Why do we 'need' to see as many champs as possible played in the LCS?
There are some champs in this game that have high skills caps and work the best in very coordinated team efforts. Champs like these should naturally
to the cream of the crop in pro play, yet champs like him like
etc. are routinely dumpstered and have had subpar winrates for most of their existences because there's a strange belief that as many champs as possible should be represented in the LCS.
Why though? I main Nami, and it really doesn't take that much skill to play her. So naturally, I don't think she should be something like a top tier pick in competitive play necessarily when there's champs like Kench that benefit much more from teamwork than she does. I don't give a shit if pro players would never play her, I don't need their validation going towards my champ choices. Champs like Garen and Annie, for instance, that are probably the two easiest champs in the game to play, shouldn't really be in the LCS at all, and that's not a bad thing. Shouldn't we like watching games so that pros can adequately express their skills? So that they can make amazing outplays and all that? I wouldn't be excited from an Annie flash ult as much as I would seeing something like Faker's Zed outplay again.
Kalista is probably the best example of this. I haven't played long enough to know how long Ryze has been problematic for, but I'm pretty sure Kalista's entire existence has been spent in this hell where she works so well in pro play that she has to be kept as terrible as possible so that other marksmen can see play in pro games. Yorick and Urgot before their reworks had the same treatment, but there's no Kalista rework in sight. Never mind all the times Ryze has had to be reworked while **still **having the same issues.
Want to see pros play solo queue champs? Watch their streams. I don't give a damn if champs like Annie, Garen, Brand, Janna, Teemo etc. would never see pro play because I wouldn't watch LCS to learn champ mechanics anyways. I know that ideally, every champ should stand on their own merits and be able to be played in the LCS, but that's just not reality. A solid 10% of the champ roster shouldn't have to suffer throughout the entire game because people want to see their champ played in the LCS.
) are balanced so as not to be oppressive at the level where they're strongest. I can see why losing a handful of champion in Solo Queue is preferable to losing large portions of the roster in Pro Play because those champions are just that good.