Totally agree. I loved playing LAN tournaments back in the day. Having good opponents definitely makes the experience a lot more likable since you can just avoid many of the frustrating situations with horrible people. Every good winner needs a good loser for things to remain friendly. But sadly as I'm sure you noticed as well, as you grow up less and less times will you have a full group of the people you like to play with ready to play at the same time.

That's the problem that matchmaking in part solves. And sometimes randoms can do things that you would never see a friend of yours do. I still think you have a wider range of experiences with random people, but it does require taking a bigger risk. But I understand that's not for everyone.