Cause-Effect: Your Plays Create Your LP

TL;DR: Nothing happens by chance. Every outcome is the result of specific causes. Your rank isn't luck - it's accumulated consequences of thousands of micro-decisions. Control the causes, control the effects.

The Core Teaching

Ancient Phrasing: "Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized."

What This Means: The universe operates on cause and effect, not randomness. What looks like luck or chance is just causes you didn't recognize. Everything that happens was caused by something. Change the causes, change what happens.

Why This Matters (Gaming Edition)

Your LP is Not Random

You know that feeling when you're "hardstuck" in a rank and blame:

Bad teammates
Unlucky matchmaking
Smurfs on enemy team
Server lag
Meta champions

Here's the Hermetic truth: Your rank is the EFFECT of specific CAUSES you're creating every game.

Not because you're "bad." Because you're creating causes unconsciously instead of deliberately.

The 10,000 Micro-Decisions

Every ranked game, you make ~10,000 decisions:

Where to ward
When to trade
Which ability to use
When to back
How to respond to pings
Whether to tilt or reset mental

Each decision is a CAUSE that creates an EFFECT.

Most players make 10,000 unconscious decisions → Random results → "Why am I stuck?"

High elo players make 10,000 conscious decisions → Predictable results → Consistent climb

Same game. Different awareness of cause-effect chains.

How It Works

The Cause-Effect Chain

Every cause creates an effect, which becomes a cause for the next effect, creating a chain:

Example: The Mute Chain

Cause 1: Toxic teammate flaming in chat

Effect 1: You get distracted/tilted

Cause 2: You respond and argue

Effect 2: More tilt, team coordination drops

Cause 3: You play worse due to mental state

Effect 3: More mistakes, team blames you more

Cause 4: You queue tilted for next game

Effect 4: You play below your skill level

Final Effect: Lose 2-3 winnable games, -50 LP

Alternative Chain:

Cause 1: Toxic teammate flaming

Effect 1: You mute immediately

Cause 2: You stay focused on YOUR gameplay

Effect 2: You make better decisions

Cause 3: Your good plays inspire team

Effect 3: Team rallies, coordinates better

Final Effect: Win 1-2 of those games, +30 LP

Same initial situation. Different first cause (mute vs engage). Completely different final effect.

Over 100 games, that's 10-20 extra wins from ONE consistent cause.

Short-Term vs Long-Term Effects

Some causes have immediate effects. Some take time to compound.

Immediate:

Flash badly (cause) → Die (effect)
Ward bush (cause) → See gank (effect)
Mute toxic player (cause) → Less tilt (effect)

Compounding:

Practice CSing 10 min/day (cause) → 10% better CS after 2 weeks (effect) → 200 extra gold per game (effect) → Better items (effect) → More kills (effect) → Higher win rate (effect)

The trap: Most people only notice immediate effects. They miss the compounding effects that actually determine their rank.

The Three Types of Causes

Type 1: Mechanical Causes

What: Physical actions in game Examples:

Skillshot accuracy
CS timing
Combo execution

Effect: Immediate gameplay results

Type 2: Mental Causes

What: Your thoughts and emotional state Examples:

Going in tilted
Playing scared vs confident
Fixed mindset vs growth mindset

Effect: Determines which mechanical plays you even attempt

Type 3: Strategic Causes

What: Your decision-making and planning Examples:

Champion pool choices
When you queue (fresh vs tired)
Whether you watch VODs

Effect: Determines your rate of improvement over time

Most players focus only on Type 1. High elo players master all three.

Common Mistakes

Mistake #1: "It's Just Bad Luck"

Wrong thinking: "I lost 5 in a row, just unlucky teammates"

Cause-Effect truth: Break down what YOU contributed:

Did you mute flamers? (Cause)
Did you queue tilted after loss 1? (Cause)
Did you play your best champion or try something new? (Cause)
Did you communicate with team? (Cause)

You can't control teammates. But your response to them is a CAUSE you control.

Mistake #2: "Small Things Don't Matter"

Wrong thinking: "Whether I ward this bush doesn't really change anything"

Cause-Effect truth:

Ward bush (cause) → See gank (effect) → Survive (effect) → Get 3 waves of XP (effect) → Hit level 6 first (effect) → Win all-in (effect) → Get turret plates (effect) → 500 gold advantage (effect) → Earlier item spike (effect) → More kill pressure (effect)

One ward = 10+ downstream effects over 5 minutes.

Mistake #3: "I Can't Change My Rank"

Wrong thinking: "I'm just a Gold player, that's my level"

Cause-Effect truth: Your rank is an EFFECT, not a fixed identity.

Current rank = Effect of past causes
Want different rank? Create different causes.
You're not changing WHO YOU ARE. You're changing WHAT YOU DO.

