When Stackers Attack

 You’re Gold 3. On the loading screen you see a Gold 4, two Gold 3s, a Silver 1, and a Platinum 3 on the opposing team. What thoughts go through your head? You can reasonably assume the S1 and P3 are in a stack, maybe with one of the golds. But why?

 It could be they’re a group of friends wanting to play together despite being different ranks. This is the best-case scenario. Placing them at a rank that is their average means the skills and knowledge of the higher player will make up for where the silver player is lacking. But what if the plat player brings something to the game that makes the team stronger than just the sum of their skills. Maybe comms, knowledge of the macro, drafts and builds? It’s possible that having a plat in a gold game is still unfair despite being grouped with someone who is silver. At the same time the silver player could struggle too much to keep up at the G3 level and make it an uneven game in the opposite direction.

 Worst-case scenario is the S1 is smurfing. They created a new account and threw their placement games. Same as in the best-case scenario they’re just trying to play with friends who have too much of a level difference. When matchmaking puts this group together with players at the average player level of course this makes for a lopsided game. Even if you pull off the win the rank points you earn seem minor compared to how hard/well you played. More than likely you get smashed since two players are higher levels than the matchmaking rank plus the comms and coordination that comes with stacking.

 As a thought experiment, what if only the rank of the highest player in the stack was used for matchmaking? What sort of competition could this lead to? What are the pros and cons here?

Less boosting: In both scenarios not only are the friends playing together but they’re likely gaining ranks. The P3 real account is getting boosted by being matched at a lower level, the S1 is leaning on the P3, and if there’s a smurf involved the rank influx is even more pronounced. But if the stack is placed at a P3 level then games should be harder. This could potentially create less incentive for boosting as winning a tougher game would still give the same rank points (since it assumes the teams are evenly matched at P3).

 More uneven games: Putting silver players in plat games could be terrible. No one likes getting stomped and being the stomper isn’t all that fun either. I’d argue though that a win for the stack would be more rewarding. The S1 shows they can compete at the P3 level. If the P3 can win an uneven game maybe that means they too are more skilled than their rank shows. It’s fun to win a hard-fought game with friends but on the other hand losing over and over might make this stack go their separate ways; or go play unranked or quick match together.