Scott Azrael - Season 3 push for Gold

[quote=Scott Azrael]Was doing this in my blog, but throatslasher suggested I just start a thread here. So, to recap what I wrote in my blog: - Won 6 of 10 placement matches and ended up in Silver V - Once placed in Silver V, I lost like 10 games in a row. - Finally started getting some wins but was still losing more than I won and my MMR got destroyed. - Turned things around in the last two weeks. Now, I decided I would start playing [[Nasus]] top whenever I got the chance because every one I have faced, I can destroy early and they just become so tanky late that they won(except one game where the [[Nasus]] was jungle and we would CC him to death and the rest of his team was squishy). So, I was on a bit of a roll anyway before starting my run with [[Nasus]]. Anyway, I have now almost evened up my wins and losses and I lost my first game as [[Nasus]] last night. My team just gave up and started raging and I got too confident in how tanky I would be. Just so many champs I wanna play, but I need to focus on a smaller pool of champs. Right now, my best champs as far as win rates are [[Nasus]], [[Nocturne]], and [[Thresh]]. That's eliminating the random champs I played 1 time and won([[Annie]] and [[Shen]]). Though, I did play quite a bit with [[Annie]] and she would probably be a good mid to play in Solo Queue. Anyway, that's it for now, will try to remember to post updates with screenshots. Been trying to decide if I should change my approach and go for champs that are better in teamfights rather than all the assassins I seem to keep playing. Think [[Orianna]] instead of [[Kassadin]] or even maybe [[Annie]] and her AOE stun instead of [[Zed]]. Let me know what you think.[/quote]

[quote=Scott Azrael]So forgot to take screenshots, but managed to qualify for my promotion series into Silver IV. Lost the first game when I tried to run [[Ryze]] mid against [[Fizz]]. Should've stuck with [[Diana]] since I know her better. Don't get me wrong I didn't play poorly against [[Fizz]], but because I countered him so hard, I got camped mid plus the rest of my team lost lane. So, I got down early in my promos, but managed to win the last 2. My second game was as Thresh and we started out behind, but we did a much better job team fighting than they did so we were able to come back and win. The third game I playced [[Nocturne]]. He should just be my go to for when I need a win. I'm 9-2 as [[Nocturne]]. [[Thresh]] seems to be my second best at 5-1. On the other hand, I should just stop playing [[Caitlyn]]. I'm 2-7 with her. Anyway, gonna try to play some more games over the long weekend. Will try to save some screenshots to post.[/quote]

[quote=Scott Azrael]Ugh, just got demoted to Silver V. I had a game where first pick tried to pick an ADC and trade, but he misread and picked Ez. That's not who the ADC wanted, so I said I would take Ez and run top. I got hit hard early by [[Riven]] after a [[Sejuani]] gank put him ahead. Bot and mid got ahead so I just tried to farm and use my ult to help either clear the wave pushing in on me or try and put some damage on the 4v4 team fights going down around drag. However, our [[Ashe]] got to wandering around too much by herself and kept getting caught and [[Maokai]] and [[Diana]] would push too hard into the 5 of their team by themselves. So, what started well ended badly. The second game which got me demoted started with me having to go ADC(which is probably my least favorite role) and the guy that went Cho mid died to [[Lux]] within the first 30 seconds of being in lane. He then proceeded to die over and over again to [[Lux]]. He would then blame the jungle [[Diana]] who wasn't good but wasn't the cause of the problem. So frustrated right now. Part of me just wants to go in and call jungle from now on and run [[Nocturne]]. Seems like I have more fun and get more wins that way.[/quote]

[quote=Scott Azrael]Ugh, just got demoted to Silver V. I had a game where first pick tried to pick an ADC and trade, but he misread and picked Ez. That's not who the ADC wanted, so I said I would take Ez and run top. I got hit hard early by [[Riven]] after a [[Sejuani]] gank put him ahead. Bot and mid got ahead so I just tried to farm and use my ult to help either clear the wave pushing in on me or try and put some damage on the 4v4 team fights going down around drag. However, our [[Ashe]] got to wandering around too much by herself and kept getting caught and [[Maokai]] and [[Diana]] would push too hard into the 5 of their team by themselves. So, what started well ended badly. The second game which got me demoted started with me having to go ADC(which is probably my least favorite role) and the guy that went Cho mid died to [[Lux]] within the first 30 seconds of being in lane. He then proceeded to die over and over again to [[Lux]]. He would then blame the jungle [[Diana]] who wasn't good but wasn't the cause of the problem. So frustrated right now. Part of me just wants to go in and call jungle from now on and run [[Nocturne]]. Seems like I have more fun and get more wins that way.[/quote]

