The Zed metric

I clearly remember my first real impression of Zed when I was in the early stages of learning this game.

I started off in Bronze and worked my way up to Silver, and Zed didnt seem all that crazy to me (honestly I didnt really see him much in those divisions). But then I got to gold, and every once in ahwile, I'd run into someone who I thought might have been smurfing on Zed, and then it all became clear just how strong of a champion he was.

Some of these Zed players really felt like actual ninjas to play against. They would Deathmark dodge through key skill shots, cleverly execute me with a precisely aimed double shuriken, or even place a shadow where they predicted I would flash to, and finish me off with a Shadow Slash while he was standing completely out of my range.

Some of these Zed mains were fucking artists, and I really had nothing to say whenever they killed me. I was just dumbfounded with how good they were with that champion, and I always gave them words of respect in the post game lobby, for developing their skills to that level.

Nowadays its a different story. I could be barely 15 minutes into a game, and then have a Zed walk up to me and instagib me with 2 spells.

Was that Zed a master with his champion? Did he demonstrate that he's put time and effort to learning everything he can about that champions nuances? Was he clearly showing just how much better he was with that champion than all the other Zed mains in this elo?

Honestly, I have no idea. He could have been an amazing Zed player, or he might be just some guy randomly trying out. I cant tell, because the threshold for Zed killing someone is so much lower now. You dont need effort to kill someone with Zed anymore. You just have to land a pair of spells.

I would love to see the game get back to a place where mastery expression was more clearly defined. I know for me personally, it feels a lot better when you have to earn your kills, rather than having runes and stats do all the work for you.