So I ended D1 last act. I got placed G3 and skipped P1 to P2 when I ranked up. Seems normal, right? But, I have a friend whose gains don't seem normal. He plays Valorant every once in a while. Thanks to tracker.gg, I found his history.
Episode 3 Act 3: Ended P1
Episode 4 Act 1: Since it's a new episode, his rank went down by a lot. He got placed S3 then didn't play again.
Episode 5 Act 1: He decided to play again and got placed P1. This is a bit weird. You'd think that he would get placed lower. Then once he ranked up, he skipped P2 to P3. What could be the explanation for this? How did he start a rank higher than me when I should have better MMR than him?