• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 19:16
CEST 01:16
KST 08:16
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 213ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7
Community News
MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon315.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes35Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch5[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation05.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)99
StarCraft 2
General
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 2 Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon 5.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes HomeStory Cup In Early July
Tourneys
HomeStory Cup 29 Vespene Cup #1 — $300+ USD, July 10 Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery Mutation # 530 One For All
Brood War
General
FlaShFTW vs A.Alm Grudge Match Event BW General Discussion Farewell Beloved Starcraft (Youtube Videos) BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 The Casual Games of the Week Thread [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Summer Games Done Quick 2026! ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Power Rank Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Men's Fashion Thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard? Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Listen To The Coaches!
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 21519 users

Overcoming Ladder Anxiety - 7 Tips - Page 5

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next All
StrinterN
Profile Joined April 2010
Denmark531 Posts
April 29 2012 12:03 GMT
#81
Nice thread!
I really love the idea of tip 4 and 5 about making your own reward system and also about trying not to rage quit ( which i tend to do a lot! xD )

Twitter: @Strintern Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/strintern
tryteyker
Profile Joined December 2011
Germany83 Posts
April 29 2012 12:28 GMT
#82
On April 27 2012 07:52 Epoch wrote:
The most important tip is tip #8.

Tip #8 - Lose the ego. Stop giving a fuck about your ladder ranking, and winning games, and shift your focus to improving and having fun. And lose the sense of self entitlement, you aren't better than people. If they beat you, they won fair and square and it's your job to do better next time. This is the single most important tip.


This one is the biggest and most important tip EVER, but it's extremely hard to get it to work.
I still keep saying "Oh man, I'm in Silver now, I don't want to lose that ranking", even though I know I shouldn't be doing that AT ALL.

Overall, extremely helpful tips though.
Silentness
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States2821 Posts
April 29 2012 12:50 GMT
#83
The only time I get anxiety from Starcraft is during tournaments. I dont really feel like I gain or lose anything from ladder play. It is basically a system meant for organized practice sessions against random other players. I just need to stop getting the jitters during tournament play.
GL HF... YOLO..lololollol.
KenZo-
Profile Joined December 2010
Faroe Islands190 Posts
April 29 2012 13:20 GMT
#84
I enjoyed this read... thank you and, I will try to pick this up as a routine.
SanchoPanda
Profile Joined April 2011
United States117 Posts
April 29 2012 23:39 GMT
#85
On April 29 2012 14:34 sambo400 wrote:
I don't get why people feel so nervous when playing ladder.

I don't gg unless it actually was a good game, or the other player actually played well, in which case I will let them know. But I do take a moment to identify the key reasons for losing.

If you are suffering from ladder anxiety, you are putting too much emphasis on the present and need to have longer-term goals. Like for the next year or 6 months at a minimum. I do care about my ladder rank, but learning a lesson is even more important than any amount of ladder wins.


I've actually gotten many responses from people saying they "don't get" why people have ladder anxiety. You happened to say it in a very nice way (thank you ).

Well, I can't answer for everyone but for myself the fear comes from not knowing what is going to happen, and thus not knowing if i'm prepared for it. While everything remains unknown, it's tempting for me to focus on worst case scenarios: "What if he/she is a zerg? What if they cheese? What if... what if.. what if..." Some people, myself included, from time to time find this moment paralyzing. Once i'm in game, and scouting, and making decisions, that fear is replaced with genuine thrill and excitement, because I know what's going on.

This post is about how those of us who are less self-assured can get from that initial moment of dread to the fun of the game itself. It's about how to preoccupy our minds and have more positive thoughts, and to find a motivation that overcomes that unfounded emotion. For those who can't relate to this, i happily say 'good for you!' But also, please just realize we are all different, with different strengths and weaknesses. And please be sympathetic and cheer us on.

Ladder anxiety is not always about people who have too big an ego and don't want to lose. Sometimes it's about the lack of ego, and the need to learn how to build confidence stressful situations. I'm hoping to encourage the latter group.
Siege the Day!
sambo400
Profile Joined March 2011
United States378 Posts
April 30 2012 06:38 GMT
#86
Ok, well to those people, I would still reassure them in a similar way. If they are afraid of the unknown, then the most basic thing they need to understand is that the game has rules, and nothing beyond boundaries set by the rules will ever happen to them. Banshees with cloak won't be at your base until about 7 minutes, DTs wont ever come into play before about 7:20, and so on, a player who goes for 6 pool can't also have a huge economy when they attack you, etc. And there are tons of resources out there to help you understand how to identify and deal with all these "scary" tactics they may face (however it will take many times facing a strategy before they understand how to play against it, I'm not saying the game is easy)

If someone knows all this and is still terrified to que up a game, then it is either for ego reasons or they have failed to internalize the fairness of the game, and really they aren't playing starcraft, they are playing misunderstanding-craft, which is a 1 player game that you can't win.

