I've coached players at rank 5 to Legend and I have to say that, yes, there is a difference between rank 5 and Legend. This should be obvious to anyone who has an understanding of the concept of a normal distribution of skill. Players at rank 5 make more mistakes and have more questionable deck builds than Legend players. The players that I've coached were definitely trying and they were definitely grinding, they just weren't accurate enough in their plays and deck builds.
I think people just like to tell themselves that they could get to Legend if they tried harder or if they grinded more, but that logic falls flat on its face when you imagine a world where everyone tries and everyone grinds. Your "extra effort" will be nullified by the opponents' "extra effort". The fact of the matter is that you need a winrate above 50% to climb and the more skillful your opponent, the harder it is. To think that you can just decide to have a higher winrate by "trying harder" isn't really an option for the vast majority of players. There are certainly Legend worthy players at rank 5 who don't play often and/or play meme decks, but the truth is that most people are trying to climb, as evidenced by the million netdecks you will face on ladder. Some players get to Legend with a 70%-80% winrate, others struggle to get out of rank 5. How are they the same again?
^Factz. There is a difference between never-Legend rank 5 and Legend players. And there are also people that are at rank 5each month cause they are not aiming at Legend because they were there several times. The player that claims that he doesn't wan to climb Legend but he could while never archieving Legend is just a player who is praising himself while not being able to face the truth that he won't get here. Of course there are exceptions but generally speaking: You can't compare skill level and deck piloting of rank 5 players to regular or semi-regular Legend players.
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