I can't say what a standard AP is, as I don't know what your arbitrary idea of 'standard AP' is. Diana and TF seem pretty standard to me.
You're able to make the distinction between assassin and non-assassin, but you think it's bullshit that I use the term standard AP? There's no reason to get technical here, we're just discussing vague terms here.
Are the differences between Lissandra/Zyra and Diana really so hard to discern? If you really don't think we can even quantify what constitutes a standard, Annie-like mid and what doesn't, there's point in continuing.
And again, Diana sure has been sticking around.
And is, even to you, not a standard AP mage.
Syndra to a lesser degree, as she's not really been a contested pick, but is probably the most played 'unconventional' mid.
I suppose we have to discuss her if we wish to get into this. I'd certainly qualify her as an AP mage, but she isn't exactly a high pick most of the time.
I think this boils down to: What makes a standard mage to you? From what I gather it's something along the lines of: ranged, high burst, cc-effect, not TF (?).
I don't think there's any reason to make this discussion that technical, but if you insist: Let's find our template to a standard mage among the most standard LoL has to offer. Instead of picking one ourselves, let's see what was there in the beginning as the standard AP mid: Annie.
With her as our template we can say that AP-based, ranged, high burst, HARD cc and AoE damage is at the core of the standard AP mid. Why these traits and not the summoning of a bear? Well, she shares these traits with a lot of other AP mids, but not the summoning or the odd shield. Thus, what is common among AP casters mid constitutes the norm.
I.e. the thing that binds together the traditional mage are those concepts.
We can stretch this a bit and say that the ultimate is usually some form of big nuke. Which also explains why Ryze and Twisted are outliers in this category, while Annie, Brand, Orianna, Lissandra, Zyra and so on are all placed firmly in the middle - even champions like Galio are more like a standard AP mage than Twisted, in point of fact - and that's not me saying it, that's based on the criteria that is commong among most of them which have just identified.
So it stands to reason that you can leave out perhaps a single of these traits for something else (like Twisted's non-nuke ult) and still call someone a standard AP caster, but any more and you become too far removed from the core of mages in LoL who all share the same traits.
Based on this, we can discuss the standard mages released since the beginning of 2012:
Sejuani
Ziggs
Nautilus
Fiora
Lulu
Hecarim
Varus
Darius
Draven
Jayce
Zyra
Diana
Rengar
Syndra
Kha'Zix
Elise
Zed
Nami
Vi
Thresh
Quinn
Zac
Lissandra
Those mostly jungled are Sejuani, Nautilus, Hecarim, Rengar, Vi, Zac. They are all played consistently at various level of LoL, and one or two are at the very best of their game. Of these, only one was nerfed into the ground and fell out of favour (Rengar) but only because he was obviously too good and then he was mostly used in the top lane. One of them was recognized as troubled, and got a prompt overhaul (Sejuani).
For top-laners, we have Fiora, Darius, Jayce, Rengar, Elise, Zed. Of these, Fiora is weird failure at creating a melee AD Carry, and the rest are all bog-standard and highly popular picks top with great win ratios mostly. Rengar is the odd one out for the reasons I explained above, but he had his time in the sun. Darius, Jayce, Elise and Zed are all steady picks who despite nerfs to Darius and Elise still see play and are still excellent champions. For Zed, we shall have to see.
For AD carries, we have Varus, Draven and Quinn. Both Varus and Draven are heavily played, and with Quinn as the odd one out, these follow wildly popular champs Graves and Vayne. Quinn is recognized as unplayable and granted a massive buff (buffs to unplayable champions happen in all categories, as we shall see, except standard AP casters).
For supports, among Lulu, Nami and Thresh no one would question that two of them are top tier. The last one again receives buffs due to not being played.
Last before our guests in the spotlight, we have Kha'Zix and Diana. Both are
released and marketed as junglers but become mid laners. Both are top tier.
Last, we have the reason for our discussion. Among our four standard AP mids released in this period,
Ziggs' kit is too good to make good enough, and thus he is released underpowered and never buffed. In fact, he is even nerfed slightly because his E has potential to cause havoc if used correctly. Can't have that on an AP mid, can we? Due to his bullying, they rob him of any decent hard CC, and as a result he does good at many things but master none, and is not viable. Ziggs today is a fun champ and a good lane bully that simply doesn't fill out any role a modern team will want.
Zyra is released to total wreckage. People complain that she is
vastly overpowered (though the truth is that she wasn't more overpowered than others on this list - high burst champions always gets the overpowered charge worse than other champions) and she is nerfed into the deep, dark places of the earth, forever condemned to being a support-pick. She remains there now, an AP caster with a burst that's too low to one-shot people, no escape-mechanics and stictly close-range abilities. Next up is
Syndra, released to complete hilarity. Gimmicky and underpowered. She receives a buff and as people learn to play around with the tiresome gimmick, she becomes a bit competitive, but she is kept from any true top tier play by virtue of her gimmickyness. Her abilities are powerful and her stun almost too good, and thus another champion with a "volatile" kit is condemned because buffs would make her too good. Then finally we get
Lissandra. Finally, a standard AP mage able to hold her own. She isn't played much at the top, but she is fine and most people agree. She has a huge burst and decent CC (though her slow sucks, but is compensated by having both root AND stun on top of this). This all conspires to make an actual nearly viable AP caster mid. Except of course that RIOT promptly nerfs her and makes sure things stay as they are. Assassins and gimmicky shit like Jayce now own the mid lane, and AP casters are last year.
The final nail in the coffin is that we have both junglers, supports and AD Carries who have received major buffs or total overhauls after not being viable. No such boons have been bestowed on standard AP Carries.
Q.E.D
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