[{quoted}](name=Masala Chai,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=qxj6jLbL,comment-id=,timestamp=2018-04-19T16:55:19.695+0000)
Where Archangel's (or to a great extent, Tear) becomes a mandatory buy for mages and some supports such as Sona or Nami, similar to how Morellonomicon was a mandatory buy on nearly every AP midlaner barring more obvious exceptions, such as Katarina, and Vlad.
This would effectively negate any possibility that Hextech GLP or Luden's could vie for top tier since Archangel's would be the only mana item that would have enough mana to adequately support a poke based champion (the niche designed for those champs), and the same to apply for GLP for certain control mages.
So this now leads us to the same old Morellonomicon to whatever AP item your champion needs.
You're wrong, because mana use to be more limited but archangels was rarely built in that time. Because it didn't use to have any CDR.
Archangels is only the go-to item because it gives mages the trinity of stats they want: AP, CDR, and mana.
Take away the CDR if you don't want people buying archangels all the time. Of course then they'll just all buy Ludens. Luden's didn't use to have CDR either.
Before that it was Morello, for the same reason. AP/CDR/Mana.
No matter what item it is, if it has those three stats in abundance it's always going to be the go-to mage item.
So, limited mana is never the problem with the design. The problem is with overloaded items that do everything you want in large quantity, so you aren't forced to make real choices between AP, CDR, or Mana itemization.
