A silver lining I can point out is that the good thing about getting mixed in with the top players is that you'll be less likely to develop bad habits than if you only get to play with people your skill level. I've had it happen in other online games with tier systems, like LoL and the old Warcraft 3, where I'd learn something that worked with players my level but once I leveled up in their system what I had learned got me destroyed. Once you have the bad habits, it becomes much more difficult to brake them. Most of the top players got where they are by doing what everyone else has recommended; watching, waiting and adapting. You get to reap the rewards much faster than they did.
I'm sure if there was a more integrated way to encourage coaching than this forum, it would help a bit (much like most physical sports). Unfortunately, I don't see technology being that accommodating as of what's available right now. Searching out these forums is a great step in the right direction, taking that into account.
Oh, and back on topic. The reverse will also happen from time to time. I've been trying to find good players to improve my skills against and mostly get greener opponents over the last two weeks. It hasn't helped me improve the way I wanted, but I've been trying to do the reverse, not just destroy a target but bait out specific combos that I know can be avoided to see if they improve. Who knows, maybe in a couple of weeks or months I'll have a new rival to have friendlies with.
