Bought Zed last week and I've been having fun learning him to hopefully become a better top laner, 2 matchups in particular stand out. The first game is against a Bronze I think, that picked Malphite with Teleport. I knew it's not exactly going to be easy but I decide to try the red pot + 4 + ward start, gg. I was ahead up to the first back but the Malphite eventually outraded me pure and simple, that passive of his and him maxing Q was just too much, not to mention every item he built was just a direct counter to what Zed does, I couldn't lane against him starting from level 5. Lesson learned, you really have to be very flexible in playing Zed and I probably should've maxed Q, not gotten a red pot and just tried to maximize my farm and lane sustain, if played well I think it's only a boring farm lane unfortunately.
Second matchup and oh boy, the other guy is Gold II and tryharding from the start, he counterpicks Riven, which he also happens to main, and then camps my tribush at lvl 1 and calls his friend to force me to back and lose some early cs. I thought much harder about this matchup and was ready for it, I had cloth + 5 pots while he only had red pot + 4 + ward. And since he was in lane early he can't help but push, so I just farmed under tower most of the time while he got ganked. Despite the ganks we both had 2 kills and I was smart enough to max Q this time, the poke was annoying him he had to back a few times early and generally never be able to bully me and I turned it into a farm lane. Eventually he gets bored and start roaming while I split push. Then we win team fights and it's over. I ulted him every time and I feel like I outscaled him, Zed is interesting.
I hate when people roam against me, it automatically feels like I lost the lane. They usually have like a 10 second advantage no matter what they do because face checking a Riven is dangerous. Still it feels pretty good given the matchup and that he mains top and Riven in Gold II.
Are there any pro meta strats in top? Or do people just act like they lost at champ select.