I blame the massive popularity of people like Husky and so on for the phenomenon of ladder anxiety. They build these games up to be these epic clashes of ingenious strategy of extreme importance, and thats what new players think they are getting into on the ladder, when in reality its just 2 dudes playing an electronic board game with a 3rd guy going nuts about it. for the sake of entertainment.

When I say ego, what I mean is the brain protecting itself from negatives,
MrStabby
Profile Joined February 2011
United States24 Posts
April 30 2012 06:41 GMT
#87
--- Nuked ---
-Debaser-
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
United States329 Posts
April 30 2012 06:50 GMT
#88
On April 30 2012 15:41 MrStabby wrote:
Blizzard, gj, u ruined B.NET chat channels U FUCKING STUPID FAGGOTS

calm down man calm down
TL+ Member
OkeeDokes
Profile Joined December 2011
Canada10 Posts
May 03 2012 05:11 GMT
#89
:D
EneMecH
Profile Joined March 2012
United Kingdom218 Posts
May 03 2012 07:09 GMT
#90
Tip 1. There's no prize for ladder, it's just designed to give you games you can learn from when you lose.
Tip 2. There's no prize for ladder, it's just designed to give you games you can learn from when you lose.
Tip 3. There's no prize for ladder, it's just designed to give you games you can learn from when you lose.
Tip 4. There's no prize for ladder, it's just designed to give you games you can learn from when you lose.
Tip 5. There's no prize for ladder, it's just designed to give you games you can learn from when you lose.
Tip 6. There's no prize for ladder, it's just designed to give you games you can learn from when you lose.
Tip 7. There's no prize for ladder, it's just designed to give you games you can learn from when you lose.
Tears soaks each hand the dealer's dealt. But time taught me how to see every second as heaven even when they're perfectly disguised as hell.
scypio
Profile Joined December 2011
Poland2127 Posts
May 03 2012 07:28 GMT
#91
One thing that held me back from playing the ladder was the fact, that at some point I hit a brick wall with a single build I did.

Back in the days of season 1 I would go for thor rush every single game, execute it relatively well and stomp my opponents out of the bronze league and into the plat.

But then I stopped, since the rush no longer seemed to work and I didn't know how to do anything else. It took me a couple of months to overcome ladder anxiety and I feel I'm finally done with it, with 700+ 1v1 wins.

In order to transition away from a certain playstyle it is good to assume one thing: you will get demoted.

It happened to me on a couple occasions: when I switched to random, focused on 2rax expand builds, mech builds etc. But each time after playing about a hundred games I was able to get back into "my" league.

My advice is this: if you feel stuck - have fun! Play the ladder the way you want to play it, not the way already know. Yes, you probably get demoted but after a while you will earn your way back. And if it does not work out with your new build - well, you can always fall back to the old one.

You will become a more versatile player with a better understanding of the game, I think it is well worth it.
I play random | I like Hots | INnoVation | sOs | Tefel TOP1!
jcroisdale
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
United States1543 Posts
May 03 2012 08:13 GMT
#92
Tip #1 smoke weed and play. No anxiety. :0
"I think bringing a toddler to a movie theater is a terrible idea. They are too young to understand what is happening it would be like giving your toddler acid. Bad idea." - Sinensis
birchman
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Sweden393 Posts
May 03 2012 09:07 GMT
#93
I think you give some great tips. Some of them I already adepted to pre-reading this, but tips like the Marine Split Challenge for a warm-up, that's something I'm gonna start doing now.
Oh, the usual. I bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback.
Hairy
Profile Joined February 2011
United Kingdom1169 Posts
May 03 2012 09:40 GMT
#94
I seriously love that playlist you linked in the OP ( http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAAC2C13A337F1B48&feature=mh_lolz ). I've been listening to it at work when programming, as I find music helps me be less distracted.

I think I will definitely do this for my future games. It's hard to get grumpy or tense or angry when there are SUNSHINE, LOLLIPOPS and RAINBOWS, everything that's wonderful.....

