Going for the Gold Part XXVI: Instantly Demoted

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.

I ended my previous post on such a positive note, so of course this one has to start out on a horrible one. I just had one of my worst Ranked games ever. All nine other people in the game were just wretched individuals and I wound up muting every single one of them. Uh, it was Fizz (mid), Mordekaiser (me), Nasus (jungle), Ezreal (ADC), and Sona (support) against Ryze (mid), Aatrox (top), Vi (jungle), Lucian (ADC), and Morgana (support). Of course I was able to push, but Vi camped me while Nasus sat around doing nothing, so I was bullied and fell behind. Then for some reason I couldn't ult. I had a point into it, but pressing "R" didn't do a damn thing. That got me killed twice, which put me so far behind I couldn't catch up. My allies fed Ryze anyway, and he snowballed and destroyed us while talking shit in the chat. I tried to get caught up, but I'd be by myself always because no one on my team would ever, not even once, go with me. The only times I'd see them would be defending our base, and also twice when they'd steal a last hit on Ryze after I ulted him and ignited him and one more tick from either was going to kill him anyway. I went 1/8/2 (with both of my assists being blatant robberies in which I outmaneuvered and killed the most dominant person in the game because he overextended, only to have it snatched away from me). But I don't even care, because this entire game was stupid. Oh well, it doesn't lower my LP anyway, just my MMR. So it's kind of a free one and I'll take it. If there's going to be some game where I hate every single other player in it with a seething rage, then it might as well be the first game after a promotion. I can bounce back from this.


And I'm back to first pick domination. Kind of. Karthus (me), Dr. Mundo (top), Evelynn (jungle), Vayne (ADC), and Lux (support) against Fizz (mid), Nasus (top), Vi (jungle), Graves (ADC), and Soraka (support). That was the worst performance I've put up against a Fizz in a while, for no real reason. I was just off my game, wasting my Flash needlessly and missing Lay Waste far too much. I didn't feed or anything, but I didn't do that well either. Eventually I picked up some kills and I was 5/1/9 by the time the other team surrendered. Still, I'm annoyed at how I had two games in a row in which things went wrong for me. Oh well, it's still a win, and now I'm up 26 LP.

Well, I got mid again, but this time I didn't want to risk Karthus (not first pick), so I took Malzahar. My allies had Wukong (top), Xin Zhao (jungle), Sivir (ADC), and Janna (support). Our opponents had Nidalee (mid), Darius (top), Kha'Zix (jungle), Jinx (ADC), and Leona (support). Laning against a Nidalee as Malzahar turned out to be pretty easy and I outfarmed her, but all of my allies except Wukong were completely outclassed, which led to Kha'Zix getting fed and carrying against us. I could have done some things differently, but this one was pretty dire anyway. I went 3/4/11 and would have gone positive if people would stop stealing last hits on my ult kills already (seriously, first the Mordekaiser game, then this one). All of my allies died way more than that, with Wukong dying 9 times and the others even more. This wasn't a "can't carry feeders" game though, because I didn't really do that well anyway. Malzahar probably isn't that safe a pick for me. I lack experience with him. Lesson learned, I guess. That drops me by 14 LP. My MMR will still let me climb if I win a bit more than I lose, but it's going to start getting tough soon, I'm sure.

Next game, I was last pick and assumed that I'd fill and probably support. First and second pick were a Pantheon and a Kennen that both volunteered to either top or mid (it ended up being Kennen mid, Pantheon top). Third pick took Jax jungle. Fourth pick took Yasuo. There was a bunch of bickering in the chat, but I wasn't going to suffer through another troll support as Tristana, so I picked Morgana and said I'd support Yasuo. Our opponents had Malzahar (mid), Tryndamere (top), Hecarim (jungle), Caitlyn (ADC), and Fiddlesticks (support). Of course, we were initially able to bully Caitlyn and Fiddlesticks, but it wasn't accomplishing anything. I suppose that mid failed first and hardest, but all four of my teammates fed. Yasuo was, of course, one of those players who pretends that the "meta" is just so stifling, and that it's totally productive to try stupid crap that doesn't work and then declare it to be a moral victory on account of having had fun. We still lost, jackass. I went 1/0/8. Can't carry feeders, especially when playing as a support. That strips me of my remaining 12 LP. Back down to 0 again. Thanks, trolls and feeders.

