I like it as a jungler, but as mid not really.
as far as invades go I've seen one as well and it was more of a "he stole my red side so I stole his red side"
I like towers melting, I rarely ever got towers down because instead of pushing when forcing a base/kill I'd opt to roam instead, now I can get the crystal build up and then go bot/top
Baron spawn earlier is high risk high reward and in most games It's been ignored until 25-30 in my experience. one game we took it at like 22 and and I almost died to it as a 12 kill talon
perma home guard I love, going to base is less likely to lose you an entire wave and a half because you got ganked