka grabs her back in pain. Riho then hits a Diving Double Foot Stomp onto the apron! That receives a holy shit chant as Riho throws her back into the ring and goes to cover.
Yuka rolls into a Fujiwara Armbar! She channels her inner Zack Sabre Jr. and begins to stomp on Riho’s head as she has the submission locked in. Riho rolls forward into a School Boy but Yuka kicks out. Yuka rolls back but is met by a Basement Dropkick! Riho then hits a Northern Lights Suplex! She goes to cover but Yuka rolls out. Yuka whips Riho to the apron. She hits a Dragon Screw on the ropes and connects a Baseball Slide Dropkick! Yuka goes for a Half and Half Suplex on the apron, but Riho gets out and hits a Belly to Back Suplex! Right on the hardest part of the ring as Yuka sells the pain. Riho rolls back into the ring, but is met by a Springboard Front Missile Dropkick by Yuka! Yuka then heads to the top ropes and does a magical pose, Diving Double Foot Stomp! 1........2.....KICK OUT!!! Yuka is now desperate and decides, “fuck it”, and begins a frenzy of attacks.
Any and everything used. Yuka hits a Running Meteora! She goes for another but Riho catches with an Enziguri and then hits a Running Double Foot Stomp! She picks Yuka up and hits a German Suplex but Yuka lands on her feet; Half and Half Suplex! Yuka hits a Slingblade and begins a series of Daniel Bryan like Roundhouses, with a few yes chants thrown in from the audience. She keeps going until Riho ducks one and hits a Bicycle Knee! Yuka responds with a Bicycle Kick! Riho hits an Impaler DDT!!! She gets the crowd going and goes for an Exploder Suplex, but Yuka counters into a Backbody Drop! Yuka then hits the Exploder Suplex followed by a Pendelum Kick! She takes Riho to the top ropes and goes for an Avalanche Butterfly Suplex! RIHO COUNTERS MIDAIR IN A ROLL UP!! 1......2.....3!!!! Riho is going to face Hikaru Shida tomorrow night for the AEW Women’s World Championship!
Riho defeats Yuka Sakazaki (10:17)
AEW Revolution 2021:
Anna Jay vs. Britt Baker vs. Tay Conti vs. Thunder Rosa - Four-way Match
AEW’s Women’s International Eliminator Tournament has come and gone, and with it many women have some grudges held. Thunder Rosa was cost the semi-finals with Riho after Britt Baker interference. This is of course, due to Rosa beating Britt in the First Round. Also, Anna Jay and Tay Conti faced in the First Round where Conti was successful. That drove a wedge between them as we’ve seen. There is enough tension where we need a resolution, and so they’re all put into a match together - whoever is the best comes out on top. The Four-way is made for Revolution, with the winner set to be Shida or Riho’s next challenger in the coming weeks. However before the match, we see Brandi Rhodes come out for the first time in 2 months. She has a mic in hand and says that two years ago there was a similar multi-women match set. That was the during the genesis of AEW. A three-way became a four-way. Now we know how talented of a roster the AEW Women’s Division is, but what if it could be blustered?
Well she’s got the perfect solution to that. How could she make this match even more stacked however? Easy answer, add another women. But not just any women...a Virtuosa. So with a little helping hand, she’s secured someone to really put up a fight. Outcomes Deonna Purazzo. The current Knockouts Champion makes her way out and joins the fray. The crowd applaud loudly at the surprise arrival, as this match is now made a Five-way. Immediately the beefing girls go for each other, Britt and Rosa and Tay and Anna. Deonna meanwhile just picks people off, playing it smart and looking for the win. She’s not fuelled by animosity like the rest, she is just being intelligent. We see the rest of the women all take themselves out to the point Britt turns around into a Jumping DDT and Fujiwara Armbar. She taps out and Purazzo wins the match. She takes the mic afterwards and hoists her Knockouts Championship high. “Who’s ready for a Battle of the Belts?” she says before leaving.
Deonna Purazzo defeats Anna Jay, Britt Baker, Tay Conti and Thunder Rosa (11:17)
Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Riho - AEW Women’s World Championship
We’ve seen the whole tournament so far and the mini-doc of Hikaru Shida. It’s the first majorly built AEW Women’s Championship PPV match...ever, so it’s got some expectations on its shoulders. Shida walks out wearing her attire from the AEW video game trailer, pointed out by Excalibur. Riho is just coming off a match from last night while Shida hasn’t wrestled in nearly a month, so she is fully in control early on. She busts out some early signature moves so the audience get a groove of her once more since it’s been a minute. They go outside where Riho starts to come back and from there it’s back and forth. They recreate the finishing sequence that won it for Riho last time, ending with Riho getting a roll up originally, but this time Shida kicks out! They then keep going as Riho kicks out of a few more moves by Hikaru. Riho goes for a Diving Double Foot Stomp, but she’s hit midair and then by a Tamashii no Three Count! KICK OUT!! They keep fighting as Riho once more tries for the finishing sequence that won it for her last time, but this time it ends when Shida lifts her into a Falcon Arrow! 1..............2..............3!! She wins and retains!
Hikaru Shida defeats Riho (14:56)
We now head into the build for Double or Nothing. However we aren’t all building towards that. See, it’s announced at Revolution a supercard of supercards is set for April 4th. The “Bloodshed Supercard” is coming up, pitting stars from AEW, NJPW, NWA and Impact against one another. The big match advertised is a Lethal Lockdown Match: pitting Kenny Omega, The Good Brothers and Kenta against Jon Moxley and Death Triangle. But also set for the show, we’ll get into detail here. Deonna Purazzo is now the #1 Contender to the AEW Women’s World Championship, and an appearance by her is advertised for the Dynamite after Revolution. She shows up and cuts a typical promo of hers on Hikaru, claiming herself the one true Virtuosa and hyping her credentials. These outmatch everything Shida has ever done, and when they face, she’ll truly outmatch her for all to see.
The match is dubbed “Battle of the Belts” after AEW trademarked that. Knockouts Champion vs. AEW Women’s World Champion. Next week Shida goes to speak, but she’s cut off by Deonna. Purazzo attacks her and beats down the rival champion. She tells Shida she should of stayed in Japan, because now she’s crossed the Pacific she’s in HER country. The Virtuosa runs the place here, and she is going to cement herself as the best champion in the entire country - nay, the world. Later in the night when asked about how she felt of the attack, Hikaru says “Next Tuesday. Impact Wrestling. Watch me.” before leaving. Then, on Impact, we see Hikaru come out after a Ten-person Knockouts Tag Team Match. She looks around with her title, and walks over to the captain of the winning team, Kiera Hogan. She shakes her hand and points back and forth between the two. Kiera vs. Shida is sanctioned for next week on Impact.
They face, but due to Hikaru now being in Deonna’s house, she makes her presence known with an attack. Part of rebuilding the Women’s division is other feuds need to exist in it, so let’s touch on those. Firstly, Leyla Hirsch and her new stable, dubbing themselves “Bloodsport” have made an enemy out of Riho. The two face with the stipulation that the winner will face Serena Deeb for the NWA Women’s Championship. Hirsch wins after making Riho tap. Then in her match with Deeb, a returning Allysin Kay comes out and interferes. Deeb rolls up with her distraction. Leyla doesn’t attack Kay however. After all, she was the fourth women in that Bloodsport tournament along with Hirsch, Kelly and Snow. They offer her a spot but Allysin declines and says she just wants that NWA Women’s Championship back. A Three-way then is made, which ends with Kay pinning Deeb. She gets her title back, and afterwards, offers an embrace to Hirsch. Snow and Kelly get her to accept.
