April 25, 2026

So much has happened recently that I struggle to deal with at low-level, and I wanted to take the time and really vent about how I feel regarding some of these events.

The FTIU #101 Situation

On April 24, 2026, From the Ink Up #101 took place, currently under Inkling Performance Labs. As usually, it ran very smoothly with very little assistance needed in the helpdesk. All in all it was a great tournament.

Unless you’re a low-level player with an ego the size of Texas.

What makes low level players think that they know everything about the game? Any player who is even remotely competent could beat them into the ground, and yet they still prance around like pampered peacocks as if they own the place.

After FTIU concluded, a group of players flooded the feedback channel making unsubstantiated claims regarding why FTIU changed hands and how the so-called quality of the tournament had gone down due to the change in leadership. The conversation then morphed into one regarding how it didn’t make sense that FTIU wasn’t seen as a viable way to call yourself “division 7”.

Ignoring the misconception that divisions even exist for now, a quote from one of the staff members sums things up perfectly:

“Winning FTIU means you won FTIU”

It doesn’t make you division 6. It doesn’t mean you can suddenly defeat any Low Ink Alpha Bracket team. If you win FTIU, then you won FTIU. That’s all it means.

There’s this idea floating around in low level circles that in order to get better you need to use skill-capped tournaments as stepping stones to improve. While this can be nice as we humans love having procedural challenges, this isn’t how it works in actuality.

FTIU101 was a smaller one than usual. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that because of this all of the teams are division 9 or lower. If you beat all of those teams, would you really be able to justify calling yourself division 7? There are so many variables that go into what makes verification and seeding in tournaments work. Seeding itself can be an awful experience because upsets can always happen.

A Matter of Pride

Low level players have so much fucking ego it’s insane.

I won’t yap about the difference between someone being confident in their abilities while also acknowledging their weaknesses and shortcomings because I assume that whoever is reading this is already aware of something like that.

If not, then my journals aren’t for you.

I see so many players at this level act like entire teams need to revolve around themselves instead of the opposite. It’s like that quote from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech: “ask not what your [team] can do for you — ask what you can do for your [team].”

When you join a team for competitive play, you are no longer playing for yourself. Teams win together, teams lose together, but no matter the outcome they do it together. You are one part of a cohesive whole. You are not the main character with everyone else as your supporting cast.

Being on a team requires sacrifice and compromise, from everyone. While I would never endorse the idea of forcing a teammate onto a weapon they hate, I do believe that everyone should be willing to make small sacrifices when it comes to it.

I remember playing with a person who only played one weapon and one kit, and it was purely for the sub weapon and nothing else. When they were asked to play an alternate kit instead due to it giving us more lethal bombs and making it easier for us to clear the area of effect weapons that were giving us trouble.

They didn’t change for the next match, which was fine because again, we don’t force people onto weapons they dislike. But then they complained and blamed us for the loss because we weren’t doing a good enough job clearing the aoe weapons.

The second time this happened they did change onto a weapon that had a lethal bomb, but then they were extremely passive aggressive about it for the rest of the night.

If someone calls themself a one-trick of a weapon, then I expect them to be able to play all kits of that weapon, not just one. Maybe a controversial opinion. I prefer dapples nouveau and vanilla wiper, but I am still perfectly capable of playing any of the third kits. I might not like rus-t wiper, but I am able to understand its play style and I can see why it has the kit it does.

This stubbornness that low level players have is so difficult to work with, especially when these players want to join a team but aren’t willing to be flexible or outright get angry when you set a clear boundary and they get frustrated with you when you won’t let them cross it.

Mesopelagic is currently recruiting for a backline. And a backline only. We don’t need more frontlines or midlines, we need a dedicated anchor who is willing to take on the unique defensive role that backlines typically utilize, and someone who does it well.

I’ve had a handful people approach me with a weapon pool that consists of highly aggressive frontline weapons and then I have had these same people get upset at me when I turn them down. Has literacy really gone down the drain so much? I don’t get it. There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be a “flex player” (which the majority of low level players use that term incorrectly), but Mesopelagic does not need another flex.

I want a backline who is dedicated to that role. Who is determined to push that weapon to its absolute limit and work alongside the rest of us to create unique strategies and opportunities that will lead us to victory. I don’t want an indecisive player who wants to swap into different roles every match because that means we don’t get to actually practice and perfect our comps.

Low level players fundamentally misunderstand the term flex, and so there’s a quote that I feel they need to think on:

“Being [a flex] doesn’t mean doing a bunch of roles, but being able to play within a broader identity with weapons that do slightly different things to cover for different matchups or comp needs or map specific options”

“Results in bio”

Low level players only caring about results gets on my nerves too. I’ve seen them insult and disrespect their teammates for not playing well enough and costing them games.

They view improvement and progress as things they deserve, and they care so much about badges. Why does a spinning NFT on your profile mean so much to people? It matters so much that some players will harass tournament organizers for not giving them the badges they “deserve”.

There was a situation where Player H won a tournament and earned the badge for it. However, they put in an exemption request to play the tournament again, with the caveat they would give up the badge to play in it. Player H agreed, got to play in it again, but didn’t win. They ended up getting banned from the tournament due to results in other tournaments, and got angry at the tournament organizers for not giving them the badge back.

These players throw themselves into the game without plans or goals, and then complain when things don’t work out for them. Improvement is slow, it’s not something that happens overnight. These players all have goals that are focused on earning badges and winning tournaments, but they don’t think about the progress and as such they get frustrated when they aren’t making the progress they think they should be making.

I talk more about mentality and improvement in my review of Zyf’s mentality document so I won’t repeat myself ad nauseam.

I don’t truly hate low level. I have met some of the best people ever here in low-level, and I could never forget the connections I’ve made.

But by the gods there are so many people here who need to take a long look in the mirror and re-evaluate what their brain is telling them, because they are so insufferable. If they want to get better at this game? If they want to make a name for themself? Then they need to be willing to accept that they aren’t perfect.