Spamming Games
As the day went on I started screen sharing with a buddy of mine of a similar rank and playing a bunch. My prediction from above came true, these games got VERY difficult very fast.
Game 3 - 5th place
Game 3 I had a terrible opener and ended up trying to play Kaisa, a composition that consists of 4 juggernaut (a front line that takes reduced damage) / 4 Challenger (an offensive steroid type trait). Kaisa is the 4 cost carry of the comp. I played this a lot less in beta and was just not comfortable at any point of the game. Happy for a 5th.
LP Change: None - the first 5 games are placements, where bot 4's don't count against you.
Game 4 - 5th place
5th with Aphelios. A pattern starts to emerge - I am struggling to build strong early game boards that do not lose a lot of health. Additionally, Aphelios was heavily contested, but I committed to it by selecting a Deadeye augment on 3-2. Aphelios is a deadeye. I only hit one of them, and never 2* the unit. Two people in the top 4 also played him.
Still in placements so LP is unchanged.
Game 5 - 5th place
A second attempt at Kaisa. Here I take a transformative augment on 2-1 called March of Progress. It is extremely strong, but I haven't played this version of it. You cannot level up any yourself by spending gold. You instead gain XP for free, but a set amount of it based on your current level. It's strong because you generate tons of gold that you only have to use for rolling and buying units, the levelling is done for you. But I was not familiar with the pacing of the augment and it threw me off.
This completed my placements, I place in Bronze 1 with 96 LP.
Game 6 - 4th
Another game where I just took massive damage early. Another pattern emerges, in a lot of these games one or two people have a lot of health and everyone else is just on the brink of death far earlier than normal. I end up playing Aphelios but because my health is so low I stay level 7 and try to 2*& my board. I succeed, and that allows me to get a 4th where an 8th was very possible.
4th place - gain LP (don't remember how much exactly) - promote to Silver IV
Game 7 - 2nd place
I once again play Kaisa, the 3rd time in 7 games, this was not what I expected to be playing most frequently, but this time I have a very strong opener and find an early Kaisa and am strong throughout the game. I actually 3* a 4 cost, which is usually a 1st place, but my opponent was able to make it to 8 void, which spawns baron nashor on your board (the big monster in league of legends). Turns out a 3* nasus cannot kill Baron right now. That probably indicates something is unbalanced, but hey, 2nd!
2nd place - large LP gain (about 100) - up to Silver III
[u]Game 8 - 8th place[/U[
My first dead last placement. I tried to play Zeri, but was playing it from behind after losing big early and just petered out and never stablazied my board.
Game 9 - 5th
Back to my most common placement of 5th, my 4th kaisa game out of 9 games total. This is not bad, I'm learning a lot here about how to play Kaisa and will be better for it very soon.
5th - I'm left with 0 LP in Silver III. If I bot 4 my next game I would demote back to Silver IV.
Game 10 - 4th
Aphleios my good friend, thanks for not letting me demote. I am strong early game and I hit my comp perfectly, but this lobby had two prismatic augments and the lobby ended insanely strong. Me hitting very well was not enough. a prefect Garen Reroll, a Teemo 4*, a Viego/Katarina Rogue reroll that all hit perfectly as well finished ahead of me.
4th - gain of 22 LP - Silver III 22 LP
Most games should have a level of detail between those first two and this block here. But I do play with friends or chat w/ friends while I play from time to time and will have a dump of games like this with no detail.
Overall when I look at my opponents I am still seeing players that were master and grandmaster last set. These are opponents that match and sometimes exceed the peak of my skill level. These are very challenging games, they're great to test me and force me to refine elements of my game quickly to keep up.
My intention - not for dynasty reasons, but for improvement of my own skill - is not to normally play this many games without a break to review and write up something. I want to play less games in a single stretch and dedicate more time to some kind of study, whether that be watching a streamer or reviewing my own games. But, it's the first day of the set and there's a lot of hype that comes with that, so it's ok today
