Another League of Legends post: champion list idea

I've been doing some other things, but not a lot really. Right now, I'm waiting for my shin to heal (from when I fell on some rocks like an idiot) and waiting on a replacement CPU fan for my desktop. So I've been on my laptop, but like I said, I haven't done much. I should be doing more writing, at least. Not like anything is stopping me. Well, I've played some more League of Legends. Here's another post about that.

I may or may not attempt my ranked placement matches soon. Because I might actually use this idea, I'm sort of running with the assumption that I will be playing ranked in earnest. Maybe that won't happen. We'll see. Ranked play was part of the impetus for this. The other part was ARAM and how I've been approaching it. Right now I have a negative win/loss ratio in ARAM, even though I think I usually do pretty well. I've been losing in ARAM a lot. Yesterday I was mostly decided that ARAM is a waste of time, and also that I was burned out on it and needed to take a break from ARAM. However, it occurs to me now that ARAM presents an opportunity, one which I was taking advantage of, albeit only slightly. Some portion of the time in ARAM, I can roll and test out a champion in PVP that I've only tried against bots. While it's not a real substitute for Summoner's Rift, I'd be more comfortable playing on Summoner's Rift against bots and then on the Howling Abyss against people before diving headlong into normal games with a new champion.

List A: These are the champs I'm most comfortable with. They are off-limits for anything but draft mode. If I begin playing ranked in earnest, these are my default champs that I'll almost always pick, and they'll be off limits for normal games. I won't allow myself to use them in anything but ranked games (or until I'm actually playing ranked in earnest, in anything but draft mode). There can be occasional exceptions for testing a new build or if I need to fine-tune something (yesterday with Karthus I noticed that my last-hitting wasn't quite at its peak performance, although I did fine in fights). In the event that this list is my "ranked only" list, I might still use these champs as counterpicks in normal draft, but only if I like my teammates during champ selection. If they show signs of being too stupid, I won't be allowed to use these champs in normal drafts. If I roll these champs in ARAM and my teammates seem amiable and level-headed, I'll try to carry the team, but if my teammates are idiots, I'll just troll and/or use the time to experiment, although I'll still put in some modicum of effort at actually winning.

Karthus
Sivir
Vayne
Kassadin
Malphite
Maokai
Mordekaiser (tentative: I always seem to do well with him, but I've only drafted him once)
Tristana (tentative: I've been focusing on Kog'Maw more, but I'm still good with Tristana)

List B: These are borderline champs. I've been playing them recently and I'm pretty familiar with them. They don't quite make List A because I sometimes find myself at a loss, either getting soundly trounced in lane or running into some other obstacle. I think with more experience, the champs in this list should move into List A. If I edit and maintain these lists, my hope is to empty List B completely. These are champs I should be ready to take into ranked games, but I'm not, at least not yet. Because I want as much experience with these champs as I can get, no games are off-limits for them, but I won't be playing them in ranked until I move them to List A. If I roll these champs in ARAM, I'll probably build them the same way I build them for Summoner's Rift, treating it practice.

Swain
Kog'Maw
Alistar
Sona

List C: These are champs that I sometimes do really well with. I either used to play them a lot in the past, or I haven't been playing them long enough to be totally comfortable with them. These champs are off limits for co-op games (on my main account), but will be used extensively in normal blind pick games. If I begin playing ranked in earnest, these become my primary champions for normal games. If I roll these champs in ARAM, I try to win at all costs. These champs are all potential candidates for List A. Some of them might be promoted to List B, but I'd prefer to empty List B instead.

Singed (my second most played champ, but I've been struggling with him lately)
Udyr (my build is unorthodox, but I'm convinced that it works)
Soraka
Ryze
Morgana
Blitzcrank
Amumu
Diana
Anivia (formerly my #2 mid, but I never play her anymore)
Nasus
Teemo

List D: I'm not necessarily bad with these champs, but I tend to catch myself messing up a lot. I've carried normal games as all of these, but I've also done poorly as them. I may need to change my builds or just get a lot more practice in. I am extremely unlikely to draft these champs, but I will try to play them more in blind pick. My goal for these champs is to get them promoted to List C. If I roll these champs in ARAM, I'll just do whatever I feel like doing.

Elise
Vi
Annie
Ashe
Tryndamere
Skarner
Warwick
Miss Fortune

List E: These are the problematic champs. I really like these champs, but the way in which I play them is either risky or too particular. It's not that I'm worse at these champs than I am at the ones in List D. Quite the opposite. But the champs in List D are ideally going to be promoted to List C and then perhaps, eventually, List A. List E is its own monster. Until something changes, I need to be particular about when I play these champs. They're largely off-limits to solo-queue until I figure out what to do with them. If I roll them in ARAM, well, it's a case-by-case basis.

Sion
Kayle
Janna
Fiddlesticks
Shaco
Urgot

List F: These are the ARAM champs, that is, these are the champs I'm hoping to roll in ARAM. I've played these champs in bot games, but I am not really comfortable with them. Once I get more experience with them, they might be promoted to any of the other lists. Some of them are only on this list because they're recent purchases and I have very few games with them, others I've owned for a long time and just don't bother to play. This list is the broadest in terms of interest. Some of these are champs I'm excited about, which I would like to get on a fast track to List A. Others are champs I don't really care about at all, but I'm always willing to give them another chance.

Veigar
Cassiopeia
Sejuani
Katarina
Zilean
Master Yi
Lee Sin
Garen
Nidalee
Jax
Dr. Mundo
Nunu
Karma
Orianna
Cho'Gath
Gangplank
Poppy
Rumble
Evelynn

Postscript on role distribution in the lists
List A is still too small, and there are really two three skill tiers within it: Karthus is in his own tier above everyone else, then Sivir, Vayne, and Kassadin are in the next tier, followed by the others. I do have someone from each role in there, but Malphite and Maokai are my only support and jungler in List A, and they're ranked lower than the others. I really have too few Mordekaiser games to merit placing him in List A, but I can't recall ever having underperformed with him. Basically, I am weak on solo top and jungle as roles, but pretty strong as a mid and AD carry. Once the List B champs are promoted to List A, I will still need to shore up those two weak roles.

Postscript on List E
I build Sion to be strong in the very late game as a tank and damage-dealer. I rely heavily on Sion's E to get bonus health. My early game is too fragile for this to be reliable. I also kind of need a jungler to babysit me, and that's not generally guaranteed, so I tend to just not play Sion anymore. He's still one of my favorites. Kayle is weird because the few times I've played her, I've become freakishly strong late game, and I think it could be deceptive. I build her on-hit, which no one else seems to. The sample size is too small. I need to test Kayle more. Janna is on this list because I build her for movement speed. I've done it enough to have a feel for it, and it's very fun and can actually do well sometimes, but I'm not convinced its a reliable way for me to support. At the very least I need the right lane partner for my Janna to work. Fiddlesticks is only on this list because I play him as a jungler and I'm not sure that I should. He seems to fall behind too easily. I have other, more reliable junglers. Shaco could potentially have been on List F, but I think in the past I've tested him too much for me to group him with the champions that I'm inexperienced with. Shaco's reliance on early ganking runs counter to my jungling style. Also, I build him on-hit. I might still play him with the right team backing me. We'll see. Urgot is a champ I like as a twist on the AD carry role, but I've lost so many games with him that I'm hesitant to try him in serious games, especially when I'm so much better with other, more traditional carries. I might play him with the right lane partner, though.