Will it always be necessary to learn the new meta champs to climb?

I realize the game has always been this way, but it just feels cheesy that the optimal way to play is to learn the few champs in your role that are too strong and abuse them until next patch rolls in. Although there's counter-picks, you have to take the time to learn them which you don't have if you're constantly practicing the new OP, and if you are first picking the best way for you to deal with getting counter-picked is to just pick the strongest champ for your role. There are ways to deal with this in an organized team but not in soloq. There is skill in champ select don't get me wrong, but personally I have to first pick seemingly every second game, and as a mid laner that doesn't feel good because there are a lot of highly dominant counter-picks that will crush my chances of carrying, forcing me into meta picks.