The Eschaton: 2015

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Going for the Gold Part XLIX: The Fall of the House of Stephen

Three seasons in a row, I sought Gold, but remained stuck in Bronze. Am I delusional? Let's see what happens this time around. I got a late start to this season and I've been thrown into Bronze again by placement matches. This is the story of my attempt to turn reverse the trends of previous seasons. This is Going for the Gold.

Mid: Annie
Top: Shen (IMLRG)
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Kog'Maw (me)
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Cho'Gath
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Diana
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Thresh

Sadly, Scott couldn't deal with Nasus, which became a big problem for us. The bigger problem was that their jungler was making plays and ours wasn't doing much of anything. And even more annoyingly, Blitzcrank fed, raged at me, and stopped supporting me in my lane, leaving me way behind against powerful opponents. They pulled ahead and it could have been completely dominant, but I farmed and got caught up, while Annie racked up some kills to offset our disadvantage. In the end, I suppose that it was reasonably close, and we even came out ahead on total kills, but our team just got outplayed and there was way too much stupidity going on with Xin Zhao and Blitzcrank. I went 9/6/16 despite the oppressive laning phase, but it wasn't enough.

Mid: Vel'Koz
Top: Pantheon
Jungle: Wukong
Marksman: Kog'Maw (me)
Support: Nautilus (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Karma
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Volibear
Marksman: Graves
Support: Leona

I don't remember much about this one. I was sure that I'd sworn off going bot, but I guess I was forced to or something. Looking at the statistics, it seems that they won every lane except top and that their Volibear ran a clinic on our whole team. I went 3/6/4 and of course, we lost. That was four losses in a row.

Mid: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Top: Vi
Jungle: Amumu (me)
Assassin Bot Lane: Talon
Support: Malphite
vs.
Mid: Malzahar
Top: Cassiopeia
Jungle/Top: Shaco
Roaming/Jungle/Bot: Katarina
Marksman: Draven

The problem with doing this when I wait too long to blog the results is that I forget a lot of what happened, and I don't recall how this bizarre match got started, although I do remember some events. For whatever reason, both teams had unorthodox position-filling, as can be seen in the roster. Shaco and Katarina both initially went after jungle stuff and attempted to counterjungle me, but I avoided them. Meanwhile, Draven was alone and picked off in the bot lane. I helped Vi early on and both of our side lanes snowballed. Things went pretty crazy after that too, but we started coming out ahead a lot because Talon and Vi were both really fed. Malzahar stomped on us anyway and somehow Draven caught up, but we had enough CC to keep that from causing an upset. I went 4/6/12 and finally broke my losing streak.

Mid: Annie
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Rumble (IMLRG)
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Lulu
vs.
Mid: Zed
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Nunu
Marksman: Miss Fortune
Support: Nautilus

I was bullied by Cho'Gath and whined that I needed ganks, but Nunu counterjungled hard and shut down that possibility. I was sure that I was screwed, then Cho'Gath and Nunu executed this beautifully stupid tower dive on me and gave me a double kill, which gave me the edge I needed to stomp them some more when we met again. Since they couldn't touch me, they proceeded to flawlessly dominate everyone else on my team. No, really, they were behind after failing to kill me in multiple attempts, but somehow, after that, they would instantly blow up anyone else on my team that they met. That led to moments like, "Cho'Gath was 0/2 before I drove him out of lane. I go bot to save it, then go back top to clear the minions, and now he's 10/2? What did you guys do?" I mean, I didn't say that in the chat because I try to be nice, but I sure was thinking it. It seems like we've been here before, but my Singed couldn't become strong enough quickly enough to save my aggressively feeding team. In the end, I went 6/5/13. And I just want to emphasize, since it was so unusual, that the vast majority of my 13 assists were kills that Ezreal sniped last hits on before my poison could finish them off. That sounds petty, but it was done to such an extent that it was surreal. And ordinarily, I'd be fine with the marksman picking up kills anyway, but it was like, nearly all of his kills were ones that I did all the work for and he only showed up to pick off the last hit, which is annoying and not very productive.

Mid: Karthus
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Trundle
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Sona (me)
vs.
Mid: Swain
Top: Fiora
Jungle: Maokai
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Alistar

I had a bug splat and died because of it early in one of my Ranked games and I think it was this one. But I came back and supported the crap out of Vayne, who was good and didn't really need that much help anyway. So she snowballed and carried the match. We worked well together and practically moved as a unit. I went 1/5/20 and I think I only missed assists on one or two of Vayne's 19 kills. That's the kind of bot lane I can handle.

Mid: Orianna
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Janna
vs.
Mid: Annie
Top: Jace
Jungle: Master Yi
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Leona

Scott and I did fine. Mid fed, bot fed, and our team was thoroughly trounced. I went 2/2/3, which isn't bad for a game we lost in 21 minutes.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Olaf
Jungle: Volibear
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Tahm Kench (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Lissandra
Top: Vladimir
Jungle: Shaco
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Blitzcrank

I don't know what it is about Lissandra, but it seems like whenever I lane against one, I put up with a little initial bullying, begin outscaling her and win my lane, and then my teammates run in and drop like flies against her. That would have been manageable, since I was Karthus, but our bot lane failed and Shaco snowballed hard. Olaf killed them a lot, but overall, our team was beaten pretty badly. I went 12/5/7. Ugh.

