League Of Legends LXVII: "MY PICK'EMS!"

[Anarion]

and then it depends on what Quas was playing that day.

Truly, small sample size is a harsh mistress.

[neriractor]

thanks for the help, I guess when I get 4800 IP I´ll buy lee sin since he seems to be the more popular choice, if I end up don´t liking him I can always get a refund and use the IP to buy one of the other two

[mrcarter11]

If you have rp or plan to buy rp for skins and the like in the future, I would save the refunds. While grinding ip sucks, it probably sucks less than wasting money.

[lord_khaine]

Oh, that is a rather cool Iver easter egg that was found here.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com...mment=00010000

[Anarion]

Oh, that is a rather cool Iver easter egg that was found here.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com...mment=00010000

It looks like it's less easter egg and more that it turns out that "circle with a little arrow on one side" is not terribly creative.

[Ninja_Grand]

Every time people say Illaoi is stronger at low Elos, I feel compelled to note that her winrate improves with ranking until you hit Challenger, and then it depends on what Quas was playing that day. You probably end up with slightly more of the insane 1v5 moments where people just walk into your ult in Bronze-Silver, but Diamond players win about 5% more often with Illaoi than Bronze players do.

*Golf claps respectfully* Damn. A whole 5% is nothing to sneeze at. Thanks for the info mate!

[Ursus the Grim]

Please teach everyone in bronze what you do in that matchup. In my rank (Bronze, maybe silver in norms) he is a Nasus that dose not have to farm to kill you. Just split pushes and kills anyone you send to stop him.


EDIT:Myself Included. I can only beat him with Quinn, Shen, and Kennen

I'm a Bronze/Silver Voli OTP.

I normally don't have problems against Tryndamere Top. I build health (duh) and the usual AS counter items and out-duel him. His ult is a pain, but I find two ways to beat it.

1. Execute him before he uses it. At our tiers, most people aren't ready for Voli's W. Tryn likes to wait until the last possible moment to ult, and with Voli's slow damage they seem to think that have a lot more time than they actually have.

2. Outlast the ult. Voli's tanky enough that you can often survive the duration of Tryn's ult. With Q+E sometimes you can catch him before he runs away.

#1 is much more reliable. #2 is highly dependent on how fed each player is, and if Tryn was smart enough to build BoRK early.

[lord_khaine]

*Golf claps respectfully* Damn. A whole 5% is nothing to sneeze at. Thanks for the info mate!

For your information, at these sample sizes 5 % is actually a rather significant difference.

[Ivellius]

Well I can say at the bronze MMR, Illaoi AKA Illinois is very fun, and very powerful. At the rank im at, she can crush many laners and with a flash ult can solo teams. If you are higher rank, go Kha for pubstomping and Lee for all the reasons stated by Thracian

Illaoi is my favorite support right now.

[thracian]

I'm a Bronze/Silver Voli OTP.

I normally don't have problems against Tryndamere Top. I build health (duh) and the usual AS counter items and out-duel him. His ult is a pain, but I find two ways to beat it.

1. Execute him before he uses it. At our tiers, most people aren't ready for Voli's W. Tryn likes to wait until the last possible moment to ult, and with Voli's slow damage they seem to think that have a lot more time than they actually have.

2. Outlast the ult. Voli's tanky enough that you can often survive the duration of Tryn's ult. With Q+E sometimes you can catch him before he runs away.

#1 is much more reliable. #2 is highly dependent on how fed each player is, and if Tryn was smart enough to build BoRK early.

You have an interesting definition of reliable. It may just be based on my mindset, but I find if a plan relies on the enemy playing poorly, you've probably got a poor plan.

Day[9] mentioned a similar thing in his Daily#100, where he played many many games against a maphacker¹ in Starcraft. Obviously if the enemy has a maphack it means things like drops² or DT rushes³ aren't going to work, so Day[9] learned that to win you just need to have more units. You need to have a solid strategy and execute it well, not rely on the enemy to miss things. In a similar vein, I dislike plans that rely on enemy misplays to work and prefer to rely on me outplaying, rather than the enemy misplaying. That way you're the one with control of the situation.

