A simple defense of CertainlyT

CertainlyT consistently delivers on champion fantasy. Many of Riot's designers do a good job of this, but when you need a unique champ to hit the theme, you call CT. Allow me to prove this to you one champ at a time. We will exclude the minor reworks for what I hope are obvious reasons (Riot more or less admitted they don't work). All the following champs were made from scratch or given a GU by CT (Zyra was a group effort, for full disclosure).

This dude is BRUTAL. You can feel it in the his kit. His execute was one of the first ones to have this awesome, visceral feel to it, and is still one of the best. Playing Darius, you feel like a Juggernaut. Part of that is hard work from animators, too, but the kit really nailed it. CT gets credit for that.

There isn't a champ in the game with as much lockdown as Thresh. More reliable lockdown, sure, but nothing ruins your day quite like getting hit with Thresh Q, then E, followed up by R. He's named the Chain Warden and he delivers excellently on that fantasy.

I did not think gardening could be a fun thing in League of Legends. But when you play Zyra, you actually get mad at people who kill your plants. It really makes you want to strangle[thorns] them. There's nothing else like it in the game.

He's popular for a reason. Not much else to say here; just a smooth, smooth kit. Just like you would expect of a samurai with power over the wind. Complain all you want, the kit is fun. And thematic.

My personal least favorite on the list, but I can still admit you get some good vibes from stacking a bunch of autos and finishing with a satisfying rend. I see the appeal, and I think she satisfies her fantasy very well.

Lauded by many since launch as the most successful rework (and the most popular one with players, according to polling), you really feel like a bloodhound playing Warwick. CertainlyT nailed the feeling of chasing down a bleeding opponent and finishing them off. His best work to date, imo.

Getting killed by her insane Q damage is maddening, but what else would you expect from a champ that is supposed to be a trickster goddess? It's a kit that expects you to pull off some planning; two skillshots, and one of them is slow. I'm not claiming she wasn't ever OP, but she's thematically awesome.

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And now we have hit the inspiration for the post. People are complaining about this champ before she's even hit PBE, and no wonder. She's got a very unique mechanic that looks like it has potential to be frustrating. Of course CT (and the rest of the team) knew there would be flame over it. That didn't stop them, because they remember that the entire draw of League is the champions.

When I watched that Gameplay trailer, I immediately knew this champ was gonna feel good. Dodging in and out of that shroud looks like it captures exactly the feeling that the first iteration of Akali failed to do convincingly. Yes, it'll be annoying to play against sometimes. But it will produce some serious highs, both as Akali and as Akali's opponent. Imagine dragging Akali out of that swirl with a well-aimed Darius E and cutting her down with R. Tell me you won't feel like a rockstar.

I can't wait to see what Faker can do on this champ. Yeah, yeah, LC$ memes, but seriously, take a minute to think about how unique that ability is, and all the awesome interactions with other champs. If you can't get hyped about cool champs anymore, and you're complaining that League isn't fun anymore... maybe you're the problem. That's what this game is all about.

CertainlyT, I know you understand that. You make cool champs because you understand what made this game popular in the first place. Keep it up, and know that some of us really appreciate it.