Can we stop pretending that mages are weak?

The fuck you talking about? Mages are all underpowered, which is why they're never picked in LCS games. It's obvious all assassins have 80%+ winrates and are pick/ban in challenger and LCS. Current LCS meta is five assassins, no tanks and no mages because assassins are all OP no skill need nerf.

Remember, if you're a mage and you're walking into melee range of a zed and afk and die, it's because zed's mobility and ult are too OP. Remember to make two dozen threads about Zed being OP because it's true. That's why he has 100% winrate atm in LCS and in all elos. He also takes no skill.

Brand - Always been good. Not really item reliant. Which is why the mage item changes didn't hit him as hard.

Anivia - Low play rate, mostly played by those who are really good with her. Champions like this tend to have inflated win rates. Items she used didn't get hit as hard as the usual items. Rough early game but can make up for it with her waveclear after 6 and her strong teamfight utility.

Malz - A mix of brand/Anivia. Lowish play rate, always been good. Did get hit by the item changes, but ghosts and thunderlord helped him out. Because of space aids, he can farm very safe and even zone the other guy out. He does well to prevent snowballing. Can be a fairly hard counter to assassins.

Lux - E change. It was a needed change, but it should do less damage on the edge or at least not proc her passive. Like Brand, always been good. Has little to do with items or assassins as to why.

Lulu - Not really a mage. More of a support. Often if you bring her, it's for the utility. She just does better while building AP, so she often happens to lane. Yes, she is still a mage, I know. But she doesn't fall into the "mages are weak" group because she's more about utility than nuking. Below average when building damage even though her stronger rolls are mid/top.

Lissandra - Champion.gg lists her as ~47% win rate for both top and middle rolls. She also counters assassins in general. Should probably take her of you list.

Viktor - 46.6% win rate on champion.gg. Another one you should take off your list.

TF - Not hit hard by the item changes, actually even buffed. Ghosts have always been strong on him and lichbane has some CDR now. A lot of his win rate is from dedicated players. He's a playmaker champion. While he is a mage more than anything else. He's not as "magey" as the rest of them. Closer to Shaco in playstyle than a Brand. Uses mind games and setting up attacks to win.

So a few mages are doing well. This is honestly something to do with that champion more than being a mage. A Brand is doing well because his kit allows it. He can't build around his faults as well as the other rolls can.

Honestly a lot of mages have 50%+ win rates in the middle lane. Zyra, Vel'koz, Morgana, Annie. None of these mages directly require gear to work though. All 4 of them are often used as supports. Brand/Lux also fill the support roll.

On your list, the only one that really is only used as a mid lane mage is Malz. The rest get their power from other rolls that they can fill in while their mage side is weaker. And Malz works because of a dedicated group that plays him. And he counters assassins.

I'd say a few mages need quite a bit of help getting on their feet. comes immediately to mind.

Is there anyone actually calling those particular mages weak?

And no, assassins are crap.

Question, if I may? Which of these champions are assassins? Because you say "stop bitching about assassins", but I don't see any up there. Most of these are burst mages, but lulu for instance is a utility mage. For reference, assassins are people such as and .

I see how you sneakily included among mages that are strong, and have been strong. What win rate are you quoting for TF?

The majority of players are below gold tier. The competence or cooperation of most players below gold tier will not allow TF to reach maximum potential. That means TF is trash for the majority of players.

Keep current. The pros in season 6 fail with , so TF is becoming less picked and less banned than in any prior season. Of course, the season has just begun, so the data set is still small. I guarantee you by mid season all the pros that rely on TF will be replaced in the team roster. Expect TF to be deleted before the end of the season.