User blog comment:Mineko Charat Lucky/What makes Platinum players different from Gold, and Diamond to Platinum?/@comment-3466579-20131027102857

I'm not a Diamond nor Platinum player myself but i've got a friend that recently made it up to Platinum and i can tell you that one thing i have never seen in Gold or Silver players is how consistent he is in his performances. He mostly plays top, he used Mundo to get to Gold and recently he's been playing Zac a lot. He doesn't really counterpick a lot, honestly. I asked myself how can he be so consistent and i think the main reason is how well he understands the game mechanics: how important experience and gold are, how can he use his champions at full potential, how can he lessen his opponents' strenghts and how can he emphasize their weaknesses. In the end, i'd say it's just a matter of how well he knows the game. Most of the players probably think to know the game while they just know the very first pages of this big book of League of Legends. How to get to that level, then? Practise is not enough, in my opinion: you also have and understand WHY one should do a certain move or take a certain decision, rather than only copying what a guide / a professional player says.