1: Maphack reveals the entire map, removing all fog of war. Imagine an infinite number of green wards revealing the entire map, for a League analogy.
2: Sneaking an air transport behind the enemy base while he isn't looking and dropping units to kill key worker units or buildings. Transports are usually vulnerable while in transport and if killed, all units they carry are killed with them, so stealth and surprise are typically key.
3: Dark Templar ("DT" for short) are invisible units with powerful attacks, but are relatively easy to kill. Crucially, they stay invisible while attacking. Imagine if Eve didn't unstealth while near you or while attacking, and you've got the idea. Special units with a property known as Detectors can see these invisible units (think Vision Wards in League), but if you don't have one ready when the Dark Templar arrive you're probably screwed. Every faction has fairly easy access to detectors, however, so if you see the enemy getting early Dark Templars, you can neutralize them with ease, wasting their investment.

[Ursus the Grim]

You have an interesting definition of reliable. It may just be based on my mindset, but I find if a plan relies on the enemy playing poorly, you've probably got a poor plan.

1. Its Silver and Bronze. I thought we all played poorly.

2. I was using weak justification so as not to appear arrogant or over confident (we are talking about Silver and Bronze here.) Obviously a good Tryn player of a higher division will shred a competent top laner from the bottom of the barrel.

Would this explanation work better?

Build Randuins and Thornmail.

Make sure your passive is up. Wait until Tryn gets to ~20% and then chunk him with your W. If you properly do this, you'll execute him and he won't have a chance to pop his ult. If he pops his ult at 30%, he's used it earlier than he wanted to. He might be panicking, or he might be familiar with your W. Stick near him, don't run - if you run, he's just going to catch you with W+E. As his ult nears the end he might run. If he's low, use your R to chain damage to him. If he isn't, or if his E is on cooldown, use your Q+E to catch him.

[Ivellius]

Build Randuins and Thornmail.

Make sure your passive is up. Wait until Tryn gets to ~20% and then chunk him with your W. If you properly do this, you'll execute him and he won't have a chance to pop his ult. If he pops his ult at 30%, he's used it earlier than he wanted to. He might be panicking, or he might be familiar with your W. Stick near him, don't run - if you run, he's just going to catch you with W+E. As his ult nears the end he might run. If he's low, use your R to chain damage to him. If he isn't, or if his E is on cooldown, use your Q+E to catch him.

Let me add a bit more.

If he ults and tries to continue the fight, you generally should run (spin back and forth to avoid the W slow if you can). If you don't, he gets free damage on you. If you do, he'll almost certainly have to use his E to gap close on you, and then he might not have it when the ultimate ends. And if you're moving away from him a little bit, he'll miss enough autos that you should be able to survive; you are a giant murderbear, after all, and you ought to be able to live through a few autoattacks. Hold your W, make the occasional auto-attack to keep it stacked, and use Q or E to keep a little bit of distance (but not so much you can't come back to him). Once the ultimate ends, use whichever of your Q or E you didn't use to stay away from him to catch, and then you can usually W to kill him.

[Ursus the Grim]

Let me add a bit more.

If he ults and tries to continue the fight, you generally should run (spin back and forth to avoid the W slow if you can). If you don't, he gets free damage on you. If you do, he'll almost certainly have to use his E to gap close on you, and then he might not have it when the ultimate ends. And if you're moving away from him a little bit, he'll miss enough autos that you should be able to survive; you are a giant murderbear, after all, and you ought to be able to live through a few autoattacks. Hold your W, make the occasional auto-attack to keep it stacked, and use Q or E to keep a little bit of distance (but not so much you can't come back to him). Once the ultimate ends, use whichever of your Q or E you didn't use to stay away from him to catch, and then you can usually W to kill him.

That's very helpful and insightful. Thanks for your recommendations.

[thracian]

1. Its Silver and Bronze. I thought we all played poorly.

2. I was using weak justification so as not to appear arrogant or over confident (we are talking about Silver and Bronze here.) Obviously a good Tryn player of a higher division will shred a competent top laner from the bottom of the barrel.

I understand that people make mistakes at lower Elo values, and taking advantage of enemy mistakes is a perfectly sound thing to do. Relying on the enemy to make mistakes as your core strategy means the only way you'll improve is if your opponents get worse.

