Let's Talk About the "Meta"

The "meta" and to what degree one needs to stick to it has been a constant debate between my friend and I. He's big on both the "meta" and what's traditional. For example, he's told me that he doesn't really view as a support, or at least not to the degree that, say, is one. It goes without saying, then, that stuff like support isn't something he's in favor of.

Our other friend regularly rebels against the "meta," playing (AP) support or support , and while I feel he often goes too far (ex. jungle), I see the value in breaking from the meta in calculated ways. support wasn't always a regular sight from bronze all the way up to the LCS. The meta is flexible enough, I feel, to accommodate new and different ideas. If not as a new addition to the meta, at least as something more situational.

Anytime I bring up the LCS as proof of this, my friend replies with "but they're LCS." My response to that is, "but the people they're facing are LCS too." If an LCS player makes something like support work, that means even other LCS-level players can allow it to work.

A quick look at Champion.GG shows that you don't even need to go as high as the LCS to see people thinking outside the box and making it work. Enough people have played top, just as one example, for there to be stats on it. Granted, it's 575 to the 3955 they've analyzed for mid, so it's a very small sample size, but a) it's not the only example of this sort of thing and b) it's a perfect example of my argument in favor of stuff like it.

What the LCS understands is that everything is skill, match-up, and team comp dependent. top, under certain circumstances, could be a viable choice. Those circumstances are assumedly rare, but it doesn't mean they don't exist. And below the LCS, there's also something to be said for catching your opponent off guard. In fact, I see this as one of the most popular tips for climbing the ladder in League of Legends: main an off-meta and/or underplayed champion simply because your opponents will have less experience facing said champion.

Yes, the "meta" has its place, and I will never play as fast and loose with it and "tradition" as that one friend I mentioned, but I feel there is a lot of worth in breaking the "meta" in more calculated ways. Trying something like support because you know the champion well enough to put what support capabilities he has to great use, but only pulling it out when the timing's right, just like with support, which also rubs people the wrong way (less than support) yet can still have its time and place.

What does the board think, though? Where do you stand? Are you a stickler for the "meta" and "tradition"? Do you give both the finger, like our one friend? Or do you fall somewhere in the middle, like me?