Mid: Zed
Top: Singed
Jungle: Tahm Kench (IMLRG)
Marksman: Kog'Maw (me)
Roaming: Bard
vs.
Mid: Veigar
Top: Shen
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Varus
Support: Lux

Well, yet again, I got last-picked into taking the marksman role. And then my supposed support bailed on me after feeding our lane opponents a few kills. Varus was out of control, and no one could get to him with Shen and Lee Sin destroying them if they tried to initiate. I did eventually farm into a full build, but by then, they were way, way ahead. They tried to take our nexus and I fought the fed Varus and Lee Sin by myself, killing both but dying to Cinderhulk's burning damage right as I did so. Then Shen showed up and finished the nexus off. I went 9/12/9 and swore off the bot lane for the umpteenth time.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Feed: Heimerdinger
Jungle: Kha'Zix
Bot Feed: Vayne
Support: Braum (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Cassiopeia
Top: Pantheon
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Alistar

Vayne and Heimerdinger decided to feed early and feed often. We didn't stand a chance. I went 2/4/7 because when I play Malzahar, sometimes it's fun to keep almost killing them so that you can stay gold-starved and not actually pick up kills. Yay. At this point, I thought that I'd be demoted, but Ranked matchmaking hadn't finished having its way with me yet.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Jax
Marksman: Miss Fortune
Support: Sona
vs.
Mid: Viktor
Top: Lee Sin
Jungle: Tryndamere
Marksman: Sivir
Support: Thresh

Viktor is a pretty easy lane for my Karthus. If he throws his laser at me and misses, he has no damage. If I throw my Lay Waste at him and miss, I've lost virtually nothing. Meanwhile I can farm better and stay at a sufficient distance to avoid most of his damage. As usual, this doesn't stop my idiotic teammates from running up to Viktor and feeding him. To be fair, that's not all that happened. The biggest problem was that once Lee Sin barely scored a kill against Scott, he was able to quickly go in and kill anyone on our team with impunity. Fed Lee Sin is one of the most obnoxious things that League of Legends has to offer. So I went 4/7/5. These negative kill/death ratio Karthus games, formerly so rare, seem to crop up a lot now. But what can I do? My first death was Lee Sin running in through our jungle, tower-diving me at full health, and easily surviving what should have been a suicidal gank.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Pantheon
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Morgana (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Veigar
Top: Darius
Jungle: Master Yi
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Lux

Veigar used to be a matchup where I didn't want to pick Karthus. I didn't like the idea of being outscaled, and Veigar is the one mage that can become an even bigger threat than Karthus ever can. But Veigar was nerfed and while he still packs a punch, I value my team-destroying potential as Karthus enough to brave the king of late-game burst damage. His ult might instagib me, but my ult can pick off his team. And things would have been fine. I was farming well and easily dealt with the aggressive Master Yi. Our Pantheon had what amounted to a bye, with Darius feeding and generally having no lane presence (something that shouldn't be difficult for Darius ordinarily, but maybe the player was really bad). We had this. But my teammates had a dream and that dream involved feeding Yi and the enemy bot laners as much as possible. Scott got pretty frustrated with how stupid Tristana was, and there wasn't anything he could do. So, of course, we lost again. I went 7/6/4. That makes six losses in a row. And it also means a demotion to Bronze III. How couldn't it? I've been losing games with a remarkable consistency, so I'm surprised that I wasn't demoted sooner.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Going for the Gold Part XLVIII: Never Go Bot

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Going for the Gold Part XLVII: For the Void!

Three seasons in a row, I sought Gold, but remained stuck in Bronze. Am I delusional? Let's see what happens this time around. I got a late start to this season and I've been thrown into Bronze again by placement matches. This is the story of my attempt to turn reverse the trends of previous seasons. This is Going for the Gold.

Mid: Zed
Top: Vayne
Jungle: Amumu (me)
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Lux
vs.
Mid: Veigar
Top: Garen
Jungle: Malphite
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Leona
I couldn't believe that they picked a third tank after I'd already picked Amumu into a team with two of them. I've noticed that when I don't play farm-focused junglers, it's better to camp a lane than it is to try to help all lanes equally and it's better to help a winning lane snowball than to rescue a faltering lane. I feel a bit like a jerk playing in that way and it's taken me a long time to come to terms with it, but the trends have been pretty obvious. Vayne got first blood on Garen, so I helped her get even further ahead. It was a close match at first, but we kept beating them in fights and they let us (me, specifically) make most of the initiations, which gave Vayne and Zed the freedom to clean up. In the end, I went 8/4/25. Up to 24 LP in Bronze II.

