Do you think that the meta has to be followed down to the t. I mean in ranked. I know it's the what people believe is the best team comp but in a game so vast in content I have to wonder why people want to report you for thinking out the box.
I got an S on a Miss Fortune jungle and went 19/9/6 or something. It was normals still, but it got me thinking about this whole meta thing. I also took mf top (again in normals though) and they actually ended up lane swapping.
agbudar2 votesthe reason its called "meta" is that if you were to actually go against someone who understands the game (that usually does not include normals).
they would completely stomp an MF jungler.
especially early game.
Emojay1 votesWell, maybe they don't know how jg me works, and can easily work around that. Any player can. Are any build work, with the right effort put into it. They might not stomp the me jg. Maybe my jg would stomp THEM! Just because it wasn't BUILT for the jg, doesn't mean it can't do it well.
Emojay1 votesAlso, I'm too lazy to change the me to mf. I hate auto correct.
Cowseed1 votesPretty sure the same was said about kog jungle at a point....... and akali top..... and poppy support... and YASUO top.
LugiaPaladin2 votesNo one ever lets you play 
adc, feels bad man ;_;
Master Vemira1 votes80% of league players and riot themselves think that every champion should have a niche role that they play and NEVER deviate from it. You make out w/e you want from there.
Emojay1 votesPeople dodged 5 games where I locked in poppy jg. The 6th game, I carried and we won. As poppy jg. I personally hate the meta. Soraka mid is fun (and actually good! Check my match history of Soraka, and look for AP items!) but I can never play it because of these meta followers! Why can't I play lulu adc, or poppy jg, fiddlesticks tank, or toplane tank as Leona? I hope u now know why the meta sucks urgot.
Cowseed1 votesFunny thing is I played 
that game banned on my team banned my 
jungle.
They wouldn't even leash me.
Ch1efBeefQueef1 votesIts not an issue of conforming to a meta that is the problem, mf jungle can do very well. Morganna jungle used to be good too a couple of seasons ago. But the issue is something i'm not sure you have considered. The issue is that you are playing with 4 strangers who likely don't know how to form a team comp around your pick or don't want to. While miss fortune can clear her camps and do lots of damage mid game; there are champions who can just do what she does better and help the team more. If you throw an adc in the jungle you might be short a tank or a bruiser which can cause you a loss. Even if you do good specifically you can cost your team late game by having no escapes, or hard cc, or a multitude of other things that junglers regularly have. So I think you just are not considering things the correct way. Just because something may work for you and be fun, doesn't mean it will work for the rest of your team.
So then it becomes a question of whether or not you want to have fun or win games. Just keep in mind that while these fun picks can spice things up for you they can really effect your teammates in a negative manner unless you think things through and do the prep work in advance. Just something to consider. Trust me I dislike the meta more than anyone else imo. But unfortunately as with all things competitive, the meta is more of a law than a suggestion, because it works.
Emojay1 votesRiot should add a tanky adc into the game! The hard part would be balencing it, but if they could, it would be cool I guess.
Cowseed1 votesI actually was thinking about the team when I picked her. She's really good in team fights and 1v1s when you know how to play her. We had everything else. cept a tank I think.
Boulderox1 votesthing about a "meta" is it is a tunnel vision on the game, everyone expects the top 10 champs to be played every game, and because that is the status quo, anything that deviates either isn't strong enough on it's own without extreme knowledge of the matchup and mechanical skill, or can be one of the best and funniest stomps ever because the meta break means people can't figure out how to deal with a jungle because it is so odd. can you invade her? if she ganks will i die? can i win a 1v2 from it, it questions the ability of the meta slave and sometimes can tilt them from the start.
T_T i just want my melee top lane back riot... i'm sick of all the fucking ranged top lane carries.
Emojay1 votesWhat about kled? Alkali? Katarina? That one person G-bay mains? Those are good, I heard!
Boulderox1 votesWhat about kled? Alkali? Katarina? That one person G-bay mains? Those are good, I heard!
yea, but those are micro based champions aside from maybe 
, which are amazing by themselves but teamfight they are meh to difficult to utilize well unless so far ahead they can kill them without worry.
are no name left1 votesThe meta is just an overview of what strategies and tactics are currently POPULAR.
Meta game break downs are ment to show you what to expect from opponents, not to be used as templates to style yourself after.
Using Hearthstone as an example, the meta is always aggro based, due to how popular the archetype is. But the strongest stratagies are always combo/control based builds.
What people forget is that by being predictable you actually lower your chances of winning in any competitive game.
There are alot of examples throughout this games (and many other games) history of non meta strategies displacing long standing metas. Such as the shift in jungle roles over the years.
Personally I'm waiting for the 2 mid-solo top/bot meta to rise again. It just makes more sense to put the adc in the safest lane that sees more exp and gold then the other lanes to me.
DeathBurst1 votesThe trick is, you don't have to follow the meta, but you have to understand why the meta is meta. The meta is some kind of "global optimization" on all the factors of a game. You can decide to focus more on certain factors at the price of some others, but you have to really understand the trade-offs you're making.
Something off-meta can have a lot of very powerful strengths, but there is a reason it's off-meta, so it must also have some glaring weaknesses elsewhere. As a quick example, Morgana/Lux botlane is very strong, BUT you basically can't take towers unless you wipe out the enemy team.
So, as long as you understand well your off-meta pick, why it's off-meta, what are these weaknesses and you can play around them, you can pick off-meta and have great successes.
EDIT: I've read other answers in the thread, and I want to emphasize. Don't fool yourself, if something isn't meta and you think it's super strong and the next OP thing, 9 times out of 10, you'll be wrong. If something is NOT meta, there IS a reason. As I said above, this reason doesn't necessarily mean you can't find success at all, if you understand it properly, but the meta is not just sheeple blindly following the Flavor of the Month. It's there for a reason.