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.