Mid: Viktor
Top: Xin Zhao
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Leona
vs.
Mid: Azir
Top: Wukong
Jungle: Pantheon
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Nautilus
Xin Zhao whined that Wukong was being aggressive, so I went top and picked up first blood, then farmed some more, occasionally picking up a kill. It would have worked, but the top and bot lanes collapsed too early. While I was picking up a kill bot, top would be dying. I'd go top, get interrupted by Pantheon's counterjungling attempts, kill him, then watch as our bot laners died. Viktor eventually got fed, but it was too little, too late. Vayne and Wukong demolished my teammates, and even though my Udyr is powerful, he's not that powerful. In the end, I went 11/5/8, but we lost and I dropped 13 LP, down to 11. After the match, the enemy Vayne, "2k15MegaPlays" sent me a friend request, and our next match was a duo queue.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Jarvan IV
Jungle: Amumu
Marksman: Vayne (2k15MegaPlays)
Support: Alistar
vs.
Mid: Talon
Top: Wukong
Jungle: Sejuani
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Thresh
I forgot to switch to my Statue of Karthus skin on July 4th! Well, I'll just have to use it in a co-op for first win of the day once that comes up. I'm ashamed, though. Anyway, things were looking grim at first, but we kept farming. Talon had the lead on me in CS and managed to roam a lot to pick up kills, so I was no threat to him early on. I had to play patiently and wait for opportunities. I picked up a couple of kills and started carrying teamfights, which opened things up for Vayne to do the same. In the end, I teleported into the brush near Baron, but the other team had it warded too. They converged on me and I assumed that my allies would do likewise, which they didn't. I was summarily destroyed, and then my allies finally got around to attacking them. Jarvan IV ulted onto the enemy team, which was still near me in my passive form, so he picked up a pentakill and was dumbfounded at how it happened. My teammates took the enemy nexus before the other team respawned. I went 11/4/21. That earned me 21 LP, so now I'm up to 32 LP.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Fiora
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Braum
vs.
Mid: Katarina
Top: Heimerdinger
Jungle: Sion
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Leona
I picked up first blood on an AFK Katarina to start things off, then we invaded the enemy red buff and killed Katarina again. While Udyr and I tried to farm after that, everyone else went very aggressively. In Fiora's case, she came out a bit ahead, but bot lane fed non-stop. The enemy Ashe got so fed so quickly that she gathered her teammates around her as a barrier, went mid, and took my turret about ten minutes in. With the laning phase prematurely ended, I tried to defend against sieges. Of course, Karthus takes too long to get going and Ashe was way, way too fed. We couldn't even hold out for thirty minutes. It was brutal. I went 2/1/6 and lost 13 LP. Down to 19 LP in Bronze II. This was the kind of match that kept me in Bronze in previous seasons. It's really annoying. Braum whined about Fiora flaming bot lane, and while I'm not in favor of flaming, at some point it is outweighed by egregious feeding.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Orianna
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Jarvan IV
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Lux
Coming back a month later, and with some recent non-Ranked Malzahar practice under my belt, I took him mid. Orianna was no problem, and I won my lane, but I got blown up in teamfights and lost my lead. Scott continued to become more fed, though, and my CS was so high that I was able to put out a lot of damage despite a dearth of kills. Udyr got fed as well, followed by Kalista. Mostly assists for this one, but it got the job done. In the end, I went 4/5/12. This win propelled Scott into Bronze I.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Sejuani
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Nautilus (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Fizz
Top: Shen
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Tahm Kench
This is why you ban Shen. Anyway, this match was disappointing. I won my lane decisively, drawing focus from the enemy jungler, killing my lane opponent multiple times, farming up, and pushing through the turret. I became strong enough to carry a reasonable game, but my team fed too aggressively. Fizz, despite losing lane and dying whenever I ran into him, easily wiped out my teammates repeatedly. Scott helped me maintain my lead by protecting me after it became clear that our Jinx would only continue to force-feed the other team, but 2 vs. 5 wasn't working out for us. Sejuani sometimes managed to make it 3 vs. 5, but Jinx and Cho were just fodder here. In the end, I went 10/5/10 and was still killing my initial lane opponent, who went 12/11/9. Yikes.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Gnar
Jungle: Nunu
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Braum (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Lux
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Fizz
Lux put out a lot of early damage and kept me in check at first, but I was surviving and becoming stronger. Scott reported that bot was going well, so I wasn't too worried. Top faltered early, though. I started to pull ahead of Lux, and soon after, she ragequit, presumably because of some argument with her teammates. We won the 5 vs. 4, with Lux even showing up in the post-game chat to make some cryptic remarks. Reported, obviously. I went 5/2/5 this time. I'd do better with Karthus, but my Malzahar has some advantages and I'm having a lot of fun with him.

Mid: Azir
Top: Swain (me)
Jungle: Nautilus
Marksman: Graves
Support: Braum (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Xerath
Top: Gangplank
Jungle: Diana
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Blitzcrank
I didn't do as well as I should have early on against the new Gangplank, which did set me back initially, but lesson learned on that one. I didn't stand a chance anyway, because the enemy Diana was ganking everywhere and wrecking our team. Scott thought that Diana was camping bot because she kept killing him, but really, she was everywhere, making sure all of her lanes won. With such a dominant jungler causing our lanes so much trouble, Nautilus had a few options. Behind Door #1, there's attempting counterganks, as Nautilus has excellent crowd control. Behind Door #2, there's camping a lane to negate much of Diana's influence and ensure that we have an advantage somewhere on the map. Behind Door #3, there's smacking wolves with an anchor while your team rages at you. Guess which option our Nautilus chose! So yeah, I went 8/8/10, but Gangplank, Vayne, and Diana all became fed. We lost.

Mid: Ahri
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Kayle (me)
Support: Braum (IMLRG)
vs.
Zed: Mid
Tryndamere: Top
Sejuani: Jungle
Vayne: Marksman
Thresh: Support
I forget who cracked first with this one, but we had some lag that disrupted us early on (for my first death, I completely disappeared from my own screen for a few seconds with no apparent cause, and other moments of big visual hiccups followed. We were still fine, but our teammates fed and blamed me because I picked Kayle. Ahri fed Zed like crazy and Xin Zhao was unhelpful, but somehow it was all my fault in their minds. I think that I accounted for myself, but that our team was outplayed. Part of that was Zed being fed so much so quickly, part of it was that the enemy Thresh was quite good, and part of it was just that our team couldn't seem to agree on anything. I got no respect from anyone besides Scott, but I did get my build going and could have done my job under less extreme circumstances. I went 6/3/4.

Mid: Lux
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Poppy
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Thresh (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Zed
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Annie
This one was stupid. I held top in a stalemate while the rest of the game snowballed out of control faster than I could believe. Poor Scott went 1/14/9, which he didn't deserve, but Udyr and Caitlyn were picking him off whenever he tried to help anyone. I went 2/1/3, trying to make my Singed happen but unable to deal with that much firepower showing up that soon in the game.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Xin Zhao
Jungle: Jax
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Shen (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Xerath
Top: Darius
Jungle: Rengar
Marksman: Draven
Support: Soraka
This one got botched from the start because Jax decided that he had to jungle even though we already had a jungler and needed a support. So Scott switched to support and Xin Zhao switched to top. I performed poorly at first and even gave up a kill to Xerath's ult out of sheer clumsiness, but I corrected for my mistakes and went on to dominate. My teammates, particularly in the bot lane, also did well. With how much we killed them, I was surprised that they held out for as long as they did. I went 15/5/13.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Corki
Support: Braum
vs.
Mid: Yasuo
Top: Pantheon
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Mordekaiser
Just hold your lane and wait for opportunities. That's pretty much how I do it, and sometimes it works out even when things initially go badly. Scott and I both had problems early on with our lane opponents and the enemy jungler, but we were able to hold our own anyway. Corki and Udyr both snowballed, then we were there to help them in skirmishes. It's not that we got carried here, but we had slow starts and weren't the stars of this show, for sure. I went 5/4/6, which isn't great, but it's fine. And hey, a win is a win.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Darius
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Nautilus (Braum)
vs.
Mid: Orianna
Top: Vladimir
Jungle: Shen
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Alistar
This one went really badly. I do still think that Orianna is an easy lane for Malzahar, but the problem here was that my lane opponent was smart enough to keep me in check for long enough that she could capitalize on other opportunities, which worked out in a seemingly miraculous fashion. My teammates couldn't wait to feed Orianna, even though most of her attention was devoted to keeping me occupied. But she wasn't the real problem anyway. I went 5/5/7, and every death I had, and actually every fight I was in that we lost, was caused by Shen. He didn't pick up many kills for himself, but he force-fed his team and was generally unstoppable. He's one of my default bans for a reason.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Talon
Jungle: Nunu
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Leona (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Annie
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Trundle
Support: Thresh
Surprise Double Support Thing: Mordekaiser
Annie isn't even good against Malzahar and the enemy bot lane was bad, but we managed to lose this one anyway. Annoyingly, Talon managed to snag most of the kills in every fight, but then he'd keep going and die, so he was feeding just as much as he was killing and then some. I just couldn't cope, and went 4/7/6. This one was really stupid.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Shen (IMLRG)
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Annie
vs.
Mid: Yasuo
Top: Lulu
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Graves
Support: Nautilus
The mother of all bad games. Fortunately, this one was so bad that it was surreal, so I couldn't even be despondent about things. Everything went wrong, at every turn. I almost never go negative as Karthus, and when it happens, I'm sure that I remark on it here. Well, this time I went 0/6/2. It was actually kind of fascinating how nothing could go right, and I even managed to test my abilities in what I'd normally think of as unrealistically adverse circumstances.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Irelia
Jungle: Sejuani
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Ahri
Top: Darius
Jungle: Hecarim
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Bard
Back to reality, I made Ahri my bitch, as I'm wont to do. The other lanes struggled more, but with Scott's babysitting, Ezreal eventually got fed, which led to a decisive win. I went 10/5/20 this time.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Going for the Gold Part XLVI: Right Back Where We Started From Redux

