@DoYaSeeMe That's very interesting and explains the game lag easing up in the second half of the ranked games, but does that not also imply that the servers are deliberately overloaded from the beginning? Possibly a cost issue?
I've also noticed having played a lot of ranked this season, that the que times are longer with more players in the que, up to 500 but generally 100-200. Another cost saving? This does not compare to say the normal trios where it usually counts up to 60 and off we go.