This week’s editorial cartoon is about the champions who will no longer be frequently seen in the Summoner’s Rift and the change in the League’s atmosphere as the result of Patch 9.3.

Patch 9.3 was released on the live server on February 6th, finally putting a stop to the insane popularity of a few OP champions. Both Akali, who had very one-sided trading with low risks, and Aatrox, a champion with good sustainability regardless of which lane he stands in, received the biggest hit. Other top-notch champions like Irelia and Camille were also hit with nerfs, making them more difficult to play than before. Meanwhile, Cassiopeia seems better off than before despite the unfortunate series of nerfs she got in the past; the nerfs to the other popular champions this time overshadow her own.

Many LCK fans and League of Legends players are welcoming these changes. Previously, Akali could become unbelievably OP once you got the hang of her skills. Akali’s popularity in the Rift reached a point where she was used as the standard to determine how good a pro gamer was; there were many that said ‘whichever team can play Akali well can make it to the top’. Her ability was so extreme that her presence alone seemed to decide the lane dominance. This caused her to be quite unwanted in professional games since the audience prefers seeing a variety of champions and well-thought strategies in the game. Although Akali may seem more exciting to watch than the past ‘Regreton’ or ‘Shyvagain’ in-game, the monotony brought about by repetitive picks is the same.

For this very reason, there are many that look forward to seeing how the League will respond to the recent patch. The games will now be more about competing with pure mechanics and macros rather than lucky drafts where one team gets to have more OP champions. On the other hand, some are apprehensive that the buffs on the main item build for crit based AD Carries will cause us to return to the time when we were only focused on the potential of AD Carries and their scaling. While it’s not too likely that we’ll return to something like the ‘Ardent Censer’ meta, the memory of it still haunts many.

Likewise, all changes bring excitement and apprehension. As for the audience, regardless of what changes come, something different from the same old picks & bans is always welcome. We are looking forward to seeing what new inspiration and fun reversals this patch will bring us.