Bloodsport pose together with Allysin Kay now in their rankings, but tension between her and Hirsch is clear after Kay just took the title she’s been craving for weeks. However, they’re now a unit. Also, Anna Jay and Tay Conti. Anna takes a leadership role in The Dark Order as her and Conti slowly start patching things up. They both agree they got lost in the tournament and were drunk off the thought of glory. They hug it out and walk out together. Then, Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker. The first thing we see on Dynamite after Revolution is Thunder Rosa brutalising Britt Baker. She destroys her. She kayfabe reinjures her and puts her back on crutches. Britt doesn’t wrestle after this but has a vendetta against Rosa, and Rosa is likewise. The women all have feuds, with only one revolving around the title, and they actually get TV time on Dynamite. It’s basically just what AEW do with the guys, but the gender is changed. That’s literally how you do women’s wrestling.
Bloodshed Supercard:
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Hikaru Shida - Battle of the Belts
The singles match main event of the show, it’s the heavily anticipated “Battle of the Belts.” Shida is out first, wearing a kimono and carrying her own umbrella to the ring. She twirls it around at the hard camera in a optical illusion before walking down. Deonna is out afterwards and the Virtuosa walks with purpose, hoisting her title over Shida’s head. Hikaru hoists hers up and they meet forehead to forehead. The match the begins. Shida and Deonna trade goods and submissions on the mat before it goes outside and gets physical there. Purrazzo uses the guardrails and ring posts, before taking it to the apron. Shida hits her with a Superkick and runs the ropes inside the ring, dropkicking Purrazzo into part of the set. Once back up they have some stiff back and forth with a lot of shots and strikes to knock the other down. Both women keep kicking out however. We see many moments when Hikaru looks like she’s about to tap but resists and keeps fighting. They head outside once again where Deonna hits a Backbody Drop onto the floor. Once back inside, Shida hits a Falcon Arrow into a Tamashii no Three Count to win. Afterwards her and Deonna resiliently shake hands in respect.
Hikaru Shida defeats Deonna Purrazzo (25:10)
Heading out of Bloodshed Supercard, Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa are still battling it out. Britt is set to return to action on the April 14th edition of Dynamite, where she will face Rosa in a No Disqualification, No Countout Match. It’s a brutal bout with Britt showing the aggression she did in her Tooth and Nail Match on Rosa. She ends up winning after a chairshot and kendo stick assisted Lockjaw makes Rosa pass out. Meanwhile, Hikaru Shida continues her trail of dominance over the AEW Women’s division. She’s earned the respect of Deonna Purazzo’s who’s gonna back off to Impact. Shida cuts a promo in English after the match saying she wants more of the Knockouts, and they are an amazing group of girls. She once again faces Kiera Hogan, this time on Dynamite, with interference banned. They have a clean bout that ends with Shida once again winning. They shake hands afterwards. This is Hogan’s first AEW match and she makes a big splash, but comes up short.
Next in line is Nyla Rose, who is still with Vickie Guerrero but their relationship is going very sour. Nonetheless, as we approach a year after Hikaru took the belt from Nyla, they’re set to face one more - this time it’s 2 Out of 3 Falls. It’s an excellent bout that ends with Shida winning by falling onto Nyla after the two basically kill themselves. Nyla the next week cuts a promo on Shida, saying she wants one final shot, and if she loses - she will never challenge for the title while Shida is champion again. This is when Britt Baker gets involved and puts her stamp on the picture. She limps down on a crutch as that match with Rosa as temporarily hurt her again. She cuts a mini promo of her own, before blasting Nyla with the crutch. A #1 Contenders Match is set up, with the winner going on to face Hikaru at Double or Nothing.
Britt wins after a very hard fought and brutal contest. Afterwards, Tony Schiavone comes out and reads a letter from Brandi. She congratulates both women on the incredible match. She then announces Nyla as the first women to take part in the AEW Women’s Casino Ladder Match at Double or Nothing. In the final weeks before Double or Nothing, Britt cuts some very passionate promos about the struggle she’s went through to even become a wrestler, and as soon as she became the best thing in this company she was injured. But this time, nothing is going to stop her. She’s not going to be hindered by dentistry, not by trying to being a good guy, and not by injury. She will be victorious. Reba is banned from ringside, as if she gets involved Britt automatically loses. Baker is now fuelled by anger as she wants to take down the unstoppable Hikaru Shida.
Then, our other stories. Well the premier one is the aforementioned Women’s Casino Ladder Match. Once more it’s decided there’s too much beef amongst the AEW Women’s division, so Tony Khan’s solution is to throw nine of them into a ladder match, and whoever isn’t dead by the end gets an AEW Women’s Championship shot. And just like last time, there will be a mystery participant. Women gradually get announced via AEW’s Twitter, with Nyla Rose as the first on TV before they slowly start adding names to the field, like they did last year. Anna Jay and Tay Conti are announced together, Serena Deeb, Leyla Hirsch, Riho etc. Thunder Rosa and Abadon face once more after their epic match in the Super 16. Abadon hits a Spear into part of the stage which takes them both out and it goes to a double countout. Both women are then put into the match, with the ninth women remaining a mystery.
Double or Nothing 2021:
Abadon vs. Anna Jay vs. Leyla Hirsch vs. Nyla Rose vs. Riho vs. Serena Deeb vs. Tay Conti vs. Thunder Rosa vs. ??? - Women’s Casino Ladder Match
Serena Deeb and Nyla Rose start it off hot, Nyla trying to dominate but Deeb using her strength to counteract. Tay Conti comes in and her and Deeb come to a babyface arrangement to take the big women down. Thunder Rosa follows suit and starts to mix it up with everyone. Leyla Hirsch, Anna Jay, Riho and Abadon all come out and continue the fight. It’s multi-man chaos, with each women sabotaging the other from getting that poker chip. They all want the prize. Killer Kelly at one point tries to walk down and help out Hirsch, but Riho valiantly takes her on and brawls with her to the back. She then dives off the stage with a Crossbody into Lindsay Snow and Killer Kelly. Allysin Kay comes out and puts her through a part of the stage to take her out.
Riho comes back, freshly bruised by Kay, and looks to climb the ladder, but Anna Jay pushes her down. She then starts to taunt and mock the 9th and final entrant while she waits for them to appear...and it’s RETURNING KRIS STATLANDER! Statlander comes in and wrecks house; takes out all the people involved while the action continues. Abadon lets out a mighty scream as she goes to climb the ladder. Tay and Anna push her off and meet at the top. They then start throwing shots at each other. They all fall under Thunder Rosa pushes them off and climbs up, grabbing the poker chip and holding it high it in triumph. She now with a future AEW Women’s World Championship match locked in. She takes the mic and tells Hikaru “good luck - you’ll need it.” before dropping it and heading to the back.
Thunder Rosa wins the Women’s Casino Ladder Match (16:35)
Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Britt Baker - AEW Women’s World Championship
Baker comes out without Reba for the first time in a long time, pure determination on her face to succeed. Both women put their heart and soul into the match, pouring every last bit of fight they’ve got in. Britt gets a Lockjaw in near the end and refuses to let go when Shida grabs the ropes. The ref has to physically pull her off, ONLY FOR SHIDA TO HIT ONE FINAL TAMASHII NO THREE COUNT!! She pins and wins.
Hikaru Shida defeats Britt Baker (10:21)