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Going for the Gold Part XLV: Safer Now

Three seasons in a row, I sought Gold, but remained stuck in Bronze. Am I delusional? Let's see what happens this time around. I got a late start to this season and I've been thrown into Bronze again by placement matches. This is the story of my attempt to turn reverse the trends of previous seasons. This is Going for the Gold.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Nasus
AFK: Nidalee
Marksman: Graves
Support: Thresh
vs.
Mid: Katarina
Top: Dr. Mundo
Jungle: Nocturne
Marksman: Draven
Support: Nunu
Our Nidalee was a no-show, so of course they were able to eventually grind out that advantage and beat us. We held on four nearly 45 minutes, but it was a doomed effort. I won lane decisively (I'm finding that enemy assassins are easy to lane against with Malzahar, whereas I have to be careful when playing Karthus), but eventually fell behind as we lost too many teamfights. In the end, I went 3/7/5. Well, I'm back down to 0 LP. The dance with demotion continues.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Warwick
Marksman: Graves
Support: Leona
vs.
Mid: Vel'Koz
Top: Fiora
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Volibear
I was easily able to farm against Vel'Koz, but he did a good job of keeping me starved. Vi came in for ganks, which I avoided, but that damaged my turret badly. Early on, it looked to be a stalemate, but that was broken in a few ways. Fiora was too aggressive, which did get her some kills, but also helped Teemo get fed and gave Warwick a gank target. Volibear was bad and allowed our bot lane to pull ahead. And while their team pushed mid to take my outer turret, I picked up kills on them that allowed me to get going. Soon we had a fed Karthus, Graves, Warwick, and Teemo. They tried to backdoor us, but we killed them too much for it to succeed. In the end, I went 13/6/10.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Nidalee
Jungle: Rammus
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Braum
vs.
Mid: Orianna
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Graves
Support: Nautilus
Farming against this Orianna was easy, so I pulled ahead and snowballed. Our Nidalee was weird and I thought the player might have been high, but ultimately, Nidalee farmed well and picked up kills. The other players on our team held their own, but before we could come close to actually finishing the match, the other team surrendered. By that point, I was 6/1/3. The total team score was 20 kills to 10, so they were hurting, but I didn't expect all five of them to give up after only 23 minutes. Oh well.

Mid: Zed
Top: Rumble
Jungle: Skarner (me)
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Morgana
vs.
Mid: Jayce
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Hecarim
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Nautilus
This one started out fairly close. Hecarim began ganking way before me, and Rumble overextended a lot, which made it easy. Zed was bullied in lane by Jayce, but survived. Our bot lane did better than theirs, though. I helped Zed get an advantage in the laning phase, but died to a Hecarim gank soon after. As bot struggled, I went there and helped defend the turret, killing Nautilus and then going back to the jungle. For some reason, Rumble flipped out about my build, raging at how idiotic I was not to build Skarner as a full tank like all the pros are apparently doing. Then my build got going, as usual, and I destroyed the enemy team. Well, not single-handedly or anything. Actually, Zed, Caitlyn, Rumble, and I all got fed. We took Baron and pushed for the win. In the end, I went 7/1/9. That takes me up to 61 LP.

Mid: Zed
Top: Garen
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Sona (me)
vs.
Mid: Yasuo
Top: Darius
Jungle: Sejuani
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Morgana
Our first-pick Vi immediately requested to have someone else dodge (because apparently somewhere, at some point, this has worked), as the Garen player was bound to feed, so we'd save time. No one dodged. Then we won all of the lanes but mid, did well enough there to survive, and began utterly dominating the other team. Pretty easy to support when your whole team is fed. In the end, I went 6/3/22. This takes me up to 80 LP and brings my total season win/loss ratio to neutral, with 20 wins and 20 losses.

Mid: Brand
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Volibear
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Diana
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Alistar
My teammates raged and I hate to just pin all the blame on one person, but they were right: Brand was a terrible feeder. If we'd picked up early kills, that might have helped compensate for Brand, but the other team had nine or ten kills before I finally picked one of them off. I held my own, even against fed enemies, but my teammates were all worse off. Eventually, Brand ragequit, waiting for us to lose so he could tell the other team to report us in the lobby. I went 5/5/1. Well, the winning streak had to end some time.

