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: Kassadin
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Shaco
Marksman: Kayle (me)
Support: Morgana
vs.
Mid: Heimerdinger
Top: Dr. Mundo
Jungle: Fizz
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Teemo
Taking
Kayle and Morgana against Vayne and Teemo should have been an easy,
dominant lane for us, but my support was incompetent, so I was killed
and massively outfarmed. I persevered and still held my own, but our
Kassadin was the only other player to play well. Nasus was one of those
stupid players who thinks that farming Siphoning Strike somehow cancels
out a total lack of accomplishment and Shaco was even worse. In the end,
I went 5/4/6. Now I'm down to 32 LP.
Mid: Malzahar
Top: Lee Sin
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Alistar (me)
vs.
Mid: Zed
Top: Jax
Jungle: Kayle
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Nocturne
Moo. 1/0/11. You can't milk those.
Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Teemo
Jungle: Trundle
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Syndra
Top: Tryndamere
Jungle: Jax
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Annie
I
was taken aback at the other team's amount of potential late-game
damage. As Karthus, I can outscale a lot, but the champion has his
limits. And Syndra is a very scary lane opponent. I've found that
against some really dangerous lane opponents, I'm better off giving up
some CS in order to ensure that I stay healthy, which provides partial
protection from being bursted to death. To that end, I gave Trundle hard
leashes on his first two camps before entering my own lane. Syndra had
the early advantage and outfarmed me, but Trundle came in for an early
gank. She dodged my wall and flashed over Trundle's pillar to escape the
first attempt, but was caught on the second try. From there, I picked
up kills with my ult, while Syndra had to roam to get her own kills.
Lucian and Trundle both got fed, which gave us a decisive advantage. We
took Baron and pushed for the win at less than 30 minutes in. My final
score was 7/1/9. I even outfarmed Syndra eventually (and everyone else).
That win takes me up 22 LP, to 77.
Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Irelia
Jungle: Diana
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Bard
vs.
Mid: Lux
Top: Garen
Jungle: Jax
Marksman: Varus
Support: Leona
Initially,
I was worried that they'd outtank us. Garen and Leona did prove to be
very annoying. But then I stopped picking up kills after the laning
phase, while their whole team would jump on me and kill me at every
opportunity. I pride myself on not having "get carried" games in Ranked.
This one was starting to look close. I was scoring assists, most of
which were kills I was about to get only to see the last hit taken by an
ally. And that was slowing me down. I kept farming, kept looking for
opportunities, and eventually—I kept dying and only obtained a couple
more kills out of it. Assists kept me in this one, and I was a support,
despite my attempts to prove otherwise. In the end, I went 7/9/18. But
whatever: I just qualified for a series!
Mid: Fizz
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Sona (me)
vs.
Mid: Yasuo
Top: Rumble
Jungle: Jarvan IV
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Leona
I'm so good at Sona! I got fed and went 7/2/11. But my team got destroyed and we lost badly.
Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Nasus (IMLRG)
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Fizz
Top: Riven
Jungle: Jax
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Alistar
I
suggested Nasus as a counter to Jax top, and Scott went for it. Then
they picked Riven and Jax turned out to be the jungler, but it didn't
matter because Scott won lane and dominated the game. I bullied Fizz,
but got ganked repeatedly by three or more opponents. In the end, I only
went 3/5/3, but held my outer turret through to the end while pushing
the crap out of lanes. Not my best game, but I accounted for myself.
Mid: Anivia (me)
Top: Lulu
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Karma (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Zyra
Top: Yorick
Jungle: Shyvana
Marksman: Corki
Support: Blitzcrank
Well,
I shouldn't have tried Anivia here, but ultimately it didn't matter. My
teammates fed hard from the beginning, especially Vayne. Our Vayne was
one of the worst feeders I've encountered. So I went 2/4/4 and lost my
series.
Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Shen (IMLRG)
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Graves
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Zed
Top: Garen
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Corki
Support: Sona
Due
to a requeue, the other team knew I was going for Karthus and banned
him. So I took Malzahar instead and made Zed my bitch. In the end, I
went 8/5/11. I think I died too much, but a lot of it might have been
prevented if my allies had played differently, so maybe it was a
stylistic issue. Whatever. We won and now I'm up for another promo
series
Mid: Brand
Top: Jax
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Varus
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Kassadin
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Volibear
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Leona
All
three lanes won and the enemy jungler did poorly, so I spent most of
the time farming. The other team did have some strengths and could have
tried to mount a comeback, but they surrendered early, giving me a free
win. I went 1/1/3. Not the kind of match that gets players into this
game, but I'll take any Ranked win I can get, especially in a promo
series.
Mid: Diana
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Hecarim
Marksman: Sivir
Support: Malphite
vs.
Mid: Lux
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Rengar
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Anivia
I
picked Singed into Cho'Gath because even though Singed has a terrible
early game and Cho'Gath has an excellent one, most people can't take my
turret early on, and then I become strong enough to hold the lane, farm,
and become a fast, tanky problem for the other team. Not this game,
though. This time, my teammates fed from the start. I don't want to
throw blame on other people, and I did only go 1/7/7 in the end, but I
think I actually played well. I was 0/0/0 for a long time, then Cho'Gath
got help from other lanes while I got Hecarim showing up and instantly
diving him and feeding him a kill. If I'd had a team to dish out damage
for me when I engaged, we'd have been fine. But for whatever reason, my
teammates never came through.
Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: LeBlanc
Jungle: Olaf
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Sion
vs.
Mid: Annie
Top: Irelia
Jungle: Shaco
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Leona
Initially,
our team fell behind as Shaco pulled off some early ganks. But LeBlanc
and I both trounced our lane opponents and snowballed. LeBlanc was a
rude and toxic player and not particularly cooperative, but Irelia fed
her early and she was able to take advantage of that, so whatever. The
other three players on our team were behind for most of the game, but
they did well enough for me and LeBlanc to carry. The enemy team
resisted our attempts to break into their base, so we took Baron and got
our Dragon buff to five stacks, then walked into their base and won. I
went 16/1/12. And that completes my series! It also brings me back to a
neutral win/loss ratio. But most importantly, I'm finally back to Bronze II. Let my rise out of it be as swift as ever and more permanent than in years past.
