So I think I know what Riot is doing to mages.

It seems to me that riot is trying to change mages away from bursting and more towards sustained damage.

I believe that the current propositions for item changes verifies my claim. Think about it, less AP but more health, cooldown reduction, and mana for purchase. This would ideally (in riot's mind) give mages more survivability and more mana to cast abilities in rapid succession. If this is infact their goal, they've done a fantastic job with it.

So with all things let's take a look at my expected possible outcomes.

Pros: As I mentioned before there will be more Mana, Cooldown reduction, and Health available for mages to choose from.

1. More health = more survivability. With more health, the few armor items we can buy like for instance will stretch a bit further when up against assassins.

2. More mana = Longer lane stays, this will help us be able to use abilities to farm so we won't fall behind champions without mana or who are designed to farm with autos.

3. More Cooldown Reduction. This coupled with the more mana will likely increase our ability to harass and punish our lane opponents more easily and substantially.

Cons: You we all know there are cons, and I admittedly have been focusing on them a lot recently.

1. Less Mana Regen. We may not end up having to back as much but when we're out of mana, you won't be able to stay in lane very safely.

2. Less AP. this will make our harass worth less per hit, which the more mana will hopefully make up for... (We all know it likely won't though :/)

3. No new armor item. It's pretty much the most asked for item I've seen in quite a while.

Final decision. I think that this change will alter how mages operate immensely. Will it hurt or help them more is the question. I personally believe that this COULD help them, but I don't know if it actually will. Personally I would like more tools to play against cheese assassins, and the added health and mana might do just that, but on the flip side we will still have to back and there won't be anymore "I'll just regen then re-engage." When you run out of mana, you're then forced to back which I presume was Riot's plan. Single target mages will be shoved out of the meta, whereas AOE heavy mages will see much more play than before.

I don't personally like the changes, but I'm trying to stay a bit open minded as to what Riot is trying to do. If it works well, I'm 100% behind it, but if it fails I won't be entirely surprised.