The Fool's Adventures In Scrubdom

[quote=Foolamancer][quote=Mowen] It's really good that you're recognizing where you can improve. You will for sure get better quickly playing with that attitude and this much. Good luck! :) [/quote] Thanks. I just wish my new router would stop kicking out at random times. Thus far I've gotten lucky and haven't disconnected during ranked, but still, it's aggravating even in normals.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer][img=http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/Maestro134/ScreenShot2013-09-27at14331PM_zpsa0f49990.png] Bans were [[Hecarim]], [[Thresh]], [[Vayne]], [[Amumu]], [[Tryndamere]], and [[Shen]]. I had a good feeling about this game from champion select. Our [[Orianna]] was first pick and was very communicative and friendly, and when there are two of us in a team it tends to be an easy game. I started at blue and let [[Swain]] know I planned to gank [[Cho'Gath]] early, since that guy is just so gankable. Since Cho didn't even start with a ward, I knew it would be easy. However, I didn't count on the enemy [[Volibear]] being completely retarded. He tried to gank [[Swain]] at level 2 and, unsurprisingly, died to the tower. He also started with a [[Faerie Charm]] for some reason. So that was a free First Blood for my top lane, and I got [[Cho'Gath]]'s [[Flash]] about two seconds later (though he lived with about 10 health because I canceled an autoattack by mistake). After that I headed down to midlane, as [[Zed]] also had no ward, and forced his [[Flash]]. Again, he lived with about ten health because [[Orianna]] had [[Barrier]] instead of [[Ignite]], but whatever, I gave my midlaner free farm and now both top and mid had a big advantage. Meanwhile, [[Twitch]] got a double kill in bot lane because the enemy [[Blitzcrank]] was really, really bad. The rest of the game was just me getting all three lanes snowballing incredibly hard. I got [[Swain]] multiple kills on [[Cho'Gath]], [[Orianna]] multiple kills on [[Zed]], and even managed to get a gank off on bottom lane that resulted in a double kill for [[Twitch]] because, even though the enemy [[Blitzcrank]] had six wards in his inventory, no one in Silver ever expects a gank from the lane bushes. They surrendered at twenty-five minutes, after we took all the towers outside their base and their top inhibitor turret, along with three dragons. THINGS I SCREWED UP: - Screen lock. I press spacebar too much, and keeping the camera centered on me is not a good thing when attempting to gank. I missed an easy kill on [[Zed]] because I couldn't throw my [[Demacian Standard]], since the place I was pointing at was under the skill icon bar.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer][img=http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/Maestro134/ScreenShot2013-09-27at30019PM_zpsbaa5db6d.png] Bans were [[Vayne]], [[Alistar]], [[Malphite]], [[Blitzcrank]], [[Amumu]], and [[Teemo]]. No, I don't know why they banned [[Alistar]] either. This one was pretty much just a blatant stomp. People who play [[Hecarim]] in Silver generally just do it because they think he's OP, rather than because they know what they're doing, so once again I was pretty confident that the enemy jungler was going to be worthless. Since we were purple side, I started at blue buff and went to immediately gank their [[Volibear]] in the top lane. Easy First Blood, but once I headed down to gank their [[Fizz]] in the mid lane I noticed that [[Kayle]]'s ward had spotted [[Hecarim]] coming in to try and kill her 1v1. Even easier countergank, so I had two kills in the first five minutes, and I brought it up to three a moment later when I finally got down to midlane and killed [[Fizz]]. That was pretty much it. I got an early pair of [[Boots of Mobility]] and a [[Brutalizer]] on top of my [[Spirit Stone]], and the rest of the game was just me running around and doing The Murders to anyone I found. No one on the enemy team could fight me, and I was too fast for any of them to escape from, so I was just an angel of death that murdered people wherever I went. The game ended at about the 25-minute mark. It wasn't a surrender. We just took the nexus that quickly. THINGS I SCREWED UP: - Only one of my deaths here was legitimately a mistake on my part. I was splitpushing bottom lane and thought I could get their inner turret before their team arrived, but I underestimated how quickly [[Volibear]] and [[Hecarim]] could get there. Then I screwed up an E-Q combo that would have gotten me to safety. - My other deaths here were me just doing silly things like deliberately not escaping from a three-man group that was chasing me, just to see how long I could give them the runaround. Again, kind of funny, but I can't afford to do things like that in case it ends up throwing the game.