This game...!

Just had another Bronze V game... got demoted back to Bronze V despite winning more than I lose because of the LP disparity in Bronze IV. Really hard to climb with 21 LP for a loss and 10 for a win.

I got to play my main champion Tristana ADC against the flavor of the month Jinx (I say that really because the last pick enemy ADC obviously didn't know what they were doing and probably picked Jinx because of her current win rate.) Laning went pretty well, Thresh was a little too ham but he only died after the second engage leaving me 2-0 with 1 kill for the enemy that couldn't have gone to Jinx (she was dead), either went to Braum or their jungler. Get two more kills and two assists when we go 4 for 1 overall at the dragon fight and secure the dragon. Get back to lane and take my tower. Early infinity edge and life is looking good.

Then the failed grouping starts. I get picked in the jungle when the team groups briefly then scatters. In a push mid, Zed goes in on an ulting Wu and gets burst down by their Xerath. Thresh starts calling 'gg', criticizing the teams play, spamming surrender votes whenever its up. Dragon gets taken by the enemy the next few times. All the while I keep racking up kills and dying only a little more then I'd like getting super fed.

Then the enemy gets a near ace, and goes to take baron during the confusion. They push in and take out two of our inhibs. The surrender votes are 3 in favor 2 against now compared to the 1 in favor 4 against at the start. Thresh -still- doesn't have sightstone, tells us we should have upgraded trinkets and sightstone is a waste and we're all idiots. The enemy starts pushing into the minion filled base.

You think you know where this story is going, right?

I get some more kills. The enemy kills more of us but not me, I'm getting the feel of their playstyle and can predict every move wu and xerath are making. Thresh may be negative but he's damn good at peeling at gets Jax off me most of the time, or else I use my jump or ult to stay safe. They're trying to push all three lanes and have all three inhibs down, but we pick them off one by one, although I'm the only one left at the end. Garen respawns first and we clear the minions back. I finish my build and refresh my elixer and we push up mid. We pull back for a Wu split push before taking their mid turret but don't lose anyone and get him. We push up mid again when one of our many wards spots Jinx trying to steal our red (I already had it so a useless venture). Did I mention that most of us -did- upgrade our trinkets and the ones that didn't were buying pinks?

-Easy- 4v1 pick on Jinx. Back up mid. Struggle a little and lose two people but we get the ace and clear mid tower and inhib. Did I mention that I've been -very- careful to keep bot pushing all the time? I only leave my team long enough to get the wave pushing bot and then rejoin. Bot inhib turret is already down from wave push and more are pushing in, take another inhib. Start on the Nexus turrets. Braum respawns but can't do much alone. I beat on him whenever he gets in my face and otherwise clear enemy minions to get our supers in or beat on the nexus turrets. Jinx is respawning but we have both nexus turrets down. It's only Thresh and I now (I think Garen backed to defend our down inhib) and Thresh is one hit from dead. I ult braum far away from me and jump to the opposite side of the nexus from Jinx where I can peacefully get the last few autos to win the game.

It was glorious.

I'm not posting this to brag. It's not like it's -hard- to carry in Bronze V. I'm posting this to say that I -loved- this match. Garen overchased and died? Ehhh, he's still carrying pretty decently at the same time that he's tanking awesomely. Zed made a dumb dive and died yet again? That's okay, it got me a kill on the low health squishy he didn't quite get. No-sightstone support? I'm used to it. I almost always upgrade yellow trinket, can't afford blue because I need to do my own warding in Bronze. Besides, salty or not he was -awesome- with the peeling (not so smart with the dives, hence the rage about nobody following up). Sure the salty /all chat and surrender spam votes were a downer, but I'm used to those too and I still believed we could win and did my best to make it happen. It was tough, but it did happen.

And this game is -almost exactly- the same problems and outcome as one that was recently posted as an example of why that player couldn't help but rage at his teammates and why he needed to take a break. The only differences are that I -didn't- rage at my teammates - I didn't say much at all except to mention that yes, I -had- upgraded my trinket but we still needed more wards, and lo and behold, more wards started coming out. Because I didn't rage at my teammates, my teammates didn't troll me or rage at me (light saltiness from Thresh but most of his rage was directed at Zed and people telling him to buy sightstone). Consequently, -that- player had a miserable experience and I had a -great- game.

Changing attitude is really hard. I was never a rager in chat but I certainly had my moments of shouting at the screen or pounding my fist on the table, only not typing in my rage because I know it will make things worse and possibly get me disciplined. Still, there I was blaming my teammates and getting infuriated with their bad play. I just don't care now. Yeah, I was demoted back to Bronze V but I -know- I'm better than that. Maybe not better than Bronze, but better than Bronze V for sure... if I understand the system correctly, eventually my win rate will bring my MMR up high enough to change my LP balance on win and loss, and if that were only even I'd be in promos to Bronze III instead of demoted to Bronze V. I also know that if I play angry (even though you don't see my rage in the on-screen chat) that I play just as bad as any other bronzie. These things combined have really helped me look at the game differently - I don't see the other players as people that are getting in my way or insulting me or doing stupid things. I see the other champions on my team as part of the game environment to be worked with or worked around in a search for victory. I just enjoy the game for all its challenges, including carrying players on unfamiliar roles or champs they are bad at. If the saltiness is too much I have the mute button and can carry on without it - that part I can't actually -enjoy- but if I can't ignore it myself the game can help me.

Anyway that got a little long, but I hope you all got something out of it. Good luck on the rift and remember to have fun!