Mid: Malzahar
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Malphite
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Lulu
vs.
Mid: LeBlanc
Top: Renekton
Jungle: Shaco
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Morgana
I shouldn't blindly pick Singed into an unknown enemy top. Renekton is stupid. He's a beefy, manaless, AD caster with mobility, excellent wave clears, and a stun. Singed has no early game to compete with that. I struggled, but bot was worse off. Our team was behind, but Renekton's bullying eventually drew a Malphite gank that gave me our first kill of the game. From there, I was able to fight back and start controlling my lane, picking up a few more kills. Malphite snowballed and the enemy team just couldn't touch him. Overall, this match was a nice comeback for us. Although our bot laners didn't really manage to become strong, Malphite, Malzahar, and I dominated in fights. In the end, I went 7/6/11. I did pretty well for the terrible start I got against Renekton. Malphite, though, was something else. He went 8/0/17. Cinderhulk OP? And that gets me up to 89 LP.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Lissandra
Jungle: Warwick
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Janna
vs.
Mid: Syndra
Top: Gangplank
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Annie
I have to admit that I didn't do as well as I should have here. Three of my early plays were botched and I was killed, almost getting away with what I was trying to do, but almost doesn't help, and that gave my lane opponent first blood and kept me behind for much of the match. This was one of my crappiest Karthus games, but I eventually started dominating. My allies, though, couldn't keep up. This time, I'm not raging at feeders or anything. Yeah, our Warwick was bad, but the other three put up a reasonable effort. They tried and they failed. Ultimately, the fact that the enemy jungler was much better than our jungler was the biggest deciding factor. So yeah, I lost, but it was a good game. I'm not happy about this one, but it happens and I accept it. In the end, I went 18/12/9, scoring more kills than anyone else, but dying too much for my liking. This loss brings me down to 75 LP.

Mid: Vladimir
Top: Swain (me)
Jungle: Teemo
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Ziggs
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Rengar
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Janna
The enemy Cho'Gath wasn't great, but he was smart enough to bully me in lane. I played conservatively and eventually started killing people. Our Teemo got fed faster, but the two of us weren't enough to compensate for the other laners, who couldn't catch up. Toward the end, Caitlyn started picking up more kills, but our lackluster Vladimir and feeder Blitzcrank weren't much help in fights. Jinx was the only individual enemy we had that did particularly well, but her team helped her to control objectives. In the end, I went 6/2/8, failing to save our base. Down to 61 LP.

Mid: Diana
Top: Nasus
Jungle:
Marksman: Kalistawa
Support: Sona
vs.
Mid: Morgana
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Volibear
Marksman: Graves
Support: Thresh
Our Diana was fine. The rest of my teammates were rude, uncooperative, stupid, and unskilled. We lost heavily from the beginning. I went 0/4/6 trying to support the unsupportable. Down to 43 LP, I've just lost three in a row. Guess I won't be promoted anytime soon.

Mid: Diana
Top: Nidalee
Jungle: Amumu (me)
Marksman: Graves
Support: Leona
vs.
Mid: Lux
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Sejuani
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Annie
Lux bullied Diana a bit at first, so I killed her and then helped Diana kill her a few times. Fed Diana usually wins. I spent the rest of the match securing dragon, dying to let my allies escape, and suicide-bombing with my Q and ult to win teamfights. My final score was 2/9/24. I died a lot, but it was almost always worth it. Now I have 67 LP.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Zed
Top: Darius
Jungle: Amumu
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Lulu
Somehow, Zed easily got two kills against me with his ult under my turret and escaped, even though I wasn't very hurt and he should have been under the turret long enough to die multiple times. It was bullshit. For the first one, he even flashed after me and attacked me under my inner turret, but escaped dying mysteriously. Hacks. The third time, I was ready and killed him back when he killed me. As with my previous Karthus game, I was 1/3 before I finally snowballed. Unfortunately, this time our Caitlyn was lagging and our Teemo fed constantly. Then I started lagging too. There was obviously some server-side issue, but Riot won't give out a loss forgiven because they are jerks. In the end, I went 11/10/10. Well, I'm down to 52 LP.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Going for the Gold Part XLIV: Still Skirting Demotion

Monday, March 9, 2015

Going for the Gold Part XLIII: Promoted, Then Almost Demoted

Three seasons in a row, I sought Gold, but remained stuck in Bronze. Am I delusional? Let's see what happens this time around. I got a late start to this season and I've been thrown into Bronze again by placement matches. This is the story of my attempt to turn reverse the trends of previous seasons. This is Going for the Gold.

Mid: Ahri
Top: Swain (me)
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Varus
Support: Morgana (Al0ysiusHWWW)
vs.
Mid: Lux
Top: Wukong
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Twitch
Support: Lulu
In my lane, Lee Sin tried to camp me. But I surived and dominated my lane. Nick and his ADC also came out ahead, and our Vi picked up a lot of kills. They held out for a while, but we were way ahead and were able to get into their base and win eventually. I went 14/4/12.

Mid: Brand (Al0ysiusHWWW)
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Graves
Support: Braum
vs.
Mid: Diana
Top: Vladimir
Jungle: Jarvan IV
Marksman: Twitch
Support: Morgana
I think my teammates might have surrendered this one, but I forget. Nick was there to help, but he lost lane anyway. I killed Vladimir and was winning my lane, but he got help from Jarvan IV and then other members of the team too. I started killing champions and getting strong enough to tank most damage, but then Diana ulted onto me and destroyed me. I looked at the scoreboard and saw that she was stacking a Mejai's Soulstealer. My allies had simply fed too much. On top of that, I had most of our kills. I did make a few embarrassing mistakes in this one, but for the most part I think I played well and just couldn't overcome the massive difference between the two teams. In the end, I went 4/5/1, while our whole team only picked up a total of 9 kills against the enemy's 36.

