What if fewer items = better champions?
What if champion rolls in the shop were adjusted based on the number of items you got? For example: it's lategame and you have 0 items. Since you have no items your champion rolls are adjusted instead of being purely random: if you have 5 nobles, then your chances of rolling nobles is dramatically higher, if you have 2 silver Lucians you have a dramatically higher chance of rolling Lucian, etc.
This way rito would be able to keep their RNG they seem to love so much, while making it possible to still compete when you are getting shafted by the item drop RNG.