How is making a mage weak supposed to make it better at anything else?
What is logic?
They weaken the scaling or passive too much to be able to handle a 1 on 1 fight, but the base damages stay strong enough to be able to abuse at bottom lane.
And do give me an example of a mage being pushed bot lane via scaling reduction(specifically tell me which scalings were reduced)?
Besides, laning phase, aka a "1 on 1 fight", relies mostly on base ratios to begin with, as people don't get too many items yet.
image is wonky but much appreciated.
it is an old meme...
...but it checks out