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer][img=http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/Maestro134/ScreenShot2013-09-27at43632PM_zps01a226fa.png] Bans were [[Amumu]], [[Shen]], [[Malphite]], [[Blitzcrank]], [[Vayne]], and [[Thresh]]. For the first time in this thread, I didn't get to jungle. Fortunately, I am actually a ballin' support. I didn't just pick [[Leona]] because I'm one of those guys who only play her if they have to support; I picked her as a direct counter to [[Sona]], since she had no way to peel me once I hit level 2. [[Zed]] got First Blood against [[Riven]], but proceeded to feed afterwards. Mid lane was uneventful. But, fortunately for us, our [[Udyr]] actually knew how to jungle, and how to get around wards, so he got some very nice ganks in for us in bot lane, especially as [[Caitlyn]] continuously shoved to the tower and their [[Sona]] never warded their own tribush. The first time [[Udyr]] came in to gank, I [[Zenith Blade]]d my way to [[Sona]], and she was an easy kill. [[Udyr]] then went to recall in a lane bush, but I let him know that [[Sona]] had no ward there, so [[Caitlyn]] would likely come right back in and be an easy kill. Lo and behold, I was right. I was 0/0/8 by ten minutes, because we snowballed hard off of that initial gank and [[Udyr]] knew a feeding frenzy when he saw one, so even when I couldn't find a good engage on my own [[Udyr]] could come in from behind and ensure that murders would happen. I picked up an early [[Emblem of Valor]] to put a stop to the poke that [[Caitlyn]] and [[Sona]] could put out, and bot lane was basically won. Unfortunately, [[Zed]] was, as previously mentioned, feeding hard, so the midgame was more than a little shaky. [[Riven]] was incredibly fed and roaming, so we lost the top and middle towers early. However, my pink wards made it so that we took a free dragon and, immediately afterward, stacked up in midlane and took that tower, so we evened things out there. [[Zed]] then took the top tower due to [[Riven]] being off roaming, and we were back in the lead. That was it. With [[Leona]] and [[Udyr]], we could tower-dive like no one's business, so we just took everything and won. THINGS I SCREWED UP: - I honestly can't think of anything this match. Those deaths I did have were during teamfights, and going balls-deep and taking all the damage to the face is sort of what [[Leona]] does. I kept bot lane thoroughly warded, made good engages, kept objective control, peeled for the carries, locked down the important targets, etc. [[Leona]] isn't exactly rocket science anyway.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer]May as well update this with a list of what champions I can play in each role. Thus far, [[Jarvan IV]] has carried me to victory pretty often, but I may not get to continue playing him, so. Options are: TOP LANE (worst role): [[Irelia]], [[Wukong]], [[Rumble]] JUNGLE (best role): [[Jarvan IV]], [[Sejuani]], [[Nautilus]], [[Trundle]]... pretty much all of them. I own most junglers and can play most competently. The four listed here are my most frequent picks. MID LANE: [[Gragas]], [[Twisted Fate]], [[Lissandra]] AD CARRY: [[Tristana]], [[Miss Fortune]], [[Caitlyn]] SUPPORT: [[Sona]], [[Lulu]], [[Leona]], [[Thresh]]... yeah, also all of them. I own all the support champions and can play most of them very comfortably. Support was my main role before jungle.