Someone told me Flash is mandatory.

Now, one of two statements are true. Either everyone has been fed garbage and are unnecessarily shoehorning themselves into a narrow way of thinking, using Flash to bail them out of every mistake instead of learning to use everything the game has to offer... or League is poorly designed. If the game is designed to support Flash as a mandatory spell - and I'm inclined to believe this, given the new Hexflash situation - something is wrong.

Games are about having fun. Part of having fun means trying all kinds of things and finding builds no one else has discovered. If Flash is mandatory, that's a choice that's decided for you by the game, which negates fun factor. A further question could be asked: if Flash is mandatory, why not bake it into every player's kit like Recall? Give everyone two summoners plus a slightly tweaked Flash.

Personally, I enjoy the tense moments where you've made a mistake and now you have to try and salvage it. Flash seems pointless to me, as a competitive person. It feels like a newbie crutch. "Oops, that was a dumb decision. No problem, Flash over the wall and you're gone! Let's pretend that didn't happen." I feel like it's much more engaging to have to measure every decision you make when you think about going in. To have to watch the jungle and be aware of potential ganks.

Flash can be used proactively, sure. It can be used for early dives, to set up great skillshot chains, and so on. For players who like to do that, and are good at it, Flash is a great choice. But the operative word is choice, and that's precisely what it should be.

I get shredded for running Cleanse, and to be fair, the reason I'm getting ripped for a mediocre lifetime KDA all the time is probably because I'm the sole player in the game who literally never takes Flash. But look, I own that. I'm a mediocre player, so my KDA is mediocre. I have no problem with that, and no one else should either. If you're low Bronze, whatever, someone has to be there. That doesn't mean you have to be ready to Flash out of every mistake. How can you learn from mistakes you have a do-over for?

But let's take Cleanse. No one ever runs that. Ever. Obviously, because Flash is decided and there are many other arguably more useful spells. But when you really look at it, Cleanse is more useful overall. It can negate easy Ignite kills, blow off CC for both offensive and defensive purposes, keep you rolling when a slow would make it impossible for you to safely initiate... It's extremely useful, and not just in the early game. Flash seems to become less potent later on when everyone's more mobile and you can get dropped with one well-placed Nidalee spear or Gangplank ult. Cleanse, however, stays as useful at 40 minutes as it was in the first minute.

So which is it, Riot? Is Flash really mandatory, or are people just misled by popular opinion? If it's the former, that's on you. Make some changes. If it's the latter, people need to start really digging into their games and thinking laterally. They'll have a lot more fun.