Caden, I'm RIGHT WITH YOU!!! LOL!!!
i also consider myself a 1750 player but have been lingering in the 1650-1700 after losing some games last weekend which i SHOULD NOT HAVE LOST. now i'm a bit nervous about going back on, blah. it's sort of rattled me and i need to practice again.
however, against the computer, it's not the same intensity so i find myself relaxing into the game, which is what i DON'T want to do against a human player. adv setup, teamgames, don't help cuz just when u're whipping one opponent, his partner comes in to save the day, which wouldn't happen 1-on-1 rated. happened to me just last night playing vs. the golden arm and his partner. was crushing his partner then golden came with his set army (was watering hole, d'oh!) and beat me and my partner's army combined, blah!
though i definitely wasn't playing in top form, it was frustrating to be beating one guy then watch as the partner comes to save the day. to be fair, my partner got kinda shafted cuz he was so far away from the rest of us. golden and his partner were nestled kinda into a corner and i was across from them. my partner was to the far left of the map. kinda sucked.
but anyway, i definitely hear u caden!!!
here's what i think, it's mostly psychological. there's a floor-effect here where u won't go below a certain point. for me, i'm confident that point is 1650. so, right now i'm 1680. that means i can lose another game or two before i hit the point where i'll get a couple easy wins to bump back up to where i am now. so, i think it's just a matter of going in there, lose if necessary, but then get those couple easy wins to get ur (a) confidence, (b) focus, and (c) personal groove back in order to compete at the level you feel u deserve to be at.
i was sick for TWO WEEKS during which time i didn't play rated cuz i couldn't focus well enough while coughing my head off. when i came back to it i was RUSTY, still am. now, it's a matter of practicing up again and getting that rating back up there.
i'm cheering for u caden, ra needs more advocates! i'm gonna switch to ra after i hit 1800 with zeus (thor maybe too), so u'll be an invaluable resource/inspiration for me once i go there. if u have some good recs posted somewhere, ur games will be in my folder next to hope's and josey's LOL!
fh