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

After playing League of Legends for over two years and accumulating over a thousand normal games, I finally entered ranked play. In my own, totally objective, assessment, I am skilled enough for Gold. My placement matches disagreed, and threw me into Bronze II. More recently after failing to climb out of Bronze I, the ladder was reset and I found myself placed lower still, all the down way at the bottom of Bronze V. The Ranked matches I've played so far have clearly marked me as a Bronze player. This is the story of my attempt to prove them wrong. This is Going for the Gold.

First match in promo series. First pick. This will be one down, one to go. Karthus (me), Jax (top), Jarvan IV (jungle), Jinx (ADC), Nidalee (support). And we're up against Vel'Koz (mid), Shyvana (top), Warwick (jungle), Tristana (ADC), and Leona (support). I outfarm Vel'Koz from the start, but the enemy team works to end the laning phase early by forcing fights at Dragon and using Warwick to bully the side lanes. For a long time, I can't pick up kills, but do I worry? No, I am Karthus. So I go 14/3/12 and carry us to victory. I mean, having Jarvan to tank for me was helpful, and Jinx eventually snowballed after I already had, so she made the last few teamfights easy. But basically, it was another Karthus domination. Jarvan invites me to duo. Hell yes, this guy was good in our game, so I'll give it a shot.

I took a chance and grabbed Karthus when Kassadin was still open, a rule I never usually break. It paid off this time, and we got Karthus (me), Shyvana (top), Amumu (jungle), Vayne (ADC), and Blitzcrank (Enderhunter, my duo queue partner, supporting). The enemy team had Fizz (mid), Jax (top), Kha'Zix (jungle), Sivir (ADC), and Alistar (support). Kha'Zix helped Fizz, but I managed to kill Fizz with my ult every time they killed me, so I didn't fall behind and actually outfarmed him and outscaled him as I'd hoped. The other lanes were behind at first, but eventually Vayne got fed and I got fed, which was far too much for the other team to handle, and we won decisively. I went 11/4/13. And with that victory, I'm not in Bronze II.

I'll get back to Ranked play this weekend for sure, since it's a double IP weekend. But I'm pausing for now to relish the fact that I've finally cancelled out my placement matches for this season. I started last season in Bronze II, made it to Bronze I, got demoted, and closed the season in Bronze II. Everything up to this point has just been climbing back to where I'd been last season. And I intend to surpass last season, hopefully by a lot. Two more promotions and I'm in Silver. Things are looking good.