I want to talk about Maokai

Maokai is a champion who has never really been out of meta. There've been times when he was unpopular but I don't think he's ever really been a bad pick since his release. He is a good example of a well-designed champion that is satisfying to use, whilst not feeling bs to play against and without being overloaded.

So why does Riot seem to be trying their damnedest to make him unviable? What is Maokai meant to build these days? Aside from Spirit Visage, almost every single core item on Maokai has been nerfed for him. Righteous Glory, Rod of Ages, Frozen Heart. (RoA is just worse on him rather than overall). Remember when people built Iceborn? Loooong time ago. Why did Iceborn's AP get nerfed again?

So what do we build on him now? Against AD we can build the (nerfed) Frozen Heart, although Iceborn Gauntlet is looking more appealing again just because it escaped the nerf bat. Against AP you're basically stuck with going for the, now kind of bad, Rod of Ages or Righteous Glory if you want an actual mana stat so that you can actually use your ultimate OR you can go Spirit Visage and basically have no ult until your second item... which will have to be Frozen Heart or Righteous Glory.

It's not like most of the new items really aid him. Sterak's Gauge is bad on him, and Titanic Hydra is equally bad. Dead Man's plate is a useful buff, but as it doesn't provide any source of mana it really doesn't help that issue.

Now, with all of his core items (except Spirit Visage!) nerfed, he gets further direct nerfs. Vengeful Maelstrom (R) cooldown increased to 60/50/40 from 40/30/20. Honestly, this isn't something that worries me. The cooldown increase here isn't too big of a deal but it's what it indicates that worries me. With Maokai significantly weaker than he has been for a while, why is his ultimate cooldown being nerfed?

It seems like Riot has been trying to crush Maokai's early-game for quite a while, from the passive nerfs to this. I'm not even considering the idea of Maokai jungle either.

All I would like to see - in compensation for how much harder it is for Maokai to itemize for the mana he so badly needs:

Arcane Smash: Mana cost changed to 35/40/45/50/55 from 45 at all ranks Twisted Advance: Mana cost changed to 65/70/75/80/85 from 75 at all ranks Vengeful Maelstrom: Mana cost changed to 30/40/50 + 20/30/40 mana per second from 40 + 30 mana per second.

It brings the cost more in-line with the standard 100 mana cost ultimate abilities early game and helps out his early-game mana significantly whist leaving things around the same mid-game and increased late-game where it doesn't matter much.

MAYBE I'm wrong. Maybe Maokai is just fine but I haven't been having much fun any time I have to lane against AP and either chug mana potions for the first 10-15 minutes or just not trade in lane. The current situation encourages a boring, passive playstyle from Maokai any time he has to play against AP champions.