Is it just me or does there really seem to be a lack of champions viable against the assassins mid.... yes i realize, kayle malz and a few others are supposed to be counters. However it seems like they get destroyed by the assassins imo.
Mecha MaIphite3 votesIf I ever lose lane to an assassin as Malz, it's because I either got camped or just played like shit.
Alüe1 votesCamping is usually the issue i experience, around plat 2. Due to his pushing potential its hard not to push, when attempting to just cs. Especially against a LB or Zed.
AlwaysByMySide2 votes
I am pretty sure that these champions all at least do fine against assassins, if not counter them.
Alüe1 votesFeel like a majority of these lose out early or to itemization, as they have mana as there first barrier. Other than tanky mid laners i feel the majority get bullied out of lane early. LB or zed etc.
TehNACHO1 votesMana issues are largely solved by being a skilled player. Like, yes a mana user is in a disadvantage in a war of attrition to an energy user, but it's so hard to defend proponents of this argument when there are examples like Cho'Gath or Annie who can sometimes generate more mana than they would spend over time.
Alüe1 votesNormally i would agree with your statement, but what differs from previous seasons is the lack of mana regen or mana pots. In seasons previous to mana regen we saw mana pots to give sustain in lane. Riot has really created a barrier to any user mid lane that is heavy on mana usage. Any other role you see will have the opportunity in building any other route they wish. However heavy mana users are forced to build mana items to sustain themselves. Throw in a opponent that doesn't use mana or isn't heavy on it (ad mids), that builds mr and you have an gold deficiency occurring before the player exchanges in a fight that occurs.
Hullabaloo9071 votesRoa helps a lot against assassins for really mana hungry mages. For less mana hungry mages, going abyssal, hourglass, or even rylias can help
Revali1 votes The legend
Big Lincoln1 votesi mean mid lane is the mage lane, and mages are traditionally countered by assassins. the exceptions are actually the outliers here; Kayle, Malzahar, Lissandra, etc
Depending on the assassin, you actually beat them by picking a bruiser or a tank and getting too beefy for them to all-in while beating them with base damage. But only a few dedicated tanks are actually good mid laners because of their traditionally low range ( Nautilus is fairly decent because of his hook for long range engage and all-ins ) and lane bully bruisers 
are usually pretty easy to gank. (Exception for Renekton, due to double dashes)
the problem is that mages go mid because it's usually better that they hit 6 and roam over a tank, since they bring CC and damage. Blue buff is also important to them, so if you send them top, the red side mage will have trouble.
if you really wanna pick a tank mid then I'd say do 
. Cho'Gath is obviously the most meta and arguably the best counter to assassins thanks to his silence and sustain (and he gets tanky regardless of build), but the others offer their own strengths.
Nahui1 votesPlease don't suggest Nautilus or Maokai mid.
Also, Jarvan would go AD assassin if he went mid.
Big Lincoln1 votesnautilus mid is good. hook gives him strong offense vs poke champions
maokai has targeted CC and sustain. worse vs poke champions but good against assassins who need to get close to do their damage.
Nahui1 votesIT requires hitting no minions, which is hard in mid lane. He's got no way of actually getting in on a mage without an ult since mages tend to sit behind creeps.
IcyPepper1 votesTry thinking outside the box/meta. Assassins are countered by bruisers, IIRC.
Hullabaloo9071 votesLissandra and swain are usually really good choices for this. Lux, Morgana, karma, and Lulu also have some tools for stopping assassins, but they also are pretty squishy