Mid: Karma
Top: Diana
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Sivir
Support: Leona (Al0ysiusHWWW)
vs.
Mid: Galio
Top: Jax
Jungle: Riven
Marksman: Miss Fortune
Support: Morgana
Another very one-sided match. Top and bot were frozen at first, so I killed opponents there a few times, then went back to farming for the rest of the match while my teammates snowballed. Sivir had 28 kills by the end. They actually managed to drive my team out of their base in a last stand, but then I ran in with baron-boosted minions and took down the nexus. In the end, I went 10/1/6. This was incredibly dominant. After I gave them some initial help, my team only needed me for dragon and baron control and could probably have won without me. Meanwhile, I was probably close to being able to solo the enemy team. It was that one-sided.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Rengar
Jungle: Xin Zhao (Al0ysiusHWWW)
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Morgana
vs.
Mid: Fizz
Top: Jax
Jungle: Hecarim
Marksman: Miss Fortune
Support: Sona
I got to carry a game as Malzahar! It might have been even better than if I'd played Karthus, since I was able to apply early pressure to Fizz and kill the fed Jax with my ult. It took a bit of time to catch up to Jax, but the rest of his team were easy to pick off. In the end, I went 19/9/12. Another really dominant match.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Riven
Jungle: Wukong
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Leona (Al0ysiusHWWW)
vs.
Mid: Morgana
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Master Yi
Support: Blitzcrank
How does someone completely fail to play against their own main champion? Our Riven made a big deal about calling Nasus top in two lobbies, but then the other team got Nasus first. I figured that top should be fine, although Riven was an odd counterpick choice. Instead Nasus easily killed Riven and farmed like crazy. Our bot lane went better, but ultimately Jinx was rather unskilled. Didn't matter. I carried them. Wukong helped me get ahead so I could completely control my lane, then Nick provided initiations so that I could stomp on the other team. In the end, I went 14/2/10.

Mid: Morgana
Top: Darius
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Kayle (me)
Support: Leona (Al0ysiusHWWW)
vs.
Mid: Akali
Top: Irelia
Jungle: Sejuani
Marksman: Graves
Support: Thresh
The Graves/Thresh bot lane combo is very dangerous. Nick and I didn't coordinate with each other very well and we made ourselves vulnerable, falling behind. Sejuani charged in and helped secure the laning phase for them, but our Darius was way ahead and Morgana was ahead too, so I thought we might get carried. My teammates messed up and got taken out by Graves one-by-one after he killed me when I was asking for help against him (they were focused on dragon), giving him a quadra kill and helping him snowball. And then on-hit Kayle struck again. I'm so glad I've gotten to keep this build for as long as I have. Full on-hit builds aren't very popular, but mine have been working, especially my Kayle. In the end, I went 9/5/10. Not my best Kayle game, but it wasn't too shabby.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Zac
Jungle: Tryndamere
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Braum (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Heimerdinger
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Wukong
Marksman: Sivir
Support: Leona
I've never seen such a passive Heimerdinger. While he was an easy lane opponent, our bot lane completely collapsed, as our Jinx was outclassed. The enemy team roamed and killed me under my turret a few times. Tryndamere got fed, which kept us going until my massive CS let me get fed too. Zac also started getting fed, and while we were still behind on total kills as a team, the combination of a fed Karthus, Tryndamere, and Zac was enough to win us teamfights and take the match. In the end, I went 10/5/7.

Mid: Yasuo
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Tryndamere
Marksman: Tristana (me)
Feed: Lux
vs.
Mid: Malzahar
Top: Galio
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Viktor
I say "feed" for Lux, but I was actually the one to give up the most kills overall. Lux did start feeding from early on, but the real problem was that Lux made no attempt whatsoever to support me or do anything useful. She did pick up a couple of kill and assists over time, but she may as well have been a bot. Actually, I think she might have been except a bot should have done better. I'm not exaggerating: our Lux was useless, even going so far as to shoot ults off the map instead of at enemies. I tried to overcome that disadvantage, but our whole team was behind. I picked up several kills, but my allies weren't getting kills and we were all dying too much. In the end, I went 6/11/2. I swore off going as marksman with random players. Having a bad jungler can make mid or top dangerous, but having a bad support makes bot absolutely miserable.

Mid: Ziggs
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Skarner (me)
Marksman: Varus
Support: Leona
vs.
Mid: Zed
Top: Kayle
Jungle: Irelia
Marksman: Sivir
Support: Sona
This wasn't a total shutout, but we were able to get ahead and stay ahead. I successfully ganked top and bot multiple times, and our team won both, which left us with three fed champions. They put up a fight, but we overpowered them. In the end, I went 11/7/7.

Mid: LeBlanc
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Braum (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Galio
Top: Garen
Jungle: Nautilus
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Nami
I tried to help my team, but they fell way behind before I could get going. In the end, I went 1/6/7. This one sucked.

Mid: Fizz (IMLRG)
Top: Aatrox
Jungle: Shen (me)
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Zilean
vs.
Mid: Zed
Top: Nidalee
Jungle: Pantheon
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Janna
This was a repeat of the previous game, only I was playing Shen for some reason. I went 1/6/5. Tried to help, but the lanes fed aggressively before I could get going. Scott eventually picked up some ult kills, but it was too late.

Mid: Teemo
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Amumu
Marksman: Kayle (me)
Support: Braum (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Annie
Top: Gangplank
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Alistar
I told Scott that I was sick of losing like that, and that I was going to force mid because I carry matches when I pick mid. He talked me into going Kayle/Braum duo bot with him. It was rough at first, then got rougher when Lee Sin ganked us and got a double kill. I thought that Lee Sin would snowball, but we killed him twice (I killed him once and someone else killed him) and he ragequit soon after. We were already winning by then. I was getting fed and Nasus was getting even more fed. But having a 5 vs. 4 made it even more one-sided. In the end, I went 9/2/10.

Mid: Malzahar
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Leona (Al0ysiusHWWW)
vs.
Mid: Katarina
Top: Jayce
Jungle: Fizz
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Volibear
My team had to be pretty screwed up to let Fizz outjungle me as Udyr, but screwed up was exactly what they were. Vayne and Nasus fed the most, which of course left Nick dying a lot too. Malzahar fed a little less, but still more than me. So he decided that our defeat must be my fault. Yeah, the guy raged pretty hard, then called me "butthurt" when I responded. Trolls gonna troll, I suppose. In the end, I went 4/7/3, which sucks, but is better than the rest of my team could do. Recently, it seems like all of my games as jungler involve my allies in the lanes collapsing and losing their lanes while I'm still on my first clear. I'm in danger of being demoted (I forget when I was promoted to Bronze III, but I totally was) because of this crap.