I have been playing a lot of poker no limit hold'em in 2020. But I just always play some random poker tournaments or sng's on PokerStars or PartyPoker. I want to specialise more on one or two things. How can I find out what suits me best and where I can optimize my earnings?

Disclaimer: All facts stated in this essay are verifiable and have been researched beforehand.
2013 marked a big year in many aspects for the video game industry, it was a good year for new IPs and (some) sequels if you were a AAA developer. Sony fans may remember being introduced to The Last of Us for the first time as you embarked on a journey as Joel Miller through a post-apocalyptic United States, or if your name was Artyom continued a post-apocalypse Soviet Russian adventure in Metro: Last Light. Reboots were also in affair; Tomb Raider and Devil May Cry made their comebacks with flair and breathed new life into some of gaming's historic franchises. It was also a year that marked the end of certain beloved trilogies with titles such as Bioshock: Infinite and Crysis 3. These were times of big feels, new beginnings, and more importantly: new ideas to create the proverbial ten year cash cows.
You see while all this time you were reminiscing about a heartbroken Joel crying to the tune of Gustavo Santaolalla’s emotional guitar riffs in the background, 2013 was also a year that changed gaming in subtle ways you may not have realized. GTA V made its meteoric rise to the top of the unquenchable stream of revenue in digital media history, meanwhile Valve was setting the stage when it released Dota 2 that was the first ever video game to introduce the concept of a Battle Pass: a name which will live in infamy.
There is a lot to unpack here so we’ll try our best to go in a coherent order. GTA V answered a key question that has been lingering for a long time in the AAA video game business model: can you make games as a service?
Picture yourself tearing down the freeway in the supercar of your dreams, the sun is shining and you are blasting your favourite tunes, to your right is the horizon of a crystal blue pacific ocean, you receive a call from one of your “business partners” about a proposition to earn some tax-free income so you can pay for a superyacht at some point in your career, why? Because crime pays and the fun never ends. Rockstar had perfected the model of what unfettered freedom looks like in a virtual world, and in a genius move, released GTA Online in just two weeks after initial release. Needless to say it was a success, in fact it was more than just that, it became the envy of video game business executives.
The question is often raised and answered, and then forgotten about, and then asked again about why AAA companies don't make one-and-done IPs anymore. At least, very few of them seem to do it.
If $595 million in 2019 from GTA Online alone doesn’t answer the question for you, I don’t know what else will. You see Rockstar didn’t intend for its online component to be as successful as it is. The addictive gameplay loop and highly-detailed compelling world that seduced a large portion of its players (and by extension: the market) was just the elevator pitch. Like any great formula, it needs constant improvement as our old Bethesda buddy Todd Howard always likes to parrot “Great games are played, not made” by that logic then how do you keep a game great then? You keep playing it? How do you keep playing a game? (Well according to Todd its by letting your community of modders finish the game for you)
What Rockstar did was added weekly updates, paid close attention to the needs of its community, had a look at the graphs and noticed only 27% of its players had actually completed the single player campaign (keep in mind this statistic is over 7 years old and may have changed significantly). For the first time GTA broke its tradition by not making expansions for the single player, which is what it was always known for. The Beach Bum update was released for free the following month for GTA Online players and the rest is history. Just kidding GTA Online is releasing a new free game update this December which will expand the playable game world, oh and it's got military submarines and a new plot “a la James Bond”. Seeing the… evolution of what was a game about stealing cars has been an interesting journey so far.
According to gamstat.com and Steam charts, a conservative number of 1.4 million players across PC, PS4, XB1 log-in daily to play GTA Online. The game - even 7 years later - stays consistently in the top 10 of most played games across both consoles.
So this was the Rockstar Games model: forget about single-player because statistically, nobody really cares, let's just focus on our multiplayer because its getting more attention, free updates for everyone to keep them busy, we’ll gradually inflate the fuck out of everything seven years down the line because there’s just gonna be so much content that you’ll need 800 of your real dollars at some point in a recent update if you want to buy all the content, what was that you want to grind for it? Jokes on you, you'll be there forever. This game will be your second job after you come home from your first job, you’ll be too lazy to grind for hours to get a car so why not just buy a shark card? You’re gonna get paid at the end of the month anyways, it's not a big deal.
Well lo and behold, it just works. (Shut up Todd, you’re partly to blame here!)
It is a sound business model, and one that even overshadows Red Dead Redemption 2 which has witnessed a significant dwindling in its online engagement.
In this second part we’ll look at Valves' introduction of the Battle Pass or “Compendium” system in Dota 2 and how 4 years later, it would be adapted and popularized by Epic Games’ Fortnite. Before we dive in, let’s take a little trip to 2004.
You’re on the computer in the living room of your parents house and you’re playing South Korean based Wizet studio’s MapleStory. You don’t have a console and you’re not allowed to play violent video games because your mom is too strict and also because she’s listening to mainstream media rant on how Halo 2 is making children too violent. So you’re stuck with MapleStory, it’s nothing to speak of graphically because it's a 2D side scrolling RPG, but hey it’s free to play and it's Massively Multiplayer Online so at least it has other real people playing it. While you’re playing it, you’re having fun because you find out you can actually do a variety of things even though it's just an innocent 2D looking game. You can chat, trade things with real players, perhaps even band together in a party and go on quests in MapleWorld. One thing is making you envious though: you can’t stop going back to the Cash shop because of all the dope looking outfits you think would look good on your character, and also because other folks are flexing them in your party. In come the “Gachapon tickets” (now for historical accuracy we’ll pretend you’re an expat living in Japan because at the time it was just a japanese thing), a Gachapon is basically a machine that sells capsules containing little toys in them, what capsule you got after inserting your coin was completely random - remember the word Gachapon as we’ll get to it later - MapleStory in Japan allowed for users to pay just 100 measly yen ($1.00) for a Gachapon ticket so you could buy whatever you wanted at the Cash shop, you convince your mom because it’s cheap and because you somehow convinced her that it was not a scam?
Hooray you can finally impress your party with the new gear you just got! You can continue playing the game to your heart's content.
Little did you know that MapleStory would be the inspiration for a special surprise in your gaming experience which we’ll get to in a moment.
Across Asia in the late noughties, it was the free to play titles that generated a considerable amount of income because of their popularity with internet cafe goers and people who weren’t wealthy enough to afford expensive tech. The games were free, accessible because of the growing mobile market in exchange it offered cheap but optional microtransactions to recoup for its development costs. ZT Online (2007) was a chinese developed game that took full advantage of the free to play model, offering optional microtransactions for its committed players and raked in a reported $15 million per month. The first ever mobile game to hit the $1 billion milestone was Puzzle & Dragons released in 2011. In North America and Europe during the social-network heyday saw Zynga develop free to play mobile games such as FarmVille, Zynga Poker, Words with Friends, etc.
Now it’s been a good few years since you were playing shitty 2D side scrolling games, you want to be a part of the big leagues and play some shooters! The year is 2010 and you’re having the time of your life whooping ass in Team Fortress 2, a pioneer of the “hero shooter” genre. It’s September and you are eating a sandvich (nom) while watching your favorite YouTube gaming channel talk about crates containing random loot that can be accessed by purchasing keys, it’s exciting! You’re old enough and mature by your moms standards to be playing TF2 so you use your pocket money allowance to buy these keys so you can later brag to your school friends or online forums. You also learn that Valve is transitioning the game to free-to-play so that it can attract more users. (Are you noticing the pattern here?)
Valve has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to monetization in video games and it’s remarkable how they achieve this, because if you were following the news at the time you’ll remember that when Valve made Team Fortress 2 free-to-play, it dominated the Steam charts f2p list for a reasonable time. 3 years after it became free-to-play, TF2 was reported making $139 million per year alongside Counter Strike which is also a beefy 9-figure earner for the company. This is notwithstanding the fact that Valve has the monopoly on the PC gaming market with Steam which takes a 30% cut of every video-game sale. You really cannot stop the Gaben.
During the time that Valve were transitioning to the free-to-play model they hired Greek-Australian economist and former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis to research virtual economies. What occurred a few years later was a growing trend of MMOs and MOBAs transitioning to a free-to-play model, starting in 2011 with popular games such as Star Trek Online and Lord Of The Rings Online, adding microtransactions as a means to stay sustainable.
The TF2 crates and keys were another way of interpreting the Gachapon philosophy, get a key to open your “capsule” but leave it to RNG to decide the fate of your purchase.
Valve were the first of the AAA gaming industry to popularize this practice but also to have perfected the art of recurrent user spending, of course what we also saw was a decline in release of new games but we’ll get to that in a bit. Now other video game publishers took notice of Lord Gaben’s business savvy and decided to find their own ways to create additional revenue streams.
Electronic Arts, the founders of “surprise mechanics” decided to monetize FIFA Ultimate Team in 2010 by offering players the opportunity to purchase virtual trading cards as a means to generate extra revenue on a reliable IP with a loyal fanbase. This worked predictably in EA’s favour as of recent 2020 financial reports they have generated $1.49 billion in revenue from FUT alone.
EA being EA wanted to further inflate their sense of pride and accomplishment by using the Gachapon philosophy (a philosophy which worked with free-to-play titles for reasonable causes) by creating their first loot-boxes, now because they’re EA, didn’t bother to transition their games to the free-to-play model, that idea probably got laughed at during a board meeting. These motherfuckers literally decided to have their cake and eat it for all the public to see.
2 years later in 2012 at the release of Mass Effect 3, EA implemented loot boxes into the multiplayer component of the game, in fact they did so with all of their multiplayer IPs: Battlefront, Battlefield. The reason why loot-boxes is a perverted version of the Gachapon ticket (and sorry if I use this word a lot) is because it contains cut content that allow for in game advantages so the gamers ™ have no other option but to gamble their money for something that is not even guaranteed they’ll have because grinding for it will take some ridiculous hundreds of hours of your time.
EA popularized the loot-box which I like to keep separate from Gachapon because the two are fundamentally different. Loot-boxes are gameplay/XP modifiers you have to pay for on top of the full retail price of the game you already bought. Gachapon tickets is a means to support a developer that made a base game free-to-play.
What happened following the increase in quarterly earnings for Electronic Arts after their loot-box boom were a bunch of other companies copying the exact same thing ad nauseam but putting their own “creative” spin on it: Counter Strike: GO did it with weapon cases, Battlepacks for Battlefield 4, COD: AW with Supply Drops.
Overwatch went as far as including loot-boxes to be part of its meta in 2016, other core AAA games following suit, COD, Halo 5, LoL, you name it it probably has it. Fast forward to 2017 and EA are in legal battles with governments about loot boxes and the industry is now getting cold feet. Fortnite becomes the latest trailblazing success. Which is where Valve were once again: ahead of the curve.
You remember at the beginning of this case study where Valve were the first to come up with the concept of a Battle Pass? So in 2013, Dota 2 devised what they called “The Compendium” a business model based on the Season pass or Season ticket used in sports for NFL or Baseball. The models are basically identical: you pay a one time fee for access to an event that typically lasts 3 months. This model works far better than the loot box because it incentivizes players to grind for content they know are guaranteed to get. The player only pays a one-time fee (usually in the $10 price point) giving them a sense of getting their money's worth, I fall for this myself because it is marketed incredibly effectively.
Furthermore the seasonal model “drip-feeds” content, so these may be gameplay modifiers, XP enhancements, unique limited edition content (weapons, shaders, armours) so the more you progress, the greater the benefits.
Now Dota 2 uses the proceeds of Battle Pass sales towards the seasonal tournaments prize pool. For other companies like Bungie it is most likely towards development of new seasonal content or Eververse items.
So during the whole loot-box orgy that lasted a good 5-6 years. Valve were profiting from the seasonal model, Epic Games took note and decided it would use the same thing for their new shooter. In Summer of 2017, Fortnite broke records as one of the highest-grossing free-to-play battle royale titles of the decade, having been downloaded a recorded 350 million times and generating $1.8 billion in revenue in its first year. It was clear at that point the free-to-play model with a season pass and microtransactions store guaranteed a stable platform. 3 years later, Fortnite is projected to make $5 billion at the end of this fiscal year, and has registered 3.2 billion hours of playtime. Now this is important because it took GTA V seven years to break through $6 billion and GTA V (for now) still remains the highest-grossing video game of all time.
We can see Call of Duty Warzone made its Battle Royale mode free-to-play as a direct response to the trend. Bungie followed suit after their recent move to make Destiny 2 a free-to-play model with a seasonal pass built-in to last until 2022.
It’s only a matter of time whether we see more companies and AAA titles decide to do the same for it to determine the “games a service model” will be the dominant market trend. We can safely assess Microsoft is emulating this with its Game Pass Ultimate program which acts as a “Netflix for video games” having recently merged with EA Access expanding its library of “free-to-play” games at the cost of a monthly installment.
If you have made it this far, you are a mad lad. I thought I’d take some time to illuminate the direction in which the video game industry seems to be heading by highlighting the patterns. This is also in an attempt to answer the question of: why are video games the way they are in 2020? It wasn’t easy to write but I hope it was easy for you to read. Once again thank you for taking the time of your day, now what are you waiting for? Go play some video games!

