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.
I've been busy and I'm getting a late start on the new season, but I
am getting a start, and that's what really matters. Will placement
matches screw me over again? Probably. We'll see...
Placement match the first
Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Jayce
Jungle: Nocturne
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Janna
vs.
Mid: Malzahar
Top: Darius
Jungle: Fizz
Marksman: Corki
Support: Thresh
I've
hardly touched Karthus since last season ended, and it was good to get
back to him. Malzahar is a pretty easy lane opponent, as he has to
really commit to trade with me, and I can recover and hold the lane
almost indefinitely, only getting in range of his E right after he uses
it on a minion, and being careful to avoid letting it spread from
minions to me. Nocturne got a successful gank that put me ahead by a
kill, and I snowballed. The enemy top and bot lanes snowballed too, only
faster. My allies briefly speculated that I might actually be able to
carry them, but our team was way, way behind. In the end, I went 8/1/2.
Blah, blah, blah, this always happens to me. Cry, cry, cry. Boo hoo.
Placement match the second
Mid: Fizz
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Sona
vs.
Mid: Miss Fortune (went AP)
Top: Vladimir
Jungle: Volibear
Marksman: Graves
Support: Annie
My
team needed a jungler and I gave them one. Top and bot were both losing
badly from the start, but I helped keep them from falling too far
behind. I snowballed and became a huge threat. At one point, I was 7/0. I
noticed that Fizz and I were the only ones who were succeeding, and
that worried me. My concern turned out to be well-founded: we kept
losing every teamfight. My allies didn't seem to comprehend how
to cooperate, so making an effort to do so was beyond them. I tried to
flank for them and they'd run away and whine at me for "going in alone."
I'd try to initiate and they'd run away and whine at me for "going in
alone." I'd hang back to let them initiate, and they'd keep saying "we
need to group." When I tried to explain politely, they accused me of
"throwing a fit." Meanwhile, even though Fizz and I kept killing the
other team, they persevered and used teamwork to beat us. They won and
deserved us. In the end, I went 11/9/11. Placement matches are turning
out to be thoroughly unwinnable. Bronze V, here I come?
Placement match the third
Mid: Annie
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Amumu
Marksman: Corki
Support: Janna
vs.
Mid: Ahri
Top: Zac
Jungle: Rengar
Marksman: Varus
Support: Blitzcrank
Our
Janna was disconnected at first, but eventually came back. Bot
struggled but didn't fall too far behind. I bullied Zac, but couldn't
recklessly push with Rengar and Ahri both coming in to gank me. Being
Singed, I was able to farm and become tanky, so I disrupted their team
with Amumu as Annie started nuking everything. They put up a fight and
won at dragon twice, but we gradually gained more and more ground. In
the end, I went 13/6/9. But most importantly, I finally won.
Placement match the fourth
Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Jarvan IV
Jungle: Shaco
Marksman: Draven
Support: Thresh
vs.
Mid: Brand
Top: Kayle
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Braum
Our
Thresh immediately freaked out or pretended to freak out over being
shoved into a support role, whining about being horrible at it, but in
weird ways. It was like, "I can't land hooks." So don't pick a champion
with hooks. And then the person picked Thresh. Jarvan and Draven kept
trying to encourage Thresh to just do his best, but I figured that
Thresh might be trolling anyway, so I blew it off. My lane opponent
didn't know how to deal with Malzahar, so I was able to control mid
easily and avoid a couple of gank attempts. I died because I got greedy
and chased Brand down the river for too long with my allies too far
behind me, but I went right back and started killing him, then killing
others. Shaco snagged a couple of kills that my E already had secured,
but I still snowballed, as did Draven. With both of our primary
damage-dealers fed, we won decisively, while the other team descended
into bickering and reporting. In the end, I went 12/3/8 and easily
outfarmed everyone.
Placement match the fifth
Mid: Katarina
Top: Riven
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Jinx
Troll: Karthus (me)
vs.
Mid: Lux
Top: Cho'Gath
Jungle: Jarvan IV
Marksman: Draven
Support: Nami
I
have to own up to it. I made a big mistake here. I was in a lobby as a
solo mid, and it was requeued. I wasn't paying attention and I looked at
the wrong side of the screen, so I picked Karthus instead of a support.
To be fair, I thought something was weird, so I didn't lock in, but
instead started looking at the chat. Somehow, I thought Nami was on our
side. And I saw someone call support. Then I locked in and my teammates
started freaking out. They must have thought I was an idiot, which was
fair. They tried to order me to do things like take Exhaust or build
that one support item I never build. I tried not to panic and went bot,
scheming for ways to make this work. I settled on a plan of harassing
the enemy bot lane with my Q to scare them into thinking we had some
weird bully lane or kill lane. They backed off, we avoided Jarvan's
ganks, and both of us were able to farm a bit. Draven turned out to be
somewhat unskilled, and that combined with my Q-spamming scared him into
playing passively. Nami focused on hitting Jinx with her Q, which left
me free to do whatever I wanted. Then I roamed and ended the laning
phase early, which was a huge risk, but again it paid off perfectly.
