I’m back playing some League of Legends, after missing all of Season 8, and I think most of Season 7. Taking such an extended break means I’m basically starting from scratch in terms of knowing the meta, all champions, and the details of all items. What isn’t completely gone is my general understanding of the game and most champions, and the learning curve this time is significantly tamer.

With all that said, did you know that now, below Bronze, there exists the Iron level in ranked? I didn’t either, but I’m in it! I guess I played a few ranked games at some point with some pretty random champions (or my account got hacked?), and then when I came back I played a few games with new champ Zoe, also in ranked, that resulted in basically losing most of my placement matches. That combined with the lack of playing Season 8, and the result is Iron league. I am amongst the one-armed blind children!

So far in 12 games played, I’ve won 9, moving from Iron IV to Iron I. I’m curious if I’ll be in a series to go to Bronze, or if the game will ‘smurf detected’ boost me up like it has through Iron. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that bashing the blindos I’m facing in games hasn’t been fun, though the frustration of seeing the actions of the cripples on my team has offset that enjoyment somewhat. If I had to guess, I’d say I’ll be back in Silver in 30-40 games (again depending on how hard the anti-smurfing system jumps me), and then it shouldn’t be much longer to get into Gold. Whether I get out of Gold and back into Plat will depend on whether the game truly holds my interest long-term again. So far, it does feel good to have it back in rotation, if only for a game or two a night.