So I started playing Duelyst last month (near the middle/end of the month) and I was able to get to rank 13. So when October season rolled through it started me off at 20, instead of 30. I haven’t even played more than a hundred games probably, but I’m being matched up against people with 200, 300, 400 + wins just on ONE of their factions, not to mention the 100+ on all the others. Why is it that I’m being pitted against these veteran players? I still have SO MUCH to learn about the game, the cards, positioning, strategy… and yet I’m playing people who have been stomping people for ages. Take for instance this screen shot. The bloody hell? he has 1,100 wins on ONE faction alone! How the hell am I supposed to out strategize someone with this much experience?? I mean, the guy killed me in like 6 turns. Does anyone else have this problem??
What is the deal with matchmaking?
Season reset at the start of the month…everyone from diamond-S gets thrown back to silver11 at the start of each new month=season
At the end of each month, the ranked ladder resets. Your spot on the ladder is based on where you were ranked at the end of last season,
The reason you’re facing players with so many ribbons is because people in higher ranks have been brought down to silver division as a result of the ladder reset. Even the top players in S-Rank start at Rank 11 at the beginning of a new season.
After a week or so, when players have ranked back up, you should get opponents more appropriate for you. 
Thanks everyone. I guess I’ll just tough it out and hopefully learn a thing or two. xD
I don’t even care if I go up against S rankers repeatedly, just wish I had the time to play.
And for all you sarcastic people who are about to comment that I have enough time though to post, its different and you know it.
Also, you might consider playing at different times if possible. There is some regularity on when people play, you might notice that there are some moments where the lower ranks of Silver are more crowded than the higher ones. In this moment of the season, there is a huge difference between Silver 15 and Silver 11, which decreases as long as the season goes on. You don’t want to face Silver 11 players as of now, though you may end up breaking to Gold by the end of the season even with a small collection.
Outside of what other people already said about monthly reset i’d also like to say, don’t give a shit about ribbons, they mean nothing. There are people with tons of ribbons that never left silver while others make diamond or even S-rank before they have even one ribbon. Experience isn’t much of a factor in Duelyst. The things you need to know to compete on the highest level you can learn in a week or two if you put your mind into it.
@baharoth I agree that ribbons don’t mean someone is good, but it DOES mean that they have a LOT more experience than I do. Thanks again to everyone for your input!! I appreciate seeing a helpful community. It’s refreshing.
Just to add my two cents, a person with a single ribbon indicates they’ve won 100 games with that faction. However, that person might have lost 3 times that many games to get to 100 wins.
One could argue if that many games is experience or not, but there you go.
From what I observed, the more you have ribbons on a faction, the more experience you acquired with it and the “best” you are with it.
Did a quick check on mine : I have around 50ish% wr on the faction where I have the most ribbons, and 40ish% wr on the one I have the less ribbon (bonus : 30ish on the one I have no ribbon).
(personal note : I consider myself as a standard average player)
To add a little more, some longtime players may take a break for a month or two, and that puts us down in the lower ranks. I only won 6 games last month, so when I started this month I was at rank 19. I have been playing since the end of Alpha. Just think of it as a learning opportunity (even if someone with a lot of badges is not great, they do have experience that you can probably learn from).
I see ribbons as how experienced they are at the game but thats not the only thing I see in ribbons. You can also assume that people with ribbons might have the expensive legendary cards for that faction or at least more legendary cards than compared to a person with no ribbons. So do beware the amount of ribbons a person may have, since its a good indicator of how much time they put in the game and thus how many better cards they may have against you.
The matchmaking won’t frustrate you nearly as much as the “randomization” of “replaced” cards… which immediately come back to your hand. This has been happening to me repeatedly this month.
Yeah I get you. I wish that they added an internal rule that like “You can’t draw a copy of the
"replaced” card until the end of your next turn unless you are using a card that says “Draw a card” on it." It’s so annoying to send a spell away to get the same useless spell at the end of the turn.
You can’t get the same copy of the card you replaced. So if you replace a card turn 1 and there’s two more in the deck, it should be 2/34 instead of 3/35 (39 card deck - 5 card opening hand. If you could get the exact card you replaced, it puts one back for 35 cards in deck.)
Yeah but the problem is not the replace mechanic, its the draw mechanic at the end of the turn. Sometimes i replace a not-situationally optimal card and then it literally appears back in my action bar at the end of the turn.
I.E. It’s like replacing Calculator from your hand to get another card only for it to reappear to taunt you at the end of the turn and be a dead draw. However, with this scenario, the real question here is “Why are you running CALCULATOR in your deck?”
Usually it’ll go like this for me.
Turn 6 or 7 we’ve come to a push. My draw is an unwanted Ephemeral Shroud. I replace it and get Dancing blades or Saberspine Tiger or … whatever. End Turn - Draw Ephemeral Shroud. With 6-9 end game costed Minions and to not see them can be frustrating… but the above scenario is happening to me several times per game.
Actually you can’t get a card with the same name when replacing, not just the same copy. This is only true for replaces though, the opening mulligan works different for whatever reason.
And that stupid replace a card and draw it end of turn is a commonly complained about problem though most people write it off as confirmation bias. I am defininetly biased though, i have to replace a card at least 2 or 3 times before i get something different with my end of turn draw.
The trick with the bad redraws is to have just a better card in that spot. Do you HAVE to put Ephemeral Shroud (Dispel on a twig) into your deck or do you need a bigger body with it? Shroud is good in a swarm deck that wants to put early pressure on the opponent. Lightbender is more suited for midrange as the body is much more durable. EMP is for any deck that likes the lategame or wants to be ready for anything the lategame might throw at it.
Nobody wants Shroud as a 2 drop to contest a tile. Bad redraws happen more often in loosely constructed decks. If you want to draw the cards you need more often put in more card draw. After that is only really bad luck. No reason to blame the replace mechanic.
That was just a random example. It could be any of my 2 drops (and has been). Some of my decks are a bit loose but this happens on my decks that are 3x spam with strict curves just as often as it happens in my 2x everything decks… which I play far less often.
As to “do you need x, y, or z”. Seriously… the need for the card isn’t the issue. The issue is that you replace a 2 drop and get it back immediately at the end of turn. Late game that can be crippling.