Using your inherent strong base damages to allow you to build Deadman's, Randiun's and Thornmail and still be a threat against full squishy targets is a great strategy, because it is based on things you know and can (to a degree) control. You know you have better base damages and you know full damage often loses to tanky bruiser, especially if tanky bruiser itemizes specifically for the counter, so you are using your own knowledge to force Trynd into a weaker position in the 1v1. Then, knowing you are tanky with your itemization and your passive, you can start fights with Trynd without fear and force him to ult to fight you. After that, you can use your own knowledge to make an assessment on whether you can weather the storm and just tank the Trynd ult to kill him when he stops it, or you can slow him and walk it out to continue the lane in a superiour position since, as previously discussed, Trynd without ult will typically lose the duel.

All of the above does not depend on Trynd misplaying, it depends on your knowledge of the matchup and of inherent strengths and weaknesses of the champions. Much more reliable than basing your tactic around a cheeky execute.

All this being said, still go for the execute just in case the Trynd makes a mistake. Just don't rely on it to win.

[Ninja_Grand]

For your information, at these sample sizes 5 % is actually a rather significant difference.

Thats what i was saying. Nothing to sneeze at means​ something that deserves serious attention. I ment nothing but props. Pardon me for not being well spoken on a keyboard

[Olinser]

So my brother was out at a museum with his kid, and apparently one of the other kids in the group is named Draven.

Wat.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

So my brother was out at a museum with his kid, and apparently one of the other kids in the group is named Draven.

I mean, Draven is kind of a cool name (and an actual, if rare, name), and almost sounds like one I'd see in Brooklyn.

At least it wasn't Trundle?

[Joran]

So my brother was out at a museum with his kid, and apparently one of the other kids in the group is named Draven.

Wat.

According to BabyNameVoyager, Draven is frequently an homage to the character from "The Crow", both the comic book and movie. The name of the main character is "Eric Draven". The lead singer of Linkin Park named his kid Draven. It's a very uncommon name, but popular enough to be on the Social Security Administration's list of baby names as the 861st most popular boy's name in 2015 (about 65 boys named Draven per 1,000,000 births).

http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyage...th&exact=false

Draven, the LoL champion, was released 6/6/2012, which means if you loved the champion enough, they'd be about 4 years old now. The popularity of Draven peaked in 2009, so you can't blame LoL for that ;)

[Ivellius]

I kind of wanted to name our daughter Leona (or would have, if wife had been on board). We went with Leanna, and have another one agreed-upon for a second potential one, but I'd totally use it.

To be fair, all of our children names are going to be "Le-."

[Qwertystop]

I've got a neighbor called Taric. A not-insignificant number of League champions have names that are not unique to League.

[EternalMelon]

Another Pentakill! This time I had to 1+tower v 3 by the end so no one could steal it Ended up winning the 4v5 (we were the 4, obviously).

And they say ADCs are weak right now.

EDIT: I left for 2 weeks and I've gotten key fragments on 6/7 games played since I think Riots trying to trick me into staying jokes on them they already own me.

[Nadevoc]

I'm pretty sure the drop rate for key fragments reset at the same time as they reset which champs you could earn chests on. Because as of that patch, I went from a key frag every other week to earning three keys in a week. It's already dropped significantly again, but for a bit the drop rate was crazy high.


EDIT:

What would you folks say you feel Aatrox's core identity is? As a kit/champion, not lore-wise. I've been idly fiddling around with reworking him, but I can't really nail down what he should be. The obvious is 'duelist/split pusher', but that's just because he's a ball of stats character... when he's good, you just shove his numbers down your lane.

His kit is basically just his W. I mean, what else has he got? Generic Gap Closer #12 and damage-slow-y-cone (but flipped around for UNIQUE!)? I mean, his ult is just "Hey, ball of stats, get bigger stats for a bit!" Feels like they came up for the idea for his thirsty price and just filled in around that, but it's not actually an interesting ability. As far as I can tell, he doesn't actually have any identity, and that makes it really hard to rework it while maintaining the current identity...

[Forum Explorer]

I'm pretty sure the drop rate for key fragments reset at the same time as they reset which champs you could earn chests on. Because as of that patch, I went from a key frag every other week to earning three keys in a week. It's already dropped significantly again, but for a bit the drop rate was crazy high.


EDIT:

What would you folks say you feel Aatrox's core identity is? As a kit/champion, not lore-wise. I've been idly fiddling around with reworking him, but I can't really nail down what he should be. The obvious is 'duelist/split pusher', but that's just because he's a ball of stats character... when he's good, you just shove his numbers down your lane.

