Now that it is officially announced, maybe we will get some explanation of some kind (a little long)
Its been posted 1000 times already, but maybe 1001 will be the one that gets some kind of response.
We are happy we get a free skin. But its evident that 
does not meet the expectations of what the Victorious skin is supposed to be.
The way i understand it, the Victorious skin is the supposed to be awarded to a champion that has rocked the competitive scene for the ENTIRE season.
was only relevant for the later half of the Spring 2016 Split. As far as I'm aware we have 2 splits and international tourneys to consider here.
A few champs that come to mind that follow this trend are as follows:
- to me seems to be the obvious choice. #1 jungler all year round, has received 8 rounds of nerfs and the pro scene is like "Naw shes still to consistent, shes still pick ban"
- Could be considered a tie with but unfortunately he got gutted and noone wants to play him anymore..... Rip fatman
- GADA - Possibly not the #1 top laner all year, but has been relevant and a pefect blind or counter pick for many teams all year. Back in Spring almost every matchup was Gnar irelia. Now every matchup is Gnar something else lol. Seems like hes impacted the scene for a while.... even after nerfs to him and his major item, hes still in pro play
- Many could make an argument for this not silent ninja. While being a major pickup for the Western regions all year round, hes still so good in many peoples hand that he is still getting banned at worlds
- Tank ekko of course - Impacted Top lane for both the late half of Spring, and all of Summer and MSI
- GP was a must pick for quite a while this season, he was even so good that he saw consistant play in both the top AND mid lanes
- Was a pocket pick for many adc's this season, and was a staple "I want to win lane" without ever actually saying words
The next few mentions will be iffy due to the fact that they werent even really here all season, but impacted the scene greatly while they were active
- Our own blood mage - Was a DOMINANT force in the mid lane for a very long time, and even after receiving 3-4 rounds of nerfs, hes still a counter pick to what is considered to be the current best mage at worlds, Syndra
- It only took Sneaky like 3 weeks to bust this monster out, and soon after everyone else started too as well. Hes been a KEY adc for the Pro scene since his release, and was even preferred by most players to the ashe sivir bot lane matchup we ResidentSleepered over all season lol
THE ONLY EXCUSE i might entertain is that i realize it takes a while to get an important skin right (even thought you use the same theme for every skin) and MAYBE they just pick maokai at the end of Spring and began working on him.... If that was true I'd be pretty disappointing but could at least understand their reasoning
TLDR: imo, Maokai is about the 10th champ down the line to deserve this skin, and am disappointment at this official announcement
Thanks for reading, commenting, and liking!
