Ace of Spades Ezreal... isn't Ezreal.

Okay, so to start: I own every Ezreal skin to date. I know, full well, that I am not expected nor needed to like every single skin that comes out for the character. I accept that. I'm also probably going to misuse some language and terminology because I'm not a graphic designer or even close to one, I can barely operate Paint most days.

But that said, Ace of Spades Ezreal doesn't look good. More importantly, it doesn't even look like Ezreal.

Riot frequently talks about "reads" - the parts of champions that help you identify who a champion is in a pinch. Ezreal absolutely has one of the simplest body frames of any champion. He's an accessory or two away from overlapping physically with, say, Wukong, Ryze, or - enjoy your mandatory 'looks like a girl' jokes here - even figures like Lux or Caitlyn in silhouette. That said, those champions all have very, very visible accessories, attachments, and modifications that make it very clear you're dealing with them. Wukong's staff and tail; Ryze's gigantic scroll; Lux's baton; Caitlyn's tophat and rifle.

Ezreal is set apart by two distinctive non-animation(1) reads.

First, the gauntlet. It has certain properties: It is asymmetry of his outfit (check), which is more visible than the other arm (check). It glows perpetually (check). The gauntlet is also visibly in contrast to the rest of the outfit (not check).

What I do want to note is that the best designs on his gauntlet are visibly dissonant from the rest of his outfit. Now, the strength of this clash is different skin to skin (Base comes to mind as not particularly strong here), but many do this quite well (Look at how visible Nottingham and Striker's are for the fact they're a sharply different color scheme from anything else on the outfit). It doesn't have to be a specially featured gauntlet to pull it off (like TPA or Pulsefire) - but it does need contrast to help it pop. Ace of Spades has a very similar color palette for the gauntlet as the rest of the outfit, especially around the shoulders and the popped collar and so it fades into the mix. It's a block of dark blue and bronzes in an outfit full of dark blue and bronzes.

The second read is the hair. Yes, the hair. Someone coming at you with bright hair, goggles, and not immediately carrying any visible weapons? Yeah, bet you ten bucks that's Ezreal.

The head on AoS Ezreal is... frankly, it's . Not Ezreal. No part of it makes me think of Ezreal. The immediate read on that head shape and style is Wukong. You can argue it doesn't have the facial features of Wukong; you're not going to have time to study that.

Ezreal's head pops visibly on every single skin because of three factors: Bright coloration. The use of headgear(2). A familiar style and shape. Even Explorer, which covered up most of Ezreal's head, still has visible blonde hair underneath and lights on the headgear itself, and still fits the basic shape and silhouette at a glance. It doesn't always have to be blonde (Frosted looks amazing and is still immediately identifiable). But it does need to be bright, visible, and draw attention to the head. Ace is missing all of that.

At the end of the day, I don't like the skin, I don't "get" any appeal on the design, and maybe that's going to remain no matter what's changed. But quite literally, right now, it just doesn't feel like him, it doesn't read like him. It's just not Ezreal.

(1) I'm aware that Ezreal's specific combat animations are very familiar and a big source of identifying him is tied to that. But that's not going to change his quick read, and you don't want to wait until he's already E'd over a wall away from you to realise he's Ezreal and can do that. (2) Yes, PFE's "headgear" is barely visible. PFE also has the most visible gauntlet design and still has extremely bright hair colour.