Dammit, these trolls are going to get me demoted. I tried again, but I was last pick and my team apparently decided I should be the ADC. I never have good games in that role anymore. It's getting really, really tiresome. And actually rather uncanny. In this case, it was Katarina (mid), Darius (top), Kha'Zix (jungle), Tristana (me), and Soraka (support) against Heimerdinger (mid), Wukong (top), Warwick (jungle), Twitch (ADC), and Morgana (support). Morgana and Twitch bullied me constantly and got first blood with a level 2 turret dive. They killed Soraka and drove Kha'Zix away, but I teleported in and picked Twitch off before he could get away. They continued to destroy us there, and the other lanes also failed, with Katarina force-feeding Heimerdinger and whining about Heimerdinger not being banned. I went 2/4/7, which is impressive compared to the rest of my team, but that's not the point. The point is that I lost yet again. I had this sinking feeling when I found out that I was ADC. I used to love the role, but I've just taken such a beating there that I can't stand it. Well, I'm done for the night, and I'm still at 0 LP. How long has it been since I won a non-Karthus game? I forget. The optimism of my previous post seems so distant now, and I'm all melancholy and crap. Maybe I can turn this around tomorrow...

Nope. Enemy team banned Kassadin, so I got my Karthus mid, but our captain didn't ban Yi because he was going to be able to totally destroy Yi. Guess what? It didn't happen. I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you! It was Karthus (me), Alistar (top), Xin Zhao (jungle and totally going to get around to beating Yi at some point), Lucian (ADC), and Vel'Koz (support). Our opponents had Mordekaiser (mid), Renekton (top), Master Yi (jungle), Vayne (ADC), and Morgana (support). I went 8/5/10, with all four of my allies dying way more and killing considerably less. Vel'Koz raged at Alistar in the pre-game lobby for picking a support and continued to rage constantly throughout the entire match, and in the post-game lobby too. Xin Zhao and Lucian folded after taking a beating and kept trying to surrender. Alistar never said anything. I was the only one who seemed to want to win. So yeah, that's another loss at 0 LP. This is driving me crazy. And this is why you ban Yi. This is why you ban Yi. This is why, this is why, this is why you ban Yi.

I tried a duo queue with Justin (Schweizerhof). I got first pick, but I messed up. He'd asked to mid, but was last pick. I asked if he wanted me to pick a mid for him, but he asked if I had LeBlanc, and I did not. So instead of just taking mid and relying on my Karthus to carry, I first picked Amumu and jungled. We ended up with Morgana (mid), Tryndamere (top), Amumu (me), Lucian (Justin), and Nidalee (support). Our opponents had Kayle (mid), Lee Sin (top), Rammus (jungle), Ezreal (ADC), and Pantheon (support). Morgana was dominated mid, but would spam pings all over me whenever I showed up to try to help, asking nonsense like, "Are you blind?" or whatever. It made no sense. Usually they were retreat pings, and I was demonstrably in no danger whatsoever, but she kept doing it. At one point, after doing that enough times that I swore off helping mid and started to head bot, Morgana demanded that I cover mid. Since I didn't, she raged at me even more. Then she raged at me for taking my second blue buff, and for every fight she was in after that in which she didn't have blue buff, even if I didn't either. Tryndamere was almost as bad. Initially, he tried to do the whole annoyingly proactive team player bullshit, saying how we needed to stay positive and not give up, meanwhile minions hadn't even spawned yet. He then overextended constantly and died a lot. He also complained in a roundabout way by using hypotheticals. Instead of asking for help, he'd wait until he died, then ask questions along the lines of, "If there are four of them top, why are the other lanes frozen?" Yeah, yeah, and if a train leaves Boston at stop doing that and talk like a normal person. So yeah, with such a disadvantage, our team was dominated and we were defeated in short order. Just kidding! I was all over the enemies, thwarting them in fights and generally being an engine of total destruction. I went 8/3/6. We still eventually lost, and I was pretty annoyed, but I took a break and got over it before proceeding. Maybe I'll get demoted, but I don't need to be livid about it. Losing streaks happen.

