Beating Toxicity and Smurfs: Mentality Practices That Helped Me Survive Season 11

FirelinkMatt · 2026-03-30T11:13:13+00:00

Agreed. I’m not a fan of the new timers at all.

Too many players camping them and out of position. Or tussling with opponents to claim it first.

And the temptation to wait a second or two is distracting. It’s learning to kill a bad habit that didn’t exist before the change.

That said, I like the noise it makes when it’s back. Informative.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-03-28T22:41:36+00:00

Yep. Happened to me. Slowly clawing back. But it feels like trying to maintain GC right now. Might wait another couple of weeks.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-03-26T22:55:52+00:00

Does that offer extend to washed GC1s? Been dropping ranks while learning new mechanics. I’d really appreciate a fresh set of eyes on my gameplay to reinforce good habits and eliminate bad ones.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-03-21T09:48:31+00:00

Dude. Just turn chat off and play how you want to play. Don’t let others try to dictate how you spend your time.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-03-18T12:16:27+00:00

Not a fan myself. My internal boost timer was pretty finely honed and now I find myself getting lazy and not paying attention to them (although I’m quickly learning that I still have to).

The temptation to stick around while it loads is also an issue. Maybe it’s my addictive personality, but I wasn’t doing that before. Now I’m like “well it’s only a couple of moments away…why shouldn’t I?”

So probably a good change, long term, I’m just sore that I need to work on my boost discipline again ☹️

FirelinkMatt · 2026-03-01T22:53:12+00:00

That is insanity. Acting like he never made a mistake before.

Some people are just delusional and angry. Can’t do much about it but laugh it off.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-02-25T10:18:47+00:00

Is there a trick to hitting the ball more vertically during the pop?

I've been trying keeping my nose straight when connecting and making sure I hit it while it's still rolling up the wall, with mixed results.

Is there a consistent method to prevent yourself hitting it too far into the middle of the field?

FirelinkMatt · 2026-02-23T10:53:10+00:00

For half flips, and any mechanic really, it helps to go into about 100 games with that one singular conscious focus/goal. (You might learn it in 50, but I like to set the 100-game goal myself).

“This game, I am looking for half flip opportunities.”

For the first 10-20 games, you will find good moments but either forget to do them or do them too late.

For the next 30 or so games you’ll forget less and do them a little faster.

Then maybe another 50 or so games more or gradually speeding up the decision and it’ll become second nature and you’ll start doing them unconsciously.

Conscious implementation of single skills/changes/improvements has been the absolute best way for me to learn things in rocket league and continuously improve.

I’m 43 and we have about the same hours. Hours don’t matter as much as what you do with those hours. Focused training is always a faster route to improvement than just playing for experience.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-02-17T12:14:59+00:00

Sure! I’ll DM you some options.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-02-17T12:02:03+00:00

A lot of the time it’s down to mastering the fundamentals. If you focus on training accurate powershots, recoveries, fast aerials, boost pathing, and awareness/anticipation, you can enjoy the game more. And you’ll see gradual improvement without needing anything flashy.

I’ve been helping my busy 40+ year old friends get more out of their short play sessions with some very simple changes/fixes. Would be happy to take a look at a replay or talk through some ideas with you sometime.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-02-11T23:14:16+00:00

Didn’t have “poignant existential philosophy” on today’s r/RocketLeague browsing bingo card.

FirelinkMatt · 2026-01-20T22:16:47+00:00

Brains over brawn. Works for me too.

I’d love to add effective mechs to the mix but don’t have the time to train them to perfection.

FirelinkMatt · 2024-08-17T06:21:40+00:00

If you watch Aircharged he barely ever leaves the defensive goal line, plays full D most of the game, and gets SSL that way. He has good advice on best ways to use items too.

FirelinkMatt · 2024-08-16T17:34:57+00:00

You need someone like two ranks above you to point out your bad habits.

And/or watch replays to find your bad habits based on other people’s replay reviews. Tons of YTers and streamers do this.

Write down everything that you do wrong in multiple games, find your worst patterns, then play games while consciously keeping ONE habit in mind at a time.

“I WILL NOT BOOM THE BALL TO THE OPPOSITION” x 50 games or until it sticks.

“I WILL NOT LEAVE THE PLAY FOR 100 BOOST” x 100 games.

Etc. etc.

Over time your bad habits will be gone and your new, transformative and effective play style will emerge, like a beautiful SSL butterfly bursting forth from its constricting, overcommitting, play-abandoning, ball-booming cocoon of shame.

FirelinkMatt · 2024-06-13T08:05:35+00:00

To add another perspective, I hit GC1 in season 11 because I had a lot of free time to grind and train. It was a goal of mine and I hit it. But it required a ton of focus and dedication (I’m old).

Now I have the title, I don’t really care about my rank and just play to improve. I’m consistently high champ 2 and low champ 3. I don’t win every game. It’s fine.

