Update: Plans

So I've been absent for quite some time and a few people have been asking me to update my blog. Here you go.

I've been thinking about my Mondays with Monte show. It was a lot of fun to do, and I'd like to start it back up again, but I need to find ways to attract more viewers. Unfortunately, people aren't very interested in the advice of Gold or even Platinum players. As such I'm putting my money where my mouth is and hunkering down to play all the ranked games I should have been playing months ago. The goal is to reach Diamond, maybe even Challenger, in order to better attract viewers.

So in the meantime I'll be streaming my misadventures during the day, and occasionally updating this blog with thoughts on my progress. Enjoy.

Update: Video Backlog

I've been remiss for failing to update the Mondays with Monte archive for some weeks. Episodes 10, 11, and 12 are all in the process of being uploaded right now and should all be finished and process by this evening.

I'll try to avoid taking so long to update the archive in the future.

Update: Resolutions 2013

Before anything else, I apologize for the technical problems with Mondays with Monte on New Year's Eve. I know what happened, but because of the nature of the problem there was nothing I could have done to fix the problem remotely. It will never happened again.

That said, here are my League of Legends resolutions for 2013:

• I will figure out what is causing LoL to freeze for 10 seconds once per game and fix it so that I don't end up dying and costing my team the game.
• I will jungle Akali in ranked regardless of Elo.
• I will make jungle guides for other, less obvious champions as I encounter and jungle them.
• I will not rest on my laurels and continue to make predictions regarding the jungle viability and/or dominance of new champions, potentially marring my heretofore nearly spotless record.
• I will update this blog every weekday, unless otherwise noted beforehand.
• I will reach Diamond Elo.

 That's a lot of resolutions. We'll see how many of them I fulfill and how many of them, like so many other resolutions, are left to rot in the garbage dump of good intentions.

Update: Patch Day

Just in time for patch day, I the intrepid Montegomery have come down with a cold. Analysis of everything will be forthcoming and ongoing, after my Cleanse comes off cooldown.

Update: Mondays with Monte

Starting tomorrow I'm going to stream a weekly show I call "Mondays with Monte". The goal of the show is to help players improve through analysis, replays, community interaction, and a touch of good humor. The show will start at 8:00 PM CST every Monday, and should last about an hour. Never fear, I'll keep this blog updated, though the show is going to take priority where necessary.

This has been a long time in coming. The original idea has been spinning around my head for over a year, but other projects and interests kept it on the backburner. The impending chaos of Season 3 seemed like a good opportunity to put this idea into action. The Season 3 changes won't be the limit of the show, but it's starting point.

Tomorrow night I'll be discussing the Season 3 jungle. I hope my immense readership (*ahem*) will join me for an hour that is hopefully both entertaining and edifying.

Update: PBE Madness

For those who are curious I did not, in fact, have any idea the Season 3 changes would be hitting the PBE last night. My oddly timed post regarding how to prepare for the chaos was a coincidence, and my cryptic twitter message was for a secret personal project the details of which will be revealed in due time.

Now that it's all out there, both reignofgaming.net and surrenderat20.net have good round ups of all the crazy stuff that's on the PBE. You can only sign up for a PBE account at the start of the month, so unfortunately those of you who are without one will have to live vicariously through streams, blogs, and YouTube videos (the queue for the PBE is probably as long as the Great Wall of China anyway).

I'll talk about everything in much greater detail as I have the opportunity to test and digest it all, but for now here are my initial impressions:

• The new jungle is poorly balanced, much in the same way the Season 2 revamp was.
• The new HUD is pretty and clean, but the shop's sounds are unsatisfying.
• Nami is about as "Regal" as Ariel.
• Xypherous wasn't kidding when he said Runaan's Hurricane + Muramasa would drain your mana fast.

From here on I'll be picking out specific topics to discuss. Quite likely the jungle will be the first one, as it's close to my heart and also in the process of being butchered. In the meantime, enjoy your information overload.

Update: Dr. Mundo or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Queue

Preseason 3 has begun, Elos have been reset, rewards have been issued, and placement matches are underway. Now is the perfect time to overcome a longstanding problem that's been hindering me for some time, fear.

