Going for the Gold Part XLIV: Still Skirting Demotion

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: Karthus (me)
Top: Malphite
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Thresh
vs.
Mid: Fiddlesticks
Top: Riven
Jungle: Pantheon
Marksman: Sivir
Support: Leona
My team had positive attitudes initially, but that quickly degenerated. I knew that Fiddlesticks would be a tough lane, but if he couldn't get fed, I'd outfarm him and be fine. That was happening, although I fed him one kill by accident (I saw him draining a minion and didn't back away, but he was actually draining me, because apparently I was hallucinating until it was too late), I also got him ganked twice due to his aggression, so I was initially ahead, but he got fed by roaming, as did the whole rest of their team. Malphite and I were ahead, but the rest of the team fed hard. We fell further and further behind, but I was getting stronger and had some hope of holding out for late game. Then my teammates all surrendered at 27 minutes in. So much for that. In the end, I went 5/6/4, but I don't even count this one. I was doing fine and then got screwed out of a chance to fight back by surrendering teammates. Also, they fed Sivir. I keep having teammates that feed Sivir. My status message before this game was already, "Stop feeding Sivir." Yes, really. It just keeps happening. Down to 2 LP now.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Shen
Jungle: Amumu
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Morgana
vs.
Mid: Ahri
Top: Pantheon
Jungle: Nidalee
Marksman: Graves
Support: Sona
My team began bickering and flaming each other before the match started. They raged, went AFK, and actively encouraged the enemy team to defeat us. The only one I didn't report was Jinx, and she played badly anyway. For my part, I was constantly ganked by Nidalee and Pantheon, even as I killed Ahri before being finished off. Where does matchmaking find these people? In the end, I went 2/9/3, which isn't so bad against a fed enemy team when not one of my allies is helping me in anyway the entire time. So yeah, down to 0 LP, because somehow this is fair. Bullshit.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Singed
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Blitzcrank
vs.
Mid: Nidalee
Top: Fiora
Jungle: Volibear
Marksman: Ezreal
Support: Gangplank (built AD, but played as a support anyway)
I was pretty confident against Nidalee mid. She can be a huge bully early on, but I outscale her damage easily. Well, she bullied me relentlessly, then Volibear ganked me under my turret and killed me. Then, yet again, I was outnumbered by roaming enemies and repeatedly killed in my lane while my allies made no attempt to help me. They descended into bickering, as usual, and we were thoroughly trounced. Mid is my best role and I'm playing some my best champions, but I'm losing hard. I almost never have a negative kill/death ratio as Karthus, and yet it's happened twice today. I don't even think that I'm playing badly. I just have no opportunities in these games. My opponents are skilled and my allies are not. Matchmaking wants me to be demoted. That's the only conclusion I can draw from what's happening here. In the end, I went 0/3/4. Not securing any early kills and being denied CS by a bullying team set me behind the whole time, so I couldn't get enough damage to pick up kills. I'm in disbelief right now. Karthus has been my main from the beginning. He's my best champion. Yeah, I've always had a negative win/loss ratio with him, but that's down to feeding teammates. I've generally gotten fed and held my own with him, even while losing. But now I'm being beaten. And it's not even by superior opponents. I'm not losing to just one person. I'm losing to coordinated efforts by opponents while my allies ignore my plight and proceed to rage at each other. I'm stubborn, but I don't know that I'm this stubborn. These matches are downright depressing.

Mid: Malzahar (me)
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Master Yi
Marksman: Sivir
Support: Leona
vs.
Mid: Viktor
Top: Shyvana
Jungle: Rek'Sai
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Morgana
Well, I went mid yet again. This time, I managed to trounce my lane opponent without dying to ganks. Rek'Sai tried, and actually tried quite a bit, but I survived. Meanwhile, bot lane Sivir got fed as always, but this time she was on my team for once. It took a long time for me to start scoring kills, but once I did I began to snowball, joining the fed Yi and even more fed Sivir. The other team held us off for a while, but surrendered around the 29 minute mark, by which point I went 6/2/6. This win saves me from demotion again, and now I'm up to 26 LP.

