Scoterican

Ask them if they can give a 100% open answer about ladder matchmaking so that no one will ever ask again.

We know it involves trophies.

I think we know it takes into account losing streaks.

But there are all sorts of complaints. Conspiracy theories. Whinging. I've read posts about how they set up a pattern of easy and hard matches.

But could you ask: Is there anything other than trophies and losing streaks in 1v1 matchmaking? Ever?

If so, can they say what? If not, we lay the question to rest!

I don't care how they set up matchmaking. It is their game. They can do what they want with it. But it would be nice to have a 100% straight answer to close the debate.

We have answered this dozens of times:

• Matchmaking on ladder is based on trophies, only trophies and not card levels
• If you are on a losing streak (3+ losses), we match you against other players on losing streaks (still trophy based, we just limit the pool to "other players at your trophies also on a loss streak". The winning player ends their loss streak and resumes normal matchmaking

That's it. The truth is we can answer this question a million times and you will still see conspiracy theories because people who insist matchmaking is rigged are emotionally looking for an answer for their losses, not seeking some factual resolution. Matchmaker conspiracies are psychologically really similar to flat earthers or anti-vaxxers, no amount of proof will satisfy them because the conspiracy is providing the emotional validation they are seeking.

(Party Mode is a level-based matchmaking system, which is shown in the popup. We felt like Party Mode players are looking for 'perceived fair' matches, which you get with equal level matches, even if you get crushed by a much higher skill person)

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"This doesn't feel random" is the best way to describe human's relationship with probability. Humans are completely unequipped to deal with large amounts of random numbers because we seek a narrative to understand our world. True randomness feels wrong because it doesn't match a story in our head, and "evil man rigs game" is a pretty compelling story.

If you flipped a coin 20 times and it came up Heads 20 times, you could say "it doesn't feel random, something must be up". But its just as likely as any other series of outcomes. The fact that you jumped right to "you will say anything to protect your secret unknown financial interest" is a great example of how matchmaking conspiracists are in the same wheelhouse as flat earthers and anti-vaxxers.

Matchmaking happens in a fraction of a second, exactly how deep do you think this hypothetical algorithm goes just to match you against Barbs and Skarmy (two of the most popular ladder cards)? Why did we give free wins to EWiz players instead of matching them against Lightning/Poison players? This is why every time we say "its just trophies" there are people who refuse to accept the answer - you don't want to know how matchmaking works, you want a big secret villain to blame for a string of bad losses. Sorry my dude, its just trophies.

SirSmokeALot69

Sorry to burst your bubble but getting 20 heads out of 20 tosses is obviously way less probable than let's say 10 heads. Not trying to feed conspiracy theorists but if you get 20 heads out of 20 tosses there's very high chance of coin being biased than it being random.

You might be misunderstanding me. Any combination of H/T in a specific sequence has the exact same probability of occurring (0.5)^X. You are thinking of a standard distribution of the output, which would err towards the average (50/50) but in any given set of 3 flips:

HHH - 12.5% of occurring HTH - 12.5% of occurring TTT - 12.5% chance of occurring

So while 20 heads in a row is WEIRD, its the exact same likelihood as 5H/5T/5H/5T or H/T alternating. But we see 'weird' random outcomes as evidence that its not truly random.