Whatever Happened to Ranked Teams?

**So, uh, can we get an update on Ranked Teams? ** Riot first said that Premade Teams (5s, not 3s) was gonna stay this season, then removed it saying it was going to "skip season 6." They have since been completely silent on the matter.

Is it coming back ever?

I can no longer play in a ranked group with most of my friends. We formed a team and then climbed together from Bronze 5 to high Gold in season 5, and were hyped to continue the climb this season. Riot then removed Ranked Teams. In solo queue, the players on my team ranged from low plat to silver, and through tons of practice, effort, and teamwork, we were holding our own against teams full of high plats to mid diamonds in Teams. We can no longer play with our whole team. Even when we can scrounge a team together, we are now only playing for our solo queue LP, no longer having a team incentive.

There is no longer any sort of "group progression" in League and it has become solely an individual game with regards to ranks. Riot has essentially removed team play below the competitive scene. Combine this with them no longer sponsoring online tournaments, and playing League as a premade team has become no longer rewarding.

Riot's updates lately have all been about "encouraging team play," yet they remove the only legitimate options to play League as a premade team? Something doesn't add up.

I've heard some criticism of Teams by people trying to justify Riot's actions, but none of it has really had any bearing: "Just rank up in solo queue and you can play together!" -> Solo queue isn't fun when you're only playing for rank. I shouldn't have to suffer through solo queue games to play with my friends on a team.

"Just play normals!" -> This is not a replacement. There is no group ranking in normals. We don't gain anything by winning.

"Play dynamic queue!" -> Our whole team can't play together because of our solo queue ranks. We also don't earn a rank as a group doing this, thus it is the same as playing a solo queue, but supposedly with more communication (this often is not the case on both teams). Ranked teams had an entirely different playstyle than dynamic queue - better invades, lane swaps, and much higher level objective play. You can't replicate that without ensuring that you're going against another premade group of 5 that is actually concerned about their team rank and is all fighting for the same points.

"Teams was unfair!" -> I have seen people argue that because the players' individual ranks are so varied in Teams, that it leads to unfair games. Above low bronze (team ranking), this is not true. Team ranks are earned through teamwork and team play, and as I have experienced personally, solo queue ranking has VERY little bearing on the skill of a ranked team.

Riot seems to only have removed teams to try to get people to play their new Dynamic Queue, which doesn't provide nearly the same level of enjoyment as Teams did. Why......?