This is what I think is going on: Bungie gives players easy games at about a 5:1 ratio. What I mean is that once every 5 games or so you will be matched with people that you will stomp. The other 4 games you will be playing people who are at or slightly above your skill level. I think Bungie puts this in so it doesn't seem like a complete sweatfest all the time. The ratio could be different for different people or it may not exist at all, it just seems like this in my case. Ever seen a game where everyone has around a 1.0 KD but one guy has around a 2.0+ KD and is clearly more skilled than everyone else? The people at the bottom are experiencing their difficult game where the guy at the top is experiencing his/her easy game. I think this is a way to limit the sting of SBMM. I could be paranoid here but it does seem like this in my case. Though I will admit that people are predisposed to discover patterns even if there aren't any so I could be wrong on this one but it would explain a lot with respect to my personal experience in crucible. Despite what some people might think Bungie are a pretty intelligent bunch. It's not outside the realm of possibility that there are sophisticated algorithms going on behind the match making scenes that shape our experience. It wouldn't surprise me if stuff like this was in the game but I could be wrong.