Let's talk about Gold.

It's shiny.

Now that we have that out of the way... let's really discuss Gold.

I give you two separate games, one of Sejuani in the Jungle and one of Gangplank.

Sejuani had an amazing 45 CS, while Gangplank had a mere 252 CS.

Sejuani had 16,232 Gold, while Gangplank had 15,471 Gold.

Despite 207 more CS, GP had 761 LESS Gold.

Now for the K/D/A.

Sejuani went 2/9/17. Gangplank went 3/5/8. A full Kill more, but 9 Assists down.

So how does 9 Assists give you 1 Kill + 207 CS worth of Gold, plus 761 MORE Gold on top of it?

Global Objectives.

We can assume that Sejuani's Team was able to control more Neutral Objectives, more Turrets and Inhibs and more Shut Downs.

So what am I saying? Being 'bad' at CS is no excuse to not maximize your potential, to gain Gold and get the Item Advantages.

http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=KillerKell As you can see, I don't have that "How do Supports get Gold" issue I always here being complained about. My Thresh gets more Gold than my Cait and Ashe (who have great Win Rates and really solid KDA) and my Leona is right below them. They often see 6 Items if the game goes long enough.

How? Macro-Game. Big Picture. Shot calling and herding teams to Objectives. And this is down in Bronze, where I keep being told no one will listen or work together... but it's how my Low CS Champions can still dominate in Gold and thus Items to make a positive impact.

To which, I'm not a good player. I've improved, but I'm by no means good. Yet even I can make Low CS work... in the case of Sejuani by Ganking then Objective. We did lose the game, but we lost because they simply were better at Team Fighting and a late fight cost us the game. We lasted as long as we did because I kept us out of Team Fights when they had 5, and we were strong enough that 4 or less couldn't keep us from taking our Objective. We can say we lost due to a lack of Team Fight Skill, in a game we (on a Skill Level view) had no right to even hang around in.

Master Yi netted a Win with only 38 CS from the Jungle... but he had a Quadra, Triple and Double Kill, the Quadra which ended as an ACE that left the Nexus exposed for the taking. Gank Pressure was enough to carry the game. The 15,500+ Gold allowed Yi to carry the End Game despite a slow start.

So what am I saying? I'm saying don't let a slow start get you down. Or missing CS, for that matter. Because there are more than one way for get Gold, and thus Items, to keep a game competitive.

Keep plugging away, keep trying, and keep finding that Gold.

Good luck!