Their Cho'Gath did win lane. With Lux to help him burst people down,
they started to mount a comeback, winning some key teamfights. But they
just couldn't kill me and I kept getting more powerful, which kept us
ahead the whole time. No, really. I had the most kills (tied with enemy
Lux, actually), fewest deaths, most assists (tied with enemy Nami) and
kept the other team off our turrets even when they burst down my allies.
In the end, I went 12/2/16. My teammates must have thought I did it on
purpose or something. Where in the beginning they'd been freaking out at
me for not picking a support, they concluded by declaring me "MVP."
While I hope not to make that mistake again, I'm glad that I was calm
and handled it the way I did. I'm also glad that Jinx cooperated with me
instead of becoming toxic, which is what would usually happen.
Placement match the sixth
Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Master Yi
Marksman: Graves
Support: Braum
vs.
Mid: LeBlanc
Top: Jax
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Blitzcrank
LeBlanc
played too passively and I controlled my lane while avoiding gank
attempts. Scott won his lane initially, but Yi went top and force-fed
Jax kills, which allowed Jax to snowball and dominate the whole match.
Our bot lane failed miserably too, leaving me hopelessly outclassed
against a team that was way ahead of me and coordinated to take
objectives. I couldn't get fed because kills that I was about to get
were poached, then enemies started surviving and escaping, leaving me
perpetually behind. In the end, I went 3/6/7. This match was stupid, but
I really think I did what I could. Scott fared better, but the two of
us weren't enough to compensate for our heavily feeding allies.
Placement match the seventh
Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Shen
Jungle: Wukong
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Nami (IMLRG)
vs.
Mid: Ahri
Top: Nidalee
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Braum
My
worst Ranked game of the season so far. Scott said that he played
badly, but our teammates presented more problems. Shen refused to group
up with the team, remaining top all game. Vayne did pick up kills, but
fed more than anyone else. And then there was Wukong, who refused to
group up, raged, then began spamming in the chat, trying to bully us
into surrendering, and intentionally feeding. I worked hard to win my
lane against Ahri, then her team got ahead and undid all my work. It was
too early for me to become strong from CS alone, and since I couldn't
pick up kills, I was overwhelmed by a team that was already fed. In the
end, I went 2/3/4. Pretty rare that I have a negative kill/death ratio
as Karthus, but in this situation, it couldn't be helped. It was a bad
day for us anyway. After losing two Ranked games, we moved onto Normals
and lost a couple more. It was brutal.
Placement match the eighth
Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Darius
Jungle: Amumu
Marksman: Ashe
Support: Sona
vs.
Mid: Yasuo
Top: Elise
Jungle: Hecarim
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Braum
I
think our Amumu was a smurf or something, because that was one of the
best Amumu jungle's I can remember seeing. In the other lanes, Ashe
couldn't get kills, but they held their own, while Darius lost lane. I
had a farm fest against Yasuo, but eventually outfarmed him and picked
up Requiem kills, then Amumu ganked him and it was all over. I don't
think any one person on the opposing team ruined things for them, but
none of them could stop me. In the end, I went 25/0/10 and outfarmed
everyone by a lot.
Placement match the ninth
Mid: Anivia
Top: Cho'Gath (IMLRG)
Jungle: Master Yi
Marksman: Ashe (me)
Feed: Olaf
vs.
Mid: Xerath
Top: Shen
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Sona
Worst
Ranked match I've ever been in. I was second pick and took Anivia, then
our last pick cried about not being able to play a marksman. I tried to
be nice and offered to switch. I shouldn't have bothered. The person
picked Ashe, then clicked to switch with less than a second remaining. I
changed my runes but had no time to fix my masteries or summoner
spells. And then I realized that I had an Olaf "support." Olaf ran in
and fed, then Tristana picked me off too. Olaf continued to feed, so
Scott, trying to salvage things, called for a lane swap. And then Scott
ran in with no health and died, so I was alone again and killed yet
again. Anivia fed. Yi farmed the jungle without ganking for too long,
picked up some kills, and raged that everyone else was feeding. I never
managed to get enough items to do any real damage, so I was completely
screwed. In the end, I went 1/12/0. I want a damn mulligan or something
here. This isn't right.
Placement match the tenth
Mid: Ahri
Top: Jax
Jungle: Warwick (Al0ysiusHWWW)
Marksman: Kog'Maw (me)
Support: Leona
vs.
Mid: Katarina
Top: Sion
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Nidalee
For my last placement match, I paired up with Nick, who was working on his own placement matches. He lied and said he'd support me, as he thought that was funny and for some reason he wanted me to be a marksman.
So I was stuck with a horrible Leona who fed and raged. Ahri also fed,
and two feeders was enough to easily ruin it for the rest of us. In the
end, I went 5/6/3. Welcome to Ashe's Elite, Bronze IV. Crap. Well, it's
not as bad of a start as last season...
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