His kit is basically just his W. I mean, what else has he got? Generic Gap Closer #12 and damage-slow-y-cone (but flipped around for UNIQUE!)? I mean, his ult is just "Hey, ball of stats, get bigger stats for a bit!" Feels like they came up for the idea for his thirsty price and just filled in around that, but it's not actually an interesting ability. As far as I can tell, he doesn't actually have any identity, and that makes it really hard to rework it while maintaining the current identity...

I would say he's a melee sustain attacker. He attacks quickly, and simply tries to outsustain whatever damage he takes. His passive helps him survive burst. As a melee attacker he needs a gap close. CC to actually keep people in close is also good.


Anyways, what does everyone think of the new Shyvanna, now that it's been out for a while? Personally, I dislike the new passive. It's linked to dragons, meaning any competent opponent will up their warding of dragon as soon as you pick Shyvanna. The bonus is really minor, and you have to be going even or be ahead to actually be able to get it. You'll be really lucky to get 4 or 5 stacks.

And so effectively, it feels like Shyvanna doesn't have a passive at all. Even 10% increased damage to dragons is really minor considering how fast a dragon can be taken. And the rest of the time, the passive provides a minor, but really boring boost.

[Nadevoc]

I would say he's a melee sustain attacker. He attacks quickly, and simply tries to outsustain whatever damage he takes. His passive helps him survive burst. As a melee attacker he needs a gap close. CC to actually keep people in close is also good.

Yeah... the issue is that the 'auto attack drain tank' identity is already occupied by Warwick and Olaf. So not only is it a very problematic archetype (balance/fun-wise), it's one that already has plenty of other champs filling it more iconically.

Anyways, what does everyone think of the new Shyvanna, now that it's been out for a while? Personally, I dislike the new passive. It's linked to dragons, meaning any competent opponent will up their warding of dragon as soon as you pick Shyvanna. The bonus is really minor, and you have to be going even or be ahead to actually be able to get it. You'll be really lucky to get 4 or 5 stacks.

And so effectively, it feels like Shyvanna doesn't have a passive at all. Even 10% increased damage to dragons is really minor considering how fast a dragon can be taken. And the rest of the time, the passive provides a minor, but really boring boost.

The bonus resists part of her passive seems entirely negligible. 10% bonus damage to dragon is really nice... but it's super specific power that kind of tips your hand when planning movements. I'm thinking keep the 10% bonus damage to dragon (maybe extend it to like 5% against baron so it's a bit less specialized?) and then scrap the second part. Otherwise, you're fighting a battle where either you have the current issue (numerically so small it doesn't matter) or the champion's strength is tied way too much to how many dragons her team manages to get, which can feel kinda lame when there are games you're locked out of a ton of power through little to no fault of your own.

[Forum Explorer]

Yeah... the issue is that the 'auto attack drain tank' identity is already occupied by Warwick and Olaf. So not only is it a very problematic archetype (balance/fun-wise), it's one that already has plenty of other champs filling it more iconically.




The bonus resists part of her passive seems entirely negligible. 10% bonus damage to dragon is really nice... but it's super specific power that kind of tips your hand when planning movements. I'm thinking keep the 10% bonus damage to dragon (maybe extend it to like 5% against baron so it's a bit less specialized?) and then scrap the second part. Otherwise, you're fighting a battle where either you have the current issue (numerically so small it doesn't matter) or the champion's strength is tied way too much to how many dragons her team manages to get, which can feel kinda lame when there are games you're locked out of a ton of power through little to no fault of your own.

Except they are more Tanks. Atrox should be more like an AD version of Vlad or Swain. Lots of sustain, but good damage too. Also WW's damage falls off pretty hard, and Olaf wants to be low HP and feels more like a Juggernaught then a Duelist. Still hard to balance the idea though.


I agree on scrapping the second part, but a 10% bonus to hurting dragons is still a really minor passive. I don't know if I would keep the powering up per dragons killed part, but if I were, then I would change it to amping up one of Shyvanna's abilities every time her team killed a dragon. And if she gets 5, then she just gets to stay in dragon form constantly. Maybe something like this:

1 dragon slain: 10% bonus now extends to baron and all neutral monsters.
2 dragons slain: Q now halts enemy movement for 0.1 seconds
3 dragons slain: W now leaves a flame trail.
4 dragons slain: E gets an added DoT effect.
5 dragons slain: Dragon form becomes permanent, ult is replaced with the dash part of her transformation.

