You may not agree with what I'm going to say in this thread.

And I'll start right away by saying it:

One-Trick-Ponies are unhealthy for the game.

We all know of the insanity revolving around the recent ban on the top rated Nunu player in NA (and possibly the world), of whom basically sets the standard meta for Nunu whenever changes are made. Even in a video this player posted once was of Dyrus commenting on him, saying; "Wherever this guy is on ladder, tells you how good Nunu is in the current meta." I give this guy props for doing that. Truly, I do. Being able to influence a game like League with your strategies and builds is no small feat at all.

And this isn't the first time this has happened. Back in December, another player got banned for playing Smite/Support Singed. This guy isn't as much of a one trick as the Nunu player is, but still pretty up there. Both of these events has led to Riot being criticized on going back on their word for never banning someone who plays off meta.

But, allow me to shed a different light on this situation: This isn't an "off meta problem"; it's a "one trick pony problem". Would either of these players have been in their situation had they not taken the time to learn a different champion, to a point where they could play them at an efficient level? Even the Nunu player himself said that he refuses to play any other champion, for he would "sabotage his teammates" due to his lack of experience on any other champion. One person asked him what he would do if Nunu is banned or taken away from him in champ select. His response: "I dodge."

This entire ordeal shows how no one should ever aspire to one trick a certain champion. The disadvantages, and problems that come with it, are simply too high. Allow me to list them:

• If your one-trick champion is meta, you may end up dominating anyone else who plays that champion, but you also run the risk of that champion being banned or taken away from you more often. Leaving you in a situation where you are either forced to pick a champion you cannot play, or dodge the game, and get an ever increasing leaver penalty.

• Since you can only ever play one champion, the rest of your team is forced to build your team around you, instead of you trying to adapt to not only your team, but the enemy team as well. This gives your opponents an advantage, for your team might be forced into unfavorable matchups, or be forced on a champion they are not very good on themselves, simply because they had to pick a champ that works well with yours.

• There is a little thing called "auto-fill", and while it, too, is being criticized, the fact still remains that you will sometimes be forced into a role your champion was not designed for. If you happen to be, say, an Ashe on trick, what do you do if you're given the jungle role? Well, it simply goes back to the first point: either pick a champion you can't play, or dodge.

Now, I understand Nunu's secondary classification is support, so I'm not criticizing the Nunu player on playing him in the support role.

I am criticizing his, and other one-trick-ponies stubbornness by refusing to learn a different champion.

Everyone remembers the days before role selection, or even Team Builder was out, right? We had a thing called "pick order". Basically, whoever was first on the list got to pick their champion and role first, and you had to respect that. It was an unwritten rule of League that most players tried to follow. But then you had those rare assholes that would come into champ select screaming "TOP/MID OR FEED!!!!!1!!!11!", and everyone else in the lobby rolls their eyes.

No one else in the lobby wants to dodge, for they might be in a promo, or close to one, so the rest of the team tries their best to coordinate around the asshole, even though they know whole-heartedly that they are risking their promo, because this asshole may just get crushed in the role he so blatantly wanted, and eventually rage quit, or just flame the rest of his team for the entire game.

Now, I am not saying every one-trick was like this, in fact, I hardly believe a majority of them were. However, in today's day-and-age, one-tricks pose the same problem that those assholes did back then: the rest of the team is forced to accommodate to the one-trick's needs.

So, if you do happen to be a one-trick, allow me to give you some advice: take some time to play some normals, and get to know at least 2 champions for every role. You might say "But I only really like this one champion!", which is fine! There is nothing wrong with "maining" a champion. Despite the criticism the current role-selection gets, it does allow you to play your main champion far more often than you would have back in the "pick order" era.

I, for one, main Gnar, Ashe, and Nami (and also becoming a Garen main, I think), but the number of champs I can play at a decent level probably accommodates 80% of the roster (I was a jack-of-all-trades back in the "pick order" era). This flexibility gives me a HUGE advantage when going into any game, for I can fit into any team, and adapt to any situation.

I'm not saying you one-tricks ought to do what I do, I'm kind of an extreme case. But having some flexibility will go a very long way.

And, besides, there are over 130 champions on the roster right now, and counting. I do not believe for a single second that you like only one champion, and if that really is the case, then I don't think you should be playing League, because you don't like a majority of the game.

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TL;DR These "off meta" bans are not being caused by people playing "off meta", but by people being "one-trick-ponies". Just don't be a one-trick-pony.