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The term, 'counter-play'.

NONCEHUNTERS·7/24/2015, 1:06:31 AM·12 votes·777 views

Random rant that you don't need to care about inc.

I mourn the days before this idiotic phrase was ever coined. While it may have had some legitimate usage at its birth, it feels like it's now just become a scapegoat for bad play, or those who specifically dislike the champion/mechanic at hand.

"Riven has no counterplay (insert generic passage about laning strength here)..." - Yes she does, it's called not feeding her in lane (arguably her strongest part of a game); just as you wouldn't try to all-in a Pantheon at level 3 and expect to win it.

"Annie has no counterplay (insert generic flash-tibbers comment here)..." - Yes she does, even with Distortion and Summoner's Insight, it's still an over 2 minute cooldown. If you don't accommodate the extended range and get hit by it as a carry you've missed the counterplay opportunity; good job.

"Nidalee has no counterplay (many Hiroshima spears from fog, much damage)..." - Hard engage on her. Considering the only viable Junglers right now are all perfectly capable of hard engaging, this shouldn't be an issue. Pick Vi, press R and either 3 hit her with a full tank build + Tri-force, or zone her so far out of a fight that her already mediocre teamfight potential is reduced to nothingness.

"Fizz has no counterplay (trollpole2stronk, such mobility, wow)..." - I fucking hate the fish, but it's not like he isn't subject to getting exploded out of his E (just as he should be). If he's made it to your backline in a proper teamfight, you've once again, missed the counterplay opportunity.

The list is endless. The very notion that Veigar was left so crippled that he only had 2 out of his 4 skills (couldn't reliably land E, and by extension of that his W) for any length of time (let alone how long it was) under this concept of 'counterplay' counfounds me. Thankfully he's in a better spot now, but the fact remains that if a champions job is to punish somebody who's out of position and 100-0 them, he/she should be able to do that without being called "oppressive" by the people who are incapable of dealing with that style of play. This isn't Tumblr, a champion isn't "oppressive", they might be anti-fun, sure, but oppressive is just comical.

The possibly only real legitimate complaints about counterplay I've seen in a long time were about Katarina, and even then they were a long shot. With the mass homogenisation of mid lane, and the likes of Talon, Kassadin (although he could still interrupt her), and LeBlanc losing their silences, it's only natural that a champion otherwise particularly weak to that form of CC could see a surge in popularity and success.

Nothing about the general presence of tanks and other CC heavy champions coming out of the support role losing anything there though, they were still perfectly capable of stopping a Katarina. Even so, her average laning phase got nerfed and her early game weakened, to appease the mindless hordes of complaining, then the drivel mostly went on its merry way. Nothing really changed with Katarina. She can still go bot lane at level 6, pick up a double kill with some coordination, and snowball out of control along with the game; and you know what? That's okay.

The way some people use this term, it makes me wonder how the game will end up if it's actually listened to. Every skill is going to end up as a skillshot, all reward for playing well will be gone, and the punishment for poor play abolished.

Counterplay doesn't mean having the right to win a fight that you had no business winning when their Riven was 15/0/0 at 20 minutes, or their Annie just flash-beared your ADC, APC and Support all huddled together at the same time 2 centimetres behind your frontline. Winning that fight is called outplaying. There's a difference.

/Rant off, kek.

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7 Comments

Lugg7/24/2015, 2:49:40 AM4 votes

I know I will get flamed for this, but the truth needs to be told.

I always hear people say "They are only OP when they get fed". The problem is that they get fed BECAUSE they are OP. Riven is VERY strong in lane. With her innate kit, she is a nightmare to deal with in lane for 95% of the champs in the game. That is why she gets fed and snowballs into a nightmare. This is not good counterplay when the vast majority of champs in the game can't really do anything to her but die or get no CS.

Annie can be counterplayed if you take cleanse or build QSS (hopefully she isn't up 10 kills by the time you can afford it) to be able to get away from her or CC her before you are dead and hopefully turn it around. But the burst is pretty hard to survive for most of her opponents.

Nidalee probably has the strongest ability in the game. The damn spear. Yes, it is slow moving compared to most projectiles. However, once you consider that with CDR she can throw one every 5-6 seconds and that it will literally take half your health when it hits if you aren't a tank. The law of averages states that she is eventually going to hit you. It does more damage than 75% of the ults in the game and is on a 6 second CD. So if you think this is fair, then let's make Veiger's ult into a skillshot able to fire every 6 seconds and see how people like that. Let's not even mention the fact that Nidalee is most often played in the jungle so you don't even see the damn spear coming from the fog in time to dodge it. Your idea of counterplay was to "hard engage on her". Good luck with that considering she is one of the top 3 most mobile champs in the game so she can easily escape you or easily chase you down after the damn spear.

Fizz. Ah, good ole Fizz. The champion whose weakness is a weak early game. Too bad all Fizz has to do is start flask and potions and his early game is quite safe until he gets a couple ranks into his E and then he simply laughs at all your attempts to counterplay him the rest of the game.

I was all for the nerf on Veiger's stun. There was almost zero counterplay to it and I'm glad Riot did it. However, they didn't compensate him enough to make up for that HUGE loss in his kit. He still needs a small buff to even him out. I just don't understand why this philosophy isn't implemented on all the other cancer champions and abilities in the game.

Counterplay is a very good thing. Every champion in the game should have a decent chance to win against any other champ, even hard counters (it's just that your skill level will have to be significantly above your opponents). This makes strategy from Champ select to the end of the game just as important as mechanics. This makes the game more fun. I had a game last week where I was able to outplay a Zed with a Bard. It was awesome using everything in my kit to harass him, wall hop, heal, and stay alive until a teammate was able to get to me and kill him off before he finished me. This is what we should want.

If people would open their minds to this concept, the game would be much more fun for all. End of counter-rant.

OperationDEEZ17/24/2015, 1:14:53 AM1 votes

This bronzie says you're right.

LaowPing7/24/2015, 2:09:58 AM1 votes

People confused counter play with annoyance. Fizz is annoying as fuck. I'm we can agree with this. We people lose to him because they say it's due to counter play. The reality is that they have to play differently against a Fizz then they would have to against other champions. People aren't used to adjusting their play-styles. When the usual doesn't work, they assume it's due to lack of counter play. Everyone has counter play. Even before Kalista was nerfed, she had counter-play (I still have to tell some of my friends she is affected by slows).

Troy2426217/24/2015, 2:19:25 AM1 votes

Hence the usage of the word "Insufficient."

Sachabot7/24/2015, 2:52:38 AM1 votes

Perish the thought that I should have to use my brain for something.