[EternalMelon]

I have no ideas for Aaaaatrox, I'll have to think on that. But I don't think Shyvana needs any changes to her passive. The point of it is to give her a larger incentive to taking dragons, because her preferred game play pattern is to farm the jungle until she's full build. Her passive incentivizes team play and interaction while the rest of the kit can be adjusted for power levels. Also, champions with inbuilt snowball mechanics are okay, some champions are naturally going to be better snowballing than others.

[Ashen Lilies]

The main distinguishing feature that Aatrox has compared to other drain tanks like Warwick and Olaf is that his AoE cc/gapclose, AoE damage ult, and second-life passive push him towards being an AoE teamfighty initiator dude. Warwick and Olaf are good at picking off or running down single targets. Aatrox is the guy who sort of goes "I want to start a fight" and then goes and starts a fight.

I think a rework that pulls off of his current gameplay could push him towards going in a more Juggernaut-type direction, rather than being a diver and splitpusher. Sort of like a Shyvana, he has one gapclosing ability that he can use to get into the fray, and then he should be forced to just kind of whale on people close by in order to sustain and deal indiscriminate damage, just like a Darius or an Illaoi.

His current Q and W are probably fine as they are. W is just kind of neat in general, Q would give him his unique identity as the Juggernaut that can start fight if he wants, similar to Shyvana's uniquely un-Juggernaut-like backline access, Yorick's pushing, and Illaoi's "I can literally just 1v5 if people stand in the wrong place". Changing Blood Price to deal some %health damage might help reinforce a Juggertrox playstyle since it makes it easier for him to just hit someone, anyone in order to be making use of his bonus damage/healing at all times in a fight, even if he can't reach a squishy, but it might also be unnecessary.

E is a weird ability. When he was strong, Aatrox's laning pattern just kind of revolved around "I'll just poke you for free until you're lower than me because I have sustain, and then I'll go in and kill you". I could see trading out the E's range for an ability that's more threatening in melee range, which would reinforce a juggernaut playstyle of needing to go in to do damage - though that would make him pretty snowbally since he lacks the main release valve that most Juggernauts have in that even when they're snowballing they have problems just starting a fight whenever they want, whereas Aatrox doesn't.

His ult is a little lackluster at the moment, but I don't think it needs that much work. Some sort of added mechanic that rewards you for hitting multiple people with it and emphasizes his survivabilty, like a %HP drain or shield that increases with the number of people he hits would both feel ultra satisfying and have synergy with the "I wanna start some ****" playstyle he has going.

[Forum Explorer]

I have no ideas for Aaaaatrox, I'll have to think on that. But I don't think Shyvana needs any changes to her passive. The point of it is to give her a larger incentive to taking dragons, because her preferred game play pattern is to farm the jungle until she's full build. Her passive incentivizes team play and interaction while the rest of the kit can be adjusted for power levels. Also, champions with inbuilt snowball mechanics are okay, some champions are naturally going to be better snowballing than others.

I'm fine with an incentive, but right now her passive is

a) Boring. It's a pile of flat stats.

b) Weak. +5 per slain dragon is pretty small, and you don't really feel any stronger for having taken dragons.

[Nadevoc]

I'm fine with an incentive, but right now her passive is

a) Boring. It's a pile of flat stats.

b) Weak. +5 per slain dragon is pretty small, and you don't really feel any stronger for having taken dragons.

The reason I don't advocate scrapping the dragon bonus damage is that it's sort of a perfect "Uh oh, we ran out of power budget but still need to give her a passive!" passive.

Yeah, most of the game it does literally nothing for her since it turns out very few things count as the dragon. Precisely one thing counts as the dragon, and that's the dragon. And the rest of her kit is effectively balanced around not having a passive. Yes, giving her a "real" passive buffs her, but she actually feels pretty decent right now power-wise. If she gets buffs, I'd rather it come in slight number nudges on her other abilities.

And what makes the bonus damage a GOOD nothing passive (in my opinion) is that it's really easy to understand/use. You look at a passive that says "Do way more damage to dragons", and know instantly how to use it. Planning your route around dragon, fighting for vision around the pit, and smacking the dragon in the face all feel really good as Shyv because each time you do one of those things, you get that "I'm playing around my passive! I'm making the right decision! RAWR HALF DRAGON MURDER BALL!" good feeling in the back of your mind.

