Riot, if you're gonna balance the game around NA LCS...

At least be more subtle and consistent about it?

1/29: Patch 5.2: No mention of Kassadin. 2/10: Patch 5.3: Love tap to Kassadin while joking "who'd have thought an ultra-mobile assassin would have game health difficulties." 2/15: Shiphtur of Dignatas goes 10/1/9 on Kassadin. 2/24: Patch 5.4: Kassadin nerf. 3/02: Meddler: "We'll be buffing Kassadin."

2/21: LemonNation of Cloud9 plays Veigar for the first time in NA LCS for instant AOE stunlocks. 2/22: LoL Esports releases article featuring said play. 2/24: Patch 5.4 delays (nerfs) Veigar's stun.

Additionally, Jarven IV, Gnar, post-DFG-rework Ahri, Janna and Kalista have all received nerfs since their debuts in the NA LCS. Some nerfs matter (Gnar is no longer a constant pick-or-ban), others not so much (Ahri and Janna still perform very well and Kalista still draws bans). We're also looking at Nidalee nerfs on the PBE since she was given a jungling capacity in 5.2 (resulting in 5 wins on 7 picks for a 71.4% winrate and drawing 16 bans, probably all very recent stats since the tournament realm started playing on the buffed Nidalee).

Meanwhile, Zed [referred to as "the best/a good example of a healthy assassin" in both Patch 5.1 and 5.2] won all three of the games he was picked in NA LCS this past weekend, pretty much single-handedly dictating all three games and was the keystone/focus of the epic CLG-Liquid game. Zed now has an 85.7% winrate with 12 wins over 14 picks over the 60 NA LCS games so far and commanding 12 bans, and is second only to Lissandra in all categories (Lissandra has 14 wins from 15 picks for a 93.3% winrate, drawing 43 bans for a 70% game participation in picks/bans). (There are a handful of champs that do have 100% winrates but only because they were played only one or two games and won: my focus is both on the winrate and number of appearances of the champ.) Source. Neither champ has received a significant nerf.

What gives?