Shards are not very interesting
What do you think if Riot removes shards to give us the chance to choose a single rune (among 3) that is unique for each champion??
let's take Veigar, you could have to choose one of these (just to explain better what i mean, i don't pretend that what i write here is balanced) 1- Killing a unit with Baleful Strike grants 0.25 stack extra 2- Dark Matters delay down to 0.75s from 1.25s 3- Enemy champions stunned with Event horizon takes 5% more damage (not only from veigar but from other champions and minions too)