New Midlane Changes Poised for Pre-Season 9

With Worlds 2018 quickly approaching, Riot's been looking for new ways to help reduce certain struggles in games, be it snowball, damage, or overall just pure lane frustration. The biggest offenders of this are assassins. Starting from Pre-Season 9, all day, every day, I think they should host a variety of gamemodes based in midlane to support mages and non-mid folks who are interested in playing an assassin-free game. Maybe even have people stop by to learn from and get to know some of the badass mages of Riot! Here's a theoretical tentative schedule below, but all subject to change.

10 AM-12 PM: 1-on-1 mechanics review & feedback

12-3 PM: RGMs (Reduced Champ Pools) including:

URF

Ascension

Nexus Blitz

Dominion

One For All

Hexakill

3-4:30 PM: Meditation / quiet space hour (except Sundays)

4:30-6 PM: “Ask a Rito” (Stop by and chat with a Rioter) _**

Before anyone asks, the goal is not to ban assassins! Riot'd be welcoming all at 2:30 to play, and after 4pm if you want someone to review your gameplay, they'd be happy to do that.

The most commonly thrown around arguments are that this is being classist against assassins, just like racism, and that you can’t fix a problem by doing the opposite of what that problem is. That’s all bullshit. Systemic classism and racism exist at the intersection of bigotry and power dynamics. Racism isn’t just being called the n-word, it’s that + no one caring when you AFK + not being given a kill an assassin would have gotten + being killed by bruisers for no reason. The reason that “classism against assassins” makes no sense as a concept is that assassins have the power. They’re privileged in so many ways, from small invisible things, to large, outrageous things (like feeders and trollers like Yasuo mains can just have comebacks and that’s fine).

Assassins are RIDICULOUSLY over-represented in gaming; they’re listened to when wizards are ignored, promoted when sorceresses are passed over, lauded for speaking out when warlocks are being called “difficult to work with”. I imagine the same power dynamics apply to cosplay and fan events. I’m sure sorceresses are objectified and harassed, both verbally and with unwanted physical contact. I’m sure they’re spoken over and made to feel unwelcome at events like these. So yes, in the interest of justice, equality, and fairness, assassins need to be excluded sometimes. That’s perfectly fine. Trust me, they’ll have about a billion other opportunities that these mages won’t have. But no, they have to be absolute overgrown toddlers and throw hissy fits.

PS: here's a picture of Ollie who thinks mages and non-mid people are wonderful and deserve to be in gaming and he just wants to sit in your lap and purr.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/026/638/cat.jpg