[quote=Scott Azrael]So, I've been trying to watch and read as much info as I can try to improve. Watched some videos that a guy from Australia did about league and he focused mostly on ADC because that's what he plays the most. A lot of what he focused on was trading, Zone Control, and positioning with attack move. After watching some of those videos, I tried to put some of that into practice. I got stuck as the ADC the first game I tried to play yesterday. The other team went [[Ezreal]] so I figured [[Varus]] also had a strong early game and would work well in that matchup plus he has a range advantage. I struggled a bit early thanks to my [[Maokai]] support, but I just kept CSing and trying to trade with him when he went to CS. Eventually, I worked my way into a few kills which then started me snowballing. The problem was my team kept giving up towers. I finished the game 26-4-10 and had like 5K gold in my pocket, but my team couldn't win because we had let them take every tower and inhib. When we would win team fights, and we did until the very last one, my team would just sit in base and clear the waves of creeps from bot and top. I think had we all pushed mid we could've ended the game before bot and top did anything, but my team refused to leave base. The second game was similar to the first in that I got stuck as ADC again. I used [[Varus]] again since he worked well in the previous game. My team got ahead and this time the kills were more spread out, especially since my [[Orianna]] kept KSing my kills ;). Anyway, I didn't have the ridiculous number of kills or the over 400 CS like the first game, but this one we actually won. The last game I played, I had last pick begging me to let him run [[Veigar]] mid against [[Swain]]. I just had this feeling it wasn't going to work well, so I told him i was going to run [[Diana]] mid. After we picked he was like, I think you counterpicked yourself. One of the things I had heard in the Australian guy's video was that a lot of counterpicking is rubbish(his words now mine). He said most things listed as counters on sites like LOLCounter aren't counters but might be difficult matchups. So, I read up during the loading screen on some advice on how to play [[Diana]] vs [[Swain]]. The main thing was I out traded him early and then we he got to pushing and got a little low on mana, I got my [[Lee Sin]] to gank. Lee got the kill and I got an assist and went and bought a Negatron Cloak. From that point on as long as I didn't blindly dive in, I could out trade him and get a kill on my own. Finished the game 7-3-16 and [[Swain]]'s worst nightmare. I feel like I improved, and that's something I had forgotten. Don't play to gain ELO, play to improve and have fun.[/quote]

[quote=Scott Azrael]No update in a while. Hit Silver IV for the third time. Each time I have hit about 60 LP and then went on a losing streak. Right now, I'm at 72 LP. I'll see if I can make it to Gold before the end of the season. I have a friend that made his way to Silver I and is around 70 LP right now. Another hit Silver 3. The two of them are supposed to give me a hand. The guy in Silver 3 played a few games with me the other day and we won them all. If he takes top lane, then I feel fine running support because I know I can get my ADC fed and he won't feed even if he gets behind. So, that's two lanes ahead. Been playing fewer assassins and went back to more mages when playing mid. I like playing as [[Syndra]] and I may also go back to playing more [[Cassiopeia]]. The long range and lack of gap closers/escapes for those two are forcing me to play more cautious which has led to getting caught less often. I played a game as [[Syndra]] against a [[Brand]] and I played really dumb early, but managed to turn it around and my team managed to pull out the win, even though I derped a few times. Really though, my best champs for gaining ELO so far have been [[Nocturne]], [[Nami]], [[Sona]], and [[Thresh]]. I think a large part of why the supports work so well is that I actually ward and buy Oracles. I've been focusing on getting Philo and Sightstone, then I get Mobi's and Locket. At that point, I just ward, de-ward, and use my CC/heals. I've found well placed Nami Q's and Ult's can make the difference in team fights. I had a game I lost as [[Nami]] where the enemy team got to stalling until my tank would back off so they could just flash CC me and then they all dove me. They would then dive my ADC and the tanks wouldn't peel for my ADC and APC, so they would win teamfights and they ended up coming back and winning despite the fact we should have won easily by 40 minutes. Instead, we lost in 65 minutes. We threw because my team got cocky and quit playing smart. Anyway, I'm having more fun for the most part though I do get aggravated at the people who decide to call a lane like top and then sit pushed to the enemy tower and are mad when they lose lane because "gg jungler no gank" and in all chat "CAMP ME MOAR". I'm not gonna say I am a great jungler, but my win rate with Nocturne is 66.7%, so I am doing something right. Sure could I have gone to help him top, yes. Would it have been a waste of time, yes. He wasn't ahead or have an advantage, he just played like he was Bronze and his lane opponent smartly froze the lane so he stayed pushed. BTW, I might add this was a [[Garen]] so he thought he would just spin to win every time even once he was 0-3 and had like 25% HP to [[Kennen]'s 50%. Anyway, overall more fun, less wanting to rage and more likely to mute idiots and ragers.[/quote]