The underlying skill levels of all players remain unchanged, remember that, its not as if because it says you're 3 ranks higher that you are 3 ranks better than you were yesterday. However, .7 of a shitload of people may be doable if you're in that 1.5% of rank 12. I feel the same way. I do not quite know if I have the skill to get there ultimately, but it feels magically in reach more now than it did yesterday. I mostly feel satisfaction that I basically jumped to my season 2 rank max, in just a small sample of games. I absolutely know I'm better than three months ago. But if I play with any of my friends at all, I just lose rank incessantly under this new system. I now understand why the ranks were so easy to lose when all of the blue ranks were close to just 5% of all players. I went from rank 10 Div 3, down into rank 8 (season 3) with my friends multiple times who are all mid challenger or lower because of how brutal the new matchmaker is at least to my style of play. I have to up my game at just flat scoring my own goals to have a chance to hang on to my rank. Smurfing isn't useful at all in the way it used to be where you could recycle accounts to keep facing rank 9 (max) opponents even as a rank 15. I think that is another reason I believe its possible to sneak into the purple ranks this season. In previous seasons it wasn't occupied by only valid players, if all those smurfs are struggling in the low blue ranks its a lot of open space to move into.
I always like seeing distribution percentages, because it helps appreciate skill in context. It can be hard eating some incredible goals and just treading water at a certain division, seems impossible to bust through or do some of the silly shit you see.