I've played him a couple times, my very first game ever was Ryze actually. Had gotten an AP item, Warmogs, and two boots, since he has two feet.

Those were the days.

It's weird, Ryze has that Udyr problem of never really being mediocre. He's always really good, or really bad. For a long, long while now he's been really good. Can basically build straight tank and still pretend he's Veigar.

If you want to play Street Fighter in LoL, don't play Riven, play this guy.

I used to love Ryze.
I'd play him repeatedly every chance I could.

But then everything changed on one eventful day, during one fateful match.
I lost my lane to a Vladmir, and this one prick on my team was doing that whole douchebaggery thing and started yelling at me. He yelled at me for only having tier one boots, he yelled at me for being in the general vicinity of a kill, he yelled at me every time someone around me died for not helping. He constantly called for my reporting, and every other word he typed was a curse word.
Most irritating of all, he yelled at me for losing my lane to that Vladmir. He says that he has never seen a Ryze lose to a Vladmir. This is irritating for two reasons:
1) We were only around level 15 at the time. I very seriously doubt that he was playing long enough to have seen many Ryze vs Vlad matchups, and I very seriously doubt he was experienced enough to make generalizations on which champ beats which champ.
2) Despite what he said, I'm positive that Vlad has a natural advantage over Ryze at any time. All of Ryze's abilities are targeted, and Vlad's Sanguine Pool makes him untargetable, which ruin's Ryze's burst potential. All Vlad has to do is cast Sanguine Pool every time Ryze snares his opponent, and Ryze can't do a thing about it. Not only that, but Vlad has almost limitless sustain. He can take the poke dished out by Ryze, and heal it off, and then return the poke. And finally, Vlad has better range on his abilities than Ryze. Any time Ryze tries to get in range to attack Vlad, Vlad can easily return fire.

Long story short, I haven't played Ryze in a very long time.

Ryze is easy to learn with great reward if you do learn him. His combo is Face on Keyboard>Roll Head, to be honest. Unlike other champions, if you mess up his abilities, it's not the end of the world, unlike say Brand, where it's pretty crucial to hit his stun and extra 25% damage pillar.

He is a very strong champion too, but his early game isn't as big as some people think. So many Ryze players get overzealous with his early game. I have the most first-bloods against a Ryze, I think. The annoying thing is he always comes back strong late game. Alot stronger than say, Brand, or if I have to use another example, Xerath or Annie.

I don't really see Xerath as an early game champion, by 6 he has the potential to kill someone, but I mean someone like Cassiopeia, Ziggs or Ahri still out-damage both Ryze and Xerath.

You're right though, Ryze just tanks late game so well that he can chase down the carry's or shut out the bruisers from getting into his team. Real terror.

Really? By level 4 he completely outranges most champions, stuns them and weakens them easy. His range keeps him safe and allows him to harass from afar. He doesn't trade well because he isn't meant to trade .

I like Ryze as a mid, but I feel like there isn't much variation for him. He doesn't move quick, and albeit he's tanky and doesn't have to move as much as everyone else, he's meh. I feel like he's like good old Propane, reliable and safe as a mid. But he's not as fun or thrilling as Charcoal (Kennen/Veigar/etc.).

Granted I'm Hank Hill whenever I mid...