Reign of Gaming

After the first blue, pay attention to timers and try to counter-jungle it. If you can control both blue timers, your mid lane becomes incredibly easy, you can still gank constantly, and you have an 80g advantage.

So many people forget priority 0 outside of a teamfight :(

Which was mostly my point, yeah. Sorry if that was unclear. There is enough time between series to recover mentally from something like this but the physical health concerns of a traditional sport create a different circumstance.

because everyone knows everyone else's record and can extrapolate it.

Interestingly, the NHL had a situation like that this year. The San Jose Sharks and LA Kings final match would determine the 5th and 6th seeds. The Sharks barely played their top players and took a close loss. In effect, they threw.

But there's no blame there, and while the easier matchup for the Sharks was CLEARLY the #3 seed, Vancouver, they were also blatant about saying they didn't play their top guys in order to rest them up for the playoffs. It's a valid reason and one that the fans have stuck by because they'd rather see the cup than a single win.

Does this carry over to e-sports? I think not. You don't need to "rest" your top players, because you don't have the same physical toll. See my above post.

If you want to prove you're the best, you should be able to beat any challenge headed your way. This isn't a physical sport, where playing a specific team can really take its toll on your ability to compete in the next round (like hockey).

Take a break, play some ARAMs, and maybe try out new roles to keep yourself fluid. Spiffy's right in that worrying about improving is more important than worrying about winning. Winning comes with making sure your game is in the right place and leading your team by that example (and learning how to assume the leadership role).

Even with your badass scores, there will be bad games, just let them roll through you and focus on bringing your game up. You will get back there, and if you can learn to coordinate your team and really be that leading force, you'll get back up there and beyond. It took me two months after coming off inactivity to get to Silver III. I lost my first 8 games in a ROW. I just trucked through it and got back to Silver III again after like 4 days. Just switch it up a little and don't let it become a grind.

Make them play Zed mid. I am a TERRIBLE ADC with everyone but Ezreal and MF because with the two of them I hang back and poke. Having been playing Zed mid a LOT recently, I've been understanding the merits of backing the hell off and being patient and precise.

Then again, I think everyone should have experience in EVERY role because it improves your understanding of those roles. Nothing's worse than an ADC or mid who has unrealistic expectations of their jungler >.>

Cho's doesn't reset, and requires 500 AP to do 1000 damage. I also think Cho is problematic as a champion but his kit's raw DPS is lower and he's just naturally tanky to compensate. Comparing cho and Darius because they share a single target high damage nuke for their ultimate is unfair to both champions. Cho's ult doesn't have a mini-dash, it doesn't reset, and give health, etc etc.

A better comparison would be Kha or Yi-sets, where they get kills/assists and chain their ridiculously damage onto each champion again and again.

Stream of consciousness:
As for his grab, relying on your opponent to screw up isn't counterplay, really. Dodging your opponent's grab because it gives you that option is. The fact that Darius' Q acts as a range check for E is also something, and don't forget that flash's CD is longer. Plus in teamfights, it's a lot harder to just be out of the way of his shit, especially if he gets help.

Toxicity is a concept derived from anti-design patterns outlined by Zileas.

I'd check out this article: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=293417