So I've hit Silver I since the last patch hit, getting on average 2-3rd with about 20% of my matches being wins. I thought I'd toss some things that I'm doing that I think are helping a lot right now:

• The biggest thing that I think is helping is riding a line between keeping up an economy and rolling hard. I'm generally trying to keep at least 30g on me at any time (except when I need to hard level). That way I have gold to reroll if I need to, and I generally have enough gold to level at any point, but I'm not sacrificing being able to get key pieces of my synergy or level low cost units.
• At the beginning of the game, you typically get 1g out of the first box. That gives you 5g total if you sell your starting champion. Even if you don't sell your starting champion, buy 3 units. The minion phase should be spent buying a wide variety of units, since you likely won't have a strategy forming until after the last minion wave.
• A lot more items are viable now, so don't be afraid to combine your base items early. It gives you a huge advantage early and there's only a few items that don't work out in the late game. Don't hamstring yourself looking for that white whale triple Rabadon's Morgana.
• Similarly, since you don't have to strategize around items as much anymore, don't be afraid to use the carousel for leveling units or building synergy. Every base item has a good combined item now, so it's definitely not a problem to pick champs here instead of items. The only time I really dig for items are if I am close to building a spatula item for a synergy I'm playing (or Yuumi), or if I'm close to a Zeke's Herald or Locket.
• Building meta will help, but it's not super necessary. Demons are a great start, since you can branch out to either Elementalists or Rangers and be completely fine. Ninjas are insane, and they can similarly build into Assassins or Elementalists. Wild basically locks you into Sorcerer, but there is a very spicy 4 Imperial 4 Wild build running around.
• Every meta build now has a primary and secondary synergy, since getting a maxed out synergy is super useful. Don't be afraid to switch up that secondary synergy if you're not getting the units you need. However, I wouldn't change the primary synergy later. For example, if you're running Demon Rangers, but you just can't seem to get the Rangers down, go ahead and switch to Shapeshifters or Rangers if it's looking like there's more in the shop. I wouldn't switch away from Demons if you're past Krugs though.
• Nobles are very good to stall yourself to a more expensive comp. They're extremely useful in picking up wins while you try to put together a Glacial team, for example. You can switch off of the Noble start once you get a mid-tier synergy rolling. Know when to keep your Nobles and when to sell them off. 6 Nobles are very strong, but you're not going to get them in 9/10 games.
• Volibear is incredible and slots into almost any meta build, as most are running at least one other Glacial unit.
• Blitz is also a great starting unit to grab out of the first carousel, as he won't make you feel like you have to build a specific comp to take advantage of him (_even though brawlers are incredible right now_). He also is insane in an Assassin comp, and the Brawler shell works with Elementalists and sometimes Shapeshifters.

Ok, I think that's all I have. Sorry for the wall of text. I had just realized that I was playing extremely well recently, and I felt like a lot of it was due to a drastic change in playstyle from pre-ranked patches.