Belated Irelia Appreciation

I've been playing like for like four years now, always maining support and occasionally an adc or a jungler. If I ever got autofilled top, I'd take a nice tank man like Naut and play the game safe. I started playing a little Teemo once I got bold, because who doesn't love/hate that cute little guy? Old Irelia literally never popped up on my radar. Her model was a bit rough, she's not a niche I like, and her whole thing about Soraka resurrecting her and then suddenly being able to fly blades around was a bit... Cheesy.

BUT WHEN THEY SHATTERED OLD IRELIA, SHE BECAME SHARPEST AT THE BREAKS.

That first teaser, with the mural? I picked up immediately on her new identity as a spiritual dancer, and IMMEDIATELY FELL IN LOVE WITH IT. It's hard to explain, but it really just clicked with me and I couldn't wait to see new Irelia. Her full release and story only made me love her character more. The best part of her story was when the Noxians broke her family's crest, and she first learned she could levitate the pieces. Your lore and narrative team deserves serious kudos for this. I really see it as a defining moment that ties her character together, and makes everything about her make /sense/. Her whole story had be gripping my seat, honestly.

Her new artwork is stunning. I actually preferred the first version of her face in the splash (Looking past us, because the battle is ahead and she's determined to protect her homeland), but the second version is great too. Probably my favorite part is her blades. With all due respect... The old version of her blades was bad. They always seemed kind of disjointed and clunky, and not to move with her. Not so with new Irelia. Her new blades really seem to flow and move with her animations, and it's beautiful. I read criticisms about her hair seeming too much like a cape when she was on pbe, and I honestly never had that criticism. To me, her identity as a dancer makes her hair more part of her costume. And it still reads clearly as hair to me, so I don't know.

So now I play Irelia all the time, and top and jungle more than I ever used to. I'm not great with her yet, but she's AMAZING to play. She's a lot of fun, and I love everything about her aesthetic. I've seen a lot of criticisms of this rework and others, and I thought it was important to share a positive viewpoint. I played LoL for years without touching the old Irelia, and when her rework came out I suddenly had to have her and play an entirely new position. Other reworks have been successfull, imo, too. I literally never played Sion before his and now he's an occasional pick in my "tanky safe" roster, especially top. Don't play Swain, but he's more interesting to play against now and his new artwork is way better.