It's a good thing that I was determined to be calm for my next match, because this keeps happening. I got first pick, and with that I had some hope that my losing streak was about to end. My team was Karthus (me), Teemo (mid), Shyvana (jungle), Twitch (ADC), and Lulu (support). Our opponents had Kha'Zix (mid), Riven (top), Elise (jungle), Caitlyn (ADC), and Blitzcrank (support). Of course, I wasn't about to let Kha'Zix kill me, and I even managed to eventually surpass his CS. Unfortunately for our team, the enemy Elise was quite good. She attacked me and kept me from getting ahead in the laning phase, counterjungled and killed Shyvana, and put pressure on Teemo to stop him from beating Riven in lane. She had her work cut out for her, but she didn't spend much time bot, which was her undoing because—just kidding: we had "first time Twitch" who couldn't do anything except feed and bitch. I could see that I wouldn't get fed quickly enough to save my team. Once I did get fed, we caught up and were ahead on kills overall. I urged caution, pointing out that we had strong late game potential if we could play safely and get there. Right after I did that, my allies charged in and fed. Yeah, I'd have been pretty mad, but I'd told myself to remain calm and focus on the things I could control, so instead of being mad, I was absolutely flipping the fuck out. But not in the chat or anything. No point in raging at my teammates for doing the opposite of the thing that I told them to do, right after I'd said it. No, I didn't rage in the chat until Twitch started hurling blame at others for throwing. In the end, I was 9/3/11. As usual in these losses, my teammates each had twice as many deaths as I did, or even more than that. But complaining about my terrible teammates will get me nowhere. So I'll just chill out and try again. After all, what are the odds that I'll actually be demoted back down to Bronze III?

Apparently, those odds are pretty good! I was last pick, but by this point I'd stopped caring. My teammates asked me to jungle. Sure! In fact, I'll even communicate with you and ask what sort of jungler you'd prefer? Tanky? Well, they already picked Amumu, but I have Maokai? Perfect, you say? Oh, that's good. Well, we had Viktor (mid), Renekton (top), Maokai (me), Jinx (ADC), and Thresh (support) against Mordekaiser (mid), Teemo (top), Twitch (ADC), and Nidalee (support). Of course, our Viktor wasn't prepared for Mordekaiser at all and was bullied constantly. Renekton was also outplayed by Teemo, and our bot lane started failing too. If only they had a jungler to babysit them. Oh wait, they did! Yes, I did it. I somehow managed to babysit those lanes. I even got fed. It wasn't enough, mainly because they just kept dying. I didn't want to harass them, but it sure seemed like they should have learned which things were killing them and to stop letting those things kill them. Or maybe that's just crazy talk. So yeah, I went 5/1/7. And K/D/A isn't everything, or else I wouldn't be in this predicament, but the two next best on my team were Viktor with 5/8/4 and Thresh with 3/7/6. I tried, but I just couldn't keep these guys alive. And with that defeat, I've been demoted to Bronze III.

I saw this coming far back enough that I'm not truly upset over it. I know I have to take it in stride or whatever. Losing streaks happen, and this one happened with attitude. After being promoted to Bronze II, I lost a game, won a game, and then lost seven consecutive games. I got fed in most of them, but a loss is a loss, especially as far as the ladder is concerned. Maybe it also helps that this was what was happening to me all last season, so I'm not surprised by it. Still, I can't help being just a little bit heartbroken by this. I mean, I was off to such a bad start, and then I rocketed through the ladder, getting promoted back to where I'd started off last season. I was, perhaps irrationally, thinking of everything that happened in this whole season as prologue, as preliminary. I was finally back to my original starting point and I was going to advance further than I ever had. I was going to tear through Bronze II like I had the other divisions before it, and get my second shot at the formidable Bronze I ladder with its devastating clamps. Well, my imagination got the better of me, and none of that happened. Dammit! If I'd won and lost games for a while and eventually lost more than I'd won and been demoted, that would be something. I'd have been beaten by attrition. That happened last season, and I chalked it up to ridiculous luck (because it couldn't possibly be my fault), dusted myself off, and tried to make the climb back up. But to get my promotion and then go right back down? Now I'm depressed. I'm depressed by a game. I've told myself that I'm stubborn and that I won't give up no matter what matchmaking throws at me. I still think that. And yet, thinking about how this is a game and that it's so depressing, I can see why Nick left (well, the time drain was the main reason, but other than that, I mean). This is a hobby. Persisting in a trivial hobby if it's depressing you has got to be some sort of pathological something. So now what?