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer]I have no idea how this is even a thing that is happening. [img=http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/Maestro134/ScreenShot2013-09-28at113141AM_zpsf023c2bf.png] Bans were [[Vayne]], [[Malphite]], [[Blitzcrank]], [[Zac]], [[Amumu]], [[Rammus]]. I wanted to jungle, but ended up second to last pick and apparently our last pick could not ADC to save his life, so [[Tristana]] it was. The game started out pretty boring. Their [[Shyvana]] had [[Teleport]] and no [[Exhaust]], so I knew she wasn't going to be a threat and I could just keep [[Ezreal]] pinned to his tower all day. The lane went pretty well, overall. I was more than 40 CS ahead, but I got caught by one unlucky [[Thresh]] hook and died at one point. [[Nami]] then died to a [[Shyvana]] [[Teleport]] gank, and they tower-dived me immediately afterwards, so [[Ezreal]] had three kills, but I was still massively outfarming him and was able to bully him around. After that, it went back to business as usual until [[Sejuani]] came in for a tower-dive that netted us two kills and a free dragon, as well as the bottom tower. That was pretty much game. Our lead was too huge for them to overcome, and even though I didn't have as much kill participation as I would have liked due to not being a spectacular AD carry, they couldn't stop me from taking their towers. I also kept a constant timer on the dragon so that we snatched it as soon as it respawned every time, and was basically calling the shots for the team. THINGS I SCREWED UP: - Though I ended the game with over 250 CS, it should have been much higher. I have a tendency to slip into AFK farm mode and just mindlessly autoattack rather than actually timing it for last hits, and with [[Tristana]], that works against you even more than usual. - Those deaths in lane could have been easily avoided if I had been paying more attention. I feel like an idiot. - Too low kill participation. I was very obviously not contributing enough to teamfights.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer][img=http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/Maestro134/ScreenShot2013-09-28at123342PM_zpscb63e7a7.png] Okay, so not a great start to the series. Bans were [[Zed]], [[Thresh]], [[Fizz]], [[Hecarim]], [[Kassadin]], and [[Blitzcrank]]. This was just another of those unwinnable games. Our [[Elise]] was absolutely hopeless, as was our [[Zyra]]. [[Leona]] and I both started the game hugely positive, and only started dying towards the end of the game, since we were the front line and the enemy team was just fed enough to melt us both anyway. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Standard start. On my way up top, though, I realize that [[Elise]] started with a [i]green[/i] ward, not a pink. In other words, she has absolutely no idea what she's doing. And, lo and behold, she pushes out the lane as hard as she can so that I can't gank for her, then dies to [[Evelynn]] thirty seconds later, while I'm in midlane ganking [[Malzahar]]. The story of this game is basically bot lane and I destroying while mid and top feed the enemy team off their asses. [[Evelynn]], [[Renekton]] and [[Malzahar]] are all absurdly fed by fifteen minutes, and we just don't have the damage or the durability to take any of them down despite my multiple successful ganks. All I can do when teamfights roll around is lock down the carries in [[Cataclysm]] and hope that the combined AOE ultimates will be enough to turn it around. They're not, and we just get systematically crushed, even though [[Leona]], [[Miss Fortune]] and myself are making damn sure it's a fight. THINGS I SCREWED UP: - I got caught out in the mid lane at one point due to not warding heavily enough. That's about it. The rest of the deaths this game are just what happens when you have three heavily snowballed damage-dealers on the enemy team.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer][img=http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/Maestro134/ScreenShot2013-09-28at13016PM_zpsb9dd3555.png] Bans were [[Blitzcrank]], [[Thresh]], [[Kassadin]], [[Amumu]], [[Shen]], and [[Malphite]]. This one went much better. I handed [[Elise]] First Blood against [[Singed]] immediately after taking my red buff (we were purple team). [[Pantheon]] killed [[Nami]] down bot, but not fast enough, so ultimately it was a win for us. Honestly, what one this one was just that I was flat-out better at jungling than this [[Pantheon]] - or, at least, I put in a better performance this round. I got multiple successful ganks in on every lane and kept them all down, kept the timer on the dragon and [[Pantheon]]'s