“I never lose. I only win or learn.” Using Nelson Mandela’s quote to succeed.

My brain was fried. My eyes were bugging out. I had an enormous headache. I was stunned. The end of season 1 for Pokémon Unite was coming to an end, and I didn’t achieve Master's rank. I fell two wins short after a grueling 15 hours session the final weekend. I questioned what I did wrong with my play. I’ve never experienced defeat in gaming like this by choice. I’ve made adjustments to my gameplay, but apparently not enough to achieve greatness.

Pokémon Unite is a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game. Two teams of five battle to outscore each other by scoring goals in the enemy’s territory. The games are 10 minutes long, and players choose from a variety of Pokémon. Each Pokémon has different skills and abilities.

My first encounter with a MOBA game was League of Legends years ago. My good friend was teaching me MOBA lingo, such as: AFK (away from keyboard- a teammate has been disconnected or abandoned the game) farming (defeating minions to level up your hero) jungler (playing the middle lane of the arena) and gank (ambush enemies).

My main character was Garen. He was great for a beginner like myself as some of his abilities were not as comprehensive to learn. While I enjoyed playing the standard game and the Twisted Treeline scenario, I had difficulty understanding all the elements of the game. I mostly played against bots/cpu instead of other humans. When battling other players, these games were highly combative and fast-paced! I was out of position and outclassed for many battles. The game at the time was too much to digest for my desire to excel. I played League of Legends off and on the next few years, but lost interest and haven’t played a game since 2019.

I’ve always been a fan of the original 151 Pokémon aka Gen 1 since their debut in the 90s. I never played the popular card game, but I became emotionally invested to the story in the anime. Squirtle and his Squirtle Squad resonated with me best. I’ve loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so why not add another Turtle to my geek fam? Machamp was another favorite as I was huge into WWF (now WWE) at the time, and Machamp resembled a wrestling-type Pokémon!

Then years later the mega-hit mobile game Pokémon Go piqued my interest since it’s birth in 2016. There’s just something special about these little made-up creatures that had me craving more. Back when I played Pokémon Go, reaching level 40 was the way to show you were elite!

“The grind” to level 40 was a long journey. I put in a lot of time and effort studying YouTube videos and reading countless articles. I was joining Facebook Groups and this was my first time joining a Discord server. Facebook members were very accommodating and helpful for some ideas; however, it was the friends I made in Discord that boosted my knowledge immensely. These people were willing to share all their knowledge with a positive upbeat attitude. I was very thankful to meet them. I was filled with humongous joy when I finally climbed the ladder to level 40!

September 2021, I came across Pokémon Unite for the first time in a Game Informer magazine. My friend explained that the gameplay is very similar to League of Legends, so I really wanted to check it out. I got goosebumps as the game downloaded. I hadn’t been this jacked up for a game since Kingdom Hearts 3 in 2019.

My excitement grew as I played through the tutorial. I was excited to see some of my favorite characters, Squirtle and Machamp, as eligible characters! I couldn’t wait to try them out!

Pokémon Unite has a few styles of the game: quick, standard, and ranked. I wanted to reach the highest rank, masters. In order to reach the highest rank, Masters, you need to climb their ranking ladder of Beginner, Great, Expert, Veteran, Ultra, and finally Masters. You rise and fall in rankings with each win and loss with an occasional boost to your rank with how many performance points you earn. Long losing streaks can be detrimental to you rank. The game was released in July, so while I had an ample amount of time to reach Masters by the end of the season in October, I immediately felt a step behind.

I blazed through Beginner and Great, but when I reached expert, I needed to start adjusting my gameplay, so I looked to YouTube and the internet for help. These were great assets to concepts I was unaware of, and, most importantly, spawn times of mini bosses at 07:00 and understanding the boss battle at the two-minute warning. I worked on getting to specific battles when called upon. I learned what items benefited which Pokémon. Expert rank complete.

During Veteran rank, I reached out to Facebook groups and discord servers for teammates. Unfortunately, with 5-5, there are many gamers who can AFK and/or play the game to their own style which is enjoyable for them but can disastrously cost other players their rank in the game with a loss.

One friend from League of Legends warned me about the dangerous environments of playing ranked games. I was oblivious. Boy was I in for a surprise.

I was at 5th level Veteran and one win away from reaching Ultra status. I didn’t like the vibes I was getting from my teammates, but since we were winning, I kept playing. I tried asking for advice, but some of the players responded with rude and necessary comments. Chaos broke out and instead of regrouping, some people started spewing out vitriol. I had never seen so many people complain about poor teamers and why this game sucks. The majority of users from discords were not holding themselves accountable and involved a ton of finger-pointing. This wasn’t fun anymore and came close to deleting the game.

Instead, though, I took matters into my own hands and studied more. In Pokémon Unite, you are able to add teammates from previous games as friends, so I reached out to some of the friends I had made from Unite through Discord and Instagram. With a new plan of attack and a new team, I reached Ultra, and felt Masters rank was only a matter of time away.

I became obsessed with making Master rank, and in the process, was losing my positivity. While I never shouted at teammates, I was starting to shout at my tv. I was developing toxic player symptoms. I stopped wanting to learn, I quit enjoying the ride, and I just wanted Master's rank then and now. But I just couldn’t get over Ultra rank 5. My season ended with my best rank two wins away from Masters. I was disgusted with myself for not reaching it. I felt like a loser.

Ready to delete the game permanently before another season of suffering started, I first decided to log in and check my season rewards. I started thinking about my daily meditation practices and how they had helped me in the real world and realized I could apply those skills here too. I examined the laws of attraction and vibration.

Looking back, I can see how I attracted the toxic environment. My mind was headed that way because I was using force and desperation to win! Changing my thoughts and out of the blue, I came across a quote from Nelson Mandela about losing: “I never lose. I either win or learn” Once I read that a switch flipped. A new season was already underway. I could try again, and I knew with the skills and knowledge I had already developed, I could achieve my goal of Masters's rank in the new season.

In season 2, my rank started at Veteran Class 2, so I didn’t have to start all the way over from beginner again. I stopped being stubborn with who I was choosing as my Pokémon, and learned to pick what helped team chemistry. This prevented my teams from playing behind the eight-ball. With my positive vibes, I was attracting new teammates with higher vibrations. Win or lose, we all lifted each other up instead of knocking each other down.

I continued to research gameplay and came across some now tips, so when I was approaching my final run, I could taste Master’s. With new knowledge and now accepting every lost battle an opportunity to learn, I was thankful for all my wins and losses. I soared to Ultra rank quickly.

During that final run, I felt like an NBA superstar who couldn’t miss any shot no matter his position on the court, and I ended on multiple hot streaks to reach Ultra rank 5, the final destination before Masters.

Instead of rushing into the last few battles, I took breaks and remained calm. My teammates and I dominated the competition. One win away.

The next win was so easy and I soared into Masters! Not only did I feel like an elite, but I also felt accomplished at all I had learned and overcome. And in the end, this wasn’t even ever about obtaining my "Master’s degree" in a video game. This was a life lesson that has helped me look back at some of my other “losses” and realize: “I never lose. I only win or learn.”

Royal Resources- My YouTube video with tips on how I reached Master’s Rank.