I'm back

With all of the changes to the game, I anticipated needing a break and some preparation, but it dragged on and on, with work and other things delaying my return to playing League much at all. I've played some games, albeit not always Ranked, in every season of the game. I've seen a lot of changes, adjusted to some and failed to adjust to others. But my waning commitment to put in the hours for this activity combined with the expanse and scale of these new changes has made the game overwhelming. I have a lot of thoughts. I've finally returned to Ranked play, but before I post on that subject, I want to expound on those aforementioned thoughts...

1. I no longer believe myself to theoretically belong in Gold. This is not so much because I think that my circumstances have changed. Gold seems to be a place for serious players. I haven't adapted, and part of my failure to adapt has been due to a need to focus on other priorities. There have probably been some points at which, if my raw gameplay skills were properly harnessed and if I'd played enough games and if I'd had a reasonable amount of good luck, I'd have made Gold. It didn't pan out, but that's fine. Those days are gone. I might never make it out of Bronze and I'm fine with that. I'm just going to try to play and have fun.
2. The above point does not mean that I suck at the game or that I don't think I'm good enough. On the contrary, I'm quite good at some of the things I specialize in. Despite not fully adjusting to the new environment, I have enough experience doing some of the things that are still perfectly good, and doing them well, that I do think I have my own minor claim to some bits of excellence.
3. My Karthus game is still quite good. It's not at its peak just yet, but I think I can surpass my best Karthus gameplay soon enough.
4. I really miss Sivir. Out of all the reworks and champion nerfs and changes, losing my Sivir hurt the worst. It's been a long time and I'm definitely better at the game than I was when I was playing her, but in some ways, I've never fully recovered. When I was maining Sivir, my two preferred roles were mid and marksman, as Karthus and Sivir respectively. When her rework hit and I decided to switch over to other carries entirely, I lost the success of my bot lane performance and never got it back. Now, I did eventually find a niche with on-hit bot laners, mostly Kog'Maw and Kayle. But it's not the same. I've been hoping against hope that I could somehow salvage what I had with Sivir. So I'm going to try. I'm prepared for a frustrating experience, but I really think that with Death's Dance, it just might work.
5. The new draft format seems to have a hidden double-queueing setup in its algorithms. For three normal drafts and then four Ranked drafts, I selected mid as my first choice and fill as my second choice. I was relegated to support in every single match, and nearly all of the failed lobbies, except one in which I was sent bot to be a marksman. When I queued with teammates in my most recent game, I did get mid, but they'd chosen to duo bot together as their first priority. I believe that the algorithms search for matches to both. Since more lobbies that are being built lack supports, it throws any "fill" options into those lobbies, which happens too quickly for the first priority to even matter. If this is the case, so long as supports are in high demand, selecting "fill" as a possibility is tantamount to selecting support. I might be wrong, but something must be going on here.
6. I now own all champions besides one. Pretty cool. Now if only I knew how to play them.
7. My best champions are probably Karthus and Malzahar. My Singed is still quite good too. And yet, I'm primarily an on-hit specialist, even though none of my top three fall into that category. My on-hit junglers are pretty good (especially Udyr, Skarner, and Shen). When I go bot, rather than playing a crit-focused marksman, I go on-hit (particularly Kog'Maw, Kayle, and Kennen).
8. I'm getting sick of the endless barrage of champion reworks. I take a break from a champion and find out that everything I'd practiced is out the window.
9. League of Legends is trying too hard to force counterplay and finesse into the game with minigame-like aspects of new champions and reworks. My favorite champions to play are all older style champions with simple, clean kits that have their own depth of usage.
10. The current, and relatively stable metagame as it now seems to be revolves a lot around big, early plays to snowball into dominance. Farming for extended periods is frowned upon and is now less likely to pay off than in the past. This, perhaps as much as my own inactivity, quashes my dreams of League Gold. I've always been a late game player. And while I don't want to hurt my teams in Ranked, this is not a point on which I'm willing or able to adapt. I play champions and build them with the long game in mind. It's what I do and it's what I know.