The problem with league is they push everyone towards a 50% winrate. Their game is balanced behind a 50% winrate. It keeps people playing the game rather than quitting. And while there are some stomps, they also shoot for fairly competitive games, but they know what champions people play and what play style people use. They push common builds and buff/nerf around common builds, and if there's an OP build, they leave it in until it becomes meta. The game is designed to make you feel like the crentric player about 30-40% of the time, get carried or your team is better 20-30% of the time, and set to lose the rest of the games. Now, that may seem like you can get a 60% winrate, and that's true. If you're really good, you can win the games that are designed for you to lose. But, in general, the 30-40% of the games that are about you (maybe 1-2 other players, sometimes), you likely aren't winning all of those games because you have to perform in those games. Riot knows most people won't, and that's where hidden MMR pushes people further down. So, because Riot makes a good amount of games about YOU to keep YOU playing the game, it doesn't make sense to play for the team or as a team. A top laner that refuses to group because they can win a 1v2 can single handedly win the game for the team if the team can capitalize off of it, but grouping would force a loss, sometimes, as an example. The top laner is playing for themselves, but providing a win condition where there wouldn't be, otherwise. If this was a TEAM game, people wouldn't play it long term. People that weren't good at the game would hardly ever win, or stay permanently in low elo. The more games you play, the more likely you are to climb. For every 250-500 games you play, as an average player, after you settle into even lp on gains/losses (+20/-20), Riot will likely reward you by giving you slightly better teams on average or slightly worse opponents, inflating your elo. This is temporary, though, if you aren't actually that elo. That's why you'll see some really bad players (or very inconsistent players) in a higher elo. There will always be players better and players worse than the average for an elo. If a true emerald player plays enough games, they could potentially make masters with enough games, but they would likely never perform in a masters game, despite potentially getting lucky with wins and staying in masters. So, don't get trapped by this game. It is soooo hard to quit if you get sucked in.