Twisted Treeline Platinum Promo Re-cap:

Game 1. 

We should of won this one. We were controlling the pace of the game extremely well. We had good map control and were ahead in towers and objectives. I made several bad plays (diving darius under tower with bryff low, pushing an inhib tower after we were low and just dived killed karma). The game did a complete 360 and we got steam rolled after those mistakes. 

Game 2. 

I first pick donger because we have had success with him in the past. I see ziggs picked up almost instantly (okey I am "countered" so I max rockets whatever, not my prefered play style). Me and ziggs have a boring farm fest. Bryff has a hard time vs there Jarvan and Evelyn combo. We can't really secure any kills bot because ziggs is so passive in lane and I have no instant stun. We get out team fought and lose handily.

Game 3. 

I instantly lock in Cho as he is my most consistent performer and I want to win (forget to change my masteries which is OK but not optimal since I was on an AP page but I really like my Attack speed page with defencive stats). I got counter picked by shyvana but would of been in a much more preferable situation if I had my right mastery page. Shyvana kills me early. Karl is invade over and over again by aatrox/cassieopia. Bryff picks up a few kills and has decent farm but me and karl are far behind. We lose the game in a landslide fashion. 

Over all I think these 3 games are mostly my fault. I generally have the largest champion pool and have a strong ability to counter pick the enemy team. I didn't do that tonight. From now on I think it would be best to get Karl a strong jungler first and save my pick for last. Other than that I think we should be able to get plat in 10 or less TT games. I want to atleast achieve this goal before the season ends. In the future we will place higher in TT and can move up farther if we end the season decently high. This is my same thought process for 5's. I would like to achieve at least gold so we can place better next season and improve as a team. 

Other than tonight I have been REALLY pleased with Karl and Bryff in TT we have a strong synergy most games and are starting to focus the same targets without a ton of communication. We played one game tonight that was nearly flawless. 

EDIT: I also made some bad calls that definitely cost us the first game so it wasn't just champion selection for all games. I am the shot caller and I made a few mistakes. 

you 3 should have the most synergy imo. Dedicated jungler, dedicated mid, dedicated top seems to pretty much cover tt based on what I've seen. You cycle over to me and I don't have the needed experience on the map and I excel at jungle/adc/support.  Happy to fill for you folks w/e, but I really don't enjoy tt. 

That said, I do want to add that I don't think any of us benefit from w/e you guys get unless WE (personally) play enough games on tt.  Not sure if that's the case.  Anyone know?  For instance, if I play 10 games (or w/e is required) w/ the team on SR, do I get credit for w/e the team does on TT?  No idea. 

I know you have to play like 10 games with the team to get anything out of it. However I am not sure if thats just 10 games on the team or 10 games in TT to get TT credit and 10 games to get summoners rift credit. 

That is nerdtastic on so many levels.  Watched a youtube of it.  You can do so much dumb stuff with the lights. 

Still digging my replacement.  You can program individual keys to light up which takes care of what I needed anyway.  I do dig the nerd factor on the ducky, though.  Crazy.

Corsair is good shit.  I had a Razer mechanical but gave it away to a friend cause the keys felt too elevated and wobbly.  Tried out a Corsair at Fry's and liked the feel a lot better.

yeah.  re the corsair - I'm trying to decide if I'm going to take off the tactile keys or not.  So far, I like it. 

So, discussion on gnar - I don't think any of you really bother much with pbe outside of me, but I saw karl already had some thoughts on him. Let's see...

1st off, he's very fun to play imo.  It's an interesting champ and I can see if working out of top and quite possibly jungle unless they change him so he can't gain stacks in the jungle. 

He's a good counter to many melee tops because of his kit. He's ranged in his normal form (and manaless in both).  He has a vayne like proc that gives him a move speed buff when you pop it (3 hits to proc).  and he has a decent jump to move to or away from enemies.

