Although my individual stats were strong (and I did land a few very well-timed CC skillshots that turned teamfights for us), I can't really claim any credit for the win because without those skillshots I think we still would have won. Final score was something like 42 kills for us and 21 for the enemy, mainly because of a couple of things:
1. Coordination
We were able to routinely initiate with great effect on the enemy because they were just all over the place. Their bot lane duo stuck together most of the way through the game which is nice and chummy but they often were pursuing objectives that the rest of the team didn't seem to have any clue about. They were easily located and isolated, and thus eliminated, and that left the rest of the team vulnerable once we had superior numbers. There wasn't a LOT of map pinging on our side, or team chat--we just all were on the same page with needing to attack where we had strength, take objectives, and retreat/regroup before we overextended so we could catch them out when they either overextended on their counterattack or got complacent burning off minion waves.
This was hands down the NUMBER ONE factor that led to our win, I have no doubt.
2. Skillshot Placement
WOW. Now, in previous posts I've noted that I really need to work on my skillshot placement, and you will probably think (based on my light gloating above) that this point is about self-congratulations, but you will be wrong! Instead, the enemy bot lane (Leona and Jinx) really drove home the importance of consistently good placement and timing of skillshots that limit your opponent's options or ability to dodge them.
Both of these players had a very hard time landing skillshots. I think the only time Leona landed her initiate it was on me and because I didn't mind her landing it because my goal was to force a fight (we had two hidden backup making it a 4v2 right under their tower). In that instance I still managed to escape alive. The fact that I didn't have to work as hard to avoid their skillshots gave me LOTS more opportunities in lane than I am used to having and also gave me more resources to work with (more health from less damage taken, which meant more mana from less healing, which meant more harrass which meant more lane control and so on and so forth).
This really, REALLY made some things click for me in a way they hadn't quite before. Seeing my own specific incompetence mirrored back at me made me aware of how much easier I was making my opponent's game. Anyway, enough on that topic. Suffice to say I will continue to focus on skillshot placement as a core skill to develop.
Other Stuff:
Sweeping: I did a ton more sweeping than usual this game and noticed that my instincts for it have gotten better. I've begun thinking more strategically about where it would hurt my team to be seen moving around by the enemy. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the whole map-awareness picture is starting to come together for me bit by bit.
Honoring: Despite a well-coordinated game with reasonable communication and a very solid win, I didn't receive any honors from anyone. This surprised me, and reminded me that in my other win there were no honors from either side, though in a couple of my losses I've received a couple of honorable opponent honors.
Now, this might not seem like such a big deal, and honors don't DO anything, but I feel like especially in Bronze V where the mind-meta is that you constantly have to contend with toxic players, you want to reward players who are being constructive and working well with their team, as well as those who play honorably and don't talk rude smack, etc. Granted that my sample size is small, but I'm a bit surprised. Maybe I just put people off!
Before you think that this post is too self-congratulatory, I fully expect a devastating loss to come next, fueled at least in part by my raging incompetence and inability to really internalize a lesson until I've learned it at least a dozen times. I just want to make sure to note what's working and what's not--and in this game, at least, things worked more than they didn't. I still need to work on my skillshots, my early game mana efficiency, my map awareness, my communication, my...well, basically everything.
Until next time.
Overall Status:
Bronze V, 39 LP
2 Wins, 7 Games Played
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