Mid: Akali
Top: Gnar
Jungle: Warwick
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Sona (me)
vs.
Mid: Yasuo
Top: Riven
Jungle: Hecarim
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Brand
Our Jinx wasn't particularly good, but I supported the crap out of her, so she got enough to become useful. Our Warwick and Akali were stellar. Warwick controlled the jungle so much that we eventually got five dragons, while also controlling Baron. I roamed and help my team, mostly Akali, to win skirmishes. Late game I was tanky enough to rush into the other team and bully them, forcing them to focus me, bursting me down, as Akali swept through and killed them all. In the end, I went 4/4/29. Two wins in a row has brought me nearly back to a neutral win/loss ratio of 15 wins, 16 losses, and now I have 52 LP.

Mid: Karthus (me)
Top: Rek'Sai
Jungle: Udyr
Marksman: Vayne
Support: Sona
vs.
Mid: Katarina
Top: Tryndamere
Jungle: Sejuani
Marksman: Jinx
Support: Shen
Katarina played too passively and ran into too many of my Lay Wastes, so I easily won lane. I snowballed and would have carried my teammates, but of course they fed hard enough to counteract me. It was a reasonably close match in the end, but the feeders fed and it was too much. Big surprise, since that's my typical Ranked Karthus match. In the end, I went 16/5/11. Down to 33 LP.

Mid: Ezreal (AD)
Top: Nasus
Jungle: Lee Sin
Marksman: Kalista
Support: Galio (me)
vs.
Mid: Diana
Top: Malphite
Jungle: Xin Zhao
Marksman: Varus
Support: Sona
Kalista flipped out and griefed for no apparent reason. So we lost. In the end, I went 3/7/6 trying to tank for my allies. It was hard to do well when my lane partner was intentionally feeding. Down to 14 LP. Yay, Ranked!

Mid: Yasuo
Top: Singed (me)
Jungle: Diana
Marksman: Tristana
Support: Malphite
vs.
Mid: Zed
Top: Garen
Jungle: Vi
Marksman: Varus
Support: Karma
Yasuo did well in the laning phase, but kept trying to break away from the team and overxtend, then would whine about not having any help. I won lane decisively and proceeded to have Singed do what Singed does. In the end, I went 7/1/14. Up to 32 LP now.

Mid: Diana
Top: Malzahar
Jungle: Udyr (me)
Marksman: Caitlyn
Support: Soraka
vs.
Mid: Heimerdinger
Top: Wukong
Jungle: Talon
Marksman: Lucian
Support: Morgana
This one was all my fault. I should never play Udyr. My whole team thought so. I think I just lack the jungling skills to do much when all three lanes start feeding right away. But seriously, these people were strange and delusional. Malzahar fed throughout the laning phase and attributed it all to losing one early fight, and that he couldn't catch up. Diana whined about me "diving" Heimerdinger even though I never did any such thing, hadn't died to Heimerdinger at all by that point (I did later kill him when he was fed and died to his rockets in the process, but that hadn't happened yet) and she had fed him several kills on her own. Caitlyn pinged and requested help in the chat at the turret when she was still dead and there were three fed enemy champions pushing that turret, then blamed the fact that we were losing on me. Soraka outfed them all. In the end, I went 4/3/5. Not great, but the next best was probably the Malzahar who managed to stop feeding once the laning phase was over, hid in the base and only went 1/6/3. Down to 18 LP. In past seasons it would let me climb to Bronze II or even Bronze I before dialing the bullshit up to 11. This time, I'm still only in Bronze III and seriously still in danger of demotion to Bronze IV. How exciting! Hey everyone, this is Going for the Gold and I'm totally serious about that. Yep, I've got the skills to win games and climb through these divisions. I may only have 16 wins to 19 losses right now. But just you wait.