Practical Applications

In Ranked Games

Before Queue: Set Up Winning Causes

Cause: Am I in good mental state?
Effect: Will determine game quality
Action: Only queue fresh/focused

During Game: Create Smart Causes

Cause: Mute first sign of toxicity
Effect: Maintain mental clarity
Cause: Die → Immediately identify mistake
Effect: Don't repeat same error

After Game: Track Cause-Effect Patterns

What did I do (cause) that led to wins?
What did I do (cause) that led to losses?
Do more of winning causes, less of losing causes

In Life

Career:

Cause: Learn high-value skill
Effect: More opportunities appear
Cause: Network with skilled people
Effect: Higher quality career options

Relationships:

Cause: Listen before responding
Effect: Better understanding
Cause: Assume good intent
Effect: Less conflict

Personal Growth:

Cause: Read 10 pages/day
Effect: 15 books/year
Cause: Work out 3x/week
Effect: Healthier body in 6 months

The pattern: Small, consistent causes → Large, compounded effects over time

The Practice: Becoming Cause-Aware

Week 1: Effect Recognition

Goal: Notice the effects in your life

Daily practice:

Pick one area: ranked, school, relationships
List 3 outcomes (effects) you experienced today
Ask: "What caused this?"
Write down the actual causes

You'll discover: Most "bad luck" has identifiable causes you can control

Week 2: Cause Identification

Goal: Recognize what causes what

Daily practice:

Before each action, pause and ask: "What effect will this cause?"
After each outcome, ask: "What cause created this?"
Keep a cause-effect journal

You'll discover: You have way more agency than you thought

Week 3: Cause Optimization

Goal: Deliberately create better causes

Daily practice:

Identify your #1 most common losing cause (tilt queue, no warm-up, tilted mental state, etc.)
Design replacement cause (5 min mental reset, 10 min warm-up game, etc.)
Track: Did changing the cause change the effect?

You'll discover: You can engineer better outcomes by engineering better causes

Going Deeper: The Law of Consequences

No Escaping Cause-Effect

You can ignore this principle, but you can't escape it.

Every action you take (or don't take) creates consequences:

Practice daily → Get better (you can't avoid improving)
Queue tilted repeatedly → Drop rank (you can't avoid consequences)
Mute toxic players → Better mental (you can't avoid the benefit)

This is liberating: You're not at reality's mercy. You're co-creating it through your causes.

The Compounding Nature

Effects compound over time:

Year 1: Small cause = Small effect Year 2: Same cause repeated = Medium effect Year 5: Same cause repeated = Massive effect

Example: Daily practice

Day 1: Barely noticeable improvement
Week 1: Slight improvement
Month 1: Noticeable improvement
Month 6: Different player
Year 1: Different tier

Most people quit at Day 1-7 because "it's not working." Cause-Effect principle says: Keep creating the cause. The effect is guaranteed.

Karma is Cause-Effect

Different word, same principle:

"Karma" = Your past causes creating present effects
Good karma = Past good causes creating present good effects
Bad karma = Past bad causes creating present bad effects

You're not being punished or rewarded. You're experiencing the natural consequences of past causes.

Want better karma? Start creating better causes today.

Real-World Evidence

Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 Hours

Cause: Deliberate practice for 10,000 hours Effect: Mastery in any field

Not magic. Cause-effect.

Atomic Habits (James Clear)

Cause: 1% better each day Effect: 37x better in one year (compounding)

Not motivation. Math.

Professional Player Development

Cause: VOD review + practice + coaching + healthy lifestyle Effect: Consistent high-level performance

Not talent. Process.

Try It: The Cause-Effect Experiment

This Week: Track Your Causes

Pick ONE area to experiment:

Ranked games
School/work
Fitness
Relationships

Step 1: Identify the effect you want

Example: "I want to win 55% of ranked games this week"

Step 2: Identify the causes that create that effect

Warm up 10 min before queue
Only play my best 3 champions
Mute at first toxicity
Take 5 min break between games
Stop after 2 losses in a row

Step 3: Create those causes consistently for 7 days

Step 4: Measure the effect

Did you get closer to your desired outcome?
Which causes had the biggest impact?

Hypothesis: If you control the causes, the effects will follow. Test it.

Foundation:

Other Principles:

Mentalism: The All is Mind - Your mental state is a cause that creates effects
Rhythm: Everything Flows - Know when to create certain causes
Vibration: Nothing Rests - Your frequency is a cause that attracts effects

Practical Applications:

What's Next?

You've learned the SIXTH principle: Cause-Effect.

Key Insight: You're not a victim of circumstances. You're the creator of causes that become your circumstances.

The shift: From "Why does this always happen to me?" to "What am I doing that causes this?"

The power: Once you see cause-effect chains clearly, you can engineer any outcome by engineering the right causes.

→ Next Principle: Gender: Masculine & Feminine in All Things

→ Practice: Try the Interactive Chain Reaction Simulator - See how small causes create cascading effects

Last Updated: 2025-11-10 Reading Time: 14 minutes Difficulty: Beginner → Intermediate Category: Principles

"If you want different outcomes, create different causes. It's not magic. It's law." — Hermetic Academy

Continue: Next Principle: Gender →