Mid: Orianna
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Xin Zhao (Al0ysiusHWWW)
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Leona
vs.
Mid: Katarina
Top: Maokai
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Varus
Support: Teemo
Not sure how the Teemo support was supposed to work. I was too busy having Vi fly at me all the damn time. I couldn't keep from feeding with all the pressure she put on me in the laning phase, but I was able to farm like crazy and weaken Maokai's outer turret. While I was doing that, Katarina got incredibly fed. I tried to tank for my teammates, and while none of them were egregiously bad, they just kept getting caught when they shouldn't have. In the end, I went 4/8/10. Another loss, which puts me in even more danger of demotion. What a fantastic start my season is off to. Oh yes, Gold is looking as impossible as ever.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Gnar
Jungle: Rammus
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Thresh
vs.
Mid: Yasuo
Top: Fiora
Jungle: Sion
Marksman: Sivir
Support: Braum
I won my lane. The other lanes lost badly. From there, we tried to mount a comeback. It looked like we might pull it off, but we just didn't have enough competent people. Rammus was good, and Gnar fed early but started getting stronger. Jinx and Thresh just weren't doing enough. I was able to deal with the fed Fiora and the fed Sivir on multiple occasions, but it wasn't enough. In the end, I went 16/5/17. I tried, but I failed. Next loss from here should demote me. And as usual, I think that it just isn't right. I'm getting unwinnable match after unwinnable match.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Warwick
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Sona
vs.
Mid: Ezreal (AP build)
Top: Pantheon
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Morgana
I messed up rather badly in the laning phase of this one. I held off on teleporting as I took a beating from Ezreal's skillshots. I decided to back off and teleport, but wanted to flash as I saw him ulting. Then Pantheon tried to ult in too. Even though Pantheon's ult was too far back to possibly hit me, I panicked over it and flashed right into Ezreal's ult, giving him a kill. Couldn't believe it. Fortunately, I already had a kill from my own ult, and was able to get Warwick to gank Ezreal and take his outer turret. From there, I got fed and walked all over the whole enemy team. Our Vayne, who had farmed much better than me early on and had dominated lane, got fed too, dooming the other team even more. They tried to play defensively, which just let us pick them apart at our leisure. In the end, I went 10/3/9. Guess I won't be demoted yet! I'm at 20 LP in Bronze III.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Going for the Gold Part XLII: Late Start

Three seasons in a row, I sought Gold, but remained stuck in Bronze. Am I delusional? Let's see what happens this time around. I got a late start to this season and I've been thrown into Bronze again by placement matches. This is the story of my attempt to turn reverse the trends of previous seasons. This is Going for the Gold.

I've been busy and I'm getting a late start on the new season, but I am getting a start, and that's what really matters. Will placement matches screw me over again? Probably. We'll see...

Placement match the first
Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Jayce
Jungle: Nocturne
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Janna
vs.
Mid: Malzahar
Top: Darius
Jungle: Fizz
Marksman: Corki
Support: Thresh
I've hardly touched Karthus since last season ended, and it was good to get back to him. Malzahar is a pretty easy lane opponent, as he has to really commit to trade with me, and I can recover and hold the lane almost indefinitely, only getting in range of his E right after he uses it on a minion, and being careful to avoid letting it spread from minions to me. Nocturne got a successful gank that put me ahead by a kill, and I snowballed. The enemy top and bot lanes snowballed too, only faster. My allies briefly speculated that I might actually be able to carry them, but our team was way, way behind. In the end, I went 8/1/2. Blah, blah, blah, this always happens to me. Cry, cry, cry. Boo hoo.

Placement match the second
Mid: Fizz
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Sona
vs.
Mid: Miss Fortune (went AP)
Top: Vladimir
Jungle: Volibear
Marksman: Graves
Support: Annie
My team needed a jungler and I gave them one. Top and bot were both losing badly from the start, but I helped keep them from falling too far behind. I snowballed and became a huge threat. At one point, I was 7/0. I noticed that Fizz and I were the only ones who were succeeding, and that worried me. My concern turned out to be well-founded: we kept losing every teamfight. My allies didn't seem to comprehend how to cooperate, so making an effort to do so was beyond them. I tried to flank for them and they'd run away and whine at me for "going in alone." I'd try to initiate and they'd run away and whine at me for "going in alone." I'd hang back to let them initiate, and they'd keep saying "we need to group." When I tried to explain politely, they accused me of "throwing a fit." Meanwhile, even though Fizz and I kept killing the other team, they persevered and used teamwork to beat us. They won and deserved us. In the end, I went 11/9/11. Placement matches are turning out to be thoroughly unwinnable. Bronze V, here I come?

Placement match the third
Mid: Annie
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Amumu
Marksman: Corki
Support: Janna
vs.
Mid: Ahri
Top: Zac
Jungle: Rengar
Marksman: Varus
Support: Blitzcrank
Our Janna was disconnected at first, but eventually came back. Bot struggled but didn't fall too far behind. I bullied Zac, but couldn't recklessly push with Rengar and Ahri both coming in to gank me. Being Singed, I was able to farm and become tanky, so I disrupted their team with Amumu as Annie started nuking everything. They put up a fight and won at dragon twice, but we gradually gained more and more ground. In the end, I went 13/6/9. But most importantly, I finally won.

Placement match the fourth
Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Jarvan IV
Jungle: Shaco
Marksman: Draven
Support: Thresh
vs.
Mid: Brand
Top: Kayle
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Braum
Our Thresh immediately freaked out or pretended to freak out over being shoved into a support role, whining about being horrible at it, but in weird ways. It was like, "I can't land hooks." So don't pick a champion with hooks. And then the person picked Thresh. Jarvan and Draven kept trying to encourage Thresh to just do his best, but I figured that Thresh might be trolling anyway, so I blew it off. My lane opponent didn't know how to deal with Malzahar, so I was able to control mid easily and avoid a couple of gank attempts. I died because I got greedy and chased Brand down the river for too long with my allies too far behind me, but I went right back and started killing him, then killing others. Shaco snagged a couple of kills that my E already had secured, but I still snowballed, as did Draven. With both of our primary damage-dealers fed, we won decisively, while the other team descended into bickering and reporting. In the end, I went 12/3/8 and easily outfarmed everyone.