Does anyone have a great playlist of this style, but longer? 11 songs just isn't enough!
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits
dotDash
Profile Joined March 2011
Sweden142 Posts
May 03 2012 12:16 GMT
#95
Thank you.
Feel free to tune in to my stream! Highmaster T aiming for GM with commentary! http://video.gamecreds.com/1sy1sfohwo31n/channel/dotDash-T-going-for-GM
ishyishy
Profile Joined February 2011
United States826 Posts
May 03 2012 14:26 GMT
#96
Is this nonsense seriously still going on? If you stress out over this game, then maybe you just dont enjoy it. If you dont enjoy it, stop playing. Thats what incontrol always says.
Nuclease
Profile Joined August 2011
United States1049 Posts
May 03 2012 14:40 GMT
#97
Sick sick sickness sickity dope.

I really appreciate the tips.

I like how you tie this in to real sports. No reason the same strategies can't work.
Zealots, not zee-lots. | Never forget, KTViolet, Go)Space. | You will never be as good as By.Flash, and your drops will never be as sick as MMA.
DeanMalinco
Profile Joined September 2010
United States43 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-03 14:48:11
May 03 2012 14:46 GMT
#98
Just to add a few personal things that help me get ready to have a quality SC2 session (with or without it being on ladder).

1) I watch a stream on TL of my race to get me in the right mindset. I usually like to watch one for 15-30 minutes and just kind of get my mind thinking about sc2.

2) Obtain / buy a secondary / smurf account to warm up on. My friend gave me his account and all i do on it is cannon rush or off race every single game for fun. This allows me to warm up and get ready to play my main account. I usually play 2-3 games.

3) Take breaks when you need them. I think a lot of players just spam find match over and over. I do the same thing to grind games when laddering, but knowing when you need a small break is key. If you are winning or losing it is still helpful to take a 5-10 minute break. I will watch some TV, grab a drink, smoke something, go outside on my patio for some fresh air, do some pushups, etc.
_fool
Profile Joined February 2011
Netherlands682 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-03 15:24:39
May 03 2012 15:18 GMT
#99
I used to have pretty nasty ladder-anxiety. I'd show pretty frightening physical symptoms: shivering with cold, trembling hands, clenched jaws... and that was just when I *considered* playing a ladder game! At this stage I usually hadn't even started the game yet When eventually pressing The Button, my only thoughts would be: "Maybe there's no one online, and I don't have to play? Maybe the algorithm will fail and it won't find me an opponent?"

I overcame most of that by engaging in friendly banter each game. Nowadays I always start my games with something more original then "glhf". I often mourn my fallen scout in public ("Jimmy was good man, and an even better scout!"), and more of that nonsense. It helps me relax, it helps my opponents relax (I guess?), and as a result I have a lot more fun. I often chat with my opponents after the game is finished, and those conversations usually yield some useful feedback. I even get bm'd/cheesed less (or do I just care less, as a result of being a happy gamer?)

Anyways. Imho, tip #7 can be generalized as "be nice to your opponent". Worked miracles for me
"News is to the mind what sugar is to the body"
GohgamX
Profile Joined April 2011
Canada1096 Posts
May 03 2012 15:32 GMT
#100
Nice read, I know a lot of people who suffer from this!
Time is a great teacher, unfortunate that it kills all its pupils ...
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 44m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ViBE192
Nina 145
ZombieGrub113
ProTech108
FoxeR 37
SpeCial 2
StarCraft: Brood War
Bale 11
Counter-Strike
Coldzera 1325
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King84
Other Games
summit1g9793
Grubby4298
FrodaN2008
shahzam373
C9.Mang0303
KnowMe132
UpATreeSC50
PPMD37
JuggernautJason21
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream127
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 105
• Adnapsc2 10
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Scarra1017
Other Games
• imaqtpie925
• Shiphtur238
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
44m
HomeStory Cup
11h 44m
Replay Cast
1d
HomeStory Cup
1d 11h
OSC
1d 13h
WardiTV Weekly
3 days
The PondCast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
CrankTV Team League
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
[ Show More ]
CrankTV Team League
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

YSL S3
Douyu Cup 2026
Murky Cup 2026

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
SCTL 2026 Spring
HSC XXIX
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
Escore Tournament S3: W2
ASL Season 22:Wild Card Qualifier
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Eternal Conflict S2 E2
Heroes Pulsing #3
Eternal Conflict S2 E1
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.