Console exclusives (games that are also on PC and/or mobile, but not on other consoles) in Italics. Nintendo exclusives (games that are only on Nintendo platforms) in bold.
For those looking at this list and not sure what's likely to be noteworthy, I have compiled a page for noteworthy releases in October. Please give them a look if you want to see what games are likely to be some of October's highlights!
As for the full list of upcoming games, here you go:

Games	Release date	Date confirmed by?
Petal Crash	10/12/20	Nintendo.com
GI Joe: Operation Blackout	10/13/20	Nintendo.com
Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded	10/13/20	Nintendo.com
Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?	10/13/20	Nintendo.com
Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!	10/13/20	Nintendo.com
Remothered: Broken Porcelain	10/13/20	Nintendo.com
Robotics;Notes Dash	10/13/20	Nintendo.com
Robotics;Notes Double Pack	10/13/20	Official Trailer
Robotics;Notes Elite	10/13/20	Nintendo.com
Woodsalt	10/13/20	Nintendo.com
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!	10/14/20	Nintendo.com
Vigil: The Longest Night	10/14/20	Nintendo.com
Along the Edge	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Alpaca Ball: Allstars	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Burst Shooter	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Castle of No Escape	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Cloudpunk	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Dead Z Meat	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Dream	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Dustoff Z	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Electronic Super Joy 2	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Hardcore Mecha	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Ring of Pain	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Roki	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Seers Isle	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Shoot 1UP DX	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Space Crew	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
The Jackbox Party Pack 7	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
This is the Zodiac Speaking	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
Tricky Spider	10/15/20	Nintendo.com
9 Monkeys of Shaolin	10/16/20	Nintendo.com
Bright Paw	10/16/20	Nintendo.com
Crown Trick	10/16/20	Nintendo.com
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit	10/16/20	Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct
Postal Redux	10/16/20	Nintendo.com
Two Parsecs From Earth	10/16/20	Nintendo.com
Zoids Wild Blast Unleashed	10/16/20	Nintendo.com
Super Dragonfly Chronicles	10/17/20	Nintendo.com
HyperBrawl Tournament	10/20/20	Nintendo.com
Horace	10/21/20	Nintendo.com
Bullet Beat	10/21/20	Nintendo.com
Asterix & Obelix XXL: Romastered	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Disc Room	10/22/20	Official Trailer
Double Pug Switch	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Fracter	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Luna: The Shadow Dust	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Nullum	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Outbreak: Epidemic	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Restless Hero	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Supraland	10/22/20	Official Trailer
The Red Lantern	10/22/20	Official Trailer
Toolboy	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
Wartile	10/22/20	Nintendo.com
CrossKrush	10/23/20	Nintendo.com
Galacide	10/23/20	Nintendo.com
Grood	10/23/20	Nintendo.com
Kakurasu World	10/23/20	Nintendo.com
Pumpkin Jack	10/23/20	Official Trailer
Supermarket Shriek	10/23/20	Nintendo.com
Transformers: Battlegrounds	10/23/20	Nintendo.com
Carto	10/27/20	Official Trailer
Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues	10/27/20	Nintendo.com
Dungreed	10/27/20	Nintendo.com
Ghostrunner	10/27/20	Official Trailer
My Universe - Fashion Boutique	10/27/20	Nintendo.com
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee New 'N Tasty	10/27/20	Official Twitter Post
The Bluecoats - North & South	10/27/20	Nintendo.com
Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure	10/28/20	Official Twitter Post
Red Rope: Don't Fall Behind +	10/29/20	Nintendo.com
Super Puzzle Pack	10/29/20	Nintendo.com
Yuppie Psycho: Executive Edition	10/29/20	Nintendo.com
Angry Video Game Nerd I & II Deluxe	10/30/20	Nintendo.com
Clea	10/30/20	Nintendo.com
Haunted: Poppy's Nightmare	10/30/20	Nintendo.com
Mad Rat Dead	10/30/20	Nintendo.com
Pikmin 3 Deluxe	10/30/20	Nintendo.com
The Language of Love	10/30/20	Nintendo.com
Umihara Kawase Bazooka!	10/30/20	Nintendo.com
Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator	10/31/20	Nintendo.com
Dusk	Halloween 2020	Official Trailer
Hidden Objects Collection	October 2020	Official Trailer
Maid of Sker	October 2020	Official Twitter Post
Slide Stars	October 2020	Official Website
Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia (Multiple Versions)	11/3/20	Nintendo.com
Hunting Simulator 2	11/3/20	Nintendo.com
Jurassic World Evolution: Complete Edition	11/3/20	Nintendo.com
My Universe - School Teacher	11/3/20	Official Website
Cafe Enchante	11/5/20	Official Trailer
YesterMorrow	11/5/20	Official Trailer
Descenders	11/6/20	Official Twitter Post
PAW Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay	11/6/20	Nintendo.com
Fuser	11/10/20	Nintendo.com
My Universe - Cooking Star Restaurant	11/10/20	Official Website
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin	11/10/20	Nintendo.com
XIII	11/10/20	Official Trailer (IGN Summer of Gaming Event 2020)
Just Dance 2021	11/12/20	Nintendo.com
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory	11/13/20	Nintendo.com
Let's Sing 2021	11/13/20	Official Website
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered	11/13/20	Nintendo.com
Cris Tales	11/17/20	Official Website
Professor Rubik's Brain Fitness	11/17/20	Official Website
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?	11/17/20	Official Website
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity	11/20/20	Nintendo.com
Monster Truck Championship	11/24/20	Nintendo.com
Death Crown	November 2020	Official Trailer
Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal	November 2020	Official Website
Chronos: Before the Ashes	12/1/20	Official Twitter Post
Empire of Sin	12/1/20	Nintendo.com
Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate	12/2/20	Official Twitter Post
Immortals Fenyx Rising (formerly Gods & Monsters)	12/3/20	Official Trailer
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise	12/4/20	Nintendo.com
John Wick Hex	12/4/20	Nintendo.com
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2	12/8/20	Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase August 2020
Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend	12/15/20	Nintendo.com
Override 2: Super Mech League	December 2020	Official Trailer
Pretty Princess Party	December 2020	Official Website
Apex Legends	Fall 2020	Nintendo Twitter Post
Axiom Verge 2	Fall 2020	Indie World Showcase 12.10.2019
Cyanide and Happiness: Freakpocalypse: Part 1 (Timed Console Exclusive)	Fall 2020	Nintendo.com
Cyber Shadow	Fall 2020	Official Website
Eldest Souls (Timed Console Exclusive)	Fall 2020	Nintendo.com
GONNER2	Fall 2020	Nintendo.com
Grindstone	Fall 2020	Nintendo.com
Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm	Fall 2020	Official Trailer
PixelJunk Eden 2	Fall 2020	Nintendo.com
Skyforge	Fall 2020	Official Trailer
Torchlight III	Fall 2020	Nintendo.com
Harvest Moon: One World	Autumn 2020 (European Release Date)	Nintendo.co.uk
Toy Soldiers HD	Autumn 2020	Official Website
Wingspan	Autumn 2020	Nintendo.com