The jump mechanic is unique to this champion.  1st - the range is actually pretty low.  But it becomes very large in distance if you bounce of someone or something.  If I remembering right, you can bounce off both enemy and friendly units.  So, smart positioning can get you in and out of fights well.  His absolute best combo, imo, is using his jump JUST before he's about to change form.  You end up jumping behind the enemy and then bursting the crap out of them.  He is an incredibly strong champ if you have gank support I think.  Very good odds you can lock down a kill.  But, he should have plenty of kill potential by himself.

His ult changes his form, gives him added hp, arm/mr (i think), and new abilities (note - you can only use his ult when you've changed forms (but there is a passive component).  How he changes form and how his bonus hp works is a bit strange, though.

So, 1st - he changes form automatically after a set time and also if you trigger it.  You don't just hit 100 fury or w/e and then you  cast it as you please.  Nope, once you hit 100, you have a set about of time before you are going to turn into the larger form.  And this is INCREDIBLY easy to see visually for the enemy.  Enough that I think the enemy will likely back off some when they see you about to change as folks get used to the champ.  Because the transformation is so visibly clear, I think its a bit of a weakness added to the champ.  Granted, probably a necessary one, but a weakness all the same.  Also, it SEEMS (not 100% sure) that once you reach a certain amount of fury, it will automatically build to 100%.  Also, the decay time on losing fury on pbe is actually really slow (which is why I'm thinking jungle could be useful).

One other thing on his ult - and this is something that is kind of rough.  So, when you ult, you get a set amount of HP instantly (w/e the tool tip says and it scales with level).  Sounds great.  But, you actually don't keep that health when you revert back to form... or all of it... or something.  When you change back, you are immediately chunked down a wee bit.  One instance where I paid attention, I went from 500 hp down to 400 or so when I changed. Understanding how that mechanic works is very important.  So, you do get a nice HP buff when you change, but after you swap back, you are pretty vulnerable (do note that you have a move speed buff when your form change ends (going back to small).

As a jungler, he has a few things going for him.  His vayne like buff that gives you additional move speed for getting around (I think dmg as well - can't remember atm).  He can also hop about the jungle very effectively with his dbl jump mechanic (land on a creeps head and you dbl jump). 

His ganks aren't exceedingly awesome imo, but lots of potential for cc.  The downside is that his transform mechanic, while you won't lose stacks moving into position for a gank, if you do decide to wait a bit to go in, you will start to lose stacks.  We'll see... jungle just seems like something fun to try out and then be like... well that worked... kinda not so well

omg... this new gnar skin... haha.  Really good work. 

His backing animation when in huge form is delightful. 

putzed around with the new skin on pbe

http://www.twitch.tv/1pacov1/b/553543033

Moving tonight.  Hopefully see some of you tomorrow.

where is swan?

Back as of NOW.  Long story... 

Friday: Scheduled a u-haul for 3pm... waited around at the uhaul place til 5 until they had one... my help that was supposed to help me at 5 decided he didn't want to waste his time waiting around, so he bailed... so moving the uhaul in rush hour in minneapolis was wonderful... ummm... got everything loaded by like 11pm... went to close the damn thing and the latch was stuck inside the moving part of the back door... had to call roadside assistance (midnightish) ETA of 80 minutes became reality of 120 minutes.. so... at about 2am drive over to the new place and didn't really even bring everything in, but got it out of the truck about 4am (had to return that night + had to get car that i left at lot)... got back at about 5:10am... guess what.

I WORK AT 6AM FSHDOIFNOSIDFNOISDFNOFNOSDFNOIDSFNOIFNOFNDSOIN

So i slept the remainder of the day... sorry for ruining the plan, but I did all I could.

I'm back now, for the time being... let's play soon everyone!

jebus... the swan drama is real.  Well, glad you are semi sorted now.  SLEEP SOME MORE

My internet should be up and running tonight..... hopefully.

What - you move recently as well then cow?  Think I'm slightly out of the loop.  Anyway, if you did, hope the net is solid. 

Yes I spent most of the weekend moving into a new place with a friend of mine. No more cat shit land for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hua?!  I have a K95 pacov.  You're stuck with an old K70.