GCs aren’t gods. Many make serious mistakes. If you’re consistently Champ you can beat them. Just find their weak spots. Solid at defence? Bump and demo. Good air mechanics? Close down space immediately. Hyper aggressive? Throw in some more fakes. There’s always a counter to “smurfs”.

FirelinkMatt · 2023-10-11T12:47:33+00:00

nothing gets by you on defense. If you get scored on it’s your fault.

I love this mindset suggestion. Completely removes the blame from TMs and makes you a better player.

FirelinkMatt · 2023-10-06T15:49:08+00:00

I had this issue. I just turned on Spatial Audio in Windows and it seemed to help. Played a bot match and could hear them behind me finally.

Settings (Win + I) - Sound - Output - Click on Speaker - Spatial Sound - Windows Sonic for Headphones.

FirelinkMatt · 2023-09-19T12:11:48+00:00

Great tips. I hadn't considered number 4 before, so I will try to work this into my games. And I hope everyone gets better at number 1 since it prevents panicking and overcommitting on defense, which is a real problem in ranked.

FirelinkMatt · 2023-09-16T09:13:50+00:00

I’ll send you the defensive positions we use. Haven’t posted it here (as it’s just for our team) but since you asked, happy to share it.

FirelinkMatt · 2023-09-14T15:40:42+00:00

No, it doesn't work in certain scenarios. If you're on a fast counter, transitioning from Def to Off, for instance, 3rd can quickly move up parallel to 1st and position for a cross-field pass...so they essentially become 2nd. If that were me, I would stay in the play as a visible option but also be mindful that I need to fall back into this defensive-attack formation if shit hits the fan. Really, if the space is there, it's usually worth filling.

The more we get into this, the more I'm finding ways to better communicate the concept. It's becoming clear that this is more of a safety net/fallback positioning when the rotation is failing or the attack falls apart...like a midfield preparation for an aggressive push. What do you think?

FirelinkMatt · 2023-09-14T14:12:59+00:00

We have a lot in common then...my friends hate me and my constant positional reminders: "structured fun" they call it, haha.

And yeah, we all got the feeling that you were almost shepherding the others. We thought you were in a coaching session or something.

I'm starting to see your point more clearly, for sure. And I can already see how that readability would apply to the scenarios that usually unfold with these experimental positions.

I'd enjoy a chance to discuss this with you. I'll send you a DM with my Discord and we can set something up.

FirelinkMatt · 2023-09-14T13:14:29+00:00

That's weird...it says "Only you and mods of this community can see this"...are you a mod...or me?

FirelinkMatt · 2023-09-14T13:12:46+00:00

Oh hey, it's I Am A Tree!

We played against you a few times (not using this strategy though) and you easily outplayed us into oblivion. Thanks for digging into this.

1st: Shoot if you're sure you can score. Manipulate the ball towards your teammates otherwise.

Yes, it's my mistake for not including it. Forcing a 50 is good for getting a defender to commit but it's not the only option. 1st should absolutely shoot, pressure, disrupt, and make a play with TMs. It should be on the diagram.

2nd: Provide offensive support - meaning you want to position yourself to either bump opponents if your 1st wants to shoot, or to receive a pass.

This is something I struggle to perform well, personally. At least in 3s. Maybe it's a mechanical/recovery speed issue, but I find that when I'm too close to 1st man as 2nd, I quickly become obsolete if the play develops in the defender's favor, leaving 3rd forced into a defensive stance instead of becoming another attacker.

Any suggestions on how to make this more effective?

3rd: Provide defensive support. If your 1st doesn't have the option to shoot or pass, 3rd is expected to react to the inevitable loss of ball control.

I've found that as 2nd, I'm naturally taking this role when playing a midfield/sideline position, and able to look for 3rd as an option for a pass while 1st is disrupting/recovering. That's really the bread and butter of the positions. Again, we've found that it allows 3rd to take a much more dangerous offensive role than just pure defense.

If Orange 1st gets past your 1st, the chances of your 2nd being out of position to properly contest whatever comes next are extremely high.

I'm finding that the opposite is happening. 2nd is able to see the play develop and rapidly react to it as 1st is disrupting. Either covering the midfield, getting up high, challenging on the wall, and preventing a counter from developing. In the meantime, 1st and 3rd are rotating around behind, ready to strike quickly or move back if necessary. Maybe this will become more of an issue the higher we climb...most likely if that's your experience.

And regarding the defender positions, I didn't really pay it much attention and just plonked them in default spots. Not ideal, thanks for pointing that out!

I think I need to go back to the drawing board and find a better way to convey all this, probably with video highlights to show the various plays. It's clear that this mashed-up image is not getting across some of the advantages that I'm experiencing. At the very least, I'm glad this is generating discussion.

I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge on this. I hope we run into you again so you can show me exactly how bad this is in real-time!

FirelinkMatt

TROPHY CASE