Alchemic Cutie	Q4 2020	Official Website
Circadian City	Q4 2020	Announce Trailer
Defense Corp	Q4 2020	Developer Comment on Reddit
Ever Forward	Q4 2020	Official Website
Metal Revolution	Q4 2020	Official Announcement on New Game+ Expo Live Stream (via Gematsu)
Golden Force	Last Quarter 2020	Official Trailer
Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy	Winter 2020	Official Trailer
Clive 'N' Wrench	Winter 2020	Official Trailer
Commandos 2 HD Remaster	Winter 2020	Official Twitter Post
Taiko No Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack	Winter 2020	Nintendo.com
B.Ark (Timed Exclusive)	Late 2020	Nintendo.com
Beach Buggy Racing 2	Late 2020	Official Website
Dicey Dungeons	Late 2020	Nintendo.com
Hoa	Late 2020	Wholesome Direct 5-26-2020
Phogs!	Late 2020	Nintendo.com
Quantum League	Late 2020	Nintendo.com
Signs of the Sojourner	Late 2020	Official Trailer
Dangerous Driving 2	Holiday 2020	Official Website
King of Seas	Holiday 2020	Official Trailer
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game Complete Edition	Holiday 2020	Official Twitter Post
Sniper Elite 4	Holiday 2020	Nintendo.com
Speed 3 Grand Prix	Holiday 2020	Official Trailer
Aground	2020	Official Website
Astrodogs	2020	Developer post on Reddit
Black Book	2020	Official Trailer
Bladed Fury	2020	Official Twitter Post
Boyfriend Dungeon	2020	Nintendo.com
Bravely Default II	2020	Nintendo.com
Breakpoint	2020	Official Twitter Post
Cake Bash	2020	Nintendo.com
Car Mechanic Flipper	2020	Official Website
Circuit Superstars	2020	Official Website
Collapsus	2020	Official Website
Conarium	2020	Official Trailer
Cthulhu: Books of Ancients	2020	Official Website
DARQ: Complete Edition	2020	Official Trailer
Devil's Hunt	2020	Official Twitter Post
Digimon Survive	2020	Anime Expo panel (relayed by NintendoEverything.com)
Door Kickers	2020	QubicGames 2020 Direct
Eastward	2020	Nintendo.com
Electrix	2020	Official Website
Farm & Fix 2020	2020	Official Website
Farm Manager 2018	2020	Official Website
Flipper Mechanic	2020	Official Website
Gearshifters	2020	Official Website
God Fire	2020	QubicGames 2020 Direct
Good Night Knight	2020	QubicGames 2020 Direct
Greak: Memories of Azur	2020	Official Trailer
Hatch Tales (Formerly Chicken Wiggle Workshop)	2020	Official Website
Haven	2020	Nintendo.com
Hazel Sky	2020	Official Trailer
Heaven's Vault	2020	Official Twitter Post
Hellpoint	2020	Official Twitter Post
Hero: Flood Rescue	2020	Official Website
Hindsight 20/20	2020	Announce Trailer
Kingpin: Reloaded	2020	Official Trailer
Littlewood	2020	Official Twitter Page
Lords of Exile	2020	Official Website/Official Trailer
Mail Mole	2020	Official Trailer
Maneater	2020	Official Twitter Post
Mars Horizon	2020	Official Website
Moero Crystal H	2020	Official Trailer
Moon Village	2020	Official Website
Mushrooms: Forest Walker	2020	Official Website
N1RV Ann-A	2020	Announce Trailer
Necrobarista	2020	Official Twitter Page
Nyx: The Awakening	2020	Official Reveal Teaser/Official Website
Olija	2020	Official Twitter Post
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Videogame	2020	Official Website
P.U.G.S. Agents	2020	Official Website
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire	2020	Interview With Developer
Plastic Rebellion	2020	Official Website
Poker Club 4K	2020	Official Trailer
Real Boxing 2	2020	QubicGames 2020 Direct
Robotics;Notes Elite	2020	Official Website
Scourge Bringer	2020	Nintendo.com
Sail Forth	2020	Nintendo.com
Samurai Gunn 2	2020	Nintendo.com
Spacebase Startopia	2020	Announce Trailer
Spin Rhythm XD	2020	Announce Trailer
Tennis World Tour 2	2020	Official Trailer
The Good Life	2020	Nintendo.com
This Is Pool	2020	Official Website
This Is Snooker	2020	Official Website
Those Who Remain	2020	Official Twitter Page
Tohu	2020	Official Trailer
Trigger Witch	2020	Kinda Funny Games E3 Showcase
Unheard	2020	Official Twitter Post
Unlucky Seven	2020	Official Website
Unto the End	2020	Official Trailer
Zengeon	2020	Official Trailer
Purrtato Tail: By the Light of the Elderstar	2020 "or when it's done"	Official Fact Sheet
House Designer	2020/2021	Official Website
Ring of Life: Survive in Proxima	2020/2021	Official Website
Iris.Fall	1/7/21	Nintendo.com
Gal*Gun Returns	1/28/21	Official Trailer
Märchen Forest	1/28/21	Official Press Release (via Gamasutra.com)
Re:Zero – The Prophecy of the Throne	1/29/21	Official Trailer
Little Nightmares II	2/1/21	Official Twitter Post
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury	2/12/21	Nintendo.com
Fallen Legion: Revenants	2/16/21	Official Trailer
Wings of Darkness	2/25/21	Official Press Release (via Gamasutra.com)
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin	2/25/21	Official Website
Balan Wonderworld	3/26/21	Official Twitter Post
Monster Hunter Rise	3/26/21	Nintendo.com
Turrican Anthology Vol. 1	February/March 2021	Official Website
Turrican Anthology Vol. 2	February/March 2021	Official Website
King's Bounty II	March 2021	Official Trailer
Sky: Children of the Light	"A few months into 2021"	Official Website
Blue Fire (Timed Exclusive)	Q1 2021	Nintendo.com
Lord Winklebottom Investigates	Q1 2021	Official Website
Pet Clinic - Cats & Dogs	Q1 2021	Official Website
Root Film	Q1 2021	Official Press Release (via Gamasutra.com)
Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World	Q1 2021	Official Gamescom Trailer (via IGN)
Turrican Collector's Edition	April/May 2021	Official Website
Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions	Spring 2021	Nintendo.com
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga	Spring 2021	Official Trailer
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster	Spring 2021	Nintendo Direct Mini 7-20-20 Partner Showcase
Foreclosed	Q2 2021	Developer Interview
Subnautica	Early 2021	Nintendo.com
Subnautica: Below Zero	Early 2021	Nintendo.com
Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny (Nintendo Switch Exclusive in US)	Summer 2021	Nintendo.com
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin	Summer 2021	Nintendo.com
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox	Summer 2021	Official Trailer
Party Crasher Simulator	Second Half of 2021	Official Press Release
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum	Late 2021	Gamescom 2020 presentation (via Dailyradar)
Aeon Must Die	2021	Official Trailer
Azur Lane: Crosswave Sails the Seas	2021	Official Twitter Post
Backbone	2021	Official Website
Bear and Breakfast (Timed console exclusive)	2021	Nintendo.com
Card Shark	2021	Nintendo.com
Dordogne	2021	Official Trailer
Dual Gear	2021	Official Trailer
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers	2021	Official Trailer (Gamespot Exclusive)
Gamedec	2021	Official Trailer (Gamescom 2020)
Garden Story	2021	Nintendo.com
Graven	2021	Official Trailer
Lenin - The Lion	2021	Official Trailer
Lost in Random	2021	Official Press Release
Lost Words	2021	Official Twitter Post
Mineko's Night Market	2021	Nintendo.com
No More Heroes 3	2021	Nintendo.com/Official Twitter Post
Port Royale 4	2021	Official Twitter Post
Rogue Lords	2021	Official Trailer
Rune Factory 5	2021	Nintendo.com
Serial Cleaners	2021	Official Trailer
She Dreams Elsewhere	2021	Nintendo.com
Shin Megami Tensei V	2021	Nintendo Direct Mini 7-20-20 Partner Showcase
Skatebird	2021	Indie World Showcase 12.10.2019/Official Statement on Kickstarter.com
Starbase Startopia	2021	Official Twitter Post
Saviors of Sapphire Wings/Stranger of Sword City Revisited	2021	Official Trailer
Summer at the Edge of the Universe	2021	Official Twitter Post
Tormented Souls	2021	Official Trailer
Trails of Cold Steel IV	2021	Official Trailer
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong	2021	Official Trailer
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground	2021	Official Trailer (via IGN - Gamescom 2020)
Sea of Stars	2022	Official Trailer/Official Trailer