In both of the previous seasons I experienced a severe mental block when it came to playing solo queue. Having spent so much time poring over the intellectual side of the game, theorycrafting and testing mechanics, min/maxing junglers, and analyzing plays and team compositions, I became irrationally fearful that any failing on my part could be construed as a referendum on these important practices. In my own strange, twisted way I have an ego about my Elo, and that needs to go if I am to actually improve at the game.

I have a fairly straightforward plan for rehabilitation, queue and play without regard for Elo. It takes approximately a month for habits to be established, so hopefully by 2013 queuing will be thoroughly engrained in my habits.

If you also have problems queuing I highly recommend taking advantage of this particular moment in time. Due to Elo resets and distance from any sort of reckoning the pre/early season has the least pressure of any time period. If you wait, as I did in past seasons, for the pressure to mount the problem will only be exacerbated.

For now I'm learning to stop worrying and love to queue. More than that, I'm not focused on winning as much as I am learning. This means avoiding comfortable champions and roles, trying new things, having concrete goals and the like. I'll be streaming my misadventures when I can, complete with my new webcam. If you've ever wanted to make fun of me for silly mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, there's never been a better time.

Update: Analysis, Season 3 Incoming

Due to the depth with which I wish to analyze the Season 2 World Championship Finals I am unable to make a post on the subject today. There were a lot of incredible decisions and plays made by both Azubu Frost and Taipei Assassins, and it didn't seem mete and right to give simple summaries of the matches. Chances are I will have to make multiple posts, so look forward to a week of analysis.

Unless the world ends or Riot's servers implode Season 3 will be starting in a week. Due to the rankings rework, the short time frame, and massive schedule conflicts on my end I didn't have the motivation to aim for Diamond. Come Season 3 I should return to a more regular schedule of ranked play, with the goal of reaching Diamond and beyond in Season 3.

That's it for today's update. I hope you enjoyed the finals as much as I did.

Update: Platinum

A couple of days ago I hit platinum for the first time in my LoL career. In many ways this isn't particularly special, thousands of people have done this before me, but it marks an important milestone on my path to improvement.

What makes this moment notable isn't Riot's arbitrary determination, but my own investment in my goals. Reaching platinum is akin to arriving at a landmark on a mountain hike. More than anything else it serves as both a reminder of how far I have come and how far I have yet to go.

Even as I continue forward I'm keenly aware of how many hurdles are before me. I've still played less than 150 total ranked games, meaning my practical experience at this level is limited. I am extremely specialized in jungling, and while I'm somewhat comfortable in most other roles it's painfully clear that I lack the intuition and knowledge necessary to excel, particularly at top lane. Even though I am a proud jungler I lack confidence in direct counter-jungling. There are many competitive jungle champions that I have not mastered. Though I have climbed high on the ladder, the chasms of knowledge left unfilled are daunting.

My next goal is to reach 2000 Elo, one which should be considerably more difficult. It's entirely possible that when I next play I will have a losing streak comparable to my present winning streak, dropping me from platinum back down to 1800 Elo. My ultimate goal is to reach the top 25, which requires nearly 2600 Elo right now and potentially more by the time I'm anywhere near that goal. Having reasonable milestones in between grand delusions is important.

Thanks to everyone who has read my blog and watched my stream so far. When I eventually become super popular and famous and have 10000 readers/viewers you can talk about how you knew about Montegomery before he was cool.

Update: More Glitches, Streaming, and Season 3

Unfortunately I was overly optimistic about my Sony Vegas being fixed. I've now been going back and forth with customer support for a couple of weeks because rendering isn't working. Once that's fixed I should finally have some new videos to post.

Streaming should pick up again now that I'm no longer on vacation and occupied. I won't necessarily be providing insightful commentary all the time because...

...Season 3 has been announced. This now means there's limited time (though how limited isn't clear) before Season 2 ends. I'd like to hit platinum before then, even though Riot hasn't announced any rewards for doing so. That means many more ranked games, a lot of learning, focus, and effort. I can't guarantee I'll personally be interesting all the time while playing.

We'll see if I can hit platinum (and stay there).

Update: Glitches and Things

I've been recording some new video material but unfortunately Sony Vegas has suddenly decided to crash on startup. Once I have it working I should be able to put out some new videos, but until then I am sadly unable to.

Some cool stuff to look forward to:

• Jungle Karthus
• Super Fast Level 3 Ganks (ft. Nunu and Karthus)
• New Jungle Xin