Just finished enjoying some GLP Quiet Night in a MM country gentleman , delightful as usual . <| sep |> I think the main reason why it ' s harder to rank up in SAM is the player density in the higher ranks and the little rewards i . e . , lack of point inflation of the ranking system . The higher the rank , the less % of players that reached that specific rank . In SAM and probably in other small regions too , the amount of people in those places is even lower . This lower density means you need both the skills and a higher winrate than people from other regions to progress . Why ? Because your cushion i . e . , all that progress you achieved while being in the zone or when playing to your best will not be very big and it will disappear more quickly than for people in other regions . The system slowly refines people with an average or lower winrate and forces them to a lower rank . You may get better skill wise but you ' ll still need to win a lot . You ' re more likely to play against people from lower ranks , especially at off hours , because there simply may not be enough players from your own rank to be matched against . Now , some example scenarios that explain why you are pushed lower . A What happens if you encounter someone after a long queue that is actually from a lower tier but very skilled and advancing rapidly in the ranks ? You will lose a bunch of points and slowly descend in rank . B What happens if you encounter someone from your own rank and of similar skill ? You will win normal points . C What happens if you play against someone from a lower rank that is not so skilled but managed to get there through luck and faces you due to lack of players of your own rank ? You will win very little points . D What happens if you encounter someone from a higher rank ? If you win , you will progress a little . But the next match may be case A or B , meaning your reward for beating him may soon be gone if you don ' t have a high winrate . The crux of the matter is what happens to that guy from a higher rank case D that you managed to beat . If you won , he was probably on a slump , so he will be punished and lose a bunch of points . This means he will descend and get closer to your own present rank . So the next time D may have become B , but with the skills of someone from D . Now multiply this to every guy who reached a rather high rank but doesn ' t have a very consistent winrate . He will move down often and face people moving up . If those people moving up are less skilled , they will be pushed lower , and the guy will get very little gains .