(Note: TBA Dates and Missed Release Dates in comments)
I miss anything? Mis-marked exclusivity? Have an official source with updated info? Let me know!

Hey everyone,
I wanted to put out a few thoughts regarding mentality in League, especially compared to other competitive activities and skill-based endeavors. This is as much to simply clarify my own thoughts as it is to create a dialogue and, if I may be so bold, inform.
Also, I love writing long posts. If you clicked in, be warned. This is a goddamn novel.
However, here's the tl;dr
TL;DR - Basically I want to know what you guys think we as a community can do to improve toxicity and mentality in League, and maybe make it a bit more inviting and fun. Scroll down to the bottom on my suggestions/discussion section for my main talking points.
First, let me flex a bit to show what I'm bringing to the discussion (because it really isn't League knowledge, unfortunately):
I'm a dilettante at heart. I love learning new subjects, and I've always had a particular bent for competition.
Chess was a first competitive game, and I peaked around 1700 Elo. Not the highest, but not a bad player. Go (also known as baduk, igo, and weiqi) was a major love, and I currently sit at 1 kyu. I've also played some Overwatch (peaked at Plat) and a handful of other smaller games with less competitive communities.
For those unfamiliar with the ranks, to use a very rough comparison to the League system it would probably be something like:

• High Gold/Low Plat in Chess
• Mid Diamond in Go (maybe?)
• Plat in Overwatch is honestly like, mid Gold in League

I also play three instruments competently (guitar especially well) and went to school for classical guitar and music composition. For those who have not worked in music or sought a career, it's quite competitive.
Oh, and Smash. I've played a healthy amount of Melee and PM. I'm not the best, but I'm better than most, played a fair amount online and followed the esports pretty closely. A few other fighting games too, but those never interested me nearly as much.
The reason that I bring these up is just to give a baseline of my knowledge about competitive mentality in general. You don't get good at these things by talent or just "not being an idiot," you have to play and practice and work and study. Talent doesn't get you very far at all.
Next, a disclaimer:
I'm a relatively new League player. I started playing League because my crush (later girlfriend, now wife) had just gotten into it. This was like...late S7? I played a couple dozen games, fed my ass off and then dropped it not long after. I didn't pick it back up until quarantine, where I started in Iron III and have made it up to Silver III (where I failed my promos for Silver II last night...).
So NOT a world-class League player. Statistically on the lower side of average, actually. But I'm working on it and I'm having fun.
I wanted to talk about a few subjects as they relate to League of Legends through the lens of my experience in learning other stuff. These are discussion points, not instructional. I don't want to tell anyone how they should play a game, but I did want to let everyone know how it looks from the viewpoint of a newcomer looking to compete in something cool.

1. League's Aspects
2. Toxicity
3. Newcomers
4. Comments/Suggestions for Discussion

​
LEAGUE'S ASPECTS
So the first thing is that I really like League as a skill-based game. MOBAs are very unique in their spot, but I think they deserve a seat at the table with discussions about games like chess, go, poker, etc.
One funny thing is that it is a skill-based game without the element of chance (per se) when it comes to gameplay, which makes one put it in the same realm as chess and the like. There's no RNG, just the choices of others, and so skill expression is very apparent.
However, there is a key distinction between games like chess and League, namely access to information. In chess or go, you see the whole board. You have the same information that your opponent does. In League, you have a situation where you have the limited information from your own team's vision via minions, towers, wards, and your own champion's line of sight. If there were no fog of war, League would be very much a simpler game and would be abysmally boring. This aspect gives it a similar feel to the competitive aspects of poker, where you have access to limited information and the skill lies in playing the numbers and using this to read your opponents and gain small advantages.
Next, there is another aspect which differentiates League from games like chess as well as games like poker and (an arguably much more direct relative) RTS games. That is the fact that League is played with a team. This makes it similar in a sense to a game like Overwatch in that one of the main factors that is out of your control is what your teammates do with their champs. You do your best on your champ, and communication with your team becomes a massive competitive advantage.
So the way I see it, there are a few distinct aspects of League when you want to break it down as a competitive game:

• League is a skill-based game, where your game knowledge, decision making, and technical execution are rewarded. There is very little RNG. Lack of knowledge, poor decisions, or poor execution of decisions are punished.
• League is an information-based game, where you do not have full information of the field of play and so information gathering and processing are rewarded. Lack of information gathering and failure to interpret what information you do have correctly are punished.
• League is a team-based game where you have to work together with other players to accomplish your goals. Good communication and coordination are rewarded. Poor communication and coordination are punished. This is also the aspect which is most outside of your control.

TOXICITY
This is, unfortunately, the thing for which the League community is most infamous. Let's break down some situations I know y'all have seen in SoloQ:

• You have a bad game. Everyone has them in SoloQ, from Iron to Challenger. Just check out op.gg or look at TSM's Worlds 2020 performance (jk, but not really. sorry, all NA fans...). Someone on your team starts "flaming" you for playing like shit. Which, let's face it, you are probably playing like shit compared to your average games.
• Someone on your team is having a bad game and blames a teammate (usually the jungler) for their awful performance.
• Your team starts losing and a teammate decides to "run it down."
• Teammates that spam ff on a game that is still pretty winnable
• Teammates that refuse to ff in order to lock you into an unwinnable game while they continue to run it down.
• ADC blaming support or vice versa, when they just took bad fights or mispositioned.

