So I've played Five games in my Solo Queue Bootcamp so far, doing my best to keep notes. I've won 3 out of the five games and learned a substantial amount about Solo Queue as well as specific matchups.

During my first game, I laned against Fizz against a Kayle and dominated the lane. Originally, Kayle had lane swapped with TF in order to counter my advantage against TF. But due to jungle assistance, TF picked up two kills on our top laner before switching back. I assumed I was stronger than him and died in a tower dive due to a critical misplay. As I went back into lane, I all inned again and died due to my Playful / Trickster being on CD. We ended up losing, with the enemy Jarvan ending 6/0/4 because of successful ganks. Simple takeaway: before all ins make sure your skills are up, and avoid tanking towers at low levels.

Second game I played Sona with a Caitlyn. Due to our Top and Mid having easy matchups, our Jungle just camped bot, allowing us to gain a huge lead over the enemy Draven Leona. I made a few mistakes, but ended the game with 3-4 kills and no deaths as a Sona (and of course 6+ assists). For future games, I need to make sure to start with pinks against Leona to counter her pinks, as bush control can nullify a Leona's usefulness. Also, just need to work on Map Awareness some more, as Kha'zix ganked a few times without me being ready to follow up.

Third game, NapoleonD watched and gave me several helpful tips. I played as Blitz (How he wasn't banned, I'll never know) with an Ezreal versus a Caitlyn and Lux who wanted double mid. Due to the lack of coordination, we swept an easy victory. However, there was still much to learn from the game. I need to make sure to avoid roaming alone if they have a Tryndamere with items. Also, get Sightstone before Philo and max W after Q as Blitz (Thanks Napoleon!)

Fourth game, I'm not proud of. I played as Fizz vs Nidalee (originally was counter picking the lux who ended up going support). My allies fell behind, my jungler was Australian with 1000 ping, and I got super nervous and played with the attitude of "I have to get fed to carry these losers." That was an awful idea, as I learned when I tried to fight Nid when I was at low HP. Takedown hits like a truck when you're low. The big thing to take away from that game was the importance of Morale in Solo Queue. Once our Rengar gave FB to Darius and started saying "****ing lucky noob", I should have tried to calm him, tell Nocturne to focus top, and ganked it myself. But I didn't, and eventually Vayne started to rage at him for feeding.

Fifth game I did very well. I played Graves with a Taric against an Allistar Draven lane. Our Jungler played magnificently, coming in for an early gank which snowballed our lane hard. He returned twice more, allowing us to pick up kills and dragon. At the same time, our Top and Mid lanes won as well, making the game easy to choke out. It wasn't just our team outplaying their's, however. Draven accidently stole Sejuani's first blue, making it hard for her to gank fast, but didn't manage to get a large advantage off of it. In general, coordinating jungle ganks was what won us the game, and is something I will strive to do in solo queue in the future.

Overall, bootcamp is a success so far. I'm at 41 LP into Silver IV, and ready to continue the climb. I think Silver III is a totally doable goal before Friday Evening.