Placement match the fifth
Mid: Katarina
Top: Riven
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Jinx
Troll: Karthus (me)
vs.
Mid: Lux
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Jarvan IV
Marksman: Draven
Support: Nami
I have to own up to it. I made a big mistake here. I was in a lobby as a solo mid, and it was requeued. I wasn't paying attention and I looked at the wrong side of the screen, so I picked Karthus instead of a support. To be fair, I thought something was weird, so I didn't lock in, but instead started looking at the chat. Somehow, I thought Nami was on our side. And I saw someone call support. Then I locked in and my teammates started freaking out. They must have thought I was an idiot, which was fair. They tried to order me to do things like take Exhaust or build that one support item I never build. I tried not to panic and went bot, scheming for ways to make this work. I settled on a plan of harassing the enemy bot lane with my Q to scare them into thinking we had some weird bully lane or kill lane. They backed off, we avoided Jarvan's ganks, and both of us were able to farm a bit. Draven turned out to be somewhat unskilled, and that combined with my Q-spamming scared him into playing passively. Nami focused on hitting Jinx with her Q, which left me free to do whatever I wanted. Then I roamed and ended the laning phase early, which was a huge risk, but again it paid off perfectly. Their Cho'Gath did win lane. With Lux to help him burst people down, they started to mount a comeback, winning some key teamfights. But they just couldn't kill me and I kept getting more powerful, which kept us ahead the whole time. No, really. I had the most kills (tied with enemy Lux, actually), fewest deaths, most assists (tied with enemy Nami) and kept the other team off our turrets even when they burst down my allies. In the end, I went 12/2/16. My teammates must have thought I did it on purpose or something. Where in the beginning they'd been freaking out at me for not picking a support, they concluded by declaring me "MVP." While I hope not to make that mistake again, I'm glad that I was calm and handled it the way I did. I'm also glad that Jinx cooperated with me instead of becoming toxic, which is what would usually happen.

Placement match the sixth
Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Master Yi
Marksman: Graves
Support: Braum
vs.
Mid: LeBlanc
Top: Jax
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Blitzcrank
LeBlanc played too passively and I controlled my lane while avoiding gank attempts. Scott won his lane initially, but Yi went top and force-fed Jax kills, which allowed Jax to snowball and dominate the whole match. Our bot lane failed miserably too, leaving me hopelessly outclassed against a team that was way ahead of me and coordinated to take objectives. I couldn't get fed because kills that I was about to get were poached, then enemies started surviving and escaping, leaving me perpetually behind. In the end, I went 3/6/7. This match was stupid, but I really think I did what I could. Scott fared better, but the two of us weren't enough to compensate for our heavily feeding allies.

Placement match the seventh
Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Shen
Jungle: Wukong
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Nami (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Ahri
Top: Nidalee
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Braum
My worst Ranked game of the season so far. Scott said that he played badly, but our teammates presented more problems. Shen refused to group up with the team, remaining top all game. Vayne did pick up kills, but fed more than anyone else. And then there was Wukong, who refused to group up, raged, then began spamming in the chat, trying to bully us into surrendering, and intentionally feeding. I worked hard to win my lane against Ahri, then her team got ahead and undid all my work. It was too early for me to become strong from CS alone, and since I couldn't pick up kills, I was overwhelmed by a team that was already fed. In the end, I went 2/3/4. Pretty rare that I have a negative kill/death ratio as Karthus, but in this situation, it couldn't be helped. It was a bad day for us anyway. After losing two Ranked games, we moved onto Normals and lost a couple more. It was brutal.

Placement match the eighth
Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Darius
Jungle: Amumu
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Sona
vs.
Mid: Yasuo
Top: Elise
Jungle: Hecarim
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Braum
I think our Amumu was a smurf or something, because that was one of the best Amumu jungle's I can remember seeing. In the other lanes, Ashe couldn't get kills, but they held their own, while Darius lost lane. I had a farm fest against Yasuo, but eventually outfarmed him and picked up Requiem kills, then Amumu ganked him and it was all over. I don't think any one person on the opposing team ruined things for them, but none of them could stop me. In the end, I went 25/0/10 and outfarmed everyone by a lot.

Placement match the ninth
Mid: Anivia
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Master Yi
Marksman: Ashe (me)
Feed: Olaf
vs.
Mid: Xerath
Top: Shen
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Sona
Worst Ranked match I've ever been in. I was second pick and took Anivia, then our last pick cried about not being able to play a marksman. I tried to be nice and offered to switch. I shouldn't have bothered. The person picked Ashe, then clicked to switch with less than a second remaining. I changed my runes but had no time to fix my masteries or summoner spells. And then I realized that I had an Olaf "support." Olaf ran in and fed, then Tristana picked me off too. Olaf continued to feed, so Scott, trying to salvage things, called for a lane swap. And then Scott ran in with no health and died, so I was alone again and killed yet again. Anivia fed. Yi farmed the jungle without ganking for too long, picked up some kills, and raged that everyone else was feeding. I never managed to get enough items to do any real damage, so I was completely screwed. In the end, I went 1/12/0. I want a damn mulligan or something here. This isn't right.

Placement match the tenth
Mid: Ahri
Top: Jax
Jungle: Warwick (Al0ysiusHWWW)
Marksman: Kog'Maw (me)
Support: Leona
vs.
Mid: Katarina
Top: Sion
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Nidalee
For my last placement match, I paired up with Nick, who was working on his own placement matches. He lied and said he'd support me, as he thought that was funny and for some reason he wanted me to be a marksman. So I was stuck with a horrible Leona who fed and raged. Ahri also fed, and two feeders was enough to easily ruin it for the rest of us. In the end, I went 5/6/3. Welcome to Ashe's Elite, Bronze IV. Crap. Well, it's not as bad of a start as last season...