This is normal, right?
But it's all kind of weird mentalities, especially because when they are doing well these same people never seem to think that they did it with their team's help or because of bad enemy play.
You go 10/0/0 in lane and got a double whenever you got ganked? It was because you popped off! It wasn't because they tried fighting in your wave or didn't track summs or just mechanically misplayed. It's because you're awesome, right?
Jungler camps your lane and gets you fed (in a dream world, right?) it's because you set up your lanes correctly, right? You might give some credit to your jg, but not as much blame as junglers usually get when the laner is just running it down.
Enemy team ffs a winnable game you type "?" in all chat.
Enemy team refuses to ff a game when you're 30k gold ahead on scaling champs, you feel confused and maybe laugh a bit.
I won't say that players never acknowledge mistakes of the enemy team as mistakes, but I think that the degree to which your teammates are upset by your mistakes is absolutely disproportionate to how well you are acknowledged for sound play, and the credit players give themselves is disproportionate to how much credit they give their team.
***
Some Comparisons:
Overwatch: I think League's toxicity stems, to a degree, from its team-based aspect. Overwatch is the only thing I've encountered where the community was anything but lovely, helpful, and informative. I think it's because in 2-player games, the only person you can blame is yourself. The other person beat you, therefore they were better than you that game, and so you have something to learn. Overwatch...that's not always the case.
However, I think Overwatch players do better than League players. There are calls people will make to do better, but it's very rare that someone gives up or spends a lot of time being upset when their teammate sucks, and they may adjust their play accordingly if someone on their team is not doing well.
Go/Chess: This aspect of toxicity was actually the reason I never got into League before quarantine. When you compare League's community to a game like go, League is (quite bluntly) fucking disgusting.
Do you know what go players do at mid-high ranks after a game? They sit down and review it together. Even in tournament settings, if you have time before your next match it is absolutely the polite thing to do. To refuse to review a game (barring perhaps if you have somewhere to be) can even considered a bit rude.
You know what would NEVER happen in a go match? Being rude to your opponent, whether they won or they lost. Like, I can't even fathom playing a game online with someone, dumpstering them and seeing them type "fuck you, kys trash" in game. Or getting dumpstered and someone typing "gg ez."
Now go players are a bit different. Go is a very thinking-based game and based on concepts of balance, trading, and sharing. So the game doesn't appeal to someone who can't sit at a board for a couple of hours quietly and compete, nor to people who feel the need to dominate someone.
But chess is about domination to a larger degree, and the games (can be) much faster than go, or at least of a similar length as your average game of League. And I could count EASILY on one hand the number of times anyone has been rude to me before, during, or after a chess match.
***
Rank-Shaming:
You know how deeply this is ingrained into players? Whenever anyone has told me they play League, they almost always put as a precursor that they are a "(insert-rank) scrub." Whether bronze or silver or diamond, they automatically feel bad because they know they can improve on the game.
Most everyone knows that statistically speaking over half of players are Gold or below. According to League of Graphs, Plat+ is just under 15% of players, while Diamond+ is just under 3% of players.
Do you know how objectively ridiculous it is to make fun of someone for being "hardstuck Diamond II"? To make fun of someone for being in the top .5% of all League players? That's insane.
This isn't a call-out post specifically and I legitimately am interested in opening up discussion, but this part is a bit of a call-out. This activity is stupid. It would literally be the equivalent of someone making fun of an IM (International Master) in chess for not being a Chess Grandmaster. IM is a lifetime achievement in and of itself.
The ONLY thing I've ever seen an equivalent of is some light jabbing from VERY high rated players when ACTIVELY TRYING TO HELP a player who is trying to break into high Elo (i.e. help a chess player break into 2000+ Elo and hit Candidate Master; or help a go player break into 1 dan).
If someone is being a toxic asshole, call them out for being a toxic asshole, not for their rank. I mean, damn.
Also, this flies in the face of any understanding of how systems like this work. Honestly if everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) in the world was as good as a Diamond player is currently, then you know what would happen? If there were any change at all, sure there would be fewer iron players BUT THERE WOULD ALSO BE WAY FEWER DIAMOND PLAYERS. The bell-curve would flatten out and most people would still fall somewhere in the middle. (Correct me if I'm wrong on my statistics knowledge here, reddit...)
Either way, rank is an indication of skill and a personal achievement. Shaming someone for not having made that goal yet is really shitty, I think.
***
Flaming Your Own Damn Team:
My brother (and frequent duo-queue partner) said it best when we muted some toxic teammates: "For a game so fundamentally based on communication, League is remarkably improved by turning off chat."
As mentioned earlier, teams are a core part of League and one of the things you can least control. So why is it that in the few things we can do to control our teammates (namely chat and pings), we insist on making it a toxic shit-hole of an experience? It's super easy to vent your frustrations, but it actively harms your team.
I don't think a single player has ever legitimately improved by getting flamed. Ever. They either get defensive and just do the same damn thing, they troll, or they mute you. But, in almost every case, they tilt. They play WORSE because of what you're doing. And they don't actually learn anything.
***
Winning/Losing:
In go, there is a saying: "a newcomer should lose their first hundred games as soon as possible." When the newcomer does this, the response is frequently "Nicely done! Get on with losing the next hundred."
This doesn't mean you int 100 games of go in a row. It means that you learn more by losing than by winning.
A question for all of you: how many games that you lost do you actually remember? Maybe a few spectacular losses, or some really close games that you couldn't pull through. But seriously, compared to how many games you've lost, how many actually stuck with you as memories? I'd bet not many.
For that matter, how many games that you won have stuck with you? Again, maybe some spectacular hijinx you pulled off and saved in a highlight reel, sure.
But at the end of the day, the W and the L are equally unremarkable when you're not playing professionally.
I've probably played and lost hundreds of games of chess and thousands of games of go. Do I remember any of them? I don't remember a single chess match I lost with any clarity, and I can remember exactly one go loss that I had because it was at a tournament I traveled for and the loss was due to a silly blunder.
League isn't different. So why do League players treat a loss like it's the end of the goddamn world?
Sure, there's a time investment involved and nobody likes to play to lose. But, if I'm being real...don't play competitive games if you're a sore-ass loser?
Like I said, go players often review the game with their opponent, win or lose. Usually the winner is the one who offers the review, but it doesn't matter. The point is that when the game is done, both players are willing to look each other in the eye and help each other get better at the game.
I personally feel like dignity in losing is important, and the lack of it is something I think will absolutely hurt your climb if you don't have it. Getting the fuck over yourself is something that frequently pushes someone past a middle rank in chess/go/etc. up to a serious ranking.
The idea should be to go into every game and try to win, but accept that you'll lose sometimes. If you're losing less than half of the time, you're climbing. If you're losing about half, then you have mistakes to learn from. If you're losing significantly more than half your games, you're either boosted or you're tilted, and you need to take a long, hard look at yourself.
Additionally, you should realize that people who you are playing with are at your rank. "Elo Hell" is a concept that stemmed from League players and stems from the team-based nature of it all. Your teammates are "so bad" that you have to "hard carry" your games to get through, and even then you can't make it.
But that's bullshit, right? Sure there will be games where your teammates int and there's no way you can win but, over a long enough time period, there should be just as many games where your opponents int and you get a free win.
Actually, it's better than that. So long as you don't literally give up or troll, you have 4 players that could give up/troll on your team and 5 players that could give up/troll on the enemy team. Statistically, if you're better than your peers, you should climb.
There are certain strategies that work better in SoloQ (as opposed to coordinated FlexQ/Pro Play) and these are MORE than covered by a ton of YouTube content, as well as strategies that work better at low elo than high elo and vice versa. But barring that, your skill has a lot to do with your rank, so unless you are actively getting better at a rate faster than the people at your elo, you'll probably stay the same rank and maybe climb very slowly.
***
Surrender Votes:
This one I add because I mentioned it and thought there were two interesting schools of thought and wanted to see what others thought about it:
Chess:
In chess, there is not really incentive to forfeit since you may be able to force a draw. You are certainly allowed to resign if you're sure that the opponent has a way to beat you, knows what it is and is actively planning on properly executing that strategy, but there's nothing wrong with someone making you "play it out."
My dad always liked to say to me regarding chess that you should make your opponent "prove it." They should prove they know how to pull out the win. Quitters never win, right?
Go:
Go players do not share this philosophy. Since Go is a point-based game where you typically win by accumulating small advantages and the rules (as of the twentieth century) do not allow a draw to occur, the game can be won by a small margin or a large margin.
There occasionally comes a point where your opponent has accumulated an overwhelming advantage over you and you do not actually have room for counterplay. The lead is too great, and you will lose this game.
It is actually considered rude in the go community to NOT surrender, as all you are doing is wasting the time of your opponent.
While there is still no incentive for resignation from the standpoint of "you won't win either way," there is no incentive to continue either. You will lose. The reward for the forfeit is valuing your time and that of your opponents over pride.
League:
League appears to have players in both camps, each feeling the other is rude or inconsiderate.
Some people think that people who want to ff have "weak mental." Maybe it's true sometimes, but maybe they are looking at a situation where the enemy team is ahead, scales better, and appears to be well-coordinated. They don't want to spend the extra ten minutes "playing it out" when there seems to be no incentive for doing so. If they just chalk up the LP as lost and get to the next game, that ten minutes would already have them well into their next laning phase.
That being said, throws happen CONSTANTLY in League. Especially since the later a game goes on, the longer death timers are. So if the enemy team is ahead and doesn't end, and you catch someone out, you can force a fight 4v5 and maybe even just end if the game has gone on long enough, even if you are behind.
So "hostage takers" are sometimes just counting on the enemy team throwing, as they often may do.
Additionally, I think while League definitely has the aspect of "accumulating small advantages over the course of the game" and you can get to a situation where the enemy team just steamrolls you, League is more like chess than go in that there is a "checkmate" situation. The gold you have doesn't matter, the towers don't matter, the dragons don't matter except in how much they help you to take down the enemy nexus.
Therefore, objectively, it makes more sense to play it out. But this also goes back to toxicity: nobody wants to be trapped in game with an 0/20/2 mid/jg who's flaming all chat, spam pinging everyone and everything, and seems hell-bent on making sure that there's an extra 100 gold with every cannon wave mid by running straight into the enemy team 1v5. Why flame someone for wanting out?
What do you guys think?
NEWCOMERS
Like I said, this is my first real season actually dedicating time into this game. It was something social I could do in quarantine with my brother, wife, and a couple friends, and then I got into the competitive aspect a bit more. I studied it like I studied other things, namely by studying from experts, getting coaching where I could find it and playing a lot of games.
I felt comfortable in doing so because I have a great little group of friends that play and they were happy to teach me until I was comfortable enough to learn.
One thing I think that has improved in content-creation between when I first encountered the game in Season 7 and when I looked at it now is that it seems to be more widely understood that there are TWO sets of fundamentals in League. There are the basic mechanical aspects of how to play (abilities, last-hitting, towers, what jungle camps are and do, what each role does on a basic level, etc.) and then the more advanced decision making aspects (wave management, roaming, jungle timers/pathing, teamfighting, lane positioning, etc.).
The knowledge base required for League is actually massive, by the way, just like it is for almost any competitive game. The MINIMUM knowledge that I could see would be required to play like an actual human and not get smashed EVERY TIME is:

