As a 2v2 unranked random solo player, sometimes I look at my match history and get a little convinced I am a smurf… Rather that’s because the occasional leaver on my side where sometimes I wont win those, other times I will kill my enemies and forfeit last moment because I do not intend to give out free wins to leavers (usually ones that see my build order and forfeit at 3 mins or something and then somehow think I was the cause of that loss). Mix that with general losses and I can have some huge red/green streaks as I watch myself get matched with some group of silver leagues at the start of the day and plat/diamonds an hour or two later.
When I get hit with a group I know that I can beat I tend to choose an easier build for them, and ‘know’ is loose here but some of my builds will take me to diamond while others will coast at gold. But matchup wise my limited 3 or so zerg builds are essentially brutal difficulty to those players compared to a more tame terran selection.
The main part I like to point out about smurfs is “trying to win” a smurf generally does not try to win until they know they are at an advantage matchmaking wise. For me this is different as I am always trying to win if not for the surrenders with a leaver on my side. It is a bit more nuanced to consider I am not always choosing the “best” build in my mind for that scenario. It is even stranger when my playstyle is limiting of myself such that you will never see me throw a psistorm at you nor will you eat any banelings or disruptor balls, the build orders are very limited in what units they use but do their thing for me and I don’t alter them mid-game typically, a diamond or masters team will usually be at an advantage vs me for these reasons.
One has to consider the impacts a player like myself might have on the ladder.