buffs for multiple free takes, and so on. I would have actually built damage this round because of how much I was ahead, but I decided against it. [[Elise]] had proven herself to be competent, and I had gotten her snowballing, which meant that our team already had three threats. I went full tank so that we could tower-dive to press our advantage. Both my deaths this game were just matters of the enemy team being really dumb and burning everything on me after initiating, then getting wiped immediately after. They surrendered just before we took the nexus. THINGS I SCREWED UP: - During one gank on [[Singed]], I underestimated how much damage he did and had to [[Flash]] out. The gank still ended in his death and another kill for [[Elise]], but that was pretty sloppy on my part.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer][img=http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/Maestro134/ScreenShot2013-09-28at22607PM_zps1054912a.png] GRAAAAAAAH GET ON MY BACK Bans were [[Blitzcrank]], [[Hecarim]], [[Thresh]], [[Amumu]], [[Kassadin]], and [[Shen]]. This game opened up badly. Very, very badly. Like, in champion select badly. But it also stands as testament to the fact that a player who is friendly and communicative can win even the most awful-looking of matches. Literally everyone but me called "top or ADC". We very nearly had a three-man top lane, as [i]all three[/i] of the last three picks for our team absolutely refused to consider another role, and our first pick wasn't any better. I finally managed to convince our first pick to go mid [[Vladimir]] and let [[Renekton]] go top, while [[Miss Fortune]] and [[Rengar]] would go to bot lane and just go for kills, since no one at this level can deal with a kill lane anyway (and [[Sona]] is perhaps the support the least equipped to do so on top of that). So I managed to at least partially avert a crisis in champ select. Then, when I got into the game and went for my standard start, [[Renekton]] decided that it would be a good idea to tower dive a [[Volibear]], so all my gank accomplished was feeding First Blood to the enemy top laner. Meanwhile, [[Rengar]] killed [[Sona]] in bot lane, but promptly died to [[Kha'Zix]]. All three lanes were pushing relentlessly, which left me with few options for gank opportunities. I spent most of this game counter-ganking [[Kha'Zix]]; since he had a lead on me from his initial kill, I couldn't really turn the ganks around enough to kill him, but I did keep him from increasing his team's lead. Where this game really got rolling, and where I think I earned my promotion, was when it came time to start going for objectives. Because I was warding extensively, I knew when [[Kha'Zix]] was in no position to contest a dragon, so we snatched two of those from under their noses. I was constantly present in any lane that the enemy had recalled from, putting damage down on the towers. We took their top and bottom towers before fifteen minutes because of my help. That was enough of an advantage for us to start tower-diving and brute-force our way through the midlane. The fact that I was ludicrously tanky by this point let me initiate any time their carries stepped out of line, which they did constantly, and none of them seemed to realize that burning all their escapes before I had popped [[Cataclysm]] was a bad idea. We brute-forced an inhibitor and then backed off. When they respawned, they ran for a desperation Baron, which, I have to give credit where credit is due, was saved entirely by [[Miss Fortune]]. She got a perfect [[Bullet Time]] over the Baron wall which killed [[Kha'Zix]], leaving them without a jungler, and dropped the rest of their team to about one-third health. The rest of us came in for the cleanup, took Baron, and pushed for the win. THINGS I SCREWED UP: - Another one of those games where I can't really think of any. I wouldn't call my play perfect by any means, but I didn't make any obvious mistakes, at least.[/quote]

[quote=Foolamancer]Also: [img=http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/Maestro134/ScreenShot2013-09-28at24054PM_zpsba88daf8.png] As of my successful promotion, I have finally broken even after my initial losing streak! [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu-RFt-3zg8]MY FEELS RIGHT NOW[/url][/quote]