• An intimate understanding of at least one role and how that role relates to the team
• A strong understanding of at least a couple of champions, knowing how to play them, who counters them, who they counter, what runes to take, what items to generally build
• A basic understanding of basically every other champion in the game so you know what to look out for
• An ability to focus on several things at once (map, enemy movements, wave states, warding, enemy positioning, your own positioning).

Getting good requires expanding this knowledge base, as well as other aspects of the game. It's a lot to take in.
Combining this with the fact that you get punished for not being good (as covered earlier) and get flamed, told to uninstall, or even have homophobic/racial slurs and get told to kill yourself (which isn't as harmless to some people as you might think), the face of League is a very unfriendly one.
Which begs the question: how many more people would have fun and play this game if it weren't the baffling combination of complicated, difficult, and toxic?
​
COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
I've been thinking about making this post for a while, especially since Voyboy's famous video on community toxicity.
While I do think that Riot should not allow rampantly and obviously toxic behavior, the community has to do a lot of stepping up too.
Every time you personally int or type something shitty or are an asshole to others in-game, you show the rest of the players in your game that to some degree it is socially acceptable to do.
I ran a go club for a while, and if anyone treated a new player or an unskilled player half as poorly as I've seen inexperienced players treated (hell been treated as a new player), they would get a stern talking to and, if it continued, I would just kick them the fuck out. And nobody in my club would have batted an eye.
Wouldn't it be nice to have more people to play League with? And have the games be less toxic? Hell, maybe actually be fun?
The thrill of competition is a shared experience. If you have trouble with toxicity yourself, maybe just start by acknowledging that sometimes its okay for people to have a bad game, and its okay for your enemies to pop off sometimes. To feel otherwise is to torture yourself, as there's no way that (unless you're hard smurfing) you should expect to win 100% of your games with people at your rank.
But this goes beyond simply not being the guy who spends the game sitting under his turret typing and flaming his team. That should be a given if you want to see a less toxic game. It is the absolute bare minimum to not actively contribute to the things you don't want to see in game.
I think that if we want to improve the general environment of the game, we have to actively set examples and change what we think is acceptable conduct. Ignore or report bad conduct, but also add things you can do to improve the conditions.
Here are my thoughts on some stuff I think we can do as a community that will improve stuff:

• Reviewing as a courtesy. Reviewing a game with your opponent can be SO helpful. I think we're not in a place where an offer to go over the game with your enemy laner would be seen as anything but condescending, but maybe it might be better received if the loser asked to go over the game? Or at least have a brief discussion about it in the post-game chat.
• Coaching as a courtesy. The "Go Teaching Ladder" is a great service where lower rated go players would submit their games and higher rated players review them for free. The higher rated players also submit their games for review, so it runs off a combination of goodwill and fair exchange. This really wouldn't be hard to implement, honestly. What would you guys think of such a site/service? The flaw in this system is that a Bronze player might get incorrect information from a Plat player, but I think it's better than the Bronze player having at best Bronze information and at worst no information about how to improve.
• Acknowledging both your enemies and your allies for good play. Instead of flaming someone else or going into self-deprecation, maybe just trying to look more at what an opponent did well and just typing in post-game chat that they played well and giving a genuine "gg" would just help make things not so toxic constantly.
• Turning off chat. So we all know when we're being kind of toxic, right? If you can't help but type all game, then maybe just...remove your own ability to type? Just be the bigger person, realize you don't have the mental to avoid tilting your team even harder and just not do it. Conversely, if you know you have a weak mental and tilt easily or you're a brand new player and getting flamed all the time, it would also be good to disable chat while you get better. And I don't mean muting everyone or just "holding back" from typing. I mean clicking escape, going into your game settings and disabling both allied and team chat. The downside there is that you might miss calls and coordination in chat, but you can do most shotcalling with some creative pings and if you have a major problem with these things it can do more harm than good.
• Making reports actually matter. Reporting someone for having a bad game seems to be common, but I think it harms the game. If there are 10,000 reports submitted and 9,000 of them are for "inting," but only 500 of those reports were validly for people actually running into enemy turret and flaming in all-chat between death timers, then Riot can't punish people as effectively for actually ruining the game. They have to play the numbers game here, and if you punished everyone who was reported as having a bad game at the same level as everyone who was actually inting, you would ban half the player base. So then it takes more reports to actually act upon these things to try to weed out people just not doing well or learning a role/champ, so now the actual offenders get to play more games before they get punished.

Anyway, thoughts on my suggestions? Suggestions of your own? Comments? Critiques? This has been bugging me for ages and I wanted to talk about it.