Talk:Yasuo/@comment-15280970-20150726022659/@comment-24496127-20150806015735

I almost exclusively play ranked, in which Yasuo is much less popular than many champions, so I don't often see a Yasuo top. Aside from that though, it doesn't matter if Riven is Yasuo's rival or not, she does in fact counter him, so why would you want to risk getting stomped just for the cool thematic factor the match up has? I'll admit that playing Yasuo against a Riven can be fun as long as she doesn't get ahead, but would I want to go against a Riven that's equal to me in skill in a game I'm trying to win? Hell no. So why would I go top just to duel a Riven?

Going mid also gives more potential to roam, makes you more likely to get a gank, and lets a well played Yasuo really bully out many opponents that give less mobile characters trouble. Even if we ignore all that, Yasuo is much better to have mid because he's harder to counterpick in mid. I've beaten Leblancs, Swains, Katarinas, Zeds, and many other counters, but some match ups like Riven, Cho gath, Maokai, Garen, Irelia, and Wukong, you just have almost no kill potential on and they can burst you with crowd control on even one mistake. It's just too unforgiving to be the better choice, and I would only go Yasuo top against very specific match ups, like Gnar, Sion, or Nasus. All champions whom really suffer from Yasuo's ability to gapclose and trade at will.