You fought your way out of Gold. Congrats, you've crested the highest point of the ranking bell-curve and you’re now better than the average player. Ranking up isn’t going to get any easier from here. Platinum is where the game gets fast and is perhaps the truest bridge between the casual players and the lifers. In order to get out of Platinum and rank up into Diamond, your game is going to need to get cleaner, faster, and more methodical. We have a few tips on where you can improve your gameplay to break into Diamond.

Fix Overcommits

Lower level players are far more focused on offense than defense and those tendencies take a lot to overcome. So, expecting a third man back to be patient while you dance around in a corner is not reasonable. This is true even for teams on comms as your third man may become justifiably anxious. Secondly, a third man likely has a better touch with more momentum than you do. So if your third man, rightfully, moves forward and you aren't moving back, you're leaving an open net that Platinum and Diamond players with punish in a heartbeat.

After moving the ball into the corner, if you get a challenge that leads to a dead ball and no momentum, don't keep trying to work at the ball. Instead, rotate out as soon as you can. If you can nab a boost steal or demo a goalie on your way out even better but staying in a corner isn't helping anyone.

Offensive Backboard Plays

As you climb higher into the ranks, you start to recognize that pressure is almost as important as goals simply for the fact that most of the time you're going to need sustained pressure before you can score. So, taking the first shot available is often not the best option. Many Platinum players are still weak to defending directly above the net. Even many Diamond players are still need work on backboard defense, but Plats are still working on defending with aerials directly above them. Don't be afraid to send a ball to the backboard. This will almost always draw away at least one defender and often will lead to a double commit on a settled defense. If the defense is in transition, you may be forcing the last man back into a low-percentage save and leaving the goal wide open. Most of the time, the clears that do come from this spot will be weak, so even if they get a touch your teammates will have a better chance at shoveling it back in than if you just launched it at a goalie who can full force flip into it for a power clear.

Corner Defense

Platinum players are pretty comfortable in the air and can get up in time to intercept just about anything, but a skill that many Platinum players struggle with is directing the ball to a beneficial place once they're reached it in the air. The consequences of this struggle most often present themselves in defense. If the ball is high above your goal, then you need to get rid of it, but wasting all of your boost for a defensive aerial without any forward momentum that ultimately drops the ball right back in front of the net can be worse than just leaving it because now you don't have any boost. Go into custom training and find a pack with high defensive clears and just practice dumping the ball into your corner. Forcing play into the corner will give your opponents fewer options for attack and make any further pressure easier to handle for you and your team. The shadow defense pack by orangepie is pretty good for this after the first three or four shots. Experiment with air-roll to find the best ways to put the ball in both corners for as many of the shots as possible.

The code for that pack is 5CCE-FB29-7B05-A0B1.

Basic Forward Passing

The infield pass is hard. Changing the momentum of the ball from forward to lateral while you’re behind it requires advanced mastery of power slides, flick mechanics, and wall play. You really shouldn’t worry about infield passing too much at this point in the game. The odd situation will arise where the option becomes available and you should be cognizant when it does, but until you and your teammates are more reliable mechanically, there are an easier passing plays that can lead to unpredictable offensive pressure or coordinated clears. That is the forward passing play, and there’s a couple basic tenets to implementing it into your gameplay correctly.

The forward passing play is primarily used when in your own half. Situations where it can help often occur during clears or as your team transitions to offense. While on defense and attempting to clear the ball, you’ll often have a teammate who is still forward from a failed clear in the corner. Whether he’s rotating wide to the back or grabbing the mid-boost before going to back post, point the ball in his direction so that he can maintain possession and relieve that pressure. If you’re the player that is forward and you can see that your teammate has a clean line at a clear, slow down a bit and give them a notice that you’re forward and available. This type of pass can be especially effective when your team has been defending one corner for a while and is running low on boost. Ensuring that the clear can be collected to maintain possession can be a huge difference maker in allowing your team time to recover in those situations. One way to practice this is to simply add it into your corner defense training. Practice clearing the ball further down the field while still to the sides.

Forward passes can often be used in a more controlled transition as well. When your opponents’ pressure dissipates and you have time and space to transition to offence, don’t be afraid to actively cheat forward and let your teammate know that you’re available. Make sure that you have a man hanging back before doing this. This type of positioning can be effective from the sides or the center as long as you’re aware what lines your teammate has available to him based on his approach to the ball.

Keep in mind that while your teammate has the responsibility of delivering an actionable pass, it is your responsibility to make sure you are in position to make a play for it. The biggest factor to this is making sure you're not directly in front of his line. A pass that goes directly over your car is difficult to work with and more often than not will not end successfully. So if your teammate is positioned from the center you should be out towards the sides but ready to turn in to direct a pass towards the net.

Similarly, if your teammate is moving forward along the side, you should be positioned more towards the center or even a little offset to the other side of the pitch than your teammate. As you position, try to keep the position of your opponents in mind as well so that you can get to a pass before the other team.

Additionally, while positioning to receive a pass, you do need to make sure that you don’t move forward much more than a few car lengths past midfield, because if your teammate can’t get the ball to you or decides to take it along a side himself, you’ll want to move into a more traditional position 2 role where you’re available for a center coming from the corner.

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