Hayhor has a point. Pretty certain that as of this morning the player count will be considerably higher than it has been for the last 2 and a half months. I personally find the MM at the start of new seasons to be pretty tough on me. Every top player that hasn't been playing for a while comes back to check out the new season, legend, weapons, map etc.
I have done some similar testing out of curiosity, however I only throw 5 straight matches. This is not even hitting the ground and waiting to be shot and killed. I can back out when in the drop ship, or just back out the minute I hit the ground or even in the selection screen after my legend has been picked. Me and a few friends seen the same results.... 5 seems to be the magic number to us.
After 5 throws, the lobby is always easier and the champion is low level low kills. I don't know why, but IMO I suspect the algorithm is fooled lol.
Anyone else ever try some testing of any kind they wanna share?