TL;DR - 10% bonus damage to dragon is a great passive because it's effective without being BS, but lets them spend 99.9% of power budget on her abilities.

Except they are more Tanks. Atrox should be more like an AD version of Vlad or Swain. Lots of sustain, but good damage too. Also WW's damage falls off pretty hard, and Olaf wants to be low HP and feels more like a Juggernaught then a Duelist. Still hard to balance the idea though.

Them being tanks is entirely up to how you build them. I sometimes run Murderclaw Warwick (much more damage focused build), and it's fun. It may not be quite as effective at high level play, but I don't think a full aggressive drain tank with emphasis on the drain can really be terribly healthy. I feel like the bad game percentage (games where either you can't get rolling and feel worthless, or where you DO get rolling and stomp the whole game solo, destroying much of the fun for the other team) is just going to be too high. It's enough that I wouldn't feel comfortable pursuing the idea at my current level of design knowledge/wouldn't have fun trying to do it. And since the whole point of this is that I want to have fun... :-P

The main distinguishing feature that Aatrox has compared to other drain tanks like Warwick and Olaf is that his AoE cc/gapclose, AoE damage ult, and second-life passive push him towards being an AoE teamfighty initiator dude. Warwick and Olaf are good at picking off or running down single targets. Aatrox is the guy who sort of goes "I want to start a fight" and then goes and starts a fight.

This is kinda what I was thinking. Push him into a kind of engage or teamfight champ based on all his AoE. Just wasn't confident that it wouldn't be a case of "Where is this coming from? This isn't Aatrox!" So it's nice to hear someone else mention it.

I think a rework that pulls off of his current gameplay could push him towards going in a more Juggernaut-type direction, rather than being a diver and splitpusher. Sort of like a Shyvana, he has one gapclosing ability that he can use to get into the fray, and then he should be forced to just kind of whale on people close by in order to sustain and deal indiscriminate damage, just like a Darius or an Illaoi.

His current Q and W are probably fine as they are. W is just kind of neat in general, Q would give him his unique identity as the Juggernaut that can start fight if he wants, similar to Shyvana's uniquely un-Juggernaut-like backline access, Yorick's pushing, and Illaoi's "I can literally just 1v5 if people stand in the wrong place". Changing Blood Price to deal some %health damage might help reinforce a Juggertrox playstyle since it makes it easier for him to just hit someone, anyone in order to be making use of his bonus damage/healing at all times in a fight, even if he can't reach a squishy, but it might also be unnecessary.

E is a weird ability. When he was strong, Aatrox's laning pattern just kind of revolved around "I'll just poke you for free until you're lower than me because I have sustain, and then I'll go in and kill you". I could see trading out the E's range for an ability that's more threatening in melee range, which would reinforce a juggernaut playstyle of needing to go in to do damage - though that would make him pretty snowbally since he lacks the main release valve that most Juggernauts have in that even when they're snowballing they have problems just starting a fight whenever they want, whereas Aatrox doesn't.

His ult is a little lackluster at the moment, but I don't think it needs that much work. Some sort of added mechanic that rewards you for hitting multiple people with it and emphasizes his survivabilty, like a %HP drain or shield that increases with the number of people he hits would both feel ultra satisfying and have synergy with the "I wanna start some ****" playstyle he has going.

I don't think any of his abilities are necessarily poorly designed, and there's definitely some synergy in his kit (E through lane, then Q in and everything else is based on just smacking things with. It's all just kind of boring, and it can't be allowed to be good because Mobile Super High Damage Sustain Through Everything Bruiser is kind of an oppressive design.

[Olinser]

In other news, Riot has officially announced pro players are going to get 10 bans in a snake style pick/ban phase!

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/new...medium=twitter

This is such a good change. I've been saying for over a year they should go to a different ban system.

This makes the entire pick/ban phase so much more strategic with the ability to put down more bans after picks have gone down, it lets them try to zero in on where they think their opponent is going with their team comp rather than just blindly banning OPs. Or of course opens up possibilities of leaving a champion with a hard counter up until their last initial pick, then banning the counter before they can pick it.

Sadly non-pro play isn't changing yet, and they're still 'assessing' it, so they may even go to a completely different style of pick/ban for non-pro play (also one of the Rioters has made a post stating that they won't change the pick bans until everybody is on the new client).