​Does Class Meta really matter?

I concede I'm Low Elo and have only about a season and a half under my belt.

Hello fellow Summoners,

I read a ton of posts regarding META champs, or Class Meta, or Nerf X champ, or Nerf Y item, on and on and on.

What I'd like to know from Bornzies to Masters alike, does it matter?

I just read a post where the OP was asking for balance of all classes so that we Summoners can pick any champ from any class and it not be considered a Troll pick.

And I think, does it matter? Really? Especially if a summoner one tricks a champ, can that summoner play the champ regardless of what is considered meta? I think the answer is yes.

Additionally, If a summoner keeps their champion pool small then I think that regardless of what class, item, or champ is currently the most effective tactic available, summoners should be able to play those champs in any meta.

I mean every time I see an off META pick my Bronzie/Silver heart flutters as I maniacally laugh and think you poor bastard. Then I'm always a little surprised on how well it works from time to time.

I suppose a counter argument to what I'm getting at may be- well you just don't know how to punish a off pick in lane (say a Nidalee support) and while I agree that's true I at the current level/experience I don't know how to punish such a pick, but in a Solo Q situation, I don't think it's a big deal below Gold.

My reasoning is since we are a 5 man team who are complete strangers we have little chance to effectively talk about the off meta pick before the games start. There is no meaningful way we might strategize against such an off meta pick, supported by the fact we're all Low ELO.

So Peeps Gold and above, you encounter a Nid support, the NID player in question is competent with the champ. Do you find it simple to counter?

All season I've played Sona support and I've got about 280 games under my belt so far. I was able to climb from B5 to S5 over that period. When she was banned I have a couple back ups. Same with Top. And I'm pretty comfrtoable with Sona vs. any matchup, except when I encounter something new for the first time, like when I faced Fiddlestick support for the first time. Took me a few games to figure out how handle the matchup.

Am I wrong? I'm fairly certain if someone decided they only wanted to play Nidalee, whether in the Jungle, Top, or Mid, they in theory should be able to make that happen if they commit to the champ.

And for all you above my rank, if you do one trick, do you agree that it's a matter of just learning the typical matchups?

Or, am I way off?

If I'm not then I think why discussions about item and champs meta are still interesting and important to have. However, maybe we shouldn't be flaming our fellow Summoners when they are playing x champ and x champ is not META.

I think is also reasonable to state the same regarding Builds as well. True in a ranked situation, as a Sona Support I shouldn't build all Attack damage items, because it's not effective or efficient for her kit, but if I choose to go with a Rylai's vs maybe a Lich bane, (I I wouldn't) none of us should flame our fellow teammate for it.

Lastly, I don't mean to give a big okay to troll builds. Like 6 Tears, or all Doran Shields. I'm saying give your team mates a break if they're not following Meat builds to the 'T'.

TLDR: I maintain if you one trick a champ or your champion pool is small that meta matters less. And as a result we